The state of their stores is just overwhelmingly sad. Remember back in the early to mid 2000's when Games Workshop was a place you wanted to be? How you'd save up lunch money throughout the week for a blister pack on Sunday? It was just an exciting place to go. My local GW Back then had scratch built boards including a Rohan Village, a battlefield overlooked by a castle (complete with Skaven infiltrators, which you could only see from the back of the board) and Mordheim streets with bridges over the water. There were huge events for the Storm of Chaos (including one where everyone played as a Dwarf Slayer and got prizes for the biggest kill, most kills and most impressive death) and Lord of the Rings (which had a 15 ft table set up with a participation game recreating Aragorn and the army of the dead taking the ships from the corsairs). Also at the club on Sunday you'd always stop half way through your game to go to the chippie round the corner and pull your money together to share a deepfried pizza with your opponent. I walked past the new shop two weeks ago and it was as empty, soulless and cookie cutter as every other GW nowadays... the chippie was gone too. It was a dark day. I'm not sure I've quite gotten over it yet.

For the price of getting a viable 500 point army, I was able to get Battletech, the Clan Invasion expansion, every Lance released with the Kickstarter, and a Heavy Gear Battlrforce dual army set with rule book. That's why even without the toxicity of GW leaving for me was inevitable.

UK fans finally seeing what we Australians have been talking about for over a decade. They wont change, they didn't change for us and they wont change for you. Get a 3d printer and raise the jolly roger.

GW went through a similar patch in the build up to 2015 under Kirby. The hobby was stagnant, price rises relentless and the hole in the bucket had gone from a drip to a torrent. At the time GW had a siege mentality and was cutting back on everything. I used to be a member of warseer and one of the regular posters (don’t recall the name) would take apart the financials and make very accurate predictions. 2015 came around and Rowntree took over. At the start of his tenure the ship was stabilized, the company began to release some excellent beginner sets, games etc and while the headline price of a box of marines was still quite a bit, these bundles offered enough of a saving that people returned. At the same time, GW began to actually engage with its community, found the internet existed and really turned a corner. Sadly, as you say, once an organization gets to the scale of GW, buoyed by the fat COVID profits and a captive audience plus the lack of interaction from customers at events, those old pre 2015 corporate ways have returned and losing customers has begun again. Unfortunately I believe the current price hikes are a reaction, not so much to inflation but the post COVID drop off. GW went though something similar during the original LotR boom and were in significant financial trouble when the boom stopped. I see the recent price rises as GW trying to maintain profits to an anticipated dip (the timing works if you look at it) but they run a very real chance of creating an even bigger dip with the size of these increases which could risk sinking them for good this time.

Thanks for the response and kind words, enjoyed listening to this and agree with your points 👍🏻

Kill Team is a perfect example of how completely out of touch GW have become. It's supposed to be an easily accessible, small-scale skirmish game, but they still expect you to spend £65 on rulebooks alone, just to push a dozen toy soldiers around a table. Bugger that.

Saw that video when I left work this morning, and I can't say that I'm surprised. I remember when Exile compared Games Workshop in parricular as a bucket with a hole in it. The bucket is under a running tap, representing people buying GW, and the water running out the bottom are.people no longer buying Games Workshop. To this point, the amount of money being spent at least flowing into the bucket exceeds the amount leaving. The interesting question is are there fewer people spending more money, or more people spending less? Now again, remember the Rules of the Hobby: 1.) Have fun. 2.) Your hobby, your way. Now add rule three, maybe: "The Hobby is not Games Workshop and Games Workshop is not The Hobby." There are other games and other minis. Long live poorhammer. Long live fauxhammer. Long live proxies, kitbashes, and counts-as.

Problem with FOMO is that the first time you do miss out, you have a slight feeling of aggravation plus a wave of "actually, didn't need that". Those are not two feelings you want to give someone engaged in an expensive niche hobby, because that way leads down the slippery slope to realising the entire hobby is an "actually, didn't need that".

GW is like the imperium: postponing it’s demise by sacrificing 1k souls every day.

A friend of mine said that if they'd have gone to the Astartes video, told the guy they'd like him to add a product at the end and a nod to GW, they'd have made a killing. He went on to say, "Imagine if they made a set. You get the squad of Astartes from the show, the two characters and the squad, the two Psykers and a couple squads of the enemy units and a weapons platform." You could fucking print the cash.

Your comment about walking past the Liverpool GW store rings so true. I used to love going in and past my local GW in the late 90s early 2000’s, it was always packed, interesting characters, hobby, staff making cool terrain and running massive games. People going through the tills with purchases and having fun. The last 5-8 years I don’t even feel comfortable going into browse as the place is always dead, literally no one, no character, a husk, empty and awkward. It’s quite sad really.

“Dry-humped out of the store because you’re chasing profits.” Exactly! I’ve said it once on this channel’s comments and I’ll say it again: When me and a buddy were first getting into 40K we really just wanted to try and maybe buy the Recruit Edition starter set, which is the smallest starter set of the Indomitus expansions. We visited a GW store out of curiosity before we make a decision on whether or not to just order it online. We go in and this sells person KEPT ON PUSHING the most expensive starter set of Indomitus instead, which is like a $200+ box? Like NO my boy, we’re trying to see if this hobby is even for us, we didn’t want to commit that much money into it right away. But he kept on and on, and that’s when we knew we were jumping head first into shark infested waters that was this hobby. Needless to say we made up an excuse to eventually return for the box when the pay-check hits, we never came back. eBay and local game stores became our best friends.

