Xenos Rampant Battle Report Comic Number One of... Well This is Me So Uhh.. One to Five Probably?

 Yes indeed I will make no bones pretending this will become a regular thing once more or whatever though I do quite enjoy this game.  Sadly my opponent seemed mild on it overall but much of that could be because he is quite taken with Warhammer Underworlds as it is even though most of the models could easily be used in Xenos or Dragon Rampant.  (Fantasy type Vampires and Ghosts versus AT 43 or 40K forces?  Warpath Universe?  So many fun options!)

  But we are at least getting one battle report and ideally one more from whenever the heck we can make schedules mesh up for the rematch with said switching of sides.  I am getting back into the groove of using Comic Life and this version being 3 with a much beefier computer and bigger screen makes it a bit easier and faster.  I might add in more fun effects and the like next time!

  Anyhow on with the show, click for larger, yadda yadda.

I Have Returned! With the Good News About Xenos Rampant!

 Yes.  I finally got and went through the hoops to both get the newest version of Comic Life for my current inexpensive but mad powerful 12th Gen Intel  i3 PC rocking a Geforce 3060, 32 gigs of 3200 DDR Ram, and a pair of SSD drives, NVME and SATA which gives me massive power over the old PPC G5 iMac.

I haven't been heavily gaming until the last year or so and even then I could argue its been light and semi casual, mostly Warhammer Underworlds and Warhammer 40K RPG Deathwatch/Black Crusade.

But I discovered a new game that might let me use all of my plastic dollies with guns and gun like objects.

Let's take a look!

(Click for bigger if you need to.)

 

 

Warmachine Hordes Journeyman League: The Path to Painting Inspiration?

Or should I say Paintspiration?

No?

Kiss my ass then jerk.

Anyhow yes.  The local Warmahordes (combination of the two Privateer Press sister games Warmachine and Hordes which are fully compatible with each other outside of how their wizards work basically) had a Journeyman League go on.

Basically you paid the store five bucks, and then got a record sheet to keep track of your wins, losses, and other achievements.  And then got some sticky patches to make your Trapper Keeper look cool.

 Each week you get points based on playing up to five games each week, and hobby points based on what you painted.  After so many points you got a patch add on.  If there was some sort of league prize for overall winning I have no idea.  Didn't ask.

And to make it more interesting we had weekly special achievements you could get.  The bottom shows the scenarios of the week, and the composition rules.  Our Press Ganger (basically the local "Street Team" promoter of Privateer Press stuff) allowed us to use any basic battlegroup we wanted, not just whatever was in our chosen faction's starter box.  So I went with Grim Angus, a Troll Bomber I had magnetized so I could swap hands and head to also use it as a Mauler, and an Impaler.  Making me 3 points under for the first week.

Until the last week your Battlegroup had to stay the same, though in the fourth week you could begin to switch said Commander Wizard.  (Basically your Quarterback in US Football.  If Phil Simms and Joe Montana could fire out devastating magical spells anyhow...)

This is cool because it gets newer players to slowly get used to their pieces and gives veterans incentives to try out new builds or maybe a new faction.

Given my free time and work schedule I could usually only get a game in each week especially once we reached the 25 and 35 point levels.  You got 3 points for winning, 2 for losing, and then paint points.  I won the paint part like a boss.

AND AS WE ALL KNOW I BLOODY HATE PAINTING.  I am super slow at it.  Like glacially so.  And never totally happy even when things turn out nice.  But I ended up with multiple Journeyman Chevrons, and the Paint Thingie which now are on my 15 dollars from Aldi Ipad case:

(I have three blood donor stickers in total on this case.  On the top flap that magnetically closes it and thus hides the speaker and camera hole I have an Intellivision sticker and a miniatures game sticker.  I have room for a couple more blood donor ones on this side and the back.  The magnetic holder and the way the case bends obviously mean my Journeyman patches aren't gonna fit properly but who cares?  I also have Derpy Hooves (PS BRONIES SUCK GO AWAY YOU FEDORA WEARING PERVERTS), Olaf from Frozen, and a graphical abortion from SA Retrogoon Acid Police.)

