The other day I was watching a painting podcast on Youtube (Culture of Paint if anybody wants to hear high level competitive painters discussing high level competitive painting), and the topic of having releases too frequently came up. Over the last couple of years, GW has been releasing amazing kits at an absolutely blistering pace. The comments made by the podcasters were along the lines of there not being time to fully enjoy a stunning set of figures before they were knocked out of the spotlight by the next set, and then the next. Now, these are the kind of people who will happily spend weeks on a single figure, but I can see their point. Between 40K, AoS, Necromunda, KT, Underworlds, War Cry, Blood Bowl, 30K and probably a few I'm forgetting, it seems hard to catch a breath between mind-blowing new minis. A few times I've seen a bunch of really nicely painted minis and thought, "Wait, when were those released? 6 months ago WTF!?!"
Meanwhile, in another hobby area I'm interested in, a bunch of investors recently told Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast that they are printing too many cards for Magic the Gathering. in years past there would be 4 releases per year, but recently it has ramped up to 7 or 8 along with various different ways to buy/collect and numerous supplemental products. Gamers can no longer keep up and it has caused players to spend less than they otherwise would. The logic being 'If I can't get everything, I shouldn't buy anything.'
My disposable income took a hit due to Covid and the rising cost of everything, so I'm really struggling to keep up just with the 'must haves' for 30K. Don't get me wrong, I am super excited to be getting all those resin kits made in luxurious plastic, but the FOMO from having to pass on kits and boxed sets that I think look cool or that I may find a use for, doesn't feel good. I don't play War Cry or Kill Team, but if I had had the money, I would have bought most of the box sets.
So, how do you feel about GW's releases? Are you able to keep up? Should they slow down this year, or release new ranges even faster?
Too much of a good thing?
Too much of a good thing?
Painted Minis in 2014: 510, in 2015: 300, in 2016 :369, in 2019: 417, in 2020: 450
-
Jye Nicolson
- Legend
- Posts: 1873
- Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:04 pm
Re: Too much of a good thing?
I'm happy with the pace of releases, and if anything I have a hankering for some new Primaris marines, it's been way too long!
Broadly I think it's good if we get a ton of minis as long as GW is happy with the returns on them, and there's enough variety of releases that on average any given gamer should feel neither overwhelmed nor that there's nothing *for them*.
In practice I expect most people find it a bit feast or famine. For the big games, there are a lot of factions, and it can be a long time between refreshes or waves - but when they happen it's a ton of glorious stuff all at once. Even if you play/collect a few factions, they might be well spaced out or they might run together, so YMMV. Maybe it would be better for GW to release less kits for more factions at a time (IIRC Warmachine did this).
(Someone who is *not very smart* and plays *way too many factions* might, say, appreciate the rare periods where nothing they're particularly keen on is coming out as a chance to catch up; that person may also, hypothetically, be *very stupid* and buy a ton of Marines thanks to a certain Dataslate though)
For smaller games it's not so bad. Dave and I both collect literally everything for Underworlds but the pace of releases and the size of a warband is fine. You can play a lot of games of Underworlds quickly so it's easy to feel you got value out of your investment in one, even if you're on to the next in short order. I'd feel similarly about Kill Team and Warcry if I played them more - and I don't play them largely because of the scale of my investment (in time, attention etc) in 40K, which is my own stupid fault.
So broadly I think it's all OK as long as you're realistic about what % of these releases you should personally own and paint. Even ragging on myself about the amount of 40K I collect, I've been pretty good about getting things painted and enjoying at least some table time so it's not so bad. Someone with higher painting standards than I should probably get less factions; as long as they're lucky with where those factions are in the cycle or willing to pace their collecting and painting on their terms rather than GW's it's all good.
There's two main problems:
- the natural gamer tendency to be optimistic about how often you're going to play a new game, ignoring the fact that buying games does not create timeslots to play them (this is why I have a painted Stormcast army I've never played
)
- Marketing really, really not wanting us to do the sensible thing
The FOMO boxes are the epitome of that second point. You won't actually ever miss out (in practice everything in them will be available in 1-3 months), but it's hard to make rational purchase decisions when your brain is echoing back at you the marketing hype about it being a good and exclusive deal. This is particularly annoying with the Collectors' Army Boxes, which aren't actually good deals and are the only way to get the Codex, which you are probably going out of your mind to get.
