I'm curios to know if the real reason why gamesworkshop came out with the new warbands rules was just so that they could make more cash. Not only from the profit of the new books. But they also started selling their models only in groups of twelves now to fit with the new system but they still have almost the exact same price as it was when they were selling twenty warriors per bunch. Even though the new warbands rules are better and more fun then the old rules, what do you guys think? Did the whole reason why they came out with the new rules was to increase the fun in this game, or just to make more dough?

who knows but to be fair real expert business men they certainly are not, I will add though that the cheeky and huge price raise for the packs of plastic lotr warrior models by reducing the amount you get in a set by half and charging about £2.50 less was disgusting.

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"Dont Tempt me Frodo!! .. Just Tea thank you"

I doubt the war bands rule was designed to influence the packaging...more that the Hobbit movies are coming, and Thorin and Co = Thorin + 12 dwarves = war band, with Bilbo and Gandalf as allies. It's a happy coincidence for GW that it works well for the rest of the game and fits into exactly 1 sprue. I'm sure there were hugs and high-fives all around the boardroom table when they figured out how easily they could repackage and recost just to fit the game mechanics.

GW's pricing is just nasty, given the much cheaper and better quality figures available from other vendors.

imo they are a company that survive only on the huge strength of the great unique product and not much more, if they had real competition like a Tesco Vs Sainsburys type situation they probably would of sunk years and years ago unless they actually sorted thier act out properly .. but could you see that happening?

dont get me wrong Im a big fan and im kinda proud that they are English and have done so well abroad and basically being reknown as the best wargaming company in the world, I just get the feeling they are out of thier depth in some ways, they should look up what diminishing returns means! heh...

it seems also they are subtly trying to crush independant stores aswel I know of 3 that have stopped stocking GW in about a 10 mile radious in the last year! when the local Stevenage GW branch is only open 5 days a week and has 1 employee lol

also how do so many kids play and afford it !? lol

rant over

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"Dont Tempt me Frodo!! .. Just Tea thank you"

I've found it a help in the game as well. I find it all to be more balanced. Who cares if GW is money hungry. Who isnt? and honestly you all are going to keep buying anyway.

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Dan
Current WIP: Denathor, Gandalf The White Mounted, Guard of the Fountain Court.

I must be one of the few who REALLY like the new system. I find it more thematic, faster, more actiony and just generally more fun. But having said that, we play for kicks rather than competition, so I can't speak for how it has had an effect on serious players.

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My LotR and 40k blog, Realm of Battle board, dwarves, gobs, space wolves and battle reports. http://simbattleboard.blogspot.com/

Exactly. GW is a company, of course they're going to try to make money off of a brand that they paid through the nose to get ahold of.

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"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

GW is doing what it can to make money off this. But if you look at it is still cheaper to do Lord of the rings that it is to do fantasy, as the requires a far greater number of models to play with. IMHO GW saw the errors they did in the edition of warhammer and released war as a way to get back to basics.

but as another note, that Warhammer fantasy does have a small scale battle game in Mordhiem so this not to far off from the usual GW thinking.

Brian

Ha! Lol I haven't thought of that. That is a good idea because of the upcoming movie


Ya your right, when it comes down to it. Every companies goal is to make money, and that was a smart (but low) move by GW. That's why I'm gonna just start buyin all my figures off ebay for much cheaper prices

Not the only one. I do really like the new system. I didn't think I would, but I much prefer it to LoME. But that doesn't have anything to do with whether I like GW's practices...

I think you'll find the majority of wargamers worldwide would disagree with this statement. Biggest - yes, best - highly debatable.

On topic, I don't think warbands is a money making scam. Having warbands of 10 would be a money making scam as we would be wasting so much money on models we don't need.

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Visit my blog: whoistheodoreus.blogspot.co.uk

Look at Studio McVey, Perry Miniatures, Warlord, Gripping Beast, Victrix and others. Quality that matches and sometimes exceeds GW. And prices that are much better value for money! And real army deals! (BIG discounts)

And for any 15mm WW2 gamers, look at PlasticSoldierCompany - 1/100 scale and absolutely gorgeous, plus easy to build and very, very good value for money.

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Published ebooks:
Instrument of the Empire
A Note of Defiance
Phantom Ships, Ghost Flotilla
More to come!

There was surely already a big supply of scenarios to play for kicks, im not going to get the new rules, lome is fine for me!

Being the biggest and most ruthless Wargaming Company does not make it the best in the market. There are many companies which match or exceed GW's quality of products, and even manage to treat their customers with respect.

Take [i]Gripping Beast/i] for instance. Great miniatures at low prices (albeit using old school lead containing pewter models - which I personally prefer over GW's). They don't write their own rules (as I understand it), but contract another company called Studio Tomahawk, another great company. The Game designers at ST regularly engage with their fans/players/customers on the official forums, putting out ideas for scenarios and games for public playtesting, provide previews and discussions of new or future releases, and encourage if not actively participate in player generated content such as new factions, scenarios and even new games. The staff of Gripping Beast also actively engage with the playerbase on the forums, showing WIP shots of upcoming miniatures, discussing their games with players and keep everyone informed when problems develope with their suppliers (they kept a running commentary on the problems they having having with the Polish manufacturer of their SAGA dice sets when deliveries were delayed for a few months).

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My (more regularly updated) painting blog:
https://www.facebook.com/Pindergorn/

+1

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"make me lunch... worthy of Mordor"

Naw, you're missing out. I had my doubts and was sure I would prefer LoME, but that changed within the first couple of turns of my first war bands game. Borrow a book if you can, and check it out.

£70 of books+trying to get my group into it will not be worth it unfortunatley I did play a game of it in a gw store recently, admittedly, it was really fun but still...

yeh I can understand that its annoyinging that so few people play lotr compared to the warhammers, hopefully things will pick up with the hobbit though

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"Dont Tempt me Frodo!! .. Just Tea thank you"

you dont need the books. you know the rules already from the past books, and you know the warband rules from all the chatter on the forum. pay 40$ for Army Builder (Or split it between two peeps for 20$ a piece) and you have all the profiles and you can print you army lists.

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Dan
Current WIP: Denathor, Gandalf The White Mounted, Guard of the Fountain Court.

It's not a scam at all. The warbands system was simply an update of rules that was acompanied with a price increase (as every single GW release is) and it's a business tactic that almost all use.