I just got into the Warhammer last year so I can't speak to the rules bloat as I've only known 9th edition, but the price increases are going to hurt GW more than help. A longstanding rule of business, which everyone knows, is that you prioritize existing clients over new ones. Making it more expensive to buy models when prices are going up everywhere will force folk to choose between necessities or luxuries. Warhammer definitely qualifies as a luxury.

I remember, back in the early 00's, the brick and mortars were twice as big and sitting down, painting/gaming was encouraged. They'd want people to do it, because it would get curious people in. Now stores are tiny, with maybe 1-2 tables to get a game in if you're lucky. Meanwhile, at local stores, they have plenty of space and tables and VARIETY. It's a damn shame.

GW: We need to recruit for big one time income! Everyone: That Sounds like a Pyramide scheme with extra steps.

It's been stagnating for years, decades possibly, aside from the brief resurgence when Rowntree took over. People have been leaving for many, many years over various things whether it's prices or Age of Sigmar or cancelling specialist games. That's one of the reasons there's so many alternatives nowadays

Circa 2001 I left GW aspect of the hobby, a hobby I had been playing since WHFB 2nd/3rd edition / old Rogue Traders 40K days. I left for two main reasons. 1. The constant churn of new army books that took several years to get out and then 3-6 months after the last army book was out a new edition came out that invalidated the army books. 2. Prices. When GW switched from metal minis to plastic the promise made by GW was that the prices would not rise as it was cheaper to produce plastic minis then the metal ones. This was true for a short period of time, and then out of the blue GW raised the prices of the plastic minis both on a per box set as well as putting less minis per box. As a customer this was a double gouge, I was now being charged more for a box of plastic minis that a year ago was a whole lot less and I was getting even less mini's per box. IF not for the advances in 3D printing, the other (non GW) rule sets that have come out, I would still be absent from this hobby. GW as a leader and arguably the biggest ambassador into war gaming as a whole, you would expect more from them. Unfortunately I have seen GW go from what I considered a hobbyist / customer friendly company (look at the old White Dwarf magazines) to just another faceless corp out to squeeze every last cent out of the customer before the company implodes and leaves some talented people jobless.

I've been playing this since WFB 2nd edition , can remember picking up Rogue trader and avidly reading it in the back of the car in the dark so could only read it when we passed under the street lights , For me it's always been about chucking the (Cool) models on the table and having a battle , chucking dice and having a good time (making it up as you go along sometimes , I will tell you the story about the Donkey which killed a Balrog if you ask nicely) , point being I look at the current rules and just think nope , it was bad enough back in the day building an army list , with all this extra stratagems , auras , secondary objectives , Nope , I just want to play a game . Do not get me wrong , if that is your thing and you want to Rules lawyer over the latest codex to find the frankly daft combos , go ahead enjoy yourselves .Maybe we need 40K and advanced 40K , one for people like me and another that can get as convoluted as the fans of that kind of game want.

What a great, passionate, and spot-on video! I will be sharing this with as many folks as I can. I love the intensity!!

We need it at 3rd edition levels as far as rules, activation play, no more standing around waiting on turns and power creep or pay to win can be thwarted this way with no first turn table wipes.

I think GW is running into the issue of fast short term profits vs a sustainable business. It's a weakness of being publicly traded, because shareholders want profits now. They want nice dividends and a rising stock price. And they want them NOW. And if GW doesn't provide it then they can fire the CEO and the rest of the corporate suite. Also, they tend to make the CEO's pay based on that stock price, and so there's a double reason to chase that stock price.

From a US perspective: to get started straight from the GW website - if you just wanted to grab the basic space marine combat patrol box its $150. Core rules are $70 and a codex is $33. I'm not even going to look at the chapter supplements. That's 17 dudes and 1 vehicle plus two books for 253 dollars. To be fair, they are nice and well detailed models and the books are hard cover with really good printing. now, lets say i was on more of a budget. The common alternative to GW rules these days is probably One Page Rules. Their 40K variant is Grimdark Future. i can go to their website and get the basic rules ...for free. but to make a more fair comparison and get the full rulebook for $5. and the army books are all free o the website. now, there are a lot of alternative manufactures of miniatures. My go to has become Wargames Atlantic. If I buy a box of Les Grognards, then I have 24 soldiers for $35, but I don't have a leader or a tank. So, for another 35 I can get the Command and heavy support box. which is 12 more figures with leader options and 6 heavy gun emplacements. So for $80 I get 36 (assuming 1 fig goes with each big gun) models and easier rules. Granted there is no tank, but 6 guns that fill the heavy support role. The models are not as detailed and the all PDF books are very basic. and they don't come with bases, so factor in getting some 32mm and 50 mm bases from Litko on amazon for about 20 bucks and you are at an even $100. GW is a one stop shop. Going 3rd party does require going through 3 different sites. I'm not going to ignore the fact that GW models are definitely more detailed and chunkier. They are a premium product. The Wargames Atlantic stuff is a bit smaller. The rules are not as fancy. but 100 bucks is a lot easier of a hurdle than $253.

