Goatboy’s 40K – Winning the Lottery & Fixing GW
Goatboy here with the BIG Question – If you won the lottery, how would you fix GW?
Goatboy here again and if you lived in the states you all probably heard about the Powerball Lottery. I saw a lot of chatter on the Facebooks on what people would do if they won said billions/millions. The dream of buying GW, setting it straight, and becoming the savior of the D6 was popping up a lot. Of course – while I have no real feelings that I could actually fix anything – it is always a fun thought to think of what I might do.
First Rule – Don’t Do It
First – there is no way you are just going to buy GW. You are better off figuring out a way to start a small game and initially invest in decent sculpts in hopes to garner a good amount on kick starter. Sure you might have the “cash” to do it – but if people don’t buy it you have lost everything. And losing a ton of money on a tabletop game just doesn’t seem nearly as fun as losing it all in Las Vegas. We’ll talk about the table top company idea later – first we want to “fix” GW.
Transparency
The big thing I would try and fix with GW – is probably looking at a way to make the game development more transparent. Like Magic the Gathering does with their previews and rules discussions I would probably just create a weekly “web based” magazine that would just showcase models, rules, and anything GW related. I think creating buzz for the game is always a better idea then hoping people go to the store to buy a cheap magazine. Heck they could get some other writers involved, create a good online atmosphere, and actually care how their game works. It might kill some other online sites but if you look at Magic – the online Magazine has probably done more for them and kept them relevant in an age of MOBAs and competitive video games.
Speaking of the game – I think more live casts done thru GW might be a better way to “show” how they want the rules to work. Think about how much they could solve some rules issues if they just did some walk-thoughs. I think their painting videos are pretty top notch with simple methods and ideas so why not do that for the game themselves. I know they think of themselves as a model company but if a new codex comes out and a unit that once sucked got better and all of a sudden sells out, that should tell you the competitive scene pushes a ton of your product. Cleaning up how people play will just be a benefit for the company. Plus it keeps some of the keyboard warriors at bay as they argue intent vs RAW.
Cross-System Models
I would also look at ways to unify the product line and allow models to filter into both systems. A lot of the AoS stuff looks really nice – but the game is somewhat lackluster. If those models had rules for 40k you would see a lot more of them get used not just for conversion fodder but for actual game play. Could you imagine if GW just made an upgrade sprue that had Chaos Backpacks and bolt pistols for the Khorne guys? Who needs new Khorne Berzerkers when we have such a better model option? All the HQ characters just need a few small things and we all of a sudden have a batch of Chaos Lords and Sorcerers. I know not every model has a way to get added to 40k – but they should have at least thought it out when making an army that flows into both universes (Chaos etc).
Prices…
From there I would look at other ways to make the game cheaper to get into. They started doing this with the new starter box armies. Those are great and I hope they look to make more for other Codexes/Battletomes. Beyond just making the initial game cheaper I do think there is some gas left into trying to make a new “smaller” game that would utilize some of the models. Think about a much more intense Kill Team that utilized some of the Warbands they keep showing in the big monthly White Dwarf for Blanche. How cool would it be to have a game that features an Inquisitor Warband? Instead of having 50+ models that your opponent quickly shoots through they instead have a much tighter and less kill happy game where you play a war band. They could do this for AoS as well and just create a simple rule set that lets you have a ton of creativity.
Free Rules
I still like the idea of a free rules system. You would have the “rules” in each boxed set, a simple system to make things work, and hopefully a balancing mechanic for building armies. Of course the rules should be more then 4 pages but again – I don’t make rules I just play with them and try to “break” them. It feels like there was a lot of interesting potential in this method of game release/creation and with a little work I think it could do really well. I just – feel like it needs to be pushed harder with a true balancing mechanic.
Organized Play
After all of that I might look at actually building a competitive template to use for events. This way you can try and make something that lets as many armies work well enough together. This might mean limits on detachments/CADs/etc or just figuring out a way that everyone has something decent. I don’t think will see a new edition before long as this one feels more and more like the new CEO has made better decisions to help the game instead of just gouge our wallets. I think FW seems to have a better grasp on creating an interesting army environment and hope their continued push into the mainstream of the 40k world might give use the game we think we want.
If you had a chance to buy GW – what would you do?
Would you bring it back to being a game company first and model company second?
Would you gut it and just go straight digital?
Would you make all your rules free and just hope you can figure out a balanced rule system?