Yes I effectively paid five whole dollars to have embroidered stickers on my Ipad Case.  But the painting part got me working.

It inspired me to paint.

Let's inspire you shall we?

 On the right we have a bare metal Trollkin Scattergunner from the metal box I got at half off at Connecticon 2013.  On the left, a figure from the same box at what I consider "Base Painted".  Primer.  Core color spraypainted.  Flocked base with painted lip.

Even this small amount looks so much better than bare metal right?  It shows you CARE.

 This is the same model with spray primer.  Again, it alone looks better than bare metal but the leftie is still further along.  (In the back you can see my plastic Dire Troll kid in the process of having magnets and liquid green stuff putty applied.)

And now the base color.  This isn't hard to do at all or will take much time.  And it makes your stuff look better even if you don't have proper time to paint, or much time period.  Just spray around the top and sides of the model in a paint box or a well ventilated basement (I do most of my spraying by the bulkhead door in my basement on the steps.), let it dry, put it face down and spray it again to get those under parts, dry again, spray the front.  EASY PEASY!  Some cardboard to stand them on and you can rotate the board to cover all angles.

But let us go DEEPER, eh?  Howabout we add in some flesh to one of our Troll Impalers?

 While leftie is a starter box plastic and rightie is a metal they are roughly the same design so it will work.  I tried to be as careful as I could to avoid overspill and just adding in the big parts of skin makes him look so much better right?  

Wouldn't take a lot of time to get an entire small sized miniatures army up to this standard.  Just paint a little bit each day you know?

 Now we add some metallic colors.  Tin on top of the brown makes for a great low tech metal armor as the Trollbloods might have, and some silvery metallic for the spears and the keg.

 And now we give him a hair color, and use two different brown paints to be rope and wood.  I generally thinned my dropper bottle paints from Vallejo and Army Painter and my mostly mid 90s Citadel Colour ones were right from the bottle.  (And the few mid 00s Foundation but that subline always dries out and needs water so ends up being thinned in the bottle anyhow.)

Now even stopping here gives you a decent looking figure at least at a distance.  Give extra coats where needed, and clean up missed spots and where you went "out of the lines" when coloring in 3d.

But washes and shades?  As the local Press Ganger calls them:

Liquid Skill

Armor wash on the spear tips makes them feel alive and used!  A blue wash on the skin and a little wash in the eye socket brings out the detail and natural shading.  A brown wash over the wood and rope makes it used and lived in.  And the current Nuln Oil Citadel Shade everywhere else for a very light matte wash that is practically MAGIC.  

Sure it won't win any awards but who cares?  Cool Mini Or Not has people approving of Eldar Guardians having their breastplate removed as an Imperial Guardsman is undoing his pants as his troopers watch what obviously terrible thing he is about to do to her.

We don't give a happy crappy what they think!

Its a simple and effective setup and I used the base color as a foundation.  Rock on!

While it took a TON of my free time over those five weeks I did a bit every day that I could, sometimes just doing a little bit to a figure each day...

I worked hard, even trying out some HAS CHEMICALS THAT CALIFORNIA SAYS CAN CAUSE CANCER, BIRTH DEFECTS, OR OTHER REPRODUCTIVE HARM (and it says you want to keep away from an open flame) Tamiya Weathering Powder to get a great worn and rusty look to my CANCER BEAR.  (Ok if I had skill he would have been a Panda, maybe even the super cute Red Panda.  But I do not.  As it is, my super glue drippage on many of these models took out a bit of detail on the models.  How people can glue after they paint blows my mind.  Even if it does make getting in all those tricky spots easier.  On the upside, you can't see everything so don't worry about those spots as much.  Its why a good base color makes a big difference.  Or if you just hand paint everything go with black primer for natural shadows.  Unless you love to use yellow paint schemes anyhow..)

