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[Yoink]

If anything AoS is more popular than Fantasy was in it's last few years. Last I saw the Oldhammer fan projects are all basically dead.

Hell, GW has been expanding it's AoS range every other month, which would be rather odd behaviour if it wasn't doing well sales wise.

That is very sad. People haven't boycotted it?      

AoS has some good ideas but it was executed very poorly, and with a lot of handwaving, macguffins, and secret armies/fleets/whatever appearing out of nowhere. In terms of new content, it's hit or miss for me, some of the new stuff is real fun, other stuff is literally the lamest of the lame.

The lore read like the ramblings of a ten-year-old trying to write sci-fi, and what I saw of the mechanical changes read as though someone gave that same child a hearty dose of bath salts.

[LordPorkins]

Heh. You shoulda been around /tg/. That was a FUN couple of days.

I'm pretty sure GW actually got some minor DDosing actually

[Yoink]

You just know something's gone terribly, terribly wrong when /tg/ is the last bastion of sanity.

[Grim Portent]

If anything AoS is more popular than Fantasy was in it's last few years. Last I saw the Oldhammer fan projects are all basically dead.

Hell, GW has been expanding it's AoS range every other month, which would be rather odd behaviour if it wasn't doