Article: Games Workshop woes

[StarFyre]

well...

I agree on some pts but not all.


1. Yes...this really bites...like getting rid of that sticker program they had.

2. I don\'t think they drive away experienced gamers since here in Toronto... , mon = lotr , tues =fantasy nights, thurs = 40k, fri = any-thing if gamers available.

3. This I agree on…what;’s even worse is that many of their models just suck. Their dragons all have the same main body basically with a few changes…shouldn’t the price then be cheaper? I have a large lizardmen army but most of my models (85% to 90% ) of them I got on ebay for much cheaper. My demonhunter stuff was also ebay.

4. didn’t know this…

5. YES….there is so much they could make for all the armies, yet probably due to fear that they won’t sell since limited people would use certain models, they don’t make them. I guess there aren’t enough collector’s painters around to make up that loss. Now that Lus-tria campaign is over, there is nothing for my Liz probably for 2 or 3 years L

Sanjay

 

[StarFyre]

uhm

Crocodile games not doing well?
Not enough players i assume?

don\'t know any places here that sell it..

Sanjay

 

[Infidel Castro]

That Iron Kingdoms stuff is very impressive. I can\'t see a way to buy from them though. A link to a seller anyone? I think I just got me some inspiration!

 

[Legacy Account]

GAMERS QUEST!

 

[Infidel Castro]

Thank you young man! Thank YOU!

 

[Pestie]

Hi,

New to the forum *nods to all.

Nice debate to jump into on first posting.

Well, look outside the hobby people - GW, essentailly it\'s still a UK based company, and the retail market in general is facing a big decline -it\'s affecting alot of high st retailers, from Dixons to Game, and all that lies within sucha broad range - people at this point do not have so much disposable income as say, back in the late 90\'s.

Rest assured GW is far from beaching, it will survive the current down tun - which ironically will have the effect of forcing the company onto a more economic streamline, and off we go again!

As for thier products, well, i been a GW fan for the last 15 years, the sculpting seems to get better and better - forgeworld is amazing all by itself.

As for thier 5 years plan? well - you can never please all the people all the time. unless you play marines



pestie

 

[Dedwrekka]

Originally posted by steelcult

Originally posted by Dedwrekka

3. Continuously drive prices through the roof. A 35-45% increase in your product in less than 5 years should be a clue that you\'re digging your own grave.

Games workshop is still cheaper than the majority of other miniature suppliers. It is also cheaper than fishing, model train building, and car restoration (other hobbies).

DW - I said it earlier and I\'ll say it again - I spent 43 dollars at Crocodile Games (Including shipping to freaking IRAQ), and got 8 Sebeki (Crocodile based Lizardmen) - 3 Kroxigor are $45 - without shipping - and in my opinion the sculpt is shyte.

Majority...majority being the key word here.
I was referring to GW\'s well priced boxed units, that tend to be fairly well made but are overlooked by the majority of painters because they are plastic instead of metal. Also, Kroxigors have never been a great looking model, and I also agree that GW\'s pay by points system is a little offbased.

 

[Yaki]

One thing thing thats always prevented me from shopping on GW\'s online store is the ridiculous shipping costs. No matter what I buy, shipping is $6.50. That goes for if i just buy a part. I do a lot of stuff with E-bay and I know for a fact that a plastic bit doesnt cost $6.50 to ship. Not to mention I live less than 100 miles from where they ship out of here in the US.

 

[AinuLainour]

Another factor in their poor economic situation could be copiers from other miniature compainies. For example, those new \'Skorne\' minis are painted in a rather familiar way, and their name just fortifies my belief that the Skorne minis are a huge ripoff off every Khorne mini made by GW!
Btw, Pestie, welcome to the forums!

 

[james sequeira]

i frown upon any one who compares pp to gw.
seriously any thing pp turn out is totally unique.
for instance skorne does not look bulky and cartoony like korne

a hordes large model is properly the same size as a demon prince but way cheap and much better sculpt

 

[AinuLainour]

Far from unique-lol
and bulky? Give me a break look at those ripoffs? Which is bulkier? PP\'s got nothing on GW minis.

 

[Trevor]

I agree that GW should have dropped LOTR after The Return of the King was released

eh? Why on earth drop LOTR? It will pretty much always have a customer base. I\'ve never played the game, but I buy the minis and I think they are some of the best GW do (although they are a right bitch to paint, sooo smaaallll). If they dropped LOTR there would be heaps of gamers/painters complaining. I agree it should probably take a back seat, but thats different.

Also those LOTR minis you never saw in the films, well its not all about the films, its the books as well. People want to se all the characters from the books, hence Tom Bombadil etc etc.

