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Ok, So the CEO of GW accidentally falls down a flight of stairs and in his will and testament he gives you the company, thus making you CEO of it. what do you do?.
Inb4 Lower the prices
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/10/16 18:10:28
Commission a set of Inquistorial themed powered armor to walk around the offices in.
Have 3000 point armies from each faction delivered to my house for quality control.
Push for release Genestealer Cult Start Collecting box.
Push for release of Necromunda, but not just a lazy reprint of the existing rules, but an actual revised version that improves on it with what they learned from Mordheim.
End rumors of 8th Edition 40K being Sigmarized, and push the concept of living rulebook 40K where updated versions will be available in print every 2-3 years.
I would either let Fantasy come back and let it be a 3rd game or i'd let 8th be played even if fantasy is considered a dead game. I could forgive GW a little if they'd at least let us play 8th Fantasy in their stores still.
I'd probably get a huge group of the big names in tabletop fandom together and use them as my link to the fanbase without getting swarmed in piles of ranting nonsense.
Try to bring back old fantasy as a brother to AoS with forge world making models for veterans while expanding the fluff so AoS factions can fit in either universe.
Try to integrate the 9th age into the official 9th age by hiring them for the rules. (Fans will be happy while taking out competition for the official game)
That's all of course if it doesn't kill the finances by trying to pull those things. Could very well be a case of becoming king just to see the "vast riches" you were expecting to run the kingdom with is a box of gold coins and a few barrels of spices.
I would make my mind up if Games Workshop was a games company like the company name suggests.Or a minatures company like the old C,E,O used as an excuse for releasing sales pamphlets instead of actual functioning rule sets and army lists.
I would then restructure the business to be effective at either one of the other.
EG write professional quality rules and army lists like the other games companies out there to drive sales , so I could phase out most of the B&M stores.
OR
Drop the rules completely and just focus on high volume sales of minatures through independant retailers. So I could phase out ALL of GW B&M Stores.
I personally do not think it is fair that all GW customers have to pay premium prices to keep a chain of B&M stores open , when only a fraction of the customers use them.
I would begin with a serious analysis of the retail chain to determine if it is fit for purpose(ie marketing and recruitment as the primary goal), and if not whether it needs to be changed or eliminated.
Regardless of the outcome of that, I would immediately try and rebuild the company's relationship with independent retailers, particularly outside the UK. I would support brick & mortar retailers with prize and event support, not anti-competitive trade terms designed to cripple online retail.
I would rationalise the company's international pricing structure so that it has at leasts some vague relationship to reality.
I would restructure and codify the two main IPs: Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40K. Age of Sigmar would be handed off to the Specialist Games division and its background material retconned where necessary to sever its links to WHF.
-Both systems would be given a broadly similar structure: round-base warband skirmish game, round-base mass skirmish game, small-scale mass-battle game, and naval combat game(in 40K terms; Kill Team, 40K circa 1500 points size games, Epic, BFG).
--The warband skirmish games would have a core set of rules shared with the mass skirmish systems, and would feature rules for the main factions from the game itself. A Kill Team replacement, essentially, but more detailed, along the lines of HH Strike Forces. This entire core pack would be free online. It would then be broadened over time with boxed expansion sets from Specialist Games - Necromunda/Mordheim featuring detailed campaign and progression rules plus setting-specific warband rules and models, Inquisitor/Witch Hunter featuring optional expanded profiles for more detailed charactertistic tests and rules for adding a GM to games for narrative play plus again setting-specific warband rules and models, and so forth.
--The mass skirmish systems would both receive new editions from the get-go, ones rewritten from the ground up to both modernise and streamline(note, not simplify) gameplay where appropriate, and to begin a new approach to balance: "core" faction army lists would all be written at the same time, during the rewrite of the core rules, all thoroughly playtested(internally and externally) together and then all included in the core rulebook. The idea being that that single book is all you need to play the whole game - no DLC, no minidexes, no formations from WD, just that book and your models - and also that it can serve as a baseline for tournament organisers who don't want to wade through all the subsequent supplementary material as they can just say "rulebook lists only" and be assured of a relatively level playing field. The goal here would be to end the need for editions as we presently get them entirely, the core rulebooks would only be reissued to include errata/corrections, not as periodic tweaking exercises, and armies would no longer be plagued with changing whims of design philosophy mid-edition making them either drastically over- or under-powered relative to existing books.
---These "core" lists would have basic subfaction rules but nothing extensive(for example, realistically, you could reduce all the Space Marine subfactions, even Space Wolves, to a page of rules each, including a single special unit and some tweaks to existing units and still enable players to use their whole existing armies albeit with less depth). Full subfaction lists with more detailed special units, wargear, characters etc would come with the new method of providing ongoing content detailed below.
---There would be additional rules supplements(distinct from the content expansion below) for both mass skirmish systems. 40K would receive a new version of Apocalypse with rules for superheavies, gargantuans, and optional further core gameplay streamlining for large point value games(eg, unit-based rather than model-based resolution), and a new Death from the Skies with all flier rules - in neither case would those units have been part of the core faction lists, the default game would be one without superheavies, gargantuans, and fliers. WHFSkirmish would receive two books as well - a new Warhammer Siege book, and a War of the Ring-style supplement(released alongside plastic round-base movement trays) designed to allow larger games to be played with blocks of ranked infantry in the style of WHFB.
