Cult Of Games XLBS: Why Are Games Workshop So Damn Sexy?!
May 30, 2021 by brennon
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It’s the XLBS Show………Happy Sunday Fellow CoGs!
I have to say, when the opening video first started….I thought that was @avernos 🙂
The Stormcast Eternals with “grungy paint” are interesting. But I don’t think I can make myself do that to my Stormcast.
Cool videos of Gerry’s Grand-DaD catching footage of Pixies. Nice!
Congrats to the Golden Button Winners! Well DONE.
On more than one occasion, Games Workshop has managed to drag me back into their realms. But, I will admit that the models are pretty nice and there are lots of other folks modding and painting them as well. Even if I don’t get in many games these days, I still enjoy the models and working with them. They don’t take all my money though. I do manage to spread it around quite a bit. Indy of the Week has taken its fair chunk of dollars from me! Along with Warlord Games too. Their Epic ACW line has been demanding larges buckets of money from me lately.
A catchy tune at the end of this week’s XLBS! 🙂
Same Templar I thought it was @avernos as well 🙂
On a side note.
Black Library has received more money from me since I dove into Age of Sigmar. I have bought 40k novels in the past but most are too Grim-Dark for me. The Age of Sigmar novels have been enjoyable. The latest rumbling might be pointing to AoS going Grim-Dark as well. I hope not. Too much darkness and depression is not good for ones soul. IMHO
I have really enjoyed the Age Of Sigmar novels of late. Just finished Cursed City but also gone through the new Slayer books and a few more too. Enjoying them in an audio form more than anything actually.
Me too @templar007! My first thought was,” How did they talk Gerry into this?”
Happy Sunday!
Whatever turns you on I suppose. Then there’s always therapy!
Then for weathering I’m just about to give AK Interactive’s weathering pencils a try,.
Would be interesting to hear what they’re like!
I am still hovering on the edge of GW. I have stuff to build and paint but haven’t played it in years. I am returning to Man O War due to a friend wanting to play. I have been playing non GW games such as Blood Red Skies and Flames of War for years now and only really find a want to return to 40k for club events and when I want to go to a weekend event with friends but I will likely always want to play it and thats mainly due to the memory of playing it in the past and those fun times when I did.
I think a lot of us do hobby and hobby related things because we always have. We began something be it collecting or playing and carry on even when we no longer really enjoy it that much. I think we struggle to let go especially if we have collected a lot of things and have them around us. We just keep buying and stacking often for no reason other than that’s who we are.
I think that’s pretty key. I’ve always played Warhammer games so I am always drawn back to Warhammer games haha
I listen to a lot of modern bands, but I’ll always dance to The Beetles.
Back in 2009 I just stopped mini wargaming entirely – I wasn’t even building or painting. Black Library kept my interest in that side of the hobby going
There’s nothing wrong with being a fan of something that others love to hate.
There’s nothing wrong with having fun at something that other people despise.
You do you.
If you and the people you play with have fun then it’s all good.
GW is that 5000 pound gorilla in the room.
It is hard to ignore anything it does completely, because it will have an effect on everything else.
I like some of the stuff they do.
I don’t like how they sell some of their stuff and especially the fact that you can’t complete your collection or buy what you want at your discretion as things may go out of production without warning.
I dislike how they can dominate so completely that other systems don’t get a chance, because shop owners would be stupid to ignore a guaranteed cash cow in favour of a less popular game with more potential for awesome.
Then again … every company would love to be GW.
A few might not want to,but those are likely to be giants within their own niche of the hobby …
Every company / hobby needs a healthy competitor.
It sucks there isn’t one that can compete with GW at any level.
It sucks that those new to the hobby might not even know there is a world of fun outside of GW, unless they run into one of them GW haterz who don’t appear to have a life.
GW is the McDonalds/BurgerKing/etc of the fantasy/scifi wargaming hobby.
Lots of people claim to hate it, but secretly they can’t wait to get their grubby little hands on a little something they offer when no one is looking …
Happy Sunday all. Love them or hate them the GW hobby is very well supported and is a gateway for many hobbyists through a wide range of flashy products in stores that remain open at prime city centre locations while smaller hobby store go under. The literature and media products are also a great draw for many while nostalgia draws many back to a well promoted range. I also agree with the lads that if there aren’t that many people in your area playing anything different than GW it’s either change your game to get a game or simply become a collector. There really are better games out there but GW tops them all in global promotion and constant release streams for hobby addicts.
