CmdrKiley | 22 Feb 2010 12:59 p.m. PST |
Ok, what was the biggest disapointment you had once you busted open that box or cracked open that book. What was promised that convinced you to buy it and what failed to deliver. My biggest disapointment was Warzone: Ultimate Edition by Excelsior Entertainment. I was big fan of Warzone and Mutant Chronicles and couldn't wait for the new 3rd edition to come out. Heard nothing but great stuff about it what it was going to have and cover. It was going to cover the all the factions in one book and cover every single model that was made and add some new ones. The book was going to be expensive but compared to buying individual codexes for each faction it was well worth it. OK, I get the book and start reading through it and quickly find it to be the worst edited book I've ever paid money for. The mechanics seemed solid, the factions seem more pretty balanced (aside from maybe a specific unit or two)than the previous versions and there were tons of things to do. However there were some gross mistakes in some of the stats, as there was a 12 page FAQ and Errata issued the same day the book hit the shelves, and some areas of fluff were completely unedited (complete with crossed out material and repeated paragraphs). Artwork was mostly cut and pasted from existing artwork, some of it so dark it looked like it was photocopied on a B&W machine. The thickness of the book lent it falling apart within a week of use. Overall, I still love Ultimate Warzone and even play it from time to time. I just found the production quality so sub-standard. My friends shared this opinion and those were the one's that I convinced to play after trying the mechanics. Looking at the rulebook alone they would not have touched it without trying out a game with me first. I maintained being a fan, and promoted the game at my FLGS. But time after time was disapointment after disapointment with model releases being infrequent and covered in ridiculous amounts of flash and some of the new sculpts being really -poor. Out of all the games I own, some are probably worse and I've played less, but the amount of disapointment just after cracking open that new book is probably the most memorable. So what is your big disapointment and why? |
Gathrawn50 | 22 Feb 2010 1:13 p.m. PST |
Munchkin, any version. You pay $25 USD and you get two decks of extremely flimsy cards with mediocre artwork in an oversized box. The game is fun with the right people, but I just felt very cheated when I opened it. I still whince when I see it on the shelf. Mongo |
Thomas Whitten | 22 Feb 2010 1:20 p.m. PST |
Fantasy Flight World of Warcraft. Basically it felt like Fantasy Accountant. |
skinkmasterreturns | 22 Feb 2010 1:32 p.m. PST |
Nothing. I have such little spending money for my hobby that I have read reviews on/talked to a present owner or eyeballed 20,000 times before I really bought it.Well,the only exception to that rule was BlackPowder,because the price was so cheap at Christmas,but I can hardly say I'm disappointed. |
Captain Apathy | 22 Feb 2010 2:12 p.m. PST |
Traveller 4th edition. It had similar problems to the Warzone Ultimate edition in that it was poorly edited and a total mess. If I remember correctly, the number of pages of errata actually exceeded the number of pages in the actual rulebook. |
Swampster | 22 Feb 2010 2:15 p.m. PST |
Talking of Traveller, the last couple of things done by GDW. Understandably they were scrimping on quality as they were short of money, but the content wasn't up to their usual standards either. |
ming31 | 22 Feb 2010 2:15 p.m. PST |
Battle tech
The second edition Great cover the promise of cool combat . never lived up . Cold navy first releases
.the caster should be flogged then beaten with a wooden stick. |
victor0leto | 22 Feb 2010 2:16 p.m. PST |
D&D 4.0 (WoW off-line) Dungeon Masters Guide. The inside might just as well had only this "Hey! We don't really know what's going on with the game anymore, so if you're the DM, well, uh GOOD LUCK!, Oh and please buy more miniatures – they have even more cards included with them, so that means there is even less of a reason for you to be reading this. |
basileus66 | 22 Feb 2010 2:21 p.m. PST |
My biggest dissapointment: British Zulu Wars and Roman Infantry from Wargames Factory. Once I opened the box I decided to give them away to a charity ASAP! |
John Leahy | 22 Feb 2010 2:35 p.m. PST |
