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Kind of started this thought in the worst miniatures thread and decided to run with it...

GW's 2009

Good Stuff

1. Plastic Miniatures - Not many companies can rival GW for their plastic kits at the moment. Their CGI sculpting tool thingy really came into its own this year with some great kits - Lizardmen Temple Guard, Lizardmen Stegadon, Empire Archers, Empire Steam Tank, Skaven Clanrats, Skaven Stormvermin, Skaven Screaming Bell/Plague Furnace, Skaven Doomwheel, Ork Stormboyz, Grotz, Ork Stompa, Imperial Guard Command Platoons, Imperial Guard Valkyrie, Space Marine Land Speeder Storm, Imperial Bastions, The Fortress of Redemption and of course those incredible Space Hulk minis

2. Most Metal Miniatures - On the whole, these have been pretty good too. Five that stand out are Deathmaster Snikch, Zagstruk, Imperial Guard Regimental Advisors, Njal Stormcaller and Chakax Eternity Warden

3. Space Hulk - Not just the minis, but the return of a much loved game.

Bad Stuff

1. The Codex/Army Book Cycle - In 12 months, GW have managed two Codexes (Imperial Guard & Space Wolves) and two Army Books (Lizardmen and Skaven). That's one every three months?! Is the new miniature design process holding them up?

2. Codex/Army Book Writing - Everything is kind of below par, in terms of the clarity of the writing, game value of some of the new/old units and characters (Commissar Yarrick & Tretch Craventail, I mean would you ever?), continuing the background (Warhammer Skaven has the cheek to lift some of the fluff direct from an older Skaven army book) and overall layout and presentation (shall we get H.B.M.C. started on finding rules for individual pieces of wargear )

3. Pricing - 2009 saw the "willingness to pay" pricing methodology take a strong foothold. The chief culprits were the Goldswords with the reasoning being that less people will buy them, so they should cost more. This flys in the face of basic demand/supply economics.

4. Space Hulk release - Come on, own up. Who's got a spare copy of Space Hulk sitting at the back of the wardrobe whilst they wait for ebay value to shoot up next year?

5. Some Metal Miniatures - Most were great, but some sculpts should not have made it into production. I believe this is a tie between Canis Wolfborn and Vulkan Hestan. Special mention to Khan though - a miniature representing a special character whose key rules revolves around being able to ride a bike and what did they forget?!?

Ok Stuff

1. Planet Strike - An interesting new way to play 40K, but needs a lot of terrain to make it work well. The core rules could have easily been published in WD and then later on the web.

2. White Dwarf - Lots of people would put this in bad, but I'm giving the Dwarfer's an ok on the basis of an excellent Space Hulk issue and some inspiring painting articles.

3. Website - Another potential bad for a lot of people, but the recent appearance of some excellent modelling articles shove it up a notch for me.

Over to you... (Flashman runs for cover)

Ultimately, I dont care anymore. GW is ultimately irrelevant to my gaming fun.

Flashman wrote:
Good Stuff

You forgot Straken and Harker in your metal section.

carmachu wrote:Ultimately, I dont care anymore. GW is ultimately irrelevant to my gaming fun.

Thank you for adding so much to a great post.

GOOD:

I Think the Skaven line is one of the best out there. The new models a great.

Looks like they will be ramping up codex/army book releases in 2010

War of the Ring is a good system and I enjoy it very much

The new Terrain, just keeps getting better

BAD:

I don't think Planet Strike was exicuted well

White Dwarf is trying to do to much for to many people. I want to see WD with more focused articles

Better Relese schedule during the Summer months

Cheers

I agree with Carmachu.

GW is far from essential to my gaming fun and I have spent a lot more on non-GW stuff this year than GW stuff.

Space Hulk was good but over-hyped, with the result that it didn't sell out as expected.

My two real complaints against them are:

1. Amateur codex release schedule. For crying out loud, the Women's Institute could publish stuff faster. It simply does not take six months to write and typeset 64pp book.

