Quote from: soviet;724755What no. The thing keeping them afloat is Warhammer 40,000, you know the most successful fantasy wargame and miniatures range in the world?

Oh, would that be space marines? I wonder if that "heavy technology-fantasy emblems/insignia" mix was 40k's originality.

Isn't their stock down just because in a few years, hobby shops will own their own 3D printers and the only figures people will be buying will be generic 3D printing files they can use? The prepackaged miniatures thing is going to be dead soon, unless they come painted, and I don't doubt a 3D printer that can paint them as well is far behind.

Lacking the business acumen to make sense of the news, all I can say is "serves them right." Shitty company from a casual customer's POV. Hope something good comes out of it, but I don't think that's likely.

Quote from: ForumScavenger;724837Isn't their stock down just because in a few years, hobby shops will own their own 3D printers and the only figures people will be buying will be generic 3D printing files they can use? The prepackaged miniatures thing is going to be dead soon, unless they come painted, and I don't doubt a 3D printer that can paint them as well is far behind.

At that point it would be wiser to just sell codexes.  Just make sure they are high quality pdfs that are well balance out between armies.  Then it is a battle over which company has the more awesome setting.

Personally if that is the case ForumScavenger it looks like a bright future for the customer, but a shitty future for GW.  Then again GW had it coming for a long time.

This took longer than I expected. They have been on a downward spiral quality-wise for years. It appears to have just caught up to them. I just hope their novels line is not wiped out. I think that is their best product.

Quote from: ForumScavenger;724837Isn't their stock down just because in a few years, hobby shops will own their own 3D printers and the only figures people will be buying will be generic 3D printing files they can use? The prepackaged miniatures thing is going to be dead soon, unless they come painted, and I don't doubt a 3D printer that can paint them as well is far behind.

3d printing is still too unreliable. Or too expensive for the required detail.

They are improving gradually and in just 3 years the striation problems are getting less and less on some of the lower end machines and is apparently gone on some of the top end machines.

Cost for detail and bitchyness of the process are still problems though.

3 years from now? Who knows.

Still it will get there at some point in the near future which will make GW obsolete unless you do something drastic like improve their books.  Which with the current CEO that might be actually hard to do.

3d printing is also pretty slow and designing stuff requires a pretty sound knowledge of 3d CAD programming and the limitations of the proccess.   I also expect that the manufacturers to take a cue from the printer industry with machine specific proprietary material cartidges with prices that make Games Workshop look like a non-profit charity.  I honestly expect home 3d printers to be the next breadmaker.  Hot for a couple years and then dirt cheap and often found at garage sales.  Never mind the proprietary issues that will blossom around the files as the industry grows.

I'm not saying it couldn't happen.  I'm not saying it wouldn't be cool.  But I am saying there are obstacles on many levels that make me wonder if it will be viable for gamers.  Yes I know that War of Kings is 3d printing their entire range.  We'll see how that goes.

At any rate if GW was reasonable in their pricing it probably wouldn't be an issue given the economies of scale involved.  I'll accept that people who won't pay $50 for a box of figures probably won't pay $5.  Perceived value is a real issue here.  Heck I've been in the business of selling lower priced figures for two years now and frankly most gamers just don't care.  GW's prices are well within their pocket money range.  They'll bitch and whine about them of course but they won't turn the screws and take their money elsewhere.

But yes, it would be nice if GW woke up and realize they're finally headed over the cliff.

Maybe it is time for GW to just end?  Wouldn't that wake people up and go shop to other places?  They got to get their warhammer fix so might as well buy models that almost look like warhammer models.

I don't know, the roleplaying industry pretty much laid down to die when TSR went under.  Here was this grand opportunity and nobody was in position to seize it and it almost seemed like the industry just clenched and balked at the time.

What Games Workshop really has to offer is a widely accepted standard.

The problem with the proliferation of standards is that trying to create a new standard only adds to the problem.

IBM faced a similar problem once upon a time.

(friend of a friend tale coming up!)

I recently read an anonymous post in a conversation from a Games Workshop shareholder who stated that GW couldn't give a rats ass about 3d printing and it is not deemed a threat. I can't find it now though.

Where ever you go on line though, no one (not even the fans) likes the company, or the way in which they are perceived to be gouging their core market every time a codex comes out. It appears as though they have a very bad image right now. Naive? Now? What about forever??

GW were a great company until they merged with citadel and started focusing on mini based games.
Without GW we wouldn't have Rogue Trooper, Fury of Dracula, Block Mania, Judge Dredd, Chainsaw Warrior.... these games were how I spend summer holidays between rpgs and the beach from the ages of 12 - 17

Re 3D printers - I suspect that small press producers with high-end printers selling boutique miniatures to the public is a lot more likely than is a 3D printer in every home. Lots of small companies, like the small pewter minis companies that currently exist, and costs only slightly below current pewter minis prices, which are around $6-$8 a figure. At the same time the availability of cheap 50p hard plastic miniatures from metal presses have exploded in the past few years from Mantic, Perry Twins, Warlord etc, and those metal molds will be around for decades.
I don't know if Reaper's current model of $3+ for soft plastics will remain viable, they seem to be trading off the rep of their pewter minis. I saw a player pay £2.50 for a Bones Elf that was nothing special, but it was individually packaged and sold alongside the pewter, and priced accordingly. My 50-75p Mantic figures (undead army box of 110 is RRP £50) have detail rather better than the Reaper Bones figures that are sold individually for around £2 or more.

Quote from: jibbajibba;724961GW were a great company until they merged with citadel and started focusing on mini based games.
Without GW we wouldn't have Rogue Trooper, Fury of Dracula, Block Mania, Judge Dredd, Chainsaw Warrior.... these games were how I spend summer holidays between rpgs and the beach from the ages of 12 - 17

GW always was the parent to Citadel.

Around issue 90 of WD they stopped focusing on other people's RPGs. Around issue 100+ they sidelined their own RPGs and pushed towards their wargames. In a couple of years they'd massively cut down on words and replaced them with pretty photos and adverts for their own stuff.

Yeah, GW were a great company, and a lot of UK gamers feel let down, me included. But that was a couple of decades ago, and I'm over it.

Still have originals of Fury, Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, etc.

Quote from: S'mon;724981Re 3D printers - I suspect that small press producers with high-end printers selling boutique miniatures to the public is a lot more likely than is a 3D printer in every home.

Having talked to employees in a "proof of concept" 3D shop in New York, I'm inclined to agree.

I'm actually looking forward to eventually getting a custom set of miniatures printed that match my very specific monster preferences for D&D. I don't even mind the striation, I find it sort of charming in a "16-bit Final Fantasy graphics" sort of way.