"Update on Sergeants3 Website" Topic

After the recent posts about difficulties ordering Sergeants3 products, I contacted Christy Brom. Here is her reply:

"Please be advised that Sergeants 3 has recently suffered a painful, family loss….we are currently navigating through my late sister Lori's estate and some issues have required legal assistance from our family attorney in North Carolina, which is taking some time. Processing and shipping may be delayed.

In addition, Sergeants 3 is currently based in New Orleans, LA and the city has been under 'excessive heat warning' since June which has limited outside activities. Please be patient with us during this difficult time. Thank you in advance."

She also said that her printer is wonky and she's trying to get a friend of Lori to help her get it back working properly.

So the bottom line is go ahead and order from Sergeants3, realizing that there will be a delay. Christy is doing the best that she can during this trying time.

Jim

Has anyone suggested she list all their rules through Wargames Vault?

Pretty sure I saw that one, kevin. I suspect the ultimate solution will be to sell the business, but estates can be tricky. We could easily be looking at two years of instability, and more would not be surprising. But we know where the business is, and we're still getting replies to e-mails. When it comes to small wargaming businesses, I think we've all seen worse.

Not sure why the heatwave should affect things.

Has anyone suggested she list all their rules through Wargames Vault?

Totally agree with this. I'd buy a copy in a heartbeat!

We should all remember that the Brom's were badly burned over a period of years by selling TSATF via Yaquinto with profits unpaid and at least one unauthorized rules variant (Boxer Rebellion) published, again without recompense to Larry.

Consequently, the decision was firmly made to control all aspects of publication and sales, even severely limiting accessibility of TSATF (and other rule sets) to overseas markets.

While the sudden responsibility for all that was Sergeants 3 has fallen to the last direct member of the family, it is unlikely that Christy will deviate from The Plan, unless circumstances dictate otherwise. Depending on when the worst of the current complications are sorted out, I wouldn't look for any changes in operations.

That said, however, it is at least a possibility that Christy (who was never much involved running the business) may decide either to find another way to continue to offer her Father's titles with the least need for her to be actively engaged, or consider the least attractive alternative--to sell everything to another party.

Any potential buyer will face a grave responsibility--not only of being fair to Christy, but to keep the faith with the many admirers and friends of Larry and Lori who have a right to expect their legacy to continue.

TVAG

Well said, Patrick!

The summer heat in New Orleans affects Christy because she has no vehicle and does not drive even if she had one. She has to walk to the USPS to mail any orders, thus having to wait until the relative cool of the morning.

Jim

Ah man, that's really tough. Maybe she should consider warehousing her goodies with Amazon and have them sort out the mailing, though I suspect there's a lack of capital to cover the initial setup if things are that bad.

We should all remember that the Brom's were badly burned over a period of years by selling TSATF via Yaquinto with profits unpaid and at least one unauthorized rules variant (Boxer Rebellion) published, again without recompense to Larry.

What's Yaquinto?

the many admirers and friends of Larry and Lori who have a right to expect their legacy to continue

This is super fascinating! My impression has always been that TSATF's fanbase is as rabidly enthusiastic as that of Toofatlardies, which has always somewhat mystified me given the supposed difficulty of obtaining the ruleset.

Yaquinto was a relatively short-lived gaming company that put out a pretty impressive number of titles in a short period of time.

I agree that Wargames Vault is probably the way to go. As I have said before, TSATF is not a business worth investing anything more than a nominal sum in. It's target market is old farts who are growing fewer in number each day. In order for there to be any success, it has to be taken over by someone who knows gaming, marketing, etc. You also need rules reps running games at cons (and having a supply of rules to sell).

TVAG, I actually thought of your company as the heir apparent to take over the TSATF line since it ties in with what you do.

Yours, Sir, is a most kindly thought, but unless Sergeants 3 "willed" their titles list to TVAG, there is no way we can afford to pay Christy for what I still think they are worth.

If she should decide to sell, it should be to an outfit big enough to pay her a fair price and, frankly, one younger than I so that it can have a stable future.

I do agree that any potential buyer should aggressively promote and market TSATF and related titles, but I don't think we need worry about trying to run games for visibility at Conventions. There is scarcely a Con of any size that doesn't have at least a few TSATF games running somewhere.

And while likely most of its die hard fans are indeed getting rather long in the tooth, I can't see why the game wouldn't appeal to younger folk first coming into Colonial Wargames. The rule's eternal appeal of fast play, drama, and uncertainty, have held the market for over forty years, and I don't see why they couldn't do so for another forty.

Indeed, if the TSATF40 project can be resurrected, and even allowing for the many faithful who paid the pre-publication price, there should be a spike in new sales upon release.

But that is the elephant in the room that will have to addressed soon enough.

TVAG

I believe Yaquinto was the original publisher of TSATF. I bought my copy from them when it was first published; I was heavy into board wargames back then and saw TSAFT in their mailer catalog they would send out to customers. Yaquinto had some good board games; They came with thick counters. I think it was Greenfield Hobby Distributers who bought the rules when Yaquinto went under and released supplements and a boxed set of the rules which included 1/72 ESCI British and Zulu figures. The Broms got the rules back from Greenfield. At that time, the Broms were offering to sell all those 1/72 figures in an ad in MWAN.

The rule's eternal appeal of fast play, drama, and uncertainty, have held the market for over forty years, and I don't see why they couldn't do so for another forty.

I dunno man, you can't hope to subsist on nostalgia alone. Be glad Richard Clark and his TooFatLardies outfit have not yet done a colonial game. I totally concur with 79thPA's points.

They kind of do. In one of their annuals they have some Anglo-Sudan rules.They Don't like it up em!