GW 2014-2015 Half Year Results

[Erik Setzer]

I really have no idea why you have anything to do with any GW based gaming - commenting, reading, surfing websites, playing, paying.

It just seems to aggravate you.

I thought I'd explained this elsewhere, but let's try again.

First off, much of the community I don't mind. The pro-GW trolls, like the anti-GW trolls, are actually fewer in number than they seem, and don't represent the community. Yes, I despise those people for their dishonest attitude, but, again, they are not the community. There are also parts of the community I dislike, like the rules lawyering gits who play at the local GW, but parts I really like, like the guys who want to have a fun, fair game who play at a different local store and have been playing much longer. (It is ironic that the "community" is said to be so anti-rules-lawyering and anti-WAAC, but it's the new recruits at a GW store who are worst with that attitude here.)

I don't just surf websites, I have my own, I just need to get it updated again (meh for being sick and busy).

I play the games where I can, with the people who don't play using the mentality GW wants to push in the games. People who don't rush to use all these garbage new formations and stuff to get bonuses for giving GW more money are more fun to play with. I'm part of a small (but growing) HH/30K group locally, which is overall balanced aside from Knight armies. (It's actually a problem in 30K for a lot of armies. While my Iron Warriors are thematic in having lots of anti-tank and using vehicles, I've noticed other armies built thematically don't have a lot to take out armor, and once that's gone, you can whittle down the rest of the army easily. Thankfully, the one guy with a Knight army is willing to not bring them that often, though in 40K he had no issues with three Knights and a TWC death star.) Heck, I'd play AoS if I could find people who weren't rules lawyering or trying to find ways to use the rules to do cheeky stuff. (Doesn't mean I'll forgive GW for mismanaging Warhammer and sending it into the ground, then wiping it out, rather than ever admitting they did wrong and fix it.)

I only pay for certain things. Right now, I'm not buying much. None of the AoS models really interest me, especially as the Sigmarines take elements of Warmachine and old-school Warzone (especially Bauhaus) design and blow them up to cartoonish proportions, which is fine since other people might like that, but I do find it annoying when some of the people praising them will at the same time insult WM for having the same style, just because WM isn't made by GW. It's a sad realization that, given how they've changed the game, it would take literally hundreds of dollars - on top of all the money I'd already spent over time - to really make any of my armies competitive with the armies I see on a consistent basis (at least at the GW store, which is right in my neighborhood, so easiest to get to). So, rather than try to spend that money, I am opting out of buying much GW stuff, especially having been burned by End Times. The nice thing is that it means right now I have more money to buy other games, and not just other miniature games. I can get a multiplayer board game that will provide loads of entertainment for multiple people for the price of a single five-man unit (or less). I can snag cheap games that still provide loads of replay value for the price of a character. This isn't so much an anti-GW-pricing commentary as just wonderment at what you can do with your money when you direct it to something new (alternately, I could go back to going out eating and drinking at decent restaurants every night, but that's a temporary enjoyment).

The only thing that consistently annoys me - okay, other than the rabid pro-GW trolls (and I'll keep calling them trolls so long as they take a nasty attitude to anyone who is the least bit critical of their Dear Leader) - is the company itself. I grew up during a time GW was growing, when they had sales, community outreach, and a load of different games. I remember board games on hobby and toy and department store shelves. I remember a better White Dwarf. I remember how things *could* be. And now I look at a company with one key line, trying to start a second one to replace the 30-year-old line they mismanaged into the ground, all board games gone (having to rely on a different company for them), all the other games gone, and trying desperately to avoid being known as a games workshop despite their name being literally Games Workshop. Yes, I have problems with the games in some areas, but those could be fixed, and too often they're a result of the money people needing more money NOW at the expense of the product line's long-term health, so, again, it's management I have an issue with overall.

You can be critical of something and still like it. My closest friend is my closest friend because she's blunt and honest with me and expects the same, and sometimes what she says isn't flattering, but I know it's because she cares about me. My best relationships all come from a position like that, where they understand that I'm not a person who sugar-coats and says everything is awesome, because only by pointing out the problems could they be fixed. And if you don't care about someone or something, why mention the problems? Why try to get it fixed? Let it rot.

