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I like them. 7/10. But I tend to be fairly harsh on 1-10 tests. I can't think of ANY company I'd give a 10 to.

6/10, simply because of prices and lack of customer communication and imbalances/codex creep.

There really isnt anything else to complain about, great models, great fluff, but those are huge concerns.

6/10

Pros: I love the background and many of the models GW produces. Even if I gave up the game I would buy the occasional model to paint. Love Black Library, maybe even more than actually playing the game or modeling.

Cons: Recent price increases, the price to field a competitive army is almost prohibitive with lower points values and higher cost per model. Poorly worded rulebooks and army books across the board. Lack of models for some ranges, lack of weapon options included with certain models/boxes.

Like the 40k universe, but hate the GW universe: high prices, secrecy, lack of communication.

4/10

I love most of the models.

The fluff has been going more and more peculiar year by year (shaman generated Emperor? , The new Grey Knights stuff etc etc )

The built in pro-imperial slant is incredibly annoying, as is the ludicrously long wait between non-imperial updates. The armies being 50% imperial variant to 50 non-imperial is vexing also.

The company's secrecy policy, business practises and pricing are a major turnoff.

The ruleset is poorly written, and baised towards a melta and vehicle spam meta that favours certain armies..

Can't fault the models (mostly) but the rest..

I loved GW when I was younger, yes people called them the 'evil empire' back then too, but now I agree. I'm fed up of their aggression towards the rest of the industry and the way they define themselves as the be-all of wargaming, the paranoia about the wider gaming world. White Dwarf is a rag. The prices have gone to insanity. The finecast is a turn off. Their business practices towards places like Australia just make me shake my head, although I'm not directly affected by it I sympathise with the frustration. It simply can't be ignored. GW simply isn't the company I grew up with, they have dumbed down their game systems and the fluff and their 'hard sell' techniques make visiting their shops almost so painful that I simply steer clear. I buy very little GW now, but when I do it's from anywhere but a GW store.

Their models are typically very good. The Finecast look horrible but that's a recent change, the metal and plastic of recent years has been superb irrespective of the prices, but there's a lot of other people churning out the same for less. The only other thing they get right is customer service, you have a broken/miscast model they'll replace it fast. Yes it's their legal duty to do so, but they really do a good job of it.

2/10

Irredeemable company that holds nothing but contempt for their customer base. The fact that they produce pretty little toys in no way divorces them from their corrupt business principals, inability to make effective business decisions, insane and inane need for secrecy, or the laughable rules they push.

Whatever the opposite answer is to the last time my opinion on this was asked for. Just to confuse and annoy and because my opinion will not change them unless suddenly I get enough cash to buy a controlling share of the company.

For me, my distaste for GW is death by 1000 cuts. I give them 2/10. Here's how I rated:

Started at 0.

How awesome is the GW Hobby? THIS AWESOME...

+5 for engrossing background.
+5 for generally awesome models.
+5 for excellent customer service.
+5 for extensive player network.
+5 for great paint range
--------------------------------------------------
+25/10

Things GW did to chip away at my loyalty:

-1 for axing bitz service. I understand why they did it, but it doesn't lessen the disapointment.
-1 for price differences across regions (GWUS/GWCAN era). - I live in Canada, paying an average of a 25% premium and then 15% tax over the US MSRP is hard to swallow.
-1 for price differences across regions (GW North America Era)
-1 for AUS embargo
-1 for corporate excues to justify above price diferences.
-1 for annual price adjustments (built up over over 10+ years).
-0 for Finecast
-1 for making Finecast more expensive than the 2nd edition models that they are recasts of.
-1 for corporate excuses to justify above price increases (built up over over 10+ years).
-1 for axing their loyalty promotions.
-1 for axing sales and auctions.
-1 for dumbing down of core ruleset.
-1 for enforced reverse compatibility between v3 to V5.
-1 for slow releases to fix problems generated by core ruleset changes.
-1 for relasing more SPESS MEHREIENS EQ. than all the non MEQ armies combined.
-1 for lack of FAQs in light of the slow release cycle to fix problems generated by core ruleset changes.
-1 for gutting the RT tournament support.
-1 for axing the Canadian GD / GT circuit.
-1 for axing the Canadian events team.
-1 for axing the US events team.
-1 for marginalizing White Dwarf (no player features, few masterclasses and death of Chapter Approved)
-1 for initiating very tight rumor control, trying to prop up White Dwarf with this move and trying to paint this move as justified.
-1 for marginalizing Specialist Games
-1 for sending Cease and Desists to their fanbase
--------------------------------------------------
-23

Hence: 2/10

My general opinion: My favorite wargame/models (WH40K) are made by my least favorite company (GW and it's many fails and flaws).