I left a comment on valraks and I'll leave the same here, Gw is not the hobby! We are the hobby! Make the hobby yours and don't let gw tell you otherwise

GW has a chaotic (geddit?) business model and I think the company is having something of an identity crisis. Most obvious example, Warhammer+. Who's the intended audience? The reason the fan content was so successful as a recruiting tool is because it was available to wider audiences. The Warhammer+ service is exclusively for people already in it. I was wary when people made comments like "GW, please give this animator a job" because there was no way of knowing what GW would do with the animation. The moral of that story: Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it. Then there's the competition or lack thereof. As hobbyists, we all know about other games and other companies. Mantic, Warlord, Privateer Press, the list goes on. That's not even including the 3d printing (more on that in a bit) but GW is the big fish in a little pond. The stores are their way of keeping it that way. However, there's no incentive to cultivate a vibrant and diverse range of hobbyists if people buy their stuff online, get a discount and are exposed to other games systems. Then we get to the bits that aren't anything to do with the tabletop games. Computer games, animations, merchandise, all of this is extra revenue for the company. All GW has to do to get it is say yes to another business using the IP. I know that 3d printing is on their radar, it will not destroy the company but it will force a shift in company policy. My thought was that GW will release their own STL files and start looking into 3d printers or even 3d printing services themselves but since the printer market is already advancing in leaps and bounds, they'd have to play catch up with their customers. Which leads into GW's relationships with wider communities. I appreciate that the IP issue is a delicate needle to thread. Having a person's perception being influenced by a source not within GW's control can (not always) be made a negative one. Just look at the toxic cesspool Arch considered a Discord server and that's the last I'll say on that matter. However, GW has taken a combative stance with all sorts of other groups, most notably the GCN. For those who don't know, the Gaming Club Network is a source that lists the details of registered gaming clubs. I don't remember the details but GW did support the GCN and then withdrew said support on short notice. My view is that GW needs to be able to cultivate those relationships with the wider community rather than considering itself to be THE community and hobby. In short, GW can't figure out whether they're a supplier, a retailer, a community hub or an IP license holder and it shows. Can it be all things to all people? The company would have to do much better at all aspects of each of them to do it.

I remember playing in the Liverpool store as a kid being able to enjoy the hobby around 10 years ago but now I can't even afford to take part because I'm 20 and a single box of basically anything costs a huge chunk of my part time wages.. I was looking into playing Horus Heresy but seeing the price increases in forge world has made that even more inaccessible for those without a huge amount of disposable income. All the essentials to living are going up - Warhammer isn't essential. At this point I'd rather pay £400 for a console that's going to last me a decade and pay maybe £60 every few months for a new game or two that imo has MUCH more value than a warhammer boxset - that i'll still need to buy paints, tools, etc to even make it tabletop ready.

Changes I would like to see: 1. Free codex book with each starter army set 2. Ready made and painted starter armies available to buy at slighlty higher prices 3. Hobby stores having more space and renting out tables for a fee to players per hour 4. Each army codex to last 3 years minimum 5. Each edition to last 6 years minimum 6. Lower prices for models 7. Hobby stores to host official tournaments 8. All main armies to get a new codex for each new edition (SM, CSM, Orcs, Eldar, Tau, Necrons)

The same thing has happened to me. I have 2 friends from my original gaming group of 8, who after 10 years have stuck with the hobby. I cant bring myself to leave. I love to build, buy and convert.

I was a manager in the 90s. Likewise I go by GWs in Liverpool and Chester and I can't believe how empty they are compared to back then. I suspect we had a much freer hand in how we ran things.

I can only offer my perspective of someone who's just recently dipping his toes in the miniature part of Warhammer. About a year ago I bought my first kit, the Ork boyz. Had a lot of fun building and painting my first miniatures! Since then I have never bought a new box, only 2nd hand stuff. I can't justify the cost. I hate that I can't casually buy kits I want. I have no intentions of building an army or even play the game, I just want to buy a SoB tank here, some Slaanesh chariots there etc. Treat it like a collection, like I do with action figures. But tiny models kits that you assemble and paint yourself should not be this expensive. I gonna keep buying the McFarlane figures becuase they feel like they are worth what they cost.

I feel for people who really can’t afford it, but wargaming is still one of the most cost effective passions you can have. Compare it to riding a motorcycle, skiing, travel, watch collecting, eating out, drinking, dating, etc. And once you have your models you have them for life. And my paints last forever. And while you’re painting, reading and thinking, you’re not wasting money on other things. Wargaming is one of these things where we expect things not to be commercial. But as in the rest of life, things that start as fun and are successful, usually end up as an organized business. And reversing that process never happens. But you can Buy any models and create your own universe. I do. Sincere Thanks for your excellent and entertaining vids!

So many good points in this video. I played a bit in 7th edition, never got really into it aside from the lore, but got hardcore into the hobby at the beginning of the pandemic and have generally been pretty positive about GW despite stuff. This recent price increase, however, is really getting to me along with a few other things. I'm in the US and the price of necessities (food, gas, utilities) is going up significantly right now in my area to the point it's cutting into my hobby money and a price increase that clearly isn't needed feels really bad. I'd already gone over to other stores for models even though my local GW is amazing and the manager is awesome because the savings were so significant elsewhere. I just buy some paints there now. I'd been thinking of starting a new army since my main one is pretty much complete and painted at this point but I'm genuinely feeling priced out. It's also worth noting that I've maybe seen one or two other customers in that store in the entire two years I've been going in there regularly. I also really dislike the 9th edition rules. As was mentioned - bloated and slow and too many traps to fall into if you don't know the other person's army as well as your own. I had a game early on full of really bad gotcha moments that almost turned me off playing entirely. It felt like a 'newbie getting trolled' type of experience that the current rules facilitated. If I didn't primarily play fluffy narrative games where we pretty much just ignore all the secondaries and stratagems I just couldn't live with them.

