When Wizards of the Coast (WotC) first announced that they would be releasing the Star Wars Collectible Miniatures Game in sets of 40 figures, as opposed to the usual 60 figures, it was met with a lot of controversy. Instead of releasing 2 expansion sets each year, containing 60 figures in each set, now they would be releasing 3 sets, with each set containing 40 figures. So do the math. It's pretty easy to see that the change in set sizes didn't have any impact on the number of new figures we got each year. Also, with the distribution of figures in each set, releasing them in 40 figure lots meant that we, the community, could complete our collection of any particular set with relative ease. So why all of the complaining?

Well, let's start by looking at the economics of it all, shall we?

It's All About The Benjamins

Alright, so now you can collect an entire set with ease. If you buy a single case (usually retailing for $110) you'll only be lacking a total of 4 Very Rare (VR) figures from the set. For just a few dollars more, on the secondary market, or by way of trades with other players, getting those remaining 4 figures isn't very difficult. From a "money that comes out of my pocket" point of view, this is a good thing. For less than 200 bucks you can complete an entire set relatively easily. And, with the new 40 figure set size, you can even order a completed set online where all of the work is done for you for about $170. From a strictly economical point of view that is awesome.

Contrast that to the 60 figure sets. First, let's talk about set distribution for a minute. In the 40 figure sets, your distribution of figures goes like this:

When you purchase a case of standard sized boosters, you get 12 boosters in the box. Of those 12 boosters you should get 8 boosters that contain Rare miniatures and 4 boosters that contain Very Rare figures. It is very uncommon to have repeat rare figures in a case so, if everything goes well and the planets aren't all out of alignment you'll be getting 1 of each R, 2 of each UC, 4 of each C and 4 of the 8 VR figures.

So let's look at the distribution of the 60 figure sets. In a typical 60 figure set (not all 60 figure sets were distributed the same) the distribution of figures went something like this:

When you purchased a case of standard sized boosters, you got 12 boosters in the box. Of those 12 boosters you should have gotten 8 boosters that contained Rare miniatures and 4 boosters that contained Very Rare figures, just like in the 40 figure sets. And that's not taking into account the Huge sets, such as Bounty Hunters, where a case would net you 6 Huge boosters, each containing 6 small to large figures and one huge for a total of 42 miniatures per case. But I digress... Completing a set of a 60 figure expansion meant purchasing at least 2 cases. Even then you would be missing 4 of the VR figures, provided you were lucky enough not to get any duplicate VR's between your 2 cases (not very likely but also not out of the question). You could purchase those missing figures on the secondary market (usually at a very high price) or you could trade with other gamers for the pieces you were missing. Completing a set was tough. It was an accomplishment to be proud of. It was something worth bragging over. If you didn't have the money to buy 3 cases when the set was released (most of the people that I know personally can't afford to do so) you would have to work long and hard to get all 60 of those figures.

So the change to 40 figure sets is all well and good if you're looking at this from a strictly economical point of view. Unless you're a retailer, that is.

The Secondary Market

When I first started collecting Star Wars Miniatures it was just before the release of the Knights of the Old Republic set. KotOR was a 60 figure set which included lots of figures that I was excited about. I know that our local economy doesn't exactly match up with the local economies elsewhere, but I'm going to use ours as an illustration. Most of the people I know might be able to afford to purchase a single case of miniatures. So, with the 60 figure set there were quite a few miniatures that you would be missing. This gave you the incentive to buy individual boosters at the local gaming store (LGS) because your chances of getting something that you lacked were fairly good. Over the course of time, with enough individual booster purchases, you just might be able to complete that set. And opening that single booster and pulling a Mandalore the Ultimate was pretty exciting! I know that when I pulled mine I literally whooped out loud! At the time, that particular figure was retailing for around 30 bucks on the secondary market so, all in all, my 15 dollar investment (because whether you look at it as an investment or not, there's no denying that some people do) just paid off in a major way. Using KotOR as an example, I remember sitting in my LGS one day and deciding to buy a booster. I didn't really have the money to spend without cutting into my weekly budget but there were lots of figures from the set that I had yet to collect and, well, the temptation was too great. I bought a booster and pulled a figure that I didn't have (Captain Tarpals) and was very happy with my purchase. So much so that I talked myself into buying another booster. My second booster also contained a figure that I didn't have (Supreme Chancellor Palpatine) so I decided to leave the store while I was ahead (there's a reason they call it plasti-crack you know).

This is around the time that I also first learned about the online singles market. I could go online and purchase individual figures that I lacked to complete my collection. Usually, in the case of VR figures, the price of the individual difficult to find miniature was somewhere around 30 bucks (even as high as 70 bucks, depending on the figure). As a consumer with a limited budget, the choice of spending 30 bucks on a single miniature verses spending 15 dollars on an individual booster with the chance of it containing that high dollar piece was an easy one. Unless I really, really, really felt that I needed a particular figure I was buying boosters.When it came to Rare, Uncommon, or Common figures I would turn to the online singles market.

