Would love to play this game

I've been noticing that E-Figures has been ordering some stock, just not full restocks.

Case in point, they got a Longbow/Crossbow blister in to send to my LGS for me, and right now they're showing some UCM DZC starters that they didn't have previously, but my Flak teams are still MIA.

Glad things are improving for you... Hope it gets better.

Any luck getting a battleship?

Glad things are improving for you... Hope it gets better.

Any luck getting a battleship?

Not yet, though I know another guy in my LGS just mentioned he got one (but not from where).

When any distributor starts having the command cards I'm gonna bug the shit out of my lgs to get them or to pressure their distributor

I don't know why some of the online retailers haven't replenished their stock. I've been checking miniature market and they have been filling their stock but I know Golden Distribution has plenty of stock.

Of the 2-Player Starter Set specifically? I haven't seen it in stock at Miniature Market for months, but most of their other items get restocked periodically.

Sorry, typo. Miniature Market hasn't been filling their stock lately despite Golden Dist having plenty of stock.

When any distributor starts having the command cards I'm gonna bug the shit out of my lgs to get them or to pressure their distributor

They should have them by now (although my FLGS has been having problems getting them...).

I actually emailed game nerdz about this a few days ago. They "As far as Dropfleet, everything that's currently out of stock is backordered, so it may be a few weeks before there's a restock on those. Be sure to sign up for the in-stock notifications so you can be made aware when they do arrive."

I don't think their stuff has gotten much stock at all. Stuff has been sold out since its first wave.

I actually emailed game nerdz about this a few days ago. They "As far as Dropfleet, everything that's currently out of stock is backordered, so it may be a few weeks before there's a restock on those. Be sure to sign up for the in-stock notifications so you can be made aware when they do arrive."

I don't think their stuff has gotten much stock at all. Stuff has been sold out since its first wave.

I think what's happening is distributors sell out, restock a little, then sell out of that really quickly. So at any given time, when you check their stock, it's sold out, but that doesn't mean that they've been continually sold out since the first wave. My FLGS, for example, has gotten several restocks since before they opened on December 1st of last year, and I know that the FLGS on the other side of Phoenix has also gotten several orders filled over the past 7 months. But the distros are paranoid about getting stuck with anything, so they only order a little at a time, which meets their immediate backorder needs, but doesn't keep much stock on the shelves in their warehouses. I observed the same thing happening with E-Figs about two years ago when I was desperately trying to get my old FLGS to stock Dropzone; they'd have stuff briefly, then sell out of what we needed most in no time.

The interesting thing about Dropfleet is, there aren't that many SKUs that need to be stocked to cover the whole line, unlike Dropzone. Starters, Cruiser Packs, Frigate Packs, battleships and corvettes are it in terms of ships, then the Rulebook, Activation Cards, Space Station kits, and Launch Assets, plus now, Command Cards. That's it, really, unless I missed something. So you don't see "obscure" units lingering in their inventory like you do with Dropzone -- there might be a bunch of Bears and Junos and the like in stock, but no Starter Sets, rulebooks, commanders or command cards, or the other, more popular units, they just sell back out quickly.

Another problem I've seen is that LGS's don't often keep a big backorder of stuff they want for any given game system with a distributor (outside of GW, of course, they don't fit into this problem scenario). If the distro can't fill their order, the LGS will cancel what they can't get and go try another distro, or simply forget to check again and order when it's in stock. The whole system is a bit archaic in many ways, and takes a LGS owner/manager who can stay organized and on top of what all their players want from all the systems they carry. This is compounded by the chronic cash flow squeeze that any smalll business suffers from -- they don't want to keep many/any "open" orders because they don't know when they'll get filled and their account will then get charged. If a number of such backorders suddenly all got filled at the same lime it might drain their coffers to unacceptable levels at a moment's notice. So they cancel what doesn't come in with the next shipment, and resolve to try again. But they don't have the time it takes to consistently monitor the distributors' stock levels for all of these "smaller" systems, so they miss their window of opportunity when the distros do get a shipment from Hawk.

And orders are going out of the Hawk warehouse in Birmingham. If their stock was backing up, I'd hear about it, but they're as busy as ever fulfilling orders, so somewhere, somehow, the system just hasn't reached an acceptable level of equilibrium.

Well I have had battleships and the UCM set on notify me since January. Not a peep from them.

I usually go with Game Nerdz because their discount is pretty high. Though truthfully, I have been using it as a way of not buying more stuff than I need so it has worked out.

Now that there is foam available and command cards are dropping, I will have to pick something up soon.

I actually emailed game nerdz about this a few days ago. They "As far as Dropfleet, everything that's currently out of stock is backordered, so it may be a few weeks before there's a restock on those. Be sure to sign up for the in-stock notifications so you can be made aware when they do arrive."

I don't think their stuff has gotten much stock at all. Stuff has been sold out since its first wave.

I think what's happening is distributors sell out, restock a little, then sell out of that really quickly. So at any given time, when you check their stock, it's sold out, but that doesn't mean that they've been continually sold out since the first wave. My FLGS, for example, has gotten several restocks since before they opened on December 1st of last year, and I know that the FLGS on the other side of Phoenix has also gotten several orders filled over the past 7 months. But the distros are paranoid about getting stuck with anything, so they only order a little at a time, which meets their immediate backorder needs, but doesn't keep much stock on the shelves in their warehouses. I observed the same thing happening with E-Figs about two years ago when I was desperately trying to get my old FLGS to stock Dropzone; they'd have stuff briefly, then sell out of what we needed most in no time.

The interesting thing about Dropfleet is, there aren't that many SKUs that need to be stocked to cover the whole line, unlike Dropzone. Starters, Cruiser Packs, Frigate Packs, battleships and corvettes are it in terms of ships, then the Rulebook, Activation Cards, Space Station kits, and Launch Assets, plus now, Command Cards. That's it, really, unless I missed something. So you don't see "obscure" units lingering in their inventory like you do with Dropzone -- there might be a bunch of Bears and Junos and the like in stock, but no Starter Sets, rulebooks, commanders or command cards, or the other, more popular units, they just sell back out quickly.

Another problem I've seen is that LGS's don't often keep a big backorder of stuff they want for any given game system with a distributor (outside of GW, of course, they don't fit into this problem scenario). If the distro can't fill their order, the LGS will cancel what they can't get and go try another distro, or simply forget to check again and order when it's in stock. The whole system is a bit archaic in many ways, and takes a LGS owner/manager who can stay organized and on top of what all their players want from all the systems they carry. This is compounded by the chronic cash flow squeeze that any smalll business suffers from -- they don't want to keep many/any "open" orders because they don't know when they'll get filled and their account will then get charged. If a number of such backorders suddenly all got filled at the same lime it might drain their coffers to unacceptable levels at a moment's notice. So they cancel what doesn't come in with the next shipment, and resolve to try again. But they don't have the time it takes to consistently monitor the distributors' stock levels for all of these "smaller" systems, so they miss their window of opportunity when the distros do get a shipment from Hawk.

And orders are going out of the Hawk warehouse in Birmingham. If their stock was backing up, I'd hear about it, but they're as busy as ever fulfilling orders, so somewhere, somehow, the system just hasn't reached an acceptable level of equilibrium.

Really well written and thoughtful post, thank you!

Unfortunately what that post ultimately says is "players can't buy Hawk product". Which is another way of saying "Customers are spending their money elsewhere". Which seems like something Hawk Wargames should be very keenly interested in.