That opening video is terrifying. I was painting and heard the singing for a good 45 seconds before I looked up to see some ‘Gerry wannabe’ in his undies dealing with intestinal worms like a kelpie.
In regards to GW games, the ex-lover analogy is perfect. An ex who had model-looks and was great in bed, but left you with Stockholm syndrome (or as Ben said, nostalgia). There are a few things that keep bringing gamers back- the IPs, great new-product promotion and the likelihood of a game.
GW has some great IPs, 30K, 40K, the Old World, Necromunda and Mordheim (lets face it AoS is a serial disappointment) and no other IP in gaming has hundreds of novels under their belts. That in its self is telling. Surely if other game IPs were as compelling they’d be able to pump out even a fraction of the fair to average quality stories that Black Library produces.
GW miniatures, paints, hobby products, rules and price have all been matched or surpassed by other manufacturers however GW are masters at promoting and hyping their products to the community. White Dwarf, electronic media and Warhammer stores all work to keep you excited for whatever is coming out next without ever mentioning that it would be cheaper to have a cocaine habit. Independent stockists, media creators and the gaming community don’t help as they are constantly talking about GW even if it’s to compare another companies products to them. Even when we talk about new rules from another company, how often do you hear about the rules writer “Formerly of GW”? All the time. And yet everyone talks about how shit GW rulesets are!
Finally the likelihood of a game can’t be denied. Ultimately we all want to play games and the one thing that GW has done is created a pool of potential opponents for each of us, bigger than any other game system. As bad as GW gets, there always seems to be someone nearby that is prepared to play one of their games with you.
Surely that pixie guy must be related to Bob Fleming, sans the cough.
Games workshop does indeed have very beautiful models and they are easy to get around where I live, even the locale movie/music store sells it.
But I am with Gerry, my brother I stopped playing GW for several years now.
After the end of the old world we tried age of sigmar when our locale store did a sale on the starter sets and we played a couple of games and stopped after those games.
Wh40k we stopped even before that, because with the update of army books we had models that weren’t usable anymore or you had to re-kit others to get the options to make your unit optimal again.
We tried adeptus titanicus but with new release they started to change the sets of command boards making it more expansive for what you needed and you could feel the power creep getting in (acastus knights).
The only game we do play but don’t buy anything for is blood bowl as we can take this along on vacation.
Just 38 seconds in, and trying to work out which brand of hairdye @avernos used before shooting that video….
I watched mostly BoW and Tabletop Minions videos as I started into the hobby as an adult. There appeared to be a frustration at GW lack of community engagement, high and unbalanced pricing and a general negative leaning to most of the hobby related videos, at least the ones I saw, set opposed to GW in various ways.
I found this trend against GW odd because I had enjoyed Hero Quest, Space Crusade and Man’OWar in my youth. Over time I saw the ugly pricing, the regular changing of essential army books and rules to even start in their games etc. was all really off putting. I bought into the social media anti-GW trend and didn’t buy their products for years.
I liked some of their paints, but I was mostly buying Vallejo and Army Painter paints because I think my first games were Bolt Action, The Walking Dead and Saga.
The changing point for me was The Dark Imperium box, the simpler rules, even the suggestion that codexs were a thing of the past and the buy in price wasn’t too bad. Also the influence of a gaming club was the tipping point, because I had generous gamers willing to give or sell me additional bits for my 40k armies and they had all been GW enthusiasts for years.
I have resisted the temptation to follow 40k into it’s latest iteration. But I imagine that when the world opens up again I will play Saga, Bolt Action and Walking Dead, but eventually get drawn into playing 40k again. This will mean more 40K painting, maybe some purchases to make my armies list legal again and a purchase of the latest rules and codexes again. This is a bigger barrier to me getting back into the game than perhaps it might be to many people, in that I really dislike the GW style of army building and meta that surrounds it.
I have a couple of Black Library audio audible books, but have otherwise only a layman’s understanding of the lore and don’t feel inclined to dig any deeper at the moment.
The quality of the minis is very good, but the pricing is still off-putting. So much so, that it is only bite-size games like Kill Team and Shadespire that have encouraged anymore money out of me. These represent shorter less costly experiences, with manageable hobby projects and a fan base still available at my club to play most of them.
