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A member of my Local GW started telling me about these. He really wanted the sale and I really hate the idea of them.

"Its £150 and you get 6 half board deigned..."
I was like what!? I'm away to B&Q I can make my own for a hell of a lot cheaper and I will enjoy it more.

Then he started telling me all the great things about it, okay so it is premade and they do look neat, but so is my dinners most nights and they dont cost me my soul.

There is no way I am buying them. I like the idea of them using it to show off but I want the actual game boards to be custom made. If I cant make/move/rebuild a board then what's the point? I don't want the same game every time I play.

Kanluwen wrote:Just a quick statement here:

They do this every few years. They've been doing it for quite awhile.

Indeed.

My local sold off a few itmes of terrain -- the most expensive being the old chapel piece -- the one with the stained glass window that they pushed..then removed..then gave away..then sold as a rare piece.. a few years ago.

Then they sold off a load of models that were sat in the store cupboards, mainly things like metal trolls, old WoC models, some of the many marine armies, old dark elf models,, basically a stock clearence type affair.

If all goes to plan then tomorrow I should get a painted Salamander Land Raider and ork weirdboy !

I really don't get why people are thinking this is the end of the world.

Generic tables with nothing tying them to one system(even if they're just based off the ROB) are a far better option if you've got limited gaming space.

But yeah, I wish I had a local GW now to go loot it for terrain for my home table.

The reason why people are disappointed is because GW were for a long time genuinely a leader in the wargame hobby. They demonstrated this in part by their encouragement and examples of going beyond the off-the-shelf stuff and use your imagination and skills to make something new and interesting.

If the news is true, that is going away thanks to a market segmentation plan which is basically to spoon-feed teenyboppers ready-made stuff and spurn veterans.

That certainly makes sense from the viewpoint of maximising Citadel model sales, but it's disappointing to a genuine wargamer.

All the terrain will be the same standardised Imperial kits, so there won't be as much variety.

Kilkrazy wrote:
If the news is true, that is going away thanks to a market segmentation plan which is basically to spoon-feed teenyboppers ready-made stuff and spurn veterans.

Yeah.

With all due respect to the OP... I'm not entirely sure this is quite the case.

For example last weekend my local store had a deal where you spent ..err....£X ( enough to cover the cost of the kit and literally a £ or 2 more ) .. and you built and took home one of the Citadel forest kits; basing materials, water affects, glue, sand, odds and sods from the bitz box etc etc and were taught how to build your own "swamp" scenery piece..all included.

This was then followed up with games involving the new river trolls and the terrain pieces constructed.

I'm sure there is, to go along with the recent dropping of the "10 commandments" and their recent "reshuffling" ( ie lets add another level of middle management ..much like we used to have before, with regards to regional sales managers anyway ) pressure to "push" the GW kits and models but I think the store managers are, generally, given a bit more leeway with regards to things like this if... IF sales/turnover is good.

I agree that sucks and they should give out free glue/paint/baneblades/sexual favours......*thinks*...hmm...maybe not the latter upon reflection...upon demand.. but.. well... times is tough.

Not as tough as they make out IMO... but WTF do I know eh ...

..

Well to be fair they are a business trying to make money and are not stopping you for building your own boards and terrains, just offering you an alternative (an expensive one)

Which I like, if you are not good at the whole board making thing or you dont have time ect you can buy them at a high cost.

But I like making my own boards and such it feels better when playing.

We know they are a business because every second post says so.
Point is Little Timmy goes in with momsy and popsy
get the spiel, buy the stuff

Fine as far as it goes' which is only as far as a pound coin will stretch

The real cost is the imagination and creativity that has gone unused. All Timmy has learned is how to spend momsy and popsy's dosh.

General Mayhem wrote:They are a SHOP first and a club second. They don't charge me for my games at Vets night each week...

Yet.

Fifty wrote:

General Mayhem wrote:They are a SHOP first and a club second. They don't charge me for my games at Vets night each week...

Yet.

And even then they often only let you play the big three, none of the others. So even buying only GW stuff isn't good enough for them, it has to be their popular stuff. To sell you models and games and tell you that you can't play them in store because they are "specialist" games has some cheek. Can you even play Space Hulk in store at the moment?

Ah but specialist games tend not to rely on crate loads of mini armies to play.

or am I being cynical?

GW's terrain has expanded quite a bit in recent years, and it's not hard to make detailed and versatile terrain using only GW kits.

Unless you use the Realm of Battle Battleboard.

As soon as you add that thing into the mix, each table becomes the same limited canvass and results in the same thing happening every time. Want to play a forest map? Ok, but you'll have those hills and skull pits. Wanna play a coastal map? Ok, but you'll have those hills and skull pits! How about an ice world? Ok, but you'll still have those hills and skull pits. A flat scarred wasteland, covered in craters and the remnants from orbital bombardments? Ok, but those hills and skull pits are always going to be there. What about a nice detailed urban land scape, filled with a nice grid-like map of the streets and buildings? Sounds great, but you'll have to work that around the ever-present hills and skull pits.

