Star Wars Starship Minis, shortages?

[wingsandsword]

Okay, apologies if there is a better forum for this one, but I don't often post about minis.

If anybody is buying the new Star Wars: Starship Battles minis that went on sale Friday (friggin street dates, they were sitting in my FLGS for a week before then unable to sell them), are other stores having big shortages?

My FLGS said they only got 4 starter sets in, which only was enough to satisfy the people who preordered them, and they had a steady stream of people coming in yesterday and today looking for them and having to be turned away, and after setting preorders, they only had 6 booster boxes to put on the shelf (which didn't last very long).

The owner of the FLGS said that they got about 20% of what they ordered, and the problem is that apparently not even the distributor was getting what was requested from WotC (shades of scarcity from the CCG world).

Are people in other places seeing a big shortage of the starship minis? People unable to find starter sets, sharp shortages of boosters? FLGS's who are only getting small fractions of what they order and a vague promise that the rest will come in hopefully in time for Christmas?

 

[Wycen]

I could be wrong, but I don't recall seeing them available for sale at Gencon Socal this year, though they ran demos the whole time.

 

[Taren Nighteyes]

I think you may be right....

I order most of the stuff through Amazon.com (I buy some things at my FLGS, but bulk orders go through the cheapest place I can find - flame me if you feel so compelled )

Originally, Amazon said I would have my ship minis sometime around the first week in December, and now they've moved that back to the end of January. Big change - I'm guessing they aren't getting as many as they would like or there was a huge, unexpected demand and they need to get more supplies in stock.

I ordered two seperate shipments - 1 starter + 3 booster, and 6 boosters.

Needless to say, I can't wait

Taren Nighteyes

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

My FLGS had quite a few starters and boosters on hand when I stopped in this afternoon to pick some up. Then again, there may not have been a huge demand for them in my area.

Also, a friend of mine also orders a lot of her SW minis stuff thru Amazon, and had noted (and was griping) about the date being pushed back to January.

 

[crazy_cat]

There was a delay of about a month on the UK release of the Blood War DDM set as WOTC had to change the composition of the plastics used (as I understand it) to comply with some new EU regulations.

Is it possible the same changes, which I assume were made to all current and future DDM (and SWM) product runs have temporarily slowed down WOTC ability to produce minis at the rate that we as consumers demand?

If there is a problem with the current minis sets for DDM, SWM and SW Ships I'd expect it to be a temporary thing only.

That is of course assuming there is actually a problem (I'm resisting the urge to start buying SW Ships minis as well as all the other stuff I buy. ...must resist....mmmm..must...

 

[Gothmog]

Yep, there is a shortage. My FLGS ordered a huge number, having been tipped off that for some reason there would be a shortage, and got about 40% of what they ordered. I think they got a total of 20 starters, and 100 boosters. I bought a starter and two cases of boosters (for 30% off), and they still have lots left over although they are selling like crazy. If you want any of these, go to your FLGS and get them quick- ordering online will most likely result in long delays or not getting them!

 

[DragonLancer]

My store had no troubles getting the miniatures in. We had 6 starters (3 taken as far as I recall) and a dozen boosters (again half gone) at this time. We've not heard anything about shortages.

 

[Glyfair]

My understanding from other sources is that Lucasfilm was pushing hard for the game to be released before "Black Friday." Because of this, WotC wasn't really prepared for a full release and thus the shortages and allocations. Eventually more product will make it to the market.

 

[thalmin]

My understanding from other sources is that Lucasfilm was pushing hard for the game to be released before "Black Friday." Because of this, WotC wasn't really prepared for a full release and thus the shortages and allocations. Eventually more product will make it to the market.

According to the WotC 2006 September to December catalog, released last spring, the original release date was November 21.

Strictly rumor here, but I heard that they had trouble with the mold for the 2 exclusive ships in the starter. Not enough ships to make up the starters. I'm trying to confirm this story.

 

[Glyfair]

According to the WotC 2006 September to December catalog, released last spring, the original release date was November 21.

Strictly rumor here, but I heard that they had trouble with the mold for the 2 exclusive ships in the starter. Not enough ships to make up the starters. I'm trying to confirm this story.

It could be a combination. Originally scheduled for Nov 21st, then they had the problem causing a delay and they wanted to hold it back, Lucasfilm pushed for them to stick to the pre-Black Friday release.

My brother & I played our first game this evening. It took the contents of 1 starter & 3 boosters to end up with 2 300 pt. "standard" armies (the Light Side was under by about 15 pts. using all our pieces, the Dark Side had an extra 35 or so pts. of pieces to work with.