Been away a bit, but more news, of a sort, on the HG front.

 

Taken from the Robetech Tactics Kickstarter

 

As many are aware, Robotech Tactics, the miniature game based on Robotech produced by Palladium and Ninja Games, has died a fairly ugly death by the looks of it. Worse, Palladium LOST it's Robotech license as a whole. It can't even produce the RPG anymore. Going by the reading of the post linked above by Kevin Simbeada himself, it seems the game didn't find a market.

Now I know the mix of angry posts by Robotech fans aside and some (undeserved) gloating by Battletech fans along with thoughts of "Cool, cheap unseen in the bargain bin for a while!" I wanted to take some time to give my own potential analysis of where this might go from here.

1. The Lawsuit: Harmony Gold already has a bunch of trouble in that they're fighting for a license they won't own in three years. They already don't own a number of the iconic likenesses already and the arbitration they won is, as I said before, probably going to bite them in the ass. The fact that they pulled Palladium's license, is to me a) telling that they do not want to be anywhere near exposed to the crapstorm that is about to come Palladium's way when enraged fans come after them for the Kickstarter awards they didn't get, and b) Harmony Gold realizes they can't subcontract out something they don't own, and are probably going to soon settle out of court. I would. You don't need to be a lawyer to know at this point that HG is going to be throwing good money after bad if they continue to fight this.

2. Palladium: Palladium Books is probably in deep trouble here. Even if they are financially solvent, I can see enraged fans entering a class-action suit over this. The fans were already pretty hot under the collar about this, but this may be the last straw, especially with the terms Palladium is setting to exchange Wave 2 funding for Wave 1 items.Yes, Kickstarter is always a speculative enterprise, and people know that going in, but this thing raised 1.4 Million without result. Yeah, someone's going to want to see someone in court over this. And nothing kills a game company faster than legal bills.

It's also not the first time Palladium's been in this kind of trouble due to some seeming mismanagement or malfeasance. First, there was the "Crisis of Treachery" as Mr. Siembada put it:

(Quoted here from Wikipedia)

Embezzlement case and financial difficulties[edit]

On April 19, 2006, Kevin Siembieda issued a statement that revealed Palladium Books' critical financial difficulties due to alleged embezzlement and theft resulting in losses from $850,000 to $1.3 million, coupled with a series of delays in negotiating license deals for their properties in other media (the Nokia N-Gage game, the Jerry Bruckheimer movie, a massively multiplayer online game license, and other potential deals).^[2] They raised money to continue operations by selling a signed and numbered – but not, strictly speaking, "limited edition" – art print by Kevin Siembieda, as well as by urging fans to buy directly from their online store if their financial situations would allow for it.

An April 26, 2006 article in the Kingsport Times-News revealed that Steve Sheiring, Palladium's former sales manager, had been sentenced in a plea bargain to a misdemeanor conviction, one year of probation, and ordered to pay $47,080 in restitution to Palladium Books in connection with these thefts. It also provided more information about the thefts, which took place from 2002 to 2004 and were only discovered when Palladium took inventory.^[4]

Responding to the controversy engendered by such a low settlement amount in relation to the large loss figure claimed in his earlier press release, Kevin Siembieda posted an open letter to the Palladium forum explaining the matter. Siembieda stated that he had not wanted to make public Sheiring's identity out of the fear that overzealous fans might get into trouble by committing acts of reprisal. He explained that the heaviest punishment Sheiring had been likely to receive even without the plea bargain was probation. Siembieda had a choice between getting any amount of settlement money at all to pay critical bills, or spending more time and money to attempt to get his "pound of flesh" from a man who was reportedly broke anyway. Given the urgency of Palladium's situation, Siembieda did not feel he had any real choice but to take what little he could get.^[5]

During the week of May 7, 2007, Palladium announced that revenue from increased sales of books, admissions to its first annual Open House, and purchases of the special art print had covered most of the short-term damages it had incurred. This period of financial instability became referred to by Siembieda as the "Crisis of Treachery" in keeping with his stance that the root cause of the difficulties was the embezzlement perpetrated by Sheiring.