I agree about Ultimate Warzone. There were major delays which didn't help. Expectations were pretty high. However, the mechanics were close to 1st and I thought they were good. Problems enter though. Poor or no editing made erratta pretty substantial. Poor graphics and restructuring of the army lists combined with the other problems made it a no go for me. I wish that a light version of JUST the core rules had been released. Excelsior made so many poor decisions and promises they couldn't keep that the relaunch had a very tough row to hoe. Thanks, John |
doug redshirt | 22 Feb 2010 2:43 p.m. PST |
That would have to be Fields of Glory. I thought it would be the next great thing. Wished I had my money back now. Hopefully someone buys my copy at the convention this weekend. |
Hexxenhammer | 22 Feb 2010 2:51 p.m. PST |
D&D 4.0 (WoW off-line) Dungeon Masters Guide. Wow. Don't want to get into a back and forth, but I believe it's the first DMG to really show someone how to DM from the ground up, from catering to player types, to story structure, to mixing combat and non-combat encounters. Just last night I kicked out a 10 encounter adventure in about an hour just following it along. It's my favorite DMG ever, and I was a total 3rd edition Monte Cook fanboy. Mine would be the Privateer Press Iron Kingdoms d20 system books. Seems like they barely knew the rules when they wrote the material, which may well have been the case. They do much better with their own rules. |
Major Mike | 22 Feb 2010 3:01 p.m. PST |
I loved Squad Leader when released by AH. It was played by many and all my friends that gamed liked the game. Cross of Iron was greated as an improvement of the game as it tweeked the armor rules and most were happy when Cresendo of Doom arrived with the updated French and British. GI, Anvil of Victory by AH was another matter. It had seemed like ages that its release had been anticipated. Ordered it sight unseen directly from AH, just waiting for the opportunity to deploy Italians and Americans to fight the other forces that had come in Cresendo of Doom and Cross of Iron. I was appalled to find the game was mostly, throw away all counters from previous editions and replace with these, no Italians, and many changes to the rules. After a playing of a game of Advanced Squad Leader, I sold off all of my Squad Leader games as it had been changed into what I felt was an unplayable stinking pile of gimmicky rules. |
DColtman | 22 Feb 2010 3:06 p.m. PST |
War of the Ring (GW) & Napoleon (Foundry) both for lack of playtesting and rushed to print before the bugs and loopholes should have been worked out. |
Parzival | 22 Feb 2010 3:09 p.m. PST |
Descent: Journey into the Dark. The sculpts are great, and I like the idea, but the tiles are not what they could have been in terms of artwork, and most of the "heroes" are needlessly grotesque and borderline "evil" in depiction, for no reason having anything to do with gameplay. This may not bother some, but for me it limits the game's interest— I like my heroes to be at least "heroic," if not "noble"— and stops it from being a game I can introduce to my more casual gaming friends, who simply aren't drawn to the dystopic, dark hero stuff. And while certain elements of the game mechanics are good, it seems heavily weighted in favor of the Overlord— though that could be just because the rules are unclear. (Can the Overlord generate new monsters in areas that have already been cleared and explored but are merely out of sight? The rules certainly seem to allow it, which leads to inevitable slaughter for the players
) It would also have been nice to see a dungeon crawl design that was "self run" so that one person could play, or the players could all just be heroes with the monsters "automated" by the game mechanics. But I knew it wasn't that going in, so that's not really a "disappointment." I may yet find someone to play this game with that will move it up in my estimation once I have some game time with it. Yes, there are other games that I have found truly unplayable or disappointing (Avalon Hill, I'm looking at you), but this is the only one I've paid $70 USD for and had that reaction, so it's at the top of the list. |
aecurtis | 22 Feb 2010 3:21 p.m. PST |
"My biggest dissapointment: British Zulu Wars and Roman Infantry from Wargames Factory. Once I opened the box I decided to give them away to a charity ASAP!" Was that charitable? Allen |
