The LAF Games Workshop Discussion Thread

[syrinx0]

Calling this new website "actively awful" is being kind.  The previous version was perfect in comparison. Thankfully the search works. 

[sir_shvantselot]

TWD - ha! Are you sure, though? I'm approaching middle age, if I am not there already, and of a fairly stable disposition to spaff my hard-earned money on the toys I wanted, or their modern equivalent, when I was a teen earning a pittance.

I was under the impression that GW thought man-children like me are very much a target market, which is why they put so much effort into nostalgia these days (as compared, say, to the early 2000s).

No expert but heard someone recently of GW on the Painting Phase say 11-15 years olds are the core target market and they properly don’t care about us as we are too discerning, have collections too big already and dip into too many different manufacturers instead of allowing ourselves to become ‘Whales’ hooked on the GW project alone. The 11-15 year olds have big pockets through their middle class parents.

[Dean]

Absolutely true,  way back in the day the stores would host games at the weekend so parents could drop their kids off and go shopping, then come back and spend in the store for their little darlings.  As the kids got older they progressed to roleplaying or found there was a wider range to the hobby but there was always another cadre turning 11 behind them hahahaha

[Mammoth miniatures]

I'm not sure of your point here.
I am both the target market and an ecommerce expert and I can assure you, it's an objectively bad site launch.
Also see my previous post - most of the 'target audience' is vocally unhappy with it, too.

Existing fans aren't the target market - they'll buy regardless and normally do so through third party retailers.
The target market is teens and their parents - uninitiated hobbyists who will buy from the GW site exclusively for the first few years of their time in the hobby, both of whom will probably want a site that's easy to use on a mobile device and has nice clear pictures and less clutter. It's worth remembering that counterintuitively gen z and under are pretty bad with computers and not great at navigating the internet/websites. They are excellent at navigating closed UI's like a mobile app, but really struggle with what we might consider a traditional website. Going forward most companies are going to want their sites to look more like an Instagram feed.

Personally I find it not too different from the previous site - a bit clunky but hardly world ending.

[Cubs]

It's been that way as long as I can remember. Birthdays and Christmas are what puts money in GW's pockets, with the massive bundle sales that the kid won't ever paint and may soon get bored of, but that's okay because the next wave of kids soon comes along. The hobby supplies are there to keep the kids ins tore instead of looking elsewhere for anything at all, but the business model is reliant on a constant crop of new customers, not retention of the old. EBay and trade sites feed the Oldhammer/Midhammer appetite for us older hobbyists.

[westwaller]

I've just tried to search for a recent release on the GW website...
It's laughably bad - It took me two attempts to get the new mark 3 space marines to appear even though I searched... mark 3 space marines!
I'm not even getting the full range of products for Horus heresy either. 

[Elbows]

I think GW's sales tactics have changed over time though.  I agree that in the retail store environment, it's likely still the same "aim for the kids with parents who will drop $200-300 on their initial buy in" tactic.  My roommate used to manage a GW retail store in the early 2000's and that was absolutely the aim.

For actual normal sales, I think GW has hooked fully into the tournament market - realizing that people will gladly buy three $150 tanks if they're strong in the "meta".  You can see GW concentrating more on tournament support, and tournament styled games, etc.

I think GW is aware that most of their sales now come from 40-something IT guys who are making comfortable salaries and don't blink at a $30 paintbrush, etc.

[Belligerentparrot]

For actual normal sales, I think GW has hooked fully into the tournament market - realizing that people will gladly buy three $150 tanks if they're strong in the "meta".  You can see GW concentrating more on tournament support, and tournament styled games, etc.

Totally agree with this, and I've often wondered if they're trying to emulate Wizards of the Coast on this. The tournament/"pro-tour" scene was very good for boosting Magic sales.

[jon_1066]

I would have thought it would be both.  Large numbers of smaller sales to a revolving door of teenagers plus smaller volumes of large sales to a hardcore tournament crowd of post teens that stick with it.

[Ray Rivers]

My problems with GW nowadays are:

1) The miniatures are pretty much 40mm. That is too damn big for me and too much of a hassle to paint.
2) Their paint pots suck. The paint dries out too fast. I still have Citadel paints when they were in Hexagon shaped pots and they still work fine.
3) The cost is exorbitant... for everything

And I still believe that made a huge error by never getting into the 15/18mm market, where IMO, a real battlefield is fought on. What a shame...

[zemjw]

I can't remember what scale they've chosen, other than that it's bigger than old Epic Given them a year or two and you may get your wish

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/11/12/sunday-preview-war-on-an-epic-scale-in-the-age-of-darkness

[Cubs]

From the look of the mins, I'm going to guess 10-12mm, so what would that be, 1/150, something like that?

[Lost Egg]

Yeah I think it's 10mm...the same scale as the current titans and planes.

I don't know what it is but it seems a bit sterile to me...much less attractive than Epic used to be.

Spotted the sneak peak at the new beakie assault marines...overall I like them. I wish the regular beakies had legs like those (rather than the OTT power stance from Blackadder the 3rd) ...shame the kit-bashing potential of those kits is so poor.

[batu]

[YPU]

I can't remember what scale they've chosen, other than that it's bigger than old Epic Given them a year or two and you may get your wish

1/4th of whatever 40k is.

which is a great way to keep the old "what size is 40k" debate going, but honestly with the way exact size has varied over the years with stuff, using the established models as a starting point and keeping it consistent from there really does make sense to me.