Open Letter to Games Workshop

To:  Games Workshop,
        Nottingham, UK

From:  Blake Walker
            St. Louis, MO
            USA


Dear Games Workshop:

I have played your flagship game, Warhammer 40K, since it first came out as the Rogue Trader first edition in 1989.  I have invested thousands of dollars into four different WH40K armies.  I also have recently purchased two Warhammer Fantasy Battles armies.  However, I am now at a point where I will no longer play your games or purchase new product. 

My reasoning is simple.  I can no longer afford to keep up with the constant codex creep and annual price increases.  Your marketing ploy of coming out with new editions of the same game has gotten old.  I also resent the fact you killed off Warhammer Historical Games.  I play Warhammer ECW and have the booklets and rules for Chariot Wars and WAB 1.5.  My next project is going to be 25mm Trojan Wars using the Chariot Wars codex.  The way you handled WAB 2.0 and using Forge World to kill off a viable gaming system is outrageous.  I could go.  But there is no point.  There are still people who play Warhammer Ancient Battles.  But they are few and far between now.  Gamers have moved onto other historical systems like Hail Caesar!  and Clash of Empires.

Aside from that, I decided to put up my WH40K and WHFB armies in storage for a year.  I thought about selling everything off I now own.  I can briefly list what I own, namely, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Chaos Marines, High Elves, and Warriors of Chaos.  I also bought the 6th edition box set, Dark Vengeance in October 2012.  The figures are now assembled.  But I won't be painting them.  I won't work on the rest of my WH40K armies that are in need of painting like DA Ravenwing and Chaos Space Marine vehicles.  I don't see any reason to work on them in 2013.  I don't see any reason to buy any additional GW products, either.

GW seems to think it's market is teenage boys who's parents will pay for anything they want.  The truth is rather complicated.  There are have always been a certain segiment of gamers who play 40K for the "fluff" aspect.  There are also a number of gamers who have grown up playing the system and have stayed loyal to the GW brand name.  And there are powergamers who game it for tourament aspect.  GW's nebulous product release schedule and arbitary price increases have driven many of its older customers away. 

Privateer Press has also made major inroads here in St. Louis, MO.  I know more people who play Hordes/Warmachine than they do WH40K.  That will continue to happen until GW either lowers their prices and no longer marks up the margins on their products.  Or GW spires into bankruptcy and closes its doors, or is bought by another entity.

For the record, I'm not going to buy or work on any GW related product for 2013.  I have too many other things on my table to worry about missing WH40K.  However, it's the game I have played the most this year and I do enjoy the game itself.  It's the company and current management I distain.

Sincerely,
Mr. Blake Wood Walker