The LAF Games Workshop Discussion Thread

[pixelgeek]

I'm sure we're all familiar with the sight of a GW store being rammed to the gills from November onwards with adults clutching a) a piece of paper with details scribbled on them, or b) a tugging child whose eyes are swivelling madly from side to side, trying to calculate the maximum they can get away with asking for.

That was rather my point, I don't see that sort of thing any more and I haven't for some time.

[Cubs]

Come visit the developed world (Cardiff being its cultural epicentre), away from the frozen wastes, dangerous wildlife and trees oozing sugar. I'll even let you buy me a beer.

[Vermis]

This gets said over and over again but I think its bullshit. The game is far too highly priced for kids...
I don't see young kids buying 40K kit in the way that I saw it a decade ago and I don't even see them playing at all in any of the stores or events I have been to.

This is because, as Beefcake, Cubs and I said, kids ain't buyin' no more. At least they ain't buyin' themselves. And I'd hazard even parents these days are saying "How much?! That does it, young man, you're gettin' an Xbox..."

... And GW stock takes a... What was it? 24% tumble?

'No pew'  

Jim: have we discussed the gorka/morkanauts already? The £6.sumthin per freebooter? The £30 for one placcy gun and a couple of grots?

[OSHIROmodels]

Jim: have we discussed the gorka/morkanauts already? The £6.sumthin per freebooter? The £30 for one placcy gun and a couple of grots?

Nope, piccies please 

pew pew 

[FramFramson]

Come visit the developed world (Cardiff being its cultural epicentre), away from the frozen wastes, dangerous wildlife and trees oozing sugar. I'll even let you buy me a beer.

 

[grant]

Come visit the developed world (Cardiff being its cultural epicentre), away from the frozen wastes, dangerous wildlife and trees oozing sugar. I'll even let you buy me a beer.

 

[jp762]

So....2nd is the must have? I have rogue trader, 3rd through to last edition and all codicies? codexes? for 4th through 6th, many for 2nd, imperial armour 1-7 hardback and half a dozen of their softbacks, 13th black crusade book, apocalypse, cityfight (old and newer), chapter approved and many more. I was going to list them individually on ebay but if any 40k fans are interested......

[beefcake]

One thing I really hate about the GW website is when the text accompanying the picture of the model does nothing but describe the model. There are several pictures, and the option for a 360 degree image, and yet the text will still go over every last thing on the model.

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Throgg Possibly not the best example but the first one I found.
 

"This finely detailed miniature shows the King of Trolls in all his glory. Throgg’s toughness is denoted by the fact that he leaves weapons thrown at him to remain sticking there as trophies. He possesses thick, scaly and spiked skin and stands with one foot on an immense chain-bound rock-hammer. He has huge muscular arms, one of which is raised as if punching through the air; the fibrous muscles on his torso and legs blend into a thick-toothed maw. His ragged cloak sports various trophies and braids, and skulls are woven into his hair."

Spelling mistake. I believe it is spelled "SKULLZ"

[Major_Gilbear]

One thing I really hate about the GW website is when the text accompanying the picture of the model does nothing but describe the model. There are several pictures, and the option for a 360 degree image, and yet the text will still go over every last thing on the model.

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Throgg Possibly not the best example but the first one I found.
 

There is a shorter paragraph above with the most basic summary of his fluff. Why not just expand that, and maybe add a bit of what he can do for your army in the game in the text? Thing is, not all the product descriptions do it, some just have fluff or describe the options and accessories the picture may not feature. It's like they toss the job to the work experience kid in some cases, and all he/she can do is describe the model because they know nothing else about it.

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Be-lakor-Chaos-Daemon-Prince Another example...

I always assumed it was to describe the model for people who may not be able to see/access/download the images.

I also suspected that it might be to do with the way search engines index webpages in order to appear higher in the page rankings.

Only new or re-released models have these descriptions, and I have to agree that they are poorly-written and stale.



In other news, the new Ork releases... Well, I'm a bit disappointed frankly. The new characters look pretty awful, not sure I see the point in yet another Ork walker, the plastic Mega Nobz (that we've been waiting for since forever) finally arrived and failed to look intimidating, and the big support guns look hilariously overpriced for something that looks worse than any previous incarnation (and I still think the older 2E looked the best).
Finally, the Flash Gitz; the kit has nice parts and great potential. I've seen people start kitbashing them and it's confirmed that suspicion to me. The out-of-the-box kit builds though look silly even by the comic Ork standards.