2. The hissy fit towards Impact Miniatures and Blood Bowl fans concerning special character figures for Blood Bowl. That was just rather sad, childish, nasty, and unprofessional.

I don't take much notice of GW figures releases because I don't buy GW figures anymore, even for my GW armies. There are plenty of fantastic figures from other companies, much cheaper.

But I'm a hardcore wargaming vet and GW don't need me -- I was never in their market segment. They are focussed on the newby market.

Good stuff
A comitment to producing larger models in plastic. I never thought a stompa would be available through FW let alone in plastic and stocked in store!

Over all quality of new miniatures. Some cracking stuff released this year, as always there were a few turds on the buffet table but overall lots of nice stuff

Spacehulk

Bad stuff
White Dwarf. I get the feeling that this is becoming more and more tailored towards children, the only adult article (Standard Bearer) is painfully dull and there is little actual content aside from some useful painting tutorials

Range Gaps. Not only are there far too many armies lacking certain choices (rough riders!) but there are some decidedly dated looking figures which should have been replaced long ago (Ragnar Blackmane)

As far as things go for me, it really can't get any worse.

With the IG codex already out, and I'll leave it to H.B.M.C. for that insult to guard players (as good as it is, it's unintuitive and very un-guard-y) and a Witch Hunters codex nowhere in sight, as long as my local FLGS doesn't close down, things can't get any worse

I don't think that's the outlook I'd like to have, but it's still better than straight pessimism.

They already have a new nid codex in early 2010 and 8th ed fantasy planned for the fall. It looks like 2010 is going to be a release heavy year.

It's an interesting thing. With the new Guard codex, I win games more, and like playing less. I bought my last new figures in May, I believe, and it's unlikely anything will tempt me to purchase any more this year, so compared to 2008, even on those two counts this year has been a step downwards.

Space Hulk is definately a plus point for GW this year.

Everything else is just not worth getting into.

This is the year I finally fell out with 40k thanks to the dire Imperial Guard codex. Dawn of War now fulfils all my 40k needs. The Inquisition codex is the only thing that could bring me back to 40k but I have no faith in it being worth the paper it's written on (should it ever arrive).

None of their models they released were nice enough to make me play their terrible games with them (though many were very, very nice). Plastic Black Orcs are just the thing to convert into Bloodgorgers though. I bought into Uncharted Seas this year as GW continued to fail to make Man-O-War a Specialist game.

Space Hulk was the closest they got to doing something right, despite it being the most piss poor attempt to release something that I've ever seen.

my only prob with hulk is that those gorgeous minis are blood angels. And blood angels bling is excessive and hard for me to remove..

Worst is giving codex Khornate legions to spacewolves..

carmachu wrote:Ultimately, I dont care anymore. GW is ultimately irrelevant to my gaming fun.

I have to agree,I've grown a bit appathetic concerning GW.
And while they have released some nice kits/minis ,I just don't care much for their " bussines practices". (blanket statement covering various subjects ranging from price hikes to C&D orders).
For the most part ,unless GW releases somthing that simply blows me away,I plan on discontinuing any purchases of their products in the near future.

GW 2009 , completely tuned towards grabbing attention of new customers.
While neglecting most of the game vets ( or already owned GW products )

LunaHound wrote:
GW 2009 , completely tuned towards grabbing attention of new customers.
While neglecting most of the game vets ( or already owned GW products )

Because, you know, in a financial crisis you totally don't want new customers.

Cheese Elemental wrote:

LunaHound wrote:
GW 2009 , completely tuned towards grabbing attention of new customers.
While neglecting most of the game vets ( or already owned GW products )

Because, you know, in a financial crisis you totally don't want new customers.

Im stating a fact ( a recap of 2009 if you will which is what this thread is about ) . which im not discussing their business strategy.
Trust me cheese , as bad as my grammar are, as dumb as some of my posts are , business is not something i need to learn from you.

The Good:

Planetstrike - A fantastic concept for a great new style of play. Wonderfully designed and realised Bastion and Landing Pad kits that look quite limited but are actually very flexible.

