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What changes would you make if any? You are the man(or woman) in charge now, and can reform the company as you see fit since you are the majority share holder.

I would do the following:

Fire whoever decided to repackage Orc Boys in a box of 10 for $29.

Redesign White Dwarf to become a hobby magazine instead of a giant GW advert. I'd open advertising to other model companies and paint suppliers. I'd also get actual players to write for it with useful information instead of people who just push the flavor of the month.

Start an actual advertising campaign to attract new players instead of relying on word of mouth.

Show veterans some love by making them the focus of sales. Our job isn't done until everyone has every model!

Lower prices by about 20-30%. If this means shutting down stores that are close to 3rd party retailers then so be it. It's my company dammit.

Release confirmed information about release schedules, upcoming models etc. No more 2 weeks notice on new stuff.

Maintain an open suggestions forum for constructive criticism and new ideas.

Allow better use of IP for things like movies and video games. IMO GW has been too stingy with this.

Bring back the Bitz service.

Establish a referral reward system. Bring a new player to the game, get a free battalion or something along those lines.

Allow open beta playtesting of upcoming army books.

Put army book writers on strict deadlines for rules, release a new book every 2 months.

Release models for every unit entry in a book. No more guessing as to what the hell a mangler squig looks like.

Update every army before a new edition of the core rules are released. 6th edition wood elves you say? NEVER

So what would you change?

I think you got everything, lol. Except, i would keep word of mouth, that way you might be able to open at least one GW in NYC :(.

And a new book every two months? Seems a bit much. I know all those months would carry over, but every codex should have a 3 to 5 year shelf life.

Well it would alternate between 40k and fantasy on the books. And there doesn't need to be a new book on the schedule if every army is up to date in the current edition, so this would allow for things like campaigns, auxiliary forces etc.

I forgot to add changing the price of the realm of battle game board to $100.

-Release errata to make old armies functional until new codex arrives.

-Ship one new codex every 6-9 months until ALL armies are up to date

-Have an actual release schedule

-Have a majority of models available at launch of codex

-Stop making marine chapters

-More Xenos and variety

aerethan wrote:Well it would alternate between 40k and fantasy on the books. And there doesn't need to be a new book on the schedule if every army is up to date in the current edition, so this would allow for things like campaigns, auxiliary forces etc.

I forgot to add changing the price of the realm of battle game board to $100.

OH, lol thought you just meant the 40k codices, but still, may need more time IMO.

And i completely agree with the realm of battle thing, too expensive for something you have to paint and assemble. And i wish the planet strike stuff was a little cheaper too, like the Aegis Defense line, it should be like 20 bucks.

...I would sell it to the chinese.

I would be looking at:

1. Selling more than just WH and LoTR. In other words, I would be looking to sell boxed and board games based on the company IP.

2. Investigate the possibility of converting all metal models to plastic by optimising sprue frame layouts and cutting the frames to package the models as required. For example, a frame might be made containing the Space Marines Chapter Master and the Tyranid Hive Guard. Then it would be cut into two separate packages.

3. More love for veterans. They can be unpaid flagbearers for the whole company if they are kept enthusiastic and motivated.

4. Slow down the rate of publishing new editions to something like once every eight years. Increase the rate of publishing army books so that all the books were updated within two years of a new edition. Refresh armies and model ranges with mini codex releases during the other six years. These will also contain the

5. Re-organise the books to present the core rules with a bit of fluff and modelling as the basic book. A supplement will contain loads of fluff and modelling advice.

6. Re-organise the rules into several levels of game: skirmish, standard 40K/WHFB, Apoc, and special supplements like Cities of Death.

7. I think prices have reached the point of resistance. I would hold prices for a year or two.

8. Rulebooks and supplements to be presented as ringbinders for convenience of use. Sell army themed binders.

9. Stop hating indy shops. They can make just as much profit for GW as our own outlets do.

Liquidate it, pocket the money, and watch as the fanboys weep tears of blood.

Personaly I'd sit back naked in the money people gave me

I would insist on a price barrier as to not outprice players out the market in the current ecoomical climate, white dwarf writers would have aches over their bodies when I insisted they actually did something useful with those pages instead of an expensive catalogue.
I'd defend the IP vigorously as it would mean my income would be hit BUT allow companies to do bits providing my company saw a part of the profits. Obviously only things specific to GW could be under this, so for example want a space elf conversion kit, can't touch it, CC guardian conversion kit, gimme cash boys!