The person who got me back in to Warhammer 40k was Valrak himself, His love for those Fists, reminded me how much I wanted a new Blood Angels Army. GW's needs to remember who Gives them so much free Advertising. Sad part is all the price hikes, just make me wanna suck it up and learn to 3d print, so i can just print a similar army of proxys for a freind. Had a friend recently fall in love with the necrons. He spent a couple weeks reading lore and the codex I lent him. Fast forward to a few weeks later when he realized 5 necron lychguard were like 65$. Didn't say I warned you, but I was expecting his reaction. Sorry to ramble, but if they keep this up they are gonna ruin their brand. Great video Sir, keep up the good work.

28:30 "When was the last time you heard from the guy who created Astartes?" Syama actually put out a test animation for a personal project of his about three months ago on his artstation.

One of the few channels that I let the ads play in the hope that even a tiny bit of more ad revenue goes your way

Having been in the hobby since 92, I’ve seen many up’s and down’s. I’ve watched prices increase over the years as both depth and quality of the games has improved. Overall I’m happy with 40k but and this is a big one, I’ve noticed people dropping like flies from the hobby. I used to go into my local GW and see it packed with people playing and having a good time and most importantly I used to see a lot of new blood joining the hobby. These price increases are killing the game and are driving new people away in droves. It’s sad to see the “wall” coming and it’s closer than people realize. I enjoy your videos very much please keep up the good work.

been a player since '86. i used to love going to the store, and browsing for blister-packed inspiration. cant afford the game now, playing gaslands instead!

I can feel your emotion and passion for the hobby. As someone who only joined the community in late 2020 I envy the fond memories veteran members have of the hobby. I really enjoy the setting and factions of 40k but the practices and pricing from GW are really irritating.

I can’t really justify the expense anymore except for the maybe the codex’s. I’ve been buying 3rd party models and parts and just work on my own tabletop game. Well at least the one good thing is I’ve pushed myself to learn 3d sculpting, printing, work on my writing, painting and reinforcing my desire to make games

I will say, its been interesting within the last year to see some entirely neutral channels who go VERY out of the way to avoid drama... now having an annoyed tone when talking about new GW stuff.

Back around 2006-10(Can't remember the exact time I was there) I went to the Franklin Mills GW store. One of the employees let it slip that the biggest problem they have when it came to selling the models is the price to buy in. They could play an intro game with little Bobby but when they tell little Bobby's parents' the price of the game to play a basic game they promptly take him over to Gamestop/EB Games to get him a console and some games since it is cheaper and unlike 40K there is no assembly required not to mention need to drive little Bobby to a FLGS or GW store to play.

Congrats over 6000 🔥🔥🔥☝🏻☝🏻☝🏻 I was waiting for that so bad

I was in the hobby 20 years ago as a young child, then I got back in 10 years ago. 20 years ago I remember the local GW was booming, loads and loads of people multiple tables on the go even ques! 10 years ago when i got back in there was at least 5+ people in the store at any given time. Now its maybie 1 person painting talking with the staff.

New member here. Thanks for this. Love the honesty.

Agreed wholeheartedly about the stores being there to foster a community. Many of my fondest memories are taking part in casual and themed games at the Hemel Hempstead Games Workshop. I met friends there who I'm still friends with 20 years later, The games run were amazing, the staff taught me how to convert and paint, it was just amazing. These days if you go to the Hemel Hempstead store it's moved up onto the ramp, it's tiny. No one is in there, no one is playing as there is not space for tables. It's just a sad echo of what once was fantastic. Part of my enjoyment of the hobby is remembering those fantastic old days in the store. Do have one 'Horror' story from the Hemel Hempstead store. GW had just released the new Eldar guardians and I went along to join in. One of the things was a speed paint competition. Not to be a dick but my figure was good, and the assistant staff member and many of the attendees thought so too. However 'spare tyres' (for this was his nickname, he literally looked as though he had 3 tyres around his waist) was managing the event and his equally tyre blessed friend was there painting away in his suit. Painting was a bit shit, still won the top prize of the new box set of guardians whereas I got the runner up prize of the old guardians... Was a bit miffed but didn't let it ruin my day. Never did like tyres, he was a total c*nt. The Dutch guys were awesome tho.

I recently have started get into the game again after many years (I was too young to understand). I'm pretty much brand new. Yesterday I played my first actual game my friend really wanted me to enjoy myself and I did, but I can see what you mean that it's dying. I knew I had to book a table to play a game and because it's thursday/shuts late I assumed it'd be slightly busy. Only people playing were me and my friend. The other people there seemed to be the regulars painting and chatting. But it felt weird. The discovery of independent stockists really just makes me scratch my head because I can get 20-25% off which will add up to a good saving. I'll still go in and get my paints and anything the independent can't sell cheaper but it's odd. I am grateful though that the bloke who seems to run the shop has a fantastic knowledge of the game and is very nice. It's also nice that I wasn't pressured to buy anything by him, maybe because I'm not a teenager or because I'm pretty much new and doesn't want to scare me off. Long comment I know but as someone who loves 40k thanks to video games and it being so cool, I've tried playing again as a couple friends turn out to do so. I hope the game doesn't die but I'm not too shocked it may be as I think people are more interested in Kill Team and Necromunda as it's a full game, one box, nothing else is needed. But all that terrain you get in the Kill Team box I think should be thrown away to lower the cost to get more people into the hobby.

