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After what seems like a crazy few years of releases, we are at a unique moment of GW history.

All the major codicies except for sisters have been re-released in hardback, 7th edition is less than a year old, WHFB is coming to an end as we know it, and it seems that for the first time we will be seeing a full AdMech release very soon. This leads me to consider what is left for GW to update/release and what the future holds. Without any obvious armies in need of an updated codex/units this is as good a time for wish-listing as any.

My question to you is: What kind of release would it take for you to make a major purchase of brand new GW releases?

I see a few obvious items that could generate a lot of excitement and profit for GW:

1) AdMech: It's almost officially confirmed at this point and I can't help feeling like a whole lot of people will be excited about this army! If they produce a big enough model range with a nice aesthetic, this could be one of their biggest hits so far.

2) Plastic Sisters: That most desired and sought after dream of many a wargamer, it seems to me a no-brainer that this release would make GW a whole lot of money. With a few troop boxes and a few characters these are high on my list of wants.

3) A new plastic Imperial Guard Force: (Vostroyans, Tallarn, or something new) When you consider that the only kits needed to build IG infantry are a troops box, a command squad box, and a heavy weapons box it seems very easy for GW to launch a whole new force. Add a supplement and fluff, maybe a special vehicle and with 4 boxes of new product yo will be selling Leman Russes, Chimeras, Vendettas, Sentinels and all the rest of the range as well. If there were ever a Vostroyan troop box I would not be able to hold myslef back from building a full plastic army if them.



Well that's my preference anyways, what are your most desired releases?

New resculpts and plastics of models that have existed for over 15 years a la bloodthirster

Eldar aspect warriors in plastic. All there is now is fine(oh the irony) cast of the old figs and not shelling out a penny for that.

1500 points of a combined-arms detachment legal army for under 300 bucks.

Anything more costly and I'll just stick to Dawn of War and playing the TT online.

Like I'm doing now.

New CSM stuff: new cult marines, new plastic clam packs, new codex and legion books, multi-part cultist box, etc etc etc

DA marines box like the new blood angels one. New DA codex more in line with the other 7th edition codecies.

New crisis suits. I'm on the verge of starting a tau army but I can't get over how these look. If they were to come out with better looking suits I'd start the army.

I think for people in general, seeing more non-Imperial terrain and creating xenos-specific buildings would be great. It also helps diversify the very bland Realm of Battleboard that is often plastered with sub-par Citadel scenery.

Another good one would be creating a proper alternative to the fugly Cadian and Catachan models with an IG greatcoat kit that can make Armaggedon Steel Legion with all the options that come to a guard squad (i.e. grenade launcher, flamer, sniper, plasma gun, etc.) so we don't have to scrounge other kits to just get special weapons.

Also a Black Templar supplement, if guys like Imperial Fists and Iron Hands get them then Black Templars out of anyone in the SM codex deserve it. I want my Holy Orbs of Antioch back dammit!

With regards to Orks, probably a Bad Moonz or Deff Skullz supplement, with the Bad Moonz release giving rules and a model (at long last) for Nazdreg. while the Deff Skullz release gives us a looted wagon sprue where we can use the bitz to add onto any existing vehicle to make it Orkified and count as looted. Also obviously update the actual Looted wagons rules to be useful in the supplement and provide its different variants.

For me, Imperial Knights are like that. Once I saw the model I knew I had to have any army of them.

Possibly for plastic Valhallans? Rebooted Necromunda with plastic figs?

Honestly, I have five full armies already, and don't plan to get into any others any time soon.

So I guess lower the price significantly, lol.

Or launch a new game.

New DA codex that actually stands up in terms of competitiveness and some new Daemon units.

A chaos space marines codex that is competitive.

Honestly I think it would come down to more than simple individual releases, though that would certainly be a solid start.

If they really wanna see me drop a lot of cash on them, I wanna see a major restructuring of their business model. Don't get me wrong, I collect and paint and play, and frankly I love the universe they've created. What they lack however is what keeps me from ever going "all in."

1. I'd need them to change the view of the company from that of a "collectors" company, over to that of a true "games" company.

2. I'd need to see a reinvestment of purpose towards communications and sales between themselves and third party retailers.

3. I'd need to see prices drop across the board. People say business can't be run this way. I can easily point out companies who have, such as Sony when they dropped the PS3 prices below that of their actual production costs. It took some years, but with a really intelligent business model, they not only succeeded in covering their costs, they walked away years later with hard profit and a fanbase firmly in love with them. While I am personally not the man to come up with or set in motion how this would be done, I have complete faith that "someone" could. There are plenty of people smarter than me.

