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I'm interested to see what DakkaDakka thinks about what type of company GW is?

Are they miniatures first and focus on making eye catching minis?

Are they game/rules first and focused on making the best game out there?

Are they some weird hybrid that does neither well?

Are they satan incarnate?

What says Dakkadakka?

I doubt the results of this poll are going to surprise anyone, GW makes extremely nice models but their focus on the actual game is such a distant second that it takes half an hour for it's light to reach Terra.

They're Satan Incarnate that makes good miniatures. That's about it.

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
They're Satan Incarnate that makes good miniatures. That's about it.

I coulda called this before I even posted.

The Newman wrote:
...is such a distant second that it takes half an hour for its light to reach Terra.

Half a light-hour is actually really close, around Jupiter's closest approach to Earth.

GW rules are just a negligible add-on GW does so that people can do pew-pew with their awesome models in as unobtrusive way as possible.

Under a gamer's scrutiny it shows that GW rulesets are still firmly in the 80's: output randomness abound, player agency at minimum, downtime of upkeep/resolution (compared to decision making) - terrible.

Where a modern board gamer designer's motto is "if a rule doesn't allow players to make interesting decisions - it's out" GW goes "our players don't want to play, they want to be random number generators".

GW considers itself a miniatures company, that happens to provide a game that can be played with them, as well.

I consider GW to provide a game, with sometimes acceptable rules quality, that makes really nice miniatures.

My, personal, view of GW is incongruous with GW's mission. However, I don't buy many things anymore, so I can't be surprised that I'm no longer their target audience.

Imo they're pretty good at both. The game is generally fun, the models are generally great.

They're obviously a models company first.

It's odd really, they brought citadel minitures for its minitures range when they were a boardgame company, then dumped the games and kept the mintures arms.

Would I be persistantly less annoyed by them if they had just rebranded themselves citadel minitures and stopped pretending to be a 'Games Workshop?'

Whats the points of this poll? What difference does it make what people on dakkadakka think?

I'm shocked at the lack of "GW is a tech company" after the amazing app they just released.

Racerguy180 wrote:
I'm interested to see what DakkaDakka thinks about what type of company GW is?

Are they miniatures first and focus on making eye catching minis?

Are they game/rules first and focused on making the best game out there?

Are they some weird hybrid that does neither well?

Are they satan incarnate?

What says Dakkadakka?

Games Workshop considers themselves a model company first and foremost.

Games Workshop is committed to making the Warhammer hobby and our business ever better.Our ambitions remain clear: to make the best fantasy miniatures in the world, to engage and inspire our customers, and to sell our products globally at a profit. We intend to do this forever. Our decisions are focused on long-term success, not short-term gains

The strategy elements they discuss are centered around making models. Rules are a tertiary aspect used to push sales of models mentioned only incidentally alongside illustrations and fiction.

it doesnt make a difference, call it curiosity.

Many people on here are adamant that GW should focus solely on the game.

GW has(by prior track record) proven time and time again that they care waaaaayyyyyy more about the minis than the game. so I'm just interested to hear what the community(albeit by the small sample size that is DakkaDakka) views GW as.

Miniatures first, marketing second, rules tertiary

Hybrid, that does the minis very well and the rules just OK. But the company is both is roughly equal parts.

Not an option for your poll.

Regarding the rules, i think they live under the assumption that their "fan base" is not open for a revamp of the fundamentals (hit/wounds/saves/fnp); they also believe that space marines need to remain at the top of the sale chain.

Basically they have a very conservative business company whose only safeguard is lack of competition.

To be fair, they created an hell of an IP that's unrivalled in its genre. That's why we want their minis.

 nordsturmking wrote:
Whats the points of this poll? What difference does it make what people on dakkadakka think?

this.

I voted miniatures first, game second because it’s the closest to what I think, but it’s not the whole picture.

They self identify as a miniature company first and foremost, but at present their much more than minis and games. They’re a publisher too but I think they are fast transitioning into primarily an IP/brand which makes miniatures, publishes fiction and games and licenses their IP to make video games, comic books, tv shows and no doubt movies at some point in order to grow the brand.

Siegfriedfr wrote:
Regarding the rules, i think they live under the assumption that their "fan base" is not open for a revamp of the fundamentals (hit/wounds/saves/fnp); they also believe that space marines need to remain at the top of the sale chain.

