Space Marines make up 12% of GW sales & some other information

[eldargal]

Portent on Warseer posted a link to a[URL="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/ppwzq/iama_former_games_workshop_employee_ama/"] reddit chat[/URL] with an ex-GW sales rep (he posted [URL="http://imgur.com/5vQ3t"]this[/URL] and [URL="http://imgur.com/7vjWL"]this[/URL] for verification) which included some interesting titbits of information:

It's true that space marines make up roughly 12% of sales, and all of the other races make up roughly 2% each, but that's lumping Ultramarines, Dark Angels, Blood Angels, etc. all in one big bunch.

40k and Fantasy actually split right down the middle in terms of actual sales. Popularity, as you say, may tend towards 40k in your area, but overall, both are really equally popular, according to the actual sales figures.

Nerdiest exchange witnessed:

Games Day: Baltimore: 1999:

A (female) dark elf player was playing against a (male) empire player on one of our staff tables, which I happened to be running. She was in a bad spot, so she walked over to the empire player and whispered, "I'm going to charge those Outriders if you don't move them..." and showed a LOT of cleavage.

He was so flustered, he didn't move them, and then lost the game.

I thought the whole thing was just magnificent.

Clever girl...

On pricing:

All of my friends worked for the company.

Our discount (which exists in quite a different form these days) was that we paid for metal by the gram rather than by the goblin index. I think that at that time it was $0.08 per gram, meaning that a normal fig (which weighs maybe 20 ounces) was $1.60. A dragon was not more expensive because it was more effective in-game; it was more expensive because it was heavier, and contained more metal.

The "goblin index" is how they actually price miniatures. A goblin is the least useful thing in the game, and so represents what mathematicians (and I happen to be one!) call a "unit". For example, in the decimal system, the number 1 is a unit (which is why it is not prime, by the way).

The easier way to explain this concept is that a package of metal Space Marine Terminators costs about $5 more than a package of plastic Space Marine Terminators, which are MUCH less costly to produce. However, the value of Terminators in the game is so high, that pricing them lower simply because they're plastic wouldn't make sense.

The company doesn't price things based on how much it costs to make them. It prices them on how much you value them.

[Inquisitor Boreal]

Hehe, interesting about the Goblin Index, though shouldn't that technically mean that Tau armies should be given away for free?

Also, 12% compared to roughly 2% for the rest when it comes to SM .. just wow.. I knew it was a lot, but still.

[eldargal]

I'm not surprised, bearing in mind that includes ALL Marines. It is much more believable than 50-60%, in my opinion.

Oh and:

I heard a rumor that there was going to be a Sisters revamp, but I don't know when.

[Inquisitor Boreal]

Indeed, it is certainly a much more believable figure. Maybe people don't realize just how massive 12% of the total number of sales really is when you're talking about just ONE aspect of the entire hobby. Furthermore, the quote puts the others at 2%, which really ought to put it into perspective.

A part of me is also not really surprised that 40K and FB are split in terms of sales. In my experience, I've paid more for my Fantasy armies, than 40K to get to the level I need to be to play. Not just in terms of points (FB's 2500 vs. 1750 or whatever for 40K), but the number of models. Just my experience, ymmv off course.

[celestialatc]

I would love if the sisters got an update. I always wanted to start a sister army but the cost always put me off. A new Range might make me start!

[plawolf]

Something to note is that it's 2% for each of the other factions, not in total.

SM consists of
-Vanilla
- BA
- Wolves
- DA
- Templars
- GK

That means that 12% roughly translates to 2% for each marine book , lower yet if GW count Chaos marines as part of that 12% (but I am going to assume they don't).

For the rest of the factions, you have
- IG
- D Eldar
- Eldar
- Tau
- Bugs
- Chaos Marines
- Chaos Daemons
- Sisiters
- Orks
- Necrons

If they are all 2% each, than in total all the other factions should add up to roughly 22% of sales - almost doubt that for marines in total.

[gendoikari87]

A (female) dark elf player was playing against a (male) empire player on one of our staff tables, which I happened to be running. She was in a bad spot, so she walked over to the empire player and whispered, "I'm going to charge those Outriders if you don't move them..." and showed a LOT of cleavage.

He was so flustered, he didn't move them, and then lost the game.

This, it is cheating.

[MaltonNecromancer]

Interesting statisical breakdown. I'm genuinely surprised by the popularity of WHFB. I wonder how much of the sales are for conversions (i.e.: Flagellants being converted to Psykers, Ogres to Ogryns, etc...?) There's something we'll never have data for. Which is a shame.

Quote:
A (female) dark elf player was playing against a (male) empire player on one of our staff tables, which I happened to be running. She was in a bad spot, so she walked over to the empire player and whispered, "I'm going to charge those Outriders if you don't move them..." and showed a LOT of cleavage.

He was so flustered, he didn't move them, and then lost the game.
This, it is cheating.

As you play more games with ladies, you will find that a certain kind of female opponent may choose to use her assets as a distraction. As we know, though, a WAAC player has an answer for every gaming problem. The true WAAC player knows that the answer to this lies, as it does with so many other things in life, in homosexuality.

[Bigred]

here's the full Reddit transcript (so far), so it gets recorded for posterity:

MercatorMap 41 points 14 hours ago

How does GW attempt to justify it's unnecessary price jumps to you, it's employees?

VladTheEmailer 44 points 14 hours ago

The logic for the price jumps is simple: nobody actually NEEDS any of this, and the market can withstand it. More to the point, if the company made buying an army or a unit extremely affordable, it would suffer financially.

A case in point is Blood Bowl. For YEARS, we heard retailers asking us to bring it back, and, reluctantly, we did. Sales were very, very low, because people who loved Blood Bowl already had teams, and there was nothing for them to buy. GW learned a lesson on that one.

Gorka Morka (my FAVORITE non-core game) is another good example: there were so many orks and trukks and bikes in the core game that there was never any reason for anyone to buy any further sets, other than they might need a certain bit, like a grappling cannon, or whatever. You could play a complete campaign with all of the bits in the box, which completely neutered the subsequent product line, which was extensive and expensive.

Having said that, I have LOADS of Brian Nelson's Grots, and they make up the core of my 40k army. Hands down, he was the sculptor who "got" orks (and orcs) the best. I LOVE that guy!

scythus 15 points 14 hours ago

So basically people will buy the same amount of pieces no matter the price, a higher price just means you can earn more money from one customer?

VladTheEmailer 44 points 14 hours ago

Not quite, but very close. People will spend the same amount of disposable income every month, be that on movies, miniatures, hookers, or what have you. The company wants (reasonably) to get as much of that disposable income as possible. Pricing, therefore, is set to ensure that you can't quite get everything you want in one month, so that you'll come back and spend money next month.

Not for nothing, it works on me, too. I have roughly 10,000 figs, and over Thanksgiving dropped $500 on a new Orc army, because I love the new plastics. Even knowing the marketing strategy, I'm helpless against it, because they're so cool. I mean, the new giant spider???

TAKE ALL MY MONEY!!


SandalHero 10 points 6 hours ago

hookers


BigBobbyKas 24 points 6 hours ago

miniatures, hookers

miniature hookers


HINDBRAIN 21 points 4 hours ago

Midget prostitutes are one of the smalls pleasures of life.

