|
Cataphract posted:Cause for years they've prided themselves on having a business that doesn't outsource the miniature production and that everyone who works for the company is, at some level, a hobbyist. The reason they don't outsource to other countries/companies is because the people that run GW want to exercise an almost Vince McMahon-esque level of control over every aspect of their product. The "everyone who works for the company is local/a hobbyist" is purely PR spin to make them more attractive to new hires (with the right "attitude", of course) and to make them seem not quite as much of a faceless corporate monolith. Though granted, with GW's current business plan apparently being "pull as much of our overseas business back to the UK as we can", it might actually be true in the sense that they are going all "League of Gentlemen"-style and asking new hires "Are you Local?"  Again, this is not to say that I expect or want a new GW CEO to move production overseas or whatnot. In fact I doubt that's remotely likely to happen, purely because Kirby's attitudes and ways of doing business are pretty firmly entrenched in GW corporate culture by now. GW would likely go under or be sold to another company before they'd hire a new CEO to come in and make drastic changes.
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 18:40
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 20:44 |
|
|
The bit Sydney quoted is fairly ambiguous (which seems like an undesirable quality in a job advertisement, although I admit I've never had to write one). In their minds it could just mean they want someone who loves the hobby for the hobby and isn't all about pumping up the shareholder dollars. Of course, the trouble there is that a certain sort of loving the hobby for the hobby can easily turn into being a GW grognard who thinks of the models as jewel-like objects of wonder or lovely rules as being a feature rather than a bug, and from there it begins to go terribly pear-shaped. Like with Kirby. It could also straight up be code for 'we want all the corporate attitudes to continue exactly as they have been.'
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 18:41
|
|
|
I don't need a lot to change to be happy. I'm sure the prices aren't going down, but if they just started making less hostile-to-our-customer-base decisions like never selling the rules of the game for less than $100 that would be a good start. People are spending a shitload of money on these miniatures, the least they could do is make the rules more accessible.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 18:48
|
|
|
Ignite Memories posted:I don't need a lot to change to be happy. I'm sure the prices aren't going down, but if they just started making less hostile-to-our-customer-base decisions like never selling the rules of the game for less than $100 that would be a good start. GW doesn't care about making things more accessible and hasn't for some time now. Their entire model of operation these days is "sell less poo poo for more money", which is not conducive to bringing in large numbers of new players.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 18:56
|
|
|
I just can't believe that this company fail to realise dropping their prices would lead to an enormous surge in sales. At this point recasts are of a good enough quality that there's no loving point buying from GW except for some misplaced lovely loyalty to the company. Love the models, love the lore, love the game, love the hobby, am unable to buy anything at rrp or even 20% off, which used to be rrp like 2 years ago. Ugh. Just annoys me to see poo poo like new Wracks priced at around £5 per inch high model, no matter how lovely they look. Make them £15 for 5, not 22. I'm sitting here with an old white dwarf where you could get 20 IG in a box for £17, now it's like £20 for ten with nothing changed about the models! /pricechat
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 21:00
|
|
|
Sydney Bottocks posted:GW doesn't care about making things more accessible and hasn't for some time now. Their entire model of operation these days is "sell less poo poo for more money", which is not conducive to bringing in large numbers of new players. Yes, this is what I'm saying. This needs to change.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 21:26
|
|
|
Lord Twisted posted:At this point recasts are of a good enough quality that there's no loving point buying from GW except for some misplaced lovely loyalty to the company. This is a really really stupid argument to make.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 21:26
|
|
|
Lord Twisted posted:/pricechat If everyone could buy Citadel Miniatures (tm), then they wouldn't be a Premium Product of mystery and wonder.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 21:26
|
|
|
Dump_Stat posted:For pete's sake, just sell the whole mess to Activision, already. A match made in hell. You're a monster for even saying that!
