Karak Norn Clansman
Baron
Would you please like to list the positives and negatives about how you've experienced GW throughout your hobby years? The idea is to try and get a rough overall idea of how customers have and are perceiving GW.
To get the ball rolling. I started during 6th edition WHFB, so my experience is mainly constricted by this starting point. I'm more of a painter and converter than a player, and mainly have experience with WHFB's game.
Positives
(+) They have produced available miniatures and games of mainly high quality throughout the years.
(+) Quality of background and art of army books and (perhaps to a lesser degree) codices have increased. The Lotr supplements were thin but still contained some lovely stuff.
(+) GW maintained Specialist Games through many years, despite seemingly poor results from many of the branches. Specialist Games produced very good background in particular, and several good games.
(+) Their hobby magazine once truly was worth its money and had lots of content. It also contain "Dwarf" in the title.
(+) Despite retreating from the smaller games/miniatures ranges market, GW have not entirely abandoned it, as Space Hulk and Dreadfleet stands as evidence for.
(+) Despite retreating from producing characterful metal miniatures, GW did release several characterful Empire citizens, pirate models and even a set of Lotr casaulties. They also kept much old stuff, like the '80s Dwarf adventurers, drunken Dwarfs, elementals, Lotr and Regiments of Renown, available for years despite poor performance. Still do, in some cases.
(+) GW once had an excellent bitz service. It was a pleasure to have made extensive use of it once, especially for kitbashing metal characters and acquiring Mordheim Dwarf backpacks separately.
(+) The relative realism and quality of most metal miniatures from about 6th edition WHFB (most notably High Elves and Longbeards of that era).
(+) The overall improved looks of most armies through WHFB 6th-8th editions.
(+) The fun game of WHFB 8th ed. Best yet in my limited experience.
(+) Hordes in WHFB!
(+) Excellent background for the Imperium in particular in 40k.
(+) GW's Lotr miniatures range, mainly sculpted by the Perry twins. Gorgeous models, almost the whole lot of them. GW's own additions and interpretations have also been well-chosen.
(+) GW's own Lotr Dwarf range deserves an honourable mention in particular. Check it out and discover why. It's one of the best takes on Dwarves ever attempted.
(+) Many good plastic kits. Plastic was more kitbash-friendly in 6th edition WHFB, though it has better looks nowadays.
(+) The disappearance of hamfists from the plastic range in particular.
(+) Plastic terrain.
(+) Ogre Kingdoms. It's good to see the creative spark alive and kicking with that new addition which added so much to WHFB. The 8th edition army book also brought the Warhammer world to the Ogres, in the shape of cat-thwarted Skaven tunneling, Dwarf mining expeditions and wars with Black Orcs.
(+) Forge World.
(+) FW's and BL's current attention to the Horus Heresy.
(+) FW's revival of Chaos Dwarfs.
(+) BL's ombibuses, though not always any longer available from Black Library itself. Eisenhorn and the background book Xenology can't be found around there.
(+) Eisenhorn, Xenology and Matthew Farrer's novels.
(+) The background and special miniatures produced for Eye of Terror and Storm of Chaos (though the campaign results are irrelevant to appreciate them).
(+) The Hellcannon. It deserves a mention.
(+) Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos.
(+) Empire powder monkey in Handgunner box and shot Orc in Archer kit. More of those extras!
(+) GW's new take on Wood Elves. The old have their charm, but the new are evidently superior.
(+) Battle for Skull Pass, the mainly abandoned attempt to turn elite units into cheap, good-looking plastics and similar takes on price lowering.
(+) The bringing-back of old favourites such as the Verminlord, Doomwheel and Jokaero, which were cut away during 6th edition WHFB/2nd-3rd edition 40k or before that. Storm of Magic is an especially good example of pleasing all hobbyists in this way by not excluding old favourites.
(+) The faithfulness to the better of old styles with plastic Greatswords, Stormvermin and others.
(+) Some minor attempts at making people focus on the common fun of the game instead of cheese spam and powerplay. It needn't be balanced to be fun.
(+) Foundation paints and the new paint range. Making some darker foundation paints (Khorne red in particular, matching Scab Red of old) gives bonus points.
(+) A wealth of wacky old miniatures mainly from before my time. Still gives a laugh to see some of them resurface, like the toilet Dwarf.
Negatives
(-) Butchered quality of White Dwarf magazine.
(-) Rampant price increases, particularly during the last years. It even thwarted my plans to amass a the Hobbit Dwarf and Goblin collection to go along with my Lotr one. It have also channeled my hobby funds away to other companies. Recruitment around here has more or less died.