4. I'd need to see the company take a firm look at the communities that love the games, take constructive feedback, and redevelop the ruleset to something that is somewhat more balanced, and somewhat more streamlined.

5. I'd need to see an honest set of timelines set up for the goals of bringing rules sets, armies and new fluff to the table. Right now, the company as a whole seems to be spread extremely thin in this regard. A rebalance of rules and armies would allow the company to focus more on special events and timeline in game moving forward, so getting the rebalance and armies on a set schedule would be extremely important.

6. I'd need to see a streamline of overall armies. Right now one of the major problems is also that there's so much out there for them to work on, that mainstream units don't get focused on at all for years at a time. What's been happening with the Sisters for instance, could easily happen to "any" army if it simply wasn't selling well enough. It's been shoved aside for years. There is no excuse for this. If certain groups were all placed in one codex instead of releasing continual small codex's for each separate small fluffy group, not only would customers not feel as "nickeled and dimed" it would also spread the rules for various small units around more to people who aren't likely to buy it as a separate item. Then more people might be open to picking up models they otherwise wouldn't have.

7. The rules themselves need to be available in cheaper ways. Softback copy is one way to go, but also, many other games groups simply make the rules sets free. Making players pay separate costs for rules to play with inhibits buying models. You want me to pay extra, make me buy "fluff" extra. If rules aren't available, I can't even begin to design the army I want to play with and hence, I'm certainly not buying models for it.

8. Reverse policy on the sales of specific models using your website only. I'm more than happy to support companies I like. Many customers are. Models have been removed from shelves locally to sell only on the website, and while this certainly prevents the shipping costs of keeping shelves fully stocked the world over, it also inhibits the sales you would make with customers who are impulse buyers. Also, while keeping shelves fully stocked is expensive when you have so many stores to supply, were the armies more streamlined, the products would take up less of an overall physical footprint.

I don't actually expect GW to do any of these things to be perfectly honest. But their business model now has been in a perpetual downward spiral for years. More an more customers go elsewhere as they get fed up, and fewer new customers enter the market. When the new model was announced of more collectible sets coming out in future, I actually feel this was a good way to get people buying new models, but at the speed GW does business, I'm not expecting you'll see true results quickly. I continue to buy their models, their games, their fluff, and their peripherals. This is partially because I am a sucker, and i continue to love their universe. In that regard though, I buy only a little bit every now and again.

If they truly wanted me to drop wads of cash on them though... these are the things I would want to see. It won't happen though. I don't actually mean for this to come across as nothing but "beef," but again my point is really that I want the company to change some even if not in every way. Then my wallet would open real fast.

For me its-
Plastic Valhallans
Astra Militarum Regiments supplements (Catachan, Steel Legion, Valhallan, etc.)
Adeptus Mechanicus stuff (as was mentioned)

A plastic harlequin release as a full army.

Whoops that just already happened.

I know some 2nd edition Harlequin players are happy they can use all their old models.

Cheaper models and some proof that they're not just money sucking everybody who wants to buy from them.

Seriously, I've been wanting to start Dark Eldar since January and haven't solely because I can't afford to drop several hundred dollars for the 1500 point list I want. Forget buying grots or court models, I'd rather make them from scratch.

 Phyrekzhogos wrote:
I don't actually expect GW to do any of these things to be perfectly honest. But their business model now has been in a perpetual downward spiral for years. More an more customers go elsewhere as they get fed up, and fewer new customers enter the market.

Continually bad decision making is usually the fault of entrenched managment. On the positive side though, the worse things become, the more likely they will eventually be unable to stand behind poor decision making.

Great post BTW. GW's community engagement is very poor as well, I think this is another failure on their part. They could learn a lot from a company like Blizzard or Riot Games about trying to keep their fans invested in the product -- online games are far more fickle and difficult to keep around than tabletop gamers.

 Phyrekzhogos wrote:


3. I'd need to see prices drop across the board. People say business can't be run this way. I can easily point out companies who have, such as Sony when they dropped the PS3 prices below that of their actual production costs. It took some years, but with a really intelligent business model, they not only succeeded in covering their costs, they walked away years later with hard profit and a fanbase firmly in love with them. While I am personally not the man to come up with or set in motion how this would be done, I have complete faith that "someone" could. There are plenty of people smarter than me.