Itchy_Back 7 points 3 hours ago

It really is the little things, isn't it?

achancesw 4 points 3 hours ago

not to mention once you have spent ALL that money, you are reluctant to go to another game/system..

They know that, dont they?

Flamekebab 6 points 9 hours ago*

Edit: Never mind. You'll probably just set the GW IP lawyers on the site I was linking to.

MusedFable 9 points 11 hours ago

GW handled Blood Bowl like a pack of retards. There like a dozen companies and a whole lot of individual artists making quite a bit of money from making "fantasy football" miniatures that everyone knows are used for blood bowl. I myself made a nice chunk of change making custom blood bowl dice because there is a strong market for them. Games Workshop prices are just ridiculous when you get used to buying unofficial miniatures.

donnied 5 points 4 hours ago

steam has proven you wrong, the optimal price point is actually much lower than they think it is.

CornflakeJustice 8 points 12 hours ago

When you say they would suffer financially do you mean that they would simply take in less profit by lowering prices? Or that it would cause them to not be able to maintain their business?

Why not drop prices some so help kill the cost of entry and get more players? Which would likely drive their profit up.


VladTheEmailer 17 points 12 hours ago

Remember that this is a non-necessary inelastic commodity. There is no earthly reason that you need to buy more Bloodthirsters. But they're cool, and you want more, right?

The cost of entry is part of the panache of the whole thing.

I understand your point, but I also understand the company's point: they don't want everyone to be playing.

They want it to be a prestige game. And, quite frankly, take a look at the new plastics. It IS a prestige game.

I am not shilling for their business model (I got out a long time ago), but I do think it's the right thing to do for their profit margin, which lets them pay the best artists around. I dig that.


drewsus 21 points 11 hours ago*

I don't need to buy a chocolate bar, but it is only $1.29.
$30 for a Terminator Librarian seems a little like gouging to me. I don't think he should be $1.29, either. But, to walk in to a GW, after starting playing 19 years ago, and actually cringe... that has to say something. And I have been buying a number of things lately. A box of harlequins cost me $45 two weekends ago, and I hesitated for a moment. I didn't cringe. Its still at least 5 guys. Nor when I bought a Wave Serpent for $50 3 days ago. But the libbie is 3/5 the price of a tank...
I don't know, sometimes I feel like they could just give a little back to the fans in this regard.

scealfada 4 points 6 hours ago

By giving a little back do you mean lowering prices or enhancing the experience. Personally I'd like it if I could get PDF versions of the rules, if there was an active engagement with the ebbs and flows of the community. There are a lot of ways to give back to the community. However once it's so large every way of giving back will probably come under the umbrella of 'additional cost' in the end.


couldbeglorious 8 points 4 hours ago

You can get PDFs of the rules. Just not from GW directly, if you know what I mean.

CornflakeJustice 6 points 9 hours ago

As a Templar player I'm firmly in the mindset of MURDER EVERYTHING NOT HUMAN! But I understand your point.

I'm still not sure that I really get the perspective of raising the price because the don't want everyone playing. No offense, but that's outright idiotic. If they made a game why don't they want everybody playing? If for no other reason than that more people playing means more money or at least more people who are interested in their creative works.

The artist argument is probably the only argument that I've heard that makes sense and that's cool, but a bit more quality put into the product released would be great too. The Finecast (resin I believe) Emperor's Champion I just bought was a pretty rough looking model before some significant cleaning.

But thank you for the answer, I do appreciate the perspective.

Flamekebab 6 points 9 hours ago

Something everyone is doing becomes a fad that then burns out. It's unsustainable.

I don't agree with GW's business model (or this chap's interpretation at least) but I understand the logic.


mrBobBobJack 6 points 4 hours ago

Oh yeah, you mean like when MTG became a fad and died?


Grozak 5 points 5 hours ago

Just jumping in here to say that I've been looking for years to get into Warhammer after buying the Empire/Orc starter box with my brother in high school (I got Orcs!). The price of entry, however, is perpetually fending me off. The price for even a small army is frankly crazy, a cost-benefit analysis compared to a computer games or film hobby simply puts GW's products to shame. GW will never pick up long-time fans that have developed impulse control.

VladTheEmailer 74 points 12 hours ago

Hey, guys, we're getting lots of comments and questions, and now it's me AND dirty steve; can you upvote the original post to get this seen?

Thanks!!

deeloves 31 points 12 hours ago

I dragged my male friend to the store the other day to look for some Harlequins and the sales assistant immediately went up to my friend, thinking we were there for him and I was the one being forced into the store against my will. Granted, I dress very girly and look like I should be shopping for lipstick rather than Warhammer sets, but still, I found it amusing to see his facial expression when he realized my friend knew nothing about 40k and it was me that was the customer. What was the ratio of males to females in your store?


VladTheEmailer 36 points 12 hours ago

I will say this as calmly and as rationally as I can:

YOU PAINT BETTER THAN US

Ahem.

It's... it's just not fair.


deeloves 18 points 11 hours ago

And I'd like to not get just picked up and moved out of the way when I purposely try to prevent one of my male housemates from getting past me. But as a female - and a 5"2 one at that - it's just not fair either?


dirtysteve23 16 points 11 hours ago

Not fair, no, but ADORABLE!! heehee


Darkjediben 5 points 9 hours ago

Yeah, but luckily girls only paint tyranids, so we have all the other races that we can paint and not be blown out of the water.

Joking, but seriously, every girl I've ever known in this hobby has played tyranids.

Grubnar 11 points 7 hours ago

I once knew a girl that played Tyranids, she said that Genestealers were her favorite unit, not because of their backstory or tabletop performance, but because they are CUTE! I have had girls call my goblins cute, but genestealers?


Darkjediben 5 points 7 hours ago

Not even close to the first time I've heard that. I haven't the faintest idea what draws girls to hideous bug monsters, but more power to em I guess.

CaesarSimianus 7 points 7 hours ago

Funnily enough my girlfriend (who is very Pam Beasley looking) was on the fence about Dark Eldar or Tyranids and settled with the bug-squad. When I asked why, she said she was 'called to it.'

Me thinks the hive mother be strong in this plane.


NickRowan 5 points 6 hours ago

My gf has a pretty mean sisters of battle army. She's a ninja painter too. I hate putting my army next to hers. It looks like I finger painted them or something.


Jethrixify 3 points 2 hours ago

I worked for GW for a while. If you don't include moms it was 100-1. I know of one girl who would paint things way better than anyone else and win our painting competitions and another who played sisters of battle. That was it.

dirtysteve23 3 points 12 hours ago

If you're a guy, I might suggest not wearing dresses... just a thought...

Actually, the ratio varies per community, really. In VA, I know of a store that was about 60-40, male to female customers. And in my experience, females generally played very vicious armies, like Dark Elves or Chaos Daemons. And females tend to paint better, too, on average. Females have more patience and finer motor skills than men, generally. At least in my experience.

What armies do you play, and how long have you been playing?


zapfino 2 points 12 hours ago

where do you play in va?

horuslupercal 4 points 12 hours ago

Playing since Rogue Trader...still have the book with the tear out pages in the back! Loved the days of pirate eldar and programmable robots! I sport and old 2nd Ed Eldar army, new BAs army, Orc and Gobbo 0k armies.

