Some bold and not so bold predictions there. I'll give my opinions on them and add a couple myself.
1. Warcradle will successfully launch DW3,0 this year -
90% certain they will launch the rules, however, I'll argue over "Successfully": Yes, the rulebook will come out, however, it's going to be interestign as to how much of a
commercial success it will be. As a game at present, it's got a lot of skirmish players who want to try "a ships thing" alongside their WWX games versus some hard-core naval SF/Fantasy gamers and I forsee . . . Gripping game sbetween the two types of players at the least.
As for minis, well, they certainly have been good with the resin items for the "Classics" and seem to be doing some metals as well ( They've got the HEC Hades Interceptor up, with a picture that suggest they've cast it in metal despite listing it as 'resin' :/ ). . .
However they keep insisting that plastics is the way to go, which I think might bite them very hard in the
ass future, and will delay that until at least Q4 2019.
2. The Beta for FA will start in Q4 2019
I'll rate this as 60%; The progress on this entire game is slower than anything else I judge from both the lack of updates by Warcradle ( Who are positive Dizzy Gillespies when it comes to promotion ) and the fact that the writers they have engaged for the fluff have been inactive ( My sources in British SF fabndom are much more limited than in the 80s and 90s, but I hear things. ). I'd be more than surprised if we heard anythign about FA rules before Q2 2020.
3. Battlestar Galactica:Starship Battles will grow in popularity.
So say we all!
Seriously , as long as they don't do a Fantasy Flight stunt as with SW Attack Wing 2.0, there's no reason to assume anything but growth, even though the game is perforce limited to a fixed number of ship and fighter types after all.
4. Oak & Iron Will Ship On-time to Kickstarter Backers, and will Successfully Transition to Retail.
Very bold statement in both parts - Ask the non-backers of Age of Tyrants about the second part.
Still an on-time KS delivery seems likely given the comapny itself so no argument there.
5. Games Workshop Will Release A New Starship Combat Game in 2019.
10% chance of this IMHO, and I'm being generous and optomistic ( Otherwise,I'd have said snowballs
). The market for a Gothic Future sace game has been filled by BFG as far as GW is concerned and they seem to have grown tired of fighting fan-losing battles for IP with all the makers of "Gothic spaceships" at the moment, not to mention havign one of the largest law firms in the US takign out full-page adverts offering to fight them to a loss AGAIN ( And then there's the
spectacular failure of Harmony Gold ). Combine all that with GW's unspoken policy that "anyone older than 14 is not our market" and their subsequent treatment of older games systems, the concept seems unlikely from commerical and policy standards.
Then there's the design factor; GW"s swing is toward finely detailed figuriens and terrian in one ( maybe
two ) scales, and they don't seem to have any artists with an interest in smaller scales and designs - OK, one definitely jumped ship to Warcradle, and the
K̶r̶y̶s̶t̶a̶l̶l̶n̶a̶c̶h̶t̶ ̶P̶u̶r̶g̶e̶ ̶M̶a̶s̶s̶a̶c̶r̶e̶ Shake up at Forge World over the Epic and others they produced discouraged a lot of sculptors there from working in smaller scale even on their own recognisance - So I don't see them even beign
able to produce a line they would be happy with themselves much before Q2 2020. I'm more than happy to be proved wrong
6. World of Warships Legends Will Launch in 2019, and Boost World of Warships PC Numbers.
Don't play so I can't comment.
I do imagine that if the hijinks and
p̶l̶a̶y̶e̶r̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶l̶o̶i̶t̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ financial mindest of Kixeye continues, there will be more Battle Pirates players joining you, that's for certain
My own predictions?
A. Cruel Seas will do steady business, and will produce ranges for riverine warfare in the Viet Nam and "Sand Pebbles" China eras.
B. Uncharted Seas will have some movement by the end of the year.
C. SW Armada will decline for the rest of the year, though it won't vanish in 2019.
Time, as they say, will tell.