Basically they have a very conservative business company whose only safeguard is lack of competition.

To be fair, they created an hell of an IP that's unrivalled in its genre. That's why we want their minis.

Well the Kirby years showed there is competition actually and if GW fails too hard the players will move to other systems.

I'd expect Satan Incarnate to be much better at writing rules. He's supposed to be a lawyer, after all...

"GW is an IP licensing company that is only just now starting to realize it" should be an option

Gw sell

Models for a game.

And Various IPs (i.e. The universes the models are based in and players can dive into, explore and get lost in).

The games are nothing without the universes they are set in.

Each is linked to the other.

Rules are just another revenue stream. IMO the background bits are way more important.

Great models. Neat fiction. Great art. Great IP.

Horrible games in terms of rules and balance.

 NephMakes wrote:

The Newman wrote:
...is such a distant second that it takes half an hour for its light to reach Terra.

Half a light-hour is actually really close, around Jupiter's closest approach to Earth.

I'm well aware that a 30 light-minutes isn't that far in the grand scheme of things, but model priority and game priority should be on the same 44"x60" board.

I couldn't resist choosing the last option. GW is a miniatures company, of course. Their rules exist for..... I don't know..... Being an excuse to buy overpriced plastic? I really don't know what the rules are for- their games (sans LOTR) don't have any more depth than playing with action figures and army men, and GW certainly doesn't put much effort into them.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Deadnight wrote:
Gw sell

Models for a game.

And Various IPs (i.e. The universes the models are based in and players can dive into, explore and get lost in).

The games are nothing without the universes they are set in.

Each is linked to the other.

Rules are just another revenue stream. IMO the background bits are way more important.

Why buy rules and play the game at all, then?

Cyel wrote:GW rules are just a negligible add-on GW does so that people can do pew-pew with their awesome models in as unobtrusive way as possible.

tneva82 wrote:Miniatures first, marketing second, rules tertiary

I dunno. I think the rules are a big part of the marketing, and that GW would see significantly fewer model sales if nobody obsessed over update churn, mathammer, and all the extra minis they 'need' to build a viable army.

I've been skeptical about any of GW's statements about 'we're a super-duper miniatures company making fantastic plastic display pieces just for you!' and about accepting that at face value. The warhammapocalypse alone gives enough evidence and speculation. WFB sales were in the toilet - how much of that was due to the increasing number and expense of the minis required by the rules? If the big, elaborate fantasy minis that showed up in 7th and 8th sold on their own merit, what need for AoS? Why did so many people dump, sell or even burn their armies of collectable characters when WFB rules switched to AoS? And so on, and so on.

The rules, as a procedure for carrying out a game, are trash. The rules, in the form of overstuffed unit profiles, as a way to make your little army men seem even awesomer and make you feel clever for paying up to £5 per 3cm plastic-injected figure for an army-list's-worth of them, are a fiendishly cynical sales generator. This is why AoS started with two pages of bare bones basic rules and everything else, all the unique, tailored stuff to make you go "aw, dis model is kewl!" was crammed into warscrolls. 40K isn't too far removed from that, either.

IIRC, GW always said most of their "customers" were there for minis and not games. That might be true - but that doesn't necessarily mean that most of their sales go to the segment of the customer base that just buys display projects and hobby projects.

I think its pretty obvious that its the gamer community that contributes the most to GWs bottom line, just on the basis of the fact that gamers buy armies, whereas collectors buy individual minis.

But the truth is that GW isn't really a game company, its a miniatures company. The game is there to justify an addiction rather than to stand as a gaming experience.

Such a wonderful marketing case study.

Bad rules, but largest fan base that continually shells for them.

Because of the models.

Its brilliant.

Started with 40k ~17 years ago.
I'm still playing it (on and off, depending on the edition, but still), and I just finished assembling the SM Indomitus-half.

GW are far from perfect, and I do enjoy taking the piss out of them to some extent, but they must be doing something right, otherwise I wouldn't still be here, playing the game and buying new models to armies that are already far too large.

Other: they are a hybrid that thinks they are a model company and uses that as an excuse to justify not giving rules the attention it deserves. The model quality has never been in question it's the idea that they don't focus on rules despite the game being the primary reason they still exist whether they believe it or not.