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Future of SFB
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Steve Cole
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Joined: 11 Oct 2006
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 14, 2010 2:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Retailers, like all humans, are trapped between what they want to do (defined by interests, or requests), what they can do (limited by time, space, and money), and what they have to do (to keep the doors open). There are only so many hours, so many shelves, so many dollars. Having game tables is good, but it comes at the cost of a lot of shelves. Given limited time, they focus on what they don't have to "sell" but what they just have to "keep on the shelves" so people come and buy it. That's all retailers, not just game stores. Ever wonder why grocery stores sell so much stuff that isn't food? (e.g., school supplies, party supplies, cosmetics, books, magazines, medication, music, and on and on).
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MikeBurke
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Joined: 14 Nov 2008
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Location: Frederickburg Virginia

PostPosted: Sun Aug 15, 2010 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My heart and Katra go to SFB for always and forever. It's logical.
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David
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Joined: 08 Nov 2009
Posts: 228
Location: Florida

PostPosted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 3:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

All I can say is that I enjoyed it in the 80's and now play it again in the 21st century.
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irashaine1972
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Joined: 23 Dec 2010
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 3:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Steve Cole wrote:
. Ever wonder why grocery stores sell so much stuff that isn't food? (e.g., school supplies, party supplies, cosmetics, books, magazines, medication, music, and on and on).


I will tell you why ,being a longtime grocery store manager, its maximize the average basket "ring". That is the average amount of dollars customers basket contents come to overall each day. Every year a store pushes to increase this year after year. It indicates the overall growing attraction to your particular store. Therefore providing a well rounded shopping experience, in theory, will make your store more of a one stop destination. Increasing your business while decreasing the competitors.

That being said I am glad the SFU is alive and well. I have been in the gaming hobby for about 30 years and of all the years I have been shopping ant hobby/game stores it seems that SFB has been one of those products that has always been lurking around. However I must say that I only ever tried it once probably about 17 or 18 years ago but I was so into Warhammer and other such things it didn't really catch on. I was really into running FASA Trek in those days and a big ST fan on top of it but SFB just seemed sorta cumbersome. That and it was also the peak of the TNG days and the films were at an all time high in popularity (think Undiscovered Country) so I suppose in alot of ways SFB seemed a little dated in its context.

However after many years of gaming and after endless playing of Warhammer and Warmachine and Historicals and RPGs and Card Games galore I find myself a little burnt especially on the fanboy competitive immature climate of the game scene.

So in order to find something "new" I have become interested in something"old". Or at least that has been around since the beginning. After checking out and being fairly impressed by FC I am giving SFB another go as well. In doing so I actually realized one big thing that has contributed to my dissatisfaction with alot of game sis the ever increasing simplicity. I actually miss the heavier detail and bookkeeping that seemed to be far more common in games back in the days when introverted, overly intelligent, excessively imaginative young men poured over mostly black and white books and documents in cold garages, studies and vacant university halls late at night working out the events in some distant world or universe.

It seems to all given way to a mass marketing scheme that emphasizes power gaming and spending money over what once was something done for the love of imagination.

Seems almost like SFB is one of the last few systems that refuses to disconnect from its roots and what I think of as the classical gaming traditions from the early days of the hobby and those of us that have been along for most of the ride.
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wedge_hammersteel
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Joined: 27 Sep 2008
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Location: Lafayette, LA

PostPosted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 8:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

irashaine1972 wrote:
Every year a store pushes to increase this year after year. It indicates the overall growing attraction to your particular store. Therefore providing a well rounded shopping experience, in theory, will make your store more of a one stop destination. Increasing your business while decreasing the competitors.


Purchase list for ADB store: Captain's Log 42, loaf of bread, Klingon Attack, dozen eggs, Fed CA mini, butter, Briefing #2, gallon of milk. Laughing
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Steve Cole
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 7:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You forgot the DVD of Klingon Gurlz Play Beach Blanket Bingo.
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Ravenhull
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Joined: 28 Jan 2007
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 7:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Is that the one in the plain brown wrapper? Razz
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Czuhars
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Joined: 20 Jul 2010
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 4:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

HAHAHAhAHA! Steve, you crack me up.

"Kzintis Gone Wild" Order now!
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Jiraiya1969
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Joined: 17 May 2007
Posts: 90

PostPosted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 3:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Czuhars wrote:
HAHAHAhAHA! Steve, you crack me up.

"Kzintis Gone Wild" Order now!


