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Well, today marks the death of all specialist games from GW, with every last trace of their existence wiped from the new website.

Which ones did you play, what was your favourite? Are you still going to get some games in even after the final nail in the coffin, or are you moving on to other games?

I've played pretty much all of them at some point or another (even dungeonbowl), and played BFG back when it was cardboard counters in an issue of white dwarf (how cool was that, entire game in the magazine).

Then Mordheim caught my interest with the beta rules in White Dwarf, and the boxed game was just awesome when it was released. Easily my favourite out of all the specialist games, the atmosphere was great, rules were always fun and the campaign system worked well. Great game.

Currently I've moved on to Mantic's Deadzone but am really looking forward to them doing their major relaunch of Dwarf King's Hold, hopefully to a warhammer quest level of quality, and there are rumours of a fantasy skirmish game and terrain too. It looks like Dropzone Commander will eventually end up as the new Epic, it isn't quite there yet, but a few more plastic sprues and it could start to look very tempting, the terrain is just as cool as the old epic ruins, a huge mass of table-covering buildings.

It's a real shame that the specialist games aren't around anymore, they could have been extremely easy to relaunch... take Necromunda as an example... 5 mini boxsets for the gangs, loaded with all sorts of gear (like the IG command squad boxes), and then a generic terrain set. Wouldn't have taken much effort at all, or much in the way of shelf space/product SKUs to stock and could have served as a great intro game to 40k.

I have all the specialist games stuff downloaded onto a laptop.

For free.

Do you hear that GW? For free! Mmmwahahahaha!!!

Ahem. On topic - played Gorkamorka back in the day and still play Mordheim, mainly because the minis are so readily available via the Fantasy range.

I mainly played Gorkamorka and Necromunda, I've got lots of Inquisitor stuff just because I like the figures, but I've got the rules too. Specialist Games died a long time ago. In fact, branding them 'Specialist Games' was problem enough as it marked when GW stopped making games and only wanted to make Fantasy and 40K. Everything else was treated like the bastard child afterwards, no support, limited model releases, huge prices and dwindling stock. Not everyone wants to play massive battle games, but that's the mould GW want the customer to fit and if you don't then they don't want your custom.

That's such a shame. They weren't doing no harm to nobody.

Battlefleet Gothic was my favourite. Best for rewarding tactical play.

Played a bit of Mordheim, but didn't have enough opponents to make it work.

I always meant to try Necromunda with proxy 40K figures.

I suppose my ships and books might be worth a bit more on eBay now...

The writing had been on the wall since the huge reduction of the specialist games catalog, but it's sad to finally see even the rules gone. That being said, there are so many places online where you can get the rules (or updated/modified versions of the rules) for free. Even so, models are floating around on eBay, and it's easy enough to convert your Mordheim/Necromunda/Gorkamorka/Inquisitor 28mm gangs.

I played a lot of Necromunda over the summer using the community edition rules and had a great time. I urge other folks to try it since it's really fun, learns fairly quickly, and you only need a handful of models to play.

The very first game I played of something 40kish was a mash up of 2nd edition rules and Gorkamorka based around necrons waking up on the Gorkamorka world and attacking an ork fort.

I think Gorkamorka proper was the first specialist game I played, although it was just a game or two.

I got a bunch of Epic 40k in the sale when they were killing it off. I think I ended up with about 4 Marine companies worth. I only ever had a few games of it too... I just found it really messy and I was constantly getting the detachments confused. I'm into Dropzone Commander now and I am really having a good time with that but I need to play more full sized games.

I bought the inquisitor and necromunda rulebooks cheap but never got into them. I did buy and paint up the Battle Brother Artemis model as my Blood Ravens mascot though.

I started warmaster, got a few units together. Then it died. Oh well...

Blood bowl, bought the computer game 5 years ago, hated it. Dreadball is much better for me.

I play a game of Battlefleet Gothic every few years... Well half a game, we tend to go a bit overboard in our game sizes...

The Space Hulk 2009 set is dragged out for a game occasionally too.

for me

my top ones were

Bloodbowl
BFG
Mordheim
Necromunda

never got into inquisitor, always meant to but never got around to it

I miss the old Epic Space Marine. Huuuuuuge armies... Titans (where they belong)... Squadrons of super-heavies.

But like so many other things, no one lisses them till they're gone...

For me it was BFG and Mordheim.
I still play Mordheim with my group. It breaks up the same-old, same-old of WHFB. The minis are great and I incorporate a lot of them throughout my WHFB Armies.
I have Chaos and Eldar fleets. Probably sell those...

