Adieu Games Workshop

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye...

In a blur of motion Valten signals his departure from GW gaming

So I have come out of my period of mourning for the game that has been the focus of most of my hobby endevours for the last decade or three. Like many a relationship it has come to a natural end. Though I have to say, that end was none of my doing or intent.

I loved the Warhammer World. I immersed myself in a world steeped in lore and history, once written and produced by gamers for gamers. It appealed to me for many reasons, the quality of the figures, the depth and width of the fluff, the sense of community...
The excitement of new releases that fit with my existing plethora of armies.

Yup, many of them have never seen the gaming table, and I spent many a dollar just on the joy of building and painting many a model, often to find that it was worthless as a game piece, or to see its worth destroyed by a change in the rules.

I played Warhammer Age of Reckoning online, adding another level of enjoyment to my experience of the Warhammer World. I bought novels that brought the fluff to life. I got my young son into the game.

Then all of it was sacrificed on the altar of profit.

To me, my experience of my relationship with GW had become more and more abusive over the decades. Like anybody trapped in a relationship with someone they loved; and believed that the other party loved them back, I stayed. I loved GW, but they did not love me back.

Then we got to the point where GW killed the Warhammer World. It rolled out the Age of the Sigmarine.  The End Times, (or is it End Crimes?) to me, now relates as a cynical move to squeeze a few more dollars out of those who still believed the game as we knew it may survive. Thank goodness I did not swallow the bait. Only a single End Times model taints my workbench. Gutrot Spume.

Some gamers took it to the extreme.

I too am a business man. I get the business aspects of it all.

But I am also a consumer of miniatures, a gamer, and possibly one with more disposable income than many. Surely there must have been a way forward that did not destroy the Warhammer world.

I (too) have decided to vote with my feet. AoS is not for me. GW is no longer for me.

I suppose my dollar does not count to GW in the greater scheme of things.
So be it.
Hope you attract lots of 8-year olds !

I for one will now leave GW and their Sigmarines to their own destiny.
So long, fare well.
I notice others doing the same.

Interesting post from Pete at Fields of Blood  on the corporate analyst take on the situation, and today announcing NZTCs switch to KoW.

So, where to from here ?  I've looked at the options:

1. Flogging on with 8th Ed in one form or another, (Read "continue as is; pre or post End-Crimes", 8th Ed the new Old Hammer, or call it (Out-in-the-cold Hammer?) or some fan-based machination - we all know how that is going to end);
2. Using my existing figures for another ruleset. (Late medieval/early renaissance gaming sans magic ?)
3). Selling the lot, and sticking with FoW only and
4) Switching to a skirmish based gameset eg Warmahordes

The latter did not appeal, as every figure I have painted is an unique work of art to my eyes.
I have toiled over them for days, weeks and months (oft to my other half's dismay).
They are like family.

So, I weighed 'em up...Pike and Shot, Blackpowder, Deus Vult, Warmahordes, Saga...
Invest in X-Wing ? A nice game or diversion, lots of guys have gone that way...but not what I'm after; I have a love of the Fantasy genre, already have FoW as a diversion anyhow, and alack,  no spare space in the Man Cave...

(Ahem...Huge delivery of Dark Elves bought as kickstarter from Raging Heroes on the horizon; and SAGA still preys on my mind - I may still go that way for a skirmish based game)

Came to a conclusion: Kings of War. 

Had quite an enjoyable game with Matt at the club the other night. Tournament coming at the end of the year. AND NOW NZTC IS GOING KOW

Fluff not quite there, Magic a bit weak, but out of all that is our there, I think Mantic's KoW is going to come up trumps. See one of the big tourneys in the US have also swopped over. And yesterday P
D announced that the NZTC will also switch rulesets.

With many, many WHFB players flocking their way I can see Mantic carrying the massed block based Fantasy Game banner in future. GWs loss is Mantic's gain.

Mantic must be grinning ear to ear.
Cheekily calling their book: The Game of Fantasy Battles. The King is dead, fell on his own sword. Long live the King!

My GW Undead, Empire and Dwarfs are now in the process of rebasing. Enough of them for both Abyssal and regular dwarf armies; and Human and Basilean Armies, each 2000 plus. May need a couple of Eloi for the latter, and some chicks on panthers. Or do I just use those riduculous (sigh) chickens?

Rebased Graveguard..ahem, Revenants

Empire almost there (15 000+ GW points woth) Almost done with the Vampires. (Wow do they kick ass in KoW!) and same with my Greenskins. Suddenly I have both a Goblin and an Orc army, compared to a 8000+ pt well but neigh useless WHFB greenskin army.

...and keep a few of my armies multi-purpose, ...should I ever decide to play 8th ed or one of its Lazarus incarnations which may or may not happen. (Looking verrrry unlikely at this stage) other than ETC (?)

So Druchii and Daemons will remain on their magnetised bases. As for killing off Slaanesh to attract the soccer mums. Bleh on you GW. I am so over it all, and the way you treated us.

Yay! I can use my Confrontation Wolfen now! 

As for the young Prince? Sad to say that GW's move has killed gaming for him. The Lizards and Ogres have gathered dust since the End Times (Well, what would you expect if both your armies suddely get written out of the story fluff) and I have doubts that he will return to gaming for the immediate future. But who knows? The news of NZTC switching may have galvanised him too.

A week ago I set about the mammoth task of rebasing my 15 000 pt + Empire Armies:

White Wolf Greathammers and Knights of Ulrich being transformed. 

Yup, some collector's items in that line-up!

Really 4 or 5  distinct armies sporting the livery of Talabheim, Talabecland, Nordland (Incorporating Kislev) and The Knights of Morr, and a small contingent of Knights of the White Wolf. Not that it matters any more, as in GW's own words "such things are obtuse"

I could actually not have anticipated the feeling of liberation that I got when I started gluing bases to movement trays! "Yes, yes! Never have to remove and restack you, you little bastard !"

Handgunners, Arquebussiers, 10 to a stand. Sooo easy.

Same with the XBows. 10 to a base. Simple. 

Sorry Chaos Army. 

You will have to wait for the rules to catch up with you. No doubt in the pipe-line.

Anyone with a horde army will appreciate what I am saying...
Couldn't wait to glue down those skeletons and zombies. Never will you fly all over the place again!
Not even speaking about night goblins!

Still have to think about the Vargulfs, but everything else seems transferable

 

Night of the Walking Dead

Skeletons, Zombies and ghouls surge forth. No longer shuffle or shamble. Undead are not slow in KoW. Change of Mindset. Oh yes, and then there is SURGE.

Still a huge amount of work to do on the aesthetics, but getting there slowly...