Add this in to multiple complaints to the Better Business Bureau over Robotech Tactics and one can see how truly ugly this is about to get. Mr. Siembada is going to have to work very hard to get a lot of goodwill back, My thoughts to all the RRT backers is simple but stark. Weigh your options carefully. I would advise you to get legal advice personally, as well as carefully read over the Kickstarter terms. I would also advise you to not get too heated on the internet, these days that can bite you very easily.

3. Battletech/Alpha Strike: Battletech’s future, ironically, seems quite bright going forward. With the new box sets on the horizon and the HBS PC Game dropping in April, which was announced yesterday, I think Battletech is finding it’s way back. Now, that said, the paper and pencil game has some growth to do and some recovery to make of its own. I have some small suggestions along those lines:

·         Push the box sets hard, and do some more gaming in the older periods, perhaps linked to the computer game coming out. Methinks that would get some real buzz for the old girl!

·         Consider a time jump. A lot of things post-Jihad have not sat well with the diehard fans, and it’s time to throw them a bone. Put the last bits of the Jihad to bed, start over and have some fun with it. A very smart game writer once said to me, “When gaming out a cataclysm, better to have the cataclysm and then game out the aftermath, then to do the during, sacred cow may make great burgers, but nobody wants to watch it made.”

·         Alpha Strike, bring it back. It was the best idea that’s come out for Battletech in a very, very long time. People like it. It may not be granular, but it wasn’t meant to be. It’s meant to be operational level Battletech. You can put a battalion plus on either side of the field, and game it out to conclusion in 4 hours (Yes, I have done it). I get the Combat Manuals were a bit expensive. Ok, ask the fans for help. We’d do it for free. Yes, free. You see the amount of fan-based material out there? It’s gigundus. And while it’s been a lot of hit or miss, a lot of it is becoming hits lately, such as TRO 3028, and Kiro No Torii.

If Alpha Strike isn’t the direction Battletech is going, then let the fans take over. We’ll keep the flame.

Well, that’s enough from me. Love to hear your ideas as usual, and please, no gloating as to Robotech right now. I can imagine what those guys are going through, but we can be better than that. Who knows? Perhaps we can turn them into Battletech fans?

News and Commentary

There has been a lot, and I mean a lot of news for Classic Battletech in the last 72 hours, I was waiting for all of it to shake out a little before I posted this, but then Sunday's bombshell required I get to a computer and write.

So, first the good news. 2nd Succession War is out in PDF! The word is that limited copies will hit the street for Gencon, but hey, I can wait...that is assuming the other news I will talk about in a bit doesn't screw everything up.

I have been waiting for this for a while. I like fluff, fluff gives me ideas to write about, to write scenarios for, and to inspire painted units. I can take a throw away sentence or two in a given sourcebook and turn it into a 12 turn scenario, and I have done it many, many times.

Naturally, I already have a copy, (author's credits for Red Star, White Lights have been doing well of late) and on first blush, I liked what I saw. I cannot wait for the dead tree version, but it looks as if we are going to have another quality product on our hands to reenact some great CBT history.

The *meh* is the PDF releases of the Battletech Manual and the Technical Readout: Succession Wars. This is not to knock the effort that went into the former product, which was a lot, but honestly? This was a product that should have been released a long, long time ago in my opinion. The fact that it was not, seems a bit of a silly decision. Battletech, for all of the talk about combined arms (and such an idea is important, make no mistake) is primarily about the 'Mechs. It's why people play. It's what attracted me to the game in the 1980s. So, yeah, a 'Mech oriented rule book should have been one of the first projects to hit the street in the 2000s back when they were doing the Total Warfare series.