I also love World of Warcraft, but I'm not playing it much right now and I've said some critical things about its recent direction. So it's not just limited to GW. I've also said critical things about other miniature companies, like how I don't like that Warmachine's "plastic" figures are really a resin hybrid, so I have to use superglue rather than plastic cement, which bonds better (if you use a good one and do it right).

I criticize because I care. Maybe that doesn't make sense to you, but... well, it's the only thing that makes sense to me.

[grimmas]

In the context, I feel it was likely meant as sarcasm.

I'm not saying WW isn't bad (though I'd only visit if I have like two weeks in the country, because there's other, better stuff to visit for my time, like castles, battlefields, and pubs), just that using the word "cathedral" is a bit much, like suggesting it's a holy experience or something.

Nope given the context he was saying it was a very rare and surprising occurrence, amusingly so, much like the other things he mentions. Trust me the people of Sunderland aren't queuing up to lynch him and given last years report we can assume if he's going to insult anyone he'll do it directly.

Also I think you have little moral high ground on this point given some of your previous posts. You seem to have little problem with name calling and rudeness when it suits you. Id expect better from someone who is so quick to take offence.

Be careful of which battlefields you visit in the UK generally the actual location of them is fairly vague and even then most of them happened so long ago the ground they took place on is radically different anyway.

[Erik Setzer]

Laying into people who choose to be offensive to begin with is different than saying something about an entire country. I don't say things about Brits or French. (Brits are a bad example... people who play WWII games with me or talk about WWII with me probably wish I'd shut up talking up the Brits.)

Also, I'm not particularly "quick to take offense." Takes a lot to actually bug me. If someone chooses to continue an offensive pattern, yeah, I'll respond. If they stop being offensive, I have no issue with them, and would gladly discuss, say, the proper shade of black to use when painting a model.

Regardless of whether he meant offense to anyone or not, Kirby's comments are very unprofessional for what should be a rather professional report. Rountree's cheerleading is necessary and is grounded. Kirby's comments... well, they feel like the kind of stuff you'd see on a less moderated Internet forum. And I can't help but wonder why he still gets to write an opening for the report when that should be left to the guy who replaced him as CEO. I think the best way to describe how I feel about Kirby is that he seems like what would happen if you took Bill O'Reilly, made him British, and gave him a prominent role in a gam- er, modeling company.

[grimmas]

Hmmm you do realise I can read your little "who I despise and why" manifesto at the top of this page, don't you? Have you read the other people telling you you're mistaken, including a fellow American. Your bench mark for offensive behaviour seems to be not agreeing with you. Would mind awfully sticking me on your ignore list I've just remembered why I was enjoying this site much more last week. Thanks.

[Erik Setzer]

If you're not enjoying something, why do you go to a website and post? Hey, it's a fair question to turn around on you, right?

And no, I'm not going to put you on my Ignore list. You can choose to do so with me, of course. But then you wouldn't be able to make comments directed to me. It seems strange that you want to comment to me and then don't want me to respond to them. If I put you on Ignore, but you didn't put me on Ignore, that doesn't solve that problem, it only means I wouldn't see your comments and questions directed at me. I also don't see enough of an issue with you to put you on Ignore. I've only got two vehemently pro-GW people (who are likely more just trolling others than really being pro-GW) and a couple of people who treat entire classes of people as being subhuman for being different than they are, an attitude I despise (and which everyone should despise). It seems here you're the most upset and easily offended person, and you're the one who has a problem with someone else, so why is it left to the other person to resolve your problem? Go ahead and put me on Ignore. Your choice.

[Path Walker]

Hmmm you do realise I can read your little "who I despise and why" manifesto at the top of this page, don't you? Have you read the other people telling you you're mistaken, including a fellow American. Your bench mark for offensive behaviour seems to be not agreeing with you. Would mind awfully sticking me on your ignore list I've just remembered why I was enjoying this site much more last week. Thanks.

Just put him on Ignore, everyone else has, its for the best mate, he's the pits.

