The LAF Games Workshop Discussion Thread

[von Lucky]

Back on track, theoretical question:

With LotR/Hobbit gone, what would like to see fill the void?

Me? I would love to see them try something historical or quasi-historical. I'm thinking superheroes/mecha, Victorian sci-fi or even riot/modern gang wars.

[3 fingers]

28mm mad max  so long as the miniatures are clean looking,like the lotr ,some of gws are to busy and cluttered with details imho.

[von Lucky]

MGM and Warner Brothers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Max_%28franchise%29#Merchandising

[Tactalvanic]

Mad Max ?

Didn't they do that and dump it already?

Dark Future anybody?

Ok was mainly car combat but.. - still was ok if I remember with sufficiently rose tinted glasses.

They could resurrect that - punt it out as say - limited edition...

At the same time the Max reboot comes out?

Still would be nice if they did turn back to a number of smaller games and genres but aren't we treading into the old land of specialist abandoned games that shall never be mentioned land within GW closet of burned and buried forever?

[Argonor]

Back on track, theoretical question:

With LotR/Hobbit gone, what would like to see fill the void?

Me? I would love to see them try something historical or quasi-historical. I'm thinking superheroes/mecha, Victorian sci-fi or even riot/modern gang wars.

Don't think that's going to happen again, remember Warhammer Historical?

And, with their pricing policy. I don't really care if or what they'd try: I'm not likely to buy anything, anyway.

I think, based on GW's behaviour the last couple of decades, they'll focus on Warhammer/40K, inflating prices further, until sales are so diminished that the company cannot longer exist in its current form.

What happens next is mere speculation; new, smaller company could be formed, picking up the franchise(s), or the rights could be sold off to salvage as much value for the shareholders as possible.

I don't think the Warhammer brand(s) will disappear entirely, and even the Games Workshop brand namemay be valuable enough for someone wanting to use it, should the original company have to fold.

[3 fingers]

Mad Max ?

Didn't they do that and dump it already?

Dark Future anybody?

Ok was mainly car combat but.. - still was ok if I remember with sufficiently rose tinted glasses.

They could resurrect that - punt it out as say - limited edition...

At the same time the Max reboot comes out?

Still would be nice if they did turn back to a number of smaller games and genres but aren't we treading into the old land of specialist abandoned games that shall never be mentioned land within GW closet of burned and buried forever?

I do that's why I suggested it  
And yes I do hold a grudge for them dropping it

[Tactalvanic]

I do that's why I suggested it 
And yes I do hold a grudge for them dropping it

Perfectly understandable grudge.

I was accused once of bearing a grudge for far too long as one should not bear such forever, I agreed, and pointed out I had no intention of bearing it forever, but just for as long as he lived....

Far more important things to deal with in life than that person

A rumour! Neckrons..

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/


Skaven..

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2014/12/wfb-breaking-end-times-4-latest.html

no pew pew cars 

[Major_Gilbear]

I wish they would do lots of little games that are full of new ideas. No more retreads but new ground. Why little games? because they might actually be affordable. Either that or just jump the dammed shark already.

They do, sort of; that's what all their recent computer games are. Re-treads of tabletop games.

For me though, in computer game form at least, they *feel* tired and they are  pretty expensive when:

1) You compare them to other computer games
2) They are so-so as games

I look at Space Hulk for example, and see that:

1) The graphics look like a throw-back to about twelve years ago
2) It's like the board game, but with less tension
3) You can only play one side (Marines)
4) It's not as modular/flexible as the boardgame
5) It's buggy, but not just in a Tyranid sense
6) There is no real account made for the medium it's presented in

Aside from being easier to play (set-up, lack of needing an opponent), what's the point? Add to that the fact that it still usually retails at full price of £20 despite the above and it's age, and I think that GW have missed yet another opportunity through treating their computer game customers like their TTG customers.

Staying with SH for a bit longer, they could have added a lot more in:

1) Player-customisable chapters, or a else selection from the 9 loyal First Founding Chapters at least
2) Branching campaign
3) Fixed pool of Marines that you draw from each mission - whey they die, they're gone for the rest of the game
4) Equipment, skills, and upgrades that reflect more than the basics of the 40k counterparts. This makes the Marines more unique, and also allows for a lot of nuance (for example, different patterns of Stormbolters, choosing the ammo available for the Cyclone before a mission, lasting wounds, scanners, targeters, refractor fields, bionics, relics, etc).
5) Different levels and terrain within the Hulk, perhaps some limited interactivity with the environs too
6) Variable damage and wounding (i.e., not just miss/kill)
7) Morale
8 ) Possible Genestealer biomorphs?
9) Control of the Genestealer side in PvP games
10) Expansions for Hybrids, Traitors, and possibly other environments like a hive city

This might make it more like X-Com in some ways, but then... That highlights my point a bit more, doesn't it?  

I think a mad max TT game IP might be worth a look for any gaming company. Good thinking. Who would own that IP the studio?