Thank you for this video, really. It’s everything I have felt about the company for the last few years. I started the hobby when I was in 7th grade (1998) and have absolutely loved it. I play 30k primarily bc there is simply way too much to 40k. The secondary objectives along with the handbook updates for $40!!!! It’s BS. I’m terrified for my 30k rule set. I’ve actively avoided the leaks and am waiting for the official release, but it makes me sick to think of all the money I have spent on my IIIrd and IVth legions to have the potential of the ruleset destroying the game I love

I like objective rules that avoid “blast off the table death match” but we’re becoming yugioh one-turn win

Its an expensive hobby and getting more expensive through price increases and ever decreasing intervals between releases. Moving to 7th to 8th revitalised in the game in 2017 and by 2022 we already know that the gaming products we are buying now will be obsolete within a year. The game has been numbed by the dreary version of game that GW are relentlessly chasing, the competitive scene. The vesrion of the game that makes you feel you are always doing something wrong.

you have 100% hit the nail on the head! as an average working class guy with a growing family I have been pushed out of the hobby by GW. New Horus Heresy 2.0 stuff coming out and it breaks me to say I have 0 chance of being able to afford to be any part of it.

Glad to see you agreeing with me on rules-creep. I quit in 8th for the same reason and have had friends trying to get me into 9th an I just can't hack it, the cognative load is too high and the stream of content too high to keep on top of. Warhammer shouldn't need sheets and sheets of supplements and a myriad of stuff you need to track during games like CP's, objective point ticks etc.. It doesn't feel like Im playing warhammer any more.

Discourse said you’d be spending minimum $150 on rulebooks per edition, if you have one army. That’s insane. Also the starter sets are now £90 not £70 - £72 is what I can get them for at my FLGS.

I agree. The strategems that blind side you are not fun, and need to go away. You can't even defend against them because how can you remember them for every army?

I am from Mexico, a third world country and little by little the world of warhammer 40k has been making me familiar with it and I have been planning to start my army but with this price increase I see it very far away, maybe I will start a kill team in the future if they don't raise the prices again. I love your concept keep up the good work.

A games workshop store should be somewhere that interesting things in the hobby are always happening where you can use your gw and forge world models, because a busy place where everyone is having fun will get people in the door while a dead store where the tables are a display and not an active gaming tools will kill any new persons desire to walk in and see what it's all about

I love Warhammer, but I am getting burnt out, and being priced out of the hobby, been around for 20 years but it's getting to be too much with everything. I am going to play Warhammer Fantasy 6th till I can afford GW products.

I like how you took that middle road and stated we need both Valrak and Outer Circle. Because we do.

Fellow Liverpool dweller here, been here for about 15 years and the decline of the Central Station store is just sad. When I arrived as a lad, they had the upstairs open for gaming and I'd go every weekend with my cousin. Then it gradually got struck, cordoned off, until it eventually just closed off entirely for stock. All they have is 2 micro tables for displays now. As noted, it is always 1 or 2, soulless faces manning the store, desperate to talk to you about anything if you wander on for a look. Kills me, the staff and regulars there really nurtured by passion for the hobby when I was younger, but there isn't anything there now. Geek Retreat is a stones throw away and run by a really sound lad called Lee, I recommend them instead

Why isn't Warhammer Plus just an animation channel on KZfaq with painting tutorials? Just invite members of the community in to do approved stuff, but no pressure. This game/property could be so much fun but GW wants to levitate above us like some kind of higher being. The community gets along fine without GW, GW dies without the community.

See that Liverpool everyday to work too! Shame because I remembered when it was up by James street, the atmosphere was great in there. Now you’d find more cheer in a graveyard

One of the things I try to keep in mind when designing rules (aside from "Can a normal person read this and understand it on the first go?") is "Does this _actually_ add value to the game?" GW, penny-pinching money-grubbers that they are, really ought to try doing the same.

Can I just say, that I love the blade runner in the rain style backdrop.

All the points you raise are 100% valid. Where I have concerns is not just GW practices its also the attitude of some within the community who in my opinion have the loudest voices and have affected the direction of GW. Maybe it's just because of when I started the hobby (early noughties) or the fact that I am lucky enough to have an imperium subscription but I do not understand why when someone new comes into the game/hobby we seem to tell them ALL the things they could buy. Liam Dempsey and Winters SEO did a great live stream this week talking about the main issues with 9th. Liam made some great points on how we should be getting people into the hobby and its not telling them to buy 500-1000 points and 5 books to start. It's buying a box of toy soldiers, downloading the core rules and learning how to hit, wound, shoot and melee. You build from there. GW has moved away from this and casuals to their detriment but I am also sick of listening to people telling me I will never get a pick up game because I don't have the nachmund GT pack....

I agree completely that stratagems are way out of control and that 10th needs to be optimized and trimmed. "To many gotchas" is spot on.

Direct quote from my GW trade rep. "Get them into their 2nd army or get them out of your store." That was in 2002. Nothing has changed.

It's so unbelievable. Your existing fanbase is what brings people in. Most players I know we're brought in by an existing player. Push them out and they have no longevity. If I was starting a hobby, only seeing new players would concern me, especially at this price point. When you see someone who has played for 15+ years that shows me that this can be worth the cost potentially.