I think that peer pressure and the fact that GW have had such a history of domination in the hobby, that enables and encourages that peer pressure, that it is difficult for me, as still a relatively anti-GW leaning gamer, to get games and to find people willing to protest at their pricing in the only tangible way… By spending our money with other companies.
The models are great. They can’t afford for us to buy and paint one army and stop buying in order for them to keep profitable as a business, but there’s just something annoying about the way they market themselves and the way they package and price their new releases that makes them unattractive to me. I resent knowing that even as a minority player in my hobby collection that a chunk of change has been shared their way and that I feel conned in some way even though there’s no real scam involved.
Lol is that Gerry Bro in the intro?
Hi CoGz
love the pic of Ben with his magazine guy’s
Who would have thought Justin giving paint advise Nice one Guy’s.
I stepped away from Games Workshop some years ago.
Still love the fluff and the fiction, but I found the profit-before-hobby approach being pursued back then just too much.
As a result I became immersed in the incredibly diverse and exciting scene outside ‘the hobby’.
Now, I now there has a bit of a sea change in the Citadel, but I am now too far gone to return.
The “formerly GW” point mentioned is an interesting one, like it has been said above GW really dont have any rivals on an equal footing, but if you look at other “big” companies like Mantic and Warlord they’ve all have had experience of the GW system and you can see that to greater and lesser extents in the way they do things, look at bolt action for example when it was released, on forums and social media it was touted as WW2 version of 40K second edition. They have seen first hand what has worked and are applying it.
Are you sure the guy in the intro was Quentin, and not John in a wig?
Just watch Justin the Irish fary folks are badass in your country look at the folk that got hexed moving a fary tree.
A warning for Justin?
https://www.bbc.co.uk-northern-ireland-40863737
On GW being sexy…..spent the last 2 days looking at KoW let’s plays as there seems to be interest at my FLGS. Was tempted by orca, and then today GW announce new AoS orc sculpts that look great.
Classic example of me trying to stay away from filling GW coffers but likely to crack!
Go rogue @dignity book your tickets then grab a camera disappear an come back with some great video’s?
I think I’m become more and more like Gerry. The only workshop stuff I’m actively buying is the Middle Earth range, with the exception of cursed city, but that was more of a project to stop myself spiralling into depression after my mum passed away. These days I tend to buy miniatures that I can use in a variety of games, SAGA for example, but others would include Frostgrave and Stargrave. I’ve converted a few of my old Warhammer Fantasy armies over to Kings of War, I just love that ruleset. I know a lot of people say that workshop’s miniatures look the best, but I disagree. I’m finding more and more that their miniatures are very hit and miss. To be honest I’m not keen on these new orc and goblins they’ve previewed for 3rd ED AOS, the don’t look like the workshop orcs I’ve known and loved for 20 odd years, and I think that the Mantic goblins are far superior.
I’ve got a few friends who are workshop junkies. As in they have constant shiny syndrome. New release, they must buy it. I think they play every workshop game with the exception of middle earth, which is something I find weird because its the best ruleset workshop does. They keep trying to convince me to play Necromunda. I played a game of it and hated it, yet the keep trying to convince me. So I told them only if we use the proper rules from the 90s. Sure the minis are cool but that game doesn’t feel like Necromunda any more. They keep raving about how much fun these games are and I have like zero interest in them and I have to reitterate that every time. Yeah I’ll break out my Deathguard and have a game of 40k every now and again but I really can’t be arsed adding anything to it. Workshop really does appeal to me less and less.
The joys of the lockdown year folks nice looking projects figures guy’s.
You can’t corrupt the Druid Gerry?
It’s too early to destabilise my reality with that intro Lloyd
A great nutty show guy’s. ?
Happy Sunday and thanks for that golden button. The next update will be a few weeks off yet as I’m waiting on more miniatures I need for the next few games. Just one word about the Loke Battlemats, they are an absolute sod to photograph since they are so glossy, but otherwise they are very cool and I may have to get more. Oh and in the text everything I describe happened in the game. I just embellish a narrative into it a little.