I've been getting better about resisting the siren song of the actual good deal Kill Team and Warcry boxes, mostly because I just can't take on so much terrain. In particular I don't feel the pressure to jump in on the boarding action game modes, saving me from loading up on bulkhead terrain. It'll be interesting to see whether the easily-optrd-oit-of Arks of Omen (the campaign, not the Matched Play season) is something GW would consider a success or if too many people opt out.
Broadly I think it's good if we get a ton of minis as long as GW is happy with the returns on them, and there's enough variety of releases that on average any given gamer should feel neither overwhelmed nor that there's nothing *for them*.
In practice I expect most people find it a bit feast or famine. For the big games, there are a lot of factions, and it can be a long time between refreshes or waves - but when they happen it's a ton of glorious stuff all at once. Even if you play/collect a few factions, they might be well spaced out or they might run together, so YMMV. Maybe it would be better for GW to release less kits for more factions at a time (IIRC Warmachine did this).
(Someone who is *not very smart* and plays *way too many factions* might, say, appreciate the rare periods where nothing they're particularly keen on is coming out as a chance to catch up; that person may also, hypothetically, be *very stupid* and buy a ton of Marines thanks to a certain Dataslate though)
For smaller games it's not so bad. Dave and I both collect literally everything for Underworlds but the pace of releases and the size of a warband is fine. You can play a lot of games of Underworlds quickly so it's easy to feel you got value out of your investment in one, even if you're on to the next in short order. I'd feel similarly about Kill Team and Warcry if I played them more - and I don't play them largely because of the scale of my investment (in time, attention etc) in 40K, which is my own stupid fault.
So broadly I think it's all OK as long as you're realistic about what % of these releases you should personally own and paint. Even ragging on myself about the amount of 40K I collect, I've been pretty good about getting things painted and enjoying at least some table time so it's not so bad. Someone with higher painting standards than I should probably get less factions; as long as they're lucky with where those factions are in the cycle or willing to pace their collecting and painting on their terms rather than GW's it's all good.
There's two main problems:
- the natural gamer tendency to be optimistic about how often you're going to play a new game, ignoring the fact that buying games does not create timeslots to play them (this is why I have a painted Stormcast army I've never played
)- Marketing really, really not wanting us to do the sensible thing
The FOMO boxes are the epitome of that second point. You won't actually ever miss out (in practice everything in them will be available in 1-3 months), but it's hard to make rational purchase decisions when your brain is echoing back at you the marketing hype about it being a good and exclusive deal. This is particularly annoying with the Collectors' Army Boxes, which aren't actually good deals and are the only way to get the Codex, which you are probably going out of your mind to get.
I've been getting better about resisting the siren song of the actual good deal Kill Team and Warcry boxes, mostly because I just can't take on so much terrain. In particular I don't feel the pressure to jump in on the boarding action game modes, saving me from loading up on bulkhead terrain. It'll be interesting to see whether the easily-optrd-oit-of Arks of Omen (the campaign, not the Matched Play season) is something GW would consider a success or if too many people opt out.
-
Jye Nicolson
- Legend
- Posts: 1873
- Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:04 pm
Re: Too much of a good thing?
Uh TLDR: I think Magic and minis games are different and it's more OK for there to be lots of mini releases so long as we have a good attitude to how many of them we should personally own.
I don't know if that's a sustainable business practice for GW; maybe nobody does as we exit a Covid hobby bubble.
I don't know if that's a sustainable business practice for GW; maybe nobody does as we exit a Covid hobby bubble.
Re: Too much of a good thing?
I realize MtG and GW are different beasts, but both have rabidly loyal fanbases who spend a lot of money on their products. There are certainly similarities between them, and parallels that can be drawn.
As for the buy-paint-play lifecycle of the hobby, I'm usually not in any great rush, (I just painted up a mini from 1987), and I tend to approach projects as things that will take me years to complete. So realistically, FOMO shouldn't be a thing for me unless models are a limited edition. That crazy, obsessive part of my brain telling me to buy more, more, MORE!! always itches when I see the latest sets and releases, regardless of logic though. Yes, everything will be available shortly, and probably much sooner than I would get around to doing anything, even if I bought it now, but there is usually some discount in the big box price. We wants it, we needs it.
Back in the day, GW would release a couple of new sets per year for each game, and spread them over a couple of months. Forums would be awash with discussion of the new kits for ages and folks would have time to appreciate every line and corner of a new set. Of course, everyone had far more time for whinging about how long it had been since their favourite army received any attention.