The thing with Epic is that the minis - particularly the small ones - were never that great, so while I enjoyed the game, I never really developed a strong attachment to it.

They could do great things nowadays with their digital plastic sculpting wotnots, especially if they increased the scale to a FoW type size.

I like the concept of the specialist games. I have small imperial and chaos BFG fleets, plus the rules and some supplements. I picked up the rule books for Inquisitor and Warmaster, and the Mordheim box.

But to be honest, I’m not sure if I ever played a game of any of them. Maybe a sample game of BFG.

These days I don’t get to my FLGS often enough to compete in anything like a continuing league. And even when I did spend far more time at the store, the specialist games never had enough traction to guarantee a game as a casual pickup. And all the organized play was focused on 40k/WHFB. There was a gorkamorka league at the store south of me when it came out, but between the cost and effort of picking up a new game and the travel, I passed on that one.

 scarletsquig wrote:
Which ones did you play, what was your favourite? Are you still going to get some games in even after the final nail in the coffin, or are you moving on to other games?

I won't talk about Inquisitor or BFG, since I've never seen anyone actually playing them, but games like Epic, Warmaster or Necromunda are dead.

I suppose they could be revived. After all, finding minis for Necromunda isn't that difficult. Onslaught, Dark Realms and Exodus (among others) makes suitable minis for Epic, and you could build most Warmaster armies with either 10mm (Pendraken/Kallistra...) or 6mm minis (Baccus/H&R/Irregular/Microworld...).

But people didn't even bother with these games when they were still sold as Specialist Games...

On the other hand, some Specialist Games work pretty well.
It's actually easier to find willing players for a Bloodbowl or Mordheim game than for most of the GW core games.

I never had an opportunity to play any of the specialist games, but Necromunda and Epic have long intrigued me. I think I would really enjoy Epic but looking at the prices of GW figures for that game I have no interest in building an army.

I played GoMo, Mordheim, and Blood Bowl personally.

I really love GoMo, but the rules have some issues. That's sort of the specialist game theme: fun, characterful, interesting, and the rules have a few problems. Gretchin Revolutionary Committee forever!

Mordheim is plenty fun and great for campaigns. In my area, Halloween is the traditional time for an ill-fated Mordheim campaign that inevitably fizzles by December.

Before I opened up the thread, I made a mental bet scarletsquig would bring up Deadzone. He did not disappoint.

For me, Specialist Games were a mixed bag. On the whole, the 28mm offshoots of the two main games were poor, the rest was okay.

Man'o'War was a nice game in theory, but the execution left a lot to be desired. It was a dull experience and grossly unbalanced. BFG was better, but far from perfect. The models were boring - not enough Xeno variety, only an array of identical-looking cathedral ships.

Bloodbowl I have not played (no interest in sports games), but I heard it was decent. Epic was GW's best game hands down and made for a great spectacle. I'd trade 40K for Epic any day. Inquisitor was a mess and the miniatures were poor for that scale even back in the day. It's no wonder it died rather quickly. Warmaster was so-so; kind of bland, really.

Mordheim and Necromunda had intriguing fluff and nice figures for the most part, but their rules were awful. Over-complicated, unbalanced, bereft of tactical decisions and options. Necromunda came around the time of Warzone and was worse in every regard (except maybe balance - Warzone was easily broken). Mordheim came after Stargrunt II and Chronopia and was a huge letdown. It has its charm setting-wise, but the rules are a disgrace. It had none of the upsides a skirmish-type game should have over a mass battle game like WFB. It was too constrained by all the shortcomings of its parent game and should've been a brand new set of mechanics. It wasn't good at the time of its release and 15 hears later its an utterly horrible gaming experience.

All in all, Epic had the potential to be a huge game, but that potential was squandered. GW should've also come up with two proper skirmish games befitting the 21st century, replacing Necromunda and Mordheim, but they were content to see them waste away instead.

EDIT: Forgot about Gorka Morka. I don't particularly care for Orks, so it didn't interest me. Too one-dimensional, probably the reason it got sidelined.

I will really miss the minis. BloodBowl had some of the most characterful and fun minis in the range [back when GW had a sense of humour, before everything became GrimDark]. I also love the Necromunda models - Redemptionists and Arbites are my current Ebay Holy Grail [unfortunately both go for ridiculous amounts].

