I have been playing GW games for the best part of the last 20 years but recently I have been going off there games for a number of reasons.
1 - Cost - Games Workshop seem to charge almost as much for plastic models as they do for there metal ones. For example Dark Eldar Kabalite warriors cost £15 for 10 or £1.50 a model, considering that will need at least 20 or 30 for a functioning army thats £45 straight out and you will also need a HQ to lead them which is another £10 roughly meaning that your basic force (with no upgrades or vehicles) is going to cost at least £55. The fantasy range is even worse with the Goldswords or Costigors running at £25 for 10.
2 - Rules - 40K used to be fun but with the rise of the net-list most tournament armies are simple cookie cutter builds using stuff known to work, this has also started to bleed over in to Fantasy recently. Also I find the "dumbing down" of the rules somewhat annoying, I assume this to appeal to GW`s target market - the 12 - 16 year olds who just bug there parents to buy them the latest stuff. Also whenever a new edition on a core game comes out it makes a number of models unusable, here is an example This model can not be used anymore as the options modeled on to it are no longer in the army list!
3 - The company its self - GW used to be run by gamers for gamers, now it is run by accountants for the shareholders. The effect of this is that every single opportunity to push an over priced product is taken. There are all kinds of horror stories on the net about pushy GW sales people trying desperately to sell inappropriate stuff to customers. I asked my girlfriend to get me a couple of imperial guard bits from a GW once, she was in there for about 25 minutes and in that time the staff tried to sell her a black reach box set, a starter paint set, a Baneblade and an Ork Stomper. None of this would have been that bad except she had a list of what to buy and only asked the staff to help her find 3 boxes (Cadian shock troops, Cadian heavy weapons and a Chimera), they told her that I wouldn't want any of that (I did) and that starting new army was the best thing to do!
4 - The Website - The old GW website was full of interesting articles, painting tips and other such stuff. The new site is just one big E-shop, with a smattering of articles whose only real purpose is to sell more stuff.
5 - Refusing to support tournaments and events not run by GW - The biggest Warhammer tournament in the world (the ETC) had no official presence from GW, considering that people traveled from all over the world to play GW could at least have had a trade stand. At Salute this year there was no presence from GW except third party retailers selling there products.
6 - Specialist Games - These are some of the best games ever produced by GW and they leave them to rot as they dont sell enough models.
7 - The great cease and desist purge - Games Workshop hired a new head of legal, her first actions where to go on a purge of fan sites on the internet with the aid of a very large number of C + D letters mostly to fans running websites.
So with this in mind over that last couple of months I have been looking around at other companies and have come up a couple of games that I like namely Malifaux and Warmachine/Hordes. Both companies seem to embrace the internet and actively communicate with there fans via forums (which GW did away with some years) coupled with the fact that both game systems use a lot fewer models than almost all GW games makes them an attractive option.
So with this in mind at some point over the weekend I will be putting a large amount of stuff on to Ebay. At the moment I am playing to sell -
Half built High elf army.
A load of IG stuff still on sprues.
The army books / Codex's for armies I dont own.
Most of the random models I have laying around.
I am going to keep my IG and Vampire armies for the time being and may well continue to paint my Space Wolves only because these are the games I can find an opponent for.
I agree with some of what you are saying. Mostly the comments on the price of GW products and I do understand why they are so highly priced but that is really down to GW's terrible business plan.
ReplyDeleteAs for the 'dumbing down' of the rules I am actually all for it. I like a game to flow and not take 3 weeks to play with 10^6 breaks to read up on the rules. This might be a ploy to get younger gamers into the game but it also helps me get my friends interested, their biggest bug bear is that they believe any warhammer game will take all night and you will not want to breathe once it is over.
My personal experience of staff in GW stores is limited to the Southampton store where I was never pressured into buying anything. In fact all the free advice (and practice space marines) meant I was a regular in there from the get go and I was made to feel one of the gang too.
As for models becoming obsolete or just not as effective this has pissed me off recently... My 10 beautifully painted old school death company armed with just chainsword, bolt pistol and jump pack were the throbbing heart of my army with the previous codex, now they sit in the case game after game after game....
Well before I turn this into my own rant, yes there is a lot wrong with GW but without them I doubt I would be a war gamer at all and nor would some others. They make me want to scream and swear at times but they have provided me with a lot of entertainment over the years. So for me I won't be sticking the knife in just yet but perhaps quietly frown in the corner somewhere.
That's why Flames of War rocks, no of this rubbish to deal with!
ReplyDeleteAlan
2 - Rules - 40K used to be fun but with the rise of the net-list most tournament armies are simple cookie cutter builds using stuff known to work, this has also started to bleed over in to Fantasy recently. Also I find the "dumbing down" of the rules somewhat annoying, I assume this to appeal to GW`s target market - the 12 - 16 year olds who just bug there parents to buy them the latest stuff.
ReplyDeleteFair enough he's gone, but Rick Priestly has actually said in interviews that the younger GW core target (though probably his own wish would be to target a wider audience) are actually BETTER at understanding complex rules than older players.
6 - Specialist Games - These are some of the best games ever produced by GW and they leave them to rot as they dont sell enough models.
Defo, Warmaster is probably the most balanced fantasy game in existence and with proper support would most likely be THE fantasy wargame. And what was the point of making Battle of Five Armies and refusing to sell it.
Dominic
Sir, I emplore you to see reason (he says with his tophat and monocle whilst silently smoking a pipe the size of his forearm), whilst the transition from "games workshop" into the "united front for world domination through gamers wallets" may be underway, we must remeber all the good times and all the help we have recieved from games workshop as a models company and a voice over the telephone.
ReplyDeletealthough the models have gone up in price so too has inflation ad the pound has been deshevelled by the crisis that is the labour party spending all our non-existent money. although i do admit that models are over-priced you must take this into account and games workshop have had to adapt similarly to us all, as we attempt to live more frugaly perhaps as some sort of hermit like myself.
as far a "dumbing down" the rules, i agree with Vince on this one, i like it. the games are shorter, funner and do not (unlike fantasy or other wargames) require a rulebook to be superglued to your eyelids, unless wound allocation occurs in which case you have vince.
what i am trying to say through the shroud of colloquial conversation is that although games workshop effectiveley have their hands in our pockets, they have been hit by losses aswell. And although the nefarious beings that control said workshop plot at every turn to theive the last penny from our superglue covered fingers. Aswell as paying for the models you pay for the game, which once you have: models, dice, opponent, board, appropriate scenery, measuring tape and a rulebook (alternativeley buy the black reach boxset) the game itself is free to play, and is just as enjoyable as when we first played it.
so in conclusion i would like to say thanks to games workshop, but then as i realise i must purchase a new dark eldar army. Kick them in the shins and run.
thanks and all the best Ollie