Fear To Tread - Two Minute Review

When it comes to reviews, it takes a pretty strong reaction to force me to put one up on the blog here.  And a strong reaction is exactly what was provoked by the latest Horus Heresy 40K novel, Fear To Tread by James Swallow.

Over the previous twenty books, the Horus Heresy series has shown us a side to the 40K universe that we haven't seen before.   However that unique viewpoint of the Horus Heresy has been lost and it often feels we're just going through the motions, until the authors get round to the battle for Earth.  In my opinion, the best HH books (Legion, The First Heretic, Fulgrim) have been those that start before Horus has fallen to Chaos and chart those events from another Legions point of view.  Some (The Outcast Dead, Mechanicum, Nemesis) were just garbage.

Now when you read licensed fiction (i.e. something set in a pre-existing universe,) you accept that the author doesn't have free reign as to where they take their story.  Accepting that, you are entitled to expect some core elements from the existing universe.  When it comes to 40K and the Horus Heresy books, that includes plenty of action, decent dialogue, appropriate imagery and an insight into the particular legion you're reading about.

Fear to Tread does a pretty good job of portraying the Blood Angels; loyalty and division in droves.  The dialogue is pretty engaging too and from unexpected quarters; the dialogue between Horus, the daemon and the Word Bearer is outstanding, as is the way the plot to turn Sanguinius to Chaos is revealed.  Sadly, the rest of the book is spent trawling through some rather underwhelming bolter-porn.  As the legion succumbs to rage and mindless violence, all the finesse in the writing disappears.  I lost all respect for the book when a group of Space Marines were attacked by lampposts.  Yes, you read that correctly.

Then there's the blood.  Yes, they're Blood Angels and a lot of the imagery and symbolism of that legion revolves around the idea of blood; loyalty, sacrifice, anger, violence, family etc.  Fear to Tread really takes this to extremes, however, and some of it is comical - Wait, that blood isn't Blood Angel Blood, that blood is someone else's blood!  Sigh.

Sadly, I'd hoped for so much more from Fear To Tread.  Although the plot is engaging enough, the the writing nowhere nearly up to scratch; really a big missed opportunity.  What really surprises me is the number of 10/10 or ***** reviews you can see online.  Seriously?  I know GW have a lot of fanboys out there, but overall Fear To Tread is just terrible!  Hopefully we won't see James Swallow near another HH book for some time.  Abnett has another Eisenhorn/Ravenor book out later this year, all I'm saying is that it had better be good or I'm going to have to start sending out those threats again.

Rose Tinted glasses time - White Dwarf

 

For the first time in about a year, I bought a copy of White Dwarf.  We were on holiday and I always read a lot, so just wanted something else to get the wargaming fix in.  I didn't how much I missed the old familiar, self-satisfied GW rag.  It reminded me of my younger days when getting WD was essential for new rules and models (no internet in those days, kids.)

This didn't seem like a great issue, but was enjoyable enough.  Most of the issue was taken up with their new releases, which isn't a great surprise, but there was a good mix of rules, painting and pics.  I quite like the recent trend in 40K to get these bigger kits out in plastic.  I'm really tempted to pick up a Storm Talon to paint, just for the hell of it.  There was also a decent article called "The Battle For Cardrim" but I'd have appreciated a battle report (however scripted) to go with it.

Good.  Good, but not great.

Still, I can see a lot of changes from the magazine I remember.  The tone of the writing has become much blander; much like commercial promotional material, they talk about one great unit or kit choice, then go to pains to say that all their other units and kits are equally great too TO THE MAX!  Contrast the writing to Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy or No Quarter and the difference is quite stark.  Probably it was always written this way and is due more to my tastes changing than any massive change in editing.

Is it just me, or has the standard of the painting declined as well?  There wasn't a 'Eavy Metal masterclass, but there was a painting guide for two of the new flyers.  Neither guide came close to the standard of the studio models?  I still have plenty of the old masterclass articles and refer to them all the time (my Warmachine Khador troops are painted following the Space Hulk Terminator guide,) a shame if they've gone.  And another thing, where are the prices for all the new releases?

