Evil Empire has Evil Customer Service - Surprised?

[Gailbraithe]

I guess we were told! Turns out we have no reason to complain. After all, we should be happy we're subsidizing GW so that Gailbraithe has a place to play...

 

lol

 

That's kind of what I thought once I realized he wasn't being ironic.

 

Both of you can play there too, and if you don't...well, it's hardly my fault or GW's fault that you're buying a product you can't fully utilize. If you're buying GW products, you're subsidizing their stores and you can play at them. If you aren't playing at them, then you're leaving money on the table. That's nobody's fault but yours.

[Heisler]

I hear what you are saying but that doesn't hold true for everyone that buys GW products. GW stores are not found in every city in the US and many of them are very, very small. There is only one in the entire state of CO only has three tables and on of those is permanently setup for demo use leaving only two tables available for games. Plus the hours are so odd there that its difficult to even get a game in sometimes and that assumes you managed to get a table to play on in the first place.

[buglips*the*goblin]

So . . . if I buy GW products I pay more for the convenience of a store where I can play.

 

*intrigued*

 

*checks for nearest store*

 

 

*checks plane ticket prices*

 

 

*decides $46,000 a year to play there every weekend isn't a bargain*

[dispatchdave]

My friend has suckered me into playing warhammer fantasy. I'm under the impression that I can substitute minis from other companies to customize my armies and IMO cheapen the cost. I can find no rule in there books saying otherwise and people on warhammer forums say I'm ok as long as "what you see is what you get".

 

This is true, so long as you don't plan on playing in any official tournaments. Those generally have rules that say a large percentage (80%? 90%?) must be GW. For casual play, though, proxy away.

[Ampersandrew]

I don't like 40k and have no desire to subsidise other people's play areas. I'll give them a miss thanks.

 

The appallingly bad customer service as laid out in the OP doesn't inspire me with confidence either. Other people posting to say they've had no problems doesn't offset that. One of the guys I game with regularly tells horror stories of the time he used to work in a small game shop and GW sales reps were strongly pressurising them to take more stock than the shop could reasonably handle. I'm also told a favourite tactic was to do this, build up a local fan base in the area and then open their own shop. Most of the time this would put the existing shop out of business.

 

I do not like this company and will not give them my money.

[Pingo]

I gather they also encourage really small stores. I can hardly believe that part of their business model is to charge ridiculously inflated prices in order to subsidize gamespace, but keeping the gamespaces miserly small to save money, any more than I can believe their model is to switch over to a cheaper material to save money and then raise prices as if they were using a more expensive material.

 

Oh, wait ...

[Baphomet69]

*decides $46,000 a year to play there every weekend isn't a bargain*

 

Silly goblin, it's a privilege, not a bargain!

[Panzer_Engel]

My friend has suckered me into playing warhammer fantasy. I'm under the impression that I can substitute minis from other companies to customize my armies and IMO cheapen the cost. I can find no rule in there books saying otherwise and people on warhammer forums say I'm ok as long as "what you see is what you get".

 

This is true, so long as you don't plan on playing in any official tournaments. Those generally have rules that say a large percentage (80%? 90%?) must be GW. For casual play, though, proxy away.

 

For anything directly backed by GW, or for in-store gaming, try 100%. No, really; The redshirts will object if you try to put a non-GW model on the table. At one point there were even (quite extensive) Guidelines as to how much of a converted model could be replaced with non-GW components - Be they scratchbuilt or from other manufacturers, before it stopped being 'tourney legal'.

 

Of course, gamers being gamers, this resulted in all sorts of contrarianism; Like people building M-60's and PzIII's out of Leman Russ components - The resulting models were, strictly speaking, 100% compliant with the tourney rulings. . . .

 

Most tournaments organised by other bodies tend to be more forgiving - Especially since in recent years GW has closed down the outrider program and withdrawn a lot of the support it used to give them, so there's no real incentive for them to police things beyond 'what you see'.

[Girot]

My friend has suckered me into playing warhammer fantasy. I'm under the impression that I can substitute minis from other companies to customize my armies and IMO cheapen the cost. I can find no rule in there books saying otherwise and people on warhammer forums say I'm ok as long as "what you see is what you get".