Simply put I'd make sure there was money in it for me if I was investing a lot of mine into it.

A wish list of things I'd like to do for fellow gamers?

Price freeze as I said, as well as turn white dwarf into something good, even if its print it on toilet paper so it's useful in some way (my personal opinion of its incarnation past over a decade).
Bits service would be back in full force.
That pricey resin stuff? Guess what happens with that price, its sickening. Plastic conversion kits direct only if there was a market. If not I'd be looking to hire these guys doing it instead of stomping them into the ground.
The codex creep would suddenly be bitch slapped around a fair bit.
Army Books and codexes updated frequently. Good writers hired.
Most of all educate employees to keep an eye on the market, browsing the net? Check a few gaming sites out, see whats caught people's eye, keep our company competitive.

And this 10 models for £25... meh pricing on materials and investment developing them is the way forward not if they're elite.
Advertising, bringing back cool board games like blood bowl, doom of the eldar style stuff.
Specialist games promoted instores again, actual in store leagues etc to get people in.

But above all, enjoy the cash that such an investment would bring. Hate to say it, a business is a business, its there to make money, we the consumers can only voice disapproval by having them suddenly realise we wont give them money anymore.

When I started in the 90's my local GW store had a stamp card. For every $100 spent you got a bonus. 1st got you a small unit box, like a troop box. 2nd got you a special unit like dev squad for example. 5th you got a battle force, basically starting you a second army. I'd bring this back. Give them 1/3 a new army and they are likely to buy the other part as well.

Also, under my rule white dwarf would come with minis like when AOBR came out, but every month. People love free minis...DUH!

-Start supporting LOTR SBG properly again, instead of just WOTR.

-Lower prices by about 15%-20% then keep them locked as that for at least a few years.

-All codices for all systems to be brought up to date before any other expansions.

-Create an FAQ for each separate codex answered by whoever wrote it (this way they can see where they went wrong as well as fix existing problems).

-All fluff must be gone over by at least 3 different writers to get rid of the ridculous stuff.

-More support for the specialised systems.

-Rewards for introducing new players: a £10 voucher for each person and a batteforce every 5 people.

-Rewards for spending every £100 you get a £10 voucher, at £200 you get a £20 voucher and so on and so on.

-Have more competitions for prizes within the GW stores (although to be fair, my store - High Wycombe - used to do a lot of competitions but then the recession hit, hope they pick that back up again some time)

-Inter-store championship (the Bucks GW stores used to do this but don't anymore, it was a really great way to play with the atmosphere and everything)

-Make sure all the busier stores have enough money and space to have a separate room just for gaming and one for selling and introductory games (I'm looking at you High Wycombe store).

-Bring back the stupendously good offers you used to have at the UK games day instead of just selling at normal price, I used to see guys buy about 1000 points for £40 or so and I once got sold a sentinel for £3 because they wanted less stuff to pack up and take back, I want that back. They weren't really meant to but they said that at the end of the day the bosses didn't care too much as they normally broke even and got a lot of profits from tickets, but no more.

Edit:-Have a massive worldwide campaign that has several results, for each result you note down ideas for a new race, whatever result happens that is a brand new race brought into the game. Also, be sure to have a massive amount of fluff about all this, including some black library books.

Kill the stores, watch the stock skyrocket when short term profits go up 400%, then sell controlling interest.

...and after all those changes, youll still have message boards full of disgruntled players longing for 'the good ol days'

vet gamer "you remember when it was 'all marines all the time?'? Man, I wish they brought that back..."

ehehehehehe

ignore me.

Update every faction, but without releasing them, so all are balanced with each toher, and release them ALL at the same time, as the 6th edition of 40k, with full model support for each codex.

Also, spend tons of time with editors and rules checkers etc to make sure I don't have to faq so often, or hopefully at all

Make another expansion, that actually advances the story line a bit, but requires new codex's and possibly new models, so people will have to decide if that want good 'ole 40k, or want to try my Wh50k

"Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, hear the lamentations of the women."

Other then that, I follow with aerethan.