Ah, a list of model shops in Moldova and Macau - how would I cope without?

Still, despite misgivings, I continue to feel GW drawing me in again.  Definetly not Fantasy though, GW lost me there when they reduced my Skeleton Warriors to 5 points in an effort to make me buy even more.  But 40K was my first "proper" wargame and, although Black Crusade keeps me in with 40K, I do miss the full game.  With the convienently announced new edition, I might have a look sometime.  Probably I'll wait until any new box set comes out first though.

Black Crusade Announcement - Tome of Fate

   

It's like I'm psychic (or a Psyker!) Days after Hand of Corruption arrived in the Man Corner, FFG have announced the next book in the Black Crusade series: The Tome of Fate.

Instead of releasing separate player/GM/adversary and adventure books, the next four supplements seem to combine aspects of all these books, but focus on each of the Chaos Gods in turn.

I'm pleasantly surprised to see that Fantasy Flight Games have taken a different direction with Black Crusade than previous 40K RPGs. 

From their website:

The Tome of Fate introduces four new Tzeentch-centric Heretic Archetypes, as well as foul daemons, arcane weaponry, mighty daemon engines, and vile minions for followers of the Master of Fate. Players of all alignments will also gain potent new psychic powers and daemonic rites to fuel their struggle against the hated Imperium. The fallen forges of the Hollows, the mutants of Dread Korvaska, and the ancient Necrons awakening from within the Pillars of Eternity: these and other secrets of the Screaming Vortex shall stand revealed. All this and more lies within The Tome of Fate, including a dangerous new adventure on the sorcerous world of Q’Sal!

 
So a largely, but not exclusively, Tzeentch book that sounds that it covers all the Black Crusade bases.  What immediately caught my eye was the Daemon Engines.  Do they mean the same thing as the old Epic Daemon Engines?  If so, although the Tzeentch engines were rubbish, I'll be looking forward to the Khorne book for these guys:
 

 

Well I'm really looking forward to this next release, love the direction FFG have taken and will be interested to see more previews over the next few weeks.

Black Crusade - Hand of Corruption

  

I was stoked to finally get my copy of Hand of Corruption, a supplement for Black Crusade by Fantasy Flight Games.  FFG seem to be following their usual 40K RPG release practice of a rulebook, GM kit then campaign rulebook.  Now this is out, hopefully Black Crusade will get it's own players handbook and GM Guide soon.

   Lots of this on offer. . . . . text
  

Hand of Corruption sees your group of heretics infiltrating an Imperial prison planet, Saint Annard's Penance, with a view to conducting an aracane ritual and converting the planet to Chaos!  The three linked adventures try to hit the sweet spot for a Black Crusade campaign; infiltration, insurrection and, of course, action!

   Hello, How may I pervert you?  (Anyone get the reference?)
 

There's a fair amount of content, lots of background and info on Saint Annard's Penance, plenty of GM advice, a decent proportion of written dialog and scripted events.

Like most of the 40K RPG books I have, production is to a really high standard (with zero typos spotted so far!)  Hand of Corruption has a really nice mix of artwork, including new material, older/existing GW artwork (including the classic Necron Codex cover) and in plenty of different styles.

I'm glad that Hand of Corruption has finally been released, as the whole process has been surprisingly drawn out.  As I recall, both Rogue Trader and Deathwatch had their first two full supplements out in the first few months.  Black Crusade has been out for close to six months now so should have had a bit more support than it has.  I hope that any delays were due to the Collectors Edition release, which took an absolute age.

   Haven't seen this image anywhere before - Chaos Lord on pile of dead guardsmen
   

The problem with getting a campaign book first (or reading it first) is that you're going to have to run the adventures yourself (because, well, you know what's going to happen.) Fortunately, I've ran most of our Black Crusade sessions and am looking forward to seeing how our group of heretics fare in this campaign, particularly against the big guy in act three!



