Realistically GW said, as far as I've seen, the classic GW line when adding something new "they've always been there" without the 'but no one noticed' part. People are blowing the blocking out of proportion because there are a lot of sad little manchildren boohooing and screaming like their world is ending because the 'no girls allowed' sign has been taken off one army that, arguably, never had the sign in the first place. And in doing so, have let their inner fascism out and have earned blocks.
Lets not forget he whole thing with the Squats. They were a thing... [2e squats] then they weren't... [they got dropped for 3e/they got eaten by nids] then they were never a thing... [they went back and removed any reference to them from older novels and flatly denied squats were ever a thing] then they might be a thing... [the demiurg, allies of the tau... then FW made a couple 'squat' chars for necromunda] and now they're a thing adjascent to the thing... [leagues of votann... the 'squats' as we knew in 2e were an off-shoot and did get eaten... the demiurg are what the tau called the ones they dealt with]... and the 'Starchild'... was a thing, then it wasn't, and now it might be a thing again...
Christ God-Emperor. I can't keep up with this. I haven't unwrapped Rogue Trader yet so I might just go back to those innocent days of wonder and awe (and spikey bits). EDIT: I just read back through and my post isn't referring to Pete's 2) point, just the fact that I didn't have to consider all this back when I enjoyed WH for being WH. Soz. EDIT EDIT: 'Ang(r) on a second - aren't they just the Sisters of Silence? But did you see what I did there?
Orks and Custardes codexes (codices?) on their way. Now to pre-order the blue fish people codex on Saturday.
So, like a lot of other folks, I have been messing around with Gnomes, and whilst I have a few bits in progress, the only thing finished as yet is the new Treeman: And the littlest treeman too of course... I also managed to find one of the other BB treemen for a sensible price and got that built up last night: Naturally I had to base up the squirrel that comes with it separately: Especially as GW published a card for him in a White Dwarf a while back and he is a beast, or at least he has the potential to be... I mean ok so he only has a strength of 1 and is kinda squishy, but he has claws, dauntless, frenzy, dodge, sidestep, stunty and titchy, he is not going to be easy to pin down, plus he gets to re roll his dauntless rolls because he's a psycho...
Price increase on June 10th chaps . Might go balls to the wall and buy my planned Death Guard army beforehand.
Well, I have to finish off the Chaos Knights first. After I've finished the Khorne Daemons. Though I should really get around to the Necrons. Maybe after the Deathwatch/Black Templar hybrids... Send help!
Yeah, I have been seeing the usual response on social media about the price rise with the predictable and fully understandable comments regarding price rises and continued poor production capacity and general availability of products, plus a few comments regarding the amount of material that you are getting for the price... I am kinda glad that I am no longer collecting full armies or full squads (aside from Blood Bowl, because that is still funny and doesn't take itself too seriously - "all war, all the time...."). I will still get a few bits and pieces from GW and I have no intention of getting out of the hobby, and will carry on even with the price increases year on year, but damn if they don't make it difficult to want to carry on...
I find their whole 'boohoo inflation!' speil the most insulting part of their price hikes. As if they haven't posted record profits.
And pretty much have done so ever since the LOTR introduction... I get the production capacity challenges, the area where the factory is located is not exactly easy as the area is boxed in by the tram on one side, the railway on another, and the canal looping around the rest with the River Leen cutting right through the middle: Plus the infrastructure of the area would need to be increased as the factories in the area have to be running at or very close to the power limit - I can't recall much work being done in the area aside from the tram phase 2 extension and that uses their own substations - yay for the isolation nature of rail system specifications... So, sure, I understand the cost of mould production is somewhat scary, and the time involved with the design process (still not sure why models can take 5+ years to design and get into production, but hey), but the profit margin and markup on the kits is crazy. Back in '99 I was talking to a couple of guys there and it came out that even after staff discount (50%), there was still profit being made. Not quite the same on the FW bits and pieces at the time which was why the discount on those bits was only 20%, but still, I can't see that situation changing over the years.
Looking at that pic, it seems their only expansion option short of moving everything to another site, is to wait for the textile and hosiery factories at the top of the pic to leave.
Yeah, their production options are really limited - It doesn't even look that much bigger in person, which is odd for a google maps to reality conversion. I can definitely understand why, with so many kits, there would be a number not in stock at any given time. But the boohooing about inflation, goddamn. It comes across as really tactless given the cost of living situation for many people (Although I'd hope that plastic crack comes a distant last place compared to living essentials). If I ever had the money I'd buy GW stock up until I could take it private and **** that shareholder noise off.
I have thought about that soooo many times, what would I do if I had the controlling majority or sole ownership of GW... 1) Be more open - the whole secrecy thing has always irritated me and they are just as bad internally as we see as customers. The stock answer of "we'll let you know if we hear anything"... No, go and find the person who knows and give us a proper answer. The occasional posting of "this is rumour control, here are the facts" would not go amiss either... 2) Plow some of (a lot of) the profits back into expansion and production / warehouse improvements. One of the biggest complaints that I see is people not being able to get stock and that is purely due to lack of capacity. OK, so we can complain all the time about scalpers, but that is a problem of GW's own creation. They are still seeing themselves as a niche luxury item, fine, but we are talking about mass produced plastic toys here... and when you look at comparisons to other plastic kits such as scale models or Gundam, GW's offerings are not exactly complex, they should be able to churn these out such that nobody misses out. if they over produce then...: 3) have the occasional sale event - be in a situation where you have stock that needs to be gotten rid of, have a sale. Occasionally lower prices and higher production will sort out the scalpers. Sure the whole queuing thing on big releases is a nice addition, but it is very much a sticking plaster over the bigger problem. If they can't clear stocks through sales then recycle, invest in proper in house plastic recycling. We are not using 1-use thermosetting plastic here, we are using thermo-softening polystyrene which can easily be ground up and formed back into pellets for reuse over and over again. 4) simplify the bits that go along with the models, i.e. the packaging, a lot of the supply problems get rumoured to be more about getting hold of the model boxes and other printed parts. Also a lot of people won't mind getting their models in a brown cardboard box with a label on the front, or at least save those shiny boxes for the store stock and go simple for the mail order. That is a few of my thoughts, there are more, but it is now coming to the end of my lunch break and these chippies will not eat themselves...
