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I think they’re steering it in a good direction but there’s still a away to go. Some of the prices on the newer kits are pretty absurd but the Start Collecting boxes are a welcome addition. They really need to sort the rules out though. I’m not actually complaining about how the game plays(I haven’t played since 4th Edition and not played that many at 8th) but the rule/index/codex/chapter approved/faq/big faq spam is annoying and off putting. Considering how recent the release was. I’ll wait a few more years until I get ready to call it a golden age.

I think that GW has indeed entered another Golden Age (the first being 1996ish). There is plenty of positive energy in my own gaming community, and I meet the same thing in my travels. 8th Ed 40K is leading the revival, but AoS seems to have found its place and even Shadespire is getting a following in my own locale.

Well I have been in the hobby off and on since starting with the original Adeptus Titanicus in 1988.
For me this is the best the company has ever been.
Since the very beginning the rules for gw games has been less than perfect. This has not changed except that now you are not stuck with a bad set of rules for 6 years.
I have gone full digital which for me has limited a lot of the complaints about bloat that people have. Codexes bought on iTunes get updated to include faqs and the books are cheaper.
Back in the day I was always about 50/50 on good versus bad models. These days it is more like 80/20 . I don’t think they have put out a genuinely bad set of minis since the Wulfen 3 years ago.
The creativity on display in the Nurgle, Deepkin and nighthaunt ranges is extraordinary.
Shadespire is the best ruleset for a game they have ever done and is not super expensive to play (especially since they nerfed the relics deck)
They have settled on a good inexpensive release system for bloodbowl and they finally have a decent selection of teams to choose from. You can buy the core rules and deathzone season 1 and 2 digitally for just £20 total so it an inexpensive game to get into. I am very intrigued by blitzbowl which will hopefully make the game even more accessible.
Necromunda has had a bit of a mismanaged release but some of the minis they are putting out are astounding and the core rules are good.
Adeptus Titanicus looks amazing and as I said was my first gw game 30 years ago.
The release rate has also improved massively. In the first 6 months of 2018 we will have 7 codexes, 6 battletomes, aos2, 2 bloodbowl teams , 2 Necromunda teams and 4 Shadespire
Warbands.
After a pretty major slump black Library is again in great shape and putting all their audio books on audible was a fantastic move, as have been their humble bundle deals.
Previews are back after a long absence and the 3 month window they are working in now gives me enough time to plan some purchases.

As for problems I will admit that 40k 8th feels like a work in progress. The prices to build armies in the core games is still very high even with start collecting and battle forces and they need to hire at least 5 more editors with a good grasp of the rules for the various systems.
I can see why those who prefer a more sim like approach might be disappointed by the recent developments with the core games but I prefer the more abstract gamified approach they are using.
Overall though gw is doing the best work it has ever done.

I think 8th was very much a step towards blowing apart the system for a rebuild.

I strongly suspect we will see a lot of things fixed in 9th.

Of course, that means buying all these bloody codex thingies all over again... grrr!

Chikout wrote:
Well I have been in the hobby off and on since starting with the original Adeptus Titanicus in 1988.
For me this is the best the company has ever been.

Actually, I agree. There's a lot of rose-tinted glasses going on with the early to mid 90's. While I enjoyed Epic Space Marine and Titan Legions, and Necromunda, and Gorka Morka, and Warhammer Quest, 2018 GW is just better all around. Better community engagement, better product support, better White Dwarf, better models, better rules. This is the best GW has ever been and is a far cry from the dark decade that ended in 2015/2016.

A lot of that is pretty subjective though. With the exception of miniature sculpts you could make an argument for all of those elements not being as good these days as back then, and even for the miniatures that it's a technical improvement rather than one of aesthetics.

I do agree though that it's impossible not to have changed as a person from mid-90's to now (unless you were in a coma for precisely that period) and so won't be measuring with the same yardstick.