Three more followers to say hello to as well; Headologist (a nice mix of historical and sci-fi,) Monty (historical gaming - with some great looking armies) and Lee Hadley (more commonly known as BigLee and for his Miniature Adventures!)

Black Crusade - First Session Report

Thanks to the miracle of modern science (well, actually, just a couple mobile phones and a laptop,)  I was able to finally run a session of Black Crusade, the latest 40K RPG from Fantasy Flight Games.  I roped in a couple of former members of the Granite Gamers (our old University wargaming group) to play as the characters, while I ran the game itself.

Serocil might look like this, but significantly more unholy

It was all a bit short notice, so, to save any hassle, I generated a few characters to choose from and adapted an old Dark Heresy adventure to a suitable evil theme.  This was the first rpg session I've participated in a couple years and the first I've GM'ed in even longer, so it took a little while to get back into the swing of things.  After half an hour or so, we were back rolling dice like veterans!

The session began with Taran, a renegade Imperial commander now in the sevice of the Dark Gods, and Serocil, a Dark Mechanicus Heretek, arriving at Tarsus Hive with the vague aim of spreading corruption and death amongst the Hive population.  We'd decided that Taran looked "normal" enough to still fit into Imperial society, but Serocil's many augmentations looked far too unholy for him to walk around freely, so he disguised himself as Taran's sevitor/bodyguard.  To keep the deception authentic, We also decided that Serocil could only communicate with Taran via the voxlink with one word messages.

The duo decided to pose as Inquisition agents and contact the local Adeptus Arbites to get an idea of the political situation in Tarsus Hive and the various criminal groups in operation. This was the first stage of the adventure and relied on Taran making successful charm, inquiry and deceive skill tests while dealing with Imperial personel.  Meanwhile Serocil made lots of scrutiny, tech and logic tests to covertly access various security systems in the hive. Thanks to the Infamy point mechanic, Taran was able to pass a particularly difficult inquiry test to find out the chief arbitor had apparantly been contacted by Inquisitorial agents some months earlier!

After leaving the Arbites headquarters, the pair had a good knowledge of the key installations in the hive, the amount of and location of the security forces as well as a rough knowledge of the various criminal gangs operating in the area.  They then toured some of the hive, focusing on areas they thought vulnerable to attack, namely the water purification plant, the main generators and the hive's ruling court.  At this point, they also failed to notice they were being tailed.

Hive Tarsus

With a little prompting, Taran and Serocil decided to head to the lower levels of Tarsus Hive and find a secure base to operate from.  Whilst moving through an industrial plant area, they were ambushed by a gang of hivescum.  At this point, they could have talked their way out of things and, indeed, used the gang to help them find a base.  Serocil, however, decided he'd had enough of hiding under his extravagant disguise, so threw it off, pulled out has plasma cannon and started glooping people.

Moving further into the Hive, they caught a different gang preparing an ambush and successfully intimidated the leader into taking them to their lair.  A successful security test revealed the lair was indeed a secure place to fortify and, after making a couple violent examples, the loyalty of the remaining gangers was guaranteed for the time being.

At this point, the climax of the session arrived, as did the mercenary squad trailing the duo, who appeared and attempted to take the heretics into custody.  Apparently, something about Taran and Serocil in the Arbites headquarters had made someone suspicious, and they had then used this team to keep track of them.  Fraternising with criminals was all the evidence needed for the mercs to act.

This last action was actually a bit underwhelming, as I overestimated how strong the merc force would be in combat (I used the bounty hunter and guardsmen profiles from the Black Crusade rulebook.)  Serocil was easily cutting down troopers with his plasma weaponry, while Taran charged forward with his power sword and killed the leader.  In the end, I didn't even use the gangers to support the fight.

Taran venturing into the underhive

With that last action, we finished the session and left Taran and Serocil for the time being. The pair were now reasonable secure in the underhive, with a base to operate from and a gang of thugs under their control.  News of the massacre in the industrial plant would surely be all over the hive by now, spreading fear to the law abiding population.  Taran and Serocil were now well placed to work out the next stage of their insurrection.

