(Warmaster Nice @ Feb. 21 2008,15:39)
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(Nicodemus @ Feb. 21 2008,11:38)
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(ragnarok @ Feb. 20 2008,23:20)
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and tenticle pink. ?The colour [i[]every[/i] Slaaneshi player uses.
Wow, that is interesting. Have to try and get few bottles of that... Not much used color, but when I want it I dont want to mix it (anybody have recipe for how to make tentacle pink?).
Warlock purple and white looks ok (though I have no idea if GW actually makes a color close to my old hexagonal fliptop Warlorck Purple from the mid 90ies

)
I think most people would agree that while Apocalypse is a great idea looks-wise the scale, time and economic investment required to make anything interesting is beyond affordability for the teenage target consumers GW has been aiming their marketing at for the last decade or so.
Computer games also play a large part, which is also why I doubt GW can ever go back to how it was in the early 90ies.
All their downsizing looks more and more like they're sawing away the branch they're sitting on I'm afraid.
I think the cutback of dedicated stores was a good move. Instead they should focus more on independant retailers carrying their products. If people want to play their games they'll find places to do so. Most other manufacturers do this quite successfully.
Instead of catering for a teenage audience in that little marketing bubble that is your average GW store, I think GWs (talented) game developers should focus on making games they themselves would want to play. If a teenager wants to play that game he will do so, even if the rules are slightly complicated.
I think this is what Jervis did with E:A and what makes the game so tough to kill in spite of non existant marketing and store visibility.
GW has an awsome fluff background for their games, they still produce some of the most beautiful miniatures in the industry (especially if you count FW). If people have an interest i these things they'll buy it even if they're not constantly hasseled by a guy in a red shirt. Use the money for his payroll to develop better rules and lower the price to get into the games.
Words of wisdom Nicey, words of wisdom. I think you've hit it spot on.
GW always made stuff that they themselves wanted to play. They satisifed themselves, their gaming needs, their art and cultural tastes. The made what they loved and loved what they made.
And GW's success was built on that love - we all loved it even when we where really young.
We may have complained about the complexity of the rules sometimes, but this was never with ragards to our ability to comprehend them - we always did. Rather if we did complain it was because we thought this rule or that was unneccessary. I would have felt extremely patronised as a teenager if I was told the rules where simplified because GW felt I could not follow them!
GW these days seems to have many cynical folk who do not appreciate at all the 'love' factor that is the core of GW and the driving force of the business. They should do, it is more core, more neccessary and more vital than any day to day efficiency decisions that are made.