Recession Bights

The Wargames Factory affair is turning into a Motorway pile up, no winners and lots of flaming wreckage.

The ousted Tony Reidy has posted a very angry open letter on The Miniatures Page, which has been repeated in various forums. You can read it here:
http://bit.ly/gcxubg

Meanwhile, George Sivy, Managing Director, Wargames Factory has put up his own notice here:
http://bit.ly/e7wPCz

It is worth reading as it invites people to write in for refunds or deliveries; apparently the records have gone missing with the change in management. Trying to sort out the management mess is a good step, essential to restore confidence if WF is to survive. Less impressive are threats of court action against people who, in the opinion of WF, make defamatory statements against WF or its agents: see below for quote.

"WEB POSTINGS AND FORUM ALLEGATIONS There is much misinformation as well as some serious allegations being circulated throughout cyberspace regarding the current state of affairs. As the new corporate manager of Wargames Factory, at the appropriate time, I will address all of the false and inaccurate statements and allegations that are being posted on the Wargames Factory website. There are more important and pressing operational matters to deal with right now without getting distracted or involved in a “mudslinging match” with previous management. Defamatory statements made about any individuals will be taken up with legal counsel and dealt with to the fullest extent allowed by law. "

That's a toothless threat, certainly to people who live outside of the USA or China. The wargaming community is so small that the people on these forums are also your customers guys.

I have freelanced in wargaming for more than thirty years. Wargaming has always been a cottage industry run by enthusiasts with minimal business sense who are woefully under-capitalised, selling to a tiny customer base that has fashion fads. The inevitable result is constant collapse. GW is a little unusual in its size, possibly bigger than all the other wargame companies put together, and the fact that it is really a toy company selling largely to kids through its own retail outlets, but even so it is a minnow in the corporate world.

There is another rumoured bankruptcy - Bastion, who make the Ex illis game. They had reinvented the idea of a mixed computer-miniatures game. This has been touted as original, but it isn't. The idea of using digital resolution of miniature and board games goes right back. I wtote an Apple II program for resolving fire of one of WRG's WWII grulesets back in the 70s. I never used it because (i) it took loner to resolve than rolling a dice and consulting a tableby the time you inputted the iformation (ii) the Apple and the wargame were never in the same room, and (iii) rolling dice was much more fun than pressing a button.

This concept has been reinvented constantly, e.g. DVD family board games, and it always fails.

Funnily enough, WF and Bastian are rumoured to share the same Chinese manufacturer, Ghost Studios. At this rate, they will own vast chunks of the independent wargames industry, all of it loss making. Best of British, chaps.