Disqus - Latest Comments for BrassScorpion

Re: Glottkin Sellout, Models vs. Rule Books

BrassScorpion — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 10:50:37 -0000

There surely will be reprints of these books. One has to wonder though, by the time that happens will it be easy to find others still playing these expansions? Interest usually drops off sharply over time. These are really good ones, hopefully it will still be possible to find others interested in it by the time more people can buy these books.

Re: What’s Wrong With 40k Tournaments?

BrassScorpion — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 12:43:01 -0000

My latest article for Spikey Bits is about how GW's short-term profit strategies hurt long-term profits and growth of their customer base. Check it out at http://spikeybitsblog.com/2...

Re: Nagash's Lieutenants Prices & More! | Wargames, Warhammer & Miniatures News: Bell of Lost Souls

BrassScorpion — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 23:26:46 -0000

I was thinking the same thing, as in huh? Land Raider kit is still $74.25 US ($76 now for Chaos Land Raider). $79 is more I'm fairly certain. ;) Doing all 3 characters plus Nagash with a rule book is extremely expensive and with more likely pricey expansions like this coming soon people are definitely going to have to make some hard choices about not only what they have time to do, but what they have the money to do.

Re: Ork Rumours – Painboy, WD Exclusive Looted Wagon and Data Cards

BrassScorpion — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 10:42:51 -0000

One thing not listed in that rumor is something that has already been seen in the GW studio released photos, the new plastic Mega-Nobz. I would really like to know what the majority customer reaction has been to this Ork release being extended over so many weeks and even more importantly, what GW's reaction has been to that.

GW seems to be fishing around for a strategy that will boost their overall sales while completely missing all of the things they've done over the past few years themselves that have negatively impacted those same sales. They've basically slashed and burned the good will and fun that grew their customer base for their first 30 years and I doubt that any of the ideas they're flogging now will compensate for that.

Re: 10 British Flavors Americans Will Never Widely Appreciate

BrassScorpion — Sat, 14 Jun 2014 05:06:44 -0000

Americans don't like vinegar on their fries? Are you kidding? All the best French fry places in the USA offer vinegar with their product and have for many years. Examples: Five Guys, Thrasher's Fries, Boardwalk Fries, etc.

Re: A First Look at 40K Warhammer 7th Edition – A Galaxy of War

BrassScorpion — Sat, 24 May 2014 21:14:44 -0000

You might be interested to check out the video review of the new 40K from my friend Rob Baer. He owns FTW Games store and Spikey Bits mail order business. He's also a 40K fanatic. https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Re: The Cosmostrator 1:350 Scale Model Kit - Pegasus Hobbies - Space - Model Kits at Entertainment Earth

BrassScorpion — Sat, 17 May 2014 20:32:57 -0000

This model is a reproduction of one from a specific film, not just inspired by any classic SF film. The title of the film is First Spaceship On Venus.

Re: Objective Secured! - Sample 40K Objectives | Wargames, Warhammer & Miniatures News: Bell of Lost Souls

BrassScorpion — Thu, 15 May 2014 06:32:20 -0000

I can't wait to buy a limited edition Munitorum rules set for $360 that will be obsolete in 2 to 4 yrs. :P

Re: Warhammer 40K 7th Edition – The Price

BrassScorpion — Wed, 14 May 2014 17:57:53 -0000

I sent you the link to my 7th Ed. 40K article via Facebook. Hope you enjoy it.

Re: Warhammer 40K 7th Edition – The Price

BrassScorpion — Wed, 14 May 2014 16:19:48 -0000

I saw this US pricing on a US blog. I don't think I need to comment on pricing, it sort of is its own commentary at this point:

40K 7th Edition 3 Volume Slipcover: $85

Psychic Powers 50 Cards: $15

Tactical Objectives 36 Cards: $8

Munitorum Edition $360

Re: Warhammer 40K 7th Edition – Three Books, One Game

BrassScorpion — Tue, 13 May 2014 16:40:33 -0000

I'm already debating whether to buy it right away or wait and see if I can buy "just the rules" down the road. I don't play very often so it's not like I need it immediately. We spend a ton on Warhammer, but I'm trying to be a little more practical about it these days and not give up too much for things that aren't useful at this point now that I'm getting into my "sunset years" of hobby (and everything else too I guess).

