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Yeesh. This thread.

Trying to take things slightly seriously I wouldn't change much right now, because things are going pretty well, but I'd look into:

1) Tying the videogame IP and miniatures IP more closely together. As much as I love WF, the fact that the Warhammer IP is being used in games and the AoS on the tabletop is a bad idea, business wise. Likewise, key title releases should be tied into miniature support - a DoW release should mean a Blood Raven army book and new support materials. The game box should include a Space Marine sprue and a little booklet. Games are one of your key drivers of bringing people into the IP, but they always feel oddly disconnected from the franchise. Brick and mortar retailers of videogame titles would like it too, it's something to push back against digital sales.

2) I'd put more of the Black Library archive titles on to the Kindle platform. I know GW are petrified of other people's platforms, and to some extent they're correct, but for older content that is past it's best sales wise Amazon is literally too big to ignore at this point.

3) I'd go big on "living" digital rulebooks and live up to it. They're a good anti-piracy tool, but only if they're updated properly and in a timely fashion, which has not really been happening tbh.

4) I'd go even harder on new gamer recruitment. The current uptick is probably focused more on lapsed gamers and that's great, and the easy to start kits are good, but I think there's a lot more that could be done on viral and innovative marketing techniques targeting school aged gamers to bring people into stores and buy that stuff in the first place, and every pound of investment there will pay for itself in the long run. A good period like now is the best time to spend here. Shareholders are generally pretty tolerant of spending to grow the customer base at the cost of short term profits (if it's not a total failure!).

5) I'd have a bit more of an archive strategy. MTO is a step in the right direction, but what are the big sellers? Why? Why not do more of that? It's useful business data.

6) I'd move my ass a bit more on the apps. What they've done so far has been good, but they really dropped the ball on that supposed 40K app that was coming.

7) I'd crowdsource translation more to reduce costs and grow the international audience.

^ Good post. Especially number 6!

TV: I'd ignore TV completely. Gun violence/antigun sentiment is at an all time high. Probably not the best time.

Movies: I'd ignore Movies completely. It's a huge risk and investment of time and money for a product that at its core isn't 'wholesome' for general audiences. Unless you're going to get Hugh Jackman as an inquisitor, Ryan Reynolds as an farseer, and The Rock as a space marine the project is DOA.

Video Games: Less DoW3 and more DoW1. The Space Marine video game had a pretty decent narrative.

Gaming Stores: The local GW Store (closet) has 2 tables. 2! Good luck fighting over them. My FLGS has 4 always standing, and room to add 8 more on a whim. They specialize in Comics first, then MTG, then 40k. I don't ever go to the GW store because the prices are the exact same and the store is tiny. If one guy farts, we all die.

Software: Create an army builder that is easy to use and is updated at the same time as every publication. It needs to work on IOS, Android, and Windows and exports to a PDF. It needs to have a tournament function just like Best Coast Pairings, except one that doesn't break on round 2 of every tournament. Dispense a tablet/chromebook and a printer to retailers. This will be automatically in every GW shop, and then they can hand them out to the bigger FLGS as they see fit. People can come in and use the tablet/printer for free (under supervision) and print out army lists. They could do it as a promotional Kiosk type deal. Forgot a list? No problem! Just use the GW Kioskiusomanicum.

Support Tournaments: Casual golfers still watch, read and follow professional golf. I like to compare 40k to golf. Since both are expensive and time consuming, they share a good intersection. Beer and pretzel gamers still read about Adepticon, NOVA, and LVO. I think GW is starting to work with TOs more. Keep it up.

Merchandise!: Why must it be so hard to find quality 40k t shirts? I would buy an overpriced inquisitor jacket in a heartbeat. I would love to have a Sisters of Battle lunch box.

Involve Fans: The community site is great. Run some contests so fans can win merch, models, books, etc. I would run contests to include fans into the fluff. Spend $100 at GW this month and get entered for the chance to have an SM hero named after you. I'd probably move up my next purchase for a shot to have Sgt Duck in the fluff. I've already entered people in the 40k nominate a hero contest. More things of this nature.

I am not commenting on Rules/Models because that's all very subjective.

My $.02

 Infantryman wrote:

Move the company to Maryland, where you don't need a reason to fire someone.