Sort of like refusing to leave an abusive relationship...

4/10.

If you'd asked me 6-8 years ago I'd have said 10/10.

The downfall has been recent, and it has been quick.

WD got ruined, specialist games stopped, prices tripled, lawsuits got handed out like candy, army books ceased to have any attempt at balance and had their background butchered.. then to top it off we got southern hemisphere ban and finecast this year.

As for Mantic? Freaking 10/10. For a company with a dozen employees it is doing a hell of a lot of things right (interacting with community, open betas on it's rules, mantic points, cheap models, free rules with balanced and constantly updated army lists, one specialist game and expansion released, mantic journal is a great read), and damn-near approaching GW in terms of product range (Kings of War, at least is a currently viable and excellent alternative to warhammer, with 5 released armies).

Unfortunately, you won't find many people that will take that into account, the vast majority of people are happier to pay GW prices and put up with anything because the product range is massive, the sculpts are good, and the *background* is good.. that's the only thing that GW really has left IMO, the evocative background that was laid down all those years ago.

My general opinion about GW is the following balance.

Pros

1- Spacehulk
2- Citadel washes and primers
3- The original genestealer fluff and Nids
4- Superb Plastic kits
5- Starter deals
6- The fact that GW in the past made our hobby something more mainstream for all
7- Golden Deamons
8- Old games like necromunda, mordheim, bloodbowl etc
9- The artwork
10- The huge numbers of sculptors they trained and sacked (that then opened new miniatures companies...)

Cons
1- Finecast
2- Overpriced
3- Anti Net
4- Anti Marketing
5- Fluff simplifications
6- Shifting from a cool nerd game for all ages to something JUST for kids
7- Legal issues and fan bullying ( bloodbowl for example) ( freeloaders and embargo episodes)
8- Model quality is no longer the best in the market.
9- Immense time gaps between your army of choice updates and the silence treatment between that
10- Red books and silly ridiculous ways of presenting themselves to a much informed fanbase.

THere are more things and its probably a tie... If I was to base my opinion just based on the present it would be a very negative note but I cannot discard the brilliant past and some of the things they did... 6/10

The problem is that many new companies today do have a higher score IMO.

Low on the totem pole. Not at the bottom, though (yet).

They produce nice miniatures (but aren't alone in this).
They produce middling games rules (not the worst I've seen, but I have definitely seen better).
Their marketing is nonexistent outside of their stores.
Their sales model is flawed.
Their monthly catalogue is expensive and lacking other content.

Yes, I like their game background (well, the original one, not this pious and zealous space k-niggits crap) but I liked them before they were *homaged*cough* from their sources to make it.
I like bits of the backgrounds of other games, too. I got spacehulk (1989) not because it was a game in the 40k universe, but because it was a 'marines v aliens' game on a tunnel board.

When I started out, they were probably an 8 or so. We had no GW stores (ONLY independents, we've had their stores for around 20 years).
Over the years, that rating has slid down the pole to hover slightly below a 3.
At least it's higher than the rating I give to WD (I'd give it a negative if I could but that would mean I cared more about it than I do).

8.

They charge too much for how many models you get, but, you can work around that with a little effort, and all companies are out to maximize their profits, I dont see why their aggressive sales pitch annoys people to the degree it does. Just do what I do, never go into the GW stores and use Ebay, and it goes right on over your head.

Fact is, their games background pisses all over everything else out there. I have never read a background story for another game that is anything like as absorbing, and the BL has released some genuinely good sci-fi, far far better than I believed it would be when I cynically picked up the Eisenhorn trilogy expecting it to be sub par fan fiction for a toy game.

MrMerlin wrote:I've been wondering how the average dakka user feels about them

Mine is 7/10. Considering the fact that nearly all my money goes to them and I love their games and fluff stories, it should be 10, but the prices and some other recent issues (finecast) put a dent into that. But I still like them.

How do you feel about them?

When I started playing, 10/10. As they continued on thier downward spiral, my journey to the mountains of madness progressed from 100% behind the company to a rather agitated fan, to an irate ex fan in the space of six to eight months. Now it is at 0/10. I give two craps about thier industrial strength B.S. that they continue to fleece the general public with, and they are now a laughing stock joke of the industry of how not to be.

I'm now back to the beginning of my introduction to GW's Rogue Trader, and trying to recapture the magic, fun, wonder, or whatever it was that first attracted me to them.

