Kirjava13

Herein lies, I think, one of Black Library's greatest weaknesses: their opportunities for growth are minimal. As you say, people have expectations about Warhammer books by this point: low-brow, fantasy or sci-fi expansions on background to a tabletop game. It's tricky for them to break out of the little economy they've created, and more books about how Hero McHeroman fought, fought some more, rested a bit and then fought again aren't going to change that. The move into horror is an interesting one that might bear fruit; I wonder how many BL novels have dared to venture into (whisper it) romance territory?

I think the main thing holding Black Library books back is just... well, they're not that good. Even the more famous and well-regarded of the titles, like Gaunt's Ghosts, are extremely pulpy, and have very limited appeal. Don't get me wrong: I really like Gaunt's Ghosts. They're very binge-able, perfect beach fodder and nobody should be ashamed for liking them, because they're great fun. But at the same time, they are held back by the same thing that holds most of the BL's fare back, and that is that, by and large, there is only war. Who is going to read Black Library books? There are exceptions, but on the whole it's existing Warhammer fans. All of them? No. Not everybody cares about the biggest, toughest rat and how many dwarves and goblins he kills (they should, but they don't 😥). Not everybody wants to pick up part 237 of the Horus Heresy saga. There are types of people who are keen on finding out how exactly every Primarch got to where he is, and who get excited by revelations about Roboute Guilliman's backstory, but there are not enough of these people to keep BL in the, ahem, black. A limited range of genres, stories of wildly varying quality, already restricted by their sci-fi/fantasy nature and link to a known nerdy hobby, are not going to set the publishing world on fire, and comparisons to the rest of the publishing world, where books are cheap, does not help: Waterstones currently has five out of fifty books in its paperback bestsellers lists at £9.99 or more, and that's pretty much the starting point for Black Library books. You can pay a tenner to read David Guymer's story about underwater elves, or you can pay £6.99 and get The Handmaid's Tale- or £5.99 and get La Belle Sauvage, both of which are, I am confident in asserting, are better-written and have more to say than your average Warhammz novel. Again, please don't mistake me and think I'm trashing BL. They're fine for what they are, and nobody should have to defend their literary tastes. But great literature they are not, and when it's such a challenge for them to break out of the niche they have dug very deeply for themselves, the concept of them making less and less money (assuming that is the case) should come as no great surprise to anyone.

I don't dismiss the competitive section- indeed, I believe I was actively speaking up for the people who were cross about it, and explained very carefully why. But the person I quoted is manifestly (and self-confessedly) happy with and more interested in broken and overpowered things, because they win games. That is what is nonsense (do I really need to add a pathetic little "in my opinion" to this?). As such, I don't understand your post in the slightest outside of either an accidental or a deliberate misreading.

Yes, we all know you and yours are only interested in the most cutthroat broken nonsense imaginable, carry on.

Yes, it's this. Having gone through the entire thread, I am struggling to find all that many people who are unhappy that a broken ability was reigned in and brought in line with what the intention was. Instead, by and large, it is people increasingly struggling to cope with what appears to be a shotgun approach to balancing the game. Why did this particular case get such speedy attention, when other far more egregious examples have gone far longer with less notice? Nobody is grumbling that something broken was fixed- rather, that the resources devoted to fixing it seem disproportionate to the scale of the problem when other problems go unresolved. So... perhaps we could put that particular straw man back in the barn.

There are a few interacting factors that result in higher prices in Australia generally (geo-blocking, import costs, relatively high taxes, distribution of population), GW are- as noted- not alone in their eye-watering prices, though I couldn't possibly say how third parties are able to supply at cheaper prices beyond half-heartedly suggesting magic.

I think this qualifies for "Sanest Thing You've Ever Said".

You just put the fear of god into me, and for what?!?

Nothing amazing but I wasn't expecting anything so it's fine. I am at least looking forward to picking up Long Cat in "the next few weeks".

There's a plastic Grey Seer on foot too, you don't need to settle for metal!

It is perfectly possible as long as both players aren't so desperate to win they're clenched tighter than a mouse's ear.

I think a lot of the friction wrt line of sight is that a lot of players want to create a narrative and want to be able to imagine a story. That gets harder to do when your captain gets shot full of arrows because his spear was sticking out of a doorway.