However, there are still a number of dangers facing our evil heroes!  It's unclear if any of the merc strike team escaped the encounter in the underhive and however useful a gang of hivescum are, they are unlikely to be of much use if superior security or criminal forces attack.  Lastly, there are the unconfirmed reports of Inquisitorial agents working in Tarsus Hive. If the rumours are true, the two groups will almost certainly come into conflict in the future.

So that was our first RPG session in years!  I'm not sure how regular this will be, as it needed a lot of planning just getting the three of us free on one night (even with us just on phones and computers,) however, as a one-off it was an absolute blast!

I really like a lot of the mechanics in Black Crusade and, even though we set the game on an Imperial world, it felt quite different to any of the other 40K RPGs I've played.  We're going to attempt anothr session in the near future, just to see how we fare against some tougher opponents and try out the Ritual and Minions rules!  Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed reading this report.  Please let me know if there's anything you'd like explained or if you've any suggestions for future sessions! 

Rationalizing. . . Or selling off some unwanted loot.

Part of this past weekend saw me spending some time rationalizing (terrible word!) my wargaming activities and priorities.  This meant making some decisions about what games to keep around and what to move on.  In the end, three things have been given the heave:

First to go was Malifaux.  I've played a couple dozen games of Malifaux, but can honestly say I haven't really enjoyed any of them.  The first few games, we were still learning the rules.  Then, I played a few games with my first starter set; moving on to trying a couple other crews.  In the end, I'm perfectly comfortable with the rules and have worked out several different tactics, but I'm still waiting for the fun to start!  I still think it's a very commendable game, with a great card mechanic and some wonderful background fiction and artwork, but I've decided it's just not for me.

Secondly, some WWII stuff has gone.  Some rules, Disposable Heroes & A Coffin for Seven Brothers and Rapid Fire, and some miniatures, 28mm Bolt Action Brits.   Why these choices? Well, I don't see any point in collecting the same army in two different scales (I have a 15mm Brit Infantry army for Flames of War,)  and I've never really liked some of the mechanics in either of the two rule sets.

Lastly, the last of my Warhammer stuff has been packed up and is ready to ship out.  Actually, I only have a couple of  army books and some unpainted Vampire Counts miniature left.  I've never been able to enjoy 8th Edition Warhammer.  When it was first released, I felt that GW had accentuated all of the things I disliked about WH Fantasy; random movement, random magic, super-hero characters, uber-monsters.  After a year or so, these trends seem to be firmly entrenched in GW's business plan, so it's time to say cheerio to Warhammer World (at least for the moment.)  So, for the first time in about 20 years, I'm not able to have a game of either WH or 40K with my own books and minis!  I'll still keep up with GW news and products and, of course, I'm loving Fantasy Flight's 40K RPG series of books, but for the moment it's time for a break.  Maybe with 6th Ed 40K next year I might change my mind. . .


So with a bit of space on the shelves, and some cash in the PayPal account, I kind of feel like starting something new.  No idea what yet, historical or sci-fi or fantasy?  Completely new game or existing rules?  6mm of 28mm? So many choices.  Any suggestions anyone?


I'm not a big fan of blogs advertising things for sale, so I'll just point you in the direction of my eBay page, just in case you may be interested in my castaways!

My Warhammer Historical Haul'O'Booty

Whenever I see a sale or bargain, I try to do one of two things; get something I'll get a lot of use from , or try something I'd not normally buy, but am interested in.  Thanks to Warhammer Historical's 50% sale, I've had the chance to get the best of both worlds:

Chariot Wars:  A Warhammer Ancient Battles supplement for biblical combat.  I've a couple 1:72 scale Egyptian and Hittite plastic (Arfix?) armies packed away, just waiting for a decent set or rules.

Trafalgar: A great rulebook and a workmanlike set of rules, I've had a first edition copy for a couple years, but the amount of errata and faq published meant I'm quite happy to get an updated copy for £10.

Waterloo:  What a book!!! Close to 300 pages, hardback pages, history, campaigns, rules, hobby - the whole package!   £18 is an absolute bargain, not to mention a great introduction to the period.

