Mezmaron wrote:

I'm just going to base all the regular Space Marines and Orks (Boyz/Nobs) on 32mm, they look better that way. The others will be based on what they came with. I've only played in one tournament in the 20+ years of playing 40K (off and on), so I'm not going to worry about potential tournament illegality.

Question about Vedros Starter Set - I seems to have a collection of remaining Ork arms, even after assembling all of the models. I'm guessing that is because the sprues were from the old starter set which came with a few additional sprues originally?

Thanks! Mez

For all their missteps as the lumbering, stumbling, boutique-priced behemoth of tabletop gaming, it’s worth commenting when Games Workshop does something right. Slowly, quietly, that’s been happening more often in the wake of Kevin Rountree taking over as CEO from Tom Kirby. There’s been a small but noticeable shift in pricing and release schedules for their miniatures over the past year, a welcome change from the prior decade’s tactic of limitless price increases and 120 dollar basic games.

The best example of this is out only recently, in the form of Battle for Vedros, Games Workshop’s new introductory Warhammer 40,000 experience. Out this past June, it’s different from anything the company’s done with its product line, at least in the modern era, and it’s a good thing for both Games Workshop and prospective players.

The gist is this: Games Workshop, through ludicrous prices and the slow decline of brick and mortar gaming stores, hasn’t had a way to get new and/or young players into the hobby for a long time. There’s no way a kid on allowance can go snatch up one of the starting armies or game sets. Battle for Vedros aims to change the calculus of how newbies get into the game by offering a stripped down version of the rules and cheaper entry cost.

The box contains a handful of Orks and Space Marines, bread and butter stuff to any old Warhammer 40,000 fan, and uses older, but not outdated, miniatures to both clear stock and keep the price low. The rules are, as stated, stripped down; they’re meant for preteens just getting into games of this type. Since Games Workshop games all use the same basic mechanics, it’s a simple thing to scale up and the easing into the water is a good approach. All told, the set runs 50 bucks and contains a pretty impressive collection of miniatures for the cost, all of them snapping together so kids don’t have to worry about glue.

Most importantly—and very against type, given Games Workshop’s ambivalence toward independent retailers—the set is specifically meant for non-gaming stores. It’s meant to be sold at places like model train stores, general hobby outlets, and the odd book store. This is vitally important to Games Workshop’s future success: the old rules are out, boardgames dominate shelf space at gaming stores, and the mere whisper of Games Workshop’s name is now synonymous with hyper-inflated prices for the old wargaming hands. Battle for Vedros also has a slick website meant for the novice, a nice change from Games Workshop’s labyrinthine main site.

It would be easy to be cynical about this, given Games Workshop’s past history and their naked ruthlessness. But this seems like a legitimately good thing, offering an easy vector for kids to get into things. It’s hard to find anything bad about it at all; it can even be used to plug holes in a more scaled up, traditional Space Marine or Ork army.

But more than just the specifics around this, it’s part of a piece with the aforementioned shift in policy. It’s slow going and subtle, but it might just be that Games Workshop is pulling its head out of the mire. To survive, the company was going to have to do two things: tap into videogames as a way of getting people into its wargames, and rein in its prices by going cheaper and more accessible. Against all expectations from the last decade and a half, Games Workshop is doing precisely those two things, and the future suddenly looks brighter.

 gigasnail wrote:
Not in SoCal, but close: they have them at the Fresno Hobbytown.

 highlord tamburlaine wrote:
Until this thread popped back up, I forgot this was actually a thing- which says something about how successful this venture has actually been, especially in Southern California, like Bob mentioned.

Considering just how many hobby shops (not just ones that specifically sell games or cater to gamers) we have down here, you'd think these things would be starting to crop up more often.

Of course in reality I just want them to show up at the big corporate chain stores where I can abuse the coupon systems, but regardless- we should see these down in SoCal by now!