So you'd get rid of all the existing Europe based staff and property, plant, and equipment and start from scratch in Maryland, just so you'd be able to fire people at will? Do you really expect a performance gain (and attendant profit) from at-will employment to outweigh getting rid of most if not all of the institutional knowledge and cutting off access to the large and healthy UK talent pipeline in the miniatures field?

Personally I'm skeptical that's a productive move.


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 Xenomancers wrote:
This is exactly what I was thinking if UK has some sort of law that prevent firing people for sucking at their job. You can always bring in Alec Baldwin and give them the brass balls speech.

Yes, yes it does though it isn't framed quite like that. You at least need some metrics and documentation that someone "sucks at their job" rather than relying on some managers say-so.

The whole at-will employment, "I can fire you for whatever reason or no reason at all" seems to be a mostly an American thing.

I'm fairly certain he was having a laugh, Aesthete.

 Aesthete wrote:


So you'd get rid of all the existing Europe based staff and property, plant, and equipment and start from scratch in Maryland, just so you'd be able to fire people at will?

Not personally, no.

I do wish their US HQ was still in Maryland, though.

 Unit1126PLL wrote:
I'm fairly certain he was having a laugh, Aesthete.

Indeed; my wit tends to be pretty dry, and is taken too seriously in person let alone over the tubes.

M.

Wait wait,
I wanted to yell "Make plastic Sisters" but now I see this is about books and devs?

Yeah alright. Fire all the devs. Then make plastic sisters!

 Unit1126PLL wrote:
I'm fairly certain he was having a laugh, Aesthete.

An infrantryman after my own heart then. Expectations adjusted accordingly :cheers:

few things
1. Lower the cost of models especially for core troops (generic marines, guardsman, ect.) I got to take a tour of a GW manufacturing facility and the cost of actually producing a model has to be next to nothing once you have recouped the sunk cost of the original sculpt. I really do think this would increase their overall profit by pushing out knock-off companies and allowing a lower barrier to entry that brings people in to eventually buy your higher ticket items as well as selling a much higher volume.
2. Double the funding and size of the department that makes the rules. While i think they have been doing a good job in 8th there is still lots of room for improvement. Some of the rules clearly get rushed to work on more popular codexes. I think they are on the right track with 8th but they clearly need some help.
3. Create a large GW official worldwide tournament similar to ITC. Have GW crown 3 winners each year Best record at GW official tournaments, Best army painted that year and some sort of award for most invested into the hobby (maybe a fan hit by hard times but still a great member of the community, could be nominated by the community). Engaging with the community on a large level like this would get people even further invested in your game.
4. Hire the guy that makes the Hellsreach videos on youtube and produce a full-length movie each year

 Aesthete wrote:

~More diversity in 40k

I don't see a lot of reason to go through with this. D&D, capeshit, and other 'nerd' hobbies have become more popular with women simply because these hobbies have become more popular and more socially acceptable in general. Such an initiative stands to cause more harm than good, for two reasons.

The third parties GW would bring in to 'fix' the problem (whether there truly is a problem is highly debatable, but that's neither here nor there.) will be more invested in their own agenda than staying true to the lore. Work done by this group would prioritize over keeping the game fun. By doing this, you would alienate your core audience, the demographic driving model sales, by prioritizing eliminating everything "problematic" than keeping the game and universe they love enjoyable.

The target audience is miniscule. There are very, very few people that are saying, "Hmm, I would play this game, but the ratio of plastic women is only 43.561%, and I refuse to play any game where the ratio isn't at least 60.8%." People who play the game do so because they like the game, not because the models tick enough boxes on their list of averages. The latter makes up a small (albeit vocal) minority. Even then, this group has signaled that they're more interested in tut-tutting than enjoying themselves. Past experience with other hobbies shows that, even if this group's demands were appeased, they are extremely unlikely to start playing, and will just move on to complaining about something else, and the cycle repeats.

In my opinion, the risk-reward analysis makes this an unsound decision: risking most of your core fanbase for a small group unlikely to patronize your business anyways isn't the best of deals.

You know, you've made me realize I'd like to see more female options in my Guard kits. Some Commisar heads, sergeants, officers, etc.

M.