It's amazing you mention that females are usually better painters, yet, correct me if I'm wrong, most GD winners are males, at least in the US. Is this simply because the women don't come out of the closet and show up at Games Day?

dirtysteve23 3 points 12 hours ago

Yes... If you recall, both Natalya Melnyk (?) and Jennifer Haley have won multiple swords (I think Natalya has won more than one...), and they are world renown. One of the best painters from Australia was a woman named Victoria Lamb (I think that's her last name). I am not saying women are ALWAYS better painters, nor are they all Golden Demon winners. But I'm saying that, in general, women are better painters. That being said, there are very few painters in the world better than Chris Borer, Tim Lison, Mathieu Fontaine, Jakob Tracz, and that's not even taking into consideration some of the astronomically excellent painters from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

Think of it statistically... How many women enter Golden Demon, and how many men? Rather a staggering difference. Yet the ratio of women to men in Slayer Sword winners is not nearly as drastic.


deeloves 3 points 12 hours ago

I normally play the orks since my first ever purchase was a set of stormboyz, but I've been buying a few dark eldar pieces, hence my interest in the harlequins. I suppose that correlates with your experience, actually. However, even then, I'll always have a soft spot for the orks - just because I have a weakness for their melee weapons. Anyway, on the other hand, I'll be the first to admit that my ex was a far better painter than I ever was. Probably because of his being short-sighted and his finicky nature as a mathematician. As somebody who did art in IB however, I'd like to think I'm not too horrible either?


DrAnachronist 1 point 2 hours ago

Every weekend for the past 6 years I've walked past my local Games Workshop and peered in to see who was inside. I hate to enforce stereotypes but I've never seen a girl in there, ever. I saw some kid with his mum once, but that's cheating.

eskimo_z 1 point 45 minutes ago

what is this female you speak of?

SirBiscuit 50 points 9 hours ago

40k blogger here (3++ is the New Black) and an very involved member of a competitive 40k convention (Feast of Blades). Got a few questions, if you like:

1.) What's the deal with playtesting? I keep hearing that GW has playtesters, somewhere, but it seems to me like they don't (or don't have a very good group) based on the simple stuff that gets through. Is testing mostly done in-house?

2.) In a similar vein, how much of a codex is written by a single designer? I know there's one name on the cover, but how much input/work does the rest of the design team put in?

3.) Why does GW seem to hate on "competitive" tournaments so much? I get the whole "just roll dice and have fun" line, but it seems odd to ignore competitive events, as all the events that really try to be competitive and fair have absolutely EXPLODED over the past few years.

4.) What's with the new "no previews, no rumors, YOU GET NOTHING" thing? It's got everyone completely baffled. Why isn't GW showcasing product before release, and trying to stealth release everything? What's the point?

5.) Why is GW so bad with the FAQ's? They've gotten much better recently, I admit, but they tend to make odd rulings, answer things no one was asking, and take months to come out and answer all the questions that have just been around since day one. Why don't they just keep an updated FAQ?

I could go on forever, probably, but I'll stop there. Thanks for doing this.

Thees89 11 points 3 hours ago

I`m a former staffer from Britain so I’ll chip in here.

Testing is done in house most of the time at Nottingham HQ. There are a select few external play testers who are used to get fresh views about some finicky rules but that’s about it.

The codex is written by a single designer (fluff and rules) first before anything else. Usually fluff first so that a designer can get his "idea" for his army sorted out and then write rules to follow this idea. After this the art team starts brain storming on how things should look, draw up a few drafts etc which are sent to the sculptors. The plastic kits are sculpted in 3 upscale (more goes into it but I’ll not go into the model making side) whilst the metal models are sculpted at 35mm hero. Once the masters are done and copied they are painted up for photos for the codex and that’s it pretty much done.

GWs market isnt the competitive side. The games are just marketing tools to sell the models. They are a model company first games company second, been that from the start. Though saying that there are signs of change.

You can thank new line cinema for this. Since GW got the license agreement for the hobbit only because they agreed to crack down on their information leeks.

FAQs aren’t written by the designers. I dont actually know who they are written by or who much thought goes into them.


Gentlemoth 4 points 3 hours ago

I think I can answer 3.). From what I've understood, GW has had bad experience with competative tournaments, and they want to distance themselves from their game becomning known as a competative tournament game, because they don't want the expectations and demands that comes with that(balance being one)

They have sponsored competative events in the past, but I can only assume it turned out sourly for them in the end.


achancesw 3 points 3 hours ago

1. 2. 3. they will tell you the system isnt designed for competitive play. They are too scared of losing all that money to completely come out against it.

Can have all those guys playing Warmachine, can we?


VladTheEmailer 2 points 24 minutes ago

Thees89 got a lot of these, but I'm going to chime in on number 4.

Basically, the number one question we would get asked is "When is x coming out?" I mean, it was like a hundred to one the most common question we'd hear from both retailers and gamers. People always wanted to know what was coming out next. And that's reasonable!

Games Workshop's policy is not to release information farther than one month out, for a valid business reason: the company doesn't want you saving your money until next month, they want you to spend it NOW.

AND next month.

At some point some information was leaking out about releases that were more than a year away (I can't remember the name of the website), and the studio was understandably upset about it. If, for example, you were an IG player, and knew that next year the new IG plastics were coming out, there's not a lot of incentive for you to buy the current metals, especially because you KNOW you're going to get the new stuff.

This logic may not make sense, and I'm not defending or promoting it; I'm just explaining some of the thinking behind the scenes.


metaldood19 24 points 15 hours ago*

-40k or Fantasy?

-Favorite race?

-Lastly, your thoughts on the failed mmo and where it went wrong

Thanks! Im looking forward to this AMA

EDIT: Formatting

VladTheEmailer 41 points 14 hours ago

40k or Fantasy: Fantasy, hands down. I once heard the greatest thing ever from our Director of Sales regarding this issue:

"40k is a boy's game; Fantasy is a man's game"

His point was that fantasy is a lot more strategic, owing to the unit cohesion rules, and that 40k contains a lot more nukes. I've played both.

I have Orks in 40k, and I have a huge collection of Mordian Guard, because I liked the look of them. Um... yeah, that's about it. I mean, of course, I own probably a handful of units from a few other races (I have a box of squats that are going on ebay!), but I never got "into" 40k. Having said that, my favorite book ever is "Starship Troopers". But I really got into the painting, and I enjoy painting fantasy figs a LOT more than painting space marines.

Fantasy: High Elves (featured in White Dwarf 312, by the way), Orcs, and Empire (although I really do dislike the whole Steam Tank thing, and never use them). These are my "main" armies. I have a huge contingent of Nurgle daemons, including a "classic" Great Unclean One and plague bearers on the second generation beasts of Nurgle; this was back in the days of all metal, so I had to cut their tabs off and modify their legs to let them sit on the beasts correctly.

Unpainted, I have a dwarf army of considerable size, a wood elf army that I just picked up (I LOVE the new plastics!), a Slaanesh daemon army, quite a few Bretonnians, quite a few Lizardmen, scads of undead, and a huge Skaven horde, largely made up of a combination of metal and Mordheim figs.

