"What Do You Think of Games Workshop?" Topic

I have had a gut full of them.

Do you really need to ask?

nothing much at all

They have become a monolith…

Neutral – no one forces me to buy from them or pay what they ask. I have the choice to buy or not to buy.

Big is not bad.

They have done a lot to popularize gaming amongst people who would not have been in the hobby .

I only buy a few of their paints in shades I really like that I cant get from privateer, bleached bone, dark angels green etc. For everything else I buy from people I am actually happy to buy from.

Phil

Who?

Oh yeah, the supposed 800 pound Gorilla.

Not much. Purposely don't buy from them (nothing work my $$) but it's a free Hobbyverse.

Gracias,

Glenn

I've had a love/hate relationship with GW for many years.

The 'hate' side will be common to many other TMP members, but I also love a lot of the background they've created (or compiled from other sources, depending on how generous you're feeling) and the associated imagery and fiction, I love a lot of their miniatures (more the older ones than newer ones, but still…) and they designed some of my favourite games ever (though not the two/three they currently support).

All things considered, they have negatively impacted my hobby.

Neitral – we used to be gaming buddies, but we've drifted into different interests.

I regard them in much the same way as I regard Harold Camping…

Their antics must be distressing and infuriating for those who are suckered in, but for the rest of us, it's entertaining to watch.

We all have a choice weather or not we buy GW products and play GW game systems, so I fail to understand why people get so uptight about them as a company.

To me they are a benign influence in that they introduce people to buying painting and playing with miniatures on a scale that dwarfs the rest of the industry.

I think it's fantastic that there is a successful company selling games and figures that people enjoy and I hope they become still more successful. The world, and Britain in particular, needs more financially productive commerical companies.

I don't actually play WFB or 40k myself.

There may be a connection there…

We hates them precious, yeesss.

I can totally understand their success and have no problems with their commercial strategy.
They are a business like Sony or Apple or Irregular Miniatures Limited or dare I say it, like TMP.
They employ thousands of people and encourage children to get into wargames.

Many if not most of these young gamers as the mature will drift away and end up playing with other companies toys, maybe mine…?!

When I chat to strangers and tell them about my toy soldiers they normally reply "oh like that games workshop shop" – to me this goes to show how far they have gone to try and make this once obscure and unheard of hobby more mainstream and accessible to the masses.

It was thanks to my local GW that I got into wargames; this was back when they were independent mind, but they still had their own brands back then too, just like now.

I don't play their games; I have not since Space Marine many years ago.
I think they are too expensive, I know my limits.

They employ thousands of people and encourage children to get into wargames.
Many if not most of these young gamers as the mature will drift away and end up playing with other companies toys.

I see them as a portal into the bigger wider more rewarding world of wargames.

I look at them as I do my ex wife. For a while it was only them. They took all my money and we had fun together. Later, they just took my money and we had less fun. Drifted apart. (Okay, GW did not empty my accounts without my knowledge to pay off their hidden debts, but I digress). Now I really don't pay much attention to all the drama they seem to have. Apathy more than hatred.

I'm not their target demographic.

I bought the Necrosphynx yesterday, I see it as a luxury purchase, the item I bought previously was the Baneblade (2007 ?)

Therefore I don't behave like their target demographic, I'm just the cherry on top of the pile of money they must be making to remain in business.

Meh.

Neat sculpting, Microsoft-wanna-be's in the miniatures hobby.

GW paint, inks, washes are pricey but quality items.

I prefer some of them to any other manufacturer & am prepared to pay the tariff.

They're not worth the effort.

I make occasional purchases, but 99% of their products and prices don't appeal to me.

Handy for paint but the rest has never interested me.

"Describe, in single words, only the good things that come into your mind about your mother."

"My mother? I'll tell you about my mother."

"Describe, in single words, only the good things that come into your mind about your mother."

"My mother? I'll tell you about my mother."

In my top five films is that.

"We all have a choice weather or not we buy GW products and play GW game systems, so I fail to understand why people get so uptight about them as a company."

I totally agree. GW got me started in gaming. I love their products. Pricey? Yes they are. If you can't afford them then just play something else. Why be a hater for something you can't control. As far as being a big bad Evil Corporation. GW is doesn't even come close. I've worked for nothing but Fortune 100/500 companies all through my 33 years in IT. Believe me when I tell you that GW is an angel when it come to Evil Corporations.

8)

GW sells in this area…very few are into other games.

DON'T BUY THEM MUCH ANYMORE-- TOO COSTLY & TOO MANY SKULLS & SPIKEY BITS!!

another meh.

No products I am interested in or would game with, so I am neutral. As a general principle I believe they have as much right to their market as any other company. Mapleleaf and others have expressed it well: no one is forced to do business with them.

Rick

"You despise me, don't you?"
"If I gave you any thought, I would."

Ya know…
There are many companies hundreds of times the size of Games Workshop, doing untold more damage.
And, some choose to place all their hatred on GW.
Go figure.

Is there no BP? Is there no ENRON, no Haliburton, no Comcast?

Is there no BP? Is there no ENRON, no Haliburton, no Comcast?