My friends and I got back into 40k last year with the beginning of 9th. Unfortunately, I'm already starting to get bored of it, I'm a Necron player and despite some of the rule changes that came in, it has taken me all year to start to get to grip with my army. I've noticed that other armies getting their codexs are getting far better rules and stratagems etc. It's like gw have made each race's power better than the last with each release they do. Ad mech for example can pick what doctrine they would like each turn that effects the whole army, necrons have the command protocols that apply to units within 6" of the warlord. And they are so very specific to a situation that they aren't worth it. Keeping up with the admin of each army is just soul destroying and the amount of times I get to the end of a game and realise that the results could have been different if I'd remembered that my lord could have boosted one combat by being an inch closer, using a specific strategem and having the correct command protocol in place. And one of my friends likes to make meta lists and bring them to fuzzy games...but we have had to have a discussion (or two) about that. He's slowly getting on board with us as a group play. Have you ever had to have discussions with friends/regular opponents regarding their being a bit too competitive?

While there are cheaper ways to get into the hobby (discount retailers, not buying codex and rulebooks since all that info is online) it's definitely a hard sell to get new people to try the game. I feel like I'm happy with what I get since I'm in the hobby long term, enjoy painting a lot and know I will keep playing for a while but if you don't have that security I have a hard time imagining someone wanting to join. Games workshop need to reconsider both the price increase and their pricing model (not to mention rules balance which is just nuts at the moment)

I don't like GW being called "the hobby." Miniature games are more than GW. There's other fantastic games out there! Infinity, Stargrave, Frostgrave, Relic Blade, MCP, One Page Rules, Malifaux, Star Wars, and more! I'll even let people proxy with their 40k figs in Infinity if they want to play. Stargrave is agnostic! Go ahead and use your eldar, orcs, necrons.

I just realized this reminds me of DC comics. They cut their comics a lot in the last few years. Sadly they make more money off one movie using one of their characters than the comics themselves. One Batman movie makes more money than years of comics sales combined. I'm curious of what the margin is with GW's games are vs. the licensing for video games or whatever else. It might be why they are so strict on things they say are stealing their IP. Unfortunately sometimes an IP will grow beyond what it started as.

As someone who has been playing since 1st edition WHFB and 40K, I’ll call you out. This is a cycle. We are at the bloated, jaded stage of the cycle. GW will hit the reset button when it releases the next version of 40K and sales will explode, people will return. It’s sad really, that everyone seems to fall for it but that’s the cycle. As for prices, GW know their own data: Their ‘price elasticity of demand’ curve. Nuff said. I’m not apologising for them, I’m just trying to be realistic.

The only justification is that shareholders demand increased earnings to justify the price at which point you buy a share. This is what shareholders generally expect of all companies. GW earnings are under threat and long term unsustainable buy increasing price is a very easy way to provide the illusion of growing sales revenue to the shareholder

Chapter approved 2022 70 bucks Aussie. I basically throw away the muniturum field manual - leaks and battle scribe. Not even spiral bound with tabs, its a joke ! I remember going to the store circa 2004-6 and all the table were custom built and there would be loads of casual staff teaching me to paint and model and game and it was a community of talented hobbyists. Now its just cardboard gaming surfaces and one staff member (awesome man and a friend) but better of getting online.

Me and some of my mates are getting back into the hobby (very slowly I might add) But we'd left before the end of 7th and the Fall of Cadia and were kinda horrified of what we saw when we stuck our heads back in the door... So we just agreed to just revert all the way back to 5th Ed./6th Ed. We have the books and most of the units are still available (at least for now). Anything new we agree a stat sheet for and spit ball it from there. But yea we are trickle feeding our hobbying at best because of price hikes etc. A Land Raider was £30 when we started :D

I've talked about it before in other comments, but I'm (so far) pretty wowed by my flagship store/cafe in Grapevine, TX. A staff member there remembers me, and while taking my drink order asked me why it had been so long since I had been there. 😅 Another one deftly sold me Sister Superior Amalia Novena, and engaged with me about my army when I finally bought my second Battle Sisters Squad last week.

I checked the prices of the new Eldar releases on Mighty Ape and saw that here in New Zealand the price GW are demanding are $105.00 for two...two Warlocks. I thought it was bad $105 for five Howling Banshees. Oh yeeeah Mighty Ape might have $16 off but that's still $89 for two damned models. Also, they're asking $115.00 for a box of five damned Dark Reapers. The prices here are beyond ridiculous!

huge point made, ever since i got back into the hobby the attitude was go online find people in groups not like 1999 where you show up on certain days and theres people there willing to find games, its just pre order this and that. I have cash to blow and gw is turning me off from buying the way theyre acting, I can give them money but its not worth it anymore and they stopped listening to the public which is what made them great back in 2015.

The Tyranid warriors box from 3e was like $25.00 in the early 2000s, when it was finally replaced by the warrior box from 7e it was closer to $50.00 ☠️

i think it's a crucial distinction that a lot of people dont make out loud but everyone feels it: 9th ed is not COMPLICATED, it's CONVOLUTED.

Great points!

I have a 13 year old nephew I have been trying to get into the hobby and it is so expensive. I have spent $50 USA on his Christmas present and birthday presents for the past three years and he doesn’t even have a full army…

Really I think they need to evolve, create gaming centres (with waaaaaay more tables, of varying sizes) coffee & food and a slice of sprue on the side. It's a bit like watching HMV facepalm 10 years after as music and film went digital

It’s sobering to watch how the game has transmogrified into a racket that caters to COnTEnT CReAtoRs who make a living selling you “advice” on how to play the tournament scene, as well as WAAC whales who fork out hundreds, if not thousands, at a time on net-lists, all the while reducing gameplay to nothing more than a dreary exercise in score-tracking and box-ticking. No soul. No passion. Just conspicuous consumption and a contest to see who can score the most points by plopping toy soldiers down on random parts of the table.