(-) Tedious rules. Many historical wargames and Mantic's Kings of War have more streamlines rules systems for mass combat games, which do not involve picking away all your carefully converted and painted miniatures from the ranks at risk of chipping them every game.
(-) Butchered bits service.
(-) No sales or mystery box deals.
(-) No frantic, enthusiastic output of new metal miniatures which wouldn't necessarily have a direct use in the two big tabletop games.
(-) The decline in smaller side-games which GW was so good at once upon a time. Apart from the WHFB-40k side games, Dark Future deserves a mention.
(-) Finecast hypocrisy. The material still has some advantages for conversions.
(-) Lack of that creative spark and enthusiasm outside of army books/codices. With WD pouring out captivating articles and smaller games systems/miniature ranges active once upon a time it was easy to get swept along with GW's flood. No longer so. Once, it was easy to think that GW wanted you as a customer and tried to spoil you. No longer so.
(-) The great purge at the moment which eliminated the Deathroller amongst others. An indicator of the imaginary poverty of the ranges this results in can be seen in that there soon won't be any Halfling miniatures left to buy from GW (except for the ones bagged in the Giant's pouch). There always have been Halflings before.
(-) Very long release gaps for some armies.
(-) Codex creep and magic item crêpe, especially during 7th edition WHFB/5th edition 40k.
(-) The demise of Squats. You got to have Dwarfs!
(-) The lack of plastic Sisters of Battle. Should be there.
(-) The lack of plastic greatcoat Imperial Guard. Really should be there.
(-) The lack of a Brewmaster and Drunken Dwarfs unit in WHFB, alcohol promotion to underages be damned.
(-) Ugly 7th edition Empire State Troopers, also bland plastic Dwarfs.
(-) World of Warcraft symptoms with ridiculously large helmet wings, weapons and even shoulder pads for High Elves. Also single monowheel chariot for Dark Elves.
(-) Gigantism Empire Gryphon.
(-) Obese Stegadon and Ancylosaurus for Lizardmen, otherwise all is fine at that front.
(-) Making Lotr miniatures smaller than 28mm. A capital crime.
(-) The disappearance of do it yourself hobby articles, particularly for terrain.
(-) FW's long-standing unwillingness to give Warhammer Fantasy its due. Bring on weapon options and more units for your own army, Chaos Dwarfs, at the very least.
(-) BL's mass-produced standard for many of its books.
(-) The company's seeming inability to understand its core issues.
Now share your own experience with Games Workshop throughout the years.
To get the ball rolling. I started during 6th edition WHFB, so my experience is mainly constricted by this starting point. I'm more of a painter and converter than a player, and mainly have experience with WHFB's game.
Positives
(+) They have produced available miniatures and games of mainly high quality throughout the years.
(+) Quality of background and art of army books and (perhaps to a lesser degree) codices have increased. The Lotr supplements were thin but still contained some lovely stuff.
(+) GW maintained Specialist Games through many years, despite seemingly poor results from many of the branches. Specialist Games produced very good background in particular, and several good games.
(+) Their hobby magazine once truly was worth its money and had lots of content. It also contain "Dwarf" in the title.
(+) Despite retreating from the smaller games/miniatures ranges market, GW have not entirely abandoned it, as Space Hulk and Dreadfleet stands as evidence for.
(+) Despite retreating from producing characterful metal miniatures, GW did release several characterful Empire citizens, pirate models and even a set of Lotr casaulties. They also kept much old stuff, like the '80s Dwarf adventurers, drunken Dwarfs, elementals, Lotr and Regiments of Renown, available for years despite poor performance. Still do, in some cases.
(+) GW once had an excellent bitz service. It was a pleasure to have made extensive use of it once, especially for kitbashing metal characters and acquiring Mordheim Dwarf backpacks separately.
(+) The relative realism and quality of most metal miniatures from about 6th edition WHFB (most notably High Elves and Longbeards of that era).
(+) The overall improved looks of most armies through WHFB 6th-8th editions.
(+) The fun game of WHFB 8th ed. Best yet in my limited experience.
(+) Hordes in WHFB!
(+) Excellent background for the Imperium in particular in 40k.
(+) GW's Lotr miniatures range, mainly sculpted by the Perry twins. Gorgeous models, almost the whole lot of them. GW's own additions and interpretations have also been well-chosen.
(+) GW's own Lotr Dwarf range deserves an honourable mention in particular. Check it out and discover why. It's one of the best takes on Dwarves ever attempted.
(+) Many good plastic kits. Plastic was more kitbash-friendly in 6th edition WHFB, though it has better looks nowadays.
(+) The disappearance of hamfists from the plastic range in particular.
(+) Plastic terrain.