Brilliant as always. Loved the Midnight City stuff, and can't wait to see how this proceeds.

The Skaven and Nighthaunt Facebook groups seem pretty positive places that are mostly focused on sharing paint jobs and asking about lists.

I know plenty of people living in the UK so it won't be too much hassle to have one of them look after it for me and then pick up a job lot of issues when I visit. I'm umming and aahing about it tbh, I have quite intense FOMO and the idea of the bargain is strong but I already have lots of Nighthaunt and don't have much use for the Stormcast...

Happy-successful new year, fellow Skaven lovers. As we contemplate the brutal culling of our Forge World offerings and vow revengeance for it, let us also look ahead to the Chinese Year of the Rat and be hopeful that GW will get their grubby little paws all over those marketing tie-in opportunities, and with the Great Horned Rat's infernal blessings we will see not only a standalone release of the Warlock Bombardier (yes-yes, he of the inexplicable 120 points) but of new verminous warriors and beasts and war machines.

Ugh. I tried towards the end of the year, I really did... but to no avail. So one of my resolutions this year is to achieve something in the Painting Contract every month. To this end, I will keep it simple and, as others have done, stick to one model. Maybe if I keep that up, I will be able to expand it later in the year to one unit. - Chaos Lord on angry crocobeast

Can you see one? Can you point it out? This is such a bloody irritating topic to engage with when the response is always along these lines. "They make lots of money so it's all fine." Lots of things make lots of money. That is not an indication that they couldn't be better, or even that they are good at all. I feel like hoping for parity of releases- or at minimum, some communication about why it seems like some people's toys get all the fun- is setting the bar really low, but apparently a lot of you guys will just lap up whatever you get.

Hey, I'm not saying the sky is falling. But the reductio ad absurdum in the quote I posted got under my skin. It is frustrating to have very legitimate reasons to be irritated (in the hobby sense- it's not like there being no Kharadron endless spells is that big a deal, and I doubt outside this forum anything but a tiny minority get actually upset about it) and for people to come back with this sort of, "hey, be grateful for the scraps you did get!" reaction. Why shouldn't Orruk players be annoyed that they were denied the extra toys a lot of other factions got, especially when there is no communication about the absences? Why shouldn't Kharadron players feel a bit aggrieved that, after a year and a half of rules obsolescence, their release doesn't even warrant a dice set while Tzeentch gets their second?

GW makes great models, and their business is doing well. Nobody disputes that, and to imply that they can do no wrong because their stock price is high is... well, I don't want to get rapped on the knuckles for being impolite. The fact that there is such a seemingly scattershot approach (and without any sort of explanation as to why) to which armies get which updates is what drives frustration.

If none of their designers could come up with cool ideas for Orruk, Cities, Ogor or Kharadron endless spells then they're... well, not very creative.

It's more the frustrating irregularity of it. Why do Fyreslayers get terrain and not Tzeentch? Why do Blades of Khorne get endless spells and not Orruks? Why do Hedonites of Slaanesh get a new unit range while Skaven get one model? Why do Mawtribes get dice and not Kharadron Overlords?

The difference is, there is an expectation of DoK, IDK, Nurgle and LoN being at the bottom of the pile as far as updates go, as they had releases just prior to Age of Sigmar 2.0, and are all pretty functional as the game stands (or even still very strong if one talks about Daughters). A faction like the Overlords was released, then in short order nerfed into the ground and then, a year later, almost completely superceded in terms of game design. To then get none of the extra toys a lot of the other factions got is... well, it doesn't look good.

It really is obnoxious how inconsistent GW has been this year wrt Endless Spells and faction terrain. Is your army getting a book? A new hero? Some redesigned units? Some new units? Endless Spells? A terrain piece? Dice? Who knows? They just make it up as they go along! If I were a Kharadron players I would be disappointed. It's nice to be 2.0 compliant, and I wouldn't turn my nose up at a new hero, but... they got pretty shafted compared to a lot of other factions.

Marauders remain one of the big arguments against there being any central control over what gets into the design pipeline at GW. If there were a god, those guys would have had a redesign by now.