Midwinter Minis uploaded two videos recently that got me thinking… why haven’t I painted any Warhammer figures recently?
I didn’t want to be a negative nelly… but I have to say his negative video definitely rang more true for me than his positive one, and that’s probably reflected somewhat in this blog… my last post involving Warhammer being from March and my post prior to that being from way back in December.
So what are my current thoughts on Warhammer?
Well… it’s too pricey for a start. I’m saying that as someone who could afford it too, I work full time at a decently paying job, I don’t have kids, so I’m a dream Warhammer customer. But I just don’t see the value in it anymore. I still like a lot of the models too, but I also like Jaffa Cakes, and I’d stop buying them too if they doubled the price over the next few years.
Especially when I’m the sort of dweeb that can get an equal amount of enjoyment if not more enjoyment out of the most deformed army men.
Guy’s point about the difficulty of kitbashing nowadays really rings true for me too. My favourite thing growing up was kitbashing my Warhammer models, going through the big box of old minis I had under my bed and arming my Chaos Marines with Orc arms, Tyranid Claws, or combining them with Chaos Warriors was something I absolutely loved to do. However now, that’s not so easy, and given the price of the models you really don’t want to play around too much, or you risk wasting a lot of money.
Maybe Frostgrave and Stargrave kits are the new kit bashers dream.
I have had a desire to do some Warhammer again, however it seems all the shiny happy Warhammer is the dead stuff. I especially love watching people play 2nd Edition 40k on YouTube. Playing dead Warhammer helps you avoid the relentless marketing push… the frequent rules updates and changes.
So with that in mind I dug out some Tomes:
And…
Maybe this is the way to go.
AoS was completely insane to begin with anyway, I can get behind something insane…
Deathzap 
I use parts of Warhammer Fantasy rules (not Sigmar) for my 54mm fantasy games. As I am playing on my own table, not in a Games Workshop shop I can do whatever I want.
My biggest ‘kit bashing involves ransacking Opportunity shops and Sunday flea markets. For example, I made giants from The Hulk toys.
When I first played 40K many of my models were converted from Mac Donalds toys and toy tanks. Some of the latter were battery operated.
I recently played a 40K game, the first time in many years, with the latest rules. They are supposed to be simpler, but they keep adding extra and unnecessary rules. Some things are also counter-intuitive so that terrain of any height blocks line of site even when a model is placed on the highest building.
I recently taught myself and a friend how to play OPR’s Grimdark Future, and we both had a great time. Very easy to pick up. I’ve basically abandoned trying to learn 40k – it isn’t worth the time or the effort. I still love GW’s minis, though my backlog means I’m not buying many until I’ve made a significant dent in my projects. And I look forward to trying OPR’s Age of Fantasy rules as well, sometime in the near future! They allow alot of room for fun and creativity, removed from the whole FOMO complex.
With 40K I rather like the background, was never impressed with the rules and refused point blank to pay the cost of the figures 🙂
Thus I have both chaos space marines (with about six marines which I picked up second hand and an awful lot of cultists) and an army of Gene stealer cultists.
Our local wargames club is very broad minded, and have no problems about me fielding armies which at one point had over 180 painted army men. Indeed they gallantly commented that by basing the 1p figure on 2p pieces I had tripled their value 🙂
Yeah, I have to say the rules oddities were definitely what turned me off to 40k 10th Edition. That and units not doing what they used to do… which I have to say is pretty immersion breaking… my poor Chaos Terminators…
The OPR games are great! My World Eaters and Death Guard have had way more games of Grimdark Future than they have 40k. I find it bizarre GW haven’t brought out an official stripped down 40k to steal all those folks back from OPR.
That sounds like an amazing club!
we like to think so 🙂
Just watched the videos over breakfast 🙂
I think I’m with you in that I feel the negative one rings true
Oh and just to clarify. Our club is a wargames club, some of whose members play warhammer, but everybody pretty much plays everything 🙂
In traditional historical wargaming I always thought gamers played for a few years then packed it in and returned maybe a decade later in fewer numbers. So I assumed warhammer which spun out of that activity worked on a similar model – get kids in teen years keep them a few years and then zilch they leave. On that basis you reinvent the offering every few years for the new incomers while those who stick around are no longer a target for primary sales?
This would work if the average age of a warhammer gamer is always around 17? ( 13 to 21)?
I assume their pricing tracks iPhones, trainers etc? So upwards for the new shiny one?
That’s pretty accurate. The trend is leave when girls/boys and booze become available, and then return at a later date, or return, but fall into Historical Wargaming instead. Or return with your own kids and get them into it.
It’s a tough line to walk I guess, keeping everything new and shiny, while also having enough to keep those older returnees interested.
Thanks – I agree and as I understand it GW have one of the most expensive share values – and you can’t easily buy their shares so in stock market terms they are gold standard. Not bad for an arts and crafts business in the era of totally digital kidadults.
At the end of the day their an out and out business who seem to know their way to repeating market value whereas most of the rest are hobby oriented happy to make some money but love of the hobby got them hooked and most if not all scrape a pleasurable living.
Spot on!
Regards, Chris.