"The Best Thing GW Has Ever Done?" Topic

In your opinion, what's the best action Games Workshop has ever taken?

Switching to Finecast (aka Failcast).

Stocking D & D and AH games.

Jez Goodwin's figures

Plastics.

Their business model. Many may not like it, but it certainly works.

RTB01

As leidang said, the first Space Marine box + Rogue Trader. That got me into miniatures wargaming.

Yeah, that set opened up a black hole that sucked 4 digit numbers outta' my wallet !

Space Hulk

Warmaster. Very fun game.

Not sure if they are the ones that released Rogue Trader. If not, Space Hulk.

Original Space marine game

Warmaster and Mordheim

Necromunda. That game was a lot of fun, and a jump off point for many other cool skirmish games by GW and other companies.

Plastic regiment boxes.

Toss up between Space Hulk and RTB01.

The LotR stuff.

For the most part the sculpts were beautifully done and the line was thorough. This was all backed up by sets or rules that were well thought out, physically attractive, and playable by just about anybody.

The original beaky space marines and most things Eldar and Tau.

Space Hulk and Necromunda for me.

LotR and tons and tons of pictures of wonderfully painted minis, complete with effective tips on how to improve one's own painting skills.

The original space marine game, followed by space hulk and WH40k Rouge trader….. But then…warmaster is good….but so is Necromunda….hmmm

Steve

Epic Armageddon.

Continually increasing their prices while lowering the quality of their product (just like their cousin like Foundry).

It has provided so much opportunity for other manufacturers to make a living in the field, all the fluff & glitz is effectively free advertising for the hobby in general.

Creating 'The Hobby'.
Where would we all be without them?

Bleached Bone.

Paint & tools.

Opening their shop in Hammersmith (back in the day….) – their stock of all things wargaming got me engrossed in this hobby.

I liked their games day when it was at the Horticultural Halls.

x42

For GW, it can only be Warhammer, not sure if it was that good for the rest of the world.

Hard plastic regiments/units.

Erik

second vote for LOTR SBG, best game and miniatures they've made, that and some of the specialist games.

Warmaster. It's an excellent game, and the command roll mechanic has influenced several other games outside of GW.

And Rogue Trader. It is hard to overestimate its importance, and impossible to overstate its awesomeness.

Putting game shops on the average UK high street and shopping centre.

Necromunda was huge in our shop when it came out, was a relatively cheap investment that ultimately got lots of newbies into 40K, where they spent lots more money.

But then they stopped supporting it, so they clearly didn't get that aspect of it. All of you who keep harping that "GW is a business, and they do what makes money" don't seem to get this.

Producing their Battlemats

Third vote for LOTR line of miniatures.

They provide a great "gateway" game into more traditional "hardcore" historical gaming.

For me, plastics, though some might argue that is an inevitable result of advances in modeling technology.

For the hobby (that's with a lower case "h"), probably it's establishing retail stores in malls. No other company has done more to recruit the next generation of gamers, although Wizards tried and couldn't make it work.

Probably equally important is setting the pricing standard for quality miniatures, and raising it as high as the market will bear. That sets a price mark which other figure companies can follow, which means GW helps the revenue picture for the whole industry.

For game design, staying with D6 bucket of dice mechanics for everything. Personally I don't like this, but a lot of people find it attractive. The probabilities are certainly easy to calculate.

Put the hobby on the High street and help a lot of gamers in the entry level area.

Taking what was an extremely small niche hobby and turning it into an almost mainstream one. You might not like them but GW has opened the visibility of the whole miniature wargaming hobby and acts as the largest recruiter of people that will later move on to other games.

Space Hulk, fantastic game.

John

Working with Milton Bradley on Space crusade

Their skirmish games: Space Hulk, Necromunda, and Mordheim

Paint – it's often the nearest thing to a model shop around.

Working with Milton Bradley on Space crusade

Which, as near as I was able to find, didn't ship stateside. I'd have killed for a copy.

So, no points from me, there!

Hard Plastic figures, Necromunda, and Mordheim.
I do not play any current GW games but I still love their figures (excluding finicast or any resin models.)
I use their figures in other games.

"Producing their Battlemats" +1

Plastics, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Mordheim

The original Space Hulk.