Games Workshop is Dead! Long Live Games Workshop!

[Shamanic Rhythm]

I personally am cheering with every mile the Games Workshop Hindenburg plummets in altitude. It took every scrap of pocket money and every ounce of leverage I had over my parents just to accumulate a 1000 point army by the time I was 14, and then they changed the fucking rules and made the combination of models I had unfieldable unless I shelled out for more miniatures and paint.

I moved very quickly onto video games at that point, but my brother stuck with it. It's occasionally fun to watch his eyes light up with rage as he describes the Australian price gouging and codex gimping, but I still hope that someday he'll be free.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

As much as GW would want us to believe that without it there would be no Warhammer, it is simply not true.

Considering that about the only original GW designer etc left in the company is Jervis Johnson, I'd say that currently there's more Warhammer outside of GW than there is in.


EDIT:
Also, on a side note, WTF is this with everyone saying their army was suddenly rendered worthless by new codex X? I still use my Rogue Trader Ork and Guard armies in 6th ed, all it requires is a little bit of rearranging the squads.

 

[Warsmith17]

I honestly don't think the miniatures are that great. I did when I played, but looking at them now, especially next to the better quality historical plastics, they look plain silly. The proportions are insane, especially hands on the Imperial Guardsman, they just look grotesque now that I'm used to painting stuff with proper proportions.

 

[RicoADF]

My poison of choice was always Battlefleet Gothic, I liked 40k well enough but BFG was my favourite game by GW.

Naturally they dropped all support for it.

I stopped playing Warhammer due to the insane turn lengths and the frankly insulting prices, I play the odd game of Warmachine now and I've got a new toy spaceship game with models easily as nice as BFG and half the price. My complete fleet will probably run me £200.

May I ask what game is this, Id like to find another BFG like game but can only find mongooses armada, been wanting to find out if the model quality is any good since I display the models more than play them.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

**SNIP**

I also want to say that Privateer Press' models seem to be of better detail and quality, plus all the models I have bought are pewter whereas only a few of the GW models are and the rest are plastic. I had a fully functional large scale Warjack army and spent about half of what I would have if I was going to attempt to have a tournament worthy 40k army. I also enjoy the crossover between the RPG and the Miniatures game. I haven't played or bought new material in a while since I moved to a seemingly anti-hobby town but I remember there was supposed to be rules to transfer an RPG character to the mini's game at some point.

 

[Zontar]

I've personally been playing Heroclix in my post GM gaming life (don't judge me, the comic book store next to my collage has them and my friends like them to). They might not be assembled or painted, but for just playing they are fun, and with the exception of the very rare models are very cheap.

 

[Shinkicker444]

Ugh, everytime I think about trying WH the startup price just makes me cringe. I could do something similar just playing DoW with my friends over skype or something for a far far far far cheaper outlay. Far faster to.

 

[Lotet]

Guess what.

They've pulled the miniature ranges for Mordheim.

..and Necromunda.

..and Battlefleet Gothic.

..and Blood Bowl.

WHAT!? NOOOOOOO!! I wanted to get some Necromunda Redemptionists and a bunch of randoms from the Mordheim set to add some character to my armies!

 

[-Dragmire-]

There was a time I was really interested in tabletop gaming but, at the time, I only knew of Games Workshop owned games. My first trip into a GW store was at first thrilling as I played a simple game while vets taught the basic rules and then crushed when I saw the price tags. Also, I didn't want to paint, just play.

By the time I had heard of other tabletop games, I didn't have the time or money to invest in that hobby as well as friends who were into that sort of thing.

 

[Azahul]

My local store is a mix. Warmachine/Hordes gained a LOT of popularity when it was first released, both with the store and the players. Privateer Press didn't have the bullshit order/retail space restrictions like Games Workshop had and the figures were comparable to GWs but were less than 1/2 the price.

My only complaint about Warmachine is the recent switch to plastic figures. Their whole selling point initially was that their figures were METAL and AFFORDABLE. Then again, their "Play like you got a pair" slogan was a bit ahem.

Heh, I play Minions. I don't think our first plastic model (a plastic War Hog) has even been released yet. And if it has, well, I already own three. So plastic isn't something I've run into much.

And I've always rather liked Page 5, even if those final words could have been phrased better. It expresses some perfectly fine sentiments about sportsmanship and the like.

Anyway, there's still some Warhammer stuff on the shelves at the local store. I've never seen anyone buy it, I've never seen anyone play the game there, and the Warmachine crowd is pretty big. I can't say I'd even notice if Games Workshop collapsed completely. Been a long, long time since I payed any attention to anything they released.

 

[Ubiquitous Duck]

I have to agree with their pricing strategy just being what is biting them on the arse here.

I never had warhammer/games workshop as a main hobby, so it was always this extra thing I would delve into from time to time and build up my army over a long period.

Now, basically all unit boxes are (at least in the UK) around or above £30. This is as much as a brand new PC game, so not considering how fast prices drop from full price, even at this point - I would always go for the computer game. You are just getting SO much more for your money.

So as a casual games workshopper, I quit. There was no way I was spending that much money on so little.

Maybe they thought they could be the Abercrombie & Fitch of miniatures?

 

[DSP_Zulu]

Re: 3D Printing

Last I knew, players in official Games Workshop tournaments could not use any figure or vehicle that was not at least 75% Games Workshop material. Therefore, anyone wanting to participate in sponsored events would not be able to use 3D printed miniatures.

No one would be able to tell; the 3D models for the figures are already out there in the interwebs. When i was at Dragon*Con this last year (2013) there was a guy downstairs in the tabletop area of the Hilton who was literally printing a Leman Russ on the spot. I off-handedly asked him how much it was going to cost him, and his response was.. "oh, about the cost of that spool of plastic... 25$", which, last i checked, was cheaper than what GW charges for a Leman Russ.