they have been looking at helping the Timberyard and others on the Lenton estate to move ( after they helped someone move for where the current hub stands ) one of their more mad future proposals was to move the ENTIRE Warhammer world to a new site where the Timber yard currently sits, with a large dedicated 2 or 3 story car park, hotel and massively expanded gaming hall / shop / pub / Museum complex and turn what is currently the site into more injection machines this also would of allowed them to install much larger dedicated substations and Sewage pipes, because at the time they couldnt run everything flat out without risking a substation overload, and the sewage problem they just ignored until it blew up and the council sent them a large bill to fix it ( which is still in legal limbo as far as i know ) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-59413907 the issue is the sewage is mainly for 'light industry' and not a Pub complex with hundreds of people a day using the site, but GW dont want to pay for the upgrade because it will hurt profits ( and wont something PLEASE think of the shareholders ) most of the more mad future dreams were snuffed out when Kirby happened and land earmarked for expansion was sold off for cheap ( land they would have to buy back at an estimated 10x the price only a few years later ) but GW are kinda stuck where they are as moving everything at this point would be a near impossible task they have purchased Eurohub next to the East Midlands airport, after their original proposal for a railhead / container terminal was shot down by Network rail, and the proposal has been to turn what is the current logistics hub into another Factory unit and ship all the logical crap to Eurohub
Slight correction, the companies GW helped move was where Factory 2 currently sits, and the Empty site next to it, TNT used to own the current Lenton site Logistics hub, and GW were more than happy to purchase the site no questions asked when TNT expressed interest in moving ( which may or may not have been after they heard GW were trying to buy the Timber yard and Textile factory )
What I cannot understand is why it matters where the production lines are. Porsche, VW, BMW, and Mercedes have production outsourced to Fischerwerk, in the black forrest. They crank out so many ****ing parts per day that they have a slog of a trek across their delivery bin warehouse. And it's cheap because no ****er wants to live in the arsehole of nowhere. It's a five minute drive from the Fischerwerk production line that makes their rendition of rawlplugs. It's a five minute drive from their CAD/prototype office. It's a five minute drive from their childrens toy design and assembly building. Sure, the Lenton estate where they are is cramped, but there are other places. Their products are no more secret than car interiors for upcoming models (Spoiler, it looks very much like the current stuff but slightly different). But yeah. If I had the money, GW would be for the hobbiests, not the pissing shareholders. Packaging would be like it was in the late 90's where the sleeve outside was the decorative part but the main box contstruction was just.. Generic. Twelve quid for twenty catachans. Oh memories. Sweet sweet memories.
Many Reasons They get pretty good terms from Nottingham council who are somewhat desperate to keep GW on site but also Because GW is a company at war with itself. upper management want EVERYTHING done in house, which i can partially understand as on just about every time they have outsourced they have gotten bitten in the arse, or tried to stab the other company in the back for more profit ( Cote'd'arms ), which led to a legal battle, where GW got bitten in the arse it all started when GW first started with plastic, buying production time from Matchbox, ( it was cheaper than buying their own injection machines and Matchbox was HEAVILY on the decline and so were more than happy to lease production to other companies, however Matchbox basically moved all their production abroad and didnt tell anyone, and thus Games workshop were left high and dry production wise, so they went public to generate the money to buy their own machines. but that put the Shareholders in charge, and gradually over time the old managers and creators of the company ( the 'old guard') has been thinned out by Corporate yes men they also seem terrified of some kind of mission impossible raid to steal their moulds, to the point where GW got in trouble by network rail because GW refused to let Network rail staff use the access gate believing they might have been burglars trying to gain access to the factory i also do wonder if they see the current wave of 3d printing as a threat to their own monopoly and know their time sitting at the top is likely limited, so they are very hesitant to invest in machines that might well be obsolete in a few years
Considering FW use 3D printing to make their masters now, I can't blame them for that but I do wish they'd do a better job of prepping the models for casting, I don't think there's a whole lot of concern about 3D printers internally at GW. Injection moulding is crazy fast in comparison, and while the injection routes can get clogged from what I've seen of injection moulding stuff, it's rare. At Fischerwerk the car part production lines were four or five times larger in floor space than their cleaning/inspection/repair section, and I don't recall the rawlplug section being that different. I've never been in the GW lines but I bet they're much the same as the Fischerwerk ones where the machines are spitting out multiple sprues per minute per machine - To replace that with 3D printing the sprues would need to be instant and have either one or zero layer lines. I think GW could stand to sell STL files, though, for more oddball stuff. I bet their designers design stuff that is never going to meet the requirements for a production run, but could be sold as an STL for personal printing. I suspect their CAD servers have oodles of models in the same way Disney's vault has so much porn. From what little I know, a lot of it probably stems from Kirby being a massive toolbag because even with favourable rates from Notts. there's nothing to say they couldn't have a non-Notts UK based manufacturing line. Hell, it could probably be put in some of the empty **** around the corner from the estate they're on.