I have that feeling with RAFM's UFX line, combined with Reaper, Cobblestone, etc, but as far as GW? No. I'm digging thier old stuff out of nastalga, rather then any real sense of attraction to thier new stuff. If anything, I'm just apathetic to the current brain trust that have taken it upon themselves to @#$% up a perfectly good system. I see the money grubbing, the double speak, and the hypocracy for what it is, and hope that one day they see it in themselves to actually have an epiphany and wake themselves up from thier assclownishness kool aid swill stupor that they have themselves continued to push onto the market in general, and just fail so badly that they go back and relearn the lessions of thier past that put them on the top of the industry once upon a time.

Old gaming has the advantage of not being Tinkered with by know it alls and has beens that have taken it upon themselves to run GW into the ground.

Necromunda is still safe with me, and I have an on again off again fun factor with Mordhiem, and I play it with more... unconventional gangs thwen I do with GW's stuff.

I play a little Cutlass, and am getting my paint on with PP's stuff, though I'm, not a real big fan of some of the jagoff's I've met who are TFG types that are out there. I see them anymore, I just walk the other way. Better for me, better for them.

Other games, such as Golgo Island, Star Mogual, and Cutlass are interesting and, are to me the general next step in games like Necromunda/ Mordhiem.

Going back to the basics of get a handful of miniatures, and play a basic game of gang fight, add in some extra skills and earn some stuff, and improve the gang. I've had great fun with Zombies, Cthuhlu stuff, and some fantasy and Sci Fi stuff.

Best thing is I don't have to shell out fifty to a hundred bucks for a book, when there are a good number of free rules sets out there on the web, and scenarios, additional material and figures are there to go back to square one, and play some fun stuff without having to sell your first born and house for a few boxes of plastic figures, and some metal stuff, along with a set of model tanks, or vehicles for about ten bucks each for as much as you get for 50 from the GW machine.

keezus wrote:For me, my distaste for GW is death by 1000 cuts. I give them 2/10. Here's how I rated:

Started at 0.

How awesome is the GW Hobby? THIS AWESOME...

+5 for engrossing background.
+5 for generally awesome models.
+5 for excellent customer service.
+5 for extensive player network.
+5 for great paint range
--------------------------------------------------
+25/10

Things GW did to chip away at my loyalty:

-1 for axing bitz service. I understand why they did it, but it doesn't lessen the disapointment.
-1 for price differences across regions (GWUS/GWCAN era). - I live in Canada, paying an average of a 25% premium and then 15% tax over the US MSRP is hard to swallow.
-1 for price differences across regions (GW North America Era)
-1 for AUS embargo
-1 for corporate excues to justify above price diferences.
-1 for annual price adjustments (built up over over 10+ years).
-0 for Finecast
-1 for making Finecast more expensive than the 2nd edition models that they are recasts of.
-1 for corporate excuses to justify above price increases (built up over over 10+ years).
-1 for axing their loyalty promotions.
-1 for axing sales and auctions.
-1 for dumbing down of core ruleset.
-1 for enforced reverse compatibility between v3 to V5.
-1 for slow releases to fix problems generated by core ruleset changes.
-1 for relasing more SPESS MEHREIENS EQ. than all the non MEQ armies combined.
-1 for lack of FAQs in light of the slow release cycle to fix problems generated by core ruleset changes.
-1 for gutting the RT tournament support.
-1 for axing the Canadian GD / GT circuit.
-1 for axing the Canadian events team.
-1 for axing the US events team.
-1 for marginalizing White Dwarf (no player features, few masterclasses and death of Chapter Approved)
-1 for initiating very tight rumor control, trying to prop up White Dwarf with this move and trying to paint this move as justified.
-1 for marginalizing Specialist Games
-1 for sending Cease and Desists to their fanbase
--------------------------------------------------
-23

Hence: 2/10

This, a thousand times this. They have so much going for them, yet they seem to bungle it all up in the details.
I think the final straw for me was them trying to sell me DE scourges that could have two of the same special weapon per five models, nay they NEED two of the same special weapon for every five guys to function, and they gave us a box with only ONE of each special weapon in it.

Get frelled GW, I'm tired of being sold what ammounts to incomplete kits, I wouldn't buy a models car that didn't come with 4 freaking tires and I'm not buying any more units that don't come with all the options needed to make them playable.

I'm going with a 5. The universe is fantastic and the models great, but I can't help but feel the game itself is lacking in some way and it is fething expensive.

