Credit where credit is due.

[grendeljd]

That's cool.

I came to despise Palladium, but I never despised his art.

Before I went off to Sheridan, you used to say my drawings reminded you of Kevin Long's stuff.

I remember being really impressed that he did art for LoS** - I liked that painting for the blue box edition, all the action is awesome. I only ever wondered about it being set outdoors considering it was for the indoor rules, but all that action would have been tough to include in a small hallway scene.

**not to say that I thought Global Games was small potatoes or anything, but to attract essentially a famous name in RPG illustrations at the time was pretty cool.

[bobloblah]

I always liked Kevin Long's art; Rifts RPG was the first place I saw it. I recognized the style instantly on the Blue Box cover. I was far more surprised by the resemblance of Coalition Skelebots (from Rifts) to the Machine Nightmares. I'd played Rifts off and on for a few years, but I didn't discover Legions of Steel until a few years ago. I know there are only so many ways to skin a robotic skeleton, so to speak, but still...

[Nukelavee]

I ended up being the "main" artist dealing with Kevin Long when he did the box art, discussing designs and details.

Because we had sent himso much material...I had to admit that i had totally ripped off his style (that amazing black and white robotech style), for several of the illustrations in the books.

Dude actually said he was flattered i had done so.

THAT is a truly great guy.

[Clark]

At the time of the Blue Box there was still money in the kitty so I guess Marco figured a "name" artist was the next marketing ploy since everything else we tried had not resulted in a breakout for the game. 

But I think that Sean and Tom were just getting their groove. There's not much you can criticize about the Planetstorm cover: it looks top-notch professional. Meanwhile, the line art from everyone was getting more polished.

Aside from the obvious self-interest, a breakout for LOS would have meant that Global could have paid the artists what they were worth as well as putting them on the map to be in demand by other companies.

[smokingwreckage]

I just get the feeling that getting anywhere in miniatures takes a long, long time. I think LOS was possibly the only background/ miniatures mixing some space-opera with a very hard sci-fi aesthetic. Even looking around now, there's a half-dozen GW knock-offs and one or two Japanimation inspired visual themes. Not much that combines powered armour with a western realism aesthetic.

[Clark]

GW had a 15 year head start on Global Games.  Warhammer, 40k and Space Hulk predated LOS by 10, 6 and 4 years respectively. Those were huge gaps to overcome at the time. Now it is even worse so a new approach is needed.

[smokingwreckage]

I have been part of a struggling family business for some years now. It's hardly related at all, but philosophically I'd say there are two ways of looking at business, although since my background is farming, both are conservative:

1. Play to your strengths. Find out everything that LOS did or can do that provide some sort of advantage in player's headspace or the marketplace. Then do that.

2. Lowest cost = best margin, lowest cost = lowest risk.

3. If you can find a way to do both, you win.

I'm not trying to tell you how or what to do, of course! If I come off as opinionated it's because this is an area I find fascinating. To me, business and war are the two unquestionable testing-grounds of philosophy; moral issues aside, if you succeed, you were right. If not, you were wrong.

[Clark]

To me, business and war are the two unquestionable testing-grounds of philosophy; moral issues aside, if you succeed, you were right. If not, you were wrong.

Battle is the only valid test.
Victory is the only valid result.

[Nukelavee]

Well, so far as not breaking out went...

The rack deal was supposed to help get people in different area's playing, and then running demo's to atact more people, basically, seeding North America. 

Where the rack deal went sour was...(and Clark knows teh numbers far better than I)... we had a basic number of packages we needed to sell to break even, Clark also had a number that was "optimal", and then there was "whoot" numbers.

We actually pretty much hit the optimal number of packages sold.  The problem was the unsold packages, the returned ones - we shipped SO many we were into the "WHOOT" level of sales...but, we had to produce a lot of components we hadn't planned for to meet the demand for orders.  So we paid for (literally) tons of components we didn't really need, that basically somebody stored for 3 months and shipped back.  We had basic sets in stock forever, but now cash was tied up, meaning new releases to keep interest got pushed back.

Inferno, as well as it did do, and as much fun as i had working onand playing it, just further diluted the time we had to keep LoS fresh.

[Clark]

I can't remember the specific numbers but Wes basically summed it up. The initial orders we got exceeded all expectations, but so did the returns. I really can't fathom it because Rack Deal was a well put together piece of merchandising. The retailer just had to pull it out of the box, fill up tge rack and it looked awesome. We gave wicked terms with a money back guarantee. But why the hell would you not set it up to see how it sold?

While it was time for a revised box, the Blue Box was the result of all those returned rack deals.  Global wasn't in a position to simply re-release the basic set in a different box because we had too much inventory and no money to make thousands of Nightmares, Commandos, and Mk Is. So Behemoths, Recce Commandos, Succubots, Predators and Gremlins got tossed in for more variety for the players as well as our inventory usage. 

The Blue Box allowed Global to weather the Rack Deal fiasco.  As far as I know it was the triple kick from Star Wars (West End's bankruptcy),  Inferno (the Europeans not paying) and the X-Game that took out Global. I was in Vancouver by that time so Tom and Wes probably know better than me.

[Nukelavee]

Omg.  yeah. 

Had West End not gone tits up, Global had the rights to produce all figures and rules for a miniatures game for Star Wars.

Like, 2 years before Phantom Menace came out.

The Europeans were...I dunno, Marco dealt with them.

And, **** the X-Game.  **** it right up it's paranormal ass!

[sergeant_hastp]

What is the X-Game?

[smokingwreckage]

Wasn't it an Xfiles FLAVOURED trivia game with Questions on paranormal, religious, and odd history topics?

Oh dear merciful crap, to have Star Wars right in your grasp and then snatched away!! That is the personification of cruelty!

[Clark]

The X-Game was Trivial Pursuit-ish with the question categories being something like religion, parapsychology, something-something-something. 

[grendeljd]

Omg.  yeah. 

Had West End not gone tits up, Global had the rights to produce all figures and rules for a miniatures game for Star Wars.

Like, 2 years before Phantom Menace came out.

My god , that would have been an awesome boost for you guys. And there would have been some pretty sweet fig's come out of it, I am sure.

And, **** the X-Game.  **** it right up it's paranormal ass!

LOL - I had never heard of the x-game, I am guessing it never made it past conceptual stage?