Andy Hall leaving GW - What next for the Specialist Games Ranges?

[Vos]

Title says it all really.....

Vos

[fracas]

could be bad
i hope not
fingers crossed

[Lord Inquisitor]

Has he done anything for SG in the last five years?

[Vos]

He was the "insider champion" for the SG range. Without someone to pass the baton on to, there are no staff offocially assigned to the range at all.
As your post implies, this doesn't affect their output of new SG stuff (pretty much NIL in the last 5 years?) but it may (and I hope not) be a signal regarding the current ranges' survival in its present form?

I was just fishing to see if any GW staff or recent ex GW staff knew anything?

Vos

[yabbadabba]

JJ will still fight SGs corner as well.

But we have to accept that under the current structure the best we can hope for is that those who make the decisions keep forgetting to look at SGs.

[Easy E]

Does it even matter anymore?

Specialist games live because of the community and not gw.

[yabbadabba]

Does it even matter anymore?
Specialist games live because of the community and not gw.

I agree. Fancy telling that to all those on here who complain about "lack of support" for their particular pecadillo?

[Charax]

It could be a lot worse, at least GW still sell a significant range of SG models. The status quo is actually, relatively speaking, pretty good.

If Andy's left and we're left with JJ...don't expect much. This is the same guy who writes those insipid, vacuous Standard bearer articles, having Jervis in our corner is like having an empty corner.

Hopefully they don't look at the numbers and decide to pull support for the SGs entirely.

[yabbadabba]

If Andy's left and we're left with JJ...don't expect much. This is the same guy who writes those insipid, vacuous Standard bearer articles, having Jervis in our corner is like having an empty corner.

I wouldn't read too much into those articles; JJ is canny enough to understand whicxh way the wind blows. His head is far more screwed on than those articles have ever indicated.

And let's also not forget, WD is the corporate mouthpiece of GW. You are not going to get anything in there that isn't strictly following the direction from on High.

[Lord Inquisitor]

Plus don't forget JJ wrote Epic Armageddon and oversaw development before the plug was pulled.

[Charax]

This'd be the same Epic: Armageddon that outsourced basically all army list development to the fanbase and then reaped the results to generate content for Fanatic Online, right?

The JJ we have now is not the JJ of old

[Lord Inquisitor]

Yes, as a result we got a game 10x better than 40K and a magazine full of articles we actually wanted to read, unlike white dwarf.

[yabbadabba]

Welcome to the GW customer base. It wants GW to include it, but it doesn't want GW to profit from that, yet says that somehow that will make it a better, more profitable, and lower price point company.

[CyberShadow]

He was the "insider champion" for the SG range. Without someone to pass the baton on to, there are no staff offocially assigned to the range at all.
As your post implies, this doesn't affect their output of new SG stuff (pretty much NIL in the last 5 years?) but it may (and I hope not) be a signal regarding the current ranges' survival in its present form?

I was just fishing to see if any GW staff or recent ex GW staff knew anything?

Vos

Andy was a huge asset for SG, and did a lot for SG behind the scenes that most people never even saw.
Before he left, he did ensure that SG had a friend within GW, and at least a contact for SG issues, and I have exchanged emails with Jervis about things. I am not going to pretend that Andy wont be missed, as very few people have worked as hard for the SGs.

I wouldn't read too much into those articles; JJ is canny enough to understand whicxh way the wind blows. His head is far more screwed on than those articles have ever indicated.

And let's also not forget, WD is the corporate mouthpiece of GW. You are not going to get anything in there that isn't strictly following the direction from on High.

Indeed. Jervis wrote or had a hand in most of the SG games, and you dont do that and end up not caring. He is a 'high profile' GW employee and clearly works for the company as a whole, but he does care about SG and I have personally taken up his time chatting about the range.

This'd be the same Epic: Armageddon that outsourced basically all army list development to the fanbase and then reaped the results to generate content for Fanatic Online, right?

