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This may seem crazy, but if they came out with a Hardcover Blood Angels (my primary army) army book with color pages, additional fluff content, etc. I can see myself getting it. I am enough of a fan of that army and that fluff to enjoy that as a purchase.

Now if they replace the softcovers with only hardcovers that provide no additional content to what they have no for that price points, well that is pants on head slowed, as has been stated.

But why would an army book need to be full colour?
It is great for the chaps that want the extras, but if the rumour is true, there needs to be an alternative publication and we will all be happy.

SilverMK2 wrote:

filbert wrote:surely even they would think hiking the prices of army books up effectively 100% is going to damage sales.

I think their long term goal is to sell less for more until there is just 1 really rich guy somewhere who is supporting their eitire company on his own.

I really do think they are getting closer to that situation than they realise. I have stopped buying GW product and without blowing my own trumpet, I have a decent job with plenty of disposable income. If I have cause to reassess my shopping habits then what of people with less free money to spend? Not only that, I have stopped buying product because I feel the cost outweighs the value - i.e.. my decision is not based on not having the money to spend; simply choosing to spend elsewhere. Again, if I have made that decision then what of others with less of a margin? What of newcomers to the hobby?

filbert wrote:Have any of these rumours actually been confirmed or substantiated? Or is this just 5 pages of conjecture based on here-say?

I mean, I dislike GW's business practices as much as the next man (unless the next man is H.B.M.C. in which case I don't even come close) but surely even they would think hiking the prices of army books up effectively 100% is going to damage sales.

Closest thing to confirmation is mikhaila's reply page or two or three back that the Orcs and Goblin
book is hardcover according to his distributor. Nothing confirmed about price.

mikhaila wrote:I'll have the new orc and goblin book in my hands about Wed/Thursday. They are shipping in this weeks 'Black Box'.

My sales rep confirmed that it was a hardcover. I didn't ask the price though. I'll post when it gets here.

I seriously doubt the 50 dollar price, my guess is 30 or 35. We'll see.

For those who can't be bothered to find it, here's the confirmation.

But it does seem...interesting, to say the least.

Who doesn't like hard back books that are well put together?

They are not really all that great for something you have to flip through 1000s of times over and over.

Codices should be easily portable and accessable to the general populace.

Raising the price point and making them more inconvienient to lug around are counter to both of those things.

blood angel wrote:Who doesn't like hard back books that are well put together? They are not really all that great for something you have to flip through 1000s of times over and over.
Codices should be easily portable and accessible (spelling corrected) to the general populace. Raising the price point and making them more inconvenient (spelling corrected) to lug around are counter to both of those things.

All good points. Then there's the issue that the book will be obsolete in a few years when it is revised. I like nice hardback books that last forever if they are useful forever, not when there is planned obsolescence involved. And as someone said earlier, this will kill purchases of these books that are "just for fun" by people who don't actively collect or play the associated armies due to the increased cost.

aka_mythos wrote:...

In all fairness GW's shown what a hardbound $50+ rulebook looks like... the core rulebook. So chances are they'll raise the production value and have less pages than that.

Yes.

What worries me is that I decided not to buy any more BGBs. They are too expensive and heavy for what I want from the game.

So I might be looking at £120+ for the books for my four armies, and having to update them every four years or so (perhaps one a year). That is without getting books for any enemy armies I might want to look at.

SilverMK2 wrote:I think their long term goal is to sell less for more until there is just 1 really rich guy somewhere who is supporting their eitire company on his own.

I think you mean 1 rich guy and the 1 guy he pays to play with him. With our luck they'll both only play marines.

aka_mythos wrote:

SilverMK2 wrote:I think their long term goal is to sell less for more until there is just 1 really rich guy somewhere who is supporting their eitire company on his own.

I think you mean 1 rich guy and the 1 guy he pays to play with him. With our luck they'll both only play marines.

Playboy billionaire paying someone to play Warmachine with me on a private train car or
submersible? That sounds like a dream.

malfred wrote:

aka_mythos wrote:

SilverMK2 wrote:I think their long term goal is to sell less for more until there is just 1 really rich guy somewhere who is supporting their eitire company on his own.