Re: The MMO:

In the late 90s, our studio director (Mr. Robin Dews, who is about fifteen kinds of awesome, and who decides what does and does not get made) came to one of our annual meetings and said, "We're doing an MMO!" Of course, we went crazy, and cheered like wild things, while he showed us screenshots and concept art. In the end, the studio withdrew its direct support, viewing it as too expensive (is my understanding, and others may correct me on why they withdrew), but the game studio (Mythic) retained the license, and went forward without direct involvement from our design studio.

I thought it was a pretty good representation of the Warhammer world, but it suffered (as many MMOs have, in my opinion) of being just Warcraft with a different setting, and I've always wished they'd tried harder to implement new and interesting game-play ideas.

Cheers!

six6xis 11 points 12 hours ago

I loved the MMO but I did not have a powerful enough machine at the time to enjoy the sieges. The RvR battle alone put it leagues above warcraft imo. (not to mention playing chaos and doing really ****ed up things to the countryside)

whyufail1 5 points 11 hours ago

The RvR battle was plagued with too many issues though. If you stripped away all the other issues (like the completely linear progression with no reason to go back to the lower level areas) you were still left with the fact that it was ultimately a two faction war, most servers were imbalanced as far as faction population, and the inclusion of scenarios completely took away from the Open RvR conflict. The fact that they tried to make Open RvR interesting by adding more and more loot rewards actually only served to make the problems worse as people didn't want to hold territory since you got more loot for repeatedly flipping keeps. The whole design was a mess.


act1v1s1nl0v3r 7 points 12 hours ago

(I have a box of squats that are going on ebay!)

I don't believe any GW employee would be able to survive with this. They killed off any mention of squa

metaldood19 3 points 14 hours ago

I thought the same thing when I played AoR. It seemed just like another WoW clone but with Warhammer skins. However the public quests were a great idea that I'm beginning to see more and more of in newer MMOs. Also the fact that all of the armor dye were citadel paint colors was cool too

neutronicus 4 points 11 hours ago

"40k is a boy's game; Fantasy is a man's game"

His point was that fantasy is a lot more strategic, owing to the unit cohesion rules, and that 40k contains a lot more nukes. I've played both.

Them's fightin' words, haha

What do you mean "nukes"?

Grubnar 5 points 8 hours ago

A "nuke" is a very powerfull (some say TOO powerfull) unit. It is what is called a "**** you button" in computer gaming. Basicly it gives the owning player a massive advantige with little or no downside.


tscook 21 points 14 hours ago

How do you feel about how tightly Games Workshop has controlled their IP? It was a big deal when they sent letters to websites like BoardGameGeek (a games databse) asking them to remove player aids, scenarios, even pictures. To me, it seems utterly asinine and counter-productive to demand that free advertising and information dissemination be removed.

Manifest 21 points 12 hours ago

Why does GW go after people who do "how to play" videos? Beasts of War had a series that were very broad in their terminology, not giving out points values or anything like that, but simply explaining how to play a game between their two respective armies. I used this video series to show several friends (who would go on to become players, and thus customers) how to play properly, but Games Workshop issued a take down notice and had them all removed.

What are they thinking when they do stuff like this?

dirtysteve23 5 points 12 hours ago

I really have no clue, so this is ALL just conjecture... But, I could see it from the perspective of GW, wanting to keep very tight control of their IP. Sure, what you did and how it turned out great for GW to get new customers is all fine and sparkly. But what about some new upstart store who wants to use the video to show how Warhammer is played, but sell their own models of Dwarves or High Elves...? Once GW lets ONE thing go, it can open up a huge loophole for others to exploit. I can just imagine that's how big companies view stuff like that.... with a big ol' slice of paranoia.

Manifest 8 points 9 hours ago

What's to stop a store from doing demos of warhammer with models from someone else's line? The answer is nothing, so you counter by having better models at a more competitive price.
It seems to me that a lot of this comes from GW losing sales to companies like mantic, who sell a cheaper (albeit far inferior) line of models, and rather than compete on a price level they just unload the lawyers and assume everything will work out. It's a shame the beasts of war guys couldn't have fought the claim, because everything they were doing was fair use and I suspect they could have won a court case.

OldFrightful 6 points 11 hours ago

That seems kind of silly to me. I can't really think of another company that grips anything related to their IP so hard.

NonaSuomi 11 points 11 hours ago

Disney says what?


130n35s 3 points 5 hours ago

Well. Games Workshop did kinda slip up with intellectual property in the past, and now you have Starcraft and Warcraft from Blizzard thanks to them.

Fumetastic 2 points 6 hours ago

My guess would be that certain videos can highlight what units are good and bad. If Beasts of war, one of the bigger sites out there, starts telling people that a certain unit doesnt work so well, sales of that unit might go down. Its better for a customer to work this out for them self. They buy it, play it, it fails, they buy something else. Also, GW offer a "how to play" service in store, for noobs, and give free advice when ever you go in for a chat. Its better for them to have you in store discussing whats good and bad as it gives you a chance to impulse buy.


VladTheEmailer 28 points 13 hours ago

One thing that I wanted to say (and that no one has asked about) is that gaming in-house is WAY different than local gaming clubs. I nearly never play anymore, which makes me a bit sad. But let me explain why.

In-house, my most frequent opponent was Steve (THE Dirty Steve), who was a staff photographer and columnist for White Dwarf. If your miniature has been featured in WD for the last 20 years, odds are that Steve took the photo (he can be found prowling every Games Day, and you should pat him on his tiny ginger head).

During one Grand Tournament, as the evening wore on, Steve and I played an exhibition game; his undead (this pre-dates Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings) against my High Elves.

We rolled dice, laughed, failed, compromised, and, in the end, his undead skeletons routed my Sword Masters, because he outnumbered me.

It was humiliating, and we LAUGHED OUR BUTTS OFF!!

Given that we were being so loud (and clearly having a great time), a guy stepped forward and said, "You guys should make a video about how to play this game!"

I love Steve, and I just called him to come pitch in some ideas on here. The difference between playing in-house and playing in local stores is this:

In-house: We want to play and have a GREAT narrative (see WD 312 for a good example of that; that's me and Steve, by the way).

Local: People want to WIN.

It's so foreign to me that it makes it hard to enjoy the games. Yes, rules lawyers, I'm looking at you...

People who work for the company are passionate about the joy in the game, and they are AWESOME to play with. People who just play the game want to be Johnny McBadass.

It's just less fun. Quite a few of Nigel Stillman's commentary columns in White Dwarf are dedicated to this concept.

Also, Nigel has an INCREDIBLY low-register voice. It's like Darth Vader was a few octaves lower.

permalink

syllogism_ 29 points 11 hours ago*

The big problem with "playing to win" is that purely as a strategy game, Warhammer is actually terrible!

When I was playing around 1996, some friends and I played lots of games with cardboard squares standing in for units, to experiment with lots of different strategies. Now we were just kids, but I do think a few things were clear:

1) Pumped heroes were overpowered, and made the game swingy and stupid. The games would be decided on a couple of saving throws that determined whether you killed his ******* on a dragon.

2) Flying or superfast units dominated. A large unit of harpies, cavalry, or fast demons made any sort of strategic posturing or ranged units useless. If you could pick your battles, you could win.

3) The fewer units you had the better. Because of the way the VPs worked, you didn't want to have small units that could be picked off, giving your opponent a high-granularity way to earn VP. Instead, you wanted to make them kill your whole army before they earned anything!

