This is where, the investment in excellence comes to fruition. GMT’s games printer had a recent retiree, sure enough the ‘replacement’ had a less stringent or exacting standard for perfect it would seem !
GMT is reviewing its printing for HOPLITE and UCS. Thankfully the usual excellent customer service is on the job.
Our kids….my kids receive the same story every day (or so it seems to them) – strive for Excellence and Mastery versus Mediocrity and modest capability in all things.
We can know our math facts or we can master them. We can know how to shoot that ball, but have we mastered goal scoring in Lacrosse?
Which would you prefer to be able to do? Are you prepared to do the work to achieve that level of excellence, and the rewards to come with it?
Gene (Owner of GMT) has mentioned over on CSW (that is a mildly scary place for Grognards to gather and kick dust) that they are reviewing ALL of the boxes for errors to see what needs to be done with the US printer. No doubt seeking a reprint at the printers expense.
That said one of my copies has the info counters registered significantly wrong, but playable. The other has minor registration errors on formation/unit counters. Again very usable, you can see the luch art and good counters in this post. Interestingly this is across various counter sheets for buyers, whereas often this happens to just one counter sheet in a set.
I’m happy with mine ( I have a gazzillion info counters) and wont be seeking replacements. They have done enough free of charge for errors or my own stupid actions (remember the Map tear recently!).
On a higher level, as the masters and true artisans of the mechanical world move on, what will we accept as the new norm in society?
Will planned obsolescence, and higher fail rates be the new norm outside of Mega Corps too?
Will younger generations of people working with production equipment be happy with a lower standard?
Will a generation of ‘you are awesome’ kids now grown up deliver mediocrity as the new perfect?
Lets hope not.
It always feels like mediocrity is winning out over mastery and ongoing improvement. But in reality, the winners over the last few decades have been the ones who mastered quality and refined their processes. The quality of cars today is an order of magnitude higher than it was 30 years ago. Across the board. Sure there are exceptions (GM ignitions), but I still remember needing to always have a quart of oil and a gallon of water in every vehicle. Who does that today?
GMT is a class act and I’m glad Gene is on it. I feel bad for him though. I run a small business and I know how much an unexpected failure like this costs, even if he does get the printer to correct the mistake.
Agreed. GMT has set the bar for others. The Youth in question however, lets hope he gets some more training.