I'll love some more female commisars. Theres something... exotic and captivating behind the imaginery of the female fascist officer with an iron fist.

And the commisar clothes fit beautifully well on a female.

I would hire a couple of playtesters and force the codex designers to beat every faction at least once with their new codex...then force them to beat their own book with every faction, at least once. If they can't do that, i would throw out the book, stop their pay, then make them work for free until it was fixed.

I really like the blizzard-run forums, it's a nice way to get some easy developer feedback. If I were at GW, I'd try to emulate them as much as possible.

I mean, they won't answer every question every person has, but it's a way to more directly interact with the devs.

I mean, I get it's difficult managing a forum full of nerds who all have things to complain about (myself included), but in might be nice to have a place to discuss stuff and maybe have someone respond to why they do/have done things they way they have.

My five year old son plays 8th edition. I'm not sure what some of you are on about with rules being unclear/poor.

I mean I love dropfleet for example, rule book is awful.
I put up with x-wing, my son likes it too, but it's a boring game with a billion tokens.
I LOVE alphastrike, but it's a nightmare figuring out rules interactions and reading the rulebook. (And it's the EASIER battletech lol.)

The easiest/fun game I've ever owned/played is Ticket to Ride, it's pretty much the perfect game. AoS and 8th ed 40k are right up there with it imo.

As for the ops question:
Make more troops beginner kits other than orks and marines. Use the old casts to make these options available on the cheap for new players.

 sfshilo wrote:
My five year old son plays 8th edition. I'm not sure what some of you are on about with rules being unclear/poor.

Are you kidding ?? The rules are horrible, unclear, vague, incomplete, illogical.

p5freak wrote:

 sfshilo wrote:
My five year old son plays 8th edition. I'm not sure what some of you are on about with rules being unclear/poor.

Are you kidding ?? The rules are horrible, unclear, vague, incomplete, illogical.

In keeping with the thread’s topic: P5freak, what would you change about the process that creates rules to make them less horrible/vague and make them more clear, complete, and logical?

 JimOnMars wrote:
I would hire a couple of playtesters and force the codex designers to beat every faction at least once with their new codex...then force them to beat their own book with every faction, at least once. If they can't do that, i would throw out the book, stop their pay, then make them work for free until it was fixed.

That went from good idea to possible lawsuit way too fast.

 kastelen wrote:

 JimOnMars wrote:
I would hire a couple of playtesters and force the codex designers to beat every faction at least once with their new codex...then force them to beat their own book with every faction, at least once. If they can't do that, i would throw out the book, stop their pay, then make them work for free until it was fixed.

That went from good idea to possible lawsuit way too fast.

Glad I'm not the only one who got whiplash from that. It's clear who on this forum has never actually had to lead a team of any kind, yeesh.

I would insist that Rulebooks were done at an equal or better level than Warlord Games. The rulebook would have fluff reduced by 300% and charts and indexes would be included to run basic armies for all races. It would not be a massive tome because of the de-fluffing. Then I would start talking about international tournament support.

I would have GW main take over rules writing for FW. FW team makes the models and passes on their intended role/function but the GW rules writers actually put down the stats/special rules/points. No more of this left hand having no idea what the right is doing nonsense.

This will also stop the asinine "we can't errata/FAQ this clearly broken thing because that's from the FW team (except when we do it anyway in Chapter Approved and nuke it all from orbit)."

Sorcererbob wrote:
In keeping with the thread’s topic: P5freak, what would you change about the process that creates rules to make them less horrible/vague and make them more clear, complete, and logical?

Hire some guys who do that for profession rather than for hobby like GW does. Ultimately GW rules writers are bunch of hobbyists thinking how to get cool rules. How to make balanced and well written rules is not their area of expertise. Fine if some are like that(it IS good to have somebody who can create cool rules least game becomes too dry) but they really, really, REALLY need somebody to work out from cool concept into balanced rule that's properly spelled out so there's no more these silly things like assault weapons that technically still do NOTHING.

GW designers are more like bunch of guys looking for interesting games rather than professional game developers. It shows in both good and bad.


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RogueApiary wrote:
I would have GW main take over rules writing for FW. FW team makes the models and passes on their intended role/function but the GW rules writers actually put down the stats/special rules/points. No more of this left hand having no idea what the right is doing nonsense.