As for Games Workshop I find more and more I’m less interested in what they produce. Like Gerry we played WFB 8th (all the way from 3rd) and when they killed it we just stopped playing, probably within 6 months. We still play 40k but feel it’s getting too bloated for our enjoyment compared to other games. We might mix it up a little and use One Page Rules for a game or Bolt Action’s dice bag turn activation. We definitely want to play less competitive and more casual.
Also that Rhino birth sequence always has me laughing (not to mention Justin’s reaction to Gerry’s comment about the face powder).
Happy Sunday All and justin. Lov’n the train talk. Great job @brennon those minis look Grim Dark indeed. If I may suggest something. If you have an old toothbrush, dab the brush in thinned down paint and then run your finger on it to Flick splashes of “mud” or “blood” onto your figure.
I’ve wanted to try Grim Dark painting for decades. I think I will try it for Rangers.
Congrats to the Golden Button Winners!
Great show
Happy Sunday!
“Why Are Games Workshop So Damn Sexy?!” But are they? I don’t think so.
00:50 TRAINS!
01:40 “You’re gonna make me…. ” *muahaha*
02:03 Uh! New screen capture material! HUZZA!
04:30 Grim dark past!
04:45 “I have…” what?!
06:00 “Chuck ’em in the bin”? WHAT?!
11:40 BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!
14:45 @brennon said “shit”
18:30 “Are we now racists Father?” XD Also his YouTube Channel info says “Sweden”. 😉
25:00 Pixiehunter!
26:07 More screengrab!
30:30 Even more! this episode just keeps on giving!
37:00 hint hint, wink wink, nudge nudge
40:30 cheeky tongues!
45:00 Battlereports!
52:00 Same but different… again…
58:00 Show ’em @avernos!
1:09:00 G’wullu isn’t sexy. Period. 😉
1:11:00 Not me! They got ain’t anything on me! (Never mind the Goblin Blood Bowl team)
1:27:00 “What’s your hobby?” “Buying G’Wullu stuff”.
1:28:00 Yepp, that unipose is horrible…
1:32:00 “abusive relationship” sounds about right.
1:34:00 even though shops here in Germany carry multiple ranges you still only “see” G’Wullu products front, right and centre. Simply because that’s the “here be miniatures games” signal for passing customers. Also most shops don’t have playing areas. Some but not all. But every G’Wullu store has two to three tables of the brand new shite. And most players hunt the new and shiny and barely jump from the G’Wullu bandwagon.
1:35:30 I may have not escaped through the anus of a rhino but I guess everybody can tell that I’m way out of the grasp from G’Wullu. Star Wars has always been my #1 hobby and Fallout and Battletech really fit in there nicely. At some point I might find myself on any fantasy range but I doubt that will happen any time soon.
1:38:00 Oh Disco! I watched that back in the days on TV…. Yes a flocking German music show… and what a show 😉
Now excuse me, I need to cut some videos.
Gerry is correct. Ben is easily influenced. 😉
Funnily enough I saw some posts in a Dropzone group the other day from people declaring that ‘this game needs some novels’. Seems people like the toy soldiers to have lots of backstory. It is an area Mantic are expanding on for their games, so maybe they have a point.
Personally I’m turned off GW for pretty much the same reasons as Gerry. While the models are technically strong and come with well thought out instructions, I don’t find the excessively detailed chunky aesthetic appealing.
And I think the games are not great. GW is more concerned about maintaining a sense of familiarity for players so don’t evolve much. And they want accessibility so do the the cycle Gerry was talking about. I want games that are fluid and have tactical depth, even if it means learning something substantially different.
GW caters to people who just want to pick up some models and roll dice. Their market share and ability to lay it all out for you means it is the most accessible route into wargaming with the least uncertainty of what to get or where to go. Until they announce the inevitable next edition and invalidate your books again anyway.
I think if Ben’s friend watches The Greatest Movie Ever MAde he would have a new view on the world
Hello Cogs. @brennon I thin it is really personal approach, for you its clearly visual, for me for example rules are way more important than fluff, hence I will replace bad or not appealing to me model with proxy and will not play bad game just because I like models, or because others play it. life is too short to play bad games. obviously it is really personal approach and some rules may be bad for me and great for for others.
Some games have everything and Privateer Press decide to go with life card app system and destroys all fun as I refuse to buy new cards every year or use app, and hence my Khador is no more.