The RoB Board is anti-imagination, and if GW stores really have been ordered to get rid of everything that they cannot sell, then those tables will suffer for it.

As others have said, the big problem with the ROB is lack of variety. I don;t mind the new policy so much, but I agree that I wish I didn't have to play with the same 4 hills and 2 flats. I simply wish that there were more tiles for the RoB system, like lakes, streams, more hills, roads, trenches, one where you could drill out holes for trees with pegs... This would let GW kill 2 birds with one stone. I'd also say I wished for things other than Imperial terrain, (although, Ork terrain is pretty easy to bung together with a sizable bitz box) but I've been wishing for that way before this happened.

Before any want to accuse me of being a GW apologist, I'm just saying, I suppose the only reason I don;t mind the policy change is because I haven't seen any home built terrain pieces that really wow'd me. Most of it is so obvious that it used to be a card board box, or a soda can, or whatever else.

Supposedly, we're going to be seeing new tiles for the RoB, at some point--but we just have no clue when at all.

if, or should i say when, this policy happens here i know i'll be headed down to the Chicago battlebunker to get a few of their tables. in all honesty it is a sad day

Howard A Treesong wrote:Can you even play Space Hulk in store at the moment?

http://www.the-vanus-temple.com/?p=1955

For some reason, my local GW won’t let us play Space Hulk in the store, no idea why..

A smart GW store facing these changes would use the GW plastid board to promote sales on it and then create lots of scratchbuilts like mountains etc on top of it to promote the sale of the hobby related products like flocks glues etc and mix them with GW kits.

I'm not sure that that would be allowed. Excessive use of sheet styrene, foamboard, plasticard, expanding foam, chicken wire etc are all out.
The best they could do to get a mountain or cliff face, as an example, would be cutting rockface sections from the ROB and modular hills. Glueing them together and greenstuffing the joins.

Customer: Wow, that's a pretty cool looking mountain.

Staff: Yeah, it's all made with stuff you can buy from this store.

Customer: Awesome, what would I need to build my own at home?

Staff: Ok, that's made from 16 hill sections. so that'll be two ROB boards at £300 and I think we used about 48 strips of GS and 8 tubes of glue.
It's really ace because you will have all of the flat sections from your ROB boards left over.
You can use this to make new terrain from or make half a flat ROB board with built in bolter noises every time you roll the dice!

Customer: Hmmmm (Exits stage right).

Alex Kolodotschko wrote:I'm not sure that that would be allowed. Excessive use of sheet styrene, foamboard, plasticard, expanding foam, chicken wire etc are all out.
The best they could do to get a mountain or cliff face, as an example, would be cutting rockface sections from the ROB and modular hills. Glueing them together and greenstuffing the joins.

Customer: Wow, that's a pretty cool looking mountain.

Staff: Yeah, it's all made with stuff you can buy from this store.

Customer: Awesome, what would I need to build my own at home?

Staff: Ok, that's made from 16 hill sections. so that'll be two ROB boards at £300 and I think we used about 48 strips of GS and 8 tubes of glue.
It's really ace because you will have all of the flat sections from your ROB boards left over.
You can use this to make new terrain from or make half a flat ROB board with built in bolter noises every time you roll the dice!

Customer: Hmmmm (Exits stage right).

In my interpretation that would be the oposite of "smart" GW store.
I have been looking for a terrain board for my place, and man GW kits are very nice to populate boards but the actual board is PITA to play on with those atached hills... and I dont even going to mention the price. Its boring to look at and you still have to flock it if you dont want an even more slippery hills.
I have read some reviews about the joins and well they are not that tight... so what I'm trying to say is if GW stores are only going to carry these as they are out of the box not only is boring and a world of frustation to manouvre on those hills but its POINTLESS.
I say pointless because this is a product aimed for your house, since its easy to store in tight places after its used... but GW stores have permanent tables. In your house you have to swallow the crappy joints, and the cutted board in 2X2 squares that look not so good when comparing to a full board... but on a store with permanent table you dont have to swallow that.

I would be entirely fine with this decision if GW's terrain range was expansive enough to have some variety. While it's true that they've increased their ready-made terrain in recent years, they still don't have enough of certain key ingredients (hills, roads, etc.) to make this decision worthwhile.

Or if you are wanting terrain for home or club you can make your own!

As I have said elsewhere, for the money I am not impressed with the engineering and fit of parts of the buildings.

Not only that Cynthia, but the 40K range seems centred on Imperium landscapes.
Ok given the dominance of the SM market that is sort of understandable, but don't SM's ever go off world?

Maybe they only make Imperial Terrain so "Timmy" can use his imagination and creativity to make Xenos terrain.

It strikes me as odd that you're against GW manufactured terrain in one post and then complain, for lack of a better word, about them not making more terrain.

Smug mode I'm not the best terrain maker in the world, so I'm glad I hung on to all those old WDs and the making terrain book.
Another nail in the coffin of the GW stores. Does anybody remember the relaxed days of bearded bikers painting their miniatures, or being able to have a few cans of cider whilst playing the games? Those days, these types of gamers, and the managers that encouraged that kind of atmosphere, are long gone, and there is a tear in my eye.

Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:
Not only that Cynthia, but the 40K range seems centred on Imperium landscapes.
Ok given the dominance of the SM market that is sort of understandable, but don't SM's ever go off world?

Agreed. I'd like to see some structures that are perhaps still human, but are less Imperium-based. Like fero-crete warehouses, tenement block, residential blocks, etc. Plus, some non-human stuff would be great too. But GW seems intent on making all their buildings to be of the gothicy Imperium variety.

You know, upon reflection, I prefer the types of buildings featured in 1st edition rulebook to the stuff they currently push.

Gamble wrote:Maybe they only make Imperial Terrain so "Timmy" can use his imagination and creativity to make Xenos terrain.

It strikes me as odd that you're against GW manufactured terrain in one post and then complain, for lack of a better word, about them not making more terrain.

My dear old thing, I'm not complaining, just observing. (that is the word you were looking for )
Timmy will have jacked in 40K long before he gives a damn about Xenos terrain anyway!

For the record, I'm not against GW terrain per se.
It is preferable imho if people can have a go and make their own.
One of the pleasurable aspects of Dakka is seeing the creativity and imagination that members display in producing there own table top accessories.
Some of it is inspiring.
Also there are other makers of excellent stuff out there if you want to spend your dollars.

What I am objecting to is the standardising of terrain types and the poor fit of the stuff they do make, given how much they charge for the kits.
Not really being much of a gamer I can only speculate that it must be more interesting to play on differently styled and unique tables rather than a slight variation on a theme.
The same old quasi-gothic manufactotem starts to dull the senses.

I like how people reflect there personalities through how the collect and model their armies.
All I am saying is that it is good to do the same with the terrain.

Not really familiar with the 1st ed Cynthia ;*)
Have seen Gorkamunda style buildings, is that close?

The battle board look nice enough but they are a bit plain compared to the "Mines of Moria" our local GW did have in the shop.

£150 for six boards seems a bit over the top. I am currenlty making my own board for playing on at home. For £35 I got a MDF Board as a base some plained timber for a border and polystyrene sheets to make the terrain features. That is 1/4 of the GW cost (plus a little time to assemble).

I like GW's terrain, but it would be real nice if they made some xenos stuff, and it could still be used on any board really.. like some eldar ruins, or nid spore spikey things that FW has.

Howard A Treesong wrote:
And even then they often only let you play the big three, none of the others. So even buying only GW stuff isn't good enough for them, it has to be their popular stuff. To sell you models and games and tell you that you can't play them in store because they are "specialist" games has some cheek. Can you even play Space Hulk in store at the moment?

Twenty Seven years ago I played my first ever GW game...the original Black & White Talisman boardgame. Since then I have played everything from Rogue Trooper to Man-O-War, Hero Quest to Space Crusade to Battlefleet Gothic and everything in between as well as Fantasy and 40K...they have always concentrated on the popular stuff because that is what they want to showcase to prospective customers. Sadly I have seen the stores go from a gamers inspiration to the current incarnation and it 'aint pretty. 40K has aways been my first love and the models keep getting better but I refuse to buy them direct from GW anymore, not when there are on-line stores willing to sell stuff at a 20% discount.

That said I did let the wife buy me the FW Model Masterclass book on Saturday...early birthday pressie but the she won't let me take it out of the cellophane yet...BOOO!

The new "trainee manager" tried flogging me a box of terrain bits for £20 but I declined. I have a load of profesionally made modular terrain boards and hills that I bought years ago and still use now. There are any number of companies who produce excellent quality modular terrain at a fraction of the cost of GW's ROB crap...even a cursory Google search will find a good number of them. No fixed hills or skull pits or extra's to buy to paint, flock or sand the darned things either.

I asked the manager if he frequented Dakka to which he replied "I try to stay off the forums".

"why?" said I "don't you like hearing the truth about your companies money-grabbing ways?"...a resigned shake of the head was my answer and that from a new member of staff.

GW is now a corporate monster catering to our hobby and touting themselves as the pinnacle of Wargaming evolution and sadly we are hooked. I will never give up my hobby but maybe there will come a day when we all say enough is enough and turn elsewhere for our fix...till then we will continue to lap it up.

Or he probably wasn't too thrilled to hear something equivalent to the imbeciles who holler at the families of politicians about their family members.

I can't believe they could possibly be considering this if any other store is anything like the Chicago Battle Bunker in Downers Grove IL. They must have something like 30+ tables(probably more with the expansion) of which 90% of them are scratch built. It certainly would take away any reason for me to go out there to play any non-competitive games.

NecronLord3 wrote:I can't believe they could possibly be considering this if any other store is anything like the Chicago Battle Bunker in Downers Grove IL. They must have something like 30+ tables(probably more with the expansion) of which 90% of them are scratch built. It certainly would take away any reason for me to go out there to play any non-competitive games.

agreed, but it would be nice if they sold their trench line board