4 ms·
I knew this was going to happen some day. Games Workshop is essentially two separate companies, the raving legal department/copyright trolls (A couple of years
by drakeandrews 14y ago
I knew this was going to happen some day. Games Workshop is essentially two separate companies, the raving legal department/copyright trolls (A couple of years ago they regularly put full page colour adverts in all the British wargaming magazines warning that they would enforce their IP with the full power afforded to them by the law, it was generally considered a bad joke by most.) and the (for a lack of a better term) hobbyists who make most of the miniatures and write most of the rules. And it seems like they take turns running the company. For ages, there'll be lots of player-friendly new things and shiny new figures and the terrible quota-driven managers at the shops will be replaced with the people who are there because they love their hobby. And then everything'll change and they'll start enforcing stupid dictats on IP, change the rules of the games to excessively favour those with bigger wallets, bump up the prices of everything and fire those people that sacrifice short term gains for cultivating a long term base of customers and fans.
I find it really sad, I grew up near their HQ in Nottingham. A number of my dad's friends work for them. And I'd love for this to be the push that means that all the other wargaming companies (who in the past couple of years have really progressed in professionalism and quality) will find even more traction. (Although they all still suffer from a lack of space to sell things, there is a GW in almost every town in the UK. They've all but squeezed out the independent hobby shops.) But a lot of people just won't care. And an equal number of people are too locked in, they've spent a lot of money on the GW armies. All their friends have GW armies. You can't just splurge two, three hundred pounds on warmahordes unless all your friends do the same.
All I can hope is that GW gets their arse handed to them and the hobbyists get put back in charge.
- waterlesscloud 14y agoAre there alternate rulesets that happen to be playable with the same minis? Could there legally be such things?
- drakeandrews 14y agoI know several of the staff at GWHQ in Nottingham had what was basically their own separate ruleset cobbled together from what they considered the best parts of the games over the prior 25 years. Most clubs had enough house rules that they were basically playing separate games. Although with the current player-unfriendly stance any ruleset distributed as "for GW figures" would find its self on the wrong side of a legal team. And then a lot of players have very, very irrational attitudes towards proxy figures. I couldn't turn up with a Warmachine army sheet and my Imperial Guard army and play, or vice versa. In fact, that'd get you kicked out of a lot of hobby shops.
- EvilTerran 14y agoThere are generic wargame rulesets out there that you can play with basically any minis. For instance: http://15mm.co.uk/USE_ME_15mm_Sci-fi_wargame_rules.htm http://15mm.co.uk/USE_ME_15mm_Sci-fi_wargame_rules.htm
- eliasmacpherson 14y agoAbout the favouring those with deeper wallets: there's a great history of players making their own miniatures. I think provided they are reasonably near the dimensions of the 'original' piece - the homemade pieces are accepted and encouraged, allowing those without the financial means to use their own.
- drakeandrews 14y agoThe official line has always been fuzzy. A lot of the more quota-led managers would bring out the "no-proxy" rules a lot. But then there is a very blurred line between a "converted" figure and a plain old handmade one. In this regard, HQ was much more lenient than other stores.
- eliasmacpherson 14y agoAnecdote: Many many stores proudly display 'proxy' models in the windows, presumably made by the staff. I know of very specific rules for tournaments but I can't see casual gamers enforcing them.
- illuminate 14y ago"the homemade pieces are accepted and encouraged" It's not like they can do much about cardboard cut-outs and stand-ins.
- eliasmacpherson 14y agoor even these - the proud owner states they've been used in actual tournaments with permission[0]: https://twitpic.com/show/iphone/bcbymh https://twitpic.com/show/iphone/bcbymh https://twitpic.com/show/iphone/bcbyvf https://twitpic.com/show/iphone/bcbyvf [0] http://warhammer.org.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=108484 http://warhammer.org.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=108484
- illuminate 14y agoThanks, those are gorgeous one-offs!