 TheWaspinator wrote:
If this was supposed to be 40K's big break into more mainstream stores, it doesn't seem to really be working. The only place I've seen it locally is a game store that already had 40K stuff.

 adamsouza wrote:
There are 2 shops with it locally, and they both already carry 40K.

Hoping to attract new modelers to the hobby, Games Workshop will launch a new line of introductory-level kits next month: Warhammer 40,000 Build + Paint.
Each kit is packaged in a brightly-colored box and includes two or more plastic model kits from Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 line, plus all of the paint, glue, and decals needed to assemble and paint them.  Each kit also comes with a paintbrush and an assembly guide.  The largest kits in the series will also include a display mat to showcase the models once they are completed.  The kits are designed to be easy to assemble and paint, and are suitable for ages 8 and up.

The first series of six kits includes three Space Marine kits and three Ork kits:

Space Marine Heavy Assault comes with 5 Terminator marines, 1 Dreadnought, scenery pieces, display mat, and 6 paint colors.  MSRP is $39.99.

Space Marine Speeder Strike features 1 Land Speeder vehicle, scenery pieces, and 4 paint colors.  MSRP is $24.99.

Space Marine Bike Attack includes 1 space marine on bike, 1 Terminator hero, and 3 paint colors. $14.99.

Space Ork Raiders has 1 Deffkopta on a flying stand, 1 Ork Warboss, 7 Orks, a set of barricades, display mat, and 6 paint colors.  MSRP is $39.99.

Space Ork Trukkboys includes 1 Wartrukk with 4 Ork Boyz and 4 paint colors.  MSRP is $24.99.

Space Ork Blastabike comes with 1 ork on a half-track Warbike, 1 Ork Nob, and 3 paint colors.  MSRP is $14.99.

The Build + Paint line will be offered to retailers through trade distribution channels instead of GW’s in-house sales team.  The new kits fit the theme and style of the introductory Battle for Vedros boxed game, released into the trade earlier this year (see “Games Workshop Offers ‘Battle for Vedros’”).

 Matt.Kingsley wrote:
It's because they're reusing the old Assault on Black Reach sprues/molds, and the marines from that have sculpted Ultramarine pads.

 casvalremdeikun wrote:

 Matt.Kingsley wrote:
It's because they're reusing the old Assault on Black Reach sprues/molds, and the marines from that have sculpted Ultramarine pads.

No they don't. Black Reach did not have any molded badges besides the Tactical Squad arrow. It is why nearly every marine player...ever has at least one BR Marine in their army. I think the boxed set before BR had UM stuff on it though. But the Vedros stuff so far has been 100% badge-free.

If I see the Terminator one, I will probably pick it up. I need a MM Dreadnought and some more Terminators. Win-win.

Erren wrote:
There's no Ultramarine sculpted iconography on them (just codex-standard tactical shoulder marking). But aside from being a nice contrast with the Ork green (which is probably reason enough), Ultramarine blue is a pretty forgiving color to paint, which is important for a set aimed at 8-year-olds. I guess they could have gone for Crimson Fists too, but that would mean including a red paint and they're trying to include all you need in the set, I think.

 casvalremdeikun wrote:

 Matt.Kingsley wrote:
It's because they're reusing the old Assault on Black Reach sprues/molds, and the marines from that have sculpted Ultramarine pads.

No they don't. Black Reach did not have any molded badges besides the Tactical Squad arrow. It is why nearly every marine player...ever has at least one BR Marine in their army. I think the boxed set before BR had UM stuff on it though. But the Vedros stuff so far has been 100% badge-free.

If I see the Terminator one, I will probably pick it up. I need a MM Dreadnought and some more Terminators. Win-win.

 Rezyn wrote:
got this for my son for Christmas. The Marine+Orks starter. He loves 40k and always wants to play with me. Hopefully he likes painting them too.

It was actually quite hard to find. Luckily Amazon had it for the cheapz. Only 1 hobby store in town carried it.