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Well, they're advertising for a team to make it so!

The community post is pretty self explanatory. But there may be those of you wondering what a partwork is.

Well, as the proud own of 79 out of 90 'Judge Dredd The Megacollection' volumes, and all 14 of the '2000ad Ultimate Collection' released thus far, I may be the man to tell you.

In essence, it's a serialised collection of (usually, but not always) books. And to this Nerd's eye, they've been enjoying something of a resurgence.

Typically, the issues are released every fortnight, and over time will build into a mightily impressive collection - commonly with a special spine artwork, revealed as your collection grows. For me, the books I get are well priced. Effectively, £20 per collection per month (well, every four weeks) for hardback collected volumes. Heck, most TPB I previously bought cost more than that!

They serve as a particularly efficient way to gather up back issue stories. The Judge Dredd one I'm particularly fond of, as it delves into more than just Ol' Stoney Face, but the wider Mega-City universe.

From memory, there's also a Marvel collection, DC collection, Star Trek Starships collection and a Star Wars helmet collection fellow Nerds may express interest in.

Now, what GW might do with this? Who knows!

One that genuinely does spring to mind? Partwork Model Kits. They're not without precedence. I think it was DeAgostini that published a Millenium Falcon kit partwork. And of course, that same publishing house also released GW's Lord of The Rings partwork in the dim and distant past (each issue added a scenario, painting tips, a model or paint etc).

Very interested to see if this gets off the ground, and what form it takes.

There could be a kit one, but it's just as likely if not more that it'll just be more books.

The Black Library fiction one does well, so I could see them doing a Horus Heresy one for example.

There were HH novels in the current (is it still running?) Black Library part works.

What I'd like to see them do is something like the Star Wars encyclopedia part-work that you pulled apart and filed into the relevant sections that covers the 40k or AoS universes; much like Lexicanum.com does

Hmm. As long as this sort of thing is limited to repacking stuff that's presently available to target the kind of folk who like to have matching bookshelves, why not. If it's loads of older, out-of-print material then personally I think it sucks.

I don't want to subscribe to a bundle of expensive hardbacks several of which I might not even want just to get the handful I do, I want BL to offer their sodding back catalogue for sale in affordable, standard paperbacks. They've been doing great recently with the WHF anthology reprints, but there's still oceans of content that they're just sitting on and I very much hope this isn't the way they choose to release it.

It could, I suppose, be used to part-release Titans?

Wishful thinking, sure. But not impossible.

Still probably annoyingly UK only like the first run.

Quite possibly.

From memory, I don't think the US really 'does' partworks?

There's a smol chance the Loot Sharing group might be able to assist if it is a model of some kind. But that's a helluva a commitment for both parties - regular shipping, regular payment. Not insurmountable, but definitely involves far more trust than the typical 'can someone grab me X' deal!

I would love for them to do a characters of BL statue collection (as long as every other one was a NON MARINE)

Please don't be UK only.

I remember the LOTR was a GW part work, that came with figures each issue, lore, paint guides, and scenarios to use the figures plus any previous ones

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
It could, I suppose, be used to part-release Titans?

Wishful thinking, sure. But not impossible.

Someone's doing a part-work for a scale model of Thunderbird 2; 12 parts, at eighty notes per part. That's getting you into the ballpark for a Warlord.

ritualnet wrote:
I remember the LOTR was a GW part work, that came with figures each issue, lore, paint guides, and scenarios to use the figures plus any previous ones

Battle Games in Middle Earth (BGiME) was brilliant.

Although the pages included 'Eavy Metal painted studio miniatures, the painting guides reflected an advancing skill level as the series went on.

For the first 3 or 4 issues, the bases weren't even flocked, just painted Goblin Green.

I thought it was a fantastic approach that hopefully didn't put new customers off. There was a balance between 'This is what you're like now but have a look at what you could end up achieving'.


I know I would probably have never bought any LOTR beyond the initial Fellowship metal set if the magazine hadn't come along.

Maybe the Newsagent's shelf is the new High Street store.

I mean, there's a local visibility (provided you can get it stocked of course) you can't really replicate anywhere else.

Pester power helps, and 'not being another computer game' (actual quote from more than one parent in my times working for GW. 7 years ago now. Not a shill) does too.

Of course, one wonder if this could be a part-release game. Perhaps some kind of Space Hulk or Dungeoneering game. Start with a bumper pack (they usually do, or at least a hefty discount on the usual issue price) and add tiles and gribblies as it goes along.

Good thing about that speculation? I'd buy it, and I suspect I wouldn't be the only Old Grognard to do so. Whack in a Ring Binder for subscribers and you're pretty much golden.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
It could, I suppose, be used to part-release Titans?

Wishful thinking, sure. But not impossible.

Someone's doing a part-work for a scale model of Thunderbird 2; 12 parts, at eighty notes per part. That's getting you into the ballpark for a Warlord.

By the time my Dredd Megacollection is complete (11 issues to go, so around July), I'll have 90 issues, costing £900....sounds a lot, but when it's £20 a month you really don't notice it! And again, I find £10 for a collected hardback really quite competitive.

Maybe the Newsagent's shelf is the new High Street store.

They'll be aiming for supermarket news & mags aisles. That really ramps up the order.

And here's some details on the DeAgostini Falcon partwork.

24 issues....£39.99 a pop.....Total cost £959.76.

Now, not one I'd go for myself. But in terms of what partworks can deliver? I think it's a useful point of reference.

Maybe it will be a plastic Thunderhawk Gunship