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What do you think sells better Warhammer Fantasy or 40K?

They are both fairly popular. I can't say one over the other but what I have found in my area is:

Ages 10-30: 40k is more popular

Ages 30+ WHFB is more popular.

40k by a huge margin.

And I mean huge.

Shas'O Dorian wrote:They are both fairly popular. I can't say one over the other but what I have found in my area is:

Ages 10-30: 40k is more popular

Ages 30+ WHFB is more popular.

More SMs are sold than all of WHFB put together.

More SM's are sold then the rest of GW's entire product line put together the last 2 years.

Makes sense. That's why every other codex is Space Marines!!!

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Makes sense. That's why every other codex is Space Marines!!!

I think you have it backwards, mate. Space Marines are popular because GW loves them. Not the other way around.

Right, cause everyone just loves whatever they're told to love.

Space Marines are the iconic GW product, nothing else is even in the same realm of recognizable and profitable for them.

Jack

Jackmojo wrote:Right, cause everyone just loves whatever they're told to love.

Space Marines are the iconic GW product, nothing else is even in the same realm of recognizable and profitable for them.

Jack

Makes sense. most books involve them some way or another. i would like to see a book about eldar and tau against eachother from bot sides.
then 2 meet on the battlefield and fall in love and risk everything to be together.
but seriously i think sci-fi might appeal more the fantasy. it could be the prevalence of sci-fi more then fantasy in mainstream culture.

40k FTW

I'd have to say 40k all the way. I haven't even bothered to try the fantasy version, nor lord of the rings, nor do I feel any desire too... If I want swords, sheilds, dragons and undead I would play "dungeons and dragons". And I do, mind you....but not nearly as much as 40k.

Jackmojo wrote:Right, cause everyone just loves whatever they're told to love.

Space Marines are the iconic GW product, nothing else is even in the same realm of recognizable and profitable for them.

Jack

Exactly, there'd probably be no Games Workshop if they hadn't come up with the Space Marine. The shoulder pads and almost all the designs of their armour are copyrighted.

asugradinwa wrote:More SM's are sold then the rest of GW's entire product line put together the last 2 years.

You mean: More SM's are sold within the last year than...
LotR is a joke.

Ya, how's that LOTR coming along? Anybody playing that?.....

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Ya, how's that LOTR coming along? Anybody playing that?.....

I played it... It was kinda... slow. Almost the entire group went on to Warhammer Fantasy...
I like 40k more.
Guns, tanks and gore!

Ya that's what I figured. I've never played Fantasy but those who play both (40K and fantasy I mean) seem to like it. Say its more strategic.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Ya, how's that LOTR coming along? Anybody playing that?.....

Some people say that of GW's big three games, LOTR has the best ruleset...

Who says that?

Fantasy is more for the engrossed player.
''What? You throw a few spears towards my Dark Riders?''

Jackmojo wrote:Right, cause everyone just loves whatever they're told to love.

Space Marines are the iconic GW product, nothing else is even in the same realm of recognizable and profitable for them.

Jack

No, they're popular because they get the most codices, which get updated more often. They get the most BL books about them, and they win every battle in the fluff, and even when they do lose (such as the 13th Black Crusade) it gets retconned away. They have more models, they have the most plastic, and they get the most shelf space. They've always been one of the armies in the starter sets, and if any new player walks into a GW store they'll invariably be told to start with Space Marines if they're not already set on what to begin with.

You could say they get all of that because they're the most popular, and I'd say they are popular because they get all of that. I can remember when Space Marines weren't the most popular faction with the players (at least where I live), back around 1ed and 2ed, and they still received a disproportionate amount of attention because the design studio loved them.

Last I knew Space Marines account for 40% of all GW sales, with Empire and Orcs the leaders on the fantasy side.

there is a new fantasy rulebook coming out so that might up it a bit :/

That proportion seems to have remained fairly constant, even with 7th ed release a while back.

However 8th ed might bring about the revival for fantasy that 5th ed did for 40k - 40k is now massively more popular in our gaming clubs than fantasy.

When I mention Empire and Orcs being so popular on fantasy most people are surprised - currently they are amongst the weaker books, hardly seen at tournaments (which is where most peopleget their views on popular armies..) yet they are so varied and wacky (pigeon bombs and mushroom addled goblin fanatics, for an example or two) they are immensely popular.