Re: Warhammer 40K 7th Edition – Three Books, One Game

BrassScorpion — Tue, 13 May 2014 16:33:54 -0000

The current huge tome is certainly not practical for transport or even just to flip through during games, far too unwieldy. So I would agree that splitting it into separate volumes is a good move for customers. At this point for existing long-time customers, however, anything but the actual rule book is pretty superfluous. I have every rule book since Rogue Trader and decades of other publications from GW, at this point I really don't need an expensive background book or miniatures photo gallery.

Re: Jervis Johnson Talks 7th Edition Army Organisation Options

BrassScorpion — Mon, 12 May 2014 16:05:43 -0000

Yeah, balance is and generally has been non-existent and usually gets worse with each new release. As has been the case at least once before, I'm turning my comment above into a little editorial. I'll send you a link when it's published.

Re: Jervis Johnson Talks 7th Edition Army Organisation Options

BrassScorpion — Mon, 12 May 2014 14:08:51 -0000

As an avid modeler and collector I like the new Unbound option, I've never liked the Force Organization Chart. However, they seem to still be encouraging players to use the FOC by giving those army lists adhering to it advantages which could also be seen as discouraging people from using the new Unbound rules. It appears this is set up to allow Unbound armies to be playing against FOC armies, implying that Unbound armies are potentially more powerful so that FOC armies need additional benefits to balance the game. I'm not convinced playing Unbound vs. FOC will be a good idea at all for balance regardless of which is potentially more powerful. Also, if the "two FOC detachments" option is still there that already in practicality freed people from the FOC in games of 2000 pts or more and so perhaps it is the FOC armies that will end up being a bit too powerful in that mismatch. I'm also wary of getting excited about the new Unbound option if they are discouraging you from using it by giving FOC unique advantages.

Of course, we won't really know how any of this feels or if it's fun till we've had a chance to try it out. I do know that I've played the fewest games ever under 6th Edition and my son who has been an avid player since 4th Edition really dislikes 6th Edition. Hopefully 7th Edition will be a vast improvement.

On another level 7th Edition has to be good because asking customers to now pay for a new expensive rule book after only two years on top of all the other recently ever increasing price points for models and supplements could be rightly seen as a cash grab. Many people seem to have abandoned Warhammer in the past few years citing being "priced out" as the reason. Revising the core rules every two years at current prices can only exacerbate that problem.

Re: Unbound – Building Armies in Warhammer 40K 7th Edition

BrassScorpion — Tue, 06 May 2014 14:32:48 -0000

That has always been a problem, I've been at 40K for 25 years. There are two solutions to that problem:

1) Don't play "pick up" games. I don't, I gave up on that years ago.
2) If you do play games with people you don't know, discuss the parameters and type of game ahead of time to see what kind of gamer they are. Pick a game type and set limits as needed ahead of time and. if they're vision of the game is too different from yours, decline the game.

Re: 7th Edition: Psychic Phase, Daemonology and Tactical Missions

BrassScorpion — Mon, 05 May 2014 18:10:46 -0000

Oh youngsters, 40K had a psychic phase more than 20 yrs ago, not having one is a fairly recent development. In fact, one had to buy a $35 US expansion set called Dark Millennium for the psychic phase rules, templates and cards back in 2nd Edition.

Re: Unbound – Building Armies in Warhammer 40K 7th Edition

BrassScorpion — Mon, 05 May 2014 15:25:21 -0000

My collections have been massive since the mid-1990s so the FOC was always a limiting nuisance for me. It's nice to see GW remembering finally in the rules that their games were designed to have fun playing with their models, not to be competitive or serious strategy games. I sense Jervis Johnson's influence on this and for that I'm grateful. I only play games rarely and when I do it's with friends who are also more interested in fun armies and models than they are army lists so this should be great for us.

Re: Brace Yourself: Warhammer 40K 7th Edition Is Coming

BrassScorpion — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 15:11:15 -0000

When GW went from a 5 to 6 year rules revision cycle down to 4 years and upped the rule book price to $74 it was fraught with the risk of losing customers due to the higher cost of keeping current and indeed they have lost some customers to competing systems now that there are so many other miniatures games out there. If they expect to do better on a 2-year cycle when they've already had so much customer attrition in 2013 I think they are in for a rude shock. Recruitment of new customers seems to be at an all-time low this past year and they simply cannot stay on top in the long run only by continuing to cut costs (can't be much left to cut at this point) and raising prices on their existing customers, many of whom are buying less than ever due to the significant GW price increases of the past three years. Up until 2012 I used to see new customers all the time in my local GW including lots of children, that is a rarity over the past year.

