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

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r experiences with GW games have been completely different to mine. Yes
there are some players that act unpleasantly but I found that in other
historical periods I played before GW games began. I got into the GW
games at the time because they seemed like fun games to play.
I think GW tried some of the same tactics with the independent game
stores. There were certainly tales about "I have to order 6 of every
blister".
I did hear stories about the "you must use the latest models if you play
in the store". I am fortunate to have a good and effective club so that
I never needed to play in the store. Lots of people I know play with OOP
models and get Kudos for finding these old models. I used some OOP
models in the last army I built and there wasn't even a mutter.
I can also understand the stores perspective. The purpose of having in
game stores is to promote more sales. However you dress it up that's
what it is for. I people play with OOP models how does the store handle
it when the kid goes "that model is cool how can I buy one?"
I am not a marketting person, but I can see that if you wanted to enter
a potential market the low risk approach is to use resellers. If the
market is large enough you would look to enter direct. 
Most of the local independent games store owners were adding little
value and just sticking product on shelves.
The other point you mentioned is about how often should a game get
refreshed and updated. Some games have had the same rules for thousands
of years. Most wargames I know have had an updated version every 4 years
or so. Some release patches and interim editions between major releases.
The games that have not had releases have stagnated and I know several
periods that collapsed because there wasn't a well supported ruleset.
I like the idea that the designers get to fix some of their mistakes in
future releases. Certainly the GW designers have been surprised by how
some people have utilised the rules in ways that didn't produce the
games they had envisaged.