Capitalizing on the GW frustration

[AvatarForm]

Honestly, I think that the problem with the GW hobby at the moment is not the prices per se, but rather the overall cost of buying into the system or even just getting a new army.

GW produced some beautiful minis, and maybe I'm going to annoy some people here in saying it but in terms of quality, their price arguably justified (with exceptions...but that's not what I want to discuss here). The problem is that you need alot of those very nice minatures to get a regular sized army list. Even a 'cheap' 1500pt Space Marine army will probably cost you around AU$500, and that's without going nuts on the transports or taking high $$, low pts units. If you're looking for more of a horde army or want to get into WHFB, you're looking at alot more.

So when you compare these costs to these other games like Malifaux, Infinity and Warmachine, you can start to see why people are beginning to move to other systems. Sure, 40k/WHFB offers you the ability to play large scale battles rather than skirmishes, but even that niche is starting to be replaced in part by the games produced by Spartan Games.

Anyway, I find the recent announcements about pricing and region restricted sales to be disappointing, but it won't affect me. I haven't bought any GW minis for a year and a half now and with my newfound interest in other games, that's unlikely to change.

Do I think smaller companies need to capitalise on the to sentiment and do some sales? Not really. I think GW is doing a fine job of driving disgruntled players to other systems, but I suppose a bit of to publicity couldn't hurt.

Besides, I've found the cheekiness of these sales to be highly amusing.

Honestly, it is very difficutl to take your post seriously in PINK...:dance:

[ChrisM]

I run one of my areas GW gaming groups and I have to be honest, the vocal minority is bigger than you think. I've noticed that some of the Die hard GW fanboys are taking a long hard look at their allegiance to the company. I'm one of em. In our group of 75 members a good 40 have taken advantage of the PP new box deal and have started Malifaux crews. I've been waiting for people to play with for a long time so its good for me!

When you look at the cost of starting a new army when dealing with GW you can almost buy a decent beater car. I know we have a few new members and they have looked at the initial cost of the game (GW) and were immediately put off. They started Hordes instead both purchased Malifaux crews. The Rotten Bells sold em on the game LOL.

I see a shift in the balance of gaming company power within the next 5 years. I'm not anti GW, just anti GW pricing policy. I'll continue to shake my head and play their game but I'm done buying from them.

[Chucklemonkey]

and always sort of thought they should of come out with a more squad sized skirmish game

They did have perfectly good skirmish games in the likes of necromunda and mordheim, they just chose not to support it.

A few people I used to game with, to this day say Necromunda was their favourite GW game.

the vocal minority is bigger than you think. I've noticed that some of the Die hard GW fanboys are taking a long hard look at their allegiance to the company.

Have to agree, the same people I mentioned above, whilst perhaps not fanboys but very heavily invested with GW with multiple armies in excess of 4,000 points in each system and just today I got a text asking me to explain warmachine to them. (I had already tried to convert them to Malifaux with no joy)

At the end of the day, there will be people who stop buying but keep playing with what they have, and those that sell up completely. Until now I had always argued (despite being one of the ones who sold up) that they would continue to bring in enough new gamers that the losses could be absorbed, this time I am not so sure.

Edit: and I have finally learnt how to quote from more than one post. go me.

[LonelyPath]

I'm a member of 2 regular GW clubs in my area (though 1 also plays Malifaux, Warmachine and systems from other companies) and there's been a lot of changes over the last year. For instance, apart from a few new gamers to WFB we've all taken to using our models to play 29mm Warmaster. We're explaining this to the newer gamers as it lets us build armies that are more balanced against others for a fraction of the cost. 1 gamer at my Monday night club just build 3000 points of Warriors of Chaos for just under £300. I built a list for the same army and points for 28mm Warmaster for just over £70. He still insists on WFB, but as we (the more experienced players) pointed out, army armies were crippled by 8th edition and we're not going to rebuild them just because GW says so.

I've been a GW gamer for a very long time (WFB 2nd edition) and have bought, played and own around 90% of the games (and editions of of those games) they're produced since the mid to late 1980s (I coudl attempt to list them all, but my collection includes large collections for every army/gang/team/squad they're produced like Epic, Bloodbowl, 40k, WFB, Necromunda, Mordheim, etc). Thankfully that means I have pretty much got all the models I would ever need, but when you see players also like me with such vast collections leaning more towards other systems you know something is wrong with what GW is doing. it's not out of boredom of the games, we still (usually) enjoy those, 40k for instance we still love, it's the way they treat the gamers that are driving us off.

These days I'm starting to look into Pulp City, Excillis and other systems also, maybe I won't play the games, but I will end up collecting some models in the event that someone else in my area might take them up as well.

After more than 25 years of investing in the GW hobby, I feel like I've had enough and if I ever want more models, it'll come from 2nd hand things on Ebay, proxies and conversions based on models from other companies.

