That's right, I remember now. That was the point of Stackpole's article that I read. Cheers.Originally Posted by Bloodknight
That's right, I remember now. That was the point of Stackpole's article that I read. Cheers.
They're almost all utterly dreadful, but then most tie-in fiction is. I'd say Warhammer novels tend to be a little better than most, as long as you keep in mind how low the standard is.
Broadly this makes sense to me. I understand why GW needs B&M stores but they have barely changed in the 20 odd years I have been visiting them while the nature of retail has changed coniderably.
Given that the B&M stores are mostly a marketing tool for targeting young gamers, it seems inefficient for all stores to carry every single model from the 40k and WHFB ranges, some of which will be sold in very small quantities. They could reduce floor space if they sold only a limited range through the majority of their B&M stores - starter sets, battalions and the highest sellers (i.e. tactical marine box).
WDL record with my Swooping Hawk themed Eldar list:-
W: 2,836
D: 2 (I felt sorry for my opponents and started firing at my own units)
L: 1 (I played against myself using my undefeated footslogging Fire Warrior list and lost)
Another idea would be to "Argos" it to some degree. Place the important boxes on high profile shelving, have the extra product densely stacked in the back. Much better use of floorspace.
Oh god yes, they're terrible. I didn't mention them as an example of how to do tie-in fiction well, that would be ludicrous. No - all I meant was that the Star Wars license is huge, and Star Wars books thus outsell the Black Library by a large factor. The Black Library has the Warhammer and 40K IPs, which we all know are cool (or we wouldn't be here) but they're just not that big on the world scale.
Argos stores are huge, I've never been in an Argos that isn't 4 times the size of any GW store.
Yeah but they sell everything from cheap jewellery and table lamps to trampolines and garden sheds.
WDL record with my Swooping Hawk themed Eldar list:-
W: 2,836
D: 2 (I felt sorry for my opponents and started firing at my own units)
L: 1 (I played against myself using my undefeated footslogging Fire Warrior list and lost)
If I were GW UK marketing I'd aim to cut the number of stores down to the bone in the next five years. By all that's posted here they're just not recruiting enough people to cover their expenses. Even in the UK city centre footfall is only going down. Unless there is a significant change in high-street conditions and broader economics the B&M store network just isn't viable.
In order to maintain visibility I'd go with the travelling salesman approach. A man with a store in a van to visit places with high footfall. So large shopping centres, maybe out of town superstores, maybe markets and car boot sales. I'd also have a network of paid club organisers who run things in schools and hire out venues in gamer hotspots, in order to keep the community alive. For the internet I'd have people who are paid to go on internet forums and create hobby logs. Big P and Veritas's plogs here on Warseer are a prime example of this sort of advertising though for it to actually do any good you'd need to be able to reach non hobby web spaces. It'd probably be a very good way of following up on GW IP'd computer games as that provides a gateway to a vast range of computer gaming forums. I'd consider advertising banners and pop ups but cost vs effectiveness would need to be studied.
edit: And a word for Germany, though I'd want to check this with any native posters. I'm under the impression that the 'serious' board game market is huge in Germany. In the UK it's very much a niche thing, so attempts to promote through mass marketing of boxed games like the old Space Crusade are doomed to failure. But it might be a viable strategy for Germany. After all they've already done the R&D on Space Hulk, Dreadfleet and Bloodbowl. Could they not be rolled out wholesale through whatever medium Germans already use?
Last edited by Idle Scholar; 08-06-2012 at 11:59.
"if the UK ever fights on mars, on at least one occasion the troops will climb out of the trenches and perform a bayonet charge while a Scotsman plays the bagpipes"
Sieg Kaiser Reinhard!
For all markets actually that would likely be a strong strategy.
Get Dreadfleet and Space Hulk back in production and price them competitively with games like Risk and Axis & Allies ($40-50). Get them in big box stores along side the other games and stuff an abbreviated catalog of the other gaming that GW provides. Would allow them to get into the big box stores without having to worry about the specific cost slashing that they seem to fear.
Granted...they likely won't do anything like that.
Is that really viable without making them loss leaders? Irrespective of rules complexity Risk and Axis&Allies both look like they're far cheaper to produce. I agree on the advertising in box strategy though. Looking at the side of 1st ed Spacehulk still makes me want to buy a metal Terminator.
"if the UK ever fights on mars, on at least one occasion the troops will climb out of the trenches and perform a bayonet charge while a Scotsman plays the bagpipes"
Sieg Kaiser Reinhard!
Quite likely - the actual cost in materials between something like Space Hulk or Dread Fleet are comparable or within a couple dollars of games like Axis & Allies. So, yes - they should be able to do it without much of a problem at all.
About the only thing that almost justified the high price point on the limited release was that they were a limited release. There wasn't the sales volume to recover tooling costs (well - likely there was and it was just overpriced anyway - but that is a dead horse at this point).
I'd say that the cost is closer on par with the larger games like tide of iron, twilight imperium, descent. But that doesn't mean that you absolutely have to have the same quality componets as before. Make them on the cheap to getthem available to the masses. You don't need 200 piece terminators in the base game. The third edition termies would be fine for example.
edit: meant the 3rd edition 40k plastics not the 3rd ed. space hulk termies.
Last edited by Omniassiah; 10-06-2012 at 17:55.
What struck me is that this sort of roving club organiser/store in a van type affair would be the perfect strategy for small scale competitors to grow without a lot of capital outlay. If they wanted to get 'new' wargamers rather than sell to existing fans.
"if the UK ever fights on mars, on at least one occasion the troops will climb out of the trenches and perform a bayonet charge while a Scotsman plays the bagpipes"
Sieg Kaiser Reinhard!
GW recently opened a new store in Kansas City in a very dodgy part of town were you are more likely to meet a homeless person on the way to the store than a fellow gamer. No disrespect meant to homeless people, this is just the character of that neighborhood.
The store is smaller than the gaming area of at least three stores within a 25 mile radius.
GW stores just cannot compete in the USA with decent FLGS, period, its no contest. Around here many people play GW, FoW, and Warmachine or at least 2 of the 3 systems. GW stores just do not have anything to offer that independent stores cant offer as well. The independent stores have a huge advantage over the GW stores because they can offer a much more diverse product line and they usually occupy retail space that enables them to be 2 or 3 times the size of a GW store.
The location of the Kansas City store is a perfect example of GW not having clue one about the local market. A Gw store that actually offered something unique to the local gaming community would have been nice but it is difficult to imagine what that would be since the area is saturated with game stores that have abundant table space and no restrictions on what board or miniature games you play on them.
The exclusive GW store merchandise model may work well in the UK or a super high traffic mall in the US but as a standalone game store it is too weak to survive the very different commercial environment of the USA.
The situation in KC bears watching. This matches what I have heard about Games Workshop's retail strategy from the 1980s and 1990s. It will be interesting to see what happens if the new store does not perform well.
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