What can be done to boost Fantasy's popularity?

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**SkaerKrow**

A 33% price drop across the board, and army starter sets that actually include copies of the rules and relevant army book entries in the box (or at the very least, download codes). WHFB is currently the most expensive hobby game on the market, and it had no entry point for new players. These both need to change if the game is to have any shot at recovery.

**Sin_Un_Nombre**

I have to agree with some of the posters above. The barrier for entry into WHFB is too high. I've had an interest in playing for the last 3 years, but never the capital to fully pull the trigger. Buying secondhand OOP and IoB on eBay can only get you so far.

I would love to see more support for Mordheim or something similar at the skirmish level. Possibly an expansion or erratta or something to make 500-1000 point Games more viable. I put together a 500 point SM bike army for 40k skirmish with smart eBaying and trading for around $50 or so and about two months' time. I'd love to do the same in WHFB.

Though, and I hate to be another doomsayer, I believe GW's lost me for good. I recentlydiscovered Hordes of the TThings, or HotT, and it's exactly what I want in a fantasy game. I can play any GW army (as I'm doing with my HE), or more off-the-wall sillier stuff like Pagan Barbarians and Terracotta Samurai.

I hope my incoherent rambling .Ade some semblance or sense to some of you. Thanks for putting up with it.

**PirateRobotNinjaofDeath**

I did the math in another thread, but the MSRP for my current Tomb Kings tournament army, at 2,500 points, came to around $810 CAD. That's not even counting the probably $300 MSRP in units that I've shelved.

Now of course I didn't *pay* that much, but that's hardly the point now is it? If the cost is so high that few - if any - people are paying full retail for their armies then they've obviously priced themselves above the most efficient level.

**Ruberu**

First off, Fantasy is a high unit based game (I play Lizardmen and Skaven...). That being said, despite being able to buy models else where for cheaper, the price must go down. Also, they need to stop lowering the model count. 10 clans rats for $30 is absurd compaired to the 20 I used to get for $30.

Second, they need to stop changing the way the game is played. I have not played the new addition, but it looks like magic got ripped apart, and at least with the new Lizardmen codex, it looks like they butchered the magic items as well.

I started Lizardmen back when the codex was a White Dwarf (bless the White Dwarfs soul

) 206 if I recall correctly. Every addition made my Carnosaur Old-Blood less and less powerful. Cutting special spawnings was the first. So I moved to a Slann, and now magic got boned. They need to stop making armies uncustomizable and making everything easier and less hero orintated.

Sorry, i'm just raging, I want my red scaled Sotek Saurus back. And all the other special spawnings I painted to mean something again.

**DarkWind**

Silverthorne wrote:
ansacs wrote:
To some degree I think they already have done what needs to be done to increase WHFB in popularity. They just need to get it all more worked out and accessible.

1) Skirmish level of the game better flushed out and in the rule book. Having a game that costs 500+ usd and 40+ hours of work to assemble is never going to be really popular. On the other hand if I can get into the base level with 100 usd and 4 hours of assemble time it is not so bad. They can leave the rest of the game alone but they need a lower entry ceiling level game for new players to play and once the newbies get more models (which they always do for variety) they can expand into the actual game.

2) Deals! People like to "save" money even if they spend more in the long run. Bundles that save money and ebooks cheaper than the print book are all things that will make GW more money in the overall scheme.

3) IP recognition. WH40K is recognizable by people who have never even played with toy soldiers. They had a very popular game based on it. Therefore the IPs value increased. Anyone that sees WHFB is going to ask if it is LotR. There is almost no brand recognition. The MMORPG they recently released can really help with this. It would be even better if they could add fun little touches to it like have WHFB games that npcs and players can play in the game (lol). BTW the big models help IP recognition as well as people who come into the door and see a well painted frost phoenix are much more likely to ask about the game than if you have a 100 golden daemon winning elf spearmen who look like any generic fantasy game.

4) Increased release schedule and faster response to rules problems. They have increased the release schedule which help generate excitement and keep people actively involved in the hobby. They need to be better about the rules as ambiguous rules tends to put people off as it increases the learning curve and can cause unfun situations.

One thing they could do is get a few TV cameos of the game. On the Big Bang Theory a few years ago the gang was playing talisman for the opening scene. They could pay to have a few shots of them playing WFB or maybe have an episode about Sheldon getting into the hobby or even just have people playing it in the background of the comic book shop where there is usually at least one scene shot per episode. Given the staggering ratings for that show in the US, that could help.

That is an excellent idea.

**canadianguy**

Go back to the roots ie tactical complexity, make terrain matter, get rid of the randomness, limit the uber magic spells, give cav an advantage on the charge vs steedfast. Repoint things to require fewer models and support the freaking hobby!

**CthuluIsSpy**

Silverthorne wrote:
ansacs wrote:
To some degree I think they already have done what needs to be done to increase WHFB in popularity. They just need to get it all more worked out and accessible.

1) Skirmish level of the game better flushed out and in the rule book. Having a game that costs 500+ usd and 40+ hours of work to assemble is never going to be really popular. On the other hand if I can get into the base level with 100 usd and 4 hours of assemble time it is not so bad. They can leave the rest of the game alone but they need a lower entry ceiling level game for new players to play and once the newbies get more models (which they always do for variety) they can expand into the actual game.

2) Deals! People like to "save" money even if they spend more in the long run. Bundles that save money and ebooks cheaper than the print book are all things that will make GW more money in the overall scheme.

3) IP recognition. WH40K is recognizable by people who have never even played with toy soldiers. They had a very popular game based on it. Therefore the IPs value increased. Anyone that sees WHFB is going to ask if it is LotR. There is almost no brand recognition. The MMORPG they recently released can really help with this. It would be even better if they could add fun little touches to it like have WHFB games that npcs and players can play in the game (lol). BTW the big models help IP recognition as well as people who come into the door and see a well painted frost phoenix are much more likely to ask about the game than if you have a 100 golden daemon winning elf spearmen who look like any generic fantasy game.

4) Increased release schedule and faster response to rules problems. They have increased the release schedule which help generate excitement and keep people actively involved in the hobby. They need to be better about the rules as ambiguous rules tends to put people off as it increases the learning curve and can cause unfun situations.

One thing they could do is get a few TV cameos of the game. On the Big Bang Theory a few years ago the gang was playing talisman for the opening scene. They could pay to have a few shots of them playing WFB or maybe have an episode about Sheldon getting into the hobby or even just have people playing it in the background of the comic book shop where there is usually at least one scene shot per episode. Given the staggering ratings for that show in the US, that could help.

Oh god, imagine Sheldon playing warhammer...it'll be like the worse of YMDC.