Now it seems that as soon as a kit goes on sale, everyone is already discussing the next set.
Or maybe I'm just getting old....
"Why back in my day we got 1 new aspect warrior every 20 years, and we were grateful to get it. You young'uns and your weekly glow-ups, don't know you're born."
As for the buy-paint-play lifecycle of the hobby, I'm usually not in any great rush, (I just painted up a mini from 1987), and I tend to approach projects as things that will take me years to complete. So realistically, FOMO shouldn't be a thing for me unless models are a limited edition. That crazy, obsessive part of my brain telling me to buy more, more, MORE!! always itches when I see the latest sets and releases, regardless of logic though. Yes, everything will be available shortly, and probably much sooner than I would get around to doing anything, even if I bought it now, but there is usually some discount in the big box price. We wants it, we needs it.
Back in the day, GW would release a couple of new sets per year for each game, and spread them over a couple of months. Forums would be awash with discussion of the new kits for ages and folks would have time to appreciate every line and corner of a new set. Of course, everyone had far more time for whinging about how long it had been since their favourite army received any attention.
Now it seems that as soon as a kit goes on sale, everyone is already discussing the next set.
Or maybe I'm just getting old....
"Why back in my day we got 1 new aspect warrior every 20 years, and we were grateful to get it. You young'uns and your weekly glow-ups, don't know you're born."
Painted Minis in 2014: 510, in 2015: 300, in 2016 :369, in 2019: 417, in 2020: 450
-
The Other Dave
- Destroyer of Worlds
- Posts: 5106
- Joined: Tue May 18, 2010 3:46 am
- Location: Nagoya
- Contact:
Re: Too much of a good thing?
I've (somehow!) managed in the past year or two to train myself not to really think about releases for games I don't play, beyond "holy wow, that Necromunda model looks neat - I hope the people who play it enjoy it!" And I don't really mind having lots of cool minis to look at weekly, probably since I know I won't get about 99% of them.
I don't think lots of releases is bad per se - I think most of the volume, as you say, is thanks to GW having so many games active at the same time, which is a relatively new thing (or something they've returned to, maybe). There are people who buy everything and have a big closetful of unpainted and unassembled plastic, but if that's how you do the hobby who am I to say? That said, if you're a professional painter / YouTuber or whatever, then being up to date is apparently very important - I hear you get lots of clicks for something released within the week or two before, and it rapidly goes down the farther out you get from release. For those people, yeah, you do have to keep up with GW's release schedule, and it might be too much, but then that's the bed you've made for yourself. (And yes, there's probably a knock-on effect of the people who follow those people "catching" some of that "have to stay on the top of things" feeling.) As Jye says, for all that people talk about GW FOMO there's very little that they release that won't still be available a year out, and most of what they release will probably be available for many years* - Cursed City was a glitch, I reckon.
*Actually I think Underworlds is their FOMO-est game, since warbands have a set shelf life of "about two years" thanks to the vagaries of printing cards.
(My TL;DR - I think "content creators," fully and intentionally supported by GW, probably warp people's perception of how quickly things move and how necessary it is to stay up to date, whether that means buying everything for "your" faction in "your" game the instant it's released, or trying out every new game GW produces, or what have you. They have to, since it's literally their job, but for most of us, the overwhelming majority of what GW produces sticks around long enough that you can wait 6 months or a year and not miss out on anything at all.)
I don't think lots of releases is bad per se - I think most of the volume, as you say, is thanks to GW having so many games active at the same time, which is a relatively new thing (or something they've returned to, maybe). There are people who buy everything and have a big closetful of unpainted and unassembled plastic, but if that's how you do the hobby who am I to say? That said, if you're a professional painter / YouTuber or whatever, then being up to date is apparently very important - I hear you get lots of clicks for something released within the week or two before, and it rapidly goes down the farther out you get from release. For those people, yeah, you do have to keep up with GW's release schedule, and it might be too much, but then that's the bed you've made for yourself. (And yes, there's probably a knock-on effect of the people who follow those people "catching" some of that "have to stay on the top of things" feeling.) As Jye says, for all that people talk about GW FOMO there's very little that they release that won't still be available a year out, and most of what they release will probably be available for many years* - Cursed City was a glitch, I reckon.
*Actually I think Underworlds is their FOMO-est game, since warbands have a set shelf life of "about two years" thanks to the vagaries of printing cards.
