Anyone know why Araby isn't an army?

[slaanghoul]

It all comes down to if GW can make money out of the army. That's the truth... and that's it.

Don't tell me that GW can't support another army... if there's money to be made... GW will hire more staff for the army.

I'm tire of people saying that GW can't keep up... blah blah blah.... the truth is GW can do anything if they can make profit out of it. I'm guessing that GW is maxed out in their limitation because of investment vs. return, so they only release one army/codex at a time. If GW did the math and they can make more money by releasing 3 codexes and 3 army books all at the same time..... trust me they would. They don't because (I would hope) this is their best business practice and it worked for GW.

Another thing is GW wouldn't release any new armies if that new army (Araby) will take away a chunk of their current army buyers. Example... (I'm being lazy here).... if they make (per Quarter) 1 million dollars with Empire and their cost of R&D, production, etc... cost them 300k, they make 700k from Empire. If they make Araby and it cost GW 100k and they make only 200k, but they notice that Empire only make 800k this time... thus... GW knows that a lot of players just switch from Empire to Araby... so now that quarter GW only make 600k w/ Araby and Empire vs. just Empire 700k.

New army must also bring in new customers base not old customer base who buys GW stuff anyway.

I think this is why GW only release one army/codex at a time... because they will always make money about the same each quarter and their customers base are about the same each month.

I think Araby would work if Araby will bring in new customers.... maybe when GW is thinking about expanding their company to the middle east or new market place....that would be a good idea.

[kelthrai]

I think that a warhammer could have many more armies becouse every player has its own playstyle, besides
to play many armies is fun (painting lots of lots of lots of models is not that fun) but it has an great outcome.
so if gw relaesed about 5-10 more armies and hire new workers to keep everything running smothly i would be happy.

[Col. Tartleton]

(Dogs of War) Tilea, Estalia, Araby, Ind, Cathay, Nippon, and Fishmen would basically cover what isn't already in the game. That's 7 factions. That's reasonable in my book.

[Athelassan]

Plus the Chaos Dwarfs (assuming we're dealing with studio army books, not FW), the Hobgobla Khan, Kislev, Amazons, Albion, Nagashizzar, Fimir, the Wasteland, and in an ideal world, something dealing with non-Marauder Norscans (in particular, Skeggi).

To deal with the remaining factions in the WHF world in a satisfactory manner would probably require at least doubling the range of existing armies; I doubt there's enough demand to make that a profitable venture.

[Gorbad Ironclaw]

If we are going down that route, we really would need multiple Chaos books as well. The Tiger-men of Ind is bound to be just as different from the Beast-men of the Empire as the humans of Ind are from the humans of the Empire. Oh, and the Southern Chaos Wastes (Chaos Penguins!). Etc.
Also, it's not just a question of more staff, it's also a question of physical space and time. I doubt most shops would have space to double the space they got allocated to Warhammer and unless GW change their whole business model/release structure there just isn't enough time to release that many army books in an edition (or two...).

[slaanghoul]

If we are going down that route, we really would need multiple Chaos books as well. The Tiger-men of Ind is bound to be just as different from the Beast-men of the Empire as the humans of Ind are from the humans of the Empire. Oh, and the Southern Chaos Wastes (Chaos Penguins!). Etc.
Also, it's not just a question of more staff, it's also a question of physical space and time. I doubt most shops would have space to double the space they got allocated to Warhammer and unless GW change their whole business model/release structure there just isn't enough time to release that many army books in an edition (or two...).

Well... if people are buying them like hot cakes... the stores are more than happy to expand and make money from it. Bottom line is if there's money to be made... people and business will expand for it.

[T10]

- GW has enough armies and it's unable to support even the existing ones well enough. Revised armybooks take too long to publish as it is now. GW has been even forced to abandon some armies like chaos dwarfs, dogs of war and Kislev because they can't give them sufficient attention.

- Humans already have two fully supported armies. If they wanted more they'd bring back dogs of war or even Kislev that have existing fan and player base.

- There are several other exotic human nations that would create even more interesting and varied armies: Nippon, Cathay, Ind...

- The desert warriors theme has already been incorporated into the Tomb Kings.

Humans have two army books from neighboring nations in the Old World. Elves have three army books, off which two are world-spanning empires. It is safe to say that there is room for one more human army, and Araby is a major contender. It is an established name and it has a long history of conflict with the Old World nations.

It seems a lot more palatble with regards to the fluff than does the Lizardmen or Ogre Kingdoms.

[Spiney Norman]

Humans have two army books from neighboring nations in the Old World. Elves have three army books, off which two are world-spanning empires. It is safe to say that there is room for one more human army, and Araby is a major contender. It is an established name and it has a long history of conflict with the Old World nations.

It seems a lot more palatble with regards to the fluff than does the Lizardmen or Ogre Kingdoms.

Because we're not counting warriors of chaos as humans now? Chaos humans are still humans, just like chaos elves are still elves. Currently the game has
3 Human armies (Empire, Bretonnia, Warriors of Chaos)
2 Undead Human armies (VC & TK)
1 Army of Mutant humans (Beasts of Chaos)
3 Elf armies
6 races that only have one book (dwarfs, skaven, Lizardmen, Ogres, Orcs and Goblins & Daemons)

So that's either 5 or 6 human armies depending on whether you consider beastmen to be a separate race or not. I think it's safe to say that the game does not need another one.

I also like that Ulthuan and Naggaroth count as "world-spanning Empires" and the Empire is just an "Old World Nation". In terms of the land they actually control, the empire is definitely ahead.

[slaanghoul]

Because we're not counting warriors of chaos as humans now? Chaos humans are still humans, just like chaos elves are still elves. Currently the game has
3 Human armies (Empire, Bretonnia, Warriors of Chaos)
2 Undead Human armies (VC & TK)
1 Army of Mutant humans (Beasts of Chaos)
3 Elf armies
6 races that only have one book (dwarfs, skaven, Lizardmen, Ogres, Orcs and Goblins & Daemons)

So that's either 5 or 6 human armies depending on whether you consider beastmen to be a separate race or not. I think it's safe to say that the game does not need another one.

I also like that Ulthuan and Naggaroth count as "world-spanning Empires" and the Empire is just an "Old World Nation". In terms of the land they actually control, the empire is definitely ahead.

I disagree with the "maximum" of any races. If it is cool enough, it can replace the other bottom contender or just another additional army. 40K have tones of Human codex (Space marines, Chaos Space marines, Wolf, Black Temp, Blood A, Dark A, Chaos SM, Guards, traitor guards), might be more . . . .That's a lot of human.

[BigbyWolf]

I disagree with the "maximum" of any races. If it is cool enough, it can replace the other bottom contender or just another additional army. 40K have tones of Human codex (Space marines, Chaos Space marines, Wolf, Black Temp, Blood A, Dark A, Chaos SM, Guards, traitor guards), might be more . . . .That's a lot of human.

That's a lot of Marines. There's a difference, and thank the Maker that a similar obsession with one army type hasn't spread to Fantasy.

[Gorbad Ironclaw]

40K have tones of Human codex (Space marines, Chaos Space marines, Wolf, Black Temp, Blood A, Dark A, Chaos SM, Guards, traitor guards), might be more . . . .That's a lot of human.

And look at what one of the top complaints is for many people. To many Marines and not enough anything else.