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I think that over the years, the answer ot this question has changed somewhat for me. As I have been contemplating some of the doomcriers I have been hearing about the health and welfare of GW, I have wondered what is the source of value of that company to me these days. THought I would start a thread asking about the same for all of you.

Breadth and depth of selection: no one else makes games with so many factions, so many builds, and so many scales to play the same faction in. You can take your faction (using the various 40k-related games systems) through interstellar space toward a target planet, fight your way against enemy star fleets, invade a planet, fight battles with a truly epic scale in 2 different systems depending on what size of conflict you are in, play out combat on the company level, even going as far as squad on squad size and even individual on individual. That's Battlefleet Gothic, Epic, Apocalypse, 40k, Inquisitor. Theres a huge appeal to me in that, being able to play out the whole campaign, even though I will prob. never do it.

In addition, breadth and depth also applies ot the models as well as the systems. N on else touches their selection, and while there are some dog's ass ugly ones in there there are a lot of beautiful sculpts. I wish my paint could do them justice.

This can also be applied to the fluff. Plenty plenty plenty. Some good, some no longer capable of being supported by my minds suspension of disbelief. But the fact that there is so much selection...=good to me.




But what about the company today? Short of new models coming out and their continual casting of their old stuff; the majority of the things I've listed are past achievements. Sure, they add ot the fluff; but they dont have to really to impress me it's big enough. They dont do a lot for me today, except for provide me with the game. I play the game, and that is why I spend so much time and money on their product. I have a very large pool of opponents, most of them great guys I have known for years. I play the game, and THAT is really what GW provides me with.

Yeah, pretty much. It's a well established game with a pretty huge base of players. There's enough variety for me to be able to paint models for myself and my friends and not be bored. That's about it for me. So long as I have fun painting and making crappy conversions, I'm pretty well off so far as I can see.

An entry point into TT miniatures wargaming.

Many people use it as a springboard to other games. Some play it because it's easy and doesn't require huge amounts of thinking (too much thinking interferes with my 40-beer-k).

I doubt I'd be in it at all still without Dakka Dakka. Weird, I know, to tie up my company connection
in a social network...

Dakka Dakka social ?

HERESY !!1!!!

I do not value GW highly since I started wargaming long before they existed and am completely used to gathering rules, figures and fluff from various sources in order to fight historical, fictional, or fantasy/SF battles.

However, for the newcomers, GW is an excellent resource offering one-stop-shop for rules, fluff, figures, modelling supplies and advice.

As Chromedog said, it is a potential entry point and springboard, as long as players come to realise that there is a life outside GW.

You started up before GW existed? Didn't they just blow by 25 years a couple of years ago?

Kilkrazy wrote:Dakka Dakka social ?

HERESY !!1!!!

I do not value GW highly since I started wargaming long before they existed and am completely used to gathering rules, figures and fluff from various sources in order to fight historical, fictional, or fantasy/SF battles.

However, for the newcomers, GW is an excellent resource offering one-stop-shop for rules, fluff, figures, modelling supplies and advice.

As Chromedog said, it is a potential entry point and springboard, as long as players come to realise that there is a life outside GW.

This...

Started wargamming in 1976 damn I'm old :(

grizgrin wrote:You started up before GW existed? Didn't they just blow by 25 years a couple of years ago?

I started wargaming in 1974 or '75, so long ago that I can't remember the exact year. I know it was after the Yom Kippur War (1973) because one of my first games was about that war, and I had several games at the age of 13 in 1975. I usually say 1975 as the year I started.

GW started up in the late 70s and were part of the D&D boom in the UK. They didn't start to publish their own games until the early 80s. I played the first edition WHFB at university in about 1982-3.

to the OP:

pretty high for me. i pretty much skipped 4th edition and moved to a different state. when i wanted to restart wargaming (i kept roleplaying and playing some CMG inbetween), i took my 40k army to a local store and found someone to play against. 40k is the only wargame i regularly played (vor, warzone, shockforce, etc - mainly scifi) where i can pretty much count on a store with gaming still having active games. i only needed to buy the current rulebook ($10 for the small one) and a codex ($25) to make 90% of my old army playable. it is FAR from a perfect system and i prefer plenty of other rulesets more but the point of a game is to actually play; collecting 40k accomplishes that goal.

Last I heard GW was valued at around $200M.

pity I don't have that amount of ready cash...


OT, Previous posters have it nailed - its the one game that you can always guarantee finding a local opponent wherever you go.

Every time GW finds a new way to annoy me I look at Warmachine or AT-43 and then realise that unless I could persuade all my gaming buddies to do a new system with me I'd have no-one to play

In essence, GW has made itself the path of least resistance. Its one hell of a business strategy...

It's terrible when a man has to play with himself.

Kilkrazy wrote:It's terrible when a man has to play with himself.

Or wonderful.

its allwas bad when a man has to play with him self and tries to get his friends involved.

havoc13 wrote:Started wargamming in 1976 damn I'm old :(

killkrazy wrote:I started wargaming in 1974 or '75, so long ago that I can't remember the exact year.

You two guys have been officially been wargaming longer than I have been alive. That makes me feel like less of an old geezer.

