"Spartan Games Is Closed" Topic

:-(

link

Not entirely surprised. They had some nice minis and all but, I know sales have been on a downhill slide for at least a couple of years.

The miniatures they produced were outstanding, but probably had too much in the way of inventory to keep track of and produce.

I was never a big fan of their rules, but always loved the figures. I loaded up on them when there was a big sale a few years back.

Not sure how many Kickstarters they did, but that seems to be the way to go these days for a lot of miniature companies. It look like the last Kickstarter they just stopped was almost at their Goal mark. The ships looked really cool.

Hopefully some company will acquire some of their figures.

Very sad.

Always wanted to get into Dystopian Wars and loved their fleets, even have a few FSA ships I got off of ebay as part of a package deal, but I simply could not find anyone in 2-3 states around me that played it.
It slowly started going the way of BFG….

Very sad. I loved their Firestorm Armada when it first came out, but lost interest with the 2nd Edition rules, which I thought were overly complex and fussy. Hopefully not too many people got burned.

I have a pile of Uncharted Seas stuff from when they had a clearance on it, will have to hit the one FLGS that still has some old stock around. Had some DW stuff bought on a flyer in case I could make it work with another VSF project.

Dang, I was hoping to pick up some more Halo Ground command stuff, eventually – still want to get some tanks. Interesting to see if any of their ranges get bought over. Looked from the outside like they were a fairly stable player… clearly not. Hope it wasn't the Halo license that did them in.

My distributor had been running products from them at 70% off for four or five months. So I am not surprised.
I have one each elf and orcs fleet boxes with a new copy of the rules left in stock. Maybe I need to put them into my collection.

Dang. I rnjoyed Dystopian Wars the two times I played it, but it was too pricey at the time for me to get into. Was on my "maybe some day" list. Too bad.
So, anyone care to speculate on why they couldn't sustain themselves?
Price? Setting? Figures? Other?

Well I'll start the speculation train a rollin'…(NOTE: I have no evidence on any of Spartan's products, business, or anything else, just making conversation) How much was HALO being played. I listened to Meeples & Minis when it was announced and there was a lot of "YES!" on the net and such, but in maybe a year it stopped being mentioned and started showing up in discount. Did it get into the console gamer market? The few times I've seen Spartan products they were clean, detailed, and well thought out. So for those of you who played HALO what was your experience?

That sucks. I loved their ships. I was thinking of getting into their kickstarter.

As I have said elsewhere, the biggest factors in the closure are probably the return or lack thereof on the Hal license, spreading themselves too thin on many new projects instead of one per year, the loss of their rule book printers in the middle of Kickstarter pledge fulfillment, and the poor health and ongoing treatment of a director.

Other problems could well have been solved.

What a shame, my initial thoughts are with all staff who are now redundant and anyone out of pocket because of this sad news.I loved their 28mm internal scenery and bought large quantities of the Halo ships and Firestorm Armada products, I hope a rescue effort of all their I.P. gives everyone the chance to enjoy and support a manufacturer whose quality and quantity of product was excellent.

Yep – the Halo license may have been the "last nail in the coffin". Does anyone know how much they spent on that?

@Star Cruiser: aside from "too much"?

My big problem with Spartan Games was their rules. They were all the same game, just with different models on the table.

@Striker, 15mm Halo always had a bit of niche buzz and there was a lot of discussion when McFarlane's micro-ops range popped up (at least on the 15mm sci-fi TMP board) though it died after the initial release. And certainly Ground Command generated a bit of a buzz, but it all seemed a bit muted.

Can't fault the Halo sculpts I've got, but some of the design choices leave something to be desired. Some the guys at the club I (occasionally) attend who are into Dystopian Wars commented that the Halo product was a lot flashier than previous product. Price was a bit rich, but you're supporting a major license, and I only picked up the product I did on Black Monday sale.

The rules I've never played, but I've read a couple of times and they didn't really stick in my head or inspire.

On a side note I've seen news articles discussing the relative lack of success Halo franchise merchandising has had compared to the relative success of the games….

That is such a shame, I have many Models of theirs although they are mostly used in a Flying Context using my own home baked rules…but the figures are some of my favorite… its really sad to hear this.

Heres hoping that some one picks up the range and revamps the rules for a new slicker system. I'd suggest dropping the price and rules for free and see where it goes from there. The models and moulds are already done so thats one big cost that gone.

Oh well, Good Luck to all that sailed in Spartan Games and their future Voyages.

"So Long And Thanks For The Fish"
Madan

I thought about grabbing some HALO ships for space games but I'm downsizing to just SFB. The layouts were impressive but never many games were seen. My daughter buys the books and figures (we don't have the console game) but she was always "blah" about the game, even if I offered to buy it. I wasn't sure if she was an exception or norm for the non-tabletop gamer?