GW got me into the hobby, but I stayed for the myriad of other companies, rule sets, and miniature lines out there.

I like Games Workshop's universes. As much as stuff gets griped about, I enjoy most of their games. GW's customer service is excellent. However, they do have some rather intense PR issues and they're criminally managed (literally for a while, with Tom Kirby being both CEO and Chairman of the Board, illegal under UK law, and he did exactly what that law was designed to prevent, stuff like *borrowing* money to pay dividends to stockholders which conveniently doubled his yearly salary), they're upper management seems to not quite really understand their customers or demographics or in many cases their own business.

Also, as cliche as it is, their pricing is becoming ludicrous. It's one thing to adjust prices to keep up with inflation. It's another to make it an actual planned event with yearly price step increases. 5 years ago, a Codex was $20, now they're $33. Their cost certainly has not risen by 65%, inflation certainly doesn't account for anything conceivably near that, nor any combination of such factors bar absolutely incompetent management and production mishaps which even for GW seems a stretch so we're left simply with they feel they can get such a price. However, I feel they're pricing themselves out of the market. I've recently picked up two other systems with more than enough models for typical play (Infinity and Firestorm Armada) for less than half what a typical full 2000pt GW WH40k army would be.


So, I should say, I like GW IP, I like their customer service, and I like most of their products, but as an actual corporate entity there's not a whole lot to like.

My score for GW wasn’t too high. The main reason being due to 5th edition rules (lack of quality and balance), lack of non IoM releases, ROW embargo, price, lack of quality in White Dwarf and lack of errata. The lack of quality in their rules was probably the main reason why I quit GW.

Good thing with places like ChapterHouse, MicroArts Studio, Maxmini, it’s possible to follow 40k and not buy GW.

scarletsquig wrote:4/10.

If you'd asked me 6-8 years ago I'd have said 10/10.

The downfall has been recent, and it has been quick.

WD got ruined, specialist games stopped, prices tripled,

So a few years ago basic squads were only $15au?

I remember when you could get 3 rhinos for about the cost of one now.

The prices have got a bit insane.

-Loki- wrote:

scarletsquig wrote:4/10.

If you'd asked me 6-8 years ago I'd have said 10/10.

The downfall has been recent, and it has been quick.

WD got ruined, specialist games stopped, prices tripled,

So a few years ago basic squads were only $15au?

I'll take the catachans boxset as an example.

When I bought it about 8 years ago it was £12 for 20. All basic squads were £12, no idea what that meant in AUD at the time.

Now it's £18.50 for 10, which is an increase of more than triple.

The vast majority of GW models have either doubled or tripled in price since 3rd edition 40k and 6th edition warhammer.

4/10

My initial score of 7/10 was based on my love of GW from long ago, plus the fact that GW still could have the potential to be a good company.

However, with the release of newer armies that still do not fufill their own niche area, with the elimination of metal and the finecast fiasco, plus shoddy FAQing and fluff.

I would say that 4/10 reflects what games workshop has become, and sadly what needs to occur for games workshop to become a major fan-based company.

Ascalam wrote:I remember when you could get 3 rhinos for about the cost of one now.

The prices have got a bit insane.

And I remember when a pack of cigarettes was 89 cents. It doesn't mean the prices are high; it means you're older.

8/10

Amazing customer support, the best product line in the business, awesome fluff, and the stock pays consistent dividends.

If asked prior to failcast I would have said 9/10. Although, I'm against resin products in general.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Keep up the great work GW!

7/10 mostly because they aren't supporting tournament play and marketing themselves as well as they should be.
I don't think they get enough credit for the quality of their plastic kits.

RanTheCid wrote:3/10 pretty much done with GW at this point. 8th ed WFB is a wreck. Can't stand the shift to over sized vehicles in 40K. Warhammer historical seems to be trying to run off their customers. Still Devlan Mud must count for something....

You noticed that too eh? Warhammer historical has been the red headed step child for years.

8/10

Honestly, I think they're a solid company. It's easy from our limited perspective to just blame GW and moan, but IMHO they're expanding and I'm happy for them. They have a great background, decent ruleset, and awesome miniatures.

The only thing I'll harp about is prices. And the number of Space Marine armies.

I gave them a 7. Points were lost because of their ultra expensive prices, particularly in Australia and their 'you can't sell to those outside Europe policy'. But I do love the models, the hobby, the fluff and the friendly staff at my LGS

Hey, thanks for voting and posting guys! With the 200 votes we have now you can see that dakkas opinion of gw is something around 6/10.

Keep 'em coming!