Incredible choices. I never noticed just how cool the spacey background of gates is until now. Wave crash, Amplify, and Era's End are auto-buys for me. The fourth is going to be a very tough decision.
These are great selections! Though I have to say I'm both happy yet also a little disappointed that you didn't go with an all bird-themed set of playmats😅
Love the look of those mats. Particularly that they aren't bogged down with grid lines etc. Also made us wonder, is there any chance of some sort of art book down the line? Would love to see that.
My wallet wasn't prepared 😬 Seeing the art on playmats is just wonderful. Ended up preordering 4 of them. 😅 Now hoping they do some playmats using the new art from the Red Rains expansions. Also I agree with Steven on Gates Thrown Open feeling divisive. I am loving it as a playmat and at the same time it has felt a little out of place with some of the other art in the game. Can't quite put a finger on it though.
When are you going to let other retailers carry ashes? you know that you 3 month exclusive deal prevents all retailers from carrying the games right? if you are going to be the sole supplier of the game the least you can do is make regular content and not just playmats so you can milk the game to death
Hey Mike! Clearly some misunderstandings here, which has led to the vitriol, so let me take a second to clarify. 1) Retailers carrying Ashes killed it the first time. The margins are not there to support an "every 3-4 months, $30 price point" LCG for the local retailers or the publishers. FFG had incredibly popular IPs and even that was not sufficient to create sustainability outside of the dedicated co-ops. We saw this first hand in our LGS, arguably the most LCG focused store in the country, if not the world. Any change to the way Ashes is distributed is not going to suddenly create hundreds of retailers going all in on supporting Ashes in lieu of Magic, Pokemon, YGO, Lorcana, Star Wars Unlimited, FAB, soon-to-be Altered, etc. -- the LGS is driven by retail sales, which is why Reborn didn't and couldn't happen through that pipeline. As huge fans of the LCG model, we certainly wish this was different. It won't change until the LGS profit incentive changes (profit generated primarily from providing space / hosting community instead of retail sales). 2) The way that Ashes works is a *mutually beneficial* agreement that PHG crafted *with* us. The way this works is hardly our sole decision, as you're framing it here. If you think PHG is doing something that is not in the best interest of Ashes, they disagree with you. Otherwise, things would change. Subscriber sales being at a certain level is the only way Ashes keeps getting made, which is the desire of PHG, us, and those who want new Ashes content. Moving a small percentage of current subscribers to retail buyers would make production of the game unsustainable given the difference in margin. 3) We printed playmats due to extensive interest brought up in our Discord and live streams. Keep in mind that we licensed the art, so PHG received a cut of those sales. We ended up slightly above "break even" on that effort, so if we're trying to "milk the game to death" we're definitely failing. Hope that helps! Always available via DM on Discord if you want to have an actual conversation. -Steven
@@teamcovenant First you have a 3 month exclusive to the new content, no retailer can carry the game if they wanted to that is a fact. You have avoided mentioning this in your entire reply. Second netrunner is about to come back to retail and thank the gods they did not agree to an exclusive with you guys. But lets go point by point “Retailers carrying Ashes killed it the first time” Retailers can not kill a game, that is literally impossible. Asmodee’s miss management or the game killed it among other factors. With net runner it was wizards (hasbro) that killed the game, they did not want it in production because competition is bad for them. “Any change to the way Ashes is distributed is not going to suddenly create hundreds of retailers” Zero retailers will carry the game if they can not stock the new releases the day they come out. So you are limiting the game's production for your own greed. YOU are stopping ALL retailers from carrying the game 100% The only question is how many retailers would need to commit to ordering the game for you to let go of your exclusive? I am willing to bet infinity, bc you don't give a shit about the game growing just making a little money off your exclusive deal that will never allow the game to grow “Subscriber sales being at a certain level is the only way Ashes keeps getting made, which is the desire of PHG, us, and those who want new Ashes content. Moving a small percentage of current subscribers to retail buyers would make production of the game unsustainable given the difference in margin.” Also total greed talking here as if you can not have subscribers and allow retailers to carry the product the day it ships out, the subscribers would not need to go away. But of course you act like they would have to go away since you would not be able to force all customers to go through you and you would end your subscriptions in pure spite. “The way that Ashes works is a mutually beneficial agreement that PHG crafted with us” Completely disabling retailers from carrying the product only benefits you, you're saying that what plaid hat would refuse to ship to retailers on day one if you said that is ok? That is nuts “We printed playmats due to extensive interest brought up in our Discord and live streams. Keep in mind that we licensed the art, so PHG received a cut of those sales. We ended up slightly above "break even" on that effort, so if we're trying to "milk the game to death" we're definitely failing.” Yup failing to make content, failing to promote the game that ONLY you can sell, letting it slowly die again But by all means, don’t take my word for it. Watch netrunner come back to retail spaces and return in a way you will prevent ashes from returning. It is super sad because ashes could come back with it when net runner does end of this year or start of 2025 Also if player driven production was not rooted to an exclusivity deal with TC it might actually work but instead it will make you guys some tiny bit of money and give people false hope. It could be exclusive for a few years but forever that is not helping anyone but you.
Really nice mats... very unique, but I would have liked a grid so that it helps new players... even if it was fainted grid.
Yeah, I only play on mats that have zones on them.
Oh, such a great idea! Please, do some more playmates, which you use at streams) Or with Star Wars)
Guys, you are amazing! Hope to meet you one day)
Incredible choices. I never noticed just how cool the spacey background of gates is until now. Wave crash, Amplify, and Era's End are auto-buys for me. The fourth is going to be a very tough decision.