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 21:32
|
|
|
ghetto wormhole posted:A match made in hell. You're a monster for even saying that! If anything it would teach GW to do proper DLC for their stuff.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 21:49
|
|
|
edited: Screw it - it isn't worth getting sucked into this again.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 22:25
|
|
|
Do YOU want to run Games Workshop Group PLC? We sure hope someone loving does! http://careers.games-workshop.com/2014/09/18/chief-executive-games-workshop-group-plc-nottingham-uk/
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 22:29
|
|
|
Ghost Hand posted:edited: Screw it - it isn't worth getting sucked into this again. S.J. posted:Do YOU want to run Games Workshop Group PLC? We sure hope someone loving does! http://careers.games-workshop.com/2014/09/18/chief-executive-games-workshop-group-plc-nottingham-uk/ I'd break up this chat with pictures of the mob of old school Cadians I just finished painting but my camera just died after over a decade of service.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 22:31
|
|
|
Cooked Auto posted:If anything it would teach GW to do proper DLC for their stuff. They already learned the basics with data sheets you need to pay for, now they've released $16 missions packs/rules for different chapters in Space Hulk.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 22:35
|
|
|
Every rule you would ever need to run a knight errant or knight paladin fits easily onto one page. Their book is $50. I don't have that much of an issue with the prices of the models, but the prices of the rules are insane.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 22:47
|
|
|
There's much wrong with many of the companies I buy stuff from. Let's not get started on auto and oil companies!SRM posted:I'd break up this chat with pictures of the mob of old school Cadians I just finished painting but my camera just died after over a decade of service. I took a few pictures of the games we played today, not everything was painted or finished but we had fun:  1500 pts of Dark Angels and Imperial Knight (one of 3 I painted) line up in my new city terrain, which still needs to be painted  The Space Wolves/Eldar allies move up in the first turn  Imperial Knight v Wave Serpent and Wraith Guard fight...it didn't last long    My Tyranids mass for the next battle...I'll need to make room for Malanthropes in my next list  Space Marines/Grey Knights line up to face down the bugs!
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 23:03
|
|
|
krushgroove posted:I took a few pictures of the games we played today, not everything was painted or finished but we had fun: That city ruins laser-cut terrain looks great. Where is it from?
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 23:16
|
|
|
The buildings are from this guy on ebay UK: http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/wargamestournaments?_trksid=p2047675.l2559 they're pretty great! The come with loads of extra pieces and should look amazing when they're painted. If anyone orders from him, tell him Frank McKinney/bacon_buttie1283 referred you! I'm hoping to meet the guy in a couple of weekends and talk him into sponsoring the Oath Thread.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 23:20
|
|
|
Rapey Joe Stalin posted:This is a really really stupid argument to make. Doesn't make it any less true. When you're getting higher quality from a recaster than a flagship product something is wrong
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 23:27
|
|
|
Child labor is pretty awesome. You can literally pay them peanuts but as long as you don't beat them in the lower arms hands they can stay productive while chained to the bench for weeks at a time. IE GW promotes child labor abuse by overpricing their product.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 23:39
|
|
|
LingcodKilla posted:Child labor is pretty awesome. You can literally pay them peanuts but as long as you don't beat them in the lower arms hands they can stay productive while chained to the bench for weeks at a time. Rapey Joe Stalin posted:This is a really really stupid argument to make.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 00:02
|
|
|
Are people actually saying that recasts are poured by child labor?
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 00:04
|
|
|
I don't know, my point was that GW products aren't a magical crop that just grows in a field somewhere.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 00:27
|
|
|
JerryLee posted:Are people actually saying that recasts are poured by child labor? What else can those kids do if putting together iPhones just isn't in the cards?
