GW EOY 2014 Investor Statements

[40kGamer]

Troll? No.

Occasional bunghole? Fair cop.

Soooo, this may be you?

[Mr Mystery]

I have no bunghole.

My people. They have been without TP.

No man, should be without TP.

I CLAIM THIS THREAD FOR MY BUNGHOLE!

[40kGamer]

The Official report is just a little while off, might as well kick back and chill.

[Mr Mystery]

Time to jump back on track. Beavis is back in his box. For now.

Anyways - the great issue with Warhammer, is that at small points it's simply not as much fun.

Yes, you still have the cut and thrust of combat, and even at small points Magic can knock a whole in your enemies line. But, the smaller the scale, the less impressive the victory.

What do I mean? Well, one of the greatest strengths of Warhammer is that a single charge can always turn the tide of the battle. Even when you're completely thumping your opponent, you have to watch your flanks. Never mind that a flank charge gets a bonus to combat res, and stops your opponent counting his ranks, it also prevents such things as Parry Saves, and Fighting in Ranks. So if the unit is only say, 5 deep, you're only going to have 5 people hitting back. As a long time Ogre play, flippin' 'eck, that 'urts! Take the wrong risk at the wrong time, and you can find your otherwise orderly battle line rolled up.

At smaller points, once you get the upperhand it's near impossible to lose it, simply because removing a single enemy unit from the field generally spells doom for your opponent. The army resilience doesn't really kick in until those larger points - and because of that, many units lose their appeal.

Now, in terms of the drop in sales - it's not going to take much to recover that ground, if they can produce a rules set which is compelling, and cheaper to get started in, especially if much of the force is transferrable to how we currently know Warhammer.

40k itself seems to remain in rude health, and the rumours in particular point to long wanted stuff finally starting to see the light of day.

Warhammer has lagged behind. Which is a shame, because certainly to my mind it's a far more enjoyable game. Can't speak for anyone else like, but this post is just an opinion piece.

So as I said earlier, if GW can offer a compelling Warhammer game experience for £150 or less, without the need, but with the option of playing larger scale games, they'll pretty much be onto a winner.

Right now, GW aren't doing all that badly, because many gamers are happy to spend £300, £400 or upwards on the force of their dreams. Downside is that it's come at the cost of those happier paying £100 or £150 for a force. Rumours suggest the latter is about to be catered for - and I don't see any reason why GW would suddenly decide me spending the megabucks I'm already happy to hand over should stop.


As an aside - I'd be interested to hear your spending habits on hobby stuff in general. I've referred to a small scale not necessarily meaning small spend, and how GW would be unlikely to want to restrict that.

Example for me? X-Wing. Kicked off in June last year. So far, I have the starter set, two TIE Fighters, two Interceptors, Imperial Aces, two TIE Phantoms, two TIE Defenders, two TIE Bombers, one TIE Advanced, one X-Wing, two A-Wings, one B-Wing, Rebel Aces, one HWK-290, two Y-Wings, two Z-95's, two E-Wings, one YT-2400, one CR-90 (got a bargain on that one off Amazon!) and one Decimator.

Going on my typcial price of £10 per small ship, that's easily £350 worth of stuff - and I loves it! That the game isn't really designed for big old games (300+, without Epic ships) hasn't stopped me going bananas. Indeed, this month I'll be picking up Slave-1, Falcon and Shuttle Tyderium, with the Rebel Transport the month after. But, for the time being it's feeling like I've hit my limit for Rebels and Imperials. Near on two of everything is about as much I need to give good access to the cards I want.

If there's a practical way to field more, well I'll be buying more.

[Denzark]

their name is GAMES Workshop for a reason.

Yes - because they started off producing wooden board games. Nothing to do with wargames.

When they got into miniatures 4 years after inception, they were producing them to be used in any rule set - at this time they did not have any of their own rules, everything was produced under license.

Yes, they were producing miniatures for 4 years before WFB 1st Ed came out.

So the name Games Workshop is entirely a misnomer in this case, and this is one reason why 3 shop fronts in the UK changed their name to 'Warhammer' on a trial basis.

If the company changes its entire name to Warhammer the argument would actually hold more water than it does now - but just saying 'they are called GW rules must be a priority' isn't actually the case.

[Caitsidhe]

Yes - because they started off producing wooden board games. Nothing to do with wargames.

The wooden board games thing correct, the other part is not. They were dealing with all sorts of games and tactical war games including Chainmail were part of it. They almost got into bed with Gygax but thought better of it. Let's just say I've been around a few years. They were producing all sorts of games and they helped Citadel get their start, to produce models for use with their games.

When they got into miniatures 4 years after inception, they were producing them to be used in any rule set - at this time they did not have any of their own rules, everything was produced under license.

Yes and no. They were producing small games but largely they were manufacturing other people's games to make bank. Citadel whom they were in bed with and much later would consume entirely, was not them. They were a GAME company both before the models and well after the models started being produced.

Yes, they were producing miniatures for 4 years before WFB 1st Ed came out. So the name Games Workshop is entirely a misnomer in this case, and this is one reason why 3 shop fronts in the UK changed their name to 'Warhammer' on a trial basis.

It isn't a misnomer no matter how much they would like to claim so now, largely under the misguided leadership of a Board that seems intent upon cooking the goose that laid the golden egg. As I, and many others have commented upon, it is their lack of energy into the game side of the equation that is costing them players, longevity, and a great deal of community spirit. The further they move from the game, or the worse the quality gets in said game, the worse their predicament will become. This is because those models, however nice, have no value outside the game.

If the company changes its entire name to Warhammer the argument would actually hold more water than it does now - but just saying 'they are called GW rules must be a priority' isn't actually the case.

The argument doesn't hold any water now, as another poster demonstrated by posting things directly from the Games Workshop prospective and publications.

[Mr Mystery]

Privateer Press are neither Piratical nor particularly printy or winemakey?

Name predates all else with GW.

[Denzark]

From the investor relations website, accessed today:

How it all began

Games Workshop was founded more than 30 years ago by three game fanatics who began selling handmade, classic wooden games from their homes in London. They went on to develop a chain of general games shops. In 1981 Games Workshop helped to found Citadel Miniatures Limited, a manufacturer of metal miniatures based at Newark-on-Trent, in Nottinghamshire. A few years later the company moved closer to Nottingham and began to develop and expand, producing wargame systems under the Games Workshop name.

[url]http://investor.games-workshop.com/our-history/[/url]

In the interim period they were producing mostly other peoples games under license. Some of the older games - battle cars etc - were completely irrelevant to citadel miniatures as they were all card stock.

I make the point because one of the many complaints surrounding the ruleset and how it should be tighter seems to be 'FU GW your name even says what it should do on the tin so make your rules betterer'.

I am saying the name represents a choice made when the initial main effort of the company was producing stuff like chess and ludo. The fact they branched out was what got the main investor at the start, John Peake, to leave.

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Peake_(game_designer)[/url]

[Wolfshade]

Friendly reminder to keep it civil.

[40kGamer]