Here are my comments for posterity...
People on the RGMW NG rant and rave about GW because GW wont listen to them
face to face (I know from personal experience). How many of GW staff will
take the time to listen to what we, the customer, have to say about _the_ GW
Hobby (another sore point to many of us, it seems wargaming didnt exist
until GW took over the hobby). I have tried to talk to senior GW people
(Prick Priestley, Gav Dork, Nigel Prickman, are just a few) and they dont
give a shit as long as the money keeps on rolling in. they foget that in
the early days of Warhammer (Fantasy/40K/Epic/whatever) it was the older
gamer that kept them in business and what do they do to repay us? They tell
us that we are too old to be considered in their marketing plans!! Fine,
when my kids get into Warhammer in a big way and need the cash to buy the
lastest 20 rank 'n' file mini and come to dady to tap him for the
dosh/mulla/green-stuff/whatever, I kindly tell them that
ABC/Heartbreaker/whoever, sell the same mini for a tenth of the price and
buy it from them instead. All because they turned their back on me!!! This
may seem stupid to many of you but I have been in the situation in a GW
store that was allowing people to play. So me, my friend and our kids wanted
a game. The kids were allowed to play but my friend and I were told only the
younger element was allowed to play the games in stores!!
Basically, GW games are fairly good but with silly little bits in them ie
who strikes first in h2h in WFB, graviton guns in 40k, etc, *insert your own
personal hate bit here*. What gets most people going is the infamous GW
attitude. If GW minis arent selling, raise the price to cover the losses.
This leads to more minis not selling, so they raise the price to cover the
loss. Hence the neverending circle of GW!! Also, every couple of months they
change some rule and you are expected to buy the WD with the new rule in it
for your games. How many of you have tried to do something but someone else
points out that in WDxxx you arent allowed to do it no more. You ask that
person to show you the article but he has forgotten it and still wont let
you do whatever it was you wanted to do in the first place!! try this as an
experiment, phone the Roolboyz about a problem and see how many different
answers you get, my record to date is six different answers to one simple
question!!
Tim, I think its silly of you to compare GW to golf. Why not compare GW to
say, Heartbreaker, both are in the same business and have the same aims and
goal objectives. But have you noticed the difference between the two
companies???? GW was like Heartbreaker back in the mid-late eighties.
Wargames by wargamers for wargamers!! Now, GW is ruled by a rather large NEW
office full of suits (now you know where the new price rise went, building a
new fortress for GW!!!). Sack the suits and go back to the old GW that
everyone loved!!
And yes, Tim, GW games do have a nice simplicity about them....simplicity
with a hefty price tag!! Rogue Trader cost 10 when I bought it new in the
80's, 40k now costs 50 new from the stores!!! The actual rule books are
getting smaller but the price tag keeps rising!! Couple with the fact that
the race of your choice now has to start with a 15 Codex/Armybook before
buying any minis!!
I think the time for GW to take a hard and serious look at themselves is
long overdue!! They have started to respond to our critisms with the new
Chaos Fantasy regiment packs but I think its too little too late. Too many
people have had a gut full of GW and are leaving the hobby altogether. I go
to a club and wargame, mostly GW stuff but others like Batlletech, etc. The
number of players who do GW games has dropped dramatically over the last 18
months due to GW's attitude. These 'older' wargamers are now into other
fantasy/sci-fi rules and seem destined to stay there!!
I only buy GW rules now and buy the minis from different manufacturers cos
they are cheaper than GW and a lot of the time, have better minis anyway!!
Sometimes I go to Wargame conventiomns and buy minis at the bring and buy
stall for peanuts. Most of the stuff at this stall is from wargamers who are
getting out of GW games for good, for the reasons stated above - price,
attitude, etc.
You may ask, why do the kids buy so much GW stuff if GW have a customer
relationship problem?? Its the same as when people go to PC World (big
computer retailer in UK) and buy their PC from them at ridiculous prices.
Its because they dont know any better. GW have a slick operation. They make,
market and supplier their own stuff via their own stores and a few select
private retailers (who are getting shafted by GW every month!!). Any kid
wanting to get into the wargaming hobby looks around and sees GW everwhere.
So he buys GW stuff. After a few years, he'll realise that he is getting
shafted by GW over prices, non-release of promised minis and constant
re-writings of the books!!
There are more rantings that I can writing down but I'm getting annoyed
again with GW and dont want to resort to some of the bad language that I'm
shouting at this minute and put it into words!!!
Anyway, enough for the moment, I'll let other people comment on yours and my
words :)
Harlequin Master
http://www.shopfine.demon.co.uk
"Wargamers have delusions of invincibility combined with homicidal
tendencies, in short, all wargamers have a kick-your-butt fetish!!"
Received on Thu Dec 25 1997 - 17:25:34 UTC