4) Pretty much all the flavour-central units or mechanics were under-powered. For instance, a large unit of clan rats was just a really bad idea. They weren't fast enough or good enough, they broke too easily, etc. Clan rats were "fair", and there were just so, so many ways to do incredibly unfair things that there was no reason to bother. From memory my best 1500 point Skaven army featured a large unit of rat ogres led by a vermin lord, and a unit of about 20 gutter runners. Needless to say this was uninspiring flavour-wise, and led to boring gameplay.

I liked Warhammer and enjoyed painting, and had already bought a lot of units when I decided that as a game, it was totally broken. This really killed it for me.

From what you've said and from reading White Dwarf, I think in GW there's a different idea of how the actual gameplay works in the hobby. To you guys, it's a bit like being in a recreated medieval battle. It's another way of enjoying the universe, and flavour comes first.

But the product is advertised as a strategy game, so they shouldn't be amazed that people try to play it as one! The fact is they did a terrible, half-assed job of balancing the game. Maybe the balance is better now, but I do think the rot was set deep in the core mechanics, and I have trouble imagining it being strategically interesting.

It's possible to create a game where the best strategies are "in flavour", and there's also strategic depth. Look at Starcraft, or Warcraft III, or the identities of the colours in M:tG. The difference is that Blizzard sweated blood to do that, whereas GW didn't even seem to get that this was a question. Writing whiney columns telling people not to think too hard about what strategies are good is not the answer.


Darkjediben 19 points 10 hours ago

For the record, the game you played in 1996 is not the same game that exists now.


130n35s 4 points 5 hours ago

hell. I havent played in about 6 years and it's not the same game.

tobiov 6 points 5 hours ago

Just about all of these got remedied while i was playing from 2003-2005


dirtysteve23 6 points 13 hours ago

I never met Nigel, but Jervis Johnson has that British Barry White voice going on, too. SUPER nice guy... But sometimes I can't listen to WHAT he says, just because I'm so fascinated that a human voice can ACTUALLY be that LOW...


VladTheEmailer 4 points 12 hours ago

Ah, ****. Jervis is the one I was thinking of. Thanks, Steve!!


horuslupercal 40 points 12 hours ago

Did you know we have a great Warhammer community right here on reddit? (/r/warhammer) Yes, a shameless plug for our 5k+ and growing community.

We also have an in-house painting competition that's kicking off next week. It'd be amazing if you drop by and check out some of our 'local talent'.

I know you mentioned the way GW prices things already (higher game value items cost more) but I was wondering if there was a different strategy with pricing. Terminators and other valued units are around a 1:4 dollarsoints cost while things like attack bikes, rhinos, landspeeders etc. are literally on a 1:1 dollaroint cost. Do you think these models are 'valued' or 'pushed' more through the writing of the codices?


VladTheEmailer 26 points 12 hours ago

1 - I did NOT know that!! I'll encourage Steve to join me in checking out that community.

2 - I am TOTALLY entering that. And I'm hoping Steve will, too, as he is, hands down, the best painter I know (and after photographing nearly a decade of Golden Demon, I'd expect he'd be at least okay...)

3 - Remember that when you make a mold (laser-casted plastic), you have to sell x number of them before it becomes profitable. It's easy to sell a lot of terminators, or whatever, but vehicles are harder, because you usually only need 3 or 4, total. That's why the price point is where it is, I expect.

horuslupercal 6 points 12 hours ago

It'd be awesome to see you guys there. I know when I discovered it it really spurred me back into the hobby.

The threads for the competition will be going up next Tues (the 21st) I'll be bombing your and Steve's accounts if I don't see some entries.


CornflakeJustice 10 points 12 hours ago

Aww yeah /r/Warhammer!


dirtysteve23 3 points 12 hours ago

Hmm... not sure. It may be that the pricing formula may have changed over the years (Jim was commenting on an explanation from the late 90s and early 00s), I really couldn't even venture a guess anymore. There have been SO MANY changes since Jim and I worked there...


VladTheEmailer 9 points 12 hours ago

Dirty, should we post some images of our figs, do you think?

dirtysteve23 11 points 12 hours ago

I can barely figure out how to TYPE on this thing, much less post a photo.. You know me, I can't even SPELL cmputr....

neutronicus 10 points 11 hours ago

Do you know anything about the Chapterhouse / Tyranid models debacle?

Can you comment on GW's policy of updating each faction's rules and model range one at a time? Especially as regards, say, Corvus Belli, who incrementally upgrade the rules and model range for their factions, always adding to several simultaneously.

Similarly, why is GW resistant to the idea of "balance patches"? (I realize that FAQs serve this function to some degree)


liberalwhackjob 8 points 14 hours ago

Nerdiest exchange you've witnessed?


VladTheEmailer 51 points 13 hours ago

Games Day: Baltimore: 1999:

A (female) dark elf player was playing against a (male) empire player on one of our staff tables, which I happened to be running. She was in a bad spot, so she walked over to the empire player and whispered, "I'm going to charge those Outriders if you don't move them..." and showed a LOT of cleavage.

He was so flustered, he didn't move them, and then lost the game.

I thought the whole thing was just magnificent.


GentLemonArtist 11 points 10 hours ago

I picture this exchange occuring with you uncomfortably close to both parties.


tscook 7 points 13 hours ago

Also, there is an annoying banner thing asking us to ask for verification. Would you post some sweet swag or something as verification?


VladTheEmailer 7 points 13 hours ago

Why, yes, I can. One sec.


VladTheEmailer 14 points 13 hours ago

[url]http://imgur.com/5vQ3t[/url]

The coveted "105" Terminator patch, granted to GW sales reps who garnered 105 new accounts in one month, setting an international record (suck it, England!!).

[url]http://imgur.com/7vjWL[/url]

My GW coat, given as a gift for the aforementioned 105 achievement.

Hojowameeat 7 points 14 hours ago

I'm sure 40K is the most popular by far. What army do you feel the best players are running?


VladTheEmailer 11 points 14 hours ago

It's true that space marines make up roughly 12% of sales, and all of the other races make up roughly 2% each, but that's lumping Ultramarines, Dark Angels, Blood Angels, etc. all in one big bunch.

40k and Fantasy actually split right down the middle in terms of actual sales. Popularity, as you say, may tend towards 40k in your area, but overall, both are really equally popular, according to the actual sales figures.

The "best" players are the ones who run armies they are proud of. A LOT of math goes into the playtesting (as flawed as it may prove), and I helped a bit with that (having a degree in math, I was asked a couple of times for insight into how much something might be worth; this was mostly informal, of course, as I didn't work in the design studio, but my point is that they thought about it).

I've seen people win with every single race, so I can't advocate one over the other.

Except, of course, High Elves, which are clearly superior to Dark Angels.


Callmewolverine 5 points 13 hours ago

Do you mean Dark Elves? Because I say I will prove you wrong


VladTheEmailer 9 points 12 hours ago

I'm enjoying this AMA, and I hope you are, too, but we will eat your traitorous faces to death and then kill you. Time and place, brother (and, as Steve will tell you, this is a good bet to take, as I nearly always lose....)


dirtysteve23 7 points 12 hours ago

Well, hell, you usually bet the **** out of me, but that's like saying, "Hey, I clubbed that defenseless baby marmoset!"