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 00:31
|
|
|
Child laborers don't pour recasts, duh, that would be retarded. They hand sculpt them.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 00:35
|
|
|
My  Running as Iron Hands, for the IWND on all the vehicles and 6+ FNP for everyone. 1250 points, fighting some Death Guard. There's enough mid and high-strength weaponry floating around to where I can hopefully mitigate the T5. I've got a whole lot of str 5, 6, and 7 on the board, and enough str 4 to have a good volume. List as follows Librarian (ML2) 3x tac squads (veteran sergeant, plasma gun) -dedicated rhinos (2x storm bolters apiece) devastator squad (4x plasma cannons) -dedicated razorback (lascannon) 2x dreadnoughts (assault cannons for both) 1x predator (autocannon, heavy bolters) Comes out to 1250 exact. Can't wait until he brings a heldrake or 2 and roasts my marines left and right
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 00:40
|
|
|
krushgroove posted:The buildings are from this guy on ebay UK: http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/wargamestournaments?_trksid=p2047675.l2559 they're pretty great! The come with loads of extra pieces and should look amazing when they're painted. If anyone orders from him, tell him Frank McKinney/bacon_buttie1283 referred you! I'm hoping to meet the guy in a couple of weekends and talk him into sponsoring the Oath Thread. Those are actually pretty nice. They remind me a lot of the old buildings in Cityfight, where they gave you a template you could cut out using foamcore to build up some ruins. My old FLGS still has all the ones I made in highschool with my friends, but they're pretty worn down. With some textured spraypaint and a little detailing those MDF ruins could look really nice.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 00:51
|
|
|
SRM posted:I'd break up this chat with pictures of the mob of old school Cadians I just finished painting but my camera just died after over a decade of service. Aw man that sucks.  S.J. posted:They already learned the basics with data sheets you need to pay for, now they've released $16 missions packs/rules for different chapters in Space Hulk. Ah yeah, good point.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 00:57
|
|
|
I was wondering what people here have done for campaigns in the past. A few of my buddies and myself have tried getting something off the ground without much success. I listened to the IC podcast on the subject and while that had a lot of great ideas it left me wondering more about the actual mechanics that people have/are using. By that I mean the actual nuts and bolts, if it is a narrative campaign, is it planned out in advance, or is it all kind of improvised as it goes. Is their a campaign map? If so, what mechanics does it use? What are the actual tangibles that happen when a person losses or wins, etc. If anyone can point to some good examples (Stuff like this) or talk about stuff that has worked for them I would be very thankful!
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 01:27
|
|
|
Dammnit why does all the good terrain, model types, etc.. come from England. Grrrrrr. What kind of wood is that anyway.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 02:02
|
|
|
JerryLee posted:Are people actually saying that recasts are poured by child labor? People are actually saying that recasts are cheaper in China not because Chinese people are generous and willing to create miniatures because it's their passion in life, but because Chinese labor protection may as well not exist. It might be child labor or it might not be but either way the working conditions there are cheap for a reason and that reason is usually labor exploitation. When you buy recasts from dirt cheap overseas companies you aren't making a bold and heroic stand against out of touch corporate fatcats who charge too much for a product, you're in a very real sense subsidizing incredible amounts of suffering because you think that $35 is too much to pay for your toys.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 02:16
|
|
|
Sharzak posted:People are actually saying that recasts are cheaper in China not because Chinese people are generous and willing to create miniatures because it's their passion in life, but because Chinese labor protection may as well not exist. It might be child labor or it might not be but either way the working conditions there are cheap for a reason and that reason is usually labor exploitation. When you buy recasts from dirt cheap overseas companies you aren't making a bold and heroic stand against out of touch corporate fatcats who charge too much for a product, you're in a very real sense subsidizing incredible amounts of suffering because you think that $35 is too much to pay for your toys. Do you really think this is being done by the same industries that produce bootleg ipads and such? The miniatures industry is a much more niche product and doesn't need nearly the same sort of infrastructure behind it, at least with the recasters' business model. Unlike stuff like electronics or knockoff handbags or whatever, I can't imagine them using assembly lines of exploited workers when it could just as easily be two or three guys working in a room somewhere. If you actually have evidence to the contrary I'd love to see it. Note, I'm not saying buying recasts is ethical, just that eight-year-olds chained to a workbench probably isn't the reason why it's unethical in the case of this particular product. I would buy an argument that the reason why recasters in China can charge less is because the cost of living is lower there for them, but that doesn't mean they're particularly abused by this. I would bet that fewer people die for recast miniatures than did for the laptop I'm typing on. poo poo, there are a lot of miniatures that already do get made in China for export, above the table. The Bones line before they brought it over as part of their kickstarter, for example. I'd be much more worried about supporting exploitive labor with stuff like that where it more or less requires an industry owner to exist. Also, you may not have intended it but it reads as though you're tying the two sides of the argument together in some sort of false dilemma, as though not wanting to see workers abused means that $35 is a fair price for a plastic spaceman.  vvv Fair enough, I'm not the one who set it off this time and I was just trying to call out dumb things that other people have said, but I'll shut up/edit this post out if necessary. JerryLee fucked around with this message at 02:52 on Sep 22, 2014 |
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 02:39
|
|
|
I thought Recast Chat was prohibited?
