12 April 2011

GW Triple Whammy

A few of pieces of GW news this week have me wondering what is going on with them...


First is Forge World's release of Kampfgruppe Normandy, a WWII game. I don't play WWII games, so it's roughly $86.00 price tag (at today's exchange rate, including postage, not not service fees for currency conversion) for US customers won't hurt my bank account.

What also surprises me is that they not only continue to spiral off in other directions, but then have the balls to charge prices like that when they have a reputation for not supporting the other games they've left incomplete. I'm still bitter about buying WAB2 and buying into their promises of army lists that were supposedly soon to follow.


Second is GW's Storm of Magic expansion for WFB. Two of my complaints about 8th edition are the game winning spells they introduced, as well as the increased focus on huge critters (and the associated downplaying of troops, maneuver, tactics, etc.) Any thoughts I may have had that this was an unintentional fluke in the game has been washed away by the description of Storm of Magic, which promises to increase both of those.


Third are the rumors of the discontinuation of metal figures from GW. According to many sources, retailers have been told there will be no more metal, and further rumors indicate that they may be switching to resin. I've bought very few of the metal figures in the past few years, as I can't stomach paying $12-$18 for a single infantry figure. Since every other time GW has announced an "improvement" and "cost savings" it has been immediately followed by increased prices, I expect the resin figures to be of lower quality (unless they've really got something new up their sleeves) and at a higher price.


Every bit of GW related news the past couple years seems to be driving me further away from their games. I'm seeking ancients rules elsewhere. I sold of all the figures I had collected for a WFB wood elf army, and just sold off most of my unpainted Skaven and I am thinking of putting the painted stuff up for sale next. While I hear some people rabidly supporting the company, I just don't see much appeal any more, and have seen a fair number of other long time veterans departing as well.

7 comments:

  1. Have to say, I'm with you in Kampgruppe Normandy. HOW MUCH????!??!

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  2. Some good points you've made there dude.

    i) The Kampfgruppe book was rumoured for a while now, but I didn't expect it to be designed for 1/72 scale. Particularly with all the 28mm WW2 stuff kicking around at the moment. I don't know anyone at the club who has a collection in that scale any more.

    ii) The "huge criters" expansion seems to me to be a distraction from the fact that GW want to to double the amount of core boxes you buy. "Please think only in regiments of 40 minis from now on. Thank you. BTW, here's an enormous obsidian statue with wings and huge fecking claws to keep you sweet."

    The only issue I have with this is that the most of the huge kits have been gorgeous and they do hold my interest in the game (Trygon - awesome, Arach Spider - pretty sweet, tomb king big cat - awesome.)

    iii) My only concern with resin is the quality control. Battlefront Miniatures and Spartan games both use large amounts of resin, but I often have to contact them due to warped or miscast components. Fortunately, both companies give excellent service in this regard.

    I worry that GW would use this as a reason to keep prices high when switching to resin (or a plastic/resin hybrid as some have speculated) despite the fact that resin manufacture is allegedly quite a bit cheaper than metal.

    Personally, I'm on a holding pattern with GW. Not buying or playing a whole lot, but still keeping up to date and seeing how the situation develops. Just my 2 cents.

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  3. Rick Priestly is designing a new ancient system since he was made redundant from GW. Likely to be well worth a look.

    Forge World - WW2 rules. Why? Doesn't bode well.

    John

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  4. I don't know that I'd be concerned with the 1/72 scale, even if I played WWII games. Most games seem easily adapted for various scale figures.

    As far as the huge critters, I do agree that many of the kits are beautiful. It's just that I don't want to go back to the 5th edition days where troops are more or less irrelevent -- which is about the state of 8th ed. right now, unless both players agree to field a "soft" army.

    In terms of resin, I think my doubts fall into several catagories. One, as I said, was price. The others are fragility of figures (or a reduction in details, or making everything big & chunky looking) as well as quality control.

    As for ancient games, I;ve got my eyes on Hail Caesar, Clash of Empires, War & Conquest and may take a look at Impetus too.

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  5. I think that resins are actually higher quality than metals in general; they can support greater detail and are 'poured' in a similar way to plastics, but don't require the cost of cutting plastic moulds.

    The WWII game was on the books for a long time from what I understand, and it's part of GW cleaning out what's left over from the Warhammer Historical side of things.

    n.

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  6. KG Normandy I'm sure can play at any scale. What I don't like is the price and the fact that right after WAB2 they release this instead of a AoA or another supplement! It's truely galling and likely what Neldoreth said in cleaning out the house.

    In regards to the large monsters I don't really care as WFB is a game I play only from time to time these days and so my level of interest is quite low. As a matter of fact I've been selling off most my stuff except for two armies( I had 8!)
    I do think the rules are quite good as far as the generations of Warhammer fantasy battle go with the exception of the 3rd edition which still remains the best IMHO.

    Again, don't care if GW makes all resin as I haven't bought any models from GW in a few years, but if it becomes a trend into the historical companies then my level of interest will no doubt perk up.

    In addition to WAB2, I have Impetus which I like and will be buying CoE and WaC as well, and maybe HC at some point.

    Cheers
    Christopher

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  7. Your concern about "huge criters with magic" is exactly why I have not paid much attention to 8th edition... also I want more basic troops completed first.

    It may be great that the Tomb Kings have some sort of big killy monsters, but without new basic skeletons, I do not care much.

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