Vlad the Impaler:  Another WAB supplement, about a period I know exactly nothing about. What better excuse to buy another rule book.


The Art of War:  Err. . . See previous entry.  I thought this was about several countries in far east, but is actually about ancient China only.  Still, an interesting and (from a European point of view) alien period of history.  This book has some great photos in it.


Armies of Chivalry:  Another WAB supplement with inspirational photos.  I bought this primarily for the Wars of the Roses lists, but there is a surprising amount of content here.


All have the great production quality you'd expect from Games Workshop (however unloved Warhammer Historical has been.)  Waterloo is an immense tome, on a par with the eighth edition Warhammer rulebook for quality and above it for content.  Furthermore, I think Trafalgar is an example of the (almost) perfect wargame rulebook, with a skilful balance of rules, history, hobby, scenarios and inspiration, combined with some wonderful illustrations and photographs and, above all, with a design philosophy that puts the gamer at it's heart.


So whatever my misgivings of why there is a big sale at WH, I'm really happy with what I've picked up as a result. Even though I'm still undecided as whether or not to pick up the Great War rules.


Finally, word on the t'internet says that WH have more books in production.  Lets hope any new products measure up to the fine standards they've set themselves.

Dreadfleet - wow, what a lot of whining!

Thanks to their massive publicity machine, almost every nerd on the net will have heard of GW's upcoming boxed game, Dreadfleet.  And what a reaction the announcement has generated.


First off, in case you've not heard much about Dreadfleet, here's a little blurb from GW's blog:


"Dreadfleet is a standalone boxed game for two (or more) players that includes everything you need to make war on the high seas of the Warhammer world. At your command are two fleets of ships - the Dreadfleet led by the Vampire Count Noctilus, aboard his gargantuan sea-hulk the Bloody Reaver; and the Grand Alliance commanded by the Pirate Captain Jaego Roth, who recently stole the Heldenhammer - the pride of the Imperial Fleet, and one of the largest galleons to ever sail the high seas. After his family's death at the hands of Count Noctilus, Captain Jaego Roth is after revenge and no one will get in his way."


You can also hear a studio introduction, featuring author Phil Kelly and some dubious voice acting:

So there you have it. A game in a box; everything you need to play, including a game mat, miniatures, scenery, rules, cards etc.  Dreadfleet is set in the Warhammer World, but otherwise unrelated to GW's other games.  Lastly, Dreadfleet is on a limited print run, so the "while stocks last" guff is plastered all over the publicity.


Almost immediately afer it was announced, Dreadfleet and GW started taking flak.

The biggest criticism of Dreadfleet I've heard online, is simply that it isn't either Warhammer Quest or Blood Bowl.  In many ways, GW have left themselves open to this kind of attack through the success that their re-release of Space Hulk was.  They took an older game that many of their customer would describe as iconic and look back on with nostalgia, gave it a makeover (with some kick-arse miniatures) and made a heap of cash.  However, the fact that this release isn't the one that many (some) people wanted, does that justify the scorn being poured out?


Can we speculate why GW decided not to produce a remake of Warhammer Quest or Blood Bowl?  Yes, of course we can.  The most obvious reason is their licencing agreement with Fantasy Flight.  A Warhammer Quest release (assuming a £60/$100 price point) would conflict directly with the second edition of Descent just released.  The stand-alone nature of this release and the inherently expansion driven nature of Descent means that this kind of release would harm both companies and be to the benefit of neither.

Why not Blood Bowl?  Again the standalone release GW seem to be going for would prohibit this.  There are, roughly, eleven Warhammer races.  Is it reasonable to expect that many teams in a standalone box?  No.  So do GW release a box with, say, four races and basically piss off half their customer base by not having their team available?  On the other hand, do they release a box with just two teams and then leave it at that?  Again no, Blood Bowl was a game based on leagues and multiple teams and ignoring that would be a very poor decision to make.  Alternatively, teams could be drip fed in individual box sets, but this would contradict GW's core business strategy, taking attention, resouces and floor space away from their core product.