The only other thing I would change is to eliminate the fact that figures have to be GW models in tourneys. If it follows WYSIWYG there shouldn't be an issue (Orks unite!!).

id jack the prices up by 5% more, start using 3rd world labor to lower costs even more, speed up the codex creep by hiring a team of writers to work and playtest non stop from said third world country and pay them like 3 dollars a day. Re-release the squats at a 70% markup and squeeze every last drop of money available from the customers.

then retire a rich bastard

The idea behind buying the company is that you wouldn't need the money from it.

If you have enough money to buy GW you wouldn't buy it for the profit, as there are much better ways to make money when you have that much. The point of buying it is to reform it into the company you WANT to see, not the company you want to make money from.

Consider it a loss when you buy it, expect no major profit. Let's say you just have enough money to take the hit of $150 million and still live comfortably.

Get rid of the retail chain all together, with the exception of the Battle Bunkers and Warhammer World.

Increase independent retailer support, provide more signage, and encourage Independent tournaments.

Drop prices 20%.

Make White Dwarf relevant again.

Actually have a marketing campaign. This includes establishing a presence on Youtube and Facebook. Try to get the product into more mainstream stores ala Best Buy, Walmart, etc. This also means we actually provide our customers with information on our upcoming releases.

Liquidate the specialist range of games and LoTR. Sell of the rights and models for somebody else to continue if at all possible.

Move towards PP's rules releases. Each unit box comes with cards with a card with all of it's rules. Also provide Codexes with all of the fluff, rules, etc for collectors.

This allows for a more fluid release schedule. Even month each army can get something new. A new edition every ~3 years where rules get tweaked and all units are issued new rules. This keeps all armies/units interesting and viable.

Hire proof-readers.

Have a design team that actually works as a team. No more "one guy writes an entire faction" crap with just three or four guys doing multiple systems.

Actually playest, well.

Update pricing system to reflect currency exchange. Everything is done in GBP and international prices are based upon exchange rate.

Fire Matt Ward.....twice.

Give Jes Goodwin a raise.

Try to figure out how Forge World works. People pay hundreds of dollars for models with way worse quality control that they can't even use in most of their games that cost us just as much (or less) to produce than the regular ones? Awesome.

Reign in gaming supplies chain. Instead, allow 3rd party companies to produce those (ala Battlefoam) and charge them for licensing. This way we get profit for basically no cost. The paints range stays.

Basically scale everything back to reduce overhead, focus on doing the very core of the business well.

....just off the top of my head.

1.) Fire the complete current UK management. Hire some people with a clue about economics in general and the gaming industry in particular.
2.) Hire Rick Priestley as chief R&D supervisor. Hire Gav Thorpe as chief background continuity supervisor. Hire Alessio Calvatore as chief game balance supervisor. Give Mat Ward a chance if he listens to the supervisors
3.) Create a marketing and advertising division. Start print and TV advertising. Attend GenCon etc.
4.) Sell Space Hulk and Warhammer Quest in general toy stores as an introductory game. Accompany this with a marketing campaign including TV. Renew the cooperation with De Agostini and create a "The Hobbit/LOTR" magazine with one plastic sprue per issue and an introduction to rules and painting.
5.) Introduce an internal corporate atmosphere that encourages feedback, creativity and criticism. Contact former employees that were fired because of giving feedback. Get rid of yes-men in higher positions (e.g. GW USA). Listen to the creative staff. Make brain stormings on what should be changed.
6.) Give the creative staff more room. Allow them to talk about their current projects that they are proud of. Take Forge World as an example. Loosen the tight grip on information release and release more information sooner. Enjoy the synergy with fan-websites and the after-market instead of sueing the hell out of the gaming community. Get inspiration from current movies and the fantasy/scifi scene in general to renew the creative fun-times of the 80s.
7.) Reduce the gap to the customers and develop a strategy to actually gain new ones (in addition to point 4). Sell a 40$ mini starter set for 40k and Fantasy skirmish games to lower the hurdle for new gamers. Include one sprue for each fraction, 20-30 pages of rules, all stats and first steps for painting and an outlook to bigger games. This box doesn't need to make a big profit: If the new customers are hooked, GW will profit quite soon. BTW this starter uses standard fractions and is close to standard rules, so it's not the same as Mordheim and Necromunda.
8.) Adjust the pricing to reduce the hurdle for starting and remaining in the hobby. A growing customer base should leave room for price reductions, as prices don't have to compensate for a shrinking turnover anymore.
9.) In GW stores sell the whole range of GW IP products including books, PC games, Fantasy Flight Games with GW IP, and, for a start, Bloodbowl (if successful, other Specialist Games might follow). FW products can be ordered in-store.
10.) Respect and support FLGSs in general, esp. outside UK where they bear the main responsibility for spreading "the hobby". Respect that different countries might need different strategies.