Rube wrote:
You could say they get all of that because they're the most popular, and I'd say they are popular because they get all of that. I can remember when Space Marines weren't the most popular faction with the players (at least where I live), back around 1ed and 2ed, and they still received a disproportionate amount of attention because the design studio loved them.

Your experience is not representative. In my normal gaming group (with whom I've gamed off and on for ~15 years) I'm the only one with a Space Marine army (chaos and IG being the most popular with them), but the sales numbers have consistently pointed to Space Marines being the most popular product line, not just for 40k but for GW as a whole.

Couple that with the fact that of all their infantry designs only Tau and Space Marines are particularly unique and recognizable, even to non fans, and you can see why things are the way they are.

Jack

I would say WH40k. And the two different games could be divided into the two following categories.

WHFB : 25+ with good income and most likely a significant other. And belongs to a dedicated group of FB gamers.

WH40k : teenagers and up to 25 years old, most likly in school/university.

Rube wrote:

Jackmojo wrote:Right, cause everyone just loves whatever they're told to love.

Space Marines are the iconic GW product, nothing else is even in the same realm of recognizable and profitable for them.

Jack

No, they're popular because they get the most codices, which get updated more often. They get the most BL books about them, and they win every battle in the fluff, and even when they do lose (such as the 13th Black Crusade) it gets retconned away. They have more models, they have the most plastic, and they get the most shelf space. They've always been one of the armies in the starter sets, and if any new player walks into a GW store they'll invariably be told to start with Space Marines if they're not already set on what to begin with.

You could say they get all of that because they're the most popular, and I'd say they are popular because they get all of that. I can remember when Space Marines weren't the most popular faction with the players (at least where I live), back around 1ed and 2ed, and they still received a disproportionate amount of attention because the design studio loved them.

No SMs get the most codexes and models because they are the most popular. You got it backwards: demand comes before the supply.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:No SMs get the most codexes and models because they are the most popular. You got it backwards: demand comes before the supply.

You're talking about an arbitrary game system, so no, demand doesn't necessarily come before supply.

They could supply a new model that cost 1pt and had 10 for every stat, and it no doubt garner much demand. Supply before demand.


edit

I'll put it another way for clarity's sake;

Imagine an alternate dimension wherein Eldar were GW's love child. You walk into the alternate dimension GW shop and half the store's walls are taken up with Eldar boxes. Space Marines have a small section you have to get on your knees to see consisting mostly of those smaller boxes of metal minis the Eldar currently have. The starter set has Eldar vs Orks with supplied Eldar force unbalanced against the supplied Orks as is the case in our real-world starter set. Roughly 2/3rd of all the Black Library books are about Eldar soundly defeating every other army there is. Half the codices are for Eldar armies, so even if you pick an army at random there's a 50% chance it's Eldar, and new players are advised by the staff to collect Eldar.

Do you pick that despite all that, Space Marines would still be selling well in this alternate dimension? Or do you not think it's possible the Eldar might have that lead, what with every new player starting as Eldar, and old players being stolen over to Eldar through being tempted by their constant codex updates, and every squealing 12 year old collecting Eldar because they need to play as the force that always wins in the fluff?

yes, its about selling the most models. If people buy lots of space marine models they make more types of space marine models.
I don't even understand what you're thinking? So GW doesn't like its other model ranges then? There in a smokey back room saying "how can we make people buy less Eldar: damn aliens."

KamikazeCanuck wrote:yes, its about selling the most models. If people buy lots of space marine models they make more types of space marine models.
I don't even understand what you're thinking? So GW doesn't like its other model ranges then? There in a smokey back room saying "how can we make people buy less Eldar: damn aliens."

I think the company started with a bunch of guys in a smokey room making models and the fluff because they enjoyed it. They weren't necessarily brilliant business men, and might've give undue attention to whatever faction they favored personally.
From there the Space Marine bias starts; they get the most models, fluff and updates regardless of how well they were selling, because those few enthusiasts who ran the business liked them more.

When GW became a larger company with stockholders deciding where the money went, they poured the most resources into what sold most. Space Marines sold most because of that early bias. So because they got more resources allocated to them, they sold more, which meant they got more resources allocated to them, which meant they sold more, which meant they got more resources allocated to them, which meant they sold more, etc.

It's a snowball effect. It only needed a small bias to start the ball rolling.

Yes, that's probably pretty accurate about the early days but what you need to allow for is the fact that Space Marines are very popular amongst the "common folk" anyway. They really are a great design for super soldiers.