As for the latter product. It's the TRO version of a clip show. I hate clip shows. Yes, I know, it's got the reseen artwork. Cool. But I am not going to plunk down money for a product that I already have most, if not all the information for. If this is different, please let me know, as I am a person who is not above eating humble pie when required.

Now, the ugly. As we all know, Harmony Gold, the creators of Robotech (which is partly responsible for me *being* a Battletech player) alleges that the images created for the upcoming computer game by Harebrained Schemes and the images being used by Piranha Games for Mechwarrior Online are a threats to the Robotech copyright as those images resemble images in Robotech, or at least that's what their recently filed legal action says. They also named In Media Res Productions, the parent company of Catalyst Games Labs in the suit.

Now, I am not a legal scholar. but, my understanding is that if an image differs more than 15% from the original, than it is not an infringement on said copyright. Now, Harmony Gold has been kind enough to show their images, versus the images of the reseen and how they allege the similarities are actionable. Personally, I do not see it, but, hey, I will let you the reader decide. And if there are any IP experts or legal scholars out there, I welcome their comments on the case, and would love for them to set us straight.

Ok, let's take a look at the video tape, so to speak:

Found here is the comparison taken from the legal filings of the Warhammer and Archer (left) and the Destroid Spartan and Destroid Tomahawk (right). Image taken from Case 2:17-cv-00327

Found here is the comparison taken from the legal filings of the Atlas and Shadow Hawk (left) and the Armored Valkyrie and Destroid Spartan (right), note lack of captioning on the left. Image taken from Case 2:17-cv-00327

Found here is the comparison taken from the legal filings of the Marauder (left) and the Officer's Pod Glaug (right), again, note lack of captioning on the left. Image taken from  Case 2:17-cv-00327

Found here is the comparison taken from the legal filings of the Marauder/Marauder IIC and Phoenix Hawk (left) and the Officer's Pod Glaug and Super Valkyrie on the right. Image taken from  Case 2:17-cv-00327

Found here is the comparison taken from the legal filings of the Rifleman (left) and the Destroid Defender (right). Image taken from  Case 2:17-cv-00327

I am not at all convinced that Harmony Gold has much of a leg to stand on. The Atlas has similarities to the Armored Valkyrie? You have got to be kidding. I'd get it if they were up in arms if the Crusader was being reissued, which I have not seen a reseen for it yet. Could be wrong, and the Shadow Hawk? Who in their right mind says it looks like a Spartan? Sorry, but this smells to high heaven to me. And I might have good reason to think so, as Sony Pictures has announced they are going forward with a Robotech movie.

Now, that said, the suit was filed in March of this year, and the directorial announcement was made last week..but one might think all sorts of uncharitable things about Harmony Gold and seeking to destroy any potential competitors to any marketing of oh, say, toys and games ahead of a movie release? No, we wouldn't think that, would we?

Lets ignore the fact that Harmony Gold has done little with the IP in the last ten years. Yes, they released Shadow Chronicles (poorly received), and Love, Live, Alive (which was little more than a clip show!). Not to mention the remasters of the original episodes which while the sound and picture clarity was good, some of the questionable fan service was not (endless scenes of Dana showering in the Robotech Masters series, for example).

I won't even bring up the fiasco of the Robotech Miniatures Game and how kickstarter participants STILL have not gotten all they paid for. In fact, things got so bad there, one of the designers was almost driven to suicide. Where was Harmony Gold there? Filing dubious lawsuits it seems.

In short, this smacks of what is called "IP trolling" and while legally. Harmony Gold might be in the right, they are alienating a lot of fans...and those fans aren't probably going to take this lying down. I have already heard rumors of letter writing campaigns and defense funds. I would not be surprised if both go forward.

I will let you, dear reader, decide what you think of it all, but I am pretty convinced this is little more than "lawfare" and I hope it doesn't bleed dry some really good attempts to bring the game back from the brink. But, considering the nature of what the players are, I will quote Han Solo, "I have a bad feeling about this."