And more Minion book bros join the fray!  Yeah you can see a little flesh color on the inside of Gudrun the Wanderer's cloak but you have to stare at it head on to see it.  And fixing it is nearly impossible unless I use a magnifying glass, those hands free grips, and a toothpick.  It will do.  Like I said, don't worry about what you just can't see!

And here we have it!  A full 25 point Trollkin army list all painted!  I need to touch up the bases a bit but they are done and will look so very nice on the table.  They won't be the match of the work of painting pros or anything but they are simple, clean, effective, and show I care.  

I just paint slow as hell.  Some people paint a model an hour.  I am closer to 4 hours a standard 28mm scale model.  Yeah.

But if you use things like a Journeyman League or self set goals you will get your models painted and you WILL make your games that much richer and more pleasing!

Even if you frequently get your butt whooped as I do.  (Though the regulars do say I have made a ton of progress as a player.  I really need time to read the full Hordes rulebook.  I've read the Warmachine book twice but that is every year or so and you forget stuff you don't use, you know?)

And of course PLAY MORE!

Takin the bros out to party inspires you to paint them!  It makes you want to buy more of them!  To try new stuff!  

TO

GET

IT

ON!

 Remember to BE AGGRESSIVE 

B

E

AGGRESSIVE.

(Just not too aggressive because then your Warlock gets eateded by nasty things.)

But sometimes other sides will do the same "Hail Mary" moves you do and you can pull out a win.

(Mostly just Gudrun the Wanderer keeps having to take more swigs from his booze.)

Hope this inspires you to paint more, play more, and check out any local leagues and mini tournaments for the games you enjoy.

Provided they aren't full of hyper competitive tryhards of course!

Kickshart My Heart: Or: Why Kickstarter Sucks Yet Should Not.

Ahh Kickstarter.  A brilliant idea ruined by greed and basic human selfishness like every other good idea in the history of ever.

For those not in the know, Kickstarter is presumably a way for small and start up companies to get ideas the large idiotic corporations (who ruin Capitalism every day speaking of good ideas gone horribly wrong..) simply will not do because of lack of vision and the modern aversion to risk and selling crap to the lowest common denominator until it doesn't sell any more and they run something else into the ground.

(See Call of Duty and the Guitar Hero games for electronic examples of this.)

Sadly instead Kickstarter is mostly a preorder program.  A preorder program of failed promises.  Almost nothing but failed promises.

Companies whose products are all but guaranteed success use it now constantly even when their previous KS item in the same franchise succeeded in the first week.

Much like it's spiritual cousins Patreon (a way to give money to people who make stuff you enjoy so they can keep making Youtube videos instead of working a real job), Indiegogo (its like Kickstarter except where Kickstarter has to reach a funding level by a certain date to succeed and only then is your money taken out for the project Indiegogo gets it anyhow), and Steam Early Access (basically you pay money for unfinished computer games and hope the developer actually finishes and makes the game good eventually) Kickstarter is like low price investing.

Except for things you might like.

If they come out on time.

And keep most of their promises.

However you are giving them money months if not YEARS in advance and very rarely get what you want or even know if it is good ahead of time.

Just like every other preorder program in the history of ever.

Instead of waiting for a good sale or good reviews or seeing if a game community forms up to make it even worthwhile you have to give your money now and hope.

All the while the producers get to pretend you are involved and helping them make something great.

It's really just low risk production for the producers which I honestly cannot blame them for even if as a consumer it SUCKS ASS.

I am basically done with Kickstarting anything.  Nearly every project I have interest in succeeded by leaps and bounds regardless of my involvement and having to give money to a thing within a month window is generally bad for my finances.

But let us take a look at what I did Kickstart so we can see exactly why I am sick of it and what I have gotten out of it eh?

(The answer is mostly disappointment.)