@lloyd I was young once and 40k was way more appealing for many reasons, now I am grown up and I prefere SAGA for example, but if you want to convince young gamers to play games I would suggest game with Tns , lots of tans, as they are more interesting than history for youngsters, or Kings of war for fantasy as gives them more freedom in selection of models ( lego army for example, dinosaurs they have in box under bed ) and rules are simple.
Gerry is right about everything. My beard is also too long and too grey to be included in GW’s target demographic anymore. One day you wake up and you’re not the center of the marketing universe. It is just the natural progression of consumer life.
Another Sunday morning and I’ve laughed my ass off yet again from the antics of the peanut gallery. Great projects highlighted and musical silliness from Lloyd (really I think he should look at King of All Cosmos from Katamari Damacy). Mierce minis were good but I’ll stick by the Ker-Ys and their drunes (there’re projects with those out there.. dig for them).
As far as GW I got stuck on Bloodbowl. Mordheim died away from the specialist game cull when the LoTR license was bought and I didn’t go back. Necromunda got a rerelease and it was the box set with terrain that caught my fancy. The 40k world just didn’t hold much interest for the reason of the rabid fanaticism of the players for the game and the exclusivity of the knowledge base in mechanics. There was a little creep of that in Malifaux but the breadth and width of Wyrd’s reach didn’t mean there was a whole store of pubescent boys with gamer funk geeking out about the latest meta ad nauseum.
I think GW made a good world, much like Lovecraft, but it takes some indies and 3rd party creators to really flesh out the genre and build better aesthetics.
I agree with @lloyd, age and circumstances at which you were first exposed to the game is very important. I have my history as example: I started wargaming back in 1992 at the age of 14 with boxed set of Battletech. At the time GW had no official presence in Poland, some stores in biggest cities had some minis and games imported privately directly from GW but I was not exposed to those. My next game, and first proper miniatures game, was Warzone which had full blown Polish edition in 1996. I was already in love with the universe after playing Doom Trooper CCG. I stayed with Warzone for 20 years through its ups and downs (and there were lots of downs – like two owners of the game licence going under in span of 5 years). I played the game until 2014 or 2015, venturing to i-Kores Void (which was created by the same guys who did Warzone) and Star Grunt 2 (which I played with Warzone minis). The game was finally killed for me by Prodoses re-ignition of the system, I couldn’t stand what they did to the mechanics and lore. At that time I jumped into Infinity which was starting their 3rd edition, I didn’t consider anything GW mostly due to comments around the Internet.
So for me Warzone and Mutant Chronicles were what for many of you 40K is, it was at the same time a shield and armour against 40K, I had my game and most of all my mates and thus was not interested in picking up anything else. For almost 30 years of my gaming career I only spent money on GW product twice (save for some paints); I own 1st edition of Talisman (in Polish, with all expansions) and 3rd edition of Space Hulk. Nowadays I can’t see anything that could drag me into 40K or AoS, I don’t like minis, I don’t have any connection with the lore and all the super-insanely-over the top stories seam rather irritating than interesting.
Why does this shop (on tabletop) stock G.W. With small lip service to other companies regardless of the presenters comments?
I was a huge GW fan in the late 80s/early 90s when I started with the miniatures hobby, and I basically was an ignorant GW-purist. When I got back into the miniatures-hobby after an almost 10 year-break in 2013 or so, I naturally gravitated towards GW, because I was a fucking ignorant who didn’t know any better.
I then slowly began to resent the GW-artstyle, but I guess this had more to do with me returning to my appreciation of visual design in movies especially from back in the day when I was a kid or teenager. Also, around that time, I stumbled across Beasts of War who introduced me to a whole wide world of miniatures beyond GW, who then became even more unattractive to me. When I look at their minis now, I find them really silly and visually clumsy.
In the end, I now revile and utterly disdain GW, and that’s completely their own fault. I don’t like their artstyle and that’s simply a matter of taste, but the way they treat their customers and fans as well as their desperate marketing-shitshow which makes any attention-whore look humble in comparison mark them out as the most vile company in the hobby-industry in my opinion. I’m so done with them, and I feel liberated since I turned my back on them and never looked back.