Along comes the 40 figure sets and, well, that changed everything.

My World Got Flipped Turned Upside Down

As stated earlier, I can complete a 40 figure set by purchasing a single case and either trading for or buying outright the figures that I am missing. At first, this was great. As a person on a very tight budget, the idea of me spending less is something that usually gets my vote. But it had repercussions that I don't think people really considered when it was first announced. For starters, it really hurt the LGS. As someone who tries to promote the game in this area I rely on cooperation from the LGS to make that happen. The owners of the LGS have to be willing to work with the players in order to foster a good gaming environment for everyone. The owner of the LGS has to have an incentive to support a local gaming group. That incentive usually equals "making money", which it rightfully should, as the investment of time and money that is put into running an LGS doesn't usually happen just because the owner happens to be a fan of Star Wars. They have families to feed and mortgages to pay just like you and I. If the consumers don't have any incentive to buy the products that they are selling, they aren't going to be making any money, and, before long, there won't be an LGS to play at anymore.

With the path to completing a set made much simpler for the consumer, the incentive to purchase individual boosters has nearly disappeared. So a typical consumer, such as myself, buys a single case. I'm still missing 4 figures so why wouldn't I opt to buy individual boosters to try and get them, especially when the price of individual VR singles are so high? Because the price of individual VR singles isn't high anymore. It's a simple case of supply and demand. There is an abundance of supply, therefore the demand is lower, therefore retailers on the secondary singles market can no longer afford to charge those high prices for those difficult to find rare miniatures. That's, to put it simply, because there are no longer any difficult to find rare miniatures.

Let's look an example; Yoda on Kybuck from the first 40 figure set, Clone Wars. At the time of this writing, Yoda on Kybuck, easily one of the most powerful pieces from the Clone Wars expansion, is selling for just under 15 dollars online. So let's say that I ordered my case of boosters and I didn't get that Yoda. I have the choice of spending 15 dollars on an individual booster at my LGS and hoping that the plasti-crack gods are smiling on me and the rare figure inside just happens to be the one that I need... or I can spend 15 bucks and guarantee getting it. I've already got all of the Rare, Uncommon, and Common figures from the set... and there's a very good chance that any booster that I choose is going to have something in it that I already own. No thanks. Not really interested. Sure, it's a Very Rare figure and all that... but difficult to find? Not really. In fact, if there are any pieces in the 40 figure sets that deserve to be considered difficult to find it would be the Uncommons.

If you know anything about how this game is played you know that Unique characters (such as Anakin Skywalker or Yoda, etc.) are never put into the Uncommon or Common slots in a set. When you build a squad, you aren't allowed to have more than a single Unique representation of a character such as having 2 different Anakin Skywalkers or 2 different Darth Vaders. Not so for those Uncommon or Common pieces. You can have as many of those non-Unique characters in your squad as you like. And it's usually in the Uncommon category that we find those really special abilities that can turn a decent squad into a great squad. Take, for example, the Mouse Droid from the Imperial Entanglements expansion. That's an Uncommon figure that is, arguably, one of the best pieces in the game right now. Compare it to another droid in the same set, R2-D2 with Extended Sensor. At the time of this writing, R2-D2 (a Rare figure) fetches about $2.50 on the singles market. The Mouse Droid, if you're lucky enough to find them, have gotten as high as 12 bucks online. That's nearly 5 times the cost of a supposedly Rare, iconic to the Star Wars franchise, figure! Does something about that picture seem a little off kilter? Other supposedly Rare figures are going for less than half the cost of R2-D2.As silly as that might sound on it's surface, it's just another example of supply and demand.

When I buy that case of Imperial Entanglements I get an R2-D2 in it. I also get 2 of those Mouse droids. If I bought 2 cases of Imperial Entanglements, I got 2 of those R2-D2's. I am limited to using only one, so, the extra one is a bit of a waste. I also got 4 of those Mouse Droids, which I can use all 4 of. In fact, in some circumstances, I might want to have several more of those Mouse Droids in my squad.The demand for R2-D2 with Extended Sensor is very low. The supply of that same R2-D2 is very high. It's no surprise that it's extremely inexpensive. The demand for those Mouse Droids is very high. The supply of that Mouse Droid is very low. So, again, supply and demand rules the day. So it all balances out for the online singles retailer in the end, right? Well, no, not quite. Let's take a look at that whole distribution thing again, Skippy.