I saw the flight from the hobby happening in the 7th ed with my group. From the 5 of us, i´m the sole survivor and that was due to the fact, that i HAD to find new opponents and ventured to play the first time in a FLGC (we used to have a full gaming room at my friends house, but a divorce cut that down...) and started a slow build of a WA group, with eager-to-play -people. After that, in the 8th, i started to gravitate to tournaments and found more people to our group too. Now, the global pandemic has REALLY taken it´s toll. People who were playing only few games for once and a while are now gone and the regular gamers are so hard to get to play a game, it´s like people lost their legs during these two years also. But i also think, the 9th is not to everyone´s liking. The stratagems and secondaries (which vary SOOOO MUCH, some armies have their "have a 15 points for free", mahrines, cough, cough and some struggle to find the 3rd good/at least a decent one) have now driven (at least) one from the group to a hiatus, said he´s concentrating on AOS now. I got him to play few weeks ago, cos we did a basic Maelstrom mission, which was a fun change of pace. He thinks (GK) has too many things to remember, and i agree. We should have only like 5-10 basic strats for everyone and 1 for each army. Simple. BTW, if you can, please raise the volume on the videos, i listen them with headphones while walking and i have to put the volume on full on the phone :), blows my head when i get a message during the listening 🤯.

Great rant

I agree with yourself and CMV... We are a batrep channel and spend a lot on the hobby, month to month which does come out of our pockets (we are in a lucky position of having no child or major outgoings) We have our sponsers that help keep our costs lower but even with reduced costs its still an expensive hobby (especially when building a 1500/2k army of a codex release) Even tho we are a batrep channel, i agree that the missions in 9th aren't great, The adopted ITC style is very dull, personally I'm not a fan of primaries and secondaries but thats the way GW went with there gaming system... and sadly those missions get the views on youtube 😅 For 10th I'd like to see a return of eternal war missions where you score 1 or 2VP for completing an objective rather than 4/8/12 for having your models just sitting there... also bring back maelstrom of war aswell, I loved the randomness of the missions, so even meta armies struggled to score points...

I left GW games and products 10ish years ago. I am happy I left GW behind I do enjoy and play other miniature games. I will never ever go back to GW.

GW lost, 100% lost over 50 people in April 2021. 45 officials club members, 5 spouses/roommates and 12 kids, I don't count kids because interests will shift. But we need to go back to 2001, the last time I stepped foot I a GW store, because we were chased out by the staff, for playing the fooken game. With some kid that dared to have gray plastic and bare metal models that they bought a few weeks ago. They were showing progress, they had 2 squads 3 color, they had 2 more primed. They were at the painting table a gaming table was opening up and I was looking for an opponent. But oh boy did we "sin" for playing the fooken game with unpainted models. Over the pandemic our club members were recruiting thier spouses and kids because lock downs. The famous marketing and shorting supply went from a casual joke into screwing up multiple peoples and kids plans. Turning off a converted spouses as they were unable to get the 5 holiday bundles the family wanted, they were brought back with a konosuba inspired 3d print for their kings of War, formerly aos army. Everything blew up with cursed city, yes the lock down stress was wearing on people. But hobby which should be a refuge was becoming stressful onto of expensive. Now we have 64 humans playing games, yes we gained 2 more that saw infinity models at the lgs and ended up playing a demo code one game, all because I was running late. The funny thing is they came in looking to grab kill team, left with infinity and a club invite. The only real change is no one is playing modern gw games, Old stuff like bloodbowl or mordhiem still get played, heck there is talk of a 3rd or 5th Ed 40k league this summer. Our table tops are full of Kings of War (ya most of it is recycled gw), Conquest, mcp, battletech, malifaux, infinity, one page rules and 3d printing have replaced GW. We do have our die hard gw fan boys though, but even they are no longer defending the emperor's rotting throne. I wish I could list warmachine as well but Privateer press seems intent on murdering it. God how this company has gone to pot. The hobby did not die, we did not lose gamers. We just dumped a company that does not care about the community, it's own games or the hobby. It views hobbyists as cash cows and daddy gonna get Dat milk. Well, the fields are gonna be empty soon. 3d printing is the future of the hobby but the future arrived with 8k printers, and 4k will do 90% of the work most people could want. Center piece models and display pieces really want that extra crispy 8k print.