Their problems started long before "Halo". Uncharted Seas was the first indication. They changed the ship scale about midway, not for new ships, but for ships already released. Couple that with the number of ships in the blisters that didn't match what you needed for the rules and it was the Titanic begging for an ice berg!

I was an early and enthusiastic player of the Uncharted Seas.When they dropped that game completely I was lost as a future customer for anything else they ever produced as I felt let down and abandoned by them- not that I expected the U/S range to grow for ever but after making an initial investment in almost all the fleets it wasn't to me to be an acceptable decision to simply stop production entirely. I would have been happy enough if they could have been available as "special order" or similar. This wasn't simply sour grapes on my part just that I wasn't going to ship money and invest time on another game that might simply be dropped at a later date. I don't know if this had any bearing on the reason for their demise but I doubt if I am the only one who felt that way.

bruntonboy, I feel your pain there. And let's face it, it's not the first time a company has dropped a Fantasy Naval game like a hot rivet with no support or so much as a "by your leave" either.

Oh, and an update on the situation – Apparently, the printer involved was the centuries-old Wheatons Exeter Ltd. And yes, they went down in June dropping a workforce of 65 people and leaving a plant that as of now has yet to be sold :/ Things are tough all over.

They did make some nice models …

I feel sorry for the KS folks that might not receive product.

link

"Monday is a public holiday in the UK but on Tuesday we will review the status of the project and, if we are able, continue to ship products to backers. We have stock manufactured; we have softback and hardback rulebooks but are yet to receive personalised rulebooks. For those that have speculated that the demise of our printer may have been untrue, please search online for information about Wheatons Exeter in the UK to see that they did, indeed, close in June."

Here is an update from Spartan Games

Spartan Games – Update
Written by Spartan Games |
Spartan Games Closure – additional information

First, the Directors would like to start out with a sincere thank you for all the messages we have received expressing sadness at our closure. It is good to hear that our games brought you enjoyment over the years.
Alongside a considerable number of messages of support we have received hundreds of emails with questions. We have made a start at answering them individually but with no remaining staff, this is proving impossible. We would therefore like to answer the most commonly asked questions here.

1. Will I receive the items I ordered from your online store or pledged for in the Dystopian Wars Expansion Kickstarter project?
Alas, for the most part, the answer is no. If you have received an email notifying you that goods were dispatched then they are on their way. Deliveries can take up to two to three weeks in different parts of the world so they may simply not have reached you yet.
However, if your goods have not left our building yet, unfortunately they can't be sent. We were committed to shipping everything that was in stock and ready to put skeleton staff in place to do so. Unfortunately our accounts have been frozen so we have no way of paying for shipping charges and our landlords require the return of the premises. We discussed this at length today with our advisors and although we explored lots of options, because we know customers have offered to cover postage and even collect goods, unfortunately we couldn't find a way to make this work.

2. Will stock that is remaining be available for sale?
There is a possibility that it will, although there is limited final product. There are still details to be worked out but we are building a list of email addresses for those who might be interested in purchasing whatever items of products stock we have available. This will include items built for the Kickstarter project. We wish we could send them to you but, as explained above, this won't be possible due to circumstances beyond our control. If you want to be added to the mailing list, please send an email, if you have not already done so, to spartangames@mail.com with STOCK in the subject line.

3. Who is handling the closure of the company?
This appointment is in progress but it takes time to follow the required procedures. We will advise who this is once the process is complete.

4. Has there been interest in the purchase of assets such as the product lines?
Yes, considerable interest and we are following up on this with our advisors. Parties wishing to purchase assets should email spartangames@mail.com and their email will be acknowledged and their details passed on.

5. Are you answering emails?
As explained here and in previous statements, staff have been made redundant so we have very limited resources to handle emails. We are working through the hundreds we have received. If the emails are about orders, we will not unfortunately, be able to acknowledge them individually and hope this statement explains the status. If they are about individual stock purchases, we will add email address to the mailing list we are building. If they are about purchase of assets, we will acknowledge and pass on the details. If they are about anything else, we will answer where possible. Other email addresses are no longer being monitored and will cease to exist in the coming days and weeks.
Again we would like to express our regret at the impact this closure has had on staff, customers and other trading partners. We are doing all we can to minimise the impact and to do the best that we can under the circumstances. Please bear with us and thank you again for your support at this difficult time.

Not good. I hope they manage to sell the stock properly (and it doesn't just vanish into some random auction mart). Hopefully someone sensible will get the IP, but I suspect Halo may go.

If Ral Partha Europe is doing well with Critical Mass's line some one else could continue with Spartan's I'd hope.
I've always meant to look into their stuff but never got around to it as I've found things elsewhere.

I have too many hobbies, and most of them are expensive.

Whoever has plans to take it on is now able to see for themselves, I guess – My contacts tell me the administrators have just officially opened bids for purchase and chattel acquisition. More will be forthcoming.