The idea of an Forumini AAM card deck has been around for a while, but recently tiggermike posted the question about the feasibility creating such a deck. To be honest, we could probably just pick from the vast array of homemade cards already created to make a deck. With that in mind, let's use this thread to gauge the interest level. Give us your ideas. How many cards would you like to see in the deck? What iconic units are we missing that really need to be included? And if you have time, give us a list of the units you would like to see. Let see where this goes. Maybe we can put something together.
I think 72 or whatever the WAS decks have been made up to. We should just use the homemade cards that people have posted. Now as my list goes I would have think more on it. I'll get to looking through what cards are out there and what is priority. Ex British artillery
Artillery for most countries would be nice additions, certainly for the Major countries...UK/USA/USSR/Germany/Italy/Japan. I'm sure there are some vehicles that would be included as well. This is a good idea & certainly would enhance the land game.
I agree on using the homemade cards listed in our custom card list. I have already started to compile a list of what I would like to see. So far mostly stuff that can easily be substituted with existing pieces. Not sure how wide a selection of 3D printed units are out there. (like I need to open that can of worms anyway)
As far as the deck size goes, maybe someone who was directly involved with the W@S decks could chime in. I am guessing the cards would be printed out with so many to a specific size sheet or something of that nature.
I love this idea but I fear that there is not enough interest to make it feasible. Not trying to be negative but we tried this a few times on the old board. If things were to move forward, there are plenty of home made cards to make a deck. I would think that 50-60 would be a good start. Regarding unit lists: there was a lengthy discussion on the old forum that might be very helpful. Not sure if it can be archived. My choices would include units that round out existing nations. Eg: German NCO and non-SS SMG, British/CW sniper and commando, Russian Marine infantry etc... I would buy decks for a few players that are not on this forum plus myself
As far as the physical process of carding, there is a place in Colorado that prints them. They print in sheets of 9: 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72...the card sets have been 72 cards for the sea siders. The cost of making them scales with the number ordered, and distribution is a big deal. To keep under the radar of Wizards, we’ve had the whole project be zero profit (actually one member has lost hundreds of dollars to the cause). As such someone would have to be willing to mail out all the card sets for no pay. The price breakdown is something like $20 each for 200 copies, $15 for 300, $10 for 400 but don’t quote me on that. It’s about $8 to ship a set on the back end.
As far as the physical process of carding, there is a place in Colorado that prints them. They print in sheets of 9: 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72...the card sets have been 72 cards for the sea siders. The cost of making them scales with the number ordered, and distribution is a big deal. To keep under the radar of Wizards, we’ve had the whole project be zero profit (actually one member has lost hundreds of dollars to the cause). As such someone would have to be willing to mail out all the card sets for no pay. The price breakdown is something like $20 each for 200 copies, $15 for 300, $10 for 400 but don’t quote me on that. It’s about $8 to ship a set on the back end.
What do you guys think? Is this something you’d want to do?
Unless more people express their interest, I don't see how even with the lowest quantity of 200, how this would be economically possible. I know I can't use 40 decks for myself.
Another thought I had, was to have all the cards centrally located somewhere where the can easily be accessed. I noticed many of the cards in the master lists are missing or in Photo#ucket. I am not real familiar with this sort of thing, but I know some people can download those images and place them on sheets with programs like PAINT SHOP and what not, then have them printed on card stock for a fraction of the cost. They would not be double sided like the Forumini decks, but if they would be playable. Anybody know more about this possibility?
I can think of three, maybe four times this has been tried on the land side and it usually stumbled to a halt as people got busy and lost interest. The economic reality of trying to print off a big enough run, and the costs it would incur, doomed the process that probably moved the furthest along as they tried to replicate the success of the Forumini WAS decks. Just wasn't a big enough mass of AAM players to justify the print run and forum has gotten smaller since then. The WAS side had a couple financial backers to make it through the first couple decks (Weedsrock and 12-7 Games) and I think they probably both lost money in the end.
That said, if someone or a group, decided to put together a Forumini official AAM card set, I think the best approach would be to make the cards available in an electronic format that easy is to transfer into the files of the online printers that offer the playing card printing options. I have printed off several custom cards over the years with this approach and it is usually pretty easy to do and with a little shopping around, economically feasible as well.
I see a Forumini deck requiring a consistent look, a logo for the back (most of printers allow this option), and a concise voting process to make them "Forumini legal"
Where the process often broke down before was the endless polls and votes about which units to include and then trying to shoehorn in stats, play testing, and special abilities. I think this is where borrowing from pre-existing cards (already designed by custom makers over the year) and then an up/down vote on whether to include it as written would streamline the process. Card gets voted in, reformatted into the Forumini look, and then added to the official file that a player could then pull from and print which ones they wanted (but all the cards would be Forumini official).