If GW were to start making miniatures not tied to any GW system

[veggiemanuk]

So, what if Games Workshop were to design, sculpt and manufacture miniatures that did not belong to any of the current systems such as WFB or WH40K?

If they produced a line similar to reapers Master Series or anything else for that matter, giving their designers and sculptors artistic freedom to produce whatever they saw fit (within reason of taste), would this be a good thing for them?

Would it allow them to tap into an as yet virgin market (when it comes to Games Workshop) which might even return a tidy proffit as no time or cost would have to be poured into the fluff side of things?

Would this distract them from their core systems to much?

With all that tallent straight jacketed into strict concepts, is Games Workshop denying the world from possible masterpeices regardless of what those creative tallents might do in the future under a different roof?

With their media potential and vast real estate, could Games Workshop bring more people than ever into the world of miniature painting? Or would this concept stop them from ever entertaining the idea for fear of taking away potential gamers from their core systems or even worse to them, introduce thire hardcore gamers to the outside world of non GW miniature painting?

What do you think?

 

[Shawn R. L.]

There is already so much great stuff out there that they would be playing catch-up. They could no doubt put out some good stuff.

 

[Undave]

They are actually starting to do this to a limited extent, although it\'s still tied to the games systems. Apparently some of the models in the new collectors range are not really intended for gaming use but are a way to allow the sculptors to explore the background away from the actual games. Two examples of this are the Witch King diorama and the Warrior Priest blessing the handgun. Still to come is the fat merchant so hopefully it will take off.

 

[demonherald]

There are a few pieces on the way that aren\'t been released as part of the general range athey wouldn\'t be commercially viable..By the time boxing and shipping worldwide are taken into account then it just wouldn\'t pay..

I would love it if they did some nice collectors figures..
They tried the Gotrek models not sure how they did ..They weren\'t the best but were different.. I would love to see some of the 54mm pieces that Martin Footit and mark bedford do fo GD open categoies released...

 

[QuietiManes]

I\'m sure they could do some great stuff like that but I don\'t know how viable it is. Aside from the profit margins I think they\'d put themselves into a bad position. They\'re so tied into their own hype about being the only miniature and hobby supply producer in the world, and of course, the \"fanboys\" and people who already shop at GW will be the first and majority of the customer base for the new models. This would lead to EVERY teenager in existence (who plays GW games) crying and complaining that they can\'t use that \"new non warhammer figure\" in their warhammer army in stores even though they bought it in the same store. Of course they could always say they can be used as long as they\'re appropriate to fit the army and type of figure it\'s supposed to be, but then that would most likely mean most of the sales will be to gamers which would lead to having to produce the following mini\'s to fit in with popular armies and appeal to gamers to maximize sales...yadda yadda...back to where we are now.

Their fluff is so expansive, I don\'t think they need to branch out to reduce costs or gain any artistic freedom. Just whatever you feel like sculpting, look up the fluff and rules for something that fits and make it work. I dunno, they seem too big to do this sort of thing. They can\'t take chances or produce things that wont sell like hotcakes anymore I don\'t think. I\'m not bad mouthing the company, I actually like it quite a bit. I think you pretty much get what you pay for.

Anyway, doesn\'t Citadel produce tonnes of historical and fantasy and naval and other random things? Or is that only in the distant past? Or is Citadel not part of the GW monster? I thought it was like ForgeWorld, it isn\'t GW but it is, type of thing.

 

[Legacy Account]

Citadel is Games Workshop.

They don\'t make historical figs, but GW make historical rules....

And their \'fluff\' isn\'t expansive in the slightest. Derivative load of cobblers that\'s keeping them hamstrung.

 

[Dragon Forge Design]

I would enjoy seeing them make more models based off the Warhammer and 40K universe, but not worry about them being game playable. The new direct services line may addres some of that but theres whole segments of the 40K universe that they have left untouched..

 

[Sand Rat]

Isn\'t that how they started out?


Doing stuff for Ral Partha, if I remember correctly.

 

[veggiemanuk]

What made me make this thread was the fact that whilst browsing the many diferent miniature manufacturers wesbites looking at all those great minis. It got me wondering \'What IF\' and \'If Only\' Games Workshop made something as free from constraints as these things.

It wasnt any one miniature in particular that made me feel like this but the whole plethora of great miniatures that companies like Reaper and others produce.

Ive seen all the models mentioned by unDave but these are still tied with their Core systems.

Now don\'t get me wrong, I love all that fluff that goes with their core systems and I have countless unpainted GW figures sitting around waiting for that rainy day that might never happen.

It\'s just that I feel there is something missing when I look through all the miniatures online that dont belong to any gaming system or popular fad of the moment (Films and such).

What I would love to see from them are just a few masterpeice miniatures that im sure they are capable of that just says \'Look, we can do this type of this and by ther way, were good at it too\'

 

[freakinacage]

meh tbh i haven\'t been impressed by a lot of gw stuff of late (Although they have started to come back from a slump in quality sculpts imo)

if you want good random sculpts, try black scorpion, heresy, spyglass/sjb studios and the best of the lot, hasslefree. there are plenty more but i am tired, so others will have to add to the list. ooh just remembered my lovely jmd demon. he\'s cool

 

[demonherald]

But if they did something completely different and completely not GW orientated then it wouldn\'t be GW.... Randomly poducing miniatures for no particular reason wouldn\'t work for them.. Their core customer base is gamers so to be profitable it has to be aimed at gamers..

