My Meagre thoughts on Competitive 40k

[Path Walker]

Balance hasn't been the least bit important to the health and growth of 40k in the last 25 years which has seen it grown into the biggest tabletop miniatures wargame in the world.

The only people who care about it enough to want change are a tiny minority of terrible customers.

[Renegade]

Play 30k, it is far more balanced and so should be more likeable for competitive types.

[Brother Claudio]

Balance hasn't been the least bit important to the health and growth of 40k in the last 25 years which has seen it grown into the biggest tabletop miniatures wargame in the world.

The only people who care about it enough to want change are a tiny minority of terrible customers.

Exactly!

[Path Walker]

Exactly!

If balance was actually that important to the growth of the game and its sales, the most balanced version of the game (3rd) wouldn't have been a disaster.

[40kGamer]

Balance hasn't been the least bit important to the health and growth of 40k in the last 25 years which has seen it grown into the biggest tabletop miniatures wargame in the world.

The only people who care about it enough to want change are a tiny minority of terrible customers.

Niche's create a weird environment. GW has yet to face a challenge from a single competitor so it is impractical to associate their growth with anything other than the fact that 'tabletop miniature games in general have grown over the last 25 years'. It's like saying my political candidate won the race by a landslide! Of course they were running unopposed so...

And some of us who are put off by their rules issues are actually their best customers. Just because we enjoy their universe and product doesn't mean we blindly eat whatever slop they sling.

[Path Walker]

GW has seen off many, many competitors, and it does so by appealing to children and getting them hooked young with a cool universe and easy to grasp rules. the competitors that you've written off have never managed what GW have in appealing to that demographic in a mainstream way.

Generalisations are what a business uses to make judgements, in general, people who care about balance and the rules tend to spend very little money, no one seems to beleieve they exist online, but GW has a lot of customers that never play and buy a lot of models. My local store has a customer that comes in every month and buys 2 of everything, one to assemble and paint, the other gets stored. He's worth more than most entire tournaments to GW. Unless you drop more than £200 a month, you're not classed amongst GWs best customers, sorry.

[40kGamer]

GW has seen off many, many competitors, and it does so by appealing to children and getting them hooked young with a cool universe and easy to grasp rules. the competitors that you've written off have never managed what GW have in appealing to that demographic in a mainstream way.

Generalisations are what a business uses to make judgements, in general, people who care about balance and the rules tend to spend very little money, no one seems to beleieve they exist online, but GW has a lot of customers that never play and buy a lot of models. My local store has a customer that comes in every month and buys 2 of everything, one to assemble and paint, the other gets stored. He's worth more than most entire tournaments to GW. Unless you drop more than £200 a month, you're not classed amongst GWs best customers, sorry.

I don't remember any significant competitors ever. No one I remember ever built up their level of capital or infrastructure. The biggest reason is that tabletop games represent too small of a demographic to attract real money.

I do agree that many big buyers don't play much as there isn't enough time to do everything. I haven't blown the dust off WFB since 1999 even though I've kept up with the game models. I punted on the rules though, as they change so often it isn't worthwhile to buy them when you know you're not going to play before they're updated. And £200 a month is too light as that isn't enough to keep pace with all releases, a person has to hit £300+ to make a real effort.

[Path Walker]

My point was, unless you're spending several grand a year with GW, you're not really up there is the biggest customers, and that will rule out most of the competitive crowd.

There have been many, many games that went at it on the tabletop, none last compared with GW, X Wing looks like giving them a run for their money, but its possible there will be a bubble burst at some point.

[40kGamer]

My point was, unless you're spending several grand a year with GW, you're not really up there is the biggest customers, and that will rule out most of the competitive crowd.

There have been many, many games that went at it on the tabletop, none last compared with GW, X Wing looks like giving them a run for their money, but its possible there will be a bubble burst at some point.

True, Most GW customers are smaller army/game specific and spend minimal amounts. There are definitely not too many fanatics that try to keep up with everything GW has going on... funny enough I've never really gotten any indication that they care much about what any customer demographic thinks.

FFG is poised to offer some now real competition given their new found access to capital and distribution. We'll see how Armada fares when it hits the mainstream. Given the broad appeal of Star Wars and the fact that Disney is putting 100's of millions if not billions into the film universe it's as close to a sure thing as I can imagine.

[daboarder]

If balance was actually that important to the growth of the game and its sales, the most balanced version of the game (3rd) wouldn't have been a disaster.

What do you smoke bro?

Theres a reason 5th was so widely played.and it wasnt because it was full of fun options (it wasnt)