These are great selections! Though I have to say I'm both happy yet also a little disappointed that you didn't go with an all bird-themed set of playmats😅
Why do i feel compelled to buy them all?!? Damn you Team Covenant!! Damn you!! ;) :P
I'm getting them all, even though I haven't found a game in years. 😅
Love the look of those mats. Particularly that they aren't bogged down with grid lines etc. Also made us wonder, is there any chance of some sort of art book down the line? Would love to see that.
Not sure if PHG has any plans for an art book, but we'd be 100% behind it!
My wallet wasn't prepared 😬 Seeing the art on playmats is just wonderful. Ended up preordering 4 of them. 😅
Now hoping they do some playmats using the new art from the Red Rains expansions.
Also I agree with Steven on Gates Thrown Open feeling divisive. I am loving it as a playmat and at the same time it has felt a little out of place with some of the other art in the game. Can't quite put a finger on it though.
Is there any way to get this in Europe?
Yes we ship worldwide. It'll just be expensive.
Do these ship to Canada?
Yes, we ship worldwide.
Bull-gate mat, accepted by the council of the internet.
But the breezy whale one is best.
When are you going to let other retailers carry ashes? you know that you 3 month exclusive deal prevents all retailers from carrying the games right? if you are going to be the sole supplier of the game the least you can do is make regular content and not just playmats so you can milk the game to death
Hey Mike! Clearly some misunderstandings here, which has led to the vitriol, so let me take a second to clarify.
1) Retailers carrying Ashes killed it the first time. The margins are not there to support an "every 3-4 months, $30 price point" LCG for the local retailers or the publishers. FFG had incredibly popular IPs and even that was not sufficient to create sustainability outside of the dedicated co-ops. We saw this first hand in our LGS, arguably the most LCG focused store in the country, if not the world. Any change to the way Ashes is distributed is not going to suddenly create hundreds of retailers going all in on supporting Ashes in lieu of Magic, Pokemon, YGO, Lorcana, Star Wars Unlimited, FAB, soon-to-be Altered, etc. -- the LGS is driven by retail sales, which is why Reborn didn't and couldn't happen through that pipeline.
As huge fans of the LCG model, we certainly wish this was different. It won't change until the LGS profit incentive changes (profit generated primarily from providing space / hosting community instead of retail sales).
2) The way that Ashes works is a *mutually beneficial* agreement that PHG crafted *with* us. The way this works is hardly our sole decision, as you're framing it here. If you think PHG is doing something that is not in the best interest of Ashes, they disagree with you. Otherwise, things would change.
Subscriber sales being at a certain level is the only way Ashes keeps getting made, which is the desire of PHG, us, and those who want new Ashes content. Moving a small percentage of current subscribers to retail buyers would make production of the game unsustainable given the difference in margin.
3) We printed playmats due to extensive interest brought up in our Discord and live streams. Keep in mind that we licensed the art, so PHG received a cut of those sales. We ended up slightly above "break even" on that effort, so if we're trying to "milk the game to death" we're definitely failing.
Hope that helps! Always available via DM on Discord if you want to have an actual conversation. -Steven
@@teamcovenant First you have a 3 month exclusive to the new content, no retailer can carry the game if they wanted to that is a fact. You have avoided mentioning this in your entire reply.
Second netrunner is about to come back to retail and thank the gods they did not agree to an exclusive with you guys.
But lets go point by point
“Retailers carrying Ashes killed it the first time”
Retailers can not kill a game, that is literally impossible. Asmodee’s miss management or the game killed it among other factors. With net runner it was wizards (hasbro) that killed the game, they did not want it in production because competition is bad for them.
“Any change to the way Ashes is distributed is not going to suddenly create hundreds of retailers”
Zero retailers will carry the game if they can not stock the new releases the day they come out. So you are limiting the game's production for your own greed.
YOU are stopping ALL retailers from carrying the game 100%
The only question is how many retailers would need to commit to ordering the game for you to let go of your exclusive?
I am willing to bet infinity, bc you don't give a shit about the game growing just making a little money off your exclusive deal that will never allow the game to grow
“Subscriber sales being at a certain level is the only way Ashes keeps getting made, which is the desire of PHG, us, and those who want new Ashes content. Moving a small percentage of current subscribers to retail buyers would make production of the game unsustainable given the difference in margin.”
Also total greed talking here as if you can not have subscribers and allow retailers to carry the product the day it ships out, the subscribers would not need to go away. But of course you act like they would have to go away since you would not be able to force all customers to go through you and you would end your subscriptions in pure spite.
“The way that Ashes works is a mutually beneficial agreement that PHG crafted with us”
Completely disabling retailers from carrying the product only benefits you, you're saying that what plaid hat would refuse to ship to retailers on day one if you said that is ok? That is nuts
“We printed playmats due to extensive interest brought up in our Discord and live streams. Keep in mind that we licensed the art, so PHG received a cut of those sales. We ended up slightly above "break even" on that effort, so if we're trying to "milk the game to death" we're definitely failing.”
Yup failing to make content, failing to promote the game that ONLY you can sell, letting it slowly die again
But by all means, don’t take my word for it. Watch netrunner come back to retail spaces and return in a way you will prevent ashes from returning.
It is super sad because ashes could come back with it when net runner does end of this year or start of 2025
Also if player driven production was not rooted to an exclusivity deal with TC it might actually work but instead it will make you guys some tiny bit of money and give people false hope.
It could be exclusive for a few years but forever that is not helping anyone but you.
Bull-gate mat, accepted by the council of the internet.