The new LE bundle (Sanctus Reach: Stormclaw) has nice characters but seems expensive for what you get compared to Dark Vengeance. I think the Ork Warlord is probably the better of the two special-release models for me.

Will anybody here be getting Sanctus Reach or any of the new Orks?

[Malebolgia]

It's a metaphor for life.
You start off having fun and enjoying yourself as a kid, as you do when you buy your first blister of orks (4 Epic Gobsmashas, in my case). Then you grow up and you channel more and more of yourself into your career - or army. Or armies. Or preferred game.

Then you become a wreck, and you cannot keep up with the hours you have to put in for work, or the new rules and codices. You find yourself embroiled in the rat race, or designing tournament armies. And then comes disillusion, and maybe rebellion - when you see the corporate philosophy taking over from the fun games, and you switch over to Pulp or VSF or anything non-GW. In the end you settle down for the long slog, and learn to live and work and enjoy yourself, which is when you get the odd GW model simply because you like it; and don't mind mixing models from different brands; and splash out in mid-life crisis Kickstarter purchases (oh my god, that's me!); and discover oldhammer or 2nd ed. 40K or Necromunda or Netepic or (best of all  ) Man O' War.

Some remain in the rat race, and succeed, and stick to GW all their life, and get their kicks there. Others drop out of life entirely - or gaming, which is when you get bargain armies from sellers, yet feel sad for their loss, and hope they're happy in some other way. And others become celebrated, talented  artists, brilliant at modelling and painting and sculpting and designing tables which may or may not have a touch of GW in them, doesn't matter at all. These are the guys who win the Lead Painters' League, or who don't, but grace us with pics of incredible paint jobs and conversions and tables which leave us wide-eyed with wonder.

'Meh' is an expression I never wrote before now, but I guess it fits.

And did you ever notice how inane the one-line product descriptions on the current GW home page are? Stand-up comedy gold. These are from the page up today:

Roar into battle aboard a mechanised fortress of bloody ruin.

Decimate your enemies with the duo of destruction - they slice and dice all opposition.

Plummet from the skies into the midst of an enemy battle line.
(Why did I read that last one seated on the golden throne? Plummet.)

I still love the Epic Gobsmashas and all the rest to bits, and given the tonnes of grimdark plastic and metal I own and the hours I spent and will spend bashing and throwing paint at them on the paint table, I still can smile inwardly at GW and remember better days.

Fantastic post mate. Sums it all up perfectly.

[Nord]

The new LE bundle (Sanctus Reach: Stormclaw) has nice characters but seems expensive for what you get compared to Dark Vengeance. I think the Ork Warlord is probably the better of the two special-release models for me.

Will anybody here be getting Sanctus Reach or any of the new Orks?

I pre-ordered the Sanctus Reach set. I intended to paint up the characters for ebay, probably sell the wolves and keep some of the orky stuff - got an ork force that I have not used for years but this set allows me to add some kans for a bit of fun and I will probably hang on to the boss to because he looks, well, boss.  I play against a mate and we keep it fairly squadish based - not too much hardware, bit like the game used to be played. It's still good fun. Not tried the newer versions, think we stopped playing at 5th edition, not rage quitters, just moved on to other games. But looking through my old ork force has got me a little nostalgic and maybe the new toys will encourage me - don't we all buy new stuff with this in mind.

The new set is good value for me, it's about half retail price of buying it all separately. In real terms, that means it's about the same price is was five years ago when I packed it in, so I'm reasonably happy.

[Vanvlak]

Thank you, Malebolgia 

[soldieroftheline]

Do WH Smiths know something we don't?

[matthais-mouse]

So....2nd is the must have? I have rogue trader, 3rd through to last edition and all codicies? codexes? for 4th through 6th, many for 2nd, imperial armour 1-7 hardback and half a dozen of their softbacks, 13th black crusade book, apocalypse, cityfight (old and newer), chapter approved and many more. I was going to list them individually on ebay but if any 40k fans are interested......

If this is serious, im definately interested in the codex cityfight  PM me if interested...

[Vermis]

Do WH Smiths know something we don't?

 

Maybe they looked at the gaming mags they get in and thought, "Warhammer Visions? Just a pile of photos of the same set of models, from people calling themselves Games Workshop? That can't be right, shirley..."