(+) Ogre Kingdoms. It's good to see the creative spark alive and kicking with that new addition which added so much to WHFB. The 8th edition army book also brought the Warhammer world to the Ogres, in the shape of cat-thwarted Skaven tunneling, Dwarf mining expeditions and wars with Black Orcs.
(+) Forge World.
(+) FW's and BL's current attention to the Horus Heresy.
(+) FW's revival of Chaos Dwarfs.
(+) BL's ombibuses, though not always any longer available from Black Library itself. Eisenhorn and the background book Xenology can't be found around there.
(+) Eisenhorn, Xenology and Matthew Farrer's novels.
(+) The background and special miniatures produced for Eye of Terror and Storm of Chaos (though the campaign results are irrelevant to appreciate them).
(+) The Hellcannon. It deserves a mention.
(+) Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos.
(+) Empire powder monkey in Handgunner box and shot Orc in Archer kit. More of those extras!
(+) GW's new take on Wood Elves. The old have their charm, but the new are evidently superior.
(+) Battle for Skull Pass, the mainly abandoned attempt to turn elite units into cheap, good-looking plastics and similar takes on price lowering.
(+) The bringing-back of old favourites such as the Verminlord, Doomwheel and Jokaero, which were cut away during 6th edition WHFB/2nd-3rd edition 40k or before that. Storm of Magic is an especially good example of pleasing all hobbyists in this way by not excluding old favourites.
(+) The faithfulness to the better of old styles with plastic Greatswords, Stormvermin and others.
(+) Some minor attempts at making people focus on the common fun of the game instead of cheese spam and powerplay. It needn't be balanced to be fun.
(+) Foundation paints and the new paint range. Making some darker foundation paints (Khorne red in particular, matching Scab Red of old) gives bonus points.
(+) A wealth of wacky old miniatures mainly from before my time. Still gives a laugh to see some of them resurface, like the toilet Dwarf.
Negatives
(-) Butchered quality of White Dwarf magazine.
(-) Rampant price increases, particularly during the last years. It even thwarted my plans to amass a the Hobbit Dwarf and Goblin collection to go along with my Lotr one. It have also channeled my hobby funds away to other companies. Recruitment around here has more or less died.
(-) Tedious rules. Many historical wargames and Mantic's Kings of War have more streamlines rules systems for mass combat games, which do not involve picking away all your carefully converted and painted miniatures from the ranks at risk of chipping them every game.
(-) Butchered bits service.
(-) No sales or mystery box deals.
(-) No frantic, enthusiastic output of new metal miniatures which wouldn't necessarily have a direct use in the two big tabletop games.
(-) The decline in smaller side-games which GW was so good at once upon a time. Apart from the WHFB-40k side games, Dark Future deserves a mention.
(-) Finecast hypocrisy. The material still has some advantages for conversions.
(-) Lack of that creative spark and enthusiasm outside of army books/codices. With WD pouring out captivating articles and smaller games systems/miniature ranges active once upon a time it was easy to get swept along with GW's flood. No longer so. Once, it was easy to think that GW wanted you as a customer and tried to spoil you. No longer so.
(-) The great purge at the moment which eliminated the Deathroller amongst others. An indicator of the imaginary poverty of the ranges this results in can be seen in that there soon won't be any Halfling miniatures left to buy from GW (except for the ones bagged in the Giant's pouch). There always have been Halflings before.
(-) Very long release gaps for some armies.
(-) Codex creep and magic item crêpe, especially during 7th edition WHFB/5th edition 40k.
(-) The demise of Squats. You got to have Dwarfs!
(-) The lack of plastic Sisters of Battle. Should be there.
(-) The lack of plastic greatcoat Imperial Guard. Really should be there.
(-) The lack of a Brewmaster and Drunken Dwarfs unit in WHFB, alcohol promotion to underages be damned.
(-) Ugly 7th edition Empire State Troopers, also bland plastic Dwarfs.
(-) World of Warcraft symptoms with ridiculously large helmet wings, weapons and even shoulder pads for High Elves. Also single monowheel chariot for Dark Elves.
(-) Gigantism Empire Gryphon.
(-) Obese Stegadon and Ancylosaurus for Lizardmen, otherwise all is fine at that front.
(-) Making Lotr miniatures smaller than 28mm. A capital crime.
(-) The disappearance of do it yourself hobby articles, particularly for terrain.
(-) FW's long-standing unwillingness to give Warhammer Fantasy its due. Bring on weapon options and more units for your own army, Chaos Dwarfs, at the very least.
(-) BL's mass-produced standard for many of its books.
(-) The company's seeming inability to understand its core issues.
Now share your own experience with Games Workshop throughout the years.
some good ones in there weismonsters.