And it wasn't readily apparent that it wasn't totally legit - especially after he had started painting it the next day.

The Space Marine/troops models are going to look exactly like the GW models, because someone has already scanned the GW models into 3D printer compatible files.

 

[major_chaos]

Assembling metal is pretty easy if you buy the right tools and take your time.

and plastic is easy without special tools, and easier to customize. Also my clumsy hands + superglue= pain. Plastic glue is a wonderful thing.

You know why that is? Because 40K has the strategic depth of a drying mud puddle.

Suggestions for something better then? Something that isn't Warmachine, because I fucking hate everything about Warmachine and my gaming buddies didn't care for it when they looked into it.

 

[veloper]

Wargaming miniatures used to be made out of metal in the good old days.

For the money GW are asking for their plastic crap, they could make metal figures.
Make the power armor out of real metal, then let people try to match that level of quality with their crappy 3D printers, but that won't likely happen because it's all stort-sighted greed.
An unpainted, plastic miniature should only cost a couple dollar cents to mass-produce, which explains the big profits even in relatively poor times.

 

[ForumSafari]

May I ask what game is this, Id like to find another BFG like game but can only find mongooses armada, been wanting to find out if the model quality is any good since I display the models more than play them.

Sure thing, the game's called Firestorm Armada and it's made by a company called Spartan Games.

The models are gorgeous but they're hard to evaluate in pictures, Spartan doesn't have many decent model painters on staff so the pictures just don't do them justice. Here's two of mine, the brute in the background is half done and the smaller vessel up front is finished. My paint job is terrible but you can see the detail on the model is very good.

Spoiler

By the way that's not pink, it's the flash

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

It's a pity GW axed their own baby EPIC, as it would seem to offer everything you like in a much better ruleset.

Really though, I think it's about time miniature wargaming went back to its roots. Why waste our time and money on companies that don't respect us as customers when we can easily make our own rules which are way better balanced than anything the big companies put out, and use the entire world of miniature figures to stock our armies?

This is a very good idea. I still play GW games, I just don't do so at a GW. So I don't have to worry about using only GW models, having to play with the latest ruleset or codex, actually having a codex legal army, getting badgered to buy a load of shit I don't need, or only playing games that are still supported by GW.

I get why people go there, sometimes it's hard to find a game or learn about wargaming when your starting out, but once you've been there a few times you'll probably bump into a few people who'll know about other gaming clubs or just some guys house you can go to and play whatever you want, however you want. Back when I started playing, going to GW for a game didn't even come into my head, you just played at a friends house. In the intervening years people just seem to have been convinced that GW is the only place to play their games.

Also, on the Epic front, I suggest ebay and Net Epic. I still play 2nd ed and net epic is based on that with a few homebrew rules for newer units and some tweaks and clarifications. Some epic stuff has gone up in price a bit since GW cut it completely, but the majority of it has stayed the same since it was OOP anyway.

 

[Mangod]

Snip

I actually did a comparison between Warhammer 40k and Warmachine/Hordes in terms of price, using Vanilla Marines as the GW baseline, and... the difference in price was rather staggering.

Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook - $74.25
Codex: Space Marines - $58.00
Space Marine Captain - $30.00
10 Tactical Marines - $40.00
Total: $202.25

Warmachine: Prime/Hordes: Primal rulebook - $29.99
Warmachine/Hordes Battlegroup - $49.99
Total: $79.98

Now, I'm not sure if a basic Space Marine Tac unit starts at 5 or 10 models, but if it's the latter you need to add on another 40$ to the GW price, making WH40k THREE TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE THAN THE COMPETITION. That's insane. No wonder people are buying less; the competitions prices virtually butcher Games Workshop's.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

I actually did a comparison between Warhammer 40k and Warmachine/Hordes in terms of price, using Vanilla Marines as the GW baseline, and... the difference in price was rather staggering.

Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook - $74.25
Codex: Space Marines - $58.00
Space Marine Captain - $30.00
10 Tactical Marines - $40.00
Total: $202.25

Warmachine: Prime/Hordes: Primal rulebook - $29.99
Warmachine/Hordes Battlegroup - $49.99
Total: $79.98

Now, I'm not sure if a basic Space Marine Tac unit starts at 5 or 10 models, but if it's the latter you need to add on another 40$ to the GW price, making WH40k THREE TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE THAN THE COMPETITION. That's insane. No wonder people are buying less; the competitions prices virtually butcher Games Workshop's.

Or you could go for the GW starter boxed set, which is the equivalent of $90, gives you 2 armies (48 models including a dreadnought, & a few bikes), rulebook, templates, dice etc.

Sure, you're stuck with marines or chaos, but getting started isn't that expensive. It's the add ons that cost bucks. They get you hooked on free cheap samples then jack up the price.

 

[Dwarfman]

Wow, I didn't know Warhammer was so cheap in the US! That a Tac Squad, Rhino, and 5 paints would cost me $135 here. I can't imagine why anyone in Australia plays the game.

The sad part is I remember when I first started collecting, $100 would have gotten me all of that plus the Codex Astartes with change left over for a White Dwarf. Oh yeah...And all ten marines were made from lead or pewter.

 

[Muspelheim]

I've never played a GW game in my life, but reading that article makes me think they certainly deserve to burn. Hell, the whole thing comes off as a letter from an abused lover. Dump their asses; go out into the world and find someone new!

I did. It as a bitter divorce, but it had to be done. Now, I've heard they might be planning on axing the two factions I happen to like the most, leaving nothing to return to. Which at this point just feels like luck.