"Andy Chambers at Blizzard, Dumps on GW in website rant!" Topic

FROM ANDY CHAMBERS WEBSITE redstargames.net
Andy spills the beans on some GW employment and operational practices!

News Update: 02.02.2006

PROJEKT 'X' EATS ANDY CHAMBERS ALIVE!

It's been months since I posted anything to the Red Star Games site, but I've got a really good excuse (honest). You see, two things have been going on. First, I started playing World of Warcraft and so while I have no social life any more I do have a level 60 Warlock and raid Molten Core on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Ok, so that isn't a really good excuse but it is kinda funny and more pertinently it's true....

A more direct link: link

Thanks Bill!

Doesn't really sound like dumping or ranting really. Oh well.

Come on mate, his news section is called "Pravda" for sripes sake… I'm allowed a bit of sensationalism ;)

Here's the juicy bit:

"On the home front I note that Starship Troopers has been well received and the Westeros game is gathering momentum (another one of those unfinished tasks is to read through the latest manuscript for Westeros). It's good to see miniatures gaming still has new concepts and ideas ready to put into the market place.

It's been rather painful to contrast this with the difficulties Games Workshop has found itself in over the last year as several of my friends there have been forced to move on. I can only hope that this creates a realization that an expansive retail organisation and integrated manufacturing capacity is no substitute for originality and diversity in the modern market. Time will tell but I'm sure GW will endure, there's still plenty of cool stuff they can do and some seriously skilled individuals there that can do it."

Not sure if this is a rant…

Look like an insightful comment from someone who was there during a companies transition from cottage industry to corporation.
Stuff happens…

Not a rant, but an interesting web-byte. Funny he says that the future is in photons…

I wouldn't call it a rant, it's just the truth! I'm interested to see how the Game of Thrones mini game turns out.

JT

>> Andy spills the beans on some GW employment and operational practices!

Actually he doesn't. Or at least nothing that deserves an exclamation point

Creatives ing on the proverbial head.

"I can only hope that this creates a realization that an expansive retail organisation and integrated manufacturing capacity is no substitute for originality and diversity in the modern market."

This is GOLD! This guy is Mr. 40k for crying out loud.

It's a pretty mild criticism. He's just saying you can have all the infrastructure you want, but you still need good products to sell.

Someone please direct me to a blog or post somewhere on the internet from one of the top game designers at GW (current or former) that makes criticism of GW practices. Anyone?

Secondly, I know that it's mild criticism. I thought i'd inject a little subtle humour by making it sound scandalous. I've learn't from my mistake… sheesh.

Nothing to see here people.

Funny. What I got out of this is that he's advocating video games over tabletop boardgaming.

……….

:)

Interesting stuff, but not explosive…

Still, VERRRRRRY interesting.

(1) He's saying a lot of his friends are leaving GW.

(2) He's saying it's no longer a creative place to work.

=It's still very much his home but he's angry at it for not taking care of the veterans.

"This is GOLD! This guy is Mr. 40k for crying out loud."
Funny, my copy of 40K 1st Ed says that it was written by Rick Priestly….and I can't see Andy Chambers name in the credits anywhere…
Doesn't really make him "Mr 40K" does it?

Since he was one of the main game designers of later editions of 40K and was extremely visible I would say, "Yes, it does."

So now he does video games? Somehow I find that a bit sad really.

Hi Guys,

The comment seems more insightful than indicative of trash talk'in…

I'm expecting Jervis Johnson to eventually leave GW. He's practically there now with the state of Specialist Games.

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

nazrat – extremely visible??? what was he doing? standing on top of GW Towers in Nottingham waving his arms and shouting? V4.0 must be a radical departure from earlier versions, because third ed wasn't much different from first ed…just less rules and more stratified army lists. You can raise someone elses baby, but the creation was down to someone else…they are the parents…

He was, to all intents and purpose, the public face of 40k when it was growing rapidly. Maybe he isn't the undisputed Mr 40k, but he has a claim.

''Funny, my copy of 40K 1st Ed says that it was written by Rick Priestly''

There no 40k 1st… It's "Rogue Trader", you heathen.

Andy is a true gentleman as are many who work or have worked in the GW studio design team.

As to my opinion of the marketing suits who place controls on the designers creative juices, I can't say, as I do not wish to be dawghoused.

He is pointing the obvious folks… and I will say what many refuse to say… GW is pricing itself out of the market place… and that is just gaining speed.

No doubt, like Thomas Purinen (sp?) before him (Mordheim designer), Mr. Chambers is pursuing computer games because he has a family to feed-or at least himself.

Javier – you are correct sir, i've shown myself to be a cur and a bounder…I should have referred to it as Rogue Trader. Poly will never forgive me…oh the fun we used to have as his orks charged across the snooker table towards my thin line of marines…funniest incident…multi-melta scatter resulting in warbuggy blowing itself up…ah the good-old days….

Hello Andy,
Welcome to California. I hope you like it here, and want to stay. It's so refreshing to see California importing somebody who can actually speak english.

Sounds to me like his critiism is directed more at the management of GW than the creative departments. Several of his friend are forced to move sounds like GW is loosing some more of it's talent as well. But will the management let the rest of the talent do their work or will a top heavy corporate pay scale soak up more of the profits from a niche hobby?

This should have come with a warning of more price hikes on the way.

Can we hope that Andy Chambers employment by Blizzard will lead to a Warcraft or Starcraft miniatures game?

Andy was always a great bloke to work with, very down to earth with dry humour.

I have a feeling that comment is caused mainly by Andy's long time gaming buddy Pete Haines redundancy from the design team.

Having worked at GW lenton HQ for over five years, most my frends still work there… GW have made a *lot* of redundancies lately.. but when you consider the output is still pretty strong it's more than likely just streamlining the business.

Some departments their though used to be ridiculousy top heavy to regards to management but a lot of that changed even while i was there.

I WANT my Starcraft minis game, and I want it NOW!

Hmmmm….
I would have thought that Brian Ansell might be Mr. 40k, since, as far as I know, just about all of 40k was pillaged from Tabletop Games' "Laserburn".

It's a shame more people don't know that.

I think Ansell was one of the writers of Laserburn.

I'm not sure how you can pillage your own ideas.

In ANY business creativity comes pretty much last, way behind the CEO, the 7 vice-presidents, the 58 assorted suits running the show, the 178-strong marketing department, the 128-strong legal department, the 78-strong accounting department, the 24 tele-marketers and the 17 artists, are the 2 creative guys in the basement nobody wants to talk to "because they are weird." and nobody know what they really do.

Maxxon, I think i should clarify my point

-Ansell was one of the writers of Laserburn.
-40k was pillaged from Laserburn,
-therefore, Ansell should be the face of 40k

did not say Ansell "stole his own ideas and used them to make 40k'. That would be stupid….

Isn't Andy Chambers Mr."Battlefleet Gothic"? I met him at GamesDay a few years back, a very nice fellow. He lost interest in tabletop wargaming. That's sad.

Ralph

He also lost interest in the poor salaries offered by the wargaming industry.

Er, I'm not so sure Andy has lost interest in tabletop wargaming, as he and Matthew Sprange of Mongoose Publishing were at KublaCon just a few weeks ago. According to a bio of Andy at the KublaCon website, "Andy is currently working on miniatures rules for George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire novel series for the Testor Corporation."

Oh, for those that do not know, Andy wrote the main rules for the Starship Troopers Miniatures Game, which was an award-winner at last year's Origins iirc.