Space Hulk is brilliant IMO and I'm a proud owner of a set. I think the two games that I would really be interested in taking up if they were still supported are Epic and BFG. Ok I could Ebay the models but it would take a long time and the BFG models go for silly amounts. Also, none of my mates are interested in playing either.

 tyrannosaurus wrote:
Arbites are my current Ebay Holy Grail

Actually I have some Arbites if you want them.

I enjoyed Necromunda a lot, but not when one of my gangers jumped of a ledge and died.

i started a enforcer war band but never found anyone to play against for necromunder. as for Mordhiem again i started a war band of pirates with some fun conversions but couldn't find any regular opponents.

Space Hulk wasn't a "specialist game". It was just a board game set in the 40K background.

The only GW games I still play are specialists.

BFG - Love this game, and would still play it all the time if I could find more opponents.

Epic - Awesome, Especially titan heavy games. Some of the most fun I've ever had were games of Adeptus Titanicus were 12 people were playing each using one titan each.
The 4th edition (epic Armageddon) is possibly the best rule set GW has ever produced.

Necromunda - so many fond memory's of campaign's. No other game has ever quite matched it for me.

Warhammer Quest - the only reason I ever got into Warhammer. GW could so use a new version of this as an entry game.

Space Hulk - the first GW game I ever played, the reason I'm here.

I think all of these games are better than the sorry stat of 40K and warhammer right now.

I happen to have an unopened copy of gorkamorka lying around. I've never played the game but am tempted to give it a go as my next gaming project.

We are just about to start a GorkaMorka campaign, glad I downloaded the rules last week now.

I gathered all the specialist games PDF's long ago as it was obvious GW would do this for a while. This did not take by surprise at all, GW has a bizarre hatred of specialist games.

I enjoyed all the Specialist Games. I miss them greatly as a lot of my stuff has been lost over the years. I'm always on the lookout to try and find a new skirmish game/mass battle that gives me what I'm looking for.

Mordheim was really my first minis game. Despite painting minis for years, I'd only used them for D&D. But the dark tone and crazy dudes with fish and puppets suckered me in and some buddies and I played multiple times a week one year in college. To Mordheim - you may not have had the best rules, but you were a lot of fun. May Bobo Wombat, the super fast leaping ghoul live on forever.

I played a few games of necromunda and a few games of BFG (but I much preferred Full Thrust to BFG ).

The rest of the games had no interest for me.

Ill be honest, i never played any of them. (except epic ages ago)

However, i did love the mordheim and inquisitor models.
Great poses, tons of character and fun to paint, so i will miss that.

Necromunda and Mordheim did get some of my attention through the years, but my true love was (and still is) Inquisitor - which I have no plans to stop playing.

Despite the rules lacking a lot of polish, I just haven't found anything that can replace the feel and potential of Inquisitor - neither truly a skirmish nor truly a roleplay, it offers unique experiences not found in either.
Roleplay games don't open the opportunity to use an entire ready-developed cast of characters, and their rules seldom work well for PvP play. Skirmish games don't offer an attachment to the characters, nor the rules freedom for some truly thrilling heroics.

What I think I'm most going to miss though, given the way things seem to be turning out, is getting involved in WHW events where passers-by keep doing double takes:

Of the Specialist Games, my two personal favorites were Blood Bowl and Battlefleet Gothic. I think Blood Bowl has the best fluff GW ever wrote, and I think BFG is the best game GW ever made. During the great SG sell off of 2013, I spent way too much money buying up as much BFG as I could from the US, UK, and Australian websites to complete multiple fleets.

When that one preview page of the Horus Heresy Book 3 came out, showing Perturabo's flagship, I (metaphorically) shed a tear, thinking about how awesome it would be if BFG were still supported and Forgeworld did Horus Heresy rules and models for it, too.

And GW simply allowed these games to die. Sure, the nature of the SGs were that, after you bought your fleet/warband/team/etc., sales would dwindle. But all GW needed to do was cycle through the different games, phasing one out to release another one each year, and it would have been a constant moneymaker for them. By the time a game would come back around in the cycle, it would have been 4-5 years since it was phased out and now there would be a whole new crop of players ready to buy in.

We can only hope that, when the eventual buyout of GW comes, the new owners will see the value in these games that have already been made, with the molds just collecting dust on the factory shelves.

Also need to note that there's no reason for specialist games to be dead. You can find the rules easily online and the models are all over real gaming sites/ebay. GW can only make the hobby as miserable for you as you let them. Separate yourself from GW and the specialist games will live on.