Forgeworld 2006 Paper Catalogue |
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semajnollissor
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Post subject: Forgeworld 2006 Paper Catalogue  Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 9:03 pm |
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| Quote (Heresiarch @ 28 Mar. 2006 (13:29)) | Make no mistake about it. Forge World is ultimately a business unit of Games Workshop and while they appear to have had a fair amount of latitude in the past as to what they put out GW appears to have reigned them in.
Even if it's just by releasing models tied into the Imperial Armour series. |
Well, this assumes that the Imperial Armour series is part of some plan dictated by GW proper. I don't think that it is. I think ALL FW models are done in the sculpters' free time, and that they all have fairly free reign over what they produce.
As far as I can tell, the IA books are structured so that they can present existing models (sometime long existing) in a compelling setting (to induce sales). I think the direction the scuptors get is more general, like, "Hey, we are planning an IA book detailing battles between race X and race Y, so we need some models to fill in some gaps and take up space." As opposed to, "hey, we need a model for a Malanthrope and a Trygon, so get to work." I will concede, though, that FW probably does encourage its sculptors to focus on 40k at the expense of all other systems.
But, I don't think this matter is indicative of "another nail in the coffin" like has been said. Whether or not Epic is dead as far as GW is concerned is not connected to what FW does. I mean, why else would FW bother to include the Epic Tau list in IA 3, when GW is sitting on loads of Epic Chaos and Tyranids that it refuses to sell. Despite what was said, epic doesn't lack any core armies (unless you consider Necrons to be a core army), the problem is that GW proper refuses to sell the models they have.
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Heresiarch
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Post subject: Forgeworld 2006 Paper Catalogue Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 9:40 pm |
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Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2005 5:04 am
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| Quote (semajnollissor @ 28 Mar. 2006 (14:03)) | | Quote (Heresiarch @ 28 Mar. 2006 (13:29)) | Make no mistake about it. Forge World is ultimately a business unit of Games Workshop and while they appear to have had a fair amount of latitude in the past as to what they put out GW appears to have reigned them in.
Even if it's just by releasing models tied into the Imperial Armour series. |
Well, this assumes that the Imperial Armour series is part of some plan dictated by GW proper. I don't think that it is. I think ALL FW models are done in the sculpters' free time, and that they all have fairly free reign over what they produce. |
Ummm... no offense but there isn't a business on the face of the planet that runs that way. Especially companies that have strongly developed brands to market.
And Forge World is a business unit of GW not an independent company.
The basic concepts for the 40k models are given to Forge World by the Games Workshop team responsible for developing a given race to ensure continuity with the design and development of the overall 40k universe. And the racial deveopment takes place within the overall context of the development of the 40K universe which is influence by both the designers ideas and things like the summer campaigns GW runs such as the Eot campaign.
Which is one of the reasons the Epic Tyranid list development ran into issues when Specialist Games put their foot down about developing stats for the new models.
40k concept development is all conceptualized and pre-approved by GW a year or two in advance to ensure proper branding and allow for lead time on development of fluff, rules and sculpts.
And since GW themselves have made the decision to mostly push Space Marines and Tyranids that decision is applied to FW as well. Hence the current FW release schedule and product catalog.
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semajnollissor
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Post subject: Forgeworld 2006 Paper Catalogue Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 9:54 pm |
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Well, to be sure, I have no intimate knowledge of the inner working of GW and FW, but it seems like there is a disconnect between the two.
For instance, why did Jervis block the Trygon from the tyranid list, only to have FW come out with a Trygon model shortly therafter?
Or, why did GW state that a jetbike equivalent didn't fit with the tau concept, only to have FW produce the Tetra and Pirana?
Or, why did FW make Tau ships for BFG when SG was planning on making them, too?
I see no evidence that the FW staff have access to or are bound by any concept development process used by GW proper. But, again, I could be wrong.
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Heresiarch
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Post subject: Forgeworld 2006 Paper Catalogue Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 10:13 pm |
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| Quote (semajnollissor @ 28 Mar. 2006 (14:54)) | | Well, to be sure, I have no intimate knowledge of the inner working of GW and FW, but it seems like there is a disconnect between the two. |
Hehe... please note I never said they were consistent about their thought processes.
For that matter why did they turn around and release the skyray and piranha in plastic after FW did them? More than likely because the two models sold a lot better than GW expected them to. It's the only thing that could possibly explain the decision when the die costs are worked into it for injection molding of the kits.
As well... it's really only been in the last year or so that the focus has shifted to 40K by FW. Previous to that they did indeed appear to have much greater latitude in what they produced. The disconnect really appears to have occured in the SG to FW coordination area.
GW's gutting of SG and FW "focusing" on core 40K releases suggests to me that someone at the top levels of GW has put their foot down to stop what they see as "marginal" business practices by minor business units to focus on the big picture.
Namely 40K.
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primarch
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Post subject: Forgeworld 2006 Paper Catalogue Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 12:15 am |
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Hi!
Its not FW job to "promote" any GW game. They are a little "niche" within GW that sells stuff GW doesnt produce directly. They are however beholden to GW in any form they see fit. IF GW says, dont waste any more time on epic stuff, then FW has to comply, since without GW's permission, they cannot even exist. Their independence is severly limited.
Not including epic in the catalogue, in my view, is NOT happenstance or a coincidental overlooking. It is a reflection of GW treatment of epic, which invariably trickles down to all GW dependencies.
My take on this.
Primarch
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semajnollissor
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Post subject: Forgeworld 2006 Paper Catalogue Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 1:11 am |
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| Quote (Heresiarch @ 28 Mar. 2006 (16:13)) | | For that matter why did they turn around and release the skyray and piranha in plastic after FW did them? More than likely because the two models sold a lot better than GW expected them to. It's the only thing that could possibly explain the decision when the die costs are worked into it for injection molding of the kits. |
Actually, GW made those kits in plastic because they have some new fangled CAD/CAM for mastering molds that makes it cheaper/easier to do so. They did the same with parts of the FW wave serpent and SM chapter vehicle hatches.
As well... it's really only been in the last year or so that the focus has shifted to 40K by FW. Previous to that they did indeed appear to have much greater latitude in what they produced. The disconnect really appears to have occured in the SG to FW coordination area. |
Its true that the disconnect has mainly been between FW and SG, but the focus on 40k has been there since the beginning. Sure, they may have made models and terrain for the other games, but they've only made books for 40k, and they've been doing that since 2000.
GW's gutting of SG and FW "focusing" on core 40K releases suggests to me that someone at the top levels of GW has put their foot down to stop what they see as "marginal" business practices by minor business units to focus on the big picture.
Namely 40K. |
But, for me, FW's focus on
just 40k makes it seem like it wasn't a decision made at GW, but one made by the staff at FW, because GW is just as committed to WFB and LotR as it is to 40k. FW, on the other hand, seems to have its own agenda.
At work I'm into laser material deposition for tool repair, and this hits close to home. Impressive bit of stuff they've got there. Would the sleeved dies be a reference to inserts? 