Swordpoint going forward

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Robin
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2016 10:31 pm

Swordpoint going forward

Postby Robin » Sun Oct 08, 2017 7:43 pm

Hi Guys.
Just come back from my first Swordpoint competition at Derby. Had great fun. Enjoy the rules. A few points. I think Gripping Beast nead to promoted Swordpoint a little more. The ancients scene at the moment is very fragmented with lots of different rules covering the ancient period. I think there is an opportunity for GB to make Swordpoint as popular as SAGA. The rule book will need eventually to be 're written. It IMO needs to be done in the same style as the SAGA books. People will pay the money for a good product. The current books are falling apart already. The rules need to be adjusted with things made clearer. It's painfull to be trolling through the book trying to figure out a rule that's covered on 3 or 4 different pages or not covered all.
Also I think GB would have been better to have had a stand adjacent to the 3 rows of SAGA and Swordpoint competitions. Promoting both sets of rules. I would have bought figures from them if they had been there. I also suggest that GB consider doing Swordpoint starter armies which can be added to just the same as SAGA. One last thing I'm sure there's a market for various markers/Tokens.
Please don't take this as criticism. Just trying to offer a punters view of what could become a great set of rules.
Ps sorry one last thing I think the end scoring needs looking at and made simpler, I suggest that players supply own terrain for competition play so they can have terrain as per the scenarios.

MartinG
Posts: 926
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2016 8:48 am

Re: Swordpoint going forward

Postby MartinG » Mon Oct 09, 2017 12:13 pm

Hi Robin,

Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you enjoyed it, which is the whole point.
I don't think it was possible to have a stall at the end of the playing area, it is usually too difficult for the organisers. (I didn't see the set up at Lutterworth I admit). We were represented at the show by Ainsty Castings, who had our SAGA stock and Swordpoint books.
We are in the process of producing some starter armies from our plastics range, and a few complete ones. We are also bringing our classical ranges back into production as soon as we can. There will also be some videos, as soon as we overcome our embarrassing problems with the camera we have bought!
Tournament organisers set their own rules on terrain and scoring but I don't see why there could not be an agreed "normal" set if people want to develop them.
We will reprint the rulebook when we run out of copies and will then update it with errata and any other changes that seem beneficial. Rule writing is a tricky business, as one man's clear as glass is another's clear as mud. If you would like to let me have examples of areas you think are badly or confusingly covered, we will be pleased to look at them. Sometimes we have to fit things into space available though.
Hope to catch up with you at a tournament-perhaps Reading?
"No one ever achieved anything without making a few mistakes along the way"

Robin
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2016 10:31 pm

Re: Swordpoint going forward

Postby Robin » Mon Oct 09, 2017 2:46 pm

Hi Martin. Yep will be at Warfare. Hopefully will be able to go to Swindon as well. The trade stand suggestion was really me thinking of how you could promote Swordpoint at shows. I organise the Flames of War competition at Devizes. Up until a couple of years ago it was always adjacent to a company stand called Stafford Games. They carried large stocks of Flames of War blisters. Because he was right next to the Flames comp he always sold well and it created a lot of interest from the public. I understand you have no control over where your stand is placed at shows. Just an idea for Warfare as these comps are normally stretched over a length or two of tables, if you had the SAGA and Swordpoint comps adjacent to each other there would almost certainly be a spare table that you could stick a big Swordpoint/SAGA banner on with a collection of rule books to catch the eye, especially if one of the official umpires was a GB man. There are always a number of people that have a nose and your man could then snaffle them up and sell them the rules LOL. Sorry just the Estate Agent in me coming out LOL. IMO I think you need to promote Swordpoint the same as SAGA. Hard back books. I know its more expensive but would be cheaper in the long run for the punter as the paperbacks are falling apart already. I see Swordpoint as the step up from SAGA. To me SAGA is a basic Skirmish game which I did for a couple of years but I just prefer BIG battles. I think you could be on to a winner but you need to market it properly. Ancients is very fragmented at the moment with a lot of potential punters out there. You just need to go get them. I mentioned starter sets same as SAGA. Somebody commented that the problem is everybody's idea of an army is very different which is fair enough. If you don't do boxed basic starter sets, you could pinch an old Wargames Foundary idea where they had army deals ie x number of blisters/box sets for x price that way people could mix and match there army composition. One last thing for now, Wayne did a great job at Derby. A really nice helpful chap.

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Wayne Richards
Posts: 470
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2016 4:44 pm

Re: Swordpoint going forward

Postby Wayne Richards » Tue Oct 10, 2017 2:27 pm

Cheques in the post Robin 😊

Unfortunately for warfare you don’t have any say in where you get plonked, that’s down to the reading comps organiser. There are comps in the bowling hall, some in the squash courts and some upstairs in the dance studio. I’ll try and find out where we will be in advance but don’t have any sway since I’ve retired from the committee. Cheers W.

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Nikephorous
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2017 9:45 pm
Location: Invercargill, New Zealand

Re: Swordpoint going forward

Postby Nikephorous » Sat Oct 14, 2017 4:35 am

Hopefully will be able to go to Swindon as well.

That really is not something overheard very often.

:D

John
So who decided that a 1 was bad and a 6 good anyway?


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