Amburglar 6 points 14 hours ago

How often did you hook your friends up with the staff discount?


VladTheEmailer 15 points 14 hours ago

All of my friends worked for the company.

Our discount (which exists in quite a different form these days) was that we paid for metal by the gram rather than by the goblin index. I think that at that time it was $0.08 per gram, meaning that a normal fig (which weighs maybe 20 ounces) was $1.60. A dragon was not more expensive because it was more effective in-game; it was more expensive because it was heavier, and contained more metal.

The "goblin index" is how they actually price miniatures. A goblin is the least useful thing in the game, and so represents what mathematicians (and I happen to be one!) call a "unit". For example, in the decimal system, the number 1 is a unit (which is why it is not prime, by the way).

The easier way to explain this concept is that a package of metal Space Marine Terminators costs about $5 more than a package of plastic Space Marine Terminators, which are MUCH less costly to produce. However, the value of Terminators in the game is so high, that pricing them lower simply because they're plastic wouldn't make sense.

The company doesn't price things based on how much it costs to make them. It prices them on how much you value them.

LogicalRandomness 11 points 13 hours ago

So units are priced based on their in game point values? That would explain why blood nights are $100 for five.

VladTheEmailer 9 points 13 hours ago

This is exactly correct. Their value to a gamer is where the price point is set, rather than what they cost to manufacture.


makinganotheraccount 3 points 9 hours ago

How much of that is intended to improve gameplay, vs pad GW's margins? If termies and scouts cost the same to buy as they do to make, I imagine the games would start to become pretty imbalanced. Is their pricing approach intended (at least in part) to keep people from stocking up on over-powered units?


cheeserail 5 points 12 hours ago

Not really a question, but man you seem like the friendliest mother****er I've ever met.


dirtysteve23 6 points 11 hours ago

He totally is. And he's like a human cartoon.

VladTheEmailer 6 points 12 hours ago

Would our reddit friends be interested in joining THE Dirty Steve and myself in a Q&A and an exhibition game in real life? Maybe this Spring some time, in Baltimore?

horuslupercal 3 points 12 hours ago

I'd be very tempted to drive across country. Is Games Day still in Baltimore? I'd definitely make the trip in conjunction to a first ever Gamesday...might actually make some submissions!

neutronicus 4 points 12 hours ago

YES. Baltimore area Redditor here.

infamouschicken 6 points 10 hours ago

What is your opinion on all the non GW games that have sprung up recently (Warmachine, Flames of War, Malifaux, Dystopian Wars, etc.)?

emptyshark 4 points 14 hours ago

How much did you see of the Lord of the Rings Miniatures game? I remember picking up a starter set at a thrift shop for dirt cheap and attempting to paint them.

VladTheEmailer 6 points 14 hours ago

I was there when it started, and it was weird for me (as it seems it was for you) painting at a slightly different scale. Having spent nearly 2 decades playing Warhammer, I had a (very sad and beardy old man) impression that this "LOTR" nonsense was "Warhammer Lite".

I do like the figs, though, and, while I'd rather put my High Elves up against your Vampire Counts, it really is a fun game, with more squad-based mechanics (ala 40k) than fantasy.

I'm not sure if that answers your question, so feel free to let me know if I need to elaborate!

Crylaughing 8 points 8 hours ago

Try War of the Ring. Honestly, most of the newer rules in Warhammer Fantasy (read 8th edition) are reinterpretations and adaptations of War of the Ring rules, especially in the realm of movement, premeasuring, and random charge distances.

I feel like it is a more well balanced game, where magic has little over-all bearing on the game and you rely more on your ability to adapt your strategy to your opponent. It feels much more like chess than a GW game.

Oh, and hi, ex GW staffer here in the US (red and black shirt). I quit because I was threatened that I would be fired by the district manager if I reported the old manager for theft (in cash) exceeding $10,000 because the district manager knew about the theft. This was right before the huge lay-offs and restructuring of the US retail stores.

How did you feel about how they treated their retail employees? They encouraged (read: required) us to have a minimum of 1 painted faction per system (not a problem for me since I had been collecting for 14 years) and pretty much forced conversations like the one following:

Sees a customer looking at relatively outdated army or Lord of the Ring figures

"Hello there! Have you seen the newest space marine models?"

"No, thanks, just checking out these guys to expand my army."

"Oh, you should really check these guys out, they look really cool."

"No, thanks, just wanted to look."

"YOU REALLY SHOULD CHECK OUT THESE SPACE MARINES."

This isn't an exageration, it's literally how training worked. If the customer wasn't a regular, you HAD to push the newest/fastest moving product. Period.

The manager also told us to disregard women under the age of 30 since they weren't buyers (no kids old enough) and women don't shop there. Never mind girlfriends/wives/siblings/painters/RPGers, they won't make enough of an impact on sales. What if you are too busy helping them find the right $15 character and you lose a $200 sale?

Sorry, sounds like griping, but the experience of working for GW in retail nearly ruined the hobby for me.

Saldejums_ 3 points 1 hour ago

This isn't an exageration, it's literally how training worked. If the customer wasn't a regular, you HAD to push the newest/fastest moving product. Period.

This brought back memories of how my local GW store used to be run, over here in England.

I'm getting back into the game recently however, and the new staff are friendly, polite and less in your face about product lines and new releases. If you want help, or have a question, they will go out of their way to answer it, but they haven't tried to sell me something I am not interested in.

Nicstens 4 points 14 hours ago

Thanks for doing this!

How much does GW take in the online community opinion, and how important is the "old geezer" population (/demographic) actually to the company? I recently got back into the hobby, and seems like the grumpiness of the older players online is pretty much unchanged from when I last played some 10 years ago.


VladTheEmailer 7 points 13 hours ago

The company LOVES and listens to the online community; up there above, you'll see that I mentioned the return of Blood Bowl, which was driven by the online folks and the retailers. It was a disaster for the company (which, by the way, is what everyone internally predicted) but they did it anyway. Without the fans, there's no industry, right?

Also, old beardies (like myself, who wouldn't touch a steam tank with a ten foot pole) will grouse a lot, but we still play. That's an important thing to recognize. I wish High Elves were awesome mcbadass, and I complain about this regularly, but if they were, well, everyone would play high elves, wouldn't they?

PS Dark Elves can eat my ithilmar-scaled boot heels.

Darkjediben 11 points 9 hours ago

So...I don't mean to be a rabble-rouser, because I really do love the game, but I have to ask:

If GW loves and listens to the online community, why did they completely delete their forums, and why is their online support for any game systems absolutely non-existent? Their phone support is a joke, you can call and get people telling you that the shooting phase is before the movement phase half of the time.


LogicalRandomness 5 points 13 hours ago

I would, but my cold one already ate it. Along with the rest of your traitorous race.


VladTheEmailer 2 points 13 hours ago

It is YOU who are the traitors, you foul demon-dogs, worshiping your hags with the blood dripping from their...

...Ahem.

sorry.


LogicalRandomness 7 points 13 hours ago

the inferior races are so cute when they get riled.

bigboobah 4 points 13 hours ago

About how many people work in a single store?
About how many people buy from your store?
Weirdest/favorite customer?
Strangest thing that happened in the store?