Dunno. Seems to me that there's already a fair few Post-Apoc games about, and I'm not sure that the MM licence would much beyond brand-name recognition. What's unique to MM really?

[driller]

Today I have walked into my FLGS for some vallejo air paints. I remembered seeing the new Blood Angels Librarian on the net and thinking to myself that would make a great runepriest for my Wolf army (after some conversions, obviously.) Didn't know what it costs.

The guy who runs the store has put the figure on the desk before me (its to be sold from december 20th on, but he wasn't bothered.)

I saw the price.

We all had a hearty laugh - he was laughing even more than i did - and I bought the vallejo paints and left the store.

[Tactalvanic]

No doubt its the only one he has in stock, and he won't need to get any more in to replace it.

Assume a normal "limited Edition" GW eye-watering price?

[Major_Gilbear]

Looks pretty good to me, but... £18.00. Ouch.

At least it's not "Limited Edition".  

[zemjw]

I was in my Warhammer store last week and did buy more than I intended (Christmas present to myself). However, the price of their current single plastic figures is astounding, so much so that £18 for the Blood Angels Librarian doesn't seem out of place.

I bought a chaos champion for £15 (yup, I know, don't go there (*)). I also bought a box of 10 Gor for £15.50 and a box of 5 Chaos 40K cultists for £6 (I actually checked a couple of those boxes, as I assumed they must have been mislabelled). Their pricing is all over the place.

I had a look at the LOTR single figures. At least some of these are also the plastic multipart, but at £15 each, and no immediate use for it, I passed.

It looks like they've pretty much given up on F***cast, and it quite often seems to be referred to just as "resin" on the site these days. However, they've kept the pricing strategy, just now applying it to plastic


(*) I have a box of the old metal chaos chosen command figures that I'm going to paint up as a warband and wanted a boss for the group

[Tactalvanic]

Looks pretty good to me, but... £18.00. Ouch.

At least it's not "Limited Edition".  

The price is limited edition - pretty much guaranteed to be £20:00 plus next year - probably January sales.

Get them now before next Christmas as then the limited edition price will probably be £25.00

i am almost tempted by the 10 Gor or the Cultists... Think its time for more pills and a visit to the doctor...

I am sure it will all be leveled out come the new year   

[eilif]

The Chaos Cultists are cheap because they are essentially the same as the monopose models from the last starter set.  Most 40k armies have one impluse buy push-fit infantry set at the $10usd price point. Of course even those have shrunk in value. 5 marines is now 3, etc meaning it's more cost effective to buy the multipart kit for building units.  It's still a comparatively affordable way to bulk out IG units though.  

Back on track, theoretical question:

With LotR/Hobbit gone, what would like to see fill the void?

I kind of doubt GW will do anything to fill the void besides push more 40k and WHFB.  I'm sure we'll see more one-off board games, but I wouldn't count on anything sustainable.   GW doesn't seem to think that any game that doesn't require buying many dozens of models is worth sustaining for more than a single release.

As for Dark Future, I think folks do look at it through rose-colored glasses. (I've got the PDF somewhere around here) but a new version would be doable since it was essentially a board game anyway.  That said, with no real tie to the current GW gaming settings it's about as likely as squats coming back.

If GW did come out with a good skirmish game in the vein of Necro or Mordheim, I might purchase it, and even play it with my own figures, but I know for sure that I wouldn't be able to afford (m)any of the miniatures they would make for it.

[Momotaro]

GW's attitude to LotR...

You or I would see a brilliant game that got tons of free advertising, and GW miniatures in newsagents.  I was doing my teacher training at the time, and you could tell "Battle Games in Middle-Earth" day because of the number of small boys (and a couple of girls) wandering the school clutching sprues of minis.

You or I would see that GW had some of its most successful and profitable years, years when at one point there were more plastic uruk-hai than there were real Londoners...

Bet you anything that all GW management remembers is "the LotR bubble".  Which was an entirely predictable event anyway.

So that and the failure of The Hobbit line and the Chapterhouse case have led them to see themselves as guardians of their own lines and IP.  Can't compete with your own lines - let Mantic and Wyrd and Privateer and Corvis Belli steal it instead.  Don't pick up movie licences - they never last.

Heck they'd probably have had a massive rejuvenation of the line if they'd sold 30k/Horus Heresy as plastics in their shops.  But no...

At this point, they're making mass-produced toys for kids... in limited editions for collectors.  And charging collectible prices for plastic.  They've killed the online secondary market, continue to put the screws on their outside retailers (can't use our photos?) and look like they're doing their best to discourage their two greatest assets - the player network and their shops (with one-man stores).

Someone on Dakka pointed out that Tom Kirby has it set up as a money making machine - for him.  Every time the company pays out a dividend, he scoops another six-figure jackpot.  I suspect there's your answer as to why it is the company it is today.

*sigh* rant over.  The short of it is, I don't think they know themselves.

Still like far too many of their models though - just picked up some of the Dark Vengeance Chaos figures and they're lovely.