Agree though again that it's a definite improvement - it would be interesting seeing the front page of Dakka discussion from now compared to perhaps 2010-2011, just the sheer amount of negativity that was around back then which in turn made the atmosphere pretty bad with people turning against each other. I think the general perception these days is a lot more positive.

Golden age? Well, I suppose if you gilded a dog turd then yes.

GW has put on a new face, but at its core it is still the same money grabbing company, rampantly trying to upprice everything it produces under the guise of it being a 'premium product'.
The rules are even shallower than they where before, something that I did not even think possible until they literally reverted the games to exercises in "push the toy soldiers into the centre and make pewpew noises", the models are looking more and more cartoony, the supposed "detailing" is really just gribbly junk shoved onto every available surface and the naming is positively diabolical.
The recent releases of nostalgia bait have served to make the company look better too the general customer base, but in reality nothing has changed. The models are still crap and the products still heavily overpriced. My only question is to ask how long GW hopes to ride the rose tinted spectacles train until it crashes.

They turned things around, generated some interest in my gaming group for a while then just lost everyone again. The rules aren't actually any better, the prices are still crazy.

They've produced lots of new games which are fun but just not that impressive. Like Lost Patrol, it's fun but feels like it was written in a single lunch break; we wanted to expand on it by the 2nd game.

I gave up following AoS because I couldn't keep track of what anything was, since everything has to be unique.

If I didn't have kids I'd probably have bought into a few of the boxed games, but the prices when I have other priorities are just too much. I can get better games for less. We're definitely in a golden age of gaming in general.

Same with individual figures; some stunning ones but all at least 30-50% overpriced for what you get.

It's definitely a good time again for the fans of Warhammer. They engage with the community, they are recieving feedback and acting upon it, they are expanding the games and armies, and not only doing cash grab things.

They even managed to turn around the trainwreck that was AoS at release. I don't know, if it was planned but they have endless possibilities with the AoS background (they could even add a new Realm if needed) and they finally started to move forward with 40K.

But the most important. it's a good time to be a Warhammer gamer right now.

I'm more interested in their stuff than I have been in a long while, but the prices are too high for the most part. I could see myself picking up some of the new models for role playing, but I'm not pushed about playing the games any more. I just don't like the way the rules went - 6th ed Warhammer and 5th ed 40K were my favourites along with SBG, and it's gone the other way.

With regard to the models, they are really high quality technically, but I really don't like the scale creep and aesthetics of the new lines. Way too OTT for me and lacking soul somehow.

I'd as persona thats more in the hobby and occasional game side of things I'd say yeah. GW has finally caught up with the times and have a public presence and its done wonders for clearing up the problems of earlier editions of 40k which has been my main source of experience with themover the past 15+ years. I hear alot of complaints about all the FAQs but I'll take the constant tweaking from actual questions and tourny results over the stagnate state of the 2000s. As for models, I'm almost universally a fan of stuff they put out, I've always seen 40k as campy so what so folks see as outrageously over the top I've kinda expected as par for the course and enjoy that GW seems to have embraced it with such success.
( Always wanted knights and now I have them )

I enjoyed the old world in fantasy, read tons of books but never played, the mechanics held no real appeal to me. When AoS dropped I was interested (Mostly cause I took advantage of it and go like a 800$ death army for like 150ish) but never really got into it. As the lore has been expanded and with 2nd edition inboud myself and some friends are getting excited. Nighthaunts have been a big YES for me and what I've been seeing of 2nd actually seems to address some of the issues I had with 1st so well done again Imo.

Lastly all the specialist games are damn cool and I like that Gw is picking them back up and bringing them up to speed. I wasn't part of the community during their heyday and Its awesome to see them bringing folks together for something that isnt 40k or AoS but still with some of their flavor and abit more story centric. Even id it just through book support once they've released the "main factions" and perhapes a occasional sculpt update or option pack I'd like to see Specialist Games thrive but only time will tell, for the moment its looking good though.

I've had my good times with the company and nothing can really put a damper on that, so With current GW I'm having a blast. Then again I've never taken anything yo do with the hobby or the game seriously so that probably plays a part as well.

