Re: [GZG] Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi!

G'day,
 
> The teleporting commandos of doom are now gone....

And this is where my main objection to GW comes in I think. My very
first thought response to this is "but for how long?". In the 16 years
Derek and I have been together now I can't say how many editions of GW
products I have seen come and go. That is true of many products
admittedly, and it seems a perverse aspect of human nature that many
people can't say "oh that's nice but I'll stick with the one I like
actually....". With GW in my experience the push to new has been
exemplified. Whether that is because they are trying to entertain a
younger audience I'm not sure. Now as a marketing tactic I can
understand where they are coming from, but as a consumer this is a brief
summary of what grates with GW (I'm not flaming just stating the
irritants for me, which may not hold for many others):

1) Non GW figures are persona non grata.... That idea has been so firmly
shoved into the masses heads it even holds in the majority of club or
"friendly" games. Not only that even last editions figures aren't good
enough. On so many levels that just feels wrong to me. Whether its from
my ecofriendly/pragmatic side of "if it still works why toss it away"
right through to the sole income earner in a family of 5 I find it an
affront to be "told oh no you need the new $20 leader figure to be able
to do that and no you can't make do with the old one" (or the $3 GZG
figure). The only upside to this is that when the edition changes you
can pick up old stuff much much cheaper... Which means that Derek has a
lot of elves and I have many battle sisters in my Nuns with guns army,
but even then the "old prices" really only brought them on par with
other decent manufacturers (Perry twins aside).

2) As a female and a mother I actually really dislike the images
presented in the background world for W40K. They are not nice basically.

3) The special rules drive me nuts (as does the "army of the month"
mentality that has gripped GW for so long)

4) It is usually very easy to dismantle the rules in to impossible to
beat combos which are then boring

5) They don't support squats and any one who has been on this list for
any time knows what I think of men with beards ;)

6) The majority of the figures don't do much for me (mmm I wonder what
large guns and oversized bulging muscles are replacement for ;P)

7) The majority of the "serious" GW gamers I have played with aren't
pleasant.... They are either (i) excessively opinionated teenagers who
are shocked (and often aggressive or insulting without provocation)
about the fact gaming extends beyond GW; or middle aged men who have had
to be so defensive about sticking with GW they can't be any other way
now. This in combination with the whole "you MUST have the EXACT correct
figure" thing makes gaming with them unpleasant as they can only discuss
one topic and are rules obsessed (scoring points over mistakes rather
than teaching newbies being a particularly grating feature). That is not
to say that is universally the case, I have played some quite enjoyable
games some close friends and family but beyond that circle ouch (mind
you that can be said of many other genres too).

8) They claim to like imagination (in the magazines), but if you show
any the rules don't have (or didn't any rate, maybe this is not true of
the later editions) the flexibility to represent it. You played their
lists and characters and that's it.

9) Outside of Warhammer and W40K you can't be guaranteed a game will
continue to be supported for more than the batting of an eye. Which
should be fine if people could get past the faddishness often associated
with GW (again some can, but many can't). I can't count the number of
times Derek, Lachy and I have basically been vilified at clubs over the
last decade for turning up and (gasp) daring to play a GW game like
Necromunda that wasn't actually supported anymore.

10) The shop front bully boy tactics of the GW company itself used to be
disgraceful (holding up shipping to people supplying competing chain's
lines etc and effectively financially bullying people into towing the GW
line and nothing else). That may well have changed in the past decade,
but it can take a long time to live down such ma  reputation down.

So what attracted me to GZG? It brings in brains (e.g. the whole morale
things mean you have to actually think about what you're doing) and
imagination and flexibility and generally a nicer bunch of people and
its fun and cheaper and overall simply a much nicer thing to be doing.
Thus endth the sermon ;)

Beth

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