All gaming consoles are typically sold as a loss leader. it's common, the thing is that they did this and made their money on the games. so the question is... what exactly would you sell cheap and where would you expect them to make the money back from? especially as you mention making the rules for free elsewhere.

BrianDavion wrote:

All gaming consoles are typically sold as a loss leader. it's common, the thing is that they did this and made their money on the games. so the question is... what exactly would you sell cheap and where would you expect them to make the money back from? especially as you mention making the rules for free elsewhere.

Core troops choices and DTs.

You can make it back on the HQs and flashy support units people want once they become more invested in the game,

Ebay crashing and going out of business. Even then...

Lower the MSRP of all their models by 30%. That way I actually feel like I'm getting some value for my hard earned money.

Plastic Warhound Titan.

Not that it would make sense or be practical, but i'd have to buy two irrespective of cost.

I know it's not technically GW, but FW are doing this for me with the 'Ordinatus' and Imperial Knights.

BrianDavion wrote:


All gaming consoles are typically sold as a loss leader. it's common, the thing is that they did this and made their money on the games. so the question is... what exactly would you sell cheap and where would you expect them to make the money back from? especially as you mention making the rules for free elsewhere.

While I realize the two mediums are very different, I mention it more to illustrate that other companies find ways to manage their products in imaginative ways. I mention making rules free because it directly leads to my purchasing decisions regarding models. I'm collecting models right now for instance, some DA in fact. Given that I don't have the codex yet, I'm not about to simply go buy expensive units without knowing what they all do yet. I can make some few assumptions based on previous experience, but what if I was a new player? What if I'm a player who doesn't look things up on the internet? With access to the rules prior to purchase, then I can see which units I like best, or how I want to build my army. Now I'm getting excited to buy. Next I'm getting invested. Next I'm spending money. I certainly cannot vouch for others, but when I am invested in something, I also like having extras. At that point I'm buying extras in the form of fluff as well. If I was new, knew nothing of the rules, but see those large price tags, those are barriers to entry, and may make me turn away. I don't really think anyone wants that honestly. More people interested in entering into the hobby is important. The fewer barriers to entry there are, the more welcoming the hobby seems as well.

I also mention I am not the guy who is genius enough to come up with their marketing strategy however. In fact I very much doubt anyone without insider knowledge of their company could begin to be. That does not change my belief however that there must be someone out there who actually could come up with a working formula for them. I think discourse and the spread of ideas is a good start at least, but like I said, there are other more qualified people who could probably come up with better ideas than I ever could. And even then, they'd have to be managed into a plan that upper management in GW could be convinced would work. That's probably a hard sell.

In any event, I'd love seeing some change. I'll keep buying their products too. I want them to succeed. My wallet just won't magically spring open.

 Januine wrote:
Eldar aspect warriors in plastic. All there is now is fine(oh the irony) cast of the old figs and not shelling out a penny for that.

This, especially the warp spiders.

 Grey Templar wrote:
For me, Imperial Knights are like that. Once I saw the model I knew I had to have any army of them.

Same here. And then after I had an army of them, Forge World released theirs...

A customizable Inquisitor kit like the Space Marine commander box.

To be honest. Nothing. At best GW can get me to buy new rules and start playing again if they improve the game. But nothing is going to get me to dump a lot of money on models because I already have armies and am not motivated to start another 40k army when there's other games I could collect instead.

At least in the context of 40k.

They could get me to dump money on them if they released Epic, GorkaMorka, Warmaster and Aeronautica Imperialis again.

Yeah, getting me to spend money on GW stuff again would require a new edition with functional, complete rules, and a return to more reasonably priced, softcover codexes.

There are plenty of models that I would love to buy, but without the lure of the game to make buying those models worthwhile, my hobby budget currently goes to all those other companies that are also making models that I want to buy.

AdMech.
Deathwatch.
Genestealer Cults.

Three things that have been rumoured.

It's not fair...




That said, a new lease on life for Necromunda or Warhammer Quest would also do.

If they did something similar to Steam's "Steam Sales"...
Not a price complaint or anything, but I just feel I'd end up spending way more if they did that....

I'm sure a few of you know what I mean.


I'm not saying as often, just once or twice a year. A lot more people would probably start up into the hobby that way, too.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
A customizable Inquisitor kit like the Space Marine commander box.

Why have I never heard this perfect and amazing suggestion before?