(My TL;DR - I think "content creators," fully and intentionally supported by GW, probably warp people's perception of how quickly things move and how necessary it is to stay up to date, whether that means buying everything for "your" faction in "your" game the instant it's released, or trying out every new game GW produces, or what have you. They have to, since it's literally their job, but for most of us, the overwhelming majority of what GW produces sticks around long enough that you can wait 6 months or a year and not miss out on anything at all.)
Feel free to call me Dave!
-----
Miniatures painted in 2023: 252
Miniatures painted in 2024:
Epic scale: 9 vehicles, 56 stands of infantry, a whole buncha terrain
32mm-ish: 8 infantry
-----
Miniatures painted in 2023: 252
Miniatures painted in 2024:
Epic scale: 9 vehicles, 56 stands of infantry, a whole buncha terrain
32mm-ish: 8 infantry
Re: Too much of a good thing?
I can certainly see why painting youtubers are using slapchop, it's the only way they can keep up with tutorials. 
I think content creators really do have to work hard at what they do if they are hoping to earn a living from it. I've seen more than a few grumbling that they are essentially forced to cover GW if they want more than just a couple of views. Other games just don't generate the revenue, but that's a problem for them to deal with I guess. If you're big enough to get the freebies from GW you're probably okay, but if you have to buy your own stuff for the unboxing vids... Ouch.
The podcast I was watching wasn't really about how to paint the latest model, (though they do offer tutorials on a related podcast), but more of a discussion about Golden Daemon, Crystal Brush and the painters/minis that win those events. There was a comment made that in years past you would see a new figure come out and you would know that it would soon be filling half the entries at a painting contest. Now there are figures like that coming out weekly. Obviously a world class painter is going to do well regardless, but it is hard to concentrate on your next GD entry when something even better comes out the following week. I guess on the other hand it means more variety at the contests, which can't be a bad thing.
I think content creators really do have to work hard at what they do if they are hoping to earn a living from it. I've seen more than a few grumbling that they are essentially forced to cover GW if they want more than just a couple of views. Other games just don't generate the revenue, but that's a problem for them to deal with I guess. If you're big enough to get the freebies from GW you're probably okay, but if you have to buy your own stuff for the unboxing vids... Ouch. The podcast I was watching wasn't really about how to paint the latest model, (though they do offer tutorials on a related podcast), but more of a discussion about Golden Daemon, Crystal Brush and the painters/minis that win those events. There was a comment made that in years past you would see a new figure come out and you would know that it would soon be filling half the entries at a painting contest. Now there are figures like that coming out weekly. Obviously a world class painter is going to do well regardless, but it is hard to concentrate on your next GD entry when something even better comes out the following week. I guess on the other hand it means more variety at the contests, which can't be a bad thing.
Painted Minis in 2014: 510, in 2015: 300, in 2016 :369, in 2019: 417, in 2020: 450
-
Jye Nicolson
- Legend
- Posts: 1873
- Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:04 pm
Re: Too much of a good thing?
I must stress that I frequently rationally analyze how unnecessary the FOMO box is and then buy it anyway, because I am a sucker. Also I like the nice boxes. That's why I bought the Iron Hands box, with my third Techmarine, my sixth and seventh Redemptor Dreads, and honestly I have no idea how many Intercessors I have (though these ones will get turned into tall Devastators...).
Speaking of Iron Hands, "keeping up" is actually a terrible idea from a casual gameplay POV. Whenever something is the new hotness, it's usually a bit too spicy for Nagoya, as I've found in the past when Custodes made up for my many deficiencies as a player by absolutely refusing to even take damage, let alone die. So while I *did* jump on Votann on release, I've been taking my time with them hobby wise and will finish painting them now I think they're in a reasonable place. And while I'm buying shooty Marines there's no rush to finish the hobbying on them because Iron Hands are ferocious right now and nobody is going to bring the sort of army needed to counter them - I'll stick to using them online while I slowly build and paint the models, and maybe they can come out in person after being wound back a peg or three.
Speaking of Iron Hands, "keeping up" is actually a terrible idea from a casual gameplay POV. Whenever something is the new hotness, it's usually a bit too spicy for Nagoya, as I've found in the past when Custodes made up for my many deficiencies as a player by absolutely refusing to even take damage, let alone die. So while I *did* jump on Votann on release, I've been taking my time with them hobby wise and will finish painting them now I think they're in a reasonable place. And while I'm buying shooty Marines there's no rush to finish the hobbying on them because Iron Hands are ferocious right now and nobody is going to bring the sort of army needed to counter them - I'll stick to using them online while I slowly build and paint the models, and maybe they can come out in person after being wound back a peg or three.