These complaints also ignore the fundamental business decision GW are making by producing a standalone, limited run box.  It's to generate a one-off, high spike of revenue.  This release comes at half way though the financial year and, to my eyes, is intended to influence their half yearly shareholder announcements.  Anything wrong with that?  No, not at all.  GW is answerable, financially, to it's shareholders, not to their customers.  Their Space Hulk release was at the same time in the year and was a huge success in this respect.


As customers and consumers, we have the choice whether to take advantage of the game (and support GW's business plan as a result,) or not to buy the game and move on.  As a side point, GW took a lot of heat last year when they "found" some excess Space Hulk stock, and were able to offer the game a second time.  A repeat of this is unlikely, due to both the PR flak they would take and the fact that large numbers of customers bought multiple boxes to sell on (sealed copies are going for well over £100 nowadays)


So most of the chatter seems to be about what Dreadfleet isn't  "It isn't what I wanted" "It isn't a proper game" "There's nothing else to it but what's in the box."

Is there anything good to say about the release?  For starters, the contents look lush!  Each ship looks distinctive (although there is the feel of a pastiche when you look at the ten ships together) and they seem to be surprisingly large (if the comparison picture is to be believed.)  GW appear to have adopted a few mechanics from Fantasy Flight and have introduced some random card and ability mechanics that sound interesting.


Unfortunately, GW haven't released any information on either the game mechanics or the rules, so assessing Dreadfleets quality as a game is pretty difficult.  Probably a mistake, Fantasy Flight make all their rules available online, before release, and this makes it easier to assess new games.  


So, will I pick this up when it's released?  To be honest, I'm not sure yet.  I haven't mentioned the price point yet, £70, which puts it about £15-£20 above the price for a "normal" boardgame, but there is a lot of stuff in the box.  Also, some of the islands could double up as Dystopian Wars terrain.  Also, the Mrs, who isn't a gamer, made some agreeable noises when she saw the ships. . .


So undecided.  Still a couple weeks before release, so we'll see what happens. . .

Catching up on the news. . . Warmachine

With the decorating nearing completion, breathing room in the house is still at a minimum. At least I've been able to actually get back on the computer and catch up with what's been happening in the gaming world.


The biggest announcement I've seen in a while is Privateer press seeing fit to release a starter set for Warmachine.  This "Two-player Battle Box" has a lot in common with the starter sets of another certain miniatures company in that a) it includes a mini-rulebook, b) it has pretty much everything needed to start playing, and c) it looks an absolute fracking bargain!


What really surprises me about the set is the apparent RRP in pounds sterling.  It's $100 and normally that equates to a £79.99 in the UK (Ref: the large Fantasy Flight box games,) with the usual 10% online discount taking it to £71.99.  


Maelstrom are the only company I can see accepting pre-orders for the set, but their RRP is £69.99!  With the 10% off discount, they're charging £62.95 - with free postage!!!  Whatever way you look at it, that is a bargain.


Besides the rulebooks, you're getting basically two faction battle boxes (Menoth getting a different 'jack though) with an additional unit each - plastic Man'o'War and Cinerators (Khador players will be happier here!)  I think the Protectorate of Menoth force is 21 points while Khador comes in at 20 points. Throw in another unit or a couple solos and you have a standard 25 point army.


I am slightly surprised that both forces have medium based, multi wound units.  Providing one force with a small based unit and a solo choice would have put every unit type (baring cavalry) in the starter box.  Also, I noticed the product description doesn't make it clear if there are templates in the box, or just a ruler - two jacks and both casters use AOEs and the Repenter uses the spray template.  Still if that's the worst thing about the box set, PP are onto a winner here surely.


It's good to see that two large companies are able to learn from (White Dwarf finally including rules/profile previews like No Quarter) and improving upon each other (Island of Blood; great box set, absolutely useless as a starter set.)

Speaking of GW, rumours of the 40K 6th edition box set have started to surface - two boxes, each with one complete army Dark Angels or Chaos,) terrain and rulebook.  This sounds plausible, and is an obvious step for GW to counter the amount of components that appear on eBay following each release.