VladTheEmailer 4 points 13 hours ago

In GW's retail stores, about 5 or 6; a manager, and 4 or 5 associates.

I didn't work in a store, but every manager will tell you the same thing: "AS MANY AS POSSIBLE!!"

I had to intern at a store, and my favorite customer was the new kid; watching those eyes light up is nearly impossible to beat. This is why I ran a Games Workshop club in my high school when I transitioned to teaching!

Let me reach out to my friends and see if I can find a good one for this.

dirtysteve23 7 points 13 hours ago*

I'm here.. friend he reached out to... I worked at GW with him, and I worked in the US Studio at GW for about 6 years, and about 2 years in Mail Order, and one year in the retail stores...


VladTheEmailer 4 points 13 hours ago

And, yes, WD fans, this is THE Dirty Steve who wrote those columns for years...


dirtysteve23 4 points 13 hours ago

Aww, shucks...

martellus 4 points 12 hours ago

Why do you have back crippling chairs at the painting tables? Why dont you use the awesome music like in the DOW series for your store's music speakers?


VladTheEmailer 3 points 12 hours ago

Steve may correct me on this, but my experience with the stores is that we used heavy electronica dance music, because we wanted you to feel energized.

As to the chairs.... eh, probably they were cheap?

dirtysteve23 4 points 12 hours ago

They now use "heroic soundtracks" of sorts... The ST to Conan, to LOTR, stuff like that. Back in 1997. when I helped to open the first retail GW store in Annapolis, we played ska. heehee But, yes, back in the late 90s, most GW stores in the US played electronica.


qore 5 points 6 hours ago

Are there any plans to bring back Warhammer Quest? I played that game so much as a kid.

symbolsshatter 4 points 12 hours ago

Are you a fan of these guys?


VladTheEmailer 6 points 12 hours ago

I actually have the LP around here somewhere that was included in an early WD...

dirtysteve23 3 points 12 hours ago

Oh, god.. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little....

sinndogg 5 points 12 hours ago

With joy, I hope. Because it's ****ing Bolt Thrower!


Tojb 3 points 13 hours ago

Any idea when the new High Elf army book is due out?


dirtysteve23 4 points 13 hours ago

New High Elves...? No clue. Since I was let go about 5 years ago, I haven't kept up on the schedule of releases. And I have really chatted with my friends in the UK Studio in quite a while. Besides... since I'm not an employee anymore, they wouldn't be able to tell me, anyway. They all have to sign "non-disclosure" agreements.

VladTheEmailer 4 points 13 hours ago

Well, I guess the answer is "No, we have no idea."

But I will tell you what Jess Goodwin wrote on my program when I FIRST met him in 1994, and told him I played High Elves:

"Stay Pointy!!"

Tojb 4 points 13 hours ago

Are you THE dirty steve from the old WD mailbag?

dirtysteve23 7 points 12 hours ago*

Yes. Just to set the record straight, I had the nickname for about 2 years previous, when I worked in Mail Order, and when I was in the Studio as the Staff Photographer, one day they asked me to write the responses to the GW Mailbox page. I did, and a week later the Studio Exec (Jeremy Vetock, at the time) pulled me in his office and told me he liked the conversational way in which I write, so he wanted me to do it every month. It was only ever 1 day out of a month of my job.

Then the editor of US White Dwarf (Drew Will) decided about 3 months in that he thought we should change the look and the name of the Mailbox page. He suggested we call it, "Ask Dirty Steve". I immediately said, "Oh, HELL no!!! That would be TERRIBLE!! NO ONE wants to see that name in their magazine!!!" But Drew insisted, and it stuck. I actually got to design the original page, with the Dwarf Pistol against the face of the Goblin (it was not my art, just my layout that put it on the page). I always saw myself as that poor Goblin.

But Mailpage Day, as I called it, was my favorite day of the month. I loved it! And I loved seeing all the emails in my email inbox every day, too. I tried to reply to every single one that came in, though after a couple years there were too many to even do that.

Tojb 4 points 12 hours ago

Holy hell man, that was my favorite part of the magazine back in the day!

dirtysteve23 6 points 12 hours ago

Thanks!!! I totally appreciate that, dude!! I really dug the hell out of writing that page. I hated when they had to take that page out. I looked the MOST forward to doing that each month. I was really tough to write that last Mailbox page.

Incidentally, over the last few years, GW has emailed me to work at US Games Days, still photographing the Golden Demon entries (which is the exact reason I was hired to work in the US Studio in 2000). I couldn't do it last year, but in previous years I always go and do it freelance. I really enjoy seeing a lot of the fans at Games Days, and it always makes me so amazed and proud when people still remember me.

Tojb 3 points 12 hours ago

If you don't mind my asking what led to the page being removed? Seems like a relatively small thing to cut.

horuslupercal 4 points 12 hours ago

Dear Dirty Steve,

I read WD back in the day long ago (somewhere around WD90 through WD250-300). Do you think some of the quality of the magazine has dropped any in recent years (i.e. become more advertisement and less battle reports, tactics, and short stories from GW writers?)

Granted I haven't picked up a WD in several years and really compared to the early days.


dirtysteve23 9 points 12 hours ago

Honestly, I haven't picked up WD in many years, either... I was really crushed when I was let go. I loved that job and I bled pewter. It was, literally, my dream job. So if I say WD totally blows goats now, it's a bit of a biased opinion. But I DO know that the UK global studio in Nottingham shut down all of the Studios around the world from generating their own material anymore. It is ALL done in the UK. Writing, photography, layout, EVERYTHING. Because of that, there was no more need for a US photographer. No need for a Mailpage (and from what I hear, the UK studio HATED my column, anyway). And so I basically because unnecessary. Drew didn't WANT to let me go, and I think he was very sad that no US content was going to be generated anymore.

The US Studio even printed our own BOOK!!! The General's Compendium! I think I have a copy here in my house still. I shot ever photo in it, including the group shot of all of us in the front page. I LOVED making that book. Lots of work, but totally worth it.

horuslupercal 4 points 12 hours ago

I appreciate the candor. Mmmm...pewter...and soft lead minis. I remember getting a great discount when GW made the switch from using a lead alloy. I did not know that about shutting down everything outside of Nottingham, that's crazy.

You know I'm more than half tempted to drag out my box of old WDs and flip through them. Though, my wife is giving me that 'don't you dare' look when I mention it.

As a pro photographer who's made a career in photographing miniatures, what kind of tips can you give the amateurs out here to help improve our skill at showing off our precious models?

dirtysteve23 4 points 11 hours ago

Heh! There was actually an article I wrote about that in a White Dwarf many years back, and I actually had a photo of me working in the photo room in it! And, of course, I had to use my own Chaos Knight as a demonstration piece... I don't remember which one (I don't have it, I just checked downstairs...) but it might be 316-318 or somewhere close to those issues. It's maybe a 2-page article.

Incidentally, the only international studio that ran the same article was the Spanish studio, and I DO have a copy of THAT one.

VladTheEmailer 3 points 12 hours ago

OP here, though I do want Steve to comment.

There was a period of time of WD called, "The Catalog Years". It has gotten a lot better. There was no reason to keep those issues once the new images or figs came out. I am SO much happier with the new format.