Space Hulk - An amazing game brought back in what I have to say is one of the single best boxed sets GW has ever made. The cardstock and components are truly excellent, fit with the old set (even if they are about twice as thick), and the models that come in the box are simply mind boggling. A refined and well written product that returns the glory of 1st Ed Hulk and adds a new spin on a few things.



The Bad:

Planetstrike - It might be a wonderful concept, but its execution leaves something to be desired. It's less a game about laying siege to a fortified enemy base and more about just getting first turn charges. The defender gains more benefits for starting troops off the table, defeating the purpose of there being a defender at all, and the rules of 'Defender places terrain' and the whole Firestorm business lead to too many possibilities for 'dick moves'. Games of Planetstrike need to be organised in advance much like Apoc games, and played with a clear intent for a narrative-style approach. Playing it competitively just doesn't work.

Space Hulk - Not completely without its flaws, the limited release of Hulk was badly handled (especially as you can still buy copies). That and the game's limited 12 missions was quite sad, especially given the depth and breadth of missions we had in the past. 2nd Ed Hulk mightn't've been popular, but the damn book came with 18 missions to start in three separate campaigns. Plus all the WD campaigns that we got - nothing like that in current White Dwarf. A real shame and a terrible missed opportunity.



The Ugly:

Planetstrike - Planetstrike was awesome for the whole month GW remembered that it existed. Come the month after and it was Planetary Empires, then the month after that was Space Hulk. I get that this year was a big year for 40K, but after hyping Planetstrike up considerably, they certainly dropped it quicker than a $2 whore. Some serious support (rather than serious advertising) for the product in their failing magazine would have been nice.

Space Hulk - The whole 'Mystery Box' affair was a complete and utter farce, and we know that it turned a lot of people off buying Hulk out of sheer disgust for GW's idiotic and needlessly secretive antics. We've known Hulk was coming since Feb '09 (thanks to BOLS), so the secrecy of it all was a load of nonsense. Their threats to the staff were the worst however - with staff members being told that employment termination could result if they talked with customers about Space Hulk before it was announced. Sadly, the success of Space Hulk will be misconstrued by the clueless idiots at GW corporate as a success of the 'Mystery Box' idea, so we can expect even more needless and over-the-top secrecy in the future.

There are additional Stratagems for Planetstrike in this months White Dwarf (UK).

Too little. Too late.

Apoc got monthly releases of Datasheets for the first 3-4 months, and has had two successive waves and even a supplemental book. Granted, PS hasn't been around that long, but GW really just forgot about them the month after they had been released.

I'm thinking about getting into a Tyranids army, I hope the new codex will be well-done.

That's 2010 Zack.

I think this was a better year than 2008. A lot of GW's plans have been carried out with some degree of success. The bits packs that came out, although all over the place in quality, dull the pain of not having a bitz service slightly. The new Crimson Fists bits actually look rather nice, and the deffrolla sprue was great. Also, the quality of plastic kits is just going through the roof. The amount of options and details in the kits would have been thought to be impossible a few years ago. Rereleasing Space Hulk was a great idea too - if only they didn't make it a one-off.

As a Space Wolves player, I'm really happy with the new codex that was released. The Guard book was pretty solid too. Too few releases, but they're good ones at the very least.

Also, GW seems to have a somewhat solid plan right now. They haven't changed direction too much in the last year. Codeces are fairly consistent and have strayed from the brief foray into the dearth of options routine that the Dark Angels and Chaos Marines suffered. They're restructuring, and using modern tools (Twitter, the Internet) to communicate with fans and post articles. I really like their daily blog, even if it's a "new this week" post. White Dwarf, although nowhere near as good as it could be or used to be, has had some useful articles lately. Mostly on painting and modeling, but it's been worse.

OK, I'll take a stab:

Good - GW slows the Codex / Army Book releases in favor of things like Planetstrike and new terrain. My stuff stays valid longer, and that's a good thing when GW's pendulum swings only cause trouble and disruption for existing stuff.