This will also stop the asinine "we can't errata/FAQ this clearly broken thing because that's from the FW team (except when we do it anyway in Chapter Approved and nuke it all from orbit)."

Christ no. FW has shown in history it can make actually good logical balanced rules once in a while. GW has shown it's incapable of that.

I, personally, would do things to counter the amount of lost revenue as a result of things like 3rd party sites and codex downloads.

This would essentially be all about “availability”. In terms of rules and Codices, I would make a push towards more digital options. Currently there are only big epub3 options that only work on certain devices. I would expand this to different formats to reach out to the wider player base, and also re-design some of the options into “index style” downloads – so no fluff and showcases etc, just rules, points and datasheets. This would then be a cheap, non-spectacular, option for download compared to everything else. I would also personally expect book codex sales not to suffer massively from this either, due to large aspect of “collection” within the hobby. If anything, it would push the sale of new armies to existing players as they could then get easier access to rules, without needing to downloading them off some dodgy site, who in turn would then likely buy the physical codex and models.

In terms of 3rd party sites, I’d push towards more “upgrade” kits across most factions and “sub-factions”. Torso, heads and transfers would be initial step for a lot of the armies (especially Imperium ones), as there is a massive amount of chapters/regiments etc to choose from, but nothing to help distinguish them on the table. Alongside this, I would also introduce a “bitz” section on the website. This -could- have an impact on profits though, as rather than buy a 2nd box for that 1 extra weapon, people could instead just buy the bit. Generally, in this instance, many of us just go to a 3rd party bitz store and buy the item there. But, by bringing together these 2 options, you would be offering a very strong challenge to all the 3rd party sites and bitz sellers, thus bringing lost revenue back into company.

Thirdly, I would high an audit team with the sole purpose of re-checking all publications (especially rules and codices) and give them complete license put every single question and issue they find, to the design team. These would-be people able to look at game from a “detached/outside” perspective, allowing them to question everything from a “new player” point of view. As such, it would reduce the amount of rule contractions and issues requiring FAQ each time a new book is release. As such, the quality of the game and publications would improve, reducing the impact and frustrations of existing players and in turn, making each new publication more appealing to the new players.

Forth, I’d re-look at the Horus Heresy game. It has completely stalled in my opinion. I would task them with getting rules out for all of the legions at an vastly increased speed, along with taking the same approach as they have with 8th edition 40k. If there is no model built, do not make initial rules. The only exception would be the Primarchs, but, I would also set a hard deadline to ensure all of the remaining Primarchs are released within the next 6-12 months (There are only 6 left to do). I would also take note of where to community is at, rules wise with HH since 8th’s release. If the community feeling and movement continues to push more towards an 8th style ruleset, i’d set the target of re-design to 8th style once the full release of Primarchs and Legion rules is complete (again 12 months max).

Finally, I would bring all rules design together under 1 team and roof for each of the systems. 40k GW and FW would be 1 team, AoS GW and FW would be a 2nd team etc etc. FW would retain their artistic licence to continue to design and create the pieces they currently do (i.e experimental stuff, large scale models, their own sub factions (e.g Red Scorpions, Elysians etc), but the rules would then be created based on the overall game separately.

A lot of options here, but I think, having these as a frame work would greatly move the company and hobby forward.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Extra points to add after reading more comments -

In terms of brick and mortar stores, I would make ordering FW and Black Library products possible from store, with the option of having them shipped to the store at zero cost to the customer. While the stores won’t have the space to stock everything, I’d add in the tech and advertising to make it more visible and possible.

As for the comments about getting a new design team, I don’t think this is completely required. I would instead, simply hire a couple of new people with the sole purpose of injecting some common sense into the way things are done. This, paired with the audit team should generally make things a lot smoother for everything involved.



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 Hollow wrote:

SemperMortis wrote:

Finally, I would hire a game designer for each faction that plays that faction and LOVES that faction and use them as the stick to measure new rules on. No army should have to spend an entire edition (in orkz case 3-4) on the shelf because the design team either doesn't understand the army or just doesn't care.

Good ideas, this one in particular has always made me wonder. I'm hoping the recent cups, badges and journal books are a step in this direction.

