I've been reading with interest in the blogosphere the reactions to the news that Games Workshop will no longer be supporting Warhammer Historical.
I'm not familiar with the personalities involved or the reasons that the decision was taken. I quite liked their Old West game, but beyond that I can't really comment. I am relatively sure the Games Workshop are not actually the Devil and generally these decisions are made on a
hard headed financial basis.
What does interest me is the attitude in some quarters that this marks the end of the game. This strikes me as beyond bizarre - the books still exist, they are presumably still have words in then and the dice roll today in much the same way they rolled yesterday. If you want new material you can write it yourself or use one of the any number of amateur work that chaps have been churning out since the game was released for the fun of the thing. Though I suppose it will lack that official imprimatur.
Suffice to say that here at Joy & Forgetfulness - we fully support the right of any chap to indulge in Wargaming of whatever sort behind closed doors. So long as no animals are harmed and you all wash your hands afterwards.
Entirely unofficially of course.
Hear, hear old chap!
ReplyDeleteAs one who plays a home-brew set of rules, I can't really understand the fuss either.
I guess that's what can happen to those who buy into the "Warhammer hobby" idea, rather than wargaming as a hobby.
ReplyDeleteThe attitude is rather odd, I've been using my first addition Chainmail and a host equally old rules for almost 30 years!
ReplyDeleteI read that too, funny thing is that if they did it to 40K then yes it dies a slow death but given you buy the figures from anyone buy GW then what's the fuss. Sure it will die off over time for lack of new blood but I bet some guys still play WRG 6th edition!!!
ReplyDeleteAny rules that GW do not support with figures is on a sticky wicket. GW get a lot of bad press for how they work but they are one of the few truely comercially successful figure games companies. As in making big money. I neither like them nor dislike them though I dislike their in store shark the kids practice I have seen first hand too many times not for it to be company directed.
Ian
Everything that is solid will melt into the air!
ReplyDeleteWe will be with you on the barricades of recidivism...
FLW
My Dear Kinch:
ReplyDeleteAn admirably sensible and clear headed point of view. I recall talking to a GW rep at a convention once where he spoke approvingly of a certain figure because it sold a quarter of a million units a year. We in The Rest Of The Hobby have trouble understanding this purely corporate point of view. We think of vendors like the chap who rolls up to the Saturday farmers' market in his van with an assortment of veggies and homemade cheese, and we expect GW to behave the same way, doing things for love and a pittance profit. I am very sorry for Warhammer Historical's devotees but if I was an investor in GW and WH wasn't doing well, I would expect them to chop it. Business is business.
The mention of the Evil One probably hits the nail on the head - rather a lot of the GWs are, in fact, part of the GW Cult. Sort of Tom Cruise type gamers, as it were.
ReplyDeleteQuite apart from the desire for OFFICIAL ways of doing things (the old WRG ancient days comes to mind) I think the real panic and the pronouncement of death has to dowith something else.
ReplyDeleteTrendiness.
Some people seem to need their fix of the newest thing and they need to know they are up on the latest fad whether its an ipad or a set of rules. Gotta be part of the in crowd. As long as there are new supplements and things being published then their game is still fresh and trendy and they have something to buy.
Frankly I am not sad to see them go - There "brief" intrusion into the historical realm of the hobby was not appreciated by those of us who prefeer painting stuff "historically" where as in most of their publications nothing really related to historical venues - rather just to their historical idea of making a profit - which is great for a corporation, but most folks in the hobby are in because they love the hobby not because they see dollar signs. The departure of GW from historicals simply means that those actual historical vendors will now get baddly needed dollars that were formerly wasted on GW products IMHO - Goodbye GW Historicals. Your departure is not lamented.
ReplyDelete@ Volley Fire. I can't comment on the majority of the rule sets and fully accept you are probably right. I wish though to cast a light on the Gladiator Rules. These I know were very heavily researched and very accurate to the period. True the rule system had to be GW's style but the flavour and feel of the rules was all the authors who I know put years into the writing of them. I think a good reason for the range to be dropped is that wargamers do not and will not fit the mold that GW would want us to fit. I think the idea was ill conceived given the distrust and in many cases outright dislike of so many of the 'real' wargamers out there.
ReplyDeleteIan