WFB 9E "explodes", goes Full Grimdark (tm)

[GrauGeist]

I'm reading the "breaking news" for WFB 9E ([url]http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2015/01/breaking-wfb-9th-explodes.html[/url]), and I gotta say, I like it.

Warhammer Fantasy is going Full Grimdark (tm) in the wake of the resounding Chapterhouse loss, starting completely over to retain only those non-generic things which are clearly GW IP that others cannot legitimately genericize. No more generic Forest Elves or Grey Elves. No more Scottish Dorfs. No more generic Medieval / Renaissance Humans. Full Grimdark, all the time.

Now, sure, a lot of people caution "You NEVER go Full Grimdark," but having had their ***** handed to them in the courtroom, GW has no choice. They now move Fantasy to strong GW IP without any generic Tolkien-based fantasy items.

Which makes a lot of sense. Mantic does just fine making generic fantasy stuff at a lower price point. Warmahordes has distinctive stuff that nobody else can tread on, and likely outsells WFB by a fair margin.

So, tearing everything down to make a new Fantasy, GW finally gets to right-size the game with a small number of armies:
- Chaos (which is GW's true IP)
- Skaven (strong GW IP here)
- Empire (with Dorfs & Ogres)
- Elves (blended together)
- Orcs & Goblins (of course)
- Undead (but no generic Skeletons or Egyptian stuff!)
Lizardmen get the axe, with no further development planned, and a lot of stuff is going OOP.

Not only are they shrinking from 12+ Armies to 6, but they're trimming back the model choices going forward. Sure, you can still play your current stuff - it'll just be overcosted and underperforming compared to the new WFB9 stuff coming out of the gate.

In effect, everybody finally joins my Dogs of War and the Chaos Dorfs.

How do the rest of you like them apples?

[Mr Mystery]

Total load of mega-jazz-wank.

[Deadlift]

I think for players wanting to get into WFB its looking pretty good. Its a daunting prospect starting any new miniature game but WFB more so than the rest. Just the sheer size of most of the armies and the over whelming amount of factions. From someone interested its just too much to take in and commit to. This may change that.

I like it and I can see it happening.

[40kGamer]

I think for players wanting to get into WFB its looking pretty good. Its a daunting prospect starting any new miniature game but WFB more so than the rest. Just the sheer size of most of the armies and the over whelming amount of factions. From someone interested its just too much to take in and commit to. This may change that.

I like it and I can see it happening.

While I agree there needs to be better entry points into the game, I would prefer they reintroduce a warband level game like Mordheim rather than nuke the entire WFB system from orbit!

[Mr Mystery]

All about the sliding scale.

The Mordheim style is fun, but doesn't naturally lead into larger collections. Current Warhammer can be played at smaller points levels, but just isn't as much fun.

And additional rule set, offering the bridge between tiddly warbands and (my fave) big honking forces? Makes sense.

Also, wonder if OP typed that out with his left hand?

[Erik Setzer]

Yeah, a rule set that includes various scales would make much more sense, especially as opposed to literally throwing the whole game in the garbage and starting over again. One of the ideas I had in my list of ideas for "If I Ran GW" was to create a set of modified WFB rules for "Warhammer Skirmish" and then use that basis to come out with various settings that had their own rules and used the existing Warhammer line of models, something I think would work brilliantly.

Instead, the rumors make it sound like they're trying to create a smaller-scale fantasy game with stylized fantasy models on round bases. Hmm. That's seriously original there, totally good idea for "protecting the IP." And the fluff claims? So basically, magic runs rampant on the world until it finally blows up into pieces floating in a warp-like area of space. Hmm, that sounds familiar... Oh, right! Because that's pretty much how Outland came into existence in the Warcraft universe. Well, there's your irony for the day. Warcraft started using Warhammer as a base, and now Warhammer is (allegedly) pretty much ripping off Warcraft for story elements. Especially funny with the claim that this is all done to "protect the IP," which is the kind of lame BS garbage claims you'd expect from a company whose leaders have their heads too far up their own bums to recognize what's going on.

The limited run models turning the game into a miniatures version of Magic: The Gathering is another wonderfully lame idea.

[Mr Mystery]

The island thing I don't buy at all.

I reckon the Warhammer World will survive End Times. Archaon will be slain, but the Old World will be facing ruination, with the living embodiment of Gods living amongst mortals.

Too much work is going into End Times for it all to be scrapped. Seriously. These books are a labour of love. You can tell by reading them.

[Erik Setzer]

The island thing I don't buy at all.

I reckon the Warhammer World will survive End Times. Archaon will be slain, but the Old World will be facing ruination, with the living embodiment of Gods living amongst mortals.

Too much work is going into End Times for it all to be scrapped. Seriously. These books are a labour of love. You can tell by reading them.

Well... they *could* just take the fluff books and package them as "Warhammer Histories." They're already separated from the rules, and they can throw out print runs pretty easily. You just swap the coves and you're good to go, and can continue to sell all that fluff.

Honestly, if they do the major extreme change and don't do that with those books, I'll be even more surprised at how these guys are trying to run their company like an "Evil Corporation" while being terribly bad at executing ideas that would actually make them a lot of money for little investment.

[Mr Mystery]

Because the latest rumours (barring Harry's stuff) are entirely made up?

Why repackage? That costs more money. Why cough up for expensive moulds for plastic kits, and then arbitrarily drop them a couple of years later, especially as within that timescale, you'd know you were about to drop them a couple of years later. Once the die is cut, it's good for years of casting. Even if it doesn't sell all that well, it's more than robust enough a die to last until it has paid for itself.

Freeing up shelf space? Pull the other one, it's got Bells on it. There's already limited shelf space, so they use their website as a 'virtual stockroom', allowing the stores to stock the top selling stuff, without having to do away with more 'niche' units.

Most of the bollocks listed just makes no sense whatsoever.

[Erik Setzer]

Why cough up for expensive moulds for plastic kits, and then arbitrarily drop them a couple of years later, especially as within that timescale, you'd know you were about to drop them a couple of years later. Once the die is cut, it's good for years of casting. Even if it doesn't sell all that well, it's more than robust enough a die to last until it has paid for itself.

That's the problem with the model blocks. Even with a three-month release window, that might not sell well enough to pay for the mold. Limited releases on plastic kits just aren't a terribly good idea, especially making that the core of your marketing plan.