I think you mean 1 rich guy and the 1 guy he pays to play with him. With our luck they'll both only play marines.

Playboy billionaire paying someone to play Warmachine with me on a private train car or
submersible? That sounds like a dream.

Seriously. How can I become a paid lackey?

I wish that GW would do 3 models.

1) E-reader sans fluff 5-10 USD price Point.

2) Soft cover no color - added inside the battle force. Also make battle forces have only new models for that edition of the rules. Biuld a value around 75$ include a variety of stuff. For example. a troops box, a hq and something else(dread/tank/MC something cool)+ book. (HQ should also be some sort of unique metal model.)

3) Hardcover 35-50 Price point.

Also make battle forces have only new models for that edition of the rules.

Those were already tried, they were called Spearheads and they had no lasting sales value, they didn't even sell that well when it was tried before as a splash. Once the few vets who wanted to add all the newest models to their army bought one, the rest languished for months.

Battleforces are designed to help people build a new army quickly by providing the basic elements of an army. Since there are customers starting armies all the time, the sales potential of that is far greater than what you suggest and those sets have a built-in discount, the only one offered by GW these days. In other words, the suggestion that Battleforces should be turned into what used to be called Spearheads is a colossally bad idea for customers and GW.

Kanluwen wrote:Seriously. How can I become a paid lackey?

Are you sure? People that rich tend to want their "playmates" to really earn their money

SilverMK2 wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:Seriously. How can I become a paid lackey?

Are you sure? People that rich tend to want their "playmates" to really earn their money

Look, I'm fine with a sugar daddy so long as I'm living in the lap of luxury!

Plus: you're just jealous that I'm prettier than you and can get the job easier.

I wonder if the new version will also include their fancy "pages falling out by the 5th use" binding techniques.

SilverMK2 wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:Seriously. How can I become a paid lackey?

Are you sure? People that rich tend to want their "playmates" to really earn their money

Is this what they call an escort-mission? Talk about niche-prostitution.

TyraelVladinhurst wrote:i think if this comes to pass, GW will die out in about two to three years which will be awesome for some (ie me)

OK, why exactly will it be 'awesome'?

Kanluwen wrote:Look, I'm fine with a sugar daddy so long as I'm living in the lap of luxury!

Plus: you're just jealous that I'm prettier than you and can get the job easier.

nah, I'm just checking you knew what was involved so I can hire you straight away when I win the lottery

SilverMK2 wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:Look, I'm fine with a sugar daddy so long as I'm living in the lap of luxury!

Plus: you're just jealous that I'm prettier than you and can get the job easier.

nah, I'm just checking you knew what was involved so I can hire you straight away when I win the lottery

I don't think your wife would approve of spending lotto money on a drinking/gaming buddy.

But she doesn't yell at us when we game on Live, so who knows...

UltraPrime wrote:

TyraelVladinhurst wrote:i think if this comes to pass, GW will die out in about two to three years which will be awesome for some (ie me)

OK, why exactly will it be 'awesome'?

no more GW tyranny? other companies who have an idea that's SOMEWHAT like GW's idea won't be sued out of business? take your pick

Kanluwen wrote:I don't think your wife would approve of spending lotto money on a drinking/gaming buddy.

But she doesn't yell at us when we game on Live, so who knows...

She is trying to get a cat (or more precisely she is trying to adopt 2 cats) at the moment - very much against my wishes, so her shouting at husband privileges have been revoked

SilverMK2 wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:I don't think your wife would approve of spending lotto money on a drinking/gaming buddy.

But she doesn't yell at us when we game on Live, so who knows...

She is trying to get a cat (or more precisely she is trying to adopt 2 cats) at the moment - very much against my wishes, so her shouting at husband privileges have been revoked

Oh lord, cats are evil.

But uh, I think we're dragging this offtopic.

