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Absolutionis wrote:

Adam LongWalker wrote:Thank you Flash man. My take on this

The key element of this year is lots and lots of product with price increases to be sold to the shrinking customer base. Some of it was good such as the Tomb Kings and Tomb Kings in Spheees product line, but that was essentially it.

It's actually a terrible shame that the rather likable Tomb Kings release was barely noticed. GW made negligible fanfare towards the release and they 'kept it safe' so far in the advertising department that by the time the new Tomb Kings products were released, barely anyone noticed.

There were no LGS posters. There was a week of stuff on GW's site. There was no indication before the release. There was nothing. Nobody was excited about this release.

Yea I thought that to be odd as well, but I got a Tomb king army only to find out that not many people play fantasy anymore much in my area. 8th Ed really got people miffed about the game. The Necrons I'm please with as well, but I'm waiting on the FAQ's to tone down those WAAC's people with their insane builds. Then I might build a brand new Necron army.

People with money are shifting over to other game systems, not just the people who are leaving GW because of the expense. I purchased the WM starter box set and I'm really please on what you get for your money. I believe people are just getting tired of the GW company tactics. I do vote with my wallet and though I do like manager of the Local GW store, more and more of my money are going to Indie stores with different gaming product because of corporate policy.

The 'you can just return it' arguments are a bunch of bull. Having to return somthing creates an opportunity cost, costing time and effort, not to mention gas to get there. Having to break the models open at the store means they're harder to bring back home and more likely to lose a piece/get damaged.

The 'you can just fix it' arguments are a bunch of bull as well. For the amount that they charge and the marketing behind the products all going off about how they are the best thing ever and the finest quality minuatures...You shouldn't need to spent extra time and materials fixing them even if it is something 'easy' to do...

Howard A Treesong wrote:The Dreadknight was probably the worse miniature that comes to mind, some of the GK fluff the worst published this year.

Forgeworld did some good work again this year, as usual.

Dreadfleet was a waste. Finecast awful. The price increase and the way they shafted those living in the outer territories. The way GW pressed ahead with litigation against CHS.

It's been a year of dumb.

Are you kidding me?

The thread's about looking back at GW's performance this year... and has turned into Kan doggedly defending GW against the legitimate, widespread and well documented failures of Finecost.

No. I'm not surprised.

Quarterdime wrote:Chaos Daemons player here. As usual, people seem to have forgotten that people play this army (if they even remember it exists at all). GW released a Chaos Daemons starter box, Finecast heraldry, and a Herald on Disc of Tzeentch in September. The starter box is good, not great, but good in only that it saves a little money, but the Herald on Disc of Tzeentch? Talk about pleasantly surprised! That looks fantastic, and is precisely what a lot of Daemon players have been wanting (among many other things granted, but still...)

As a Daemon player who plays primarily Tzeentch I was really excited to hear about the Herald on Disc release...only to see the model and be thoroughly dissapointed with the entire look of it, from the herald to the disc, not to mention the steep price for the model also.

H.B.M.C. wrote:The thread's about looking back at GW's performance this year... and has turned into Kan doggedly defending GW against the legitimate, widespread and well documented failures of Finecost.

No. I'm not surprised.

And H.B.M.C. arrives to tactfully comment on this Kan's actions*.

No. I'm not surprised.



*To clarify, I do disagree with Kan's defence of Finecast.

Just Dave wrote: this Kan's actions*.

You mean there's multiple Kans?

Oh my.

I like working with finecase: it's lighter, holds detail amazingly well, and doesn't shatter when dropped.

The problem is the need I had to work with it to correct casting flaws. Products that are easy to repair are great, but not if they arrive broken!

I realized how little new GW I actually bought this year: a metal Draigo, a Finecast Libby, and a few codexes. I do have a finecast Lord of Change I'm eager to check out that I won for hard boys. Hopefully that'll be in good shape.

All in all, I give Finecast a C+. While it's a higher quality product for centerpiece models, both in terms of detail and conversion potential, the QC issues and the increased cost make the models far less impressive for anything bought in numbers.

C+ is pretty darn generous.

Well, it's hard to compare multiple grades. The products that are properly cast are A grade in terms of quality. The value for the price and quality control are both much lower, and are also intrinsicly combined.