-
me_in_japan
- Moderator of Swoosh!
- Posts: 7389
- Joined: Fri May 14, 2010 2:46 pm
- Location: Tsu, Mie, Japan
Re: Too much of a good thing?
I got out of underworlds (the only gw game I've reliably played for about a decade) for exactly this reason. The pace of releases was too much, and I was stressing about keeping up far more than I was enjoying painting. This decision has, however, enabled me to take things in a more relaxed manner. I don't feel compelled to buy new things for my own 40k factions anymore, much less ones I don't play, and I barely even register releases for games I don't play. What I find interesting is that I'm loathe to spend a penny on 40k rulebooks, but I'll happily buy books for Malifaux, even if I know I may only use them once or twice. I think this is because 40k "requires" sooooo many books*, while Malifaux requires, well, none. I hate being strongarmed into buying things, especially when 40k is asking me for rulebook+codex+supplement+money for (shonky) app, whereas Mali has everything free online, and a free app that works very well.
Things might be different if I actually got more games in, but as things stand just now I don't really have time in my life for stuff like hobbies. Weekdays are work, and weekends are taxiing kids around to various sports classes. I fit in some DND once every couple of weeks thanks to Zoom (and, ahaha, it looks like WotC/Hasbro has their eye on that, too
) but that's about it so far as gaming goes.
So yeah. Too many releases is only a problem if you let it be one**. At least, if you're not a competitive player (or have been convinced you have to behave like one). WotC were taught a powerful lesson when they tried to claw back money and creative control from their community this week with their OGL, but GW have been far smarter and never given this up in the first place, so the players just accept it. It still stinks just as badly, though.
Also, this meme exists.
For a reason.
*Yes, wahapedia is a thing. Honestly, if gw provided this service, I'd be more inclined to buy their books.
**I view MtG a bit differently here. If you want to play magic at pretty much any level you need to keep up at least superficially with all the new stuff. You don't need to buy it, but you do need to know about it, or you're gonna get stomped by some unknown card from the new set. The input overload is huge these days, and WotC need to slow the hell down.
Things might be different if I actually got more games in, but as things stand just now I don't really have time in my life for stuff like hobbies. Weekdays are work, and weekends are taxiing kids around to various sports classes. I fit in some DND once every couple of weeks thanks to Zoom (and, ahaha, it looks like WotC/Hasbro has their eye on that, too
) but that's about it so far as gaming goes. So yeah. Too many releases is only a problem if you let it be one**. At least, if you're not a competitive player (or have been convinced you have to behave like one). WotC were taught a powerful lesson when they tried to claw back money and creative control from their community this week with their OGL, but GW have been far smarter and never given this up in the first place, so the players just accept it. It still stinks just as badly, though.
Also, this meme exists.
For a reason.
*Yes, wahapedia is a thing. Honestly, if gw provided this service, I'd be more inclined to buy their books.
**I view MtG a bit differently here. If you want to play magic at pretty much any level you need to keep up at least superficially with all the new stuff. You don't need to buy it, but you do need to know about it, or you're gonna get stomped by some unknown card from the new set. The input overload is huge these days, and WotC need to slow the hell down.
current (2019) hobby interests
eh, y'know. Stuff, and things
Wow. And then Corona happened. Just....crickets, all the way through to 2023...
eh, y'know. Stuff, and things
Wow. And then Corona happened. Just....crickets, all the way through to 2023...
Re: Too much of a good thing?
My solution to this problem has been for the last while, to play Frostgrave, Stargrave, no GW games with a rulebook written later than 1999, and make my own toys. GW has simply priced itself out of my budget. Beautiful toys. Sorry, not spending 4000円 on one 40mm model. The last actual GW kit I bought was a 3000円 box of skulls. Skulls, skulls, skulls, beautiful skulls, enough to last me the rest of my life thanks to Oyumaru molds.
Those are interesting observations from a youtuber/content-creator perspective though. I still can't believe those are even words, much less actual descriptions of actual ways of making a living. Youtube has really democratized entertainment and creative work and lowered the barriers to entry into those fields, but have created a frantic race to the bottom as the competition becomes that much fiercer and the pace that much more intense.