--The above would also hold true for the small-scale mass battle and naval combat systems; a main book featuring all the core faction lists, thoroughly playtested, future expansion through the ongoing content system.
--All those systems would then be expanded using an Imperial Armour book-style model for content production, ie specific campaigns of note would be thoroughly detailed in big hefty books featuring scenarios, additional environmental or terrain rules, campaign rules etc, plus more detailed subfaction lists where appropriate. There would be a "digital gamer's edition" of each of those books including only the rules content for a significant price reduction. And when I say "all those systems", I don't mean individually - the campaign books would make use of all of the systems where appropriate - warband skirmish for commando raids/scouting parties, mass skirmish for most of the meat & potatoes missions, and the small scale mass battle and naval games for big openers or climactic final battles. Some campaigns would use certain systems more than others ofc, and some might be skipped by a book here or there if it didn't fit with the story.
I would also restructure the two main IPs from a background standpoint. First, I would put a hard cap on storyline "advancement". I would make it clear than in both cases the "modern day" eras are settings, not ongoing stories, because the story has already been told in order to reach that "modern day" - the setting exists in the moments before the final confrontation of the final chapter of the final novel in the series, the only ways to "advance" that story are to give it final and absolute resolution in satisfying accordance with the existing and foreshadowed themes and events, or to cheapen the whole thing with a ridiculous deus ex machina that lets you essentially retell the same stories you've already told with some minor tweaks here and there; neither option is condusive to encouraging players to engage with the story and spend small fortunes on models. The ongoing content provision system would therefore focus on providing "historical" or concurrent story content. Both IPs would be divided into broad historical "eras" each with its own main themes and variations from the "norm" of the "modern" setting. Very roughly: 40K would have Age of the Emperor(Unification, Crusade, Heresy and immediate aftermath), Age of Imperium(the Scouring, rebuilding and redefining the Imperium after the Emperor's ascension, religious/civil conflict, the whole Beast affair etc), Age of Apostasy(the Apostasy itself, the Nova Terra Interregnum, the Moirae Schism - if the Heresy was the fall of the Gods, this era is the fall of Mankind), and Age of Apocalypse("modern" 40K, the second attempt to rebuild the Imperium when it becomes a truely psychopathic dystopia, the arrival of the Necrons, Tyranids etc, and ever more powerful Black Crusades, all leading to "present day" 40K). WHF would get Time of Myths(a slightly broad category by necessity, covering the era where Elves and Dwarfs controlled the Old World and the only human society beyond cave- and mudhut-dwelling barbarians was Nehekara), Time of Legends(essentially foundation of the Empire by Sigmar through to a couple of centuries after the Black Plague), Time of Three Crowns(the whole Three Emperors era, from Magritta in the 1700's, through Mordheim, the Vampire Wars, and ending with Magnus the Pious and the Great War against Chaos), and then the Time of Ending(the "modern" WHF era covering the souring of the Empire's victory in the Great War and the manifold calamities that befall the world on the way to Karl Franz's reign in the "present").
I would structure the release schedule to try and avoid the long "system droughts" that presently plague GW. At least one week in four would have releases for a different system or era than that month's focus, and no system or era would remain the focus for more than two months running.
I could keep going(thinking about this sort of thing and politics is what I do instead of playing fruit ninja in the bathroom ), but I don't want to get into full-on essay territory, hah.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2016/10/16 11:53:03
"Your society's broken, so who should we blame? Should we blame the rich, powerful people who caused it? No, lets blame the people with no power and no money and those immigrants who don't even have the vote. Yea, it must be their fething fault." - Iain M Banks
-----
"The language of modern British politics is meant to sound benign. But words do not mean what they seem to mean. 'Reform' actually means 'cut' or 'end'. 'Flexibility' really means 'exploit'. 'Prudence' really means 'don't invest'. And 'efficient'? That means whatever you want it to mean, usually 'cut'. All really mean 'keep wages low for the masses, taxes low for the rich, profits high for the corporations, and accept the decline in public services and amenities this will cause'." - Robin McAlpine from Common Weal
1) Publicly announce that we are going to work on a new, revamped version of 40k that's going to strive for balance and push all styles of play. Explain that this might result in some changes that limit or restrict fielding all the cool toys, but it's necessary for the longterm health of the game and we hope you understand. Do frequent, PP-style "designers notes" that talk about WHY we are doing things, not just "We are doing this, deal with it or GTFO".
This revamp would be things like a revised, HoR-like (probably get with those guys) Kill Team, a company/platoon level game, and then introducing things like LOTR style movement trays for the large Epic-scale games with their own set of abstracted rules with a common framework.
2) Not lower prices per se, but maybe double the size of most 5-man kits that are usually fielded as 10 (e.g. Chaos Raptors, Genestealer Hybrids) and keep the cost the same or very slightly higher (but cheaper than buying two boxes). Work on creating molds for special/heavy weapons and start including those in boxes that need it as well as sell them separately, so you no longer need to buy two boxes to get 2x of the same special weapon.