Games workshop don\'t pretend to be the ONLY manufacturer of minis etc but no-one can argue that they are the biggest.

There aren\'t that many series out there that aren\'t tied to a game system really..There are some nice models and some great examples of extreme takes on the art but they become available purely because they aren\'t done on the same scale as GW

 

[freakinacage]

Originally posted by demonherald

Games workshop don\'t pretend to be the ONLY manufacturer of minis etc but no-one can argue that they are the biggest.

not only the biggest but the most widely available

 

[Infidel Castro]

Originally posted by Spacemunkie
Citadel is Games Workshop.

They don\'t make historical figs, but GW make historical rules....

And their \'fluff\' isn\'t expansive in the slightest. Derivative load of cobblers that\'s keeping them hamstrung.

Miserable Kiwi

 

[Shadzar]

i don\'t think GW could pull it off. their minis are too expensive. i mean who would want to pay $20 for a plastic mini that doesn\'t play a GW game? and they are trying to move completely away from metals. new people would be less likely to try as the costs would be prohibitive.

also GW wants people to buy things tied to WFB, 40k, and LotR so they can get people to buy the over-priced rules books, codexs, magazines for updated rules, etc.

 

[Avelorn]

Well.. femme fatale was a bit like that as it has no obvius ties to any gaming system but only to the visual world of John Blanche. I mean you can\'t really expect them to go outside the visual world of their gaming systems... and I don\'t think that would something to want either..

Then there is the limited edition variants menitoned like Gotrik and Felix 40mm stuff and the small dioramas they\'ve made earlier for BL books and now for direct sales.

 

[Friar]

This is one of the major reasons I\'m liking how Kraken editions is getting going, they have the alkemey side for their game system and the arte factory for whatever bit of whimsy their scuptors feel like, and so far the releases for arte factory are very interesting a napoleonic penguin, mutants, and a lioness bust.

As for GW I would doubt any such move from them they are too stuffy to go out on a limb and take a chance on something like a free form minature range with no connection to their games, and unless it atleast ties into their fluff it really wouldn\'t make sense for em to. Tho I am all for larger scale master series of some stuff and dioramas are a cool idea. But I think GW\'s streangth is their fluff and the amount of folk who not only know it but greatly enjoy the worlds they have made.

 

[Swordwind]

Well they did just release the Blessings of Sigmar and Fall of the Witch King dioramas. Maybe a clue they are slowly dragging themselves towards some more generic minis?

 

[demonherald]

Originally posted by Friar
This is one of the major reasons I\'m liking how Kraken editions is getting going, they have the alkemey side for their game system and the arte factory for whatever bit of whimsy their scuptors feel like, and so far the releases for arte factory are very interesting a napoleonic penguin, mutants, and a lioness bust.

As for GW I would doubt any such move from them they are too stuffy to go out on a limb and take a chance on something like a free form minature range with no connection to their games, and unless it atleast ties into their fluff it really wouldn\'t make sense for em to. Tho I am all for larger scale master series of some stuff and dioramas are a cool idea. But I think GW\'s streangth is their fluff and the amount of folk who not only know it but greatly enjoy the worlds they have made.

It\'s funny but that\'s what Forgeworld was gonna be.. The first pieces were Busts and larger scale minis.. They realised quite quickly how much more money and how much less time they invested making tank add ons and later 28mm gap fillers and variants...

true they piced themselves out little for the purely painter type showcase and larger pieces but also it sort of proved the fact to them that the painter and collector market simply isn\'t as big a money maker as the gaming market..

I order from forgeworld maybe 1 piece ..a gamer will order 5 or 6 ... I would never plan on buying 5 baneblades just to paint a gamer would......

 

[Friar]

I agree totally Demon they can get the gamer to buy shite loads, kinda think this was one of the points of apocolypse \"lets make a game where they have to buy 3 dozen tank kits\" since I would doubt that there are any regular games that get that massive. Gamers will drop a shite load of cash into an army and many seem to have multiple armies. Not just that the minis per piece are wretchedly over priced. There are alot of very nice 54mm and some larger historic minis that are the same price as some rather lame blisters from gw. But hell what ever floats folks boat lol I spose if ya get into the gaming side of things it\'s worth it but from a painter/collector side I think there are minis out there that are far more rewarding and a better value.

The only pieces from forgeworld I\'ve seriously thought about buying are the death korps of krieg I absolutly love those minis but I think it\'s more their inspirition from ww1 then anything else. If there was a line of ww1 an ww2 28mm done in the quality of the Death Korps I\'d be in heaven. Only reason I paint gw minis is I had a shite load from when I was a kid and the only place to buy minis locally is a gw store, tho outside of a couple box sets I don\'t shop there. I figure once I get settled down a bit I\'ll start ordering some of the sweeter minis out there. Till then the box of GW metal I got will be good practice

 

[Thunderhawker]

Originally posted by Friar
and many seem to have multiple armies.

Dude you have no idea. My storage shelf is sagging and my wife actually came in and counted boxes still in the shrink wrap (not counting blisters) and she gave up at 50...