Games Workshop unveils "The Hobbit" - thoughts and first impressions.

[Kalidane]

i have avoided the gw range since the finecast and price hike. i've mostly been very dissapointed by their work, and this recent set is no exception. i would be happy forking out that much money for some really good wow sculpts, but there just isn't enough of them in there to make it worth it.
there is one thing i have to be thankful for though. if they hadn't hiked the price, i wouldn't have discovered the other amazing companies out there

It's quite a curious thing. With their actions going further and further into left field I feel they've strengthened the industry as a whole by causing a lot of purchases to be directed to other companies. The fantastic uptake of numerous kickstarter projects seems to provide some hard data on that. Hobby spend is increasingly going to non-GW companies and game play is increasingly of non-GW games.

Whatever dramas that might occur with GW in the future, we have access to more fantastic minis than ever before and more quality paint ranges too. Perhaps we shall one day refer to this as the Silver Age of minis.

 

[meaty_nosebleeds]

Whatever dramas that might occur with GW in the future, we have access to more fantastic minis than ever before and more quality paint ranges too. Perhaps we shall one day refer to this as the Silver Age of minis.

can't agree with you more there mate. there really are some beautiful minis coming through now getting the attention they deserve thanks to the douche bagginess of gw

 

[Yuggoth]

As much as I hate GW nowadays, I think the industrie might run into longterm problems if no one else than GW is willing to invest as much in Brick and Mortar Stores, running intro games, and providing gaming space. Us older gamers / painters don`t need that, we get ouer fix on the internet and at home, but without fresh blood the whole hobby might be in danger

That said, the Hobbit release is piss poor on so many levels. The Goblin town is a joke. I can do better with glue and cocktail sticks alone!
Ceterum censeo GW esse delendam :-D

 

[Dragonsreach]

As much as I hate GW nowadays, I think the industrie might run into longterm problems if no one else than GW is willing to invest as much in Brick and Mortar Stores, running intro games, and providing gaming space.

And yet GW is struggling with some stores and making them single staff and only open X days per week.
That, to me, is an indication that they've overstretched the Bricks and Mortar.

 

[Yuggoth]

And yet GW is struggling with some stores and making them single staff and only open X days per week.
That, to me, is an indication that they've overstretched the Bricks and Mortar.

yes, they might. But still, it is a much needed gateway for new hobbists. if GW would collapse, who would be able and willing to fill that role? PP? Reaper? Does not seem that likely. Deviously GW have worsend this situation by strangling many LGS out of competition.

 

[uberdark]

yes, they might. But still, it is a much needed gateway for new hobbists. if GW would collapse, who would be able and willing to fill that role? PP? Reaper? Does not seem that likely. Deviously GW have worsend this situation by strangling many LGS out of competition.

As a game store owner, I feel I have a few comments to go with this. Unless you are in a very large community/city or college town as a game store you have a VERY hard time keeping in business. To be quite frank our store does NOT make enough money in a month to stay in business. In fact, 1/3 of our profit comes from the store. That my friends is a sad fact of business nowadays. Especially in a niche environment like gaming. Gamers are fickly people and even shrewder buyers. If you can get a Magic card for .10 cents cheaper then you will buy it somewhere else. Our store makes a good $3k in online sales and Ebay every month. Put together the rest of our profit and we are able to keep in our current location. Our store front is just that, a front. Its where we store our cards basically. We have a decent amount of players and people, but not enough that spend money.

too many times I have heard, "Oh dude, why would I pay full price for GW at your store when I can get it online for 20-30% off? " That is the mindset, and yes boys and girls my answer always is, "So you can have a place to play." Unless you are in a big city or college town a brick and mortar store is incredibly hard to keep going. So do what we did, fuse it with modern times and move on people.

Feel free and ask me any other questions if you want to know more guys. As for GW stores, oh man, I had a friend who did the whole manager/only employee thing. It killed him and he only made $32k a year. Poor guy, he quit 6 months later. So yeah, those stores are NOT working.


edit: on another note, GW opening in Indianapolis had the opposite effect on our local gaming stores. It improved business and got younger kids into LOTR.....all the other stores saw LOTR sales go up by around 75% in a few months.