GW is the gaming world's version of all the above wrapped into one corporate evil entity.

I like GWs products and intellectual properties but I dislike their business practices.

I like them, just really cannot afford them…
I think they really do have some lovely sculpts.

GW is a company that is not controlled by the whims of the grumpy gamer. The grumpy gamer is the person that normally has 80% to 90% of what they need to game with, and are only looking for a few small or unique items, nothing much that will keep any company in business or pay for the efforts or equipment needed to make those items.

They are a company that knows how to keep their product fresh and marketed to a new generation of gamers every so many years. This is something that all gaming companies would like to accomplish. There is not a miniature company out there that would not love to see every 4 to 5 years this great surge and demand for a line that developed and marketed some time ago. GW has figured out how to do that, while at the same time increase their sales.

Basically, if GW did what the haters asked them do, they would be out business in a short order. Then, the haters would say, "Why listen to us?" "What do we know about running a company!"

GW is not bound

Never bought any of their stuff. Not my line of gaming.

On balance my feelings are more good than bad.

Good
GW make very good paints, scenery and tools. I like the Lord of the Rings figure range and have a lot of stuff. The plastic kits and figure sets are usually good value. You can find a lot of the more expensive metal stuff on Ebay. LOTR is a great game. They have done other good games – Space Crusade, Space Hulk, WAB and War of the Ring.

Bad
The list prices are very high on metals / now resin figures.
I dont like the styling of the Warhammer and 40 K ranges but that is my taste. I do not like their strategy of frequent rule changes in Warhammer and 40K. They appear to have killed historical subjects such as WAB.

Mick

I'm not their target demographic.

Neither am I.

I haven't bought anything from them since the 80s. A AH boardgame, if memory serves. That was before they became a corporate monolith and refused to sell anything not related to the 'GW Hobby'

So I ain't bovvered

While I sometimes miss the GW of my youth I harbor no ill will to the GW of today. That I rarely buy GW comes down to two things – they currently do not produce any games I enjoy and they rarely produce models I want.

GW fanboys though, that's a different issue.

I don't like their practices, subject matter and position as the "face" of gaming to most non-gamers. Enough said.

Historical miniatures manufacturers keep inducing me to throw wads of cash at them, and (such as) the Napoleonic War is not constantly tweaked IP, subject to the latest killer codex revisions. I may say I don't need the very latest eldar, but it's their job to make me want them.

You don't NEED to alienate one fanbase just to appeal to another. I don't ask GW to pander to me just because I'm a WHFB/WH40K grognard. But their typical corporate "Reality 8.0" attitude is tiresome. It's probably BECAUSE they are such a small corporation, insignificant compared to the Big Boys, that makes them come off looking like the schoolyard bully.

I am a 40K fan:
I just love their 40K "fluff universe" which I find very good. 40K rules are easy to learn and to play.
On the other hand, I just dont like Warhammer Fantasy, in my opinion there are a lot of better rules for medieval/fantasy games.
Their acrilic paints and washes are some of the best in the market.
All their miniatures are very good even if a bit too expensive.

I'm a huge fan. Great miniatures…. good rules… I love 40k 5th edition….I don't like fantasy battles…
Great company overall.

They are very expensive….which limits my purchases.

Joe Collins

As mentioned, GW does some good for the hobby, though much of it is unintentional.

A frequent complaint, lack of support for this game or that army, is likely a matter of resources and profits, so hard to hold against them.

Their strongarm tactics, underhandedness, and blatant copying tends to get my goat.

I must admit, I still purchase some GW products, but only second hand. Not much difference I know, but I'm weak.

They are simply the best, most stupendously wonderful hobby company to grace the face of this Earth!!!

Or, not.

GW makes the best line of bases for mounting other company's figures on.

But I think these guys say it best:

link

Given what people are willing to pay for the miniatures, pay for fees to enter tournaments, and the numbers involved, I would say that there are more individuals that like GW and their products than those that dislike the products and practices.

Second, some of you need to admit, that GW's moving on in some areas has been a plus for Historicals, especially if your talking plastic miniatures. If GW had stayed smaller and still using the same plastic's company, would there have been any Historical plastics on the market now?

Also, how many have said that due to GW practices, they switched to other forms of miniature gaming? If was not for GW's practice of constant change, how many of you would have made change from their products to some other game company's products and rules?

ZULUPAUL,

Did you know that on the internet caps are equivalent to shouting?

Gracias,

Glenn

That whole "caps are the equivalent of shouting" thing is the single best proof that there are way too many people who spend way too much time on the Internet and not talking to – or even shouting at – real people in real life.

Parmenion said something interesting about the background GW created.

In fact, I thought a lot of their background for WH40K wasn't awful. The overal nihilism was 15-year-old-boys-trapped-in-declining-socialist-state silliness, but the individual species – Tyrannids as distinct from Genestealers, for example; even before that, when Genestealers were headless individual monstrosities instead of the phallic dopiness they became – those kinds of back--stories had a lot of cool factor.

Then, of course, GW found it was cheaper to derive, and down they went