See this is pretty much everything I have Kickstarted.  Of these items and note the dates I have only gotten FIVE of them at all.  Four of them are not out yet by their own estimated date.  Thirteen projects.  Nine supposed to be out by now.  Almost half of them aren't out yet that should have been.  And as far as I can remember not a single one remotely was out on time.

The usual excuses?  DURR WE WERE OVERWHELMED BY OUR OWN SUCCESS.

UHH STUFF CAME UP WE WEREN'T AWARE OF.

CHINA HOLIDAYS.

So if you were buying any of these sort of projects as a gift for another or in preparation for a convention or other sort of holiday or event?  You done screwed up!

Now that we have seen the master list and how much money I wasted sight unseen, let us talk about each one so I can go back and see exactly how much I got screwed?

Cosmic Star Heroine: It isn't out yet.  I mostly just see the odd update once in a blue moon about it being worked on and here is a screenshot of a thing.

Shantae:  Again not out.  Higher tier backers get to vote on enemy sprites for the game and stuff.  I've seen pictures and the like.  Yay?

Warmachine Tactics:  So far it is mostly coming out when prescribed or close enough.  Except well.. two problems.

1: The solo campaign isn't due till LATE NOVEMBER.  They had a series of limited edition miniatures you could buy as well with a special coin.  For 20 bucks.  In general the now normal wide release (but coinless) versions that came out four odd months later have better sculpts. For 15.  Yes.  I grabbed the Mercenary figure because I disliked the Khador sculpt.  And guess what he looks like?

 

That's right kids!  HE DOESN'T WORK FOR ALL THE FACTIONS!  And as far as I could tell his stat card wasn't spoiled or anything till well after the purchase window closed.  He works for three out of six depending on your viewpoint of Mercenaries as a separate faction.

2: The game is.. so far not so good.  In fact a lot of people are unhappy about it.
 You see, mostly the game has been selling to Warmachine/Hordes fans as a way to play the game online or against the computer with an RPG Tactics styled solo campaign.  Well the game takes serious liberties but keeps just enough to annoy while playing slow as hell in multiplayer.

One nice thing they eventually did was open Early Access play to all backers while earlier on suckers who backed at a higher level got to play it early in a MUCH less polished state.  Or suckier suckers who paid the equivalent (65 dollars US) to get in early after the fact.

And I just did normal game backing due to funds and not wanting to pay more for a WORSE GAME.  So I got to see what they did recently.  The game changes a lot for the hell of it and most of the changes make for a slower game and a more boring one.  Squad units are now individuals who always have Hit Points even if they did not otherwise in tabletop.  A number of attributes are no longer listed in numbers even though the game uses die rolls.

Oh, and lots of mechanics aren't working like tabletop though they are supposed to.  Some of this will be patched in later but not all.  And much like Mechwarrior Online I am guessing online play metagame will quickly show this to be a bad idea.  Either go for 1 to 1 translations as much as possible, or don't even try.  Going half ass is just a big mistake.

It looks pretty though it runs very slowly in both game design for multiplayer and in engine FPS speed.

I am not ready to write the game off yet but their "everyone is an individual" design conceit actually makes the game slower and clunkier than just having squad movement options.  A fair amount of people I have talked to are less happy with it than I am.

Robotech RPG Tactics:  Well this one is super late.  Like ultra late.  And it is even worse than it seems.  You see they had a "poll" to see if they could be allowed by backers to sell some of the first copies of the game at Gen Con this month.  Well magically a near 80% of voters said it was ok for people going to a midwest gaming convention to purchase the game before people who paid money for it over a year past.  Thankfully the game got "Held up at the customs port" and nobody got it.

Even worse?  I am one of the people who just bought in for a couple of the LE figures.  We aren't even in the first wave of products.  Probably our stuff is due NEXT YEAR.

Keep it classy Palladium!

Torment:  Not out yet.  I've seen a couple pictures I think.  It might already be declared as late.

Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls:  Well it isn't out yet and they do not know when it will be out.  They are working on it.  On the upside they have given preview PDFs and various freebie PDFs from RPGNow/DriveThruRPG which is nice of them.  Disappointing in being so goddamned late but at least they are giving extra goodies.

Sword of Fargoal 2:  Another late as Hell with no release in sight project.  They have given us the original remake that I paid money for on iOS for free (which is quite good), and a couple early alphas.  Disappointing.

Transforming Collections:  It was a couple months late.  But we got a lot of full or nearly full PDFs of the book in development.  He later on did a second book but I decided to not bother given the short(ish) delay on this one.  Again if the first book did well why would you need proof a second one would do ok?  Its sending risk over to the consumer.  Because in our modern world of Ron Paul's Blessed Randian Free Market the consumer is always the bottom.  Because we take it where it is uncomfortable.  And not in the backseat of a Volkswagon.

Reaper Bones:  I cannot recall how late this one was.  It might have been close enough to ship date for me to be ok with it.  But the end product was.. I was unhappy.

See these miniatures don't want you to use spraypaint or spray primer.  You are supposed to paint right on top of the unprimed plastic otherwise you end up with eternally tacky feeling paint.

I am still not sure how this model ended up allowing me to prime her.  (She has a bit more paint on it than this now.)

You DID get a lot for your money if you don't mind painting right over unpainted white plastic.

Most pieces are single part but a few of the larger ones are not and need a little glue and gap filling.

I traded and sold off a few and a few more I am keeping but overall I am gonna trade/sell these off once an IRC friend gets off his Philly ass.

Oh, and they did another Bones Kickstarter in spite of this one doing super amazingly well.  I passed given the sheer disappointment I felt with the model's inability to accept any form of spray paint ever.

Sedition Wars:  Another one I recall being late.  But not too too late.  The included rulesbook was generally considered to be massively flawed but I got a revised book for a couple bucks and they have had beta PDFs with new missions and a solo mode option.  The game did NOT do well to the point the 100 dollar core game was on flash clearance sales for 35.

The models are very nice but use that kind of plastic that is kind of rubbery when warm and needs super glue.  Which is good because getting the infantry figurines for the humans together would be hell other wise.  And I still have not assembled everything.

I did mostly paint up the cybernetic zombie figures for a Gamma World game that never even got to the point of using them.  I still need to finish these guys up but I don't need them immediately so you know, why worry about it?

Ogre Designer's Edition:  Its great.  But it was an entire YEAR late.  I have covered it previously so no need to post pictures and the like.  Plus whenever I get around to posting about my Ogre collection there will be more pictures.  Until then just search the blog if you want to see how absurdly BIG it is.

http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/search?q=ogre  here.  I did the work for you.

Shadowrun Returns:  This one was about six months or so late.  And is tied with Ogre in being one of the only KS projects I am overall pleased with in spite of a massive delay.  However if I hadn't KSed it and waited a couple of weeks I would have had a generally slightly better game.  The expansion I got free (Dragonfall) was EXCELLENT.  So excellent in the next month or so it is being released as a stand alone release with expanded content.  If you are silly enough to want to replay the whole game.

Or like so many things based around preordering or the like:  I COULD HAVE WAITED SIX-TWELVE MONTHS AND GOT A BETTER AND CHEAPER EXPERIENCE.  You see this is another reason why Kickstarting or preordering things is bad.  Unless you are one of those who simply has to be first and at the forefront why not wait and get it better and cheaper?  See if it is any good.  See if a community exists for it if needed.  Wait till the flaws get fixed with bug patches or an FAQ.  A sale.  You know, what a non consumer whore does.  Do you really need to talk about it online current events style?  If so.. ask yourself WHY.

But the game is so fun I cannot say I wouldn't mind going through it again though.  Eiger is totally cool.

Shadowrun Dragonfall kicks butt.