3) Talk to the people manufacturing the paint and push them all to the larger bottles like the shades/texture paints.
4) Continue engaging in social media, and put out quarterly FAQs including errata; this entails moving 40k to the same "free unit stats" model as AOS, so they can be updated as necessary. These updates would include clarifying rules, if something is underperforming doing erratas to fix it up to and including a full redesign of its rules.
5) Evaluate the GW store chains and in areas where they are, put them into larger areas with more staff and store space, and areas where they aren't bring back the Outriders (perhaps under a new name) to foster GW gaming communities. Not sure about just getting rid of all of them.
That's all I can think of right now.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/10/16 12:32:28
Grind up all the finecast stock we have, and then snort lines of it off the backs of supermodels forced to wear power armour. Rest of the board members could join in with the party, but the only music that would be allowed to play would be this.
Also introduce spider people to 40k cause we need more playable xenos and it would probably sell well.
Seriously. This 'word of mouth' advertising thing is nice, but this is the 21st century and there are a lot more - and a lot BETTER - ways of spreading the word...
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/10/16 22:57:24
I wasn't thinking of super bowl commercials or any other stupid expensive stuff. Ads in hobby magazines would probably be the best way to spread the word outside the gaming world.
Redo all the designs so its all in Chibi form
Redo all the fluff so it involves a plucky young kid and his servo skull side kick voiced by Kevin Spacey
Redo all the websites so its done in super elaborate hipster form with pretentious styling but a pain in the ass to navigate
No more tabletop gaming... all mobile apps because that gak is FIRE... am i rite?! All Free2Play Pay2Win with servers going down every minute and ads after every button press to tell you to buy more gemz
Redo EVERYTHING so the only way you can enjoy anything is from either a Microsoft Windows Phone or a Raspberry Pi computer ... which ever one is more pretentious at the time I take the throne... which will be made of hundreds and hundreds of brick'd Zunes.
To answer this question somewhat seriously.
1 gradually close every gw store except warhammer world. Maybe have one large warhammer world type venue in each region.
2 rebuild relationship with flgs, have a major presence on amazon.
3 hit the convention circuit hard, gencon, adepticon pax etc etc.
4 grand tournaments for every game system in UK, America and Europe.
5 adopt the preview process of forgeworld
6 start doing limited public playtests of 8th edition.
7 introduce continue collecting series to complement the start collecting ones.
8- introduce warhammer war of the beard as part of the specialist range.
9-more cross promotion with video games. Offer discount codes for the related starter set when a video game is purchased.
10- do not include points in army books. Do a seperate generals Compendium book for each system. Update annually with balance patches for all factions. Use the grand tournament data to help with this. ( make this book cheap and update digital vetsion for free).
I am sure there is more but this would be a good start.
-Chikout's point on Amazon is a good one... I'd run with that, negotiate Prime status, etc. I would additionally try to negotiate to where all orders are placed the same so that you can get Prime shipping via the GW website, or Amazon's.
-Webstore orders that are "deliver to shop" options, count as the shop's sales (instead of as it is now, where you have to physically order something in the shop, print and scan right there)
-Update and release a new BFG.
-"limited" playtesting wherein shops will be sent a single copy of the proposed releases, with managers being told to play a certain number of games with said Beta "thing" (they don't need to to this themselves, trusted players at their local can do this) with mandatory reporting for tweaks, editing, etc.
-Get forge world up to the same or better speed in shipping as GW, while maintaining their overall quality.
Less serious:
Force the recall of ALL rule books, novels, magazines, Codices, army books, etc. And have them edited properly: remove all 'u's from words like color, neighbor and the like.
2. Fire the current rules crew. Hire a whole new crew to redesign the ruleset from top to bottom, playtest and involve the player base (ala D&D 5E) and release final results after a year to two year overhaul. Keep print-on-demand versions of the old rules available for those who don't want to move on to the new rules, but would like to fill out their existing or additional armies. Make a minimal free version available on the web. Include stats (preferably on cards) with each boxed set.
3. Consider offering assembled, primed versions of the minis (like Dust).
3. Close the GW stores and loosen/drop the trade deals. Offer direct ordering from the Web site and design a line to be available in major book, box and toy stores (small, easy to track/order subselection of entire line - like Vedros, but where you can actually find it).
4. Push for an animated movie or web series of 40K stories.
5. Revisit old classic games and attempt to update/rerelease them, perhaps on a rotating schedule.
Gamgee on Tau Players wrote:we all kill cats and sell our own families to the devil and eat live puppies.
Kanluwen wrote: This is, emphatically, why I will continue suggesting nuking Guard and starting over again. It's a legacy army that needs to be rebooted with a new focal point.
Confirmation of why no-one should listen to Kanluwen when it comes to the IG - he doesn't want the IG, he want's Kan's New Model Army...
tneva82 wrote: You aren't even trying ty pretend for honest arqument. Open bad faith trolling.
- No reason to keep this here, unless people want to use it for something...
1000 Points.