darthfozzywig | 22 Feb 2010 3:39 p.m. PST |
Hmm, so hard to narrow it down to just one. Most Mongoose products? I believe it's the first DMG to really show someone how to DM from the ground up Quoted for truth, and I've still got my D&D books from the pre-AD&D days to prove it. |
Altius | 22 Feb 2010 3:41 p.m. PST |
When I was 8, I found a full-page ad in the back of a comic book offering "100 TOY SOLDIERS FOR A DOLLAR!" The full color picture showed a massive, action-packed amphibious assault that made Omaha Beach look paltry by comparison. I begged my mum for the money, then spent the next 4-6 weeks watching the mail every day till they arrived. They finally showed up packed in a box that was roughly the size of a postcard but slightly thicker. The plastic soldiers were made from very thin, flat plastic and looked horrible. No bunkers, no tanks, one cheap-ass flat plastic jet. No action-packed anything. I pretended to my brother that it was exactly what I wanted, but he and I both knew the truth. I learned a very important lesson that day. |
richarDISNEY | 22 Feb 2010 3:48 p.m. PST |
4.0 D&D
all of it
Aces & Eights RPG
Talk about a whirl wind of a ruleset. RoadKill by West Wind
Nuttin' but errors and unplayable rules
Arkham Horror
I really didn't want a 6 hour board game
|
Space Monkey | 22 Feb 2010 3:53 p.m. PST |
Great story MeroMero, I've always wondered what was REALLY on offer in those ads
On the other hand, the 7 dollar 'Polaris submarine' looks like it might have been fun
picture picture |
Stagger Lee | 22 Feb 2010 4:31 p.m. PST |
Ah the comic book toys how I loved those sets!! You should check out this link and scroll down to the bottom for links for all the sets featured in comics back in the day. I had the Atlantic set link but REALLY wanted the Astroforce set link |
Murphy | 22 Feb 2010 5:30 p.m. PST |
Well I'd like to say "D&D's Unearthed Arcana" because I do not know of one book that didn't have the first 20 pages literally fall out when the book was opened for the first time
But right now I would have to say D&D 4.0
I've heard enough "BAD" about it, to say that I really don't want to try it
|
CPBelt | 22 Feb 2010 5:35 p.m. PST |
Arkham Horror
I really didn't want a 6 hour board game
Dude, I love that game! My son got it for Xmas this year. Bumped Runebound off its perch. |
Ken Portner | 22 Feb 2010 5:35 p.m. PST |
I'll second anything by Mongoose Publishing. |
Doctor X | 22 Feb 2010 5:39 p.m. PST |
|
Sterling Moose | 22 Feb 2010 6:08 p.m. PST |
The boardgame 'Maul of America'. Huge box containing about $2 USD of flimsy card and a few plastic tokens. Shame I bought it mail order so couldn't take it back to the store and exchange it!! |
McWong73 | 22 Feb 2010 6:34 p.m. PST |
I'll be honest, Field of Glory was a dissapointment (and the Far Eastern army list book outright bad) in that I was expecting something fresh and new in terms of game mechanics. Still a game with merit, but it wasn't what I was expecting. Zombies the boardgame came highly recommended by a friend, but it's a very long, long game that goes nowhere until the final twenty minutes. |
Privateer4hire | 22 Feb 2010 6:56 p.m. PST |
GW's War of the Ring also makes my top list. In some places, they might as well say 'put models on table and you and your friend agree what happens between your armies in as friendly a matter as possible. Roll dice if you want or don't." A lot of potential shot to poo. |
Wargamer Blue | 23 Feb 2010 5:01 a.m. PST |
Quality Castings 15mm infantry. |
victor0leto | 23 Feb 2010 7:16 a.m. PST |
As far as most recent purchases go, and I am sad to say this, but the Paizo Pathfinder GM screen was a bit dissapointing. It has good information, is very durable, but for some reason they decided to make it fold in the "old-school" style (11" high instead of 8.5" high. I had become so comfortable with Wizards of the Coast's low DM screen design that I really don't want to go back to the old style. |
Captain Apathy | 23 Feb 2010 2:38 p.m. PST |
OH!!! I almost forgot about two games from Ernest Hams Kabal Gaming Systems. They were KABAL (Knights and Berserkers and Legerdemain) and M.I.S.S.I.O.N. an odd espionage game. I played both of these with the author who was both nice and condescending at the same time. On the plus side, one of the funniest gaming experiences from my early game life came from this same exchange. KABAL was so bad it made the list of "Worst RPGs ever" as a runner up. link |
