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My biggest issue with GW is the method in which they produce and package their products.

I've had a vision in my head for sometime as to how GW could probably be a better company that makes more money.

I'm completely uneducated in economics and manufacturing so keep in mind this is more mad ramblings than anything backed up by facts.

I will now begin.

Long ago in a gamming store far far away I was a young boy who loved space marines. I was interested in buying a Dreadnought, a Dark Angel dreadnought to be specific.

The owner of the store (good ol' Russ) told me to be patient as there would be a new PLASTIC dread! I couldn't believe my ears! Surely this new plastic Dreadnought must be cheaper than these metal dreads!?

I patiently waited $35 in hand to buy what would clearly be a better model. I had no idea which arm set he would come with, nor did I now that it would cost $10 more...

I was heartbroken. My pathetic job didn't allow me the funds to spend that much on a single model in a single week. In my fury I raged to anyone who would listen about my hatred for GW.

They explained to my childhood mind that I was incorrect in my anger. This new set was a better, lighter and exceptable model. And it came with weapon options.

Still I wasn't convinced. I wanted a dread with a lascannon and a missle launcher. I could buy a nice heavy one for $35 or buy a plastic one for $45 but it came with an assault cannon and powerfist aswell.

A powerfist and assault cannon for $10? A few extra frontal plates and a heavy flamer?! I was not happy.

From that point on I would never get excited for another GW release. I had the feeling that this was the new way of 40k... new models meant more bits and a higher price.

Rewind again. Remember the good ol' days of early 3rd? A box of space marines was $25. It had 10 guys, a boltpistol/chainsword, flamer and missle launcher.

Years later they increced the price and added a powerweapon, plama gun, meltagun and maybe a few more purity seals. Likewise the assault squad changed a few times.

It wasn't until the Black Templar upgrades came out that I finally thought GW was going in the right direction.

But it didn't last. Why didn't they continue with upgrade kits? It made perfect sense to me. Why spend time and resources to create a new box of space marines when you could just make upgrades.

Infact this idea could be applied to (almost) every army.

When I first got into Warhammer 40k (roughly 1997) the main attraction was creating an army of your dreams. Conversions were king. There used to be bitz swapping parties!

Now GW produces kits that allow for less and less customization.

Here's where I'll get into the meat of my post.

If I ruled GW... say I magically won the company in a poker game or everyone who owned GW died suddenly and I was the next inline to lead... or something...

These would be my changes an plans:

First I would stop everything. No more White Dwarf. No more new codexs. No more new models. Everything would freeze.

I would change the website to be more of a public relations station. I would want to get as much feedback as possible from the actually fanbase.

At first the fanbase would rage and cry and scream at the sudden changes but in truth there would be no change. Just a quiet before the storm (of awesomeness!).

I would then command the rules designers (an entirely new team of designers) to created Warhammer 40k 7th Edition. No codexs would be worked on. N onew ideas that would force new model creation.

I would have this new book play tested for about 2 years and then release it free to the public for them to playtest. After about another year of playtesting and consumer feedback I'd have the final ruleset printed up.

This new 7th Ed would be a massive awesome book at about the same price as a current rulebook. However here would be my main difference. The rules would also be free online.

The rulebook would be a collecters edition book with things like fold out posters and maybe an exclusive model. This rulebook would be for the true fans who want to have a hard copy of the world of 40k.

Next would be the codexs. People would moan and complain that their codexs would need much revision after this new 7th ed drop.

And their patients would pay off. All codexs would be released on the same day! An epic release where, while the fanbase was playtesting the main rules, the games designers were working on the new codexs.

Now at this point the game would be balanced to a point. Obviously there would be a few minor errors and things that the fanbase would rootout and demand corrections for.

Onto the models.

Plastic, plastic, plastic! I would reform the production of all models into a plastic format. And upgrade kits would be the new money maker.

I would begin with marines (and they make the best example here).

The greatest change that the fanbase would see... prices. This new box of space marines would be $20.

Here's the trade off... That box of marines comes with 10 marines with bolters. Nothing else. No purity seals,no weapon options, no variant heads and helmets.

Then there would be the upgrade kits. The assault upgrade kit. The devistator upgrade kit, the regular old upgrade kit (variant heads, legs, arms, bolters ect.).

Then would be the wave of chapter specific kits. Each would have a pile of chapter specific bitz and other goodies.

This would allow for a lot more time spent designing the new plastic sets and remove the need to come out with a new sprue of space marines every 5 months.

This could be done with almost every other unit in the game in one form or another. Eldar could all easily be based off a standard eldar body and the same goes for Orks, Chaos marines, Necrons...

It would be a 4-6 year process but the game would be balanced and ready for improvement as well as having a streamlined release of newer model kits.

I could go into more details of this fantasy but I just wondered how other people would take the helm. Would you like to see a change like this?

I know it would be a distaster for a company to make such a huge change to itself, but like I said this is just an overembellished daydream.

Better marketing. More media outlets. Full length feature film. Toy line. Merchandise (clothing). More video games.

Pigeonholing yourself to only minis and books is not a good business model. For a company that only seems to care about profits they certainly are not exercising all their options. But Im in retail, what do I know?

That's a very good point. You think you'd see alot of Chaos tees and Aquila keychains at Newbury comics or something, right?

You only see bootleg stuff and GW cracks down on it. Which is STUPID because its advertising and they refuse to do it. I rock a bootleg Aquila shirt, feth you GW =)

Off topic, but you and I need to do battle soon in the sunny hills of New Hampshire.

Maybe my daydreams are slightly smaller, but I've been on this fantasy about a Necromunda Kickstarter!

It would be cool!

I agree with the OP. I actually don't mind the prices GW charge, for what I get I think *on the whole* it's pretty decent.

What bothers me is things like - The Vendetta upgrades. An extra £15 for something that could easily be included in the Valkyrie set. The fact that it's so good and so cheap, just stinks a little to me. Or hell if they just had the balls to sell Vendettas for £55.

Also Imperial Guard Infantry squads. They come with a grenade launcher and a heavy flamer. That is completely useless, so you have to shell out for meltaguns/plasmaguns. Not particularly expensive or inconvenient, since it's easy enough to just get the individual special weapons, but it's just an unnessesary hastle.

 d3m01iti0n wrote:
You only see bootleg stuff and GW cracks down on it. Which is STUPID because its advertising and they refuse to do it. I rock a bootleg Aquila shirt, feth you GW =)

Off topic, but you and I need to do battle soon in the sunny hills of New Hampshire.

Any day of the week fromwhen I wake up to about 7pm.

Weekends anytime but I sleep in.

I live in Manch-vegas so anywhere in a 30minute radius is cool with me.

I accept your challenge!!!!

<--That's my gauntlet slappin' you!

To OP: Can I just give you money now or do I have to wait until you own GW? Seriously, I would actually want to give GW money if it worked like your fantasy!

 Evil Lamp 6 wrote:
To OP: Can I just give you money now or do I have to wait until you own GW? Seriously, I would actually want to give GW money if it worked like your fantasy!

I'm glad you agree. How many people wouldn't want a "kneeling/prone" marine kit?

An Assault weapon pack with 3x plasmaguns, 3x metlaguns ect with like 3x running marine legs and 3x guardsmen sprinting legs?

A plastic multi-part HQ for every army. Heck one for every generic HQ!

Boxes to contain the entire troop choice(options sold seperately)!