[Yazza]

just bought me a finecast model, the resin is weird, its really flexible.

light.

but ofcourse waaay to expensive

need to test assembling and painting, but wouldnt mind wyrd swithcing to this

not a gw afficionato, but would love to see other companies make a switch to this or something similar

[G. Footman]

They did have perfectly good skirmish games in the likes of necromunda and mordheim, they just chose not to support it.

A few people I used to game with, to this day say Necromunda was their favourite GW game.

Have to agree, the same people I mentioned above, whilst perhaps not fanboys but very heavily invested with GW with multiple armies in excess of 4,000 points in each system and just today I got a text asking me to explain warmachine to them. (I had already tried to convert them to Malifaux with no joy)

At the end of the day, there will be people who stop buying but keep playing with what they have, and those that sell up completely. Until now I had always argued (despite being one of the ones who sold up) that they would continue to bring in enough new gamers that the losses could be absorbed, this time I am not so sure.

Edit: and I have finally learnt how to quote from more than one post. go me.

oh yeah, I know about those, I still occasinally play Mordheim from time to time, and most the terrain I use for Malifaux is the ruined buildings from the mordheim box. wish I had gotten into necromunda when it was still easy to

I meant more like how they had the skirmish rules for WFB, where you can use units from your warhammer armies, just on a smaller scale battle, for W40k, like say taking a 5 man squad of space marines and having an assassination mission against your opponent's squad of specialist eldar defending a target model or something.

sort of connected to their main game, but covers the parts of war thats not all 100's of guys rushing up or riding their tank closer to hit you with their sword

[G. Footman]

These days I'm starting to look into Pulp City, Excillis and other systems also, maybe I won't play the games, but I will end up collecting some models in the event that someone else in my area might take them up as well.

After more than 25 years of investing in the GW hobby, I feel like I've had enough and if I ever want more models, it'll come from 2nd hand things on Ebay, proxies and conversions based on models from other companies.

Usually how i've done it for years, 2nd hand through ebay, alternate models, and conversions.

there's more companies out too that offer lines similar to GW, just with names like 'space soldier' or 'dwarf berzerker' for cheaper.

I did at one point consider getting some of Mantic's zombies to bulk out my VC army, but wasn't sure the scale and all

and wanted to check out pulp city, but none of the local stores carry it, plus I'm really the only one in my gaming group into superhero genres.

Edited May 28, 2011 by G. Footman

[ispep]

They did have perfectly good skirmish games in the likes of necromunda and mordheim, they just chose not to support it.

I think the reason they dropped those games to "Specialist Games" was because people continued to buy the big games that required hundreds of dollars to start up. If they can keep people paying more, why offer something cheaper?

just bought me a finecast model, the resin is weird, its really flexible.

light.

but ofcourse waaay to expensive

need to test assembling and painting, but wouldnt mind wyrd swithcing to this

not a gw afficionato, but would love to see other companies make a switch to this or something similar

As far as cost goes, the majority of blisters only went up a couple of dollars (usd). Like blisters that were in the 13-14 dollar price bracket are now $15.25, the 16-17 dollar bracket are now $18.25. The increase on the boxes is slightly higher for several models. And there are a few outliers, such as the Avatar, which was previously $27.50 or so, is now $38.50.

I have not actually handled the product out of a blister, but comparing the metal to the finecast, I'm not impressed. The sprues and excessive amount of flash are unacceptable, imo. There isn't any more detail on the finecast, and some of the lines are actually crisper on the metals, contrary to GWs claims. Perhaps when we see things made from masters specifically intended for finecast there will be a difference, but I for one won't be holding my breath.

[CannonFodder]

I think the Die hard 40k player will stay, just because they like the huge apocalypse battle and can only play every 3-4 months. The last game I saw though had 2 x 4 foot tall titans on the table along with bane blades etc. Some people just like the huge aspect of the game. It more the appreciation of the anticipation of the huge game.

But after that I think they just shot themselves in the foot. I'm in Montreal Canada and they increased the US prices by 17% but raised the Canadian prices by over 30%. Take note that the US Canadian dollar is on par now for the first time in a long time. And with the region lock you can't cross border shop. My LGS has a monthly 40K group where they play small games 1500 points and they fill 4-5 tables. Those people may start dropping off. Also y LGS have pretty much said they won't increase their stocks. given this I think. they only people who will join are probably looking for the huge scale of game, which are going to buy used lots to get started. But if they don't care for the Sci-fi aspect, I think Flames of war will take over .

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I used to play Confrontation and it tried to switch to the PPP scale it a slow death. a couple of us were playing after the change, but the old rules died soon afterwards without the idea of new models and more growth coming. Otherwise its type of board game with less customization. meanwhile the new PPP rule set was a complete change and people had to repurchase their factions. Also the release of the new faction was too slow more some player to keep intrest.

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I think Wyrds has mastered the the slow burn releases. by announcing the models well in advance of release people always have something to look forward to, the anticipation keeps the interest high. Also by having the price point relatively low its really tempting to pick up a new crew.