That being said – whoever likes their artstyle and doesn’t mind their shenanigans – all power to you. 😀
I dropped out of WARHAMMER when the old world died. Sold everything in the last few years. I tried playing 40k when I was invited to a big game at WARHAMMER World but my army was so out of date it was useless. I got told I needed to purchase various new kits because everyone has knights now. I said no thanks and haven’t gone back since. I still pick up the odd bloodbowl team and I only got adepts Titanicus because I won some warhounds on OTT so that’s Your fault. THANKS
Getting out of the GW bubble is 100% about the gaming friends you have. In the early 00’s I tried years to get my gaming buddies to get excited about other games, not to let go of GW but to diversify our hobby. Aside from one Flames of War convert, no success. That mean I had to stay in the GW bubble as well, even though I had lot of interest in other genres and universes. Finally, after moving and finding a proper gaming club I got out from the Rhino’s backside and now I’m getting dragged in the whole different games and historical periods.
While I pretty much feel the same way about their games as Gerry does, I’ve nothing against GW. They make fantastic models, which I’ve occasionally purchased to paint. And yes, there are the occasional waves of nostalgia, which I channel to the thought of one day again bringing out 40k 2nd/3rd edition or Warhammer 5th/6th again.
OMG that Quentin Smirhes bloke. I thought Warren had improvised trying to clone a John and had put a bit of Gerry into the mix.
GW talk: Gerry said it, like it is.
I stopped playing 40K a few years back, I was tempted back by the new edition because you could play with smaller armies but the rules put me off. I did try Sigmar when it was first released but once the rules started getting bloated I stopped.
These days I only play Warcry and Kill Team, though I buy some of the war bands for Underworld as I like the minis.
I find the rules are poor for the two main games and the cost of an army prohibited. I relized that if I was to play 40k then that would have to be my hobby simply because of cost. I can play numerous games for less than it does to? play 40k.
For a bit of balance you can chalk me down as one person happily in the GW bubble. From my POV I am more of a collector and painter rather than a gamer, so the rules are just wasted trees as far as I am concerned.
As for why I like GW, I like the minis and artistic style, I like the worlds they build and that they are large enough for me to create my own unique part of it. Also I like that the minis are easily accessible, have a wide positive community and that I can rely of them being around long term unlike kickstarters and smaller companies. I started my guard army 20 years ago and I can still add to it now – during that period it has been a consistent source of joy through good times and bad and I am glad it is something that has always been there.
Anyway that is my two pence worth, hopefully it adds a bit of ballance in the conversation.
Thanks for the Button Gents!!! Just one more week and the second battle report would have been in for @avernos! Fell out with GW around 6-7 years ago and much prefer exploring all the other systems. I tried getting back into 40k with Kill Team as some friends were playing and like Gerry said realised the games just weren’t that good. I doubt they’ll get me back.
oh no graystoke falls further behind
Next time he paints a horde (a real one!) perhaps he can get back in the race!!!
I stopped playing 40k because I got sick of arguing with my opponents over rules interpretations. We switched to playing Deadzone from Mantic for a while and then I then joined a gaming club where the main beast was GW once again. I got sucked back in but never really enjoyed myself and back came the rules “debates” – I was about to pack in the club when one of the other guys started talking about wanting to try Dropzone Commander which was relatively new on the market at that point and I jumped on board with that.
We managed to convince a some other members to try it out and that became the main game for a small group of us within the club. Over the course of a couple of years all of us involved in the Dropzone sub-club started having kids or getting jobs that made attending the club a more rare experience and when we could make it we didn’t have the 3-4 hours to dedicate to it that we used to. Wargaming in general faded away in favour of board games.
I still have a load of 40k models unpainted and I still love the universe GW created but I will never fall back into playing 40k. I just hate the rules and I’ve had enough exposure to other systems in the intervening years that I know there is far better out there. It would take a massive upheaval in the core structure of the rules to make me even consider jumping back into 40k. I’d honestly rather not play anything than play a bad game now.
My main aversion to GW these days is price. Even if I wake up tomorrow with amnesia about how much I hated the playing experience, I can’t justify the prices to get back into 40k. The cost of an infantry squad and the need for multiples of them!? feck that
I can buy whole games, including rules models and table terrain for the cost of getting a 40k army to 1850pts.
GW did draw me back in when they released Warhammer Underworlds though. It was right up my alley – a tighter rule system, small number of models in self contained warbands, small price investment for a really enjoyable game. Nice and easy….. and then they made it clear it was just more of the same. Needing to buy every warband to get the latest cards to stay competitive. iterating the rules with new “seasons” every year. I recognised the pattern very early. Thankfully I don’t play in competitions and all the cards are on the website, so I just print them off and sleeve them if I see something interesting and that lets me just buy the warbands I actually like.