I would NEVER do this. Ever. In my opinion it will lead to nothing but codex creep, as most of the players would simply want to keep doing everything possible to make their faction the best. Some would take a balanced approach, but then that would massively increase the overall imbalance.

Personally, I think the best option would be to take the opposite approach. Sit down a rules designer with the Black Library writers responsible for that faction. This would then lead to a discussion of who the army is from a fluff point of view – how they operate, how they fight, what weapons and units are favoured etc etc. Once that information is gathered, it would then be used as a base for all further rules, stratagems and styles etc.

Once a draft is complete, independent of the current ruleset, this would then be reviewed and adapted to fit into the overall balance of the game. But, as the basic framework of the army would be based around the fluff etc, the army will still play as seen in the fluff and can then be adjusted via points costs and so on.

 Galas wrote:
I'll love some more female commisars. Theres something... exotic and captivating behind the imaginery of the female fascist officer with an iron fist.

And the commisar clothes fit beautifully well on a female.

*Thoughts about "Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS" immediately pop up*

Sorcererbob wrote:
I was applying real-world, adult, and practical analysis to the proposal of plastic sisters.

What's the use for that? Even if I could demonstrate brilliantly the "real-world, adult, and practical" feasibility of plastic Sisters of Battle, noone from GW is reading this thread, and definitely not the one who could make the final decision. I'd rather keep my role-play (because role-play is what you asked for) fun rather than "real-world-like", "adult" and "practical".

Well, it's a question that kind of came up in their current customer survey.

So here's my suggestion - Print On Demand Legacy Rules.

Start off with Rogue Trader era stuff. They've already done the core rulebook as part of the 30th Anniversary (very nice it is too!). But what about the Orky stuff and Realms of Chaos?

Now I don't know if there's a copyright issue there (I'd imagine not, but let's not take as gospel), but PoD for those surely can't take a great deal of effort?

It's a low risk venture the way I see it, albeit utterly devoid of any actual knowledge in the area!

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Start off with Rogue Trader era stuff. They've already done the core rulebook as part of the 30th Anniversary (very nice it is too!). But what about the Orky stuff and Realms of Chaos?!

And there was a scream of agony from multiple ebay sellers

(that or GW prices them up enough for ebay prices to look reasonable!)

Stuff eBay sellers

I reckon there's a definite market for it. And, a source of interesting and unusual Christmas presents etc.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Well, it's a question that kind of came up in their current customer survey.

So here's my suggestion - Print On Demand Legacy Rules.

Start off with Rogue Trader era stuff. They've already done the core rulebook as part of the 30th Anniversary (very nice it is too!). But what about the Orky stuff and Realms of Chaos?

Now I don't know if there's a copyright issue there (I'd imagine not, but let's not take as gospel), but PoD for those surely can't take a great deal of effort?

It's a low risk venture the way I see it, albeit utterly devoid of any actual knowledge in the area!

I’d avoid going back and re-printing old rulesets for people to use. The game, as a whole, needs to continue to move forward rather than constantly looking back. Each game has to have a united front and single set of rules if it is to work and be accessible to all.

The only thing I can see it being used as, is a sell as “collector items” and not to be used for actual game play. Personally, I’d rather not have to turn up to a store, argue about what sets of rules we want to use, then remember said rules, dig out the models that are legal to use in said game, and then attempt to play.

If you want to play an old edition at home with a friend, then, I believe most of the rules are probably available online somewhere.


As for the whole Sisters of Battle thing… Personally, if I was GW, I wouldn’t be rushing to do this. It has become a massive internet circle jerk and joke, so drawing any kind of possible revenue value from the idea of doing it, would be practically impossible. Probably 80% of the people that complain about it have no intention of buying said army if it was available, they are only shouting for it due to the online community horde mentality and, often, a large portion of immaturity.

If I was too seriously look at making SoB in plastic, I’d have to have solid expected figures way in advance.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Stuff eBay sellers

I reckon there's a definite market for it. And, a source of interesting and unusual Christmas presents etc.

Don't get counter argument from me! I would love that kind of service myself. Too bad GW probably sees it as competing with itself again.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Kdash wrote:
If I was too seriously look at making SoB in plastic, I’d have to have solid expected figures way in advance.

Like the moment they released anything for SoB sales blew them by surprise?