New White Scars From Forge World!

Wll, they did it again. After last weeks showing I don't know how, but they did.

Forgeworld with new WHITE SCARS upgrades look amazing.

They have 3 sets of shoulder pads for MK II, II and IV (great for the new HH plastics) AND amazing heads and torsos!

I find these particularly AWESOME

I am SOOOOO Eager to see Blood Angels!!!!

HUMOR: Grumpy Cat plays AoS

Just a funny picture that made me smile.

Gaming on the Fury Road Part Two: First Car Completed

So a little bit ago I talked about starting some Mad Max style gaming. I haven't had a chance to make it to Mythic Santa Cruz yet for this, BUT I did get my first car done last night.

So it is really simple to do. You take a hotwheels car and drill out the rivets. Then customize to your contect. This first car is relatively simple, with just some plasticard bits for the super charger, an IG flamer pack for soem fuel tanks, SM missiles for some rockets, green stuff tarp and etched brass grating.

Work in progress shots. You can really see all the components. I also sanded it here just to give it a very abrasive quality.

Primed and then painted. The only paints used were Black, two shade of grey on one door and two shades of red on the other. Oh, and metallic for the charger and exhausts. The rest was then done with secret weapon mini weathering powders. This is really only my second time using them, and my first time using alot of them to a great extent. The first was just white oxide on my Stormcast Eternal Statue Terrain piece for 40k.

Here it is. Complete and with a coat of matte varnish on it to ensure the powder stays on for good.

Why new "Warhammer" shops is not the correct tactic to grow the customer base IMO (short rant)

So the new GW financials are out, and with it is Mr. Rountree's first statements about his vision for GW

But there is, to me, a logical flaw in some of his reasoning I am going to harp on briefly

Some take-aways from the report ARE
-Typical customer is teenage to adult male with free time and money
-They are rebranding GW Hobby Centers as "Warhammer" stores
-They have been doing a poor job of recruiting new customers, and changing this is a priority
-They need to open more GW stores, mostly using the one man model
-They are exploring new avenues to release their product

So on their own, all of these seem fine. The one man model does save a lot of money, whether you agree with the concept or not.

It is in concert these fail to make sense.

So lets look at what a Hobby center is
1- A one man GW shop is usually pretty small. I am talking about 2-3 gaming tables max (and maybe a demo table) and 2-4 hobby stations that are relatively small. As such, you have limited participation in the store at any time, and typically far less than an FLGS
2- GW stores, at least in the US, are usually poorly located to save on rent. This means low end strip malls. I have only seen one outside of the US in Marsielle France, and it to was small and on a side street and didn't feel very welcoming.
3- It only has WARHAMMER

SO if you want NEW customers, most likely everyone that manages to fit into the store is an existing customer. So that kinda fails there. And by renaming the store Warhammer, you have in a way made the store even less welcoming IMO. People accidentally walk into a Games Workshop. It has happened without fail EVERY TIME I have been in one. They see "Games" and either get confused or curious. But when people do stumble in with a young man with them, who gets a free mini for visiting, GW gets hook in. BUT People will not randomly wander into a WARHAMMER Store. What parent is going to make that mistake? It is in no way indicative to an outsider what the store is, and is a violent and off-putting name to them.

Sci-fi City in Orlando FL

Now for the other places this fails- size and target audience. A FLGS is typically BIG. At least they are almost always bigger than a GW store. AND they have tons of different products- comics, MTG cards, various war games, RPGs, comics and sci-fi/fantasy memorabilia. What this means is a high traffic flow of the target group "Teenage and Adult Males". How many Magic the Gather Players will walk into a "WARHAMMER" Store. The answer is none. BUT if they manage to see the models in an FLGS they may be able to get them. AND these are already people with a common interest. They have the tastes that GW customers all have. It isn't relying on random chance.

All those guys are MTG & D&D players meeting at the FLGS

So I agree with exploring new outlets for getting the hobby out their. Core box sets and the board games released into Target and B&N would be cool and make get some people to start checking out GW. BUT I feel that if GW doubled down on FLGS support, they would get the surge in both sales and new customers they are looking for. But if they focus on solely going to GW "Warhammer" stores and big retailers, I think they will find themselves not getting the new customers. Why? Well their target audience are all at the FLGS, playing different games and not seeing a lot of, or even any, GW products on the shelves because it just didn't make sense for the FLGS owner to try and push them anymore. Why would they as they got cut more and more out of the sales loop?

Petition to Games Workshop: 9 months and 15,000 signatures later

So it has been 9 months since I put up the petition to Games Workshop.

Refocus your business model on the sale of a game and support of a gaming community vice the pure sale of collectible miniatures. (click to read it or sign)

A lot has changed in that time. The End Times came and went, 40k got a machine gun fire of releases, Age of Sigmar dropped and now 30k plastics and an uncertain future of 40k looms on the future if a lot of the rumours are to be believed.

I am not sure what, if anything at all, GW took from the Petition. The point was just to at least express the community's frustration (at least 15,000 of us), whether it was heard or not.