TyraelVladinhurst wrote:

UltraPrime wrote:

TyraelVladinhurst wrote:i think if this comes to pass, GW will die out in about two to three years which will be awesome for some (ie me)

OK, why exactly will it be 'awesome'?

no more GW tyranny? other companies who have an idea that's SOMEWHAT like GW's idea won't be sued out of business? take your pick

Edit - on second thought, no point.

UltraPrime wrote:

TyraelVladinhurst wrote:

UltraPrime wrote:

TyraelVladinhurst wrote:i think if this comes to pass, GW will die out in about two to three years which will be awesome for some (ie me)

OK, why exactly will it be 'awesome'?

no more GW tyranny? other companies who have an idea that's SOMEWHAT like GW's idea won't be sued out of business? take your pick

Edit - on second thought, no point.

no extreme point, i've been handed 3 C&D letters from GW because my game was set in 2530 and had stuff that (to them atleast) looked like their power armor, which is a total lie. +5 internets if anyone guesses where i got my name from (since this topic is slowly going off track anyways)

I can't be bothered to read the 6 pages of posts so far, but...

GW has just put out a second small hardcover book for WHFB- the uniforms, etc. of the Skaven, following on the earlier release of the uniforms, etc. of the Empire. These books are slim, but full-color. If what Kid K said about hardcover being only a dollar or so more expensive to produce than a softcover, I can totally see GW moving in this direction for their army books, especially if they price them around $30.

I used to buy every army book that came out- you pretty much had to, if you wanted to know what your opponent could have up his sleeve. I know that if the price had gone up to $30, I'd probably continue to buy. Gettting it in hardcover for $30, sure. Much above $30 would have seriously impacted my purchasing habits, though- sometimes a price hike is just too much. (I could never bring myself to pay their asking price for the lovely plastic Greatswords, for example.) I sure wouldn't be buying army books for $50, hardcover or not.

It's moot in my case anyway; I didn't buy the hardcover 8th edition rules at $80, and once I'd played a few games of 8th, I had no desire to buy the IoB small rules off of any of my friends who were anxious to sell it.

But yeah, I can see GW trying on $50 hardcover armybooks, and then wondering what happened to their sales.

TyraelVladinhurst wrote:
no more GW tyranny? other companies who have an idea that's SOMEWHAT like GW's idea won't be sued out of business? take your pick

...

I was actually going to make a topic against Tyrael...but he's not wrong, at least not completely.

What does GW really do for the industry, these days? Most indie gaming shops are kept afloat by other sources at this point (usually CCG and RPG sales), not their profit off of GW merchandise. Jes Goodwin is an amazing sculptor, but it's been a while since GW has been much of a clearinghouse for new talent in the miniatures design field. GW's recent miniatures releases have showcased some exceptional sculpts, but increasingly we're seeing other miniature companies that can keep up with, or exceed, the quality of their work (though GW is still the leader in plastic kit development by a wide margin). Really, perhaps the only unique contribution that GW is making right now to the field is in giving all of the other, smaller companies out there a big target to aim for. If GW went belly up it wouldn't benefit the industry, but it wouldn't kill it off either. Gamers will be gamers, regardless of whether or not GW is in business or Warhammer/40k is actively supported.

I like Hardcover books. I like Battlefront's big hardcover briefings. However, Battlefront includes $50 worth of content. I'm skeptical that GW would do the same.

A compilation of all Space Marine or all Xenos codices may do the trick.

SkaerKrow wrote:Gamers will be gamers, regardless of whether or not GW is in business or Warhammer/40k is actively supported.

So how is it that Rackham went down the tubes and Privateer Press have had to make an announcement about supply and demand and Wizards of the Coast have stopped making D&D minis? I'm not a GW apologist but I don't think they are at any risk at all. Perhaps when all their retail outlets are shut down I might worry but given the number of retail outlets they have in the UK it doesn't look like they are in any great danger of disappearing overnight.

I also realise that haters are gonna hate whatever GW do.

Going full color would also mean that likely they would have to have all new artwork and stop reusing art from previous editions. This could also prove to be expensive (and increasing the prices).