There are certainly more things but so much for a start.

aerethan wrote:The idea behind buying the company is that you wouldn't need the money from it.

If you have enough money to buy GW you wouldn't buy it for the profit, as there are much better ways to make money when you have that much. The point of buying it is to reform it into the company you WANT to see, not the company you want to make money from.

Consider it a loss when you buy it, expect no major profit. Let's say you just have enough money to take the hit of $150 million and still live comfortably.

in that case...

let matt ward write codexes... for himself... in his mothers basement since he would be unemployed

hire more writers, proofreaders, real playtesting.

create an actual release schedule, create more fluff for the xenos, stop writing entire codexes for single marine chapters.

lower the starting box price!

referral systems/rewards

hire/buy out some of those talented third party miniature manufacturers (such as kromlech)

bring back space dwarfs

retcon some of the slowed fluff matt ward wrote

advertising, special offers to military service members (US/UK/AUS/CAN the big buyers)

gradually lower prices and raise model counts in boxes without eating too much of a profit margin


basically expand more aggressively instead of choking the life out of my loyal base.

Clone Phil Kelly
Make Cruddance mop/sweep the floors
Lower prices
Invest in specialist games

Kroothawk wrote:1.) Fire the complete current UK management. Hire some people with a clue about economics in general and the gaming industry in particular.
2.) Hire Rick Priestley as chief R&D supervisor. Hire Gav Thorpe as chief background continuity supervisor. Hire Alessio Calvatore as chief game balance supervisor. Give Mat Ward a chance if he listens to the supervisors
3.) Create a marketing and advertising division. Start print and TV advertising. Attend GenCon etc.
4.) Sell Space Hulk and Warhammer Quest in general toy stores as an introductory game. Accompany this with a marketing campaign including TV. Renew the cooperation with De Agostini and create a "The Hobbit/LOTR" magazine with one plastic sprue per issue and an introduction to rules and painting.
5.) Introduce an internal corporate atmosphere that encourages feedback, creativity and criticism. Contact former employees that were fired because of giving feedback. Get rid of yes-men in higher positions (e.g. GW USA). Listen to the creative staff. Make brain stormings on what should be changed.
6.) Give the creative staff more room. Allow them to talk about their current projects that they are proud of. Take Forge World as an example. Loosen the tight grip on information release and release more information sooner. Enjoy the synergy with fan-websites and the after-market instead of sueing the hell out of the gaming community. Get inspiration from current movies and the fantasy/scifi scene in general to renew the creative fun-times of the 80s.
7.) Reduce the gap to the customers and develop a strategy to actually gain new ones (in addition to point 4). Sell a 40$ mini starter set for 40k and Fantasy skirmish games to lower the hurdle for new gamers. Include one sprue for each fraction, 20-30 pages of rules, all stats and first steps for painting and an outlook to bigger games. This box doesn't need to make a big profit: If the new customers are hooked, GW will profit quite soon. BTW this starter uses standard fractions and is close to standard rules, so it's not the same as Mordheim and Necromunda.
8.) Adjust the pricing to reduce the hurdle for starting and remaining in the hobby. A growing customer base should leave room for price reductions, as prices don't have to compensate for a shrinking turnover anymore.
9.) In GW stores sell the whole range of GW IP products including books, PC games, Fantasy Flight Games with GW IP, and, for a start, Bloodbowl (if successful, other Specialist Games might follow). FW products can be ordered in-store.
10.) Respect and support FLGSs in general, esp. outside UK where they bear the main responsibility for spreading "the hobby". Respect that different countries might need different strategies.

There are certainly more things but so much for a start.

Absolutely +1 on all of this.