I think some things did get through, and the rapid fire 40k releases may be indicative of that. As well, GW is apparently going to Gencon, altough in what manner has yet to be seen. They are going to have a very steep leaning curve at conventions IMO, and I hope they are better prepared for it than just "This is Age of Sigmar. It has pretty models. You should play it."

I will say for one, I have never EVER met someone who quit GW games to move onto something else because they didn't like the models. GW has, is and will most likely always get that part right. BUT nearly every example of someone I know who quit GW for anything other than financial reasons is because the rules were just not there. They either found them horribly unbalanced, woefully supported, or just plain old out of date. AoS seems to be taking some stabs at this, at least in the "out of date" and support department, BUT it is too new to really judge. We have yet to see how well they can support and update the AoS rules over the course of months, let alone years.

This is why I think that this Petition is still valid, and it is still there for you to sign if you wish. Maybe for some it is more valid than ever (Fantasy Old Guard perhaps?)

Blood Angels Epistolary Librarian (OOP Metal Librarian Oldhammer)

So I just finished last night my recently acquired Librarian. My new list requires one with a staff for the BA relic, and I didn't want to spend $30 on a new librarian AND have the same Librarian as everyone else. I really wish they still had 6 different models to choose from OR had more options in a $30 clam pack.

The only non original parts are the plain old SM jump pack and the left arm (empty hand one).

I also mounted him to a 32mm base with some slate on it (check out how to get really cheap slate for basing here). The slate really helped give this old model some height to blend in better with the all new marines. The 32mm base is definitely more epic looking and is great for a character.

Without further ado, I give you Epistolary Metatron.

Blood Angels Veteran Sergeant

Just a quick share of my completed Blood Angels Veteran Sergeant. This is Veteran Sergeant Vorlois of 2nd Co, 2nd Squad. Check out Vet Sarge Brute of 1st Squad here.

He is a Tactical Squad Sergeant equipped with a power axe and bolt pistol.

Legs, torso and crest are from the Sternguard sprue. Head, shoulder pads, and back pack are from the Blood Angels' tactical squad. Arms/weapons are Sanguinary guard and the banner is from the OLD Space Marine tactical squad.

New FW Ultramarines and Word Bearers. The most incredible space marines you may ever find...

WELP FW has done it again. These two kits are incredibly impressive. If you play Ultramarines in 30 or 40k, these are a must have.

ULTRAMARINES INVICTARUS SUZERAIN SQUAD  60 GBP.. a bit heavy, but if I played the boys in blue, it would be worth it IMO.

Just look at the detail... I don't know if I would even want to attempt to paint these guys. I don't know if I could do them justice...

I love the words everywhere and I am particularly fond of the gun shields with the extended clips.

If they didn't have Ultramarine Icons everywhere I would get them for my Blood Angels. Makes me hopeful for what is to come for them.

ZARDU LAYAK & ANAKATIS KUL BLADE-SLAVES 57 GBP. Don't know if I would do this one, but I also know little of the Word Bearers. I am sure HH Book 5 Tempest has a run down on these guys...
SLAVES

Google Dreams of Age of Sigmar (Google Deep Dream AoS pics) (Humour)

So I ran a couple pictures through Google Deep Dream from Age of Sigmar, just to see how it interpreted the new Mortal Realms... not really much to say other than these are trippy...

I also ran my Stormcast Eternal Statue through it...

Weekend WIP: Blood Angels, Blood Angels, Blood Angels (and a BFG:R Rulebook)

Just some quick weekend Work In Progress stuff. Got my Blood Angels for my Adepticon list (I know they are terrible right now. I'll just have to make do) out and on my desk and I am just pushing through them. Bringing the Hobby Back, one model at a time.

As you can see, I go my hobby station in full swing

2nd Co, 2nd Squad, Sergeant Vorlois. What will he be armed with (hint, you can figure it out by going to the list)

So Vorlois is using Sternguard parts for the most part, the exception being his head and soon to be completed arms.

Just another scout sniper

Unfortunately, the photo seems to have washed out the washes in the creases somewhat, but they are still kinda there.

Just finished this melta-gunner. He is an OLD metal model, but this is a perfect use for him IMO.

My Librarian. Another OLD guy. I just got him off ebay for 1/2 the cost of the new librarian with staff. He came still in his blister. Even better was that it was a "New release" blister. That means he has been in that thing since like '93. Glad he is finally getting some paint on him. Minis deserve to be painted!

My Sanguinary Priest. He is using a BA Stormraven head I think? I forget. But the chainsword is from the Death Co. pack, torso from a Baal Pred, nathecium from a command squad, and legs from FW character upgrade pack (with a DC symbol on them)

Just the stack to work on! Dread isn't in the list, but he was brought out for repairs to his banner.

So I swapped this guys power sword off for a new powerfist. Better employment IMO and thus why it is now that way in my list.

The completed assault squad thus far. I only need 5 for the list, but they will be 10 for the sake of my Battle Company.

Last of all I got this rulebook in the mail this week. It is a printed version of BFG:R rules. I actually prefer the FAQ 2010 rules more, but this was still a must have, and it is EXCELLENT QUALITY. Only $17 US + shipping. You can find the link to it in my Fanatic Portal up top (or click the link). I am likely going to use the same service for my ASC 2.0 when that is completed!