Gw Specialist games are gone,is this true?

[AllyRdr]

Guess I better grab the human team while I've got the chance then

[jdmofo]

I get that it's a downer Specialist Games is ending. I get that the demise of metal GW minis is a sad thing. What I don't get is why you guys get so upset about GW (a multinational business) doing what's best for their profits. I would love it if the whole world played BB and GW were making a fortune off the game but they're not. Why should they continue to produce products which are making them only a tiny fraction of their total profit?

There are loads of great alternatives to GW's BB range so its not like we have to all pack up and quit BB. Most of you guys have like 15 teams already! (I'm lagging beind with a measly 5, 3 of which are GW).

To call a company greedy because they want to make money is just odd to me. Every company in the world wants to maximise their profits and rightly so. Personally I don't care for what GW are currently offering so I don't buy it. But I don't hate them for not catering to me personally.

Anybody agree or is it just me that thinks this?

[DixonCider]

Grabbed from DixonCider's signature...

http://d01.megashares.com/dl/BWKzaJf/LRB6_Handbook.pdf

Thank you.

COOL! I am helping

I am trying to figure out if I should pick up the Necromancer Team or wait until Impact makes one at $35

[Shteve0]

Anybody agree or is it just me that thinks this?

Yes and no. I've been banging the "we are not the target market" drum for a good while now, so we're aligned there.

GW are Greedy in other ways... ripping off Australasian gamers is nothing to do with cost, it's a cynical abuse of historical exchange rates.

I'd speculate though that most people hate GW for their period of hounding community fansites with C&D letters, and for their incredibly spiteful approach to sh***ing on the LRB process.

[DixonCider]

hounding community fansites with C&D letters, and for their incredibly spiteful approach to sh***ing on the LRB process.

that's my issue. as long as it is positive work being done and not hateful/spiteful.

so prior to me looking at GW does anyone have ideas that will work the same/better for a necro team?

[Lunchab1es]

Farewell to the Wood Elves. We shall weep and sing a song of lamentation of their passing from this realm.

Still available in the US. So far only the Skinks have been bought out over here. Just put in my last BB order with GW sad times.

[ChenZhen]

Many of my favorite gaming moments were Specialist Games...

Good times

[Steam Ball]

Some claim it's fake because a dubious web page announced it. But people here and other forums claim to have called and get a "when gone, it's gone" reply from GW staff.

[Talarius]

Many of my favorite gaming moments were Specialist Games...

Good times

Great picture. The only things I don't have from that are Gorkamorka and Axis & Allies.

[Olaf the Stout]

It would be funny if it wasn't true, but the sudden scramble by people to buy minis they think are going OOP encourages GW to make more BB stuff.

Olaf the Stout

[Shteve0]

It would be funny if it wasn't true, but the sudden scramble by people to buy minis they think are going OOP encourages GW to make more BB stuff.

Olaf the Stout

This. The irony that ceasing to produce a line creates a commercial interest in producing said line...

Anyone heard of the O2 joggler? Its demise was its [re]birth. Careful now, we may end up pushing GW to actually care about BB, and I can think of little worse for the game than that.

[spubbbba]

I get that it's a downer Specialist Games is ending. I get that the demise of metal GW minis is a sad thing. What I don't get is why you guys get so upset about GW (a multinational business) doing what's best for their profits. I would love it if the whole world played BB and GW were making a fortune off the game but they're not. Why should they continue to produce products which are making them only a tiny fraction of their total profit?

There are loads of great alternatives to GW's BB range so its not like we have to all pack up and quit BB. Most of you guys have like 15 teams already! (I'm lagging beind with a measly 5, 3 of which are GW).

To call a company greedy because they want to make money is just odd to me. Every company in the world wants to maximise their profits and rightly so. Personally I don't care for what GW are currently offering so I don't buy it. But I don't hate them for not catering to me personally.

Anybody agree or is it just me that thinks this?

Oh I agree, from a business point of view I can see why they are doing it. The same is true for C&D letters somewhat, there are funny rules that if you don’t protect your IP then you risk losing it. So letting a fan site get away with violating it may seem fine, but if a rival company rips you off blatantly and it goes to court then they can use that against you.

GW’s lawyers have been a little too vigorous at some stages though and may have overreached themselves vs Chapterhouse though.

The other thing to remember is that keeping these metal models does have associated costs for GW. So by cutting out specialist games and other models that don’t sell they can invest that in 40K or Fantasy. If this means GW can bang out more codex or army books for those 2 games than before then it’s likely that will be a better return for them on that investment.

[RogueThirteen]

If true, there's two interesting concerns:


(1) If the BB Black Box comes out and is a limited edition release, then it will almost certainly be a very different, stand alone game, since it won't be looking to be a perpetually available core set that supports its SG range.

(2) If the "BB" Black Box with four teams comes out, then presumably it will only include rules for those four teams (and presumably they'll be Elves, Humans, Orcs, and Choas as these track their flagship races in Fantasy/40k). They certainly won't include rules for the other 19 Teams, as we know how GW feels about making rules for things they don't produce active models for...

(3) If they stop producing BB stuff, period, will they stop producing the yearly dice for NAF as well? It's my understanding that GW actually produces the dice. They may keep doing this, but they will literally have zero interest in the BB community once they don't sell any Specialist stuff (as opposed to the near-zero interest they have now).


Of course, hasn't JJ said that the Specialist Ranges would eventually be getting the port over to Finecast? Maybe this is step one of that process. Alternatively, it's not inconceivable that they include rules for all the current races and produce a $35 "Blood Bowl Conversion Box" which had various shoulder pads, various types of hands with balls or strong-arming poses, etc., and a smattering of various helmeted heads. Then they could encourage you to go out and buy their existing Fantasy/40k boxed sets to convert into BB teams. Both are probably very unlikely to happen, but I guess there are at least some possibilities that would mean that SG as a whole isn't going away--just the current stocks of (metal) product.

[Smurf]

Bastards

Going to have to buy those extra bits now quickly. Reacon there's about £100 of bits. Star players, replacement minis, flush out the nurgle team. Gits.

[Chris]

Smurf, don't do it, there is better available elsewhere...

Lots of analysis floating around focusing on the business idea where if you give up parts of the field to competitors you allow them a foothold in your market they can then expand from. Which has arguably happened and GW has in fact lost market share thanks to an increased size of market (inflation alone normal ensures that).

Plus another blogger has a go
http://thefrontlinegamer.blogspot.co.uk ... is-in.html