I'll be interested to see how the Warmachine box sells and if it affects the overall number of players.  Both Island of Blood and Assault on Black Reach sold by the bucket load, but GW still has a falling player base.  


Regardless, this is definitely a day one purchase for me!

Some random thoughts on GW.

Good old Games Workshop has been taking a load of flak recently, although, to be fair, that is nothing new.  What I've found unusual is the combination of different complaints.

First is the pricing issue, triggered by their annual price increase (mostly in line with UK inflation) which are never popular.  Price rise rage is always there (Warseer, B&C anyone?) but GW's business model has evolved to reduce the model count per box whilst, at the same time, increasing the amount of boxes required to play the game efficiently.  For instance, the Fantasy Orc Boyz kit has over the last couple of years been resculpted and repackaged; the net result being that it's now the same price for ten figures that it used to be for sixteen.  At the same time, Warhammer Fantasy 8th edition made it practically mandatory for players to field them in units of 40 or 50.  Also noteworthy was the cries of "bargain" when the Dark Eldar Warriors box was released, ten figures for only £15

The second criticism has been their recent distribution policy and release schedule.  Distribution outside the EU does not obviously affect me, but I can certainly understand our antipodean cousin's anger at the result of this.  Btw, with my economics hat on, your currency is being held artificially high - talk to your government.  There are also rumours that GW will not be releasing rumours of new products.  I can't say I see the sense of this either.

Thirdly, has been the release of Finecast.  I've no experience of this yet, and probably won't for a while at least.  However, in PR terms, it's been a real stinker of a release.  Firstly GW, don't place the Finecast release in relation to rising commodity prices and then stick a price increase on top of the current price.  Have a bit of common sense - have the release, rave about the quality then introduce any increase in a few months.

Also, prepare and reassure people about what to expect.  On the GW site, I found 61 words regarding working safely with resin (and now mention of sanding or resin dust.)  On the other hand, I've bought my first resin kit about 12 years ago and have had twelve years of warnings and liability notices of the hazards of resin dust.  I'm inclined to believe GW when they say their own "secret recipe" is absolutely safe - but 61 words do not easily counteract years of caution.

So not a lot of good press recently.  However, they still have a lot going for them. . .

They have a great range of products - still the best plastic kits in the industry.  Excellent quality and lots of customizable options.  They also know how to innovate their range when they need to - "annoyed you're going to have to buy more infantry?  Here's a huge fuck off spider or walking robot to keep you sweet!"

They have the best IP in the industry, essentially because they've been running for 20+ years. They've created two existences that are detailed enough to follow individual strands, but large enough to create your own story-arch without treading on any of the "canon."  Add in the Black Library and Fantasy Flight ranges, I can't think of a larger, deeper commercial fictional IP (maybe WoW?)

Lastly, GW have generated an immense personal following.  The only store you can play a game at in my city is the GW store.  I can turn up there and have a pick up game, basically, whenever I want.  I know the guys there by name.  When I was getting bored with 40K, the Black Library released the Horus Heresy series.  GW released Battlefleet Gothic - there best EVER game.  So many reasons why, contrary to all financial sense, they still keep me interested.

This post was prompted by my decision to rationalise my relationship with GW.  I'll still read some Black Library, still keep up with the Fantasy Flight range, still keep my main armies for 40K and Fantasy (even though I don't play either very often.)  I may even still buy the odd mini to paint "just for the hell of it."

What I won't be doing is collecting anything other than my two main armies (and even then, purchases will be mostly through the 'bay or Maelstrom Games.)  I'll offload some stuff I know I won't use.  I'm not sure if I'll still read White Dwarf, but I definitely won't subscribe again.

I think this is known as a "holding pattern."  Not a reduction or escalation, but just a period of calm to see how GW behaves over the next year or so.  of course. . . this frees up a lot of resources for the recent wave of board games, ancients rules and skirmish games that have sprung up recently. . .