Scratch one grub (card)! Gears of War board game headed to retail

@RevolutionJ12 Welcome to the world of board games. Everyone complaining about the price needs to realize this is a professionally made tactical board game by a reputable studio (Fantasy Flight Games), and not some crappy roll n' move game ala the the Lost board game, Twilight board game, or Dexter board game. As you can see, there are a lot of components (figures, cards, dice, map tiles tokens), and all are made of high quality materials. Now, the MSRP for a table top game is typically $79 so this is not new. Yes, it's more than the game, but you have to factor in a smaller audience and more physical materials that need to be designed and (sometimes) custom manufactured.

@RevolutionJ12

Yeah, this really isn't that bad. Board games can get really pricy really quickly. Miniatures games in particular can cost thousands of dollars for collectors based on expansions to the original board game and other supplements. FFG makes a lot of quality games, though, so the price is pretty perfect.

@Xiegfried "Board games can get really pricy really quickly. "

That doesnt make it not bad.

No board game should cost more than $20

@Extinction

That's a fairly narrow view of looking at things. Allow me to explain the massive difference between hobbyist board games and the crap Hasbo reskins and reshuffles for 100+ years.

First, these games will NEVER be sold in a Walmart, Target, (okay... to be fair Target carries Catan but that's like the Monopoly of Eurogaming) or even Gamestop. Because of this and their limited availability, they also will not sell a bunch of copies, which would aide them in making the game cheaper. Most Hobbyist board games are lucky to sell 15,000. Since the print runs can be as low as 500 copies, that doesn't leave a whole lot of mass production discount. So these games, because less are made alone, makes it more expensive to make.

Second, because these go the hobby store route, they HAVE to be sold at MSRP to keep a shop open. Buying online could net you a savings and that route is recommended if you don't have a local store you want to support. (for example, Gears will likely be as cheap as $45 at www.miniaturemarket.com) Helps bring the cost down somewhat, but still.

Third, just TRY a game like this sometime. Find a local hobby game store, find out when they have a game night, walk in and play something like Pandemic, Dominion, hell... even Puerto Rico. The sheer difference in the quality and design of the games compared to the types of games you're used to will show you right there why people who pursue this hobby end up paying the premium. Not to mention, not everyone needs their own copy of a game to play. In my group, I tend to be the "buyer." Two years ago, I thought all board gaming had to offer was monopoly (horrible game) trivial pursuit, and wacky party games. Now look at my collection. http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/sheppy/conversion-of-a-board-gamer-202369.phtml

Open you mind a bit. You might find a venue of multiplayer gaming where you're NOT constantly being assaulted with racial slurs.

@SheppyReturns didn't know board games could be so intense

@Qehb Thats the thought I had, board games are way too nerdy for the whole "1v1 me" "oh get raped" "google me" crowd. And the board game crowd probably isn't big on Gears.

@Qehb Fantasy Flight Games also made the Doom board game (based off Doom 3) which is the origin of the game mechanics. Oh, I almost forgot, they made the Warcraft 3 board game, Starcraft 2 board game, and the World of Warcraft board game. Also each of these has one or two expansions. With their experience in games like Tide of Iron and Tannhauser, I am surprised they haven't been approached to do a CoD board game.

@Qehb

If we were talking Gears of War monopoly, yes, you'd be right. But considering board gamers are also typically into things like Warhammer, Magic, and Lord of the Rings... it seems like a natural fit. Especially coming from FFGs.

@Minato10
Physical pieces and the production to make them

@RainXTN
Hope to see you there! Ill be running a few games for FFG (not gears tho)

@sicsided I'll be playing some Mansions of Madness and I'm sure lurking around the FFG booth quite a bit, so I have no doubt you'll see me.

@Rahabib Uhmmm.... Fantasy Flight Mutant Chronicles too.... but I see what you mean: Rage totally rips off Doom 3!

@kazD don't generalise the gears crowd like that, it makes us sound like montage making assholes. And besides if you googled my gamertag it would only show the people who have knifed me on BFBC2 XD. And besides if the board game was not so expensive, I would CONSIDER (I said consider) buying it.