Wargames Atlantic halts sales of The Barons’ War due to overwhelming demand
Which is pretty cool, actually.
Back in April, Wargames Atlantic (WGA) released a second edition of The Barons’ War at SALUTE 52 in London. In an unusual move for a historical wargame, the first release took the form of a two-player starter set. It was an instant hit, catching the company by surprise and becoming one of their biggest product launches — so much so that WGA has struggled to keep up with demand. My own copy was delayed for a couple of weeks due to a lack of shipping capacity, and on May 21st, WGA announced that it was temporarily taking the starter set off sale in order to fulfill existing orders and build up enough stock for the next six months.
“Company sells lots of copies of product” doesn’t sound particularly newsworthy, and Games Workshop has stock shortages on big releases all the time. But WGA is not GW. Starter sets like this for historicals are rare enough, even before taking into account the massive success. It could very well herald a shift in how historicals are sold and how they’re perceived by potential players.
The Barons’ War is a medieval skirmish game written by Andy Hobday and published by WGA. While it focuses on the titular two titular English conflicts that you probably haven’t heard of (you may be familiar with King John and Magna Carta – the First Barons’ War was about him refusing to abide by those terms), it has expanded to cover other medieval conflicts in the time since its release. Now, it goes from the early medieval invasions of England to the Crusades and even a campaign based on the legends of Robin Hood.
