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Go into any FLGS these days, or trawl the 'net for longer than 10 minutes and you find yourself spoiled for choice in a way that I've never seen before.

Literally hundreds of companies are making minis at all scales, for all settings (real or fictional), to suit all tastes and all budgets. An increasing number of companies are giving us choice of rules, paints and tools, terrain, gaming aids and more. Board games and RPGs, long-time cousins of wargaming, seem to be crossing paths more as companies expand their IP to give us different ways of playing in their universe.

How did this happen? For me there are 3 reasons:
1. The Internet - setting up a business operating in a niche market is now not as risky when you can reach the whole world in an instant. A good idea and a few intriguing pictures in the right places and people will beat a path to your door.
2. Casting technology - as this has grown it has become easier for people to sculpt and cast their own minis, and more importantly to make them special.
3. Games Workshop's rise and fall - yes, the beast is not yet dead (although it is slowly going downhill) but it serves an extraordinary function in introducing people to gaming, then hacking them off until they find what else is out there. It could be that its the most important thing they've ever done for the hobby


So what do you think? Have we as gamers never had it so good?

@nkelsch - its sad that gaming is so limited where you live, but that does not mean that its representative of 'gaming' as a whole.

If you're really happy with GW then great, if not, why don't you decide on something you prefer and persuade your gaming buddies to give it a go?

Most games have a much cheaper buy-in than GW and you can always sell-on stuff if its not your thing.