There are some older than us on Dakka.

I started with Games Workshop around 1985. Played D&D and other Avalon Hill board games before then.

Knowing that I can not only readily find players, but still find players even after years out of the hobby (I stopped for a solid 2-3 years, practically an eon in card game years) is fantastic. Still using those old monopose 2nd edition Marines whenever I can, too.

GW "Value"?

GW makes a game and models that I enjoy playing with. Does it really need to be much more complicated that that?

JohnHwangDD wrote:GW "Value"?

GW makes a game and models that I enjoy playing with. Does it really need to be much more complicated that that?

lol ! sure the make the original models , but they make em 3149327483264 times more expensive than they should be. Instead , you can wait for some idiot buy the model , get bored playing/painting and tries selling it on ebay .... which would lead to , instead of being 3149327483264 times more expensive it would just be the REAL price !

WOHOO!!!

For the OP :

NOT HIGH ! I think that the only reason i would be the only reason for them too keep their bussiness going i would only do it too be able too buy models for a day (millions of them) and then they could close down

Chimera_Calvin wrote:Every time GW finds a new way to annoy me I look at Warmachine or AT-43 and then realise that unless I could persuade all my gaming buddies to do a new system with me I'd have no-one to play

In essence, GW has made itself the path of least resistance. Its one hell of a business strategy...

I do understand your frustration, but do find it amazing that apparently there are so many out there who are unwilling to try non-GW games. I understand if you are playing exclusively in a GW store, but away from that environment, why is it so hard to get some people interested in a more diverse gaming experience? Its not like they even have to buy new models to play different games - games such as No Limits, Stargrunt etc., are free to download and can easily accommodate GW models. Are people really that lazy and apathetic? Probably, is my guess.

I'm just glad that my own group is a little more open minded! I've seen the complete switch from "GW-fanbois" to "GW-hater" in more than one person. Most then end up settling down to a more healthy "will try anything that looks fun, and will come back to GW from time to time" position in the end!

Sometimes I worry about those that seem to be controlled by their hobby, rather than being in control of their hobby. Particularly when that hobby is "the GW hobby" and we all know that as a "for-profit" company, GW's no. 1 priority is their bottom line, rather than the wellbeing of their customers!

JohnHwangDD wrote:GW "Value"?

GW makes a game and models that I enjoy playing with. Does it really need to be much more complicated that that?

It's not a complicated question at all. If GW finally finished sucking itself up it's own ass hole tomorrow before you woke up, IP and all, how would it affect your hobby? Would the only effect be that it would change who you bought your models from, and what type you bought; or would you see changes in your social web of gamers, your actual games played? It's a question that cannot be denied, even if the answer is "Nothing." Are you saying that GW has no value to you? I'm certainly not trying to argue for or against any particular view; more trying to get a bit of what's in people's heads.

GW's value to me, in this order:

1.) Fluff/Novels.
2.) Various models.
3.) Painting.

Not of value to me:

1.) Cost.
2.) Cost.

I mean seriously... No wonder I file-share all the Codice.

-J.

grizgrin wrote:

JohnHwangDD wrote:GW makes a game and models that I enjoy playing with.

If GW finally finished sucking itself up it's own ass hole tomorrow before you woke up, IP and all, how would it affect your hobby?

Would the only effect be that it would change who you bought your models from, and what type you bought; or would you see changes in your social web of gamers, your actual games played?

Are you saying that GW has no value to you?

If GW disappeared tomorrow, I'm not sure it'd affect my hobby at all. I've got plenty of stuff to work on, plenty of GW games, plenty of GW armies, and plenty of time to enjoy them. It's not like suddenly I can't play the games without GW, or one of GW's creditors is going to come knocking on my door to take away my armies.

And it's now like our group only plays GW games. Our last session was spent playing some larger-scale Man O War knockoff. And before that, we've dabbled in other TTGs like Flames and OGRE, along with board games like Heroscape and Battlelore and M44. Plus Pirates (from now-dead WizKids, BTW), which we're getting back into due to clearance sales.

Actually, not that I think about it, that's not strictly true. GW stuff would go on clearance, so I'd probably pick up a bunch of stuff that I never would have bought anywhere close to GW retail pricing:
- extra Shadowswords & Baneblades
- SM Terminators
- WotR / LotR
- personal copies of currently-shared rules & terrain

Sure, GW has some value to me, but I don't really need them to have fun. I got along just fine playing Car Wars, D&D, Starcraft and Magic long before I got into GW gaming, and I'll do just fine without them if/when they're gone.

After this latest round of 'price adjustments' GW, like my sister I haven't talked to in 20 years, is dead to me.

Le Grognard wrote:After this latest round of 'price adjustments' GW, like my sister I haven't talked to in 20 years, is dead to me.

I shouldn't have, but I seriously lol'd.

-J.

eh, I'd say in the cosmic sense, probably nil.


I don't need GW to game, I can still use their written rules if they were gone..

Plus, Privateer Press makes some great games, such as Warmachine (which I'm getting into) and Hordes (which I'd like to get into)

Though I do love the fluff. Nothing has ever so deeply left a mark on my soul than playing with toy soldiers in a Fantasy universe.....

lol.