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 02:43
|
|
|
Recast chat happens every month. Ethics about recasts is usually fine as long as you don't get autistic about it (almost always happens). Linking some recasting site or beating your chest about why everyone should be doing it? Another thing entirely.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 03:16
|
|
|
Yeah the general rule of thumb is "talking about recasts is okay to an extent--don't link sites, don't talk about how you do it or how you get them, don't show them off."
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 03:28
|
|
|
Improbable Lobster posted:I thought Recast Chat was prohibited? You have my full permission to talk about anything that pleases you now.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 03:30
|
|
|
Guys. I was going over the top on purpose for an over the top game. But it's kind of a given that anything made in China is awful for either the environment, the workers or both.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 03:56
|
|
|
ZachAttack posted:I was wondering what people here have done for campaigns in the past. A few of my buddies and myself have tried getting something off the ground without much success. I listened to the IC podcast on the subject and while that had a lot of great ideas it left me wondering more about the actual mechanics that people have/are using. By that I mean the actual nuts and bolts, if it is a narrative campaign, is it planned out in advance, or is it all kind of improvised as it goes. Is their a campaign map? If so, what mechanics does it use? What are the actual tangibles that happen when a person losses or wins, etc. I hope this helps... http://epicempires.com/campaign/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2 Thats a campaign system based on the system described in Imperial Armour 12 Also if you are looking for something smaller (played between two people or so)... check these out. (only if you have an iPad) https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/warhammer-battlefields-border/id679123525?mt=11 I am currently working on converting this system to a 40k one. You should be able to do so as well. Here is an older campaign I ran that was quite successful. This was in 5th edition though - so the missions would need some revising... It assumes fixed lists throughout the campaign. http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1310 Sharzak posted:People are actually saying that recasts are cheaper in China not because Chinese people are generous and willing to create miniatures because it's their passion in life, but because Chinese labor protection may as well not exist. It might be child labor or it might not be but either way the working conditions there are cheap for a reason and that reason is usually labor exploitation. When you buy recasts from dirt cheap overseas companies you aren't making a bold and heroic stand against out of touch corporate fatcats who charge too much for a product, you're in a very real sense subsidizing incredible amounts of suffering because you think that $35 is too much to pay for your toys. Cheaper labor and no R&D/Artists costs since they are just copies. Ghost Hand fucked around with this message at 04:23 on Sep 22, 2014 |
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 04:12
|
|
|
Lord Twisted posted:I just can't believe that this company fail to realise dropping their prices would lead to an enormous surge in sales. I'm quite sure they realize this, but it likely doesn't happen for a couple of reasons. One is the business mindset of "any cut in prices means people will think our product is inferior", which is often coupled with "if you lower prices once, people will just wait until you lower them again". Both are mindsets that a lot of businesses operate under when trying to push a "premium" product, even when it has been shown in comparable industries that lowering prices and having sales are often highly beneficial, spur impulse buys, create return customers, etc. The other problem is one I kind of addressed earlier, but I really don't think GW is set up for (or even really wants to have) huge numbers of sales at this point. The thinking seems to be that if they can make the same amount of money (or more) by charging more for less product, then that's the way to go. Less stuff to manufacture, less product to QC, less resources used, less room needed to warehouse it, and so on (and less wages needing to be paid for people to do all that stuff). Having huge numbers of sales/orders would probably throw that out of whack (even though "having to deal with high customer demand" is a problem most businesses would love to have, but I don't think it really fits with whatever it is GW's trying to do at this time).
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 06:55
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 20:44 |
|
|
Sydney Bottocks posted:
This makes a sick sort of sense. Sorry to have started recastchat again but I'm sticking with my guns. If I can buy almost 4 Knights from China with free shipping for the price of 1 GW Knight, as the consumer in the holy free market I know what I'm going to do. And don't try to spout ethics when you all have smartphones, that's hilariously hypocritical (iPhone manufacture literally gives East Asian children horrible cancers).
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2014 07:12
|
|