I’m not so sure. The only small-scale game I hear about often outside of Epic circles is Dropzone Commander. It’s a 10mm game with more visibility than any 6mm manufacturer currently has. If GW chose that scale it’d be for the opposite reason, to try to crush them.

Hi!

Having been a retailer and dealt with GW, I gotta say that when it comes to epic, since epic 40k's commercial failure, its been their attitude that since you (we) didn't like what they wanted epic to be its been "you get nothing".

Epic is the only GW game to go from a "core" game to out of print and dead in a 2 year life span (1997 to 1999). It was the first time GW experienced having to move "dead stock" via clearance at RIDICULOUSLY low prices.

They went from 10-15% of sales coming from epic to zero. Specialist games (all games including epic) at thier peak made 5% (with epic accounting for half). GW royally screwed up what they had going with epic. It may not compare to sales of WFB or 40k, but 10-15% is better than zero.

The top dogs at GW have not forgotten that failure and all epic endeavors, at best, have been half-hearted. Heck Specialist games re-introduced epic and GW's support lasted a whopping 10 months from its start to the infamous "reorganization", a clear euphemism for the pulling of resources and any real support for the game.

The bottom line is that 6mm GW "had" a market until they themselves killed it. They were neither good stweards or savvy business people when it came to epic.

So the small scale crowd DID register, once upon a time, but to this day GW blames the consumer for its failure instead of themselves.

Typical GW.

Primarch

_________________
Primarch


The Primarchload
Magnetized Titans Tutorial
Net Epic Gold
Heresy Rules

Hi!

Dropzone commander is UK based and relatively unknown in the US. In a niche market such as our, what is "visible" is highly dependent on where you are geographically.

Where I live (Oklahoma) Dropzone commander is unknown. Epic is known, as well as the fact that GW has abandoned it. The usual follow up question to the statement "I play epic" is usually " what do you do for models.".

Granted no one 6mm company at this time is "reknown", but if you play the scale it is known that there are options out there. The internet has made sure even the smallest company gets exposure.

From GW's perspective its simple. If they want to bring back epic in any form and make some money, they are not going to appeal to anyone who played the 6mm version. The amount of people offering proxies makes it much less likely as well. Also Dropzone is such a small company relative to GW that crushing them doesn't enter their decision making. I doubt they even know they exist.

Primarch

_________________
Primarch


The Primarchload
Magnetized Titans Tutorial
Net Epic Gold
Heresy Rules

About 10mm companies, Spartan Games will soon relaunch Firestorm Invasion...

Well, that just takes the wind out of my sails.

I'd love to have a reason to toss money at GW again, and buying a few boxed sets to get more Epic miniatures would be a great reason. If the rules were good I might even switch over. (Or even play both.)

But, I just can't see myself buying anything in this (rumored) new edition if it is 10mm. That wouldn't be spending money to expand my game collection or game options, that would be starting over with a completely incompatible game. And I'm not going to explain the budgetary implications of *that* to the wife. Besides, I've grown rather attached to my 6mm armies. I don't want to move on to Warmaster-with-Guns.

-Allen McCarley

In the imposibly unlikely chance that epic were to be done i can only think it would be to crush spartan's game before it gets off the ground. They tried it with dread fleet (aiming at uncharted seas) but were too late to the party. This time it think they may be trying to get the retaliation in first.

Surprised they haven't put out bb again with the success of dread ball

this thread is amazing.... ten pages of

"they are so totally not bringing epic back"

"I know .... but hey how awsome would it be if they did?"

"It would be awesome, but they're not"

"yeah you're right, I wish they were"

"but they're not"

"I don't even want them to, I get all my needs from other manufacturers"

"yeah we should totally support manufacturers producing alternatives"

"yeah but how cool would it be if GW bought epic back?"

rinse, repeat

I love you guys!

_________________
Just some guy

My hobby/painting threads

Army Forge List Co-ordinator

I have to agree Kyuss. 10mm scale epic *would* be "awesome", but GW won't produce it because of the prohibitively expensive start-up costs.
Heck this was the first year I can remember when GW failed to have a stand at Salute, while DZ had one of the largest ones - suggesting that DZ had something to showcase while GW didn't (or didn't feel the need to).

And Primarch, I thought that GW was also a UK company, so I am sure that they know all about DZ . . .

Other than the constantly-mobbed FW stand and sometimes a Black Library stand, I believe GW haven't had a stand at Salute for 3-4 years.

_________________
The Wargaming Trader
NetEA Death Guard Army Champion

I think the last time GW were officially at Salute was back when Inquisitor first came out... they had sets of two models and the rule book on the stand. When my two friends and I enquired how much said sets were we were told they weren't for sale, just for show.... and that was when I knew GW sales wasn't run by sane human beings.

_________________
@MephistonAG for all sorts of twitter madness

re-releasing Epic in 10 mm would probably be the most stupid idea GW has ever had.

there's tons of people out there with large collections, who won't start a completely new game unless the rules are great. Now figure the chances of rules of a new game being better than E:A....

those people who have never heard of Epic won't start just because GW releases 10 mm. There's several other manufacturers out there who produce equal quality 6 mm stuff - and cheaper. If people won't start because of them, they won't start for GW.

Finally there's other games out there like the Spartan' game, or DZC, so GW isn't really entering into a virgin market.

The majority of GW customers are completely unaware of non GW games and would most likely gobble up any new 10mm range if it had a range of the new Horus Heresy vehicles/titans in it.

Similarly Games Workshop not only doesn't care about people with large existing collections of 6mm, they actively ignore them as they're less likely to buy any new stuff/

Our local gaming store has a section of shelves for Dropzone Commander, with starter boxes, smaller boxes, and blisters. I don't know how popular it actually is, but being on display is already something of an achievement. I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area.

But sure, I wouldn't be surprised if they were still too small to register as a threat.

Again ... why does anybody need GW to play 6mm Sci-fi games ? Along with the Epic rules here, GW models on eBay, here, etc. plus all the very nice 6mm Sci-fi models being produced and available( Exodus War, Onslaught, CinC, Microworld, TMG, DRM, GZG, etc.) along with numerous other rules ( NetEpic, FWC, DS, DRM's Seeds of War, The Crucible, etc., etc. ) sets ... WHO needs GW's support or authorization ... Free yourself from GW's kool aid, brainwashing , etc. ... or continue to "wail and shriek about the night" lamenting all is lost without GW or pining for GW to released another version of Epic ... in any scale ... I'm over 5 decades old ... I'm too "seasoned" to be a blind fan-boy or be wed to only doing things one way ...

_________________
Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."