Dropfleet Commander - First game: Scourge vs. UCM vs. PHR

[Dr. The Viking]

It's the nature of most games.  The 15mm ww1 vs aliens game comes to mind.

I was quite enthusiastic about it... but didn't manage to get it before it had gone down to the bottom.

[Daeothar]

Hawk effectively going belly up and selling out to TTC didn't help one bit there, although at least they're getting the stuff back into availability now.  I do wonder if they haven't permanently hurt their US distribution though, and without that the games are going to really struggle to grow.

I've heard a slightly different version; David Lewis, the creator, really struggled with the running of the business, distribution and other administrative tasks; it was not what he had set out to do, or apparently was very good at, and consequently, things did not roll out as well as they ought to have.

So, after some toxic fallout after the Dropfleet Kickstarter, he made the (difficult?) decision to sell the company to TTCombat, so he could concentrate on what he really enjoys (and is bloody good at!); designing and creating his games, as he's remained onboard as the lead designer. TTCombat will handle the distribution and other 'boring' stuff from now on, so in the end, it sounds like everybody is winning.

Some momentum for the IP has definitely been lost, but I've got good hopes that it will pick up again now that everything is settled down; retailers have sold off their old stock, the first new units and rules are starting to come out, under the TTCombat flag, so I do think everything is starting to roll again.

The games are certainly not dead. In fact, I'm secretly holding out for the first signs of something like Dropsquad Commander, a skirmish game, in 28 or 30mm...

[Hobby Services]

It is very definitely dead locally.  Might recover on the larger scale, but the gaming community in these parts is largely driven by the main FLGS and its owner isn't touching any of Hawk's (or TTC's) games at this point even if they do get back into solid US distribution.  The flash in the pan sales pattern followed by the sudden failure of the supply chain during the transition period has him royally peeved, and I don't blame him.  There's only so much space and time for promoting games in store, and he feels (quite rightly IMO) that there are better lines to make money on.  It's not the first time this has happened, nor the biggest company to get the axe locally - he used to carry literally everything for Warmachine & Hordes but endless supply hiccups and an increasingly toxic local player base led to that whole line getting liquidated as well.

Best of luck to TTC on the Hawk games, but if I ever do re-invest in them my ordering's going to be solely online and I sure won't be playing at the store any more.