 Orlanth wrote:
I am happy to buy from GW again,there was a half decade under Kirby when my purchases dropped to near zero on principle.

Post Kirby I will buy into specialist games and buy starter boxes, though normally to port to 9th Age. My spending nevertheless has mushroomed and I don't mind. I also support my local GW and buy some items from store.

All in all GW has issues, the design studio is still a mess, but their business ethos has cleared up a little, and their image a lot. i even forgave them for Age of Sigmar.

I would strongly suggest that the dramatic improvement in customer relations, attitude, openness and interaction with the community is far less about Kirby and far more about the man Kirby was protecting. A man who was so obnoxious and belligerent that managers would clear out whole departments before his visits so as to avoid his 'fire that one' finger of doom. Kirby was the eccentric Sultan, but behind his throne lurked the evil Vizier...

A man who was virtually single-handedly responsible for the relentless C&D bombardments, the Moat and Wall policy, the Chapterhouse debacle, the Spots the Space Marine idiocy and so on, using GW's legal team as his own army of flying monkeys. A man who suppressed the genestealer cult, sisters of battle, squats and all manner of other things because he sat like some spider in the web and bottlenecked all miniature and writing signoffs and micromanaged all creativity to his personal view of the intellectual property. A man who loathed the community, sneered at the fans and was openly hostile to new ideas or innovation. A man who ruined careers and saw off anyone in the design teams or creatives who challenged him.

So when a new Chairman who had witnessed the years of this took over, he was forced into early retirement entirely on the merrett's of that legacy...

Brilliant

Yes it's incredible how just a single individual can lay a company and its vision low. I hadn't heard that he had had such an impactful role. I suppose you only got to read the statements made by Kirby, which were riven with condescension of the fanbase and a lack of understanding about why the financial situation was travelling on a downward slope, which then gave an impression of what the culture was like at the heart of Lenton at that time.

Suddenly though GW starts giving the fans they want and guess what? Profits are through the roof.

Although as an aside I'd still be interested to find out who was the actual person who signed off on the decision to kill (rather than mothball) WHFB when AoS came along. That was a remarkably cruel move, I think perhaps the hardest and most uncaring in the company's history even beyond the Squats being squatted(!)

 Pacific wrote:
Brilliant

Yes it's incredible how just a single individual can lay a company and its vision low. I hadn't heard that he had had such an impactful role. I suppose you only got to read the statements made by Kirby, which were riven with condescension of the fanbase and a lack of understanding about why the financial situation was travelling on a downward slope, which then gave an impression of what the culture was like at the heart of Lenton at that time.

Suddenly though GW starts giving the fans they want and guess what? Profits are through the roof.

Although as an aside I'd still be interested to find out who was the actual person who signed off on the decision to kill (rather than mothball) WHFB when AoS came along. That was a remarkably cruel move, I think perhaps the hardest and most uncaring in the company's history even beyond the Squats being squatted(!)

I miss fantasy so very much...
I play 9th age but it's not the same.

I'm back in the hobby again after 5 years out and one of the main reasons was the advancement of the story line in 40k and also total war Warhammer.

I love the new space marines and the while eldar story line is interesting. In terms of model cost, buying stuff from a third party like triple helix or element games makes things cheaper. Admittedly yes it's still expensive but I enjoy slowly acquiring and painting units it gives me a real feel of accomplishment.

After I dropped 40k for historicals in 6th, it been difficult for me to get past the continuing price obstacle of GW.

I was happy with the way 8th edition was going. Then I played a few games and figured it didn't really speed up the game as much as I would have liked. So I almost got back into 40k but couldn't.

That being said, GW has certainly improved leaps and bounds since the Kirby era. Transparency, community engagement, and a round of Necromunda releases that have been consistently awesome. Not to mention a Titanicus in the future that looks amazing.

We are definitely in a Golden Age of gaming in general and GW is certainly a part of it again.

Edit. Oh yeah almost forgot about all the GLORIOUS TERRAIN.