If you are a modeller, and are looking for the best models on the market, than Finecast offers great detail that's easy to work with at a market premium. You get two good things for one bad thing. If you are a gamer looking to build a squad, than finecase costs more a good chance that you will need to get replacement parts from any box.

So, in short, it's a B+ at worst to pure modellers, and a D+ at best for pure gamers (who gain few advantages but pay more). Averaging the two is about a C+.

The release of the year for me was Grey Knights.

I have no intention of fielding a Grey Knights army, but I LOVED the Terminator and PA kits. So much so, I've gone a bit overboard making Deathwatch Black Templars to sprinkle in my existing army.

Also (and I'm prepared to be called whatever name I get for this), I really enjoyed reading the Grey Knights fluff.

There, I said it.

On the flip side, the Trade/Sales Embargo, more than anything else this year, really pisses me off. Even though it doesn't affect me (Thank you, WarStore), it's a real kick to the nuts for Australian and New Zealand players. Rest of the World, too I suppose.

Polonius wrote:Well, it's hard to compare multiple grades. The products that are properly cast are A grade in terms of quality. The value for the price and quality control are both much lower, and are also intrinsicly combined.

If you are a modeller, and are looking for the best models on the market, than Finecast offers great detail that's easy to work with at a market premium. You get two good things for one bad thing. If you are a gamer looking to build a squad, than finecase costs more a good chance that you will need to get replacement parts from any box.

So, in short, it's a B+ at worst to pure modellers, and a D+ at best for pure gamers (who gain few advantages but pay more). Averaging the two is about a C+.

Sounds fair. I do agree that if castings would be correct they would get an A+.

Now, on to an even more puzzling release: Dreadfleet. It seems to continue GW's bizarre aversion to actually selling product that people want. They made a lot of money selling hobby games in the 90's when hardly anybody played hobby games. Now that the market has exploded, they've released two limited edition boxed games. Given their vault of games, access to markets, and sculpting talent, you'd think it'd be a no brainer. I'm sure there's a reason we don't know... but it's still weird.

Anyway, compared to Space Hulk, Dreadfleet is in every way a disappointment. I didn't buy it, as I see no need to paint the models, play the game, or speculate that hte price will rise. Also, unlike Space Hulk, I couldn't uset he models in another system, or engage in nostalgia because I remember an earlier edition.

So... what exactly was the market for this game? I guess it's still a top notch hobby game that cashes in on the pirate craze. So it's got that going for it. And by all accounts it's a fun game. I just dont' need it. Or really want it. I don't even want to want it (unlike space hulk).

Great thread--nice to see it broken out like that.

Awesome reviews man! I had a great time reading it and agree with most of it.

Polonius wrote:Now, on to an even more puzzling release: Dreadfleet. It seems to continue GW's bizarre aversion to actually selling product that people want. They made a lot of money selling hobby games in the 90's when hardly anybody played hobby games. Now that the market has exploded, they've released two limited edition boxed games. Given their vault of games, access to markets, and sculpting talent, you'd think it'd be a no brainer. I'm sure there's a reason we don't know... but it's still weird.

Anyway, compared to Space Hulk, Dreadfleet is in every way a disappointment. I didn't buy it, as I see no need to paint the models, play the game, or speculate that hte price will rise. Also, unlike Space Hulk, I couldn't uset he models in another system, or engage in nostalgia because I remember an earlier edition.

So... what exactly was the market for this game? I guess it's still a top notch hobby game that cashes in on the pirate craze. So it's got that going for it. And by all accounts it's a fun game. I just dont' need it. Or really want it. I don't even want to want it (unlike space hulk).

I agree completely. That fact is compounded as well by the number of high-quality board games and all-in-one boxsets available from other manufacturers. If it was released into an empty marketplace then I might well consider picking up Dreadfleet, even if the concept didn't appeal to me that much, but as it stands I would probably put at least half a dozen other games on my 'to buy' list before I would even consider buying GW's offering.

On the other hand, had GW released practically any one of its back-catalogue (with the exception perhaps of, funnily enough, Man-o-War) then I would have snapped it up in a heartbeat as I did Space Hulk. I would love to see a re-imagining of something like Tyranid Attack, with dynamically posed scouts and a range of Nid nasties. Bolster it up with some new artwork and the thing would sell-out in no time at all I'm sure.