Those are interesting observations from a youtuber/content-creator perspective though. I still can't believe those are even words, much less actual descriptions of actual ways of making a living. Youtube has really democratized entertainment and creative work and lowered the barriers to entry into those fields, but have created a frantic race to the bottom as the competition becomes that much fiercer and the pace that much more intense.
...and now his Head was full of nothing but Inchantments, Quarrels, Battles, Challenges, Wounds, Complaints, Amours, and abundance of Stuff and Impossibilities.....
Cervantes, Don Quixote
Cervantes, Don Quixote
Re: Too much of a good thing?
Aye...you all make great points from all sides and angles of this issue.
Like many of you, getting game time in is hard. When I do find the time for a game I usually prefer to play something I can [try to] remember quickly or pick up easily, something that I have a really strong interest in playing or something that is a skirmish level of play. That is just where I am at at the moment.
As for the issue of the thread, in terms of GW releases, I think if I was devoted to it like I was to Warhammer Fantasy [pre blow up
- still a sore spot], I would be loving it all. But with so many new units, factions and rules changes, I feel lost and going in circles like Frodo and Sam in the rocky hills. And I have to say, too, that although we used to complain [mostly in cheek, mostly...] about the long wait between new releases and rules updates, it most certainly was easier to follow for casual gamers who only got a few games in a year.
I know that my other game of choice - Malifaux - has new factions and crews popping up quite frequently, but the old and the new are still equally playable despite there being a little power creep and imbalance. Plus its skirmish level so the cost for both time and money is lower than Warhammer 40k.
I had a choice a while back of getting back into 40k with a new army or getting started with Horus Heresy. Trying to do both is just not a goal I can manage right now. I chose Horus heresy for two reasons:
1. I love the stories and the emotive, impactful and engaging battle of the brothers
2. The factions have very similar units, and yet also have their own bit of unique flavor making it less imposing when facing off against your opponent [Kind of like Bolt Action in space, right?]
The new boarding actions, small skirmish games of 40k on space hulks, looks interesting but still the buy in is pretty steep considering the cost and time needed to buy and put together the terrain. I heard GW released paper mat game boards in their white dwarf magazines, but why not just give a little something for free, just a little, to encourage players to give it a try? Well, I guess the answer is simple, they know players already have more than enough miniatures to put together a 500 point army, so the profit needs to come from terrain sales. But putting together and painting a small 40k space marine boarding patrol sounds kind of fun, and I have had my heart set on some Celestial Lions for a while now.
Am I rambling? Probably. Sorry everyone.
Like many of you, getting game time in is hard. When I do find the time for a game I usually prefer to play something I can [try to] remember quickly or pick up easily, something that I have a really strong interest in playing or something that is a skirmish level of play. That is just where I am at at the moment.
As for the issue of the thread, in terms of GW releases, I think if I was devoted to it like I was to Warhammer Fantasy [pre blow up
- still a sore spot], I would be loving it all. But with so many new units, factions and rules changes, I feel lost and going in circles like Frodo and Sam in the rocky hills. And I have to say, too, that although we used to complain [mostly in cheek, mostly...] about the long wait between new releases and rules updates, it most certainly was easier to follow for casual gamers who only got a few games in a year.I know that my other game of choice - Malifaux - has new factions and crews popping up quite frequently, but the old and the new are still equally playable despite there being a little power creep and imbalance. Plus its skirmish level so the cost for both time and money is lower than Warhammer 40k.
I had a choice a while back of getting back into 40k with a new army or getting started with Horus Heresy. Trying to do both is just not a goal I can manage right now. I chose Horus heresy for two reasons:
1. I love the stories and the emotive, impactful and engaging battle of the brothers
2. The factions have very similar units, and yet also have their own bit of unique flavor making it less imposing when facing off against your opponent [Kind of like Bolt Action in space, right?]
The new boarding actions, small skirmish games of 40k on space hulks, looks interesting but still the buy in is pretty steep considering the cost and time needed to buy and put together the terrain. I heard GW released paper mat game boards in their white dwarf magazines, but why not just give a little something for free, just a little, to encourage players to give it a try? Well, I guess the answer is simple, they know players already have more than enough miniatures to put together a 500 point army, so the profit needs to come from terrain sales. But putting together and painting a small 40k space marine boarding patrol sounds kind of fun, and I have had my heart set on some Celestial Lions for a while now.
Am I rambling? Probably. Sorry everyone.