And don't forget Orion Slave Girls Gone Wild going "WHOO HOOO!!" and "YEEAAHH, PARTYYY"! Laughing

(Yes I listen to WAY too much Bob and Tom Cool)

J69
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leathernsteel
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Joined: 07 Jun 2011
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Location: Orlando, FL

PostPosted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 5:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm holding out for "Romulan girls play beach bingo" to go with my Romulan border boxed set! LMAO Laughing
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David
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Joined: 08 Nov 2009
Posts: 228
Location: Florida

PostPosted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 3:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krellex wrote:

And my local game store no longer carries ADB items, you have to special order them. They *do* have three FULL aisles loaded with Warhammer stuff, however. They cringed the last time I asked if myself and some friends could demo FedCom in their shop...


Why would they have any issue with someone doing a game demo in their shop? Seems like it would bring in potential new customers and generate sales for them and ADB. I'd think they'd be asking for people to come in and demo a game or even have a regular game ongoing.
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CarlZog
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Like irashaine, I think I'm a little unusual in that I've been gaming pretty actively for 35 years, but I only started playing SFB two years ago when I moved to a new town and joined a new game group that included an avid SFB player.

I had seen the game being played at conventions in the '80s, but frankly it was mostly tournament duels that looked pretty boring if you didn't understand what was going on. And the community of players at the time (at least where I was) was very insular, elitist and often downright rude. They were definitely not interested in teaching, sharing, or explaining. It was all kind of a turn-off and I never gave the game much more thought over the years.

But when I moved in 2012, I agreed to give it a try with my new group. I read the Cadet rules, and quickly discovered that this was THE game I had always been looking for:

-- Something complex and interesting enough that learning it was an ongoing element of the experience. I've got a hundred beer-and-pretzel games, I wanted something that was a challenge I could really dig into and feel some accomplishment in learning.

-- Something capable of creating a wide array of narrative-driven scenarios with diverse game experiences. I've grown bored to death of all the point-based squad-building games that have you facing off in the same endless frontal assault conflicts.

-- Something in a fictional setting that is completely realized and immersive enough that exploring the backstory for new game possibilities becomes a substantial part of the experience. You don't have to dig too far into most sci-fi and fantasy game settings before the plot holes and inconsistencies have you throwing up your hands in frustrated exasperation -- if you haven't already been bored to death by it.

-- Something with a stable, well-balanced track record I can rely on. I think this is the biggest reason people give up on games. There are one or more broken rules that can get leveraged in a way that you find the unbeatable strategy/force/technique, etc. And the publisher (trying to patch those holes and make an extra buck) keeps putting out new edition after new edition until the fatigue of it all chases players away.

I know I'm not alone in wanting these features in a game. I think that if properly introduced to it, there are legions of other newer, younger gamers also looking for a more challenging, immersive, reliable hobby experience who will fall in love with SFB and SFU in the same way I have.

So.. No. I am NOT worried about the future of Star Fleet Battles.
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David
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Location: Florida

PostPosted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 4:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've been thinking about approaching various stores that allow demos about building a larger FTF SFB group. We've got seven now and perhaps another one that is interested to start but 'the more the merrier'.
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Shadow Warrior
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Joined: 06 Nov 2012
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2014 5:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SFB pocket edition is the future. Seriously. My group, who all played avidly in the 90s had pretty much given up on SFB as too cumbersome. A couple of years agowhen the pocket edition was released in PDF we dug it out at a con and had a blast. We are old school so we didn't care it's not balanced, we just had fun with something where only 20 or so pages are actual rules.

We did the same thing this year with original pocket box Car Wars. So much more fun than the latter bloated versions.
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Sneaky Scot
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Joined: 11 Jan 2007
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Location: Tintern, Monmouthshire

PostPosted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 8:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I haven't played SFB in years, but I still buy all the stuff. Clearly mad, but who cares.

I used to run regular SFB tournaments at the RAF Wargaming Association in the Air & Space category and we used to have 6-10 players, but the thing with SFB is that all the detail makes it slow. Really slow. X-Wing is the big game in that category at the moment. I have run a few games of Fed Cdr (and managed to get it in a 4-game competition a few years ago with 1 round each of Fed Cdr, Silent Death, B5: ACTA and a homegrown WW2 aerial combat game) but haven't really been able to generate much interest since then. However, as my Klingon and Federation Fleets near completion, I will be taking Star Fleet: ACTA to our AGM in October and see how that goes as a demo.
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