So in short … people play 40k and it’s Lloyd and Gerry’s fault 😉
I like some of the minis but there’s always the danger of the absolute turkey popping up. I loved the Ad Mech but then they introduced the mech cavalry and my interest died. I have Imperial Guard and I’m that one person delighted they didn’t radically update the Cadian range.
The less I do with GW, the happier I am with the hobby, though I am conscious that I plan to move city and having some GW models to play with will mean I’m more likely to get a game – a Blood Bowl team at least.
Happy Sunday and thank you for the earworm. Congratulations to the Golden Button winners.
I have never been attracted to GW as when I first started gaming my OH was into historical so I chose am Ottoman Turk Renaissance Army, mainly Minifigs and my first introduction to GW Models was that they all had little backpacks (Citadel) and cost twice as much as anyone else’s stuff. My husband thinks the main advantage they have is the boxed sets priced for Christmas and Birthdays, which require no preknowledge from Granny or Auntie just go into the shop and hand over the requisite amount of money, wrap and hand over.
I would like to ask a slightly different question though. If Games Workshop were starting out today with all the new Kickstarters and 3D printed models on the scene and the well written and illustrated Rule Books such as those produced by Osprey would they have ever gained the same traction?
Here I am, a veterinarian on his day off and what do I see? Some guy who looks Gerry, desperately needing his anal glands expressed.
All my friends make a hibu of hating GW, but the lore of the Old World and 40k keep me hooked. Have not looked at all at AoS because Vor the Maelstrom should not be emulated.
Not sure how you’re going to top that opening!!!
Going back to GW is like going back to that Ex that you know is bad for you but you keep returning to them because they’re familiar. And, familiar is easier than finding something new and unknown, even if it is better for you.
Happy Sunday! Great topic Ben – I’ve asked this myself; why are so many people hooked to GW?
Funny enough I have never, ever been bitten by the GW bug. Not even once. Been seriously wargaming for going on 8yrs now.
I’m not trying to be ‘edge-lord-y’ or anything like that – it’s just never struck a cord. I see the draw of course – the miniatures are second to none, it’s easier to find fellow players, and it’s the most fleshed out universe (both 40k and fantasy/AoS).
The reasons why I’ve never really gotten into GW are pretty straight forward – first and foremost is the ‘grim dark’ setting just doesn’t appeal to me. Second, I like sub-28mm miniatures (preferably in true-scale (no over-exaggerated heads/hands) vs. heroic scale (big hands/heads, assumedly for easier painting)).
I feel like at 28mm and above, games just look like more of a bloated skirmish game than a -war- game. Even when there’s 80+ 28mm models on one side, all I can think of is ‘ya know, if I scale this down to 15mm there’d be 240 models for this force on the table… now THAT’D be epic!!’. As a disclaimer, I know GW has in the past made (WarMaster/Epic) and currently makes (Adeptus Titanicus) sub-28mm games, but that still doesn’t change the grim dark setting.
I think it’s noteworthy that I didn’t buy my first wargaming miniatures until I was in my late 20s, so the childhood/nostalgia feelings don’t really apply to me.
Also of note is just how stinking hard it is to find players of non-GW games! :O But, such is our hobby… 🙂
TWO DAYS LATE IN COMMENTING DUE TO MEMORIAL DAY HERE. GAMES WORKSHOP OVER PRICED AND REPETATIVE. AS TRHOMAS GRAY SAID IN 1742 “WHERE IGNORANCE IS BLISS, IT IS FOOLISH TO BE WISE.” THANK YOU FOR KEEPING US WISE.
My first-ever XLBS opened with not-Gerry in his pants, pretending to be a train!
I’m equal parts haunted and impressed!
My local store (not GW) here in the US is 90% GW products..there’s a little bit of Conquest, and a Tiny bit of Kings of War. 95% of the store play is GW. I’ve seen Kings of War played once or twice. Magic is big, but I don’t play card games.
When I bought Indomitus I sort of knew it’s probably going to be my last edition of 40k. I am just tired of the cycle, (I don’t buy any codexes for things I don’t play) by the time everything comes out..here’s the next edition..