A rant in the video from you, a rant in this comment from me. Do humour my 5 penny opinion if you want. I stopped getting new minies soon after the 8th edition hit it's mid-point, after a decade of frequent playing since the last days of the 4th edition. Haven't yet played a single 9th ed game. And even so I can tell just how badly the gaming scene here has taken the hit. The stupid FOMO + powercreep combo, the price hikes when the box is already worth more than the minis within, the callous reduction of the lore and the setting - and all of that pales in comparison to what GW did to the fan content scene. TTS, Astartes, SODAZ.... Such talent and marvellous free advertisement lost, for what? Hammer and Bolter? The Calgar comics that f-ing character assassinated the OG Papa Smurf? This IP, and its player/fan base, deserve better than this. By our dedication and perseverence was this IP built into a juggernaut, we formed it's very foundations. Say what one will of Valrak - be it a die-hard fan, a Soymaster, a fanboy, or something other - it is undeniable that when he is beginning to break off from GW's current things, the playerbase is in a thorough spiral downwards. Kirioth too I'd presume is at or approaching that boundary, Arch and Macca - they were ahead of us long ago. The moment GW got away with the powercreep and was allowed to think itself too big to fail, this era was bound to happen. I'll assemble my Oldhammer Firstborn army, and possibly play at a local level with it. The few new pieces are made with a friend's 3D printer, the paints and gear are non-Citadel, and Codex rules are lifted from Wahapedia, so GW ain't getting a penny from my pockets for a while. Even the new Avatar - a model I had hoped and dreamed for a decade - I might not get it through "official" channels if given the choice. And why was I driven here? Because this army of mine, 300 Firstborn, is an army with a story behind it. Models, units, lists - there are stories behind all of them. It has been over a decade-long journey of slow acquisition, trial and error, honing of skills, the building of sagas, epics and ballads. And they couldn't be ruined, right? They are the Space Marines, for Emperor's sake - the posterboys of 40k! GW would never be that stupid, right? And then before me came the Rubicon Primaris. The better, superior, perfected Marines. No flaws of the gene seeds? All just Ultramarines in different colours? And characters of old were Primarisfied. "Enhanced" some said, "improved and made more badass." I looked at the Primaris Calgar and Shrike. I saw not those words. I saw perversion, corruption, replacement. A corporate move to ensure that GW had a solid trademark. And when a year, two passed with nothing but Primaris, with the release of supplements dividing what was once a flexible single bok into a dozen pieces each fit but for a handful of lists at best, I see not an improvement of the Marines. I see GW saying "It's only a matter of time before all of the old is useless, out of date and not supported. Those ten years you put in to a lovely army, the money and effort? Screw you, gib more." No more joy, no more epic fights, no more innovation, no more experimenting. Just copy paste the same two or three army builds over and over, shifting only from gunline armies to melee ones, with each shift costing an arm and a leg per player right into GW:s pockets. I can already hear the response: 'but that is just emotional reacting, get over it.' Dare say that when you ruin the work of an artist who dedicated years to making it. Dare say that whena family heirloom is broken or lost or stolen. Sometimes, I think having an emotional reaction is not forbidden or childish - but human. We fear the loss of old and familiar things, something evolution undoubtably coded into our being. We cherish things tied to warm memories, good memories, good times. This army began at the fading light of my childhood, grew through my teens, and peaked right at the dawn of adulthood. That means nothing to GW - but it means *everything* to *me.* Just as the Warhammer 40k from before the Gathering Storm. And I will hold on to those things, even if it means they only live with me and my memories. Perhaps some of you agree, perhaps not. But I have spoken my piece.

We need clubs, not stores....

Ive seen the stagnation since 3 things have happened. 1-finecast take over metal figures = when this finecast was released i noticed a drop in customers in the stores and people preferred to veto finecast and say they miss metal miniatures. 2- when the lore caused multiple army types to dissappear and people got anoyed because they spent all that money on models and books to find they have been retconned. 3. Since the fiasco of taking youtubers videos and copywright striking them causing many people to loose valid earnings just because of there greed. Each one to me has had a dramatic drop in its customer base that could have easily been avoided by LISTENING.

How many people are recruited thru friends vs stores?

I knew about warhammer for years but I didn't get in to hobby until the pandemic happened I love it I am so happy that I got into to it love the ways to engage in it but it seems that this is another case of the company that's makes the things you like not understanding it's own fan base and inadvertently pushing away it's long time fans

I don't know why they have the stores. In the past they were useful for finding rare or out of print limited boxes. But now that nobody is buying GW products due to the cost increases, you can find limited boxes everywhere, often at steep discounts. I just bought the Black Templars box for a 25% discount lol and you can find it for 30% off on ebay.

Miniatures and Tabletop isn't dying. As for Garbage Wreckshop, we can only hope.

Core rules are free. Battlescribe is free. Wahpedia is free. You can get a 1000 pt first born marine army for less than a £100 on eBay. When you get bored you can sell it again for about £100. The only none recoverable expense is paints but ebay supplies at about £1 a pot. It’s not expensive if you are willing to dig around and not have the most up to date minis.

They raised prices in the middle of the pandemic too. The contempt they have for customers is disgraceful. If ever there proof they were greedy it's there.

Yup. All good points. GW's target demographic is, and has been for years, the teens with wealthy parents. I got into warhammer FB way back in 83 when GW was three gamers in a cottage outside Nottingham with a lithograph machine who did it for love. Downhill since there. ( Plus the rules have got progressively worse.) No committed gamer can afford GW, so they rely on a transient population of players who's parents pay for a year or two and then are replaced by the next wave. ...Oh, except, hang on, everything is getting more expensive, this is, and I agree agree with you on this.....unsustainable. Gw is going to stupid itself to death

The only thing keeping me in the hobby is that certain sites now offer the chance to split payments up. That's literally it. Otherwise, I'd of walked away a long, long time ago.

Been in the hobby, primarily through GW for the past 25 years. With all the price hikes and the rise of games like BattleTech, Infinity, and a 3d printer, I'm done. Really wanted to keep going too because I'm a long time Eldar player, but all their new stuff at current pricing is a hard pass for me. Got enough that I can play the armies I like or print new ones.

I had a look at assault on black reach starter set. You get 2 decent sized armies, rulebook with full rules, for 75$ any equivalent today is now 200-250$, which is beyond the inflation calculations, with fewer models and no complete rulebook.