Dave Knight | 05 Mar 2010 2:17 p.m. PST |
Forlorn Hope 3rd ed by a country mile. It was promoted as coming soon in mid 2000 I think. Anyway it was finally launched about a year later and the rules were exactly the same as 2nd ed. They look much prettier but the rules were exactly the same as 2nd ed. Some nice colour flags and a couple of scenarios but the rules were exactly the same as 2nd ed. The army lists had been tweaked a little bit, I wouldn't say improved, but the rules were exactly the same as 2nd ed. I was happy with my copy of 2n ed Forlorn Hope and had some very good games usng them. I spent something like £20.00 GBP to get a new improved set (after a wait of about a year)and you know whst? THE RULES WERE EXACTLY THE SAME AS FORLORN HOPE 2ND ED. |
Oh Bugger | 05 Mar 2010 2:56 p.m. PST |
Stagger Lee thanks a million for the link. I remember drooling over those adds. Eventually I badgered an aunt to get me some when she went to New York to visit relatives. She went to Macey's instead and came back with some nice plastic GIs – but I wanted the stuff from the comics! You brought back some very fond memories so thanks. |
Last Hussar | 06 Mar 2010 8:16 p.m. PST |
Not saying, as I am a big fan of the company's other products, and don't want to put people off them. |
KenofYork | 06 Mar 2010 8:56 p.m. PST |
Chipco 3rd edition, only because I had invested so much time getting people to play 2nd edition at my local store. It died at once when released as PDF. Tide of Iron, Twilight Imperium 3rd edition and Tannhauser. FFG has these huge boxes of goodies but I find the game play leaves me flat. I liked Advanced Squad Leader though
|
Goldwyrm | 07 Mar 2010 10:20 a.m. PST |
4.0 D&D
all of it
Most of it. While, I agree with Hexxenhammer's points on the information about DM-ing, it's still at the top of my list of disappointing gaming products I've purchased. I tried the game for about 6 months. It's the only RPG I've ever owned where I've tried it and quickly sold off the books. The core books had no redeeming value for me even as generic game material. |
(I make fun of others) | 12 Mar 2010 10:03 a.m. PST |
Stagger Lee what a walk down memory lane! I laughed and laughed when I read the article about the "TANK TRAP" set -- yes, foolish little boy that I was, I learned a valuable lesson in marketing from that set! The infamous exploding tanks! I don't know what I expected, but with great excitement I was telling my sisters all about how blue enemy-looking tanks would somehow just blow to pieces, and my older sister said, "well, what do you think is going to happen? Do you think these tanks are really going to blow up, with a boom and all?" A disturbing dose of reality, but I simply wrote her off as a non-believer until the package came and proved her cynicism was right on the money! Two pathetic little pieces of rectangular plastic, held together by a rubber band? This was the exploding tank? picture The art was so great though, it had me terrifically excited (mine was the bottom image). picture I really thought, young rube that I was, that I was going to get stuff that looked like the stuff in the image -- I mean, how could they show one thing, and send another? Right? Right? |
billthecat | 17 Mar 2010 11:43 p.m. PST |
So many
. Ah well "ooh shiny" will always plauge us I suppose. So many things done "almost good" that is so frustrating. For me, D&D 3.0
Yuck. Caught on real fast and didn't bother with any further D&D stuff from WOC. And W40k 3RD ED
What a shame, what a shame. But rules are easily written, right? It's the boxed games with integral components that leave us most jaded I would assume. Parzival: I am glad that someone else feels the same way I do about the Descent heros, kept me from buying the game and serves no purpose (aside from the obvious
) Why oh why, with all the niche-market demand, doesn't someone produce a decent warhammer-quest and/or spacehulk (not special rip-u-off-limited-edition) fascimile. Doom and Descent came close and there have been lots of half hearted attempts but nobody seems to really 'get it'
automatic sales. |
billthecat | 17 Mar 2010 11:45 p.m. PST |
Maybe a counter thread entitled "best/favorite find" is in order now
? |
Scorpio | 01 Apr 2010 12:17 p.m. PST |
It would be equally pointless. |
Timmo uk | 04 Apr 2010 7:51 a.m. PST |