With further thought, the release everything in one hit is actually probably a good thing (as was pointed out no waiting 3 years for that mini you want for an army). And it also seems to work, after all I bought a necron army deal and a tyrannid one, thats a fair wadge of cash...

I think maybe what they are doing with the Tau is the way foward, but on a smaller scale. Release a core army, everything complete, then come back to it over the years adding single units and small army sections. This is obviously how they are doing the marines now with the basic sprues and armies, added to for the various chapters (see Black Templars).

When it comes down to it, for me, I think GW are finally getting it mostly right. Decent games, decent minis, comparatively cheap (see movies, video games, drinking, smoking etc etc). Now I just need to find time and motivation to paint and play more.

Oh yeah and who said shipping was expensive? I put in a 100 pound order and it cost me 4 pounds to ship to Australia, that in my book is pretty damn good.

 

[Ebonbuddha]

Who are you dealing with? Is there someone on the inside shipping to you?
I never got nothing that cheap. I ordered from the UK and the US stores.

Don\'t get me started on when they charged me $40 US to ship two novels and two White Dwarfs.

Of course that was back in 2001-2002. They probably want to try for $80.00 now.

Originally posted by Trevor
Oh yeah and who said shipping was expensive? I put in a 100 pound order and it cost me 4 pounds to ship to Australia, that in my book is pretty damn good.

 

[Sand Rat]

GW is still a fairly cheap ~hobby~, and still sells faily cheap miniatures that have been increasing in quality in my eyes. The reason they have been moving out of metal minis recently is because the average gamer and converter calls for plastic ones, while the average painter calls for metal ones, and guess who\'s bigger?

Ok, lets compare apples to apples, or Dwarfs to Dwarves
GW vs Reaper -

Dwarf Thunderers Regiment - 16 Pieces 3 different ways to assemble - $35.00

Warlord Dwaven Starter Set - 11 Figures, (10 dwarves 1 Familier) different weapons and shield choices -$39.00

Seems like you got a decent argument there - even barring the Plastic vs Metal one that could be brought up (and from what I understand, molds for plastic are more, not less expensive, so GW is prolly taking a loss to get the Dwarfs out in plastic)

But, lets see what happens when we compare individual metal figures, price for price -

GW - Dwarf Lords - 4 each, individually sold for (drum roll please) - $12.00 -

Reaper - Dwarf King - $4.49 - any Dwarven character piece - $4.49

So for the cost of one GW Dwarf lord character, I can get two Reaper ones - hell for just a little bit more (.99 to be precise) I can get 3 troops for my army to bolster it a bit. So far all I\'ve seen from GW is a mass unit at $35, or Specialty figures at $12 - Where do you think I\'ll be spending the majority of my money? Yup, when I get around to putting together a Dwarfen/ven army, I\'ll get some core units from GW, but the majority of my money will go to Reaper and other manufacturers.

Edit -
After I finished this and had my below discussion with the Rev, I found an even better comparison -

GW - Hammerers - $45 for 10 Metal Figures

Reaper - Dwarven Starter set $39 - 11 Metal figures (10 dwarves and a familer)

 

[Infidel Castro]

Problem is, Reaper are bloody awful at sculpting. At least the level across the board with GW is higher.

 

[Infidel Castro]

Or maybe it\'s the designs that are crap. You get my drift though

 

[Sand Rat]

Rev - we can agree to disagree on the level of sculpt and equality across the field - we\'ve both been painting long enough to know that every company out there has some shyte - and I really could scare some people with some of the stuff hidden in the dark corners of my collection

 

[Pestie]

Hmmm.

I dont think you can compare like for like mini\'s costs without looking at the whle structure. Do Reaper have an entire network shop (national and international - including social gaming clubs) and a bespoke, dedicated magazine, plus computer game infrastructure, product support, website, etc etc?

If the answer is no, then perhaps the costings argument falls a little thin.

On top of this, there is a \'brand\' name involved - which may mean less in terms of the physical costing, but certainly does add more weight/ value to any potential attempt to sell on fig\'s afterwards.

 

[Infidel Castro]

Originally posted by steelcult
Rev - we can agree to disagree on the level of sculpt and equality across the field - we\'ve both been painting long enough to know that every company out there has some shyte - and I really could scare some people with some of the stuff hidden in the dark corners of my collection

Absolutely my good man. My feeling with Reaper though is that they\'re static and outmoded. Still, agree to disagree lol

 

[Sand Rat]

You Rev, fi we were in agreement, it might me a sign of the apococlypse!lol