In order for an online singles retailer to have 10 Mouse Droids in stock he has to open 5 cases. That means he has to purchase and stock 5 of those R2-D2's that we were just talking about. It will take all of about 5 minutes for that retailer to sell those Mouse Droids (high demand and all that) so his only option, if he intends to sell more, is to purchase and open more cases of boosters. Let's say he opens 10 cases. Now he's got 20 Mouse droids in stock and 15 of those R2-D2's. It's a pretty safe bet to say that he won't be selling those R2-D2's anytime soon, so let's do a little math: Our singles retailer just purchased 15 cases of miniatures to sell 30 Mouse Droids. If the retailer is spending 80 bucks per case, at wholesale, that means he just spent 1,200 bucks. Let's assume he sold all 30 of those Mouse Droids for 12 dollars each. That means he made 360 bucks and now has to sell only 840 dollars worth of singles to break even. Can you see why this is problematic for him? Can you see how this is a losing proposition for him? Do you start to see why this is a losing proposition for you, the consumer?

There is very little that a retailer, be it your LGS or an online retailer like Auggies, can do to help compensate for the somewhat upside down nature of the Star Wars Miniatures market. Our LGS, Super Games in Roswell Georgia, has lowered the prices of their individual boosters to $11.99, well below MSRP, in an effort to sell more boosters (albeit at a lower cost) and has worked with our gaming group to encourage us to purchase our cases from them, as opposed to an online retailer. While they make less money than individual booster sales that way, the money that we would be spending elsewhere is being spent, instead, in their store. As the Tournament Organizer I try to encourage the players in our group to buy product while they are in the store, and I'm working on ways to help the store sell more product in creative ways. Online retailers such as Auggie's have, in the past, relied solely on individual singles sales to make their money. Recently, Auggie's has begun to offer cases at a discounted rate because it's necessary if he wishes to compete on a global scale. Still, I understand that both of them (as well as retailers worldwide) are struggling to make a decent profit. I want my LGS to continue to support and sell Star Wars Miniatures and I want people like Auggie to still be around... I just don't know what else I can do to make that a reality.

It's not just the economy, stupid

All of that talk about money, economics, and supply and demand aside, there's another impact that the change to 40 figure sets has had. Remember how this is supposed to be a Collectible game? Yeah, not so much now. Think about it this way; if you were around when 60 figure sets were the norm, you probably know what it's like to open that booster and pull that VR figure that's worth a pretty penny on it's own. You know the excitement of making that trade for that figure that you really wanted. You probably also know how it felt to finally complete a given set. And you probably know that the excitement, the feeling of accomplishment, the joy that you once felt when you pulled that VR... that's pretty much gone. The collectible aspect of this game has taken a pretty big blow with the 40 figure sets. Completing a set is no longer something to brag about, it's no longer a major accomplishment, and it's no longer something that you'll get very excited over when it happens. At least I know that's what's happened for me. When I completed the latest set, Jedi Academy, I wondered why my overall feeling was "meh, so what". At one time, people used to keep a running tab in their forum signatures about how many of each set that they had, how many sets that they'd completed, and the trade forums were abuzz early on when a new set was released with people trying to get those difficult to find figures. That's pretty much gone now, and that's kinda sad.

The activity on the official forums was pretty high just before a new set came out, and stayed that way for a good while after a new set was released. People would speculate about how character X was going to change the game and how characters X, Y, and Z would work well in a given squad. Since people were slower to collect entire sets it would be several weeks of testing out figures and combinations of abilities before the cream would rise to the top. Now, a day after release, the majority of the active community members have their sets completed or are pretty near to it. Within the first week the best of the best is figured out, and the activity levels drop as a result. 

The 40 figure sets also had an impact on the local meta. Previously, when it was difficult to have every figure in a given set, you could show up at your LGS and have a decent idea about the types of squads you were going to face. And those squad archetypes were usually unique to your local group. Unless someone got really lucky with their pulls during the week, it was a safe bet to say that no one was showing up with some Tier 1 slaughter squad on Saturday. And if someone did manage to get extremely lucky in their pulls, it was a pretty safe bet to say that they would be excited enough about it that other people in you play group would know ahead of time.

"Can you believe Chuck pulled a Mandalore the Ultimate the other day?!?!"

Now there's very little to get excited about. And, since more and more players are able to complete entire sets with ease, it's pretty much gotten to the point that the larger meta, the national meta, has found it's way into the local meta. You got that super powerful piece from the latest set?  Yeah, so did everybody else. You were able to put together a really brutal squad with all of those nifty figures you just got? You and everybody else, Jack. You heard about that really great combination of abilities that is now possible with those new figures? Who hasn't? There is no more "local meta" and there is no more "national meta". In the words of my good friend Dean, "they've merged to become one".

When the 40 figure sets were first announced I was a happy camper. Now that we've seen the impact that 40 figure sets have had, I'm not quite as happy as I once was.

So I posit that, along with the economic damage to local and online retailers that the 40 figure sets have caused, the 40 figure sets have also managed to damage a good bit of the fun that this game had to offer. It's damaged the fun of collecting and trading, it's damaged the fun of the community interaction that we used to enjoy, and it's damaged the fun of playing competitively on a local level.

The question is...

What are we going to do about it?