I will also add:
- put money back into WD again, hire some dedicated hobbyist/journalists as it used to be, and return the mag to the standards of the past.
- return staff levels to 2 or 3 a store again, and try and make the store a hub for gamers once more by having a 'proper' veterans night (i.e. open until 10pm again), put more effort into weekend events, introductory painting and modelling lessons etc.
- As well as an advertising push and the release of all-in-one games in general stores, target schools to bring in more players into the fold. This could include helping to start lunchtime clubs in schools (by providing 'starter packs' or some such like, and even supplying subsidised or free stuff for art departments. Nowadays there are a lot of other distractions for kids, with the complete lack of marketing I'm sure many aren't aware of it and you need new blood coming into the hobby.
- If the above is carried out, then for obvious reasons abort the move to resin (if it does indeed happen).
- Some kind of rewards incentive in store to encourage purchasers to use the bricks and mortar actual GW stores rather than shop online.
- Minimum 3-colour models if used in store (yes really! )

Kroothawk wrote:Hire Alessio Calvatore as chief game balance supervisor.

These words make no sense together.

Cavatore was singlehandedly responsible for more imbalanced gak than Ward can possibly dream of.

Kanluwen wrote:

Kroothawk wrote:Hire Alessio Calvatore as chief game balance supervisor.

These words make no sense together.

Cavatore was singlehandedly responsible for more imbalanced gak than Ward can possibly dream of.

6th edition skaven come to mind here.

I support most of Kroothawks ideas except putting Alessio Calvatore in charge of game balance. I do not want him touching 40k ever again.

Kanluwen wrote:

Kroothawk wrote:Hire Alessio Calvatore as chief game balance supervisor.

These words make no sense together.

Cavatore was singlehandedly responsible for more imbalanced gak than Ward can possibly dream of.

Alessio was largely responsible for 5th Ed. 40k----I consider 5th the best edition of 40k put out.

AgeOfEgos wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:

Kroothawk wrote:Hire Alessio Calvatore as chief game balance supervisor.

These words make no sense together.

Cavatore was singlehandedly responsible for more imbalanced gak than Ward can possibly dream of.

Alessio was largely responsible for 5th Ed. 40k----I consider 5th the best edition of 40k put out.

You know who else was responsible for 5th edition 40k?

Mat Ward, Andy Hoare, Graham Davey, Phil Kelly, Gav Thorpe, Adam Troke, Robin Cruddace, Jervis Johnson, and Jeremy Vetock.

With even a quarter of those people watching over him, Alessio can't screw things up that badly.

What's that, Dark Angels and Chaos codices?

Show us on your cover where Alessio touched you...

Hire This Guy ->

to create animated shorts based on fluff, to be put on Youtube. Look into television and internet advertising. Hell, just advertising in general.

Greater support to Continental Europe, including at least one GW per country (if I even kept the chain open over there. I'd almost certainly close at least half the ones in the US, and definitely never have more than one per city)


A starter kit for each army that includes the minimum HQ and two troops.


See about a Comic and/or Webcomic created based on the IP. This would also help us break into the Comic Geek market, which has, if anything, more misplaced fan loyalty than miniature wargaming, and since many comics stores also carry miniatures and RPGs, it'd give another outlet for the models and books like Rogue Trader and Dark Heresy.

Kanluwen wrote:

AgeOfEgos wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:

Kroothawk wrote:Hire Alessio Calvatore as chief game balance supervisor.

These words make no sense together.

Cavatore was singlehandedly responsible for more imbalanced gak than Ward can possibly dream of.

Alessio was largely responsible for 5th Ed. 40k----I consider 5th the best edition of 40k put out.

You know who else was responsible for 5th edition 40k?

Mat Ward, Andy Hoare, Graham Davey, Phil Kelly, Gav Thorpe, Adam Troke, Robin Cruddace, Jervis Johnson, and Jeremy Vetock.

With even a quarter of those people watching over him, Alessio can't screw things up that badly.

What's that, Dark Angels and Chaos codices?

Show us on your cover where Alessio touched you...

Alessio was lead----Jervis has stated as much---and Alessio wrote the main rules. The design studio always pitches in ideas/scenarios (Ever since 40k was around)---but 5th was his baby---and the best edition of 40k imo yet.

He publicly apologized for the Chaos Codex---but that was the direction the studio had at the time.

He didn't write the Dark Angel Codex. Your anger is misplaced.

aerethan you´re pretty much spot I say.

The thing with army books every 2month is a little over the top but the rest I like and would support. Plus it sounds realistic not like a "fanboy" going on a wonderland trip and pulling stuff out that would have no future (economicly - help me spelling).