Wasteland 2:  It is so late it isn't out until next month!  To be fair I could play Early Access for months but why play a limited and less patched version of the game?  I should not do this.  So why not wait?  They did give some free digital downloads of older titles though which ones Wasteland 2 gave me and which ones Torment did (or if they both did) I no longer recall.  Still.. a YEAR late?  REALLY?

http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2013/11/retro-computing-why-bother-special.html

But at least they try.

And that is the biggest problem.  Kickstarter wants to be a way to patronize projects that otherwise wouldn't be made.

Instead it is a preorder program so companies can constantly be months if not years late giving you anything.

And that is why I simply avoid almost any and all Kickstarters.

Well, for the hobby games segment there is another reason too.  Perhaps that will be another post eh?

Games Workshop: Fanboys Just Aren't Helping Any More.

For those who haven't heard, Games Workshop has released their latest quarterly investor update.

The results are.. not good.  In fact, they are about as far from good as you can get.

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2014/07/bombshell-gw-2014-annual-report.html

Basically income is down, and profit is WAAAAAY DOWN.  GW's continuing resolve to ignore anyone but whatever dinks in the company think is best is basically killing them more and more every financial quarter.

We are discussing this at Something Awful and even have a "Guess when GW goes out of business/gets bought out" thread.

A fellow named Bulbasaur found some choice quotes from GW fanboys explaining exactly what is killing GW games, and is honestly a bit of a hit on minis games as a whole:

More reports from the front lines:
A second hand army will never garner the same affection, pride or sense of accomplishment that building and painting a starter army yourself. As a starter army, this robs the gamer of 75% of the enjoyment of the hobby. Should never be recommended to new players. People who play miniature games just to play a game should stick to video games or heroscape.

This statement here?  This is what makes playing minis games such a goddamned colossal pain in the willy.

Its not about nifty toys to play a game, nope!  ITS AN ART PROJECT YOU SOMETIMES PLAY A GAME WITH!

NO.  NO NO NO NO.  If I want to just build stuff I would buy Japanese model kits.  The price and technology in them are light years beyond what GW has ever pulled out of their backsides.

This kit here?  US Store mark up to 30 bucks, or what some of those 1 inch Marine Commanders cost.  (JPN MSRP is closer to 20 US, or the other ripoff Marine HQs.)

Its molded in like 5 or 6 colors, snap fit, clear and complete instructions even if you don't speak any Japanese, and pose able as you like.  You can even buy little 5 dollar bases or 7 dollar upgrade kits to like give em new guns and gear or pose them in ways that wouldn't normally balance on their own.

Or for the same price without an import store markup (I should really get my Gundam kits from Amazon.  Closer to JPN MSRP.  A normal sized HG kit is 1575 yen.  Or about 22 bucks from Bandai's Amazon store.  Yeah.) this 1 inch tall glue only figure molded in grey.  Tough choice Art Project Shmucks!

http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2010/09/review-corner-high-grade-universal.html  Games Workshop doesn't even have PREMIUM QUALITY to fall back on!  Yet people kiss their butts and try to convince themselves getting ripped off because of skulls and silly proportioned figures and an absurd backstory currently being milked in ways that would make Peter Jackson ashamed.  (How many books is the Horus Heresy series now?  Over 30?)

And they kind of have to insist ITS REALLY AN ART PROJECT NOT A GAME because the rules are bad and generally getting worse over time as opposed to better.

AT-43 beat the SNOT out of 40K's ruleset and you could be playing within minutes of opening a box.  (Plus a nice universal mechanics chart that had auto succeed and fail levels to simulate things like a machinegun firing at point blank range or getting hit as a soldier by an anti tank weapon. And amazing prepaints.)

If you can handle my monotone nasal ass voice and 480p camera watch that.  SEE QUALITY AND VALUE.