 

[freakinacage]

As much as I hate GW nowadays, I think the industrie might run into longterm problems if no one else than GW is willing to invest as much in Brick and Mortar Stores, running intro games, and providing gaming space. Us older gamers / painters don`t need that, we get ouer fix on the internet and at home, but without fresh blood the whole hobby might be in danger

Ahh but how did the older gamers get into it before GW? There has been modelling for many years before them and it will continue for many years after. Don't worry about bricks and mortar stores - people get intros through mates and gaming clubs

 

[RuneBrush]

I've waited to comment until I got my White Dwarf which I read during last week. On the whole, I'm "pro GW" but I'm not impressed with the Hobbit miniatures. Reading the magazine, it appears that only a very small development/design team was assigned to the project and personally I think it shows. I've always rated the Perry twins as miniature designers, but overall their miniatures don't translate into plastic very well. Completely agree on the standard of paint job too - they've been painted to "gaming level" rather than the higher level we're all used to. I'm actually wondering if this is intentional because the film hasn't been released yet but the game had to hit the December released schedule.

I'm a huge Tolkien fan, as many of us have, I've read & listened to The Hobbit numerous times but I'm not impressed with the way the goblins have been designed. The John Howe great goblin was always what I had in my head - not the peculiar monstrosity that has been designed. It's also confused me how he's constantly referred to as the Goblin King :s

View attachment 17456

As much as I'd love to get the Radgast mini, it's just completely out of my price range currently and the game doesn't enthuse me as much as collecting a Heresy army currently is. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the film isn't quite as disappointing as the game appears to be.

 

[montka]

Hands up if you're remortgaging your house, oops I mean buying a copy.

 

[montka]

Maybe the painting is of game quality so as not to scare off new customers who see GD winning standard painting on the box and then loses interest when they carnt achieve that standard on the their first try and get fed up?

Nice double think, have you ever considered being the press officer for a brutal dictator?

 

[10 ball]

"We need breathing room"
Earth, games workshop, 2012

 

[montka]

You're not Tesco's employee of the month are you?

 

[Jarrett]

When I saw the models in person I did buy the starter set and also the goblin town box. I'm pretty happy with them even though yes the price was high. True you could make the goblin scenery with Popsicle sticks but I don't have time and don't know if it would really look as nice . Overall I'm satisfied.

 

[Bloodhowl]

I'm pretty happy with them even though yes the price was high. True you could make the goblin scenery with Popsicle sticks but I don't have time and don't know if it would really look as nice . Overall I'm satisfied.

If you are happy with it, then good on you! At the end of the day, this is all that truly matters.

 

[Pygmalion]

I think the prices are perfectly reasonable -- for solid silver figures.

For pewter, not so much.

And it looks like GW is still pushing Finecast.

I grew up surrounded by science fiction people, first read the Hobbit before I started school. I am a lifetime Tolkien fan, but forgive me if I give this one a miss.

 

[Kalidane]

...

I grew up surrounded by science fiction people, first read the Hobbit before I started school. I am a lifetime Tolkien fan, but forgive me if I give this one a miss.

Great summation of the Zeitgeist.

I think this forum and thread doesn't suffer from the degree of self-selection bias than can be found elsewhere on the web (i.e. this is not a seething hate fuelled cauldron of bitterness). What we see here is illustrative of responses from within the existing community.

After making some uneducated guesses about the uptake of new people, I'm thinking this big launch is making Dreadfleet look stellar. Costs in this project are 1-2 orders of magnitude greater however.

Rant: how I wish it were 3 years ago when they made metal models at prices I would pay (from the UK of course). It seems I'll never understand why they don't want me to buy from them :mournful panda:

 

[uglybug]

I want to like the product because I so loved the book. So if anyone has it can you remark on the game play of the new box set? I never played the other GW LOTR stuff either.

 

[Pygmalion]

It's quite a curious thing. With their actions going further and further into left field I feel they've strengthened the industry as a whole by causing a lot of purchases to be directed to other companies. The fantastic uptake of numerous kickstarter projects seems to provide some hard data on that. Hobby spend is increasingly going to non-GW companies and game play is increasingly of non-GW games.

Whatever dramas that might occur with GW in the future, we have access to more fantastic minis than ever before and more quality paint ranges too. Perhaps we shall one day refer to this as the Silver Age of minis.

That's an interesting observation. Do you think the upsurge in minis Kickstarters is connected to GW policies?

I was wondering about the numbers. The biggest minis Kickstarter, the Reaper one, had 17,000 pledgers. How does that compare to GW sales numbers? Would that be a runaway success for a GW set, or a dismal failure, or somewhere between?

Apart from a few outliers, most of the minis Kickstarters I've seen only have a few hundred pledges. It's great to see small companies get a boost, but it doesn't seem like much of a threat to GW sales at the moment.

 

[noneedforaname]

Iirc dread fleet only sold about 3,500 copies which I'm pretty sure has to be less than the number of battle for alabasters sold.

 

[marjedi]

Dreadfleet tanked i think. I still spot copies of it at local bookstores for around half price. And they are gathering dust.