 

while you won't be able to play at tournaments you shouldn't have much of an issue with other players giving you a hard time. unless they are douchbags in which case they aren't worth playing in the first place. have fun!!

[Pingo]

I used to think the rules of the fictional Hackmasters Players Association in the "Knights of the Dinner Table" comic were a laughable collection of hardnosed strictures in the interests of milking more money out of its members.

 

I had no idea they were this close to reality.

[sumbloke]

...

I enjoyed the Hitchhiker's Guide as well, but couldn't finish the last book in the series. Don't know why, probably just too much overload at that point (was reading them all one after the other), but it just didn't strike me like the others...

 

Which "last book" are you referring to? The last one Adams wrote, or the later one by Eoin Colfer?

 

Back on topic... I've never bought much from GW. There's only one of their games I play - Blood Bowl - and I started playing that during the period when they seemed to be actively trying to kill the game. Since then I've only got their products from discount tables, prize tables, or the like.

[Qukel]

 

...

I enjoyed the Hitchhiker's Guide as well, but couldn't finish the last book in the series. Don't know why, probably just too much overload at that point (was reading them all one after the other), but it just didn't strike me like the others...

Which "last book" are you referring to? The last one Adams wrote, or the later one by Eoin Colfer?

 

Back on topic... I've never bought much from GW. There's only one of their games I play - Blood Bowl - and I started playing that during the period when they seemed to be actively trying to kill the game. Since then I've only got their products from discount tables, prize tables, or the like.

 

Hello Just one question

 

I have $50 and need to buy a game. Can you give me a perfect option?

[smokingwreckage]

$50 on Bones for a handful of orcs and skeletons plus some giant spiders and some heroes. Or drop the skellies and add trolls and/or ogres. Download Swords and Wizardry Core. RPG! Or if that's a bit heavy, try Fubar Fantasy RPG. Also free!

 

Alternatively, the orcs and skellies, plus Ares or, if you prefer lite and slightly random rules, Song of Blades and Heroes, where everyone has only one stat for simplicity but there are six-and-counting books of all the special abilities you need when everyone only has one stat. But it is freaking fast to play. Either of these set you back about $15 for the PDF. But really you're better off getting more miniatures for the free postage anywhere, and wearing the $15 or thereabouts for decent skirmish rules.

 

Last option! Don't want to choose between RPG and skirmish, OR want to run warbands with experience tracking and all that jazz? Goalsystem Delves. Again, $15 for the PDF.

 

Of course, my personal best-ever value proposition was the Vampire level pledge in the Bones Kickstarter, $100 for enough miniatures to run miniatures-heavy RPG campaigns from now til you die, came with Swords and Wizardry Complete PDF.

 

EDIT: I don't think GW is evil or their fans stupid, I just do not have the money to buy their stuff and, to be honest, I find their games just don't suit my tastes anymore.

Edited February 5, 2013 by smokingwreckage

[Pingo]

 

 

My friend has suckered me into playing warhammer fantasy. I'm under the impression that I can substitute minis from other companies to customize my armies and IMO cheapen the cost. I can find no rule in there books saying otherwise and people on warhammer forums say I'm ok as long as "what you see is what you get".

This is true, so long as you don't plan on playing in any official tournaments. Those generally have rules that say a large percentage (80%? 90%?) must be GW. For casual play, though, proxy away.

For anything directly backed by GW, or for in-store gaming, try 100%. No, really; The redshirts will object if you try to put a non-GW model on the table. At one point there were even (quite extensive) Guidelines as to how much of a converted model could be replaced with non-GW components - Be they scratchbuilt or from other manufacturers, before it stopped being 'tourney legal'.

The ironic thing is GW seems to be shutting down Ebay sellers selling completely different models if the sellers say the model can substitute for a thus-and-so GW model.

 

That is, the models are not knockoffs. They're not infringing GW's trademarks. But if the seller says the model can be used as a substitute for something GW trademarked, GW will contact Ebay and have the object yanked.

 

So they are so serious about accepting no substitutes that they are shutting down completely unrelated minis sales.

[Nocturne]

Have you got a link about that? Hadn't heard that one before. Beyond bad practice if true.