Cheaper 3rd party teams?

[Madsherman]

I really love all the 3rd party teams. They are often really well made, with all 16 individually sculpted players and a big guy. However that also makes for a pretty high price, even when you get in early in a KS. I mean granted it's almost 20 years ago, but back then a BB team costed me around 25£ (which would inflate to 44£ today). But they only had 12 players in the box, the linemen were only three different models based on two bodies, and the other positionals were also same body/pose with variations in head and armor sculpted onto them.

Now, I have two questions:

1: Would there be a market for 12 player teams with these variations, or is everybody happy with paying 65£ for these 3rd party teams?

2: Manufacturers: Is this even feasible? Or do the fewer models hardly make a dent in the final price of a team?

[Darkson]

Impact do many Trollcast teams, often with the majority of players being different sculpts for $35, with a few more to be added.

[Regash]

I used to buy the original GW teams way back in time.
And because I like to have all the options when it come to team building, I always bought two of them.
Was that really cheaper? No, not here in Germany.

Some day, long ago when I had more time and more friends playing Blood Bowl, I decided that I need all 21 (that was before the new teams came up) teams at home.
Now there are 26 if you include Khorne and Bretonnia but 24 for sure.
Did that change my goal to collect them all? Nope, it didn't

I really love conversions but my skills are limited.
While I'm pretty proud of my Skaven, I do have not so good teams in the closet.
And I'm not really fan of all GW teams.
I absolutely dislike the Amazons and Pro Elfs from GW but haven't seen alternative minis I like.
Then there are teams like the Iron olem dwarves who are excellent.
I'm also looking forward to the Hungry Troll Nurgle and J_Bones Slann.

So, all in all, it's really good to have a choice between a lot of different teams made by different sculptors.
I'd really miss to have to choose between them.

[Madsherman]

Impact do many Trollcast teams, often with the majority of players being different sculpts for $35, with a few more to be added.

True. But, and this is no offense to Impact because I really like the store, there is a large variation in the sculpted quality in those particular teams. Where I think the Sarcos and Ape team are beautiful, some of the other teams are maybe not as great and/or don't fit BB that well (e.g. the siringit team), so I guess I'm yearning for a price reduction on a grander scale, across companies.

[Madsherman]

So, all in all, it's really good to have a choice between a lot of different teams made by different sculptors.
I'd really miss to have to choose between them.

Well yes, of course. I think it is great that there are third party minis, don't get me wrong. And yes, because of the unappealingness of some of the GW teams. I'm just asking if people would be willing to part with 16 individual sculpt teams, if it means they could buy more of them in the end.

[TheDancingClown]

In theory it should be possible to create a team with repeated positionals for cheaper. I don't exactly know but I assume a big part of the cost is paying a sculptor/designer so the fewer individual models should reduce the initial production cost. Like you though, I don't how much of a difference it would make.

I don't think 3rd party companies would want to do this though. Imo one of the main reasons in creating a new team is to have something different to existing teams, and having 12-16 individual models is a big part of this, especially if the team is personal to the creator. The emphasis is on creating an amazing looking team rather than a cheaper team with repeated models.

It will be interesting to see which route GW go down. I suspect it will be with repeated models and won't be cheaper than the currently available 3rd party teams so you might consider the current ones are bargains.

[Madsherman]

In theory it should be possible to create a team with repeated positionals for cheaper. I don't exactly know but I assume a big part of the cost is paying a sculptor/designer so the fewer individual models should reduce the initial production cost. Like you though, I don't how much of a difference it would make.

I don't think 3rd party companies would want to do this though. Imo one of the main reasons in creating a new team is to have something different to existing teams, and having 12-16 individual models is a big part of this, especially if the team is personal to the creator. The emphasis is on creating an amazing looking team rather than a cheaper team with repeated models.

It will be interesting to see which route GW go down. I suspect it will be with repeated models and won't be cheaper than the currently available 3rd party teams so you might consider the current ones are bargains.

I could totally imagine them going with repeats and then different options for heads, etc. Evil as GW may be, I do find most of their model work top quality, and the imperial wizard for example pack intrigues me, because of its options. But the size creep worries me.

And yes it does ooze surplus, when your team has 16 different models. It is just a question of how much more revenue/new customers you could bring in
a non-superdeluxe version of a team.

[Darkson]

Well, you've added a poll now (since I posted) and my answer falls somewhere between the two answers.
I much prefer teams with individual players, and while my budget doesn't allow me to buy all the ones I want, I'd still rather see 3rd parties do them (and me have to pick and choose between them) than them going the old GW way of minimal variety.

[rolo]

I much prefer teams with individual players, and while my budget doesn't allow me to buy all the ones I want, I'd still rather see 3rd parties do them (and me have to pick and choose between them) than them going the old GW way of minimal variety.

I'm about here - I like high quality, detailed teams with unique players. I also like to buy sideline figures, reroll tokens, and so on for each team.
That's a high budget for any team, and obviously I can't afford to do 24 of those at once. But spending that kind of money once or twice per year is affordable. And fits pretty well with my painting pace.

If someone wants to spend less money on a team, that's fine too. I don't think you'll find a right or wrong answer to that. One of the great things about the Blood Bowl community is that there are many different companies making teams, in a wide range of prices and quality. There's something for everyone.

(Also, I bought most of my GW teams in the late 90s, when I could reliably buy one of the 12-model boxed sets on ebay for about $20-$25, then GW Mail Order the missing models for about $2-$3 per figure. "Stupidly overpriced models", as I called them back then. "The good old days", as I call it now)

[JonnyKanone]

From a modelers point of view I like variety in the teams and all 16+ different models. But from a gamers point of view, I like the old GW teams a lot. You can easily tell the positions within one second. This is especially important in the tournament environment with 3 games per day... It does not help to speed the gaming up if you have to ask every turn which of these break dancing guys is the strip ball Wardancer

What I am trying to say is, less is sometimes more. Not only from the cost perspective

[Darkson]

I like the old GW teams a lot. You can easily tell the positions within one second.

Amazons being the exception to the rule.

[Madsherman]

You can easily tell the positions within one second. This is especially important in the tournament environment with 3 games per day... It does not help to speed the gaming up if you have to ask every turn which of these break dancing guys is the strip ball Wardancer

What I am trying to say is, less is sometimes more. Not only from the cost perspective

This. I used to think it looked lame, but it really serves a purpose. It sucks seeing a kitbashed team of orcs that all just have the action figure Bud Spencer pose, because you know you'll be rolling into an uphill blitz on a black orc at one point in the game.

[Wifflebat]

I'm definitely not bothered by repeated minis, especially when they help to distinguish positions from one another.

Does anybody know how the cost of sculpting has changed over the years? Is it cheaper to get a sculpt made, and does that even matter relative to the cost of making molds and casting?

[JonnyKanone]

I like the old GW teams a lot. You can easily tell the positions within one second.

Amazons being the exception to the rule.

Yes, GW amazons are a bit ... mhhhm ... not so easy to distinguish

[Milo]

You can easily tell the positions within one second. This is especially important in the tournament environment with 3 games per day... It does not help to speed the gaming up if you have to ask every turn which of these break dancing guys is the strip ball Wardancer

What I am trying to say is, less is sometimes more. Not only from the cost perspective

This. I used to think it looked lame, but it really serves a purpose. It sucks seeing a kitbashed team of orcs that all just have the action figure Bud Spencer pose, because you know you'll be rolling into an uphill blitz on a black orc at one point in the game.

I like to follow the old 2nd edition "color ring" model on my bases, either painting a stripe or the entire side of the base in a particular color to indicate the position.

Blitzer: red
Blocker: blue
Thrower: white
Catcher: yellow
Lineman: black

I know what my minis are, so I really do that for my opponent's benefit. I play with my 2nd Ed Skaven minis a bunch, and you do really have to be familiar with them to tell the positions apart.