[Caitsidhe]

I do think we could all use with fewer personal attacks. It really isn't necessary one way or the other. The topic itself provides more than enough meat to gnaw from the bone. I reserve both my praise and condemnation for the vendors who supply our rather odd hobby. To some degree, watching Games Workshop and predicting her declining sales has become a secondary diversion. Reading amusing posts by people who are not the least bit impartial is also entertaining. Sadly, the days of really good discussions of the game are long gone. We fill the void with whatever meager scraps remain. I used to comment on the decline of places like this. During the peak of mid-5th Edition 40K (and the transitioning Fantasy) I literally could not keep up with the posts. The majority of them were about tactics, battle reports, and overall strategies. It goes without saying there were the complaint posts, the fanboy posts, and the shill placement posts. They were, however, clearly in the minority. People talked about the game, how to play the game, games they had played, and the upcoming games they were planning. Rules were discussed frequently although not at all to the degree they are now. Balance was (and is always) an issue, but TOs could (and did) find ways to create a relatively fair environment. Was it perfect? No. Was it a very different and thriving community? Yes.

On any given day I could drive to the LGS of my choice, walk in with an army, and get a pick up game. It really was that simple. The discussions before games were short and simple because there weren't that many things impossible or totally miserable to play against. I have to admit I look back on that time with a fair amount of affection because Games Workshop was still supporting tournaments (big and small), prize support was ample, and we all had some common standards. I think I met (and befriended) more new people within the hobby back then I ever had before. Ultimately Games Workshop is irrelevant. The game (whatever game it is) is only as good as the community that supports it. Games Workshop decided that it didn't need to support the community. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they "mistakenly" believed it would support itself without their interaction. I think they honestly believed that it would continue forward under its own power, maintained by the cohesion of nostalgia and brand loyalty. It didn't work out that way.

Games Workshop literally walked off the cliff like Wyle E. Coyote and didn't immediately fall because they didn't look down. The problem is that ignorance of reality will only allow you to ignore it for so long. Once they realized they were over the cliff they had to try and appease the stockholders and not look like total fools. Thus began the cutting frenzy. Prior to their walk off the cliff, they had been quite profitable with a large work force and even expanding. Bad management gutted sales and as those dropped the margins would not longer support things. Layoffs, cutbacks, price jumps, material switches, and pretty much every other cut to the bone strategy was employed. Even as sales dropped they managed to stay in the black by cutting off their own limbs. In the short term this works somewhat, but in the long run it is almost always business suicide. They have reached the stage where they are simplifying their product line, i.e. have been reduced by the margins to only producing a narrow line of product. What is left to cut? At some point you have nothing left to amputate by your own damn head. Cuts will not be able to keep up with declining sales. They have reached the median point, i.e. where they are selling less but held profits. That doesn't last. For a business to thrive it must start growing, i.e. sales must increase. Age of Sigmar is a hell of a gamble. If that fails they are literally up the creek and without a paddle.

[Erik Setzer]

That's the thing that's bugging me... If you look at the reports, the profit only remains in place because every year they're finding something else to cut. They cut all their other games. They just threw Warhammer out the window to replace it because they couldn't manage it. They're converting stores to only one man, which means they're closed two days a week, open limited hours, and they have to close when the one employee is sick... and that is NOT an ideal scenario for the stores that act as their largest driver of sales. They're making things as cheaply as they can without it being complete garbage quality (though Finecast failed there in a lot of ways, as the warped, twisted models hanging on shelves in local stores show). They keep finding places to cut costs, and now they're down to seeing how low they can skim the design team, and how much of the current range they can cut to remove its production costs. Meanwhile they raise prices over and over, claiming that they should because they sell "premium" products that are practically gold, but those raised prices aren't making up for the downward slide in sales. Their idea to increase sales is just to try to find more stores to sell through and press their employees to sell more by holding their salaries ransom. Only, why would anyone sign on to sell GW products? The company's current setup is designed to make sure non-GW stores of any type can't support the gamers and eventually the gamers have to go to GW directly to buy stuff, so anyone selling GW products basically has to compete with GW itself. and that's not a situation most retailers care to put themselves in. A lot of existing retailers only continue to carry GW product to support the existing community and have a token amount on hand, but it's a bad proposition for them. So then why would a hobby store or comic store want to take that on, introducing people to a range of products that would eventually take money out of their store? It's a bad strategy.

But yeah, far better to do all that than remember Games Workshop is a games workshop, or that maybe pricing toy soldiers so high isn't the best way to sell them (because they're game pieces, not museum art exhibits).

And yet, just saying these things, regretting that the company refuses to correct itself, somehow makes me an evil anti-GW person... (Even funnier because one of my best friends was asking me last night to help him prepare for an interview with GW this week, and I wasn't trying to talk him out of it or anything, just gave what help I could.)