Border Reiver:
I would like to second the position of Mr. Blackhand, but would like to add a rider for Beer as well.
Gar Shadowfame:
btw, does anyone know any confirmed release date for nex warhammer army?
BLOOD AXE:
btw, does anyone know any confirmed release date for nex warhammer army?What is the next army??
Gar Shadowfame
Gar Shadowfame:
that i dont know either
Willmark:
Rumors on warseer seem to point to Ogre Kingdoms.
AGPO:
In the whole time I have been in the hobby, GW have released only three new armies - the Ogre Kingdoms, Dark Eldar and Tau. The old undead army was also split to become Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings, which necessitated the reworking of a lot of fluff and in the case of Khemri a whole new miniature range.
Despite this there are a number of concepts floating round HQ, some of which i have been lucky enough to see. Some of these are rejected pitches from the design stages of those three new armies, whilst others are just concepts the writers, sculptors and games designers have been bashing around for fun. No doubt if it was up to these guys we’d see new rules minis and all sorts appearing all the time. However, GW is not the fan-run firm it used to be. It’s a multi-national now and as such has certain structural limitations. It also means risk is a massive factor. Release a new space marine boxed set, you can be pretty sure it’ll sell. It has the product range to support it and can be easily integrated. A new race is asking people to invest in an entirely new army, from scratch.
Thommy H:
Would Necrons not fall within your timeline, AGPO? I think they first appeared in White Dwarf in early 1998.
mattbird:
Next army is definitely NOT Ogre Kingdoms. I don’t think they’ll be out til 2011 earliest.
AGPO:
Would Necrons not fall within your timeline, AGPO? I think they first appeared in White Dwarf in early 1998.fair point Thommy, I always forget Necrons as they appeared in stages, rather han in one big siney release accompanied by trumpets ;)
Thommy H
snowblizz:
Sigh. Same old, same old.Exactly.
Uzkul Werit
I read the article but it really doesn't say ANYTHING at all.
I can't help but gaff when he writes about supporting the existing armies. Conveniently forgetting the point that by the time the last army has been dusted of the first will need support again thus starting the circle. Unless you make a slot available, how will there ever be a convenient place to release something new. That strategy will mean they keep stamping in the same spot over and over again. Not to mention over-saturating the market (at least if you are not a person who gets fired up that there's more marginally different blue marines to choose from).
The problem is that they are trying to do much with little. After all the design studio used to be about three time as large, pretty much 1 studio for each system. This was of course during the heydays of the "lotr bubble" but I'm not suggesting that they get lots of people just because... I rather think they should do what Google does, part of the time should be spent inventing new stuff or working on "pet projects".
Tarrakk Blackhand:
Mr. Slev…they could do it on how much they charge us for boxes of figures and books! LOL!
Tyrelli:
Be interesting to know how much it costs to release a new army … that said if CD’s do make it back i see them released like the lizard men IE with the Warhammer game itself
Gar Shadowfame:
Costs are not an issue, i assume all stuff work hired on contract, getting bunch of game designers (and i mean bunch lets call em 6 people) to sit on their 3 letters and get something new rules wise, adding fluff and expected model ranges is not expensive. Then playtesting the thing, along with couple of other proposals.
Then whoever is making the decisions pics the project he thinks it good,
then computer specialists design models.
Voila
GW deliberately does not update armies regularly, this makes a new army big issue by creating artificial air of complexity, since ages i have difficulties with understanding the idea behind their marketing plan. But if they get the amount of money they are happy with, i cant complain.
Would i run this company differently, yes, i belive relations based marketing, with quiality spiraling high thanks to constructive use of feedback.
GW behaves like they completely dont care about players, but they do care about payers.
Thorne:
Games workshop have largely been running scared since 2000 when the explosion of Magic the gathering and the Pokemon trading cards took off big time. The issue being is people can have a tactical game using cheaper and easier to get pokemon and magic cards. You look at the traditional demographic for people that are the fanbase fo games workshop and magic or what ever is these days the pokemon of this time. The aqusition fo the lord of the rings lines and Sabretooth games to create a games workshop equivalant of Magic or pokemon, Not only that older gamers have moved away from the vannila marines to neopleonic and historical wargamming.
If many of us older players can remember when a goblin fanatic used ot retail at the price of 40 pence these days you will be lucky to pick one up at £3 pricing themselves out of there target market and these days us older gamers are looking at plastic minitures the only way to get mass marketing appeal is to push out a entire range where as in 1995 one of the last dark elves lines came out missing huge chunks of the model range, Still it seams that these days the way to get the most out of the general public was to saturate the market place with Cavalry 1 2 and 3 with trooop choice 1 2 and 3 and special choice 1 and 2 and then rare choices 1 2 and 3 also.
So whats to happen ? Not a fat lot the only thing I can see is games workshop potentialy pushing out a new line when the next edition of the warhammer boxed set comes fo age with fewer models than the existing version and tactical options being released as a suplimentary purchase line after all games workshop isnt run by gamers for gamers its run by a cheif of operations with his share holders to consider and pay there dues come the end of the financial year.
Thommy H:
Costs are not an issue, i assume all stuff work hired on contract, getting bunch of game designers (and i mean bunch lets call em 6 people) to sit on their 3 letters and get something new rules wise, adding fluff and expected model ranges is not expensive.They do have other stuff to do. It won't cost them any more, because they have a fixed salary, obviously, but it will divert resources away from other projects, which is effectively a cost. Time and energy devoted to a Chaos Dwarf unit that might never sell anything is time and energy that could be spent making more Space Marines, which will sell...
As always, the only thing we can take away from all this is that we need to keep doing what we're doing.
Grimstonefire:
Or to keep doing what we’re not doing in my case, which is not building a proper CD army until I see how all these current rumours play out.
I’ve actually written a letter to Jervis, but I can’t be bothered to post it as it’s a waste of a stamp really.
Arashi:
What about Daemonhunters? Sisters of Battle? Witch hunters? (Yeah, I know, kind of the same book but what ever...). The division of Chaos in Warriors, beasts and daemons? Different chapter books?Would Necrons not fall within your timeline, AGPO? I think they first appeared in White Dwarf in early 1998.fair point Thommy, I always forget Necrons as they appeared in stages, rather han in one big siney release accompanied by trumpets ;)
Thommy H
AGPO
(Just messing ;P)
Thommy H:
Yes, it is. If you’re asking for information, they won’t give you any, and if you’re complaining, they won’t tell you anything you want to hear. Chaos Dwarfs will appear when they appear, if they do at all.
Grimstonefire:
Oh, I wasn’t asking for information or complaining (unusually)
His article said at the bottom; write to me about balancing support of existing armies with releasing new stuff. Also a bit asking what sorts of things people would want to see (market research), so I wrote about ‘legendary’ dwarf warmachine with bits you can use to make them individual, and some casualty/ wounded models for all races.
Bolg:
I've actually written a letter to Jervis, but I can't be bothered to post it as it's a waste of a stamp really.I'll pay the stamp, give my your bank account number. but do mail that letter!
Grimstonefire