OH GOD HOW WILL I HAVE OWNERSHIP IF I ONLY FLOCK THE BASES?  I MIGHT ACTUALLY PLAY PLEASING TO THE EYES MINIATURES GAMES WITH THEM AND REALIZE HOW BAD GW RULES ARE!!

Warmahordes has a continually evolving ruleset and metagame based around the tourney scene which makes it an appealing game.  I don't know what the UK is like but in the US the organized play/tourney scene basically rules all.  (Doesn't hurt that US gamers are fantastic at being antisocial and sort of need a SHOW UP AT X TIME AND PLAY SOMEONE YOU BUTTHEAD deal.  I hate GAMER ASPERGERS.)  GW games are designed around gentlemen playing friendly games then going round to the Pub.  Except very few people actually play that way and even good friends can be irredeemable power gamers who want to win at all cost.

(Because have a good time with folks is SILLY TALK.  WE MUST WIN AT ALL COSTS. *barf*)

Hell, buy a new Warcaster or swap one or two units out of your force and the entire army plays completely different thanks to synergies, strategies, and unit abilities!  (Which are all on the card of the unit you just bought as opposed to needing a 50 dollar hardback.  If you want you can get your army books for 40-30 hard or soft if its your bag but... you don't really NEED to!)

HEY LOOK KIDS!  FULL COLOR SOFT BACK RULEBOOK AND FACTION/ARMY BOOK.  30 DOLLARS EACH!  

X Wing ships cost less than those Marine HQs and its a great game system that you need few models for.  And its prepainted with all the rules and goodies you need in each pack.  For a massive IP the game company doesn't own and thus can't really exploit!

Prepainted?  Preassembled?  Tokens and other play aids?  Different ways to use the same miniature making it useful on its own, in multiples, or bits to help other models?  THIS IS NOT THE GAMES WORKSHOP WAY!

Yet GW has pushed on with its stupid prices (defended by comparing to other rich idiot hobbies.  Hell, almost anything can be considered cheaper to gambling.  Doesn't mean it is accurate or appropriate!  THIS IS TOY SOLDIERS.  A BOARDGAME WITH 3D BOARDS.), and insistence it is an art project instead of a game.

And its doing horrible Tumblr fangirls writing about Sherlock and Supernatural things the ass.  HARD.

Hero Quest and Space Crusade are really what got GW games going in the late 80s.  They don't have any jump in point any more.

This is my jam.  This is what made GW in the first place.

Provide the board game miniatures separate for people who want extras to expand their boardgames?  To use for their armies so they don't need to break up/buy the games?  NO NO NO.  GW DOES NOT AGREE WITH THIS GIVE US MORE MONEY.

NO STAND ALONE GAMES YOU CAN USE TO EXPAND YOUR TABLETOP WARGAMES OR TO USE ON IT'S OWN AND MAYBE GET INTO THE WIDER GAMES VIA EXPANDING THE GAME SHALL NOT HAPPEN.  GIVE US 80 DOLLARS FOR THE HARDBACK RULESBOOK, 50 FOR YOUR ARMY BOOK, ANOTHER 40 FOR THE SUPPLEMENT BOOK AND THEN BUY OUR OVERPRICED MODELS.

NO STARTER GAMES IN DEPARTMENT STORES DAMN YOU!  MARKETING IS FOR LOSERS!  COME TO OUR WEBSTORE OR OUR 1 MAN HOLE IN THE WALL SHOPS IF YOU LIVE IN SELECT AREAS.  YOU CAN ONLY FORGE THE NARRATIVE WE TELL YOU TO!  AND UNPAINTED MODELS AND HOUSE RULES ARE NOT NARRATIVE FORGING.  BUYING RIDICULOUS MODELS AND TOOLS YOU COULD GET FOR A TENTH THE PRICE AT HOME DEPOT IS!

 They treat retailers and the end customer like garbage.  They don't playtest or care about anything but seeing how much they can charge for silly overpriced figures you might one day get to play a poorly balanced, archaic, unfun game with.

This is why they are so screwed.