Its not quite a simple as that. There was always a 'symbiotic' relationship between SG of old and the communities. Yes, the fans produced the output and this was used in FO, but the players knew that this was the case in advance and the stamp of authority that FO provided was required at that time, so it was a give and take relationship that both sides kept a single focus in.

Welcome to the GW customer base. It wants GW to include it, but it doesn't want GW to profit from that, yet says that somehow that will make it a better, more profitable, and lower price point company.

I prefer to think of it as - When life gives you lemons.... you look around for a bag of salt and a large bottle of Tequila!
The situation is what it is, and I would certainly love to make changes and pull more resources and focus towards the SG games. But, while we dont have that, we make the best of the advantages that we do have from the situation and go from there.
Most of us would love to help GW profit in the SGs and would give our time and efforts to help the game grow, understanding that if GW profits from the game, as a business they will put more into it and therefore our rewards will be more long term.

[Daniel36]

As far as I can tell, it won't do anything more or anything less than has been done in the past 5 or so years, which is just fine.

Mordheim is still being played, and we really don't need any special minis for it since WHFB provides just fine.
Necromunda is still being played, and there are enough minis you can order to play it.
Battlefleet Gothic is the same.
I can understand that Epic is a problem, since a lot of Forgeworld minis have been canned, but what can you do?
Heck, even non-Specialist GW games are still being played despite the non-existence of official support.

Are we really so dependent that we need GW to provide us with additional scenarios and rules? Because we really don't.

Mind you, I am not saying I wouldn't welcome renewed support. I would love it if these games were being sold and supported through White Dwarf or something, but it's really not needed.

[mattl]

Looks like Andy will be doing some work with Mantic. Alessio mentioned he's working on some Kings of War supplement on the most recent Mantic podcast.

[thenamelessdead]

Welcome to the GW customer base. It wants GW to include it, but it doesn't want GW to profit from that, yet says that somehow that will make it a better, more profitable, and lower price point company.

I'd be surprised if GW actually need to charge high prices for SG models/resources. I suspect it's more a case of they do it because they can.

[Ironmonger]

As far as I can tell, it won't do anything more or anything less than has been done in the past 5 or so years, which is just fine.

Mordheim is still being played, and we really don't need any special minis for it since WHFB provides just fine.
Necromunda is still being played, and there are enough minis you can order to play it.
Battlefleet Gothic is the same.
I can understand that Epic is a problem, since a lot of Forgeworld minis have been canned, but what can you do?
Heck, even non-Specialist GW games are still being played despite the non-existence of official support.

Are we really so dependent that we need GW to provide us with additional scenarios and rules? Because we really don't.

Mind you, I am not saying I wouldn't welcome renewed support. I would love it if these games were being sold and supported through White Dwarf or something, but it's really not needed.

That's true up to a point. Don't forget, metals are almost totally phased out at GW now. What's going to happen when the last Delaque or Reaver mini goes, or the final Highwayman or Repulsive? Trust me, they won't be jumping to make new molds or minis with the old ones. That will be that. I've said all this before when Finecast was first announced, and I haven't seen one iota of change to make me think any differently.

Yes, the community is what keeps SG going... but what now, when I've just learnt that there is soon to be a 3rd iteration of BFG on the horizon, when the 2nd (2010) was sent in full to GW, who then went out of their way to dismiss it. Community is great, amazing, but official recognition is what defines the base of any game in an environment like this. The Tau are no longer produced, alongside all the rest of the once-beurgeoning FW roster of SG. You guys remember Warmaster?

Without GW backing, production and recognition will cease altogether, and then what? It doesn't matter, we'll keep on playing... with which models? Using which rules?

[cornonthecob]

I've heard of certain web-groups offering to buy the rights to the specalist games, however GW turn them down.

[Chaos and Evil]

I've just learnt that there is soon to be a 3rd iteration of BFG on the horizon

Huh? Whatnow?