Bad - GW pricing has finally reached the point that I will only buy on deep, deep discount. If they go much higher next year, then I won't buy at all.

OK - Space Hulk came out as a nice, little diversion from big Apoc battles. I like it, but it's just too small and limited to get excited over.

Overall, I'm OK with GW, but they shouldn't expect much spend from me beyond required rules maintenance for the foreseeable future.

I am a proud non-owner of Space Hulk. I've only played it a couple of times in the olden days, and was not impressed. They need to bring back Warhammer Quest. I played that so much I nearly had the damned thing memorized.

Good- They are getting better at making plastic kits , poses are more dynamic instead of the "point + scream + bald head "

Bad- They seem to be still having fun testing how far they can push their customer to pay out rages prices. ( Azhag the Slaughter , Storm Vermin + Skaven Battalion price )

I've kinda lost track what exactly came out for 2009. This is geared towards 40K as its pretty much the only GW game I play.

The BAD:

-2 Codexes? Is this correct? Really? The policy of not producing a new codex w/o a new line of minis is just not working out. Please GW, release the codexes and get us the minis as you produce them. I'm still fond of the old days where new minis from any army could come out on any given month. I don't own and am not willing to build every army that gets released, so getting something new for an existing army every few months is kind of nice.

-Planetstrike: I've waited so long to have a campaign system for 40K. After buying it, I was really dismayed to find it was very heavy on tiles (IE: map) and very little substance with the rules.

-WD. It still seems like its only focus is to advertise latest releases. I'm finding better hobby/painting/showcase content on their website. And b/c they don't allow non GW advertisements, the magazine saw yet another significant price increase.

-Price debacle (I think this was in 2009, can't quite remember). I was ready to buy the GW terrain board, but my local shop kept getting updates to the price of the set. By the end, it had jumped $100 before even being released. I did not purchase it as a result.

The GOOD

-Plastics. I'm a fan of the plastic models GW is producing. The detail and versatility of the plastics range is fantastic and I'm keep lining up to buy more. I've got over 3000 points painted and seveal thousand more to go.

-Terrain. I've wanted this for years and they continue to not disappoint. I really like the new terrain that came out with Planetstrike. Great stuff that is usable in any game. If they keep making it with this kind of quality, I'll continue to buy.

-Space Hulk. Not a good secret, but the game is back with the sickest set of Termies and Genestealers I've ever laid eyes on.

Cheese Elemental wrote:

LunaHound wrote:
GW 2009 , completely tuned towards grabbing attention of new customers.
While neglecting most of the game vets ( or already owned GW products )

Because, you know, in a financial crisis you totally don't want new customers.

Normal business practice is to retain customers rather than shed them for new ones. Reason being it is more expensive and difficult to get new customers. The existence of the GW retail chain proves that. Their retail outlets are principally a marketing device to get new customers. The chain is extremely expensive to operate.

LunaHound wrote:

Cheese Elemental wrote:

LunaHound wrote:
GW 2009 , completely tuned towards grabbing attention of new customers.
While neglecting most of the game vets ( or already owned GW products )

Because, you know, in a financial crisis you totally don't want new customers.

Im stating a fact ( a recap of 2009 if you will which is what this thread is about ) . which im not discussing their business strategy.
Trust me cheese , as bad as my grammar are, as dumb as some of my posts are , business is not something i need to learn from you.

There's no reason to be rude. The way you put it, it sounded like you were whining about GW again. There, we misunderstood each other.

It has most certainly been a good year for me: the Stompa, Shadowsword, those wonderful additions to the Imperial Guard range (especially the Valkyrie kit and the Advisors blister), Space Hulk and Planetstrike with assorted kits and packs.

Well, i can't really complain. Feb was Lizardmen, I collect, May was Guard, I really like them, Planetstrike is good, SW and Skaven both look awesome and Jan is Nids. Not too sure on Feb though, Beastmen.