Series Two Wings of War WW1. Series one were great. My set of S2 arrived and I sent them all straight back and got a refund. They were dreadful. Decals missing, broken models, some terrible hand paint jobs to mask missing decals. I don't know if I got sent all the duds but ever since I've been pretty careful in buying WoW models. |
Rudysnelson | 04 Apr 2010 9:04 a.m. PST |
Timmo Uk. That is scarey about the WoW models being full of rejectes. I have sold over several 100 and I have never had one brought back because of broken parts. Now I am wondering if I need to cehck them more closely but that is hard to do without openning the box. Thanks for the alert. |
Marc the plastics fan | 06 Apr 2010 9:23 a.m. PST |
Warrior Miniatures Napoleonic army sets. I bought these late 70's/very early 80's – thin, spindly, poorly proportioned, miscast, dreadfully made cavalry etc etc. But this was pre internet browsing. But better yet – they are still available! Are people still buying these? And if so, why? |
Farstar | 19 Apr 2010 11:29 a.m. PST |
Lots of good(?) contenders so far. While I agree with the general Mongoose opinion, Marc Miller's Traveller (aka T4), Fields of Glory, and D&D 4th, I'm not sure any of them rank as Most Disappointing for me. |
wminsing | 20 Apr 2010 11:09 a.m. PST |
Wow, I guess I am pretty lucky- I can't recall any gaming product in particular that I felt was *really* disappointing. Some stuff I haven't gotten to use as much as I like, and some stuff I think could have been improved, but nothing I would definitely want my money back on. But then I try to live with modest expectations. Computer hardware and other stuff though
. I have some stories about that. -Will |
20thmaine | 10 May 2010 5:46 a.m. PST |
Firstly – I am abolutely NOT talking about anyone currently selling Jacklex figures. These were OOP for a while and then, I guess about 20 years ago became available again (for a very short while). At the time 20mm plastics were still fairly limited in number so I sent off an order for ACW cavalry, dreaming of the beautiful figures I'd wanted for years. Oh they joy when the box arrived – at laast after all these years I had some jacklex figures of my own ! Oh the dissapointment at the lumpen misshaped miscast flash covered figures I found in the box. I stuffed them in the cupboard and have never looked at them again. Just to repeat – I have no no reason to believe that the people making them NOW are producing anything other than a quality product. |
20thmaine | 10 May 2010 3:48 p.m. PST |
Warrior Miniatures Napoleonic army sets. I bought these late 70's/very early 80's – thin, spindly, poorly proportioned, miscast, dreadfully made cavalry etc etc. But this was pre internet browsing.But better yet – they are still available! Are people still buying these? And if so, why?
Because they are very, very, very cheap. nd, Warrior paint up quite nicelky for such basic figures. Although I don't have the napoleonics |
Rudysnelson | 11 May 2010 9:11 a.m. PST |
Well for me it is a tie. Sadly both are my products. Back in 1984, a company Xeno games asked me for the right to republish 'Guard du Corps'. Since I had just finished a quick play tournament system and added seperate balanced tournament army lists, I said yes. Communication were poor between us and I was not allowed to proof the final version due to product release times. I actually did not see a copy until it had been on the market about six weeks. Pre-email days so the letters I began to get could not be addressed as I did not have a copy. As soon as I openned it I knew I was in trouble. The artowrk was American Civil War and not Napoleonics!!! Charts were incomplete, sections left out, etc. The second disappointment was also released by Xeno games. It was Emporers of Europe. Most of these issues were production issues. The game had been designed for use with plastic pieces (Fortress America/ Samurai Blades were popular then). But the poeces were changed to stand up cardboard. So it lost a lot of appeal. The scenarios were for Napoleonics and Seven Years War but the counteres had bicornes which did not fit either era.Mapboard colors were heavy which caused them to be too dark. A minor disappointment was the second edition of Induanas Colonel and Emirs published by Modelers mart. Some of the QR cahrts were had section omitted but fortunately correct charts were in the rules. The big disappointment was that they left out four pages of army lists including the popular Boxer lists. |