Feb 22, 2012
Yeah I know you have seen ‘em; the pretty little wolves and alien beasties.
It only took about three years for them to arrive. Besides ogling over the pretty new models everyone seems to be wondering what the frak took GW so long! Before we go into a long form discussion about that question let me let you in on a bit of Phil Kelly lore.
Thunder Cav were a last-minute addition to the codex– like a few weeks before going to print last-minute addition.
After Canis was designed there seemed like there was no reason to put entire units of wolf riders into the codex. As the codex release approached the Kelly decided the Space Wolves lacked a real wow unit that would separated it from the old codex. A unit he wanted players to talk (with a little bit of ego stamping as well) about instantly and help generate excitement, so taking the one wolf rider model and expanding it we got Thunder Wolves.
Now on to a more serious ranty discussion…
This still doesn’t explain why everything from Fenrisian wolves to Tervigons weren’t released much earlier. The main culprit often cited is the GW legal wranglings with Chapter House Studios over who can capture all the copyright bases. Now that we have new models and still a legal case raging it seems like that sort of reasoning was slightly flawed.
So why did it take GW so long to bring these models to release?
Well that is the million dollar question that really only they can answer.
All we can do is make a personal choice and vote with our wallets. I am betting though that GW knows what you are going to do.
You are might whine and complain, but when push comes to shove you will swipe our credit cards and pay the price.
Why will we do this you might ask? Because GW thinks it is the Apple of wargames and honestly they are kinda right. Let me use a personal experience that I just had to help explain.
I was at a convention last weekend where I play in a tournament every year. Nothing was different about the tournament, but as it ended I saw some other wargamers setting up tables for a Apoc pick up game they were planning on having. What shocked me, being someone who thought he knew almost every player in the area I was to finding group of about six middle age men I had never seen before. They were about to play an Apoc game with about 20 Hammerheads, over 10 Bainblades, and smorgasbord of tanks as far as the eye could see. Having gone to this convention for the last 15 I was surprised that I never seen these guys before.
Then I remember something I often forget about this hobby: it is still mostly populated by folks that don’t play in tournaments or need to leave their garage to enjoy the game. It is this that we on the Internet know, but often forget. On the hand it is something that GW doesn’t forget and it is for that reason they know six months or ten years later we will still buy; whether we play four times a year or 100 all they care about is that we keep on buying. Hence why we always where the same thing from GW: miniatures company first game company second.
What about us?
Those that read, comment, and generally follow the nonsense that goes on in the net community?
We will buy it too… though it might take longer.
It is the same reason folks buy only Apple products. Why women buy Louis Vuitton bags over the knock offs. As Vuitton and Apple are the symbols of status and luxury of their equivalent products, Games Workshop is that for Wargames. They disguised it in how they use the word “official” or how they protect their IP. It is GW incessant defense of their brand in all areas which creates a relationship (subconscious or not) where many feel that they have to buy models that only come from father workshop.
With exception of modelers and 20 something trolls that don’t have the money: you will pick up those models if you play those armies– mark my words!
You will switch out those crappy Tervigon Chapter House kits and you will eBay those Russian Thunderwolf knock offs. You will upgrade your old Arjac for the new one and you will use those chaos hounds for something else when you get our hands on the new shinny ones.
For the older players this isn’t anything new for GW, they have always been notorious, taking forever to bring products to release.
Anyone remember Drop Pods?
Yeah those things from the 3rd ed Space Wolves codex, when did they come out in plastic?
Oh yeah 5th fraking edition!
Take a moment and think how many Dropods converted or Forge World did you see before GW made plastic ones and think how many do you see today?
So everyone that cries about how GW should have released these models earlier save those tears because remember GW already has your money past, present, and future.
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Great article! 9/10
I am not surprised at all that there was a group of 40k gamers that you have never seen, it happens to me all the time.
I am constantly reminding my internet going, tourney playing friends that they are only a small portion of the 40k gaming community. There are plenty of guys that don’t get online to supplement their hobby.
Of the eight guys that I play 40k with only two of us get on the internet or play 40k outside of someones house or garage.
“Because GW thinks it is the Apple of wargames and honestly they are kinda right.”
This is exactly what I try to tell people, too. You can play miniature games way cheaper and sometimes they even work better, but if you want to be part of the “cool kid crowd”, it has to be GW.
Except that Apple actually offers increased value for it’s high prices in the form of better usability. In some products they’re the lowest cost provider as well. They’re also focused on increasing their market share, not deliberately shrinking it to remain more ‘elite’ or to gouge an extra 5% from it’s loyal customers after a 20% price increase. Instead of wringing the last bit of cash from a declining customer base, they’re relentlessly expanding into new markets and products. In short, Apple is growing and healthy, while GW is sick and in general decline.
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/ppwzq/iama_former_games_workshop_employee_ama/
This reads in exactly the same way as this discussion where two ex-employees discuss GW.
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I absolutely agree, and I don’t see what the problem is. I was pretty frustrated at the lack of a Terv/Tyrannofex kit, and now that it’s coming, I really don’t like how much they deviated from the pics in the codex. I will, however, be ordering a bunch of them. Although I go to Adepticon, I am one of those stealth middle age 40k gamers.
Yeah! Who were those guys? I like how not one of them even came over to look at our armies while they were setting up; they just didn’t give a shit! That’s how I want to be when I’m 40.
Actually I have a rare trait in this hobby called “self-control”. I can actually walk into a store and not impulse buy.
Your article is premised on the idea that most players are in it for the long haul. I’m not so sure that is the case. How many players dropped the game before a second wave of releases came? The thunderwolf cav may be an exception given how popular that unit and codex remain, but are the new tyranid models bringing new players into the game or increasing sales of other tyranid models? If Adepticon is any indication, I have my doubts.
I used to use the Apple/GW analogy as well, but it doesn’t really hold up beyond the cursory Intellectual property and limited news approach to product releases. GW certainly doesn’t have a limited product range with clear roles for every product. They don’t sell old product at discounted prices to expand their market share, and they certainly don’t upgrade their products every 12-18 months like Apple.
Seems to me the easiest answer as to why GW doesn’t release models in a timely fashion is simply because they can’t write rules as fast as they can release minis. They’re a mini company that sells off IP rights to other mediums. If GW only released minis at Codex time, 2012 would indeed be a slow year and stockholders would be unhappy.
I certainly don’t like how GW runs things, but over the years I’ve learned how to make my purchases. I don’t whine much about model releases nearly so much as I do about having models that gather dust on the shelf because their rules have sucked for editions. Heck, I’ve had armies sitting on the shelf for years because GW can only seem to update marine armies since 2005. Releasing a few models for units that haven’t had them is very unlikely to have me spend much money. Releasing new rules that make an army exciting is going to do that.
One other change is that 3rd and 4th editions saw very few new units. Fifth edition did add several new units for most codexes, so the scenario from the article is a relatively new phenomenon.
@Dal’yth Dude
You seem to be missing that people start new armies for all races all the time. Yes at a launch there is a very big take up of that army but the models sell all year round either to Mr ‘One Army’ who’s always expanding on his collection when ever he has some spare cash.
You have new starts to whom all the armies are new and shiney.
And you get other people who start new armies when it’s their birthday or Christmas.
The thing is that everyone here who frequents forums and buys new armies at launch tend to have their finger so “on the pulse” that you are blind to the 50% plus of gamers who are just more laid back about it all and buy models from across the entire range all year round.