VladTheEmailer 3 points 12 hours ago

Jeremy Vetock, by the way, is the same Jeremy Vetock that wrote the new Orc book, along with about a billion other things. He's a gifted writer, an amazing tactician, and a handsome man. He will probably never read this, but he's one of my heroes. He's one of the people that make Warhammer cool.

zapfino 4 points 12 hours ago

how do feel about using non-gw bits to customize an army?

VladTheEmailer 6 points 12 hours ago

I'm a purist, so I don't do it.

That said, it's YOUR hobby. Feel your bliss, brother.

dirtysteve23 4 points 12 hours ago

For in-house gaming, and playing with friends for beers and giggles, I think it's TOTALLY COOL! But for GW tournaments... it's their tournament, their rules.

khudgins 3 points 12 hours ago

I played in the 2008 Chicago GT with a VC army whose (Citadel) skellies all had Essex celtic historical shields to go with the theme. No one batted an eye. It depends on how much of the model is non-GW. If you're working with basic GW models with a bit or two to make them look unique, it's normally not a problem.

If you're fielding an army of non-GW historical models with IG lasguns glued in, there will probably be some issues.

thecravenone 3 points 5 hours ago

I enjoy making fun of rules, so I once built a model where the base was made of shredded/melted down models. I claimed that the model was within the percentage limits (had to be >75% GW product) by mass and was therefore legal.

JohnDeere 3 points 12 hours ago

So im trying to get into the new fantasy book and i must ask you two questions. First, how the hell do warrior priests work now with the magic rules, do i have to roll now? Also any chance you could share your empire list?

dirtysteve23 3 points 11 hours ago

That's all you, Jim. I got nuthin'.


Helsmire 3 points 11 hours ago

Ive actually wondered this for a fairly long time as a wood elf player, and hopefully you can answer;

Why does it take so many years for updates to wood elves? It was 10 years between army books for them (95 release to 2005 release, not counting Ravening hordes or white dwarf updates, which really only adjusted 4th ed wood elves to 6th ed rules). 7 years and 2 editions later, ive found its an army with significant disadvantage and often wonder why a white dwarf article or faq hasnt been released to bring them up to current rules.

Just__The__Tip 3 points 10 hours ago

When are the tau getting a new 'dex?

zerocaloriecola 3 points 7 hours ago

When I was a kid, growing up in Manchester UK, the persistent rumour was that the practice of cannibalism was being performed at our local GW. Was this in fact so?

Tekeino 3 points 5 hours ago

What do you think of WarmaHordes as a game?

Im a long time 40k player who did fairly well at the youngbloods of my local tourny (im only 15, but been playing since 8). And now ive moved on and startedf playing warmahordes, i just found that i wasnt interested in any of the armies anymore. And warmachine seemed fairly balanced.

tl;dr, warmahordes, yay or nay?


buskerrhymes 3 points 4 hours ago

This AMA is already pretty old but I'm a former UK store employee (made redundant during cuts around '06) in case anybody has any retail- oriented questions they'd like to ask.

oldstoneface 3 points 3 hours ago

Hey Vlad, good AMA so far, got loads of questions:

How is GW coping in regards to new rival companies such as mantic and privateer press actively coming into the market?

Also, what is you opinion on the whole Matt ward situation?

Many fans and players feel that he has made unnecessary changes to the 40k's sacred fluff, how does GW feel about this?


_Fil_is_TylerDurden_ 3 points 1 hour ago

Anything to tell about Space Hulk ? I believe the "reprint" was quite successful ?


waxinggibbous298 3 points 14 hours ago

I'm done with 40k. 5th edition killed the game for me.

Necromunda at all?


VladTheEmailer 9 points 14 hours ago

Necromunda is probably the best non-core game the company ever made. The gangs were cool, the tactics were fun, and the progression model meant that you wanted to go get that new heavy, since you now had the points to spend on it.

We played a LOT of Necromunda!!


waxinggibbous298 2 points 13 hours ago

I bought a gang of Delaque, although I could never find anyone to play with.

The models were much cooler than the other 40k models.

VladTheEmailer 4 points 13 hours ago

Quite a lot of people in the office used Delaque gangers as genestealer cultists (from one of the alternate lists). I'm looking at you, TIM...


tenehemia 6 points 10 hours ago

I adored Necromunda. Back in high school, my friends and I would have epic Necromunda weekends. We had a huge set up of urban terrain that was played on a low, circular table. The thing was like 6 levels of hive!

The best part was that we established the rule that if you forgot about one of your gangers and left it on the table after a game, and then someone noticed it later - it would immediately join whatever game was being played - even if your gang was not involved! So we'd be sitting across the house playing video games and someone would yell "hey dude! we just found your delaque guy on level 3! You're up!" That was wild fun. Sometimes we'd have our guys book it off the table to escape for fear of them being injured, but sometimes they'd be taking pot-shots at the other gangs in the match first!


Darkjediben 1 point 9 hours ago

If you don't mind me asking...why? I really like 5th ed, I find TLOS to be so superior to that 'target priority' bull**** that it ain't even funny. What turned you off about the change from 4th to 5th?


illuminatiduck 2 points 12 hours ago

What were the requirements to work there? Like did you have to get an army, and stuff and do they higher a cirtain type of people?

mrsapphire 1 point 12 hours ago

I heard you mention Baltimore, are you talking about the shop at the Avenue? If so, I'd like to thank you for taking me broke during the 40k craze in 2004-2005.

CenturionDelta 2 points 11 hours ago

Any thoughts on Battlefleet: Gothic? I've always wanted to play it, but have never found anyone else with a fleet. Some great battle reports in old WD issues though.

gotohell666 1 point 11 hours ago

I've been out of the model game for awhile now (LOTR, 40K, a small vamp army) and I recently saw this thing called "Citadel Finecast" and now I can't find anymore pewter models. Did Gamesworkshop retire all of the pewter molds and are now strictly plastic?


Cobra7fac 2 points 10 hours ago

What do you think about Mantic Games and do you think they can get GW to adapt in any way?


tenehemia 3 points 10 hours ago

I can't believe I'm the first to ask this, but please tell me how you feel about Blood Bowl (and how other people at the company feel). I still believe it's the single best miniatures game ever produced. I recently got around to picking up the BB: Legendary Edition game, and I rekindled my old love of the game.

Now I just want to see a video game version of Mordheim. I'm pretty sure I'd kill to have that produced.


shriller 2 points 10 hours ago

What did they tell you about the IP situation between New Line Cinema and Games Workshop which was causing issues for people fielding miniatures/bits from the Lord of the Ring's games in WHF and WH40K? What were the rules you were to enforce in your store regarding these issues?

TheHolyCob 1 point 9 hours ago

Love this. I have a lizardman army. I am a bit sad that Dark Elves got new, shiny Cold Ones but not the big lizard dudes.


TehOracle 2 points 9 hours ago

How did you become involved in gamesworkshop as a company, ie what background did you have in prev employment/uni, all that sort of thing?

[Gotthammer]

As you play more games with ladies, you will find that a certain kind of female opponent may choose to use her assets as a distraction. As we know, though, a WAAC player has an answer for every gaming problem. The true WAAC player knows that the answer to this lies, as it does with so many other things in life, in homosexuality.

I see it as an easy way of accruing bonus victory points