I'll be interested to see exactly what is going on with the 6th Edition 40K rule book and if there really is a 7th Edition about to be released. I'm a devoted GW model hobbyist, but play Warhammer (both of them) very little these days. If they are replacing 6th Edtion this year, after 25 years in the hobby I might delay or decline buying another very expensive rule book after buying the current $74 book just 2 years ago.

Another thing to think about with the current rules system for 40K is that there are literally dozens of supplements now in both print and e-book editions, far too many to ever revise all of them and also far too many to make them obsolete with major rules changes considering how much money some customers have spent just on supplements. Supplements for 40K alone now add up to more than $1200 and
rising as there are new supplements every month now. Making those obsolete over night would surely cause some customers who own them to instantly abandon the game system as being impossible for them to keep current.

Re: Spikey Bits Warhammer 40k, Fantasy, Conversions and Painted Miniatures: Review - New Citadel Tools vs Hobby Tools Part 3

BrassScorpion — Mon, 28 Apr 2014 15:38:20 -0000

The
blades for the new Citadel hobby knife are available from scalpel blade
suppliers online. You can find them via US suppliers on the Internet,
but I don't think you'll find them in too many hobby retail
brick-and-mortar stores. Just Google scalpel blades, there's plenty out
there and they are not expensive, but you'll most certainly have to mail
order them via the web.

Re: 40K: The Ultra-Exclusive Ultra Arrives and the Era of the Collector | Wargames, Warhammer & Miniatures News: Bell of Lost Souls

BrassScorpion — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 21:05:25 -0000

No company can stay in business without courting new customers and from what I've seen new customers, especially young ones are in short supply since last year. Recruiting new customers seems to be a low priority at GW and these high priced exclusives are aimed at adult customers with money. I can't imagine how GW will be able to continue in the long term without recruiting new customers and catering to existing ones of all ages.

Re: GW Site Upgrade is Underway & a Cryptic Message | Wargames, Warhammer & Miniatures News: Bell of Lost Souls

BrassScorpion — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 11:29:12 -0000

I stand by my statement, it is incomprehensible that they allowed their site to be unusable for an entire day while switching over to the new version. No company large or small, but especially large ones, would normally do that and it's completely unnecessary. The CEO of most companies would freak out and lop some employee heads if their site was down for a whole day.

GW is a multi-million pound public traded company and they just lost a whole day of commerce on their web store. They are not the "mom-and-pop" operation they were 25 years ago and it's irresponsible to their customers and shareholders to do such a thing, especially since website revision can be normally be accomplished with little or no interruption of service. I've seen much smaller companies do a much better job of repairing or replacing their websites. When a company as obsessed with their profit margin as GW is these days deliberately loses a whole day of e-commerce it's more than a little odd to say the least.

Re: GW Site Upgrade is Underway & a Cryptic Message | Wargames, Warhammer & Miniatures News: Bell of Lost Souls

BrassScorpion — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 04:01:42 -0000

It's sheer incompetence on the part of GW to have their site down for a whole day and counting. Normally when you revise or replace a website you build and test the new site offline then quickly "flip the switch" to make it go live with little or no interruption of service. What kind of major company actually puts their site down for a whole day or more? It's unprecedented, unprofessional, and mystifying that they would do such a thing. In other words, typically incomprehensible GW behavior.

Re: Spikey Bits Warhammer 40k, Fantasy, Conversions and Painted Miniatures: Lord Of Skulls - Build, Magnetize, Paint for the Skull Throne!

BrassScorpion — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 02:45:57 -0000

Thanks!

Re: Spikey Bits Warhammer 40k, Fantasy, Conversions and Painted Miniatures: First Look - White Dwarf #8 Void Shield Generator & Quake Cannon

BrassScorpion — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 09:46:37 -0000

I'm being careful to be selective about which weekly White Dwarf issues I buy to avoid spending more than $200/yr on it. I agree, this week's White Dwarf was not that exciting and I skipped it. I really liked last week's, that was the third issue of the new weekly that I purchased.

Re: Was the Void Shield Generator a Failure?

BrassScorpion — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 09:20:56 -0000

I had every opportunity to order it and passed on it due to price in spite of a lot of Adeptus Mechanicus themed models in my collection. After 25 years of collecting GW products I've gotten a bit more careful, especially when something costs $100 US.

GW clearly could have sold more of them, but they didn't get stuck with any which was also a goal of theirs since it was not meant to be a stock item. I wonder what the upward limit would be on how many they could have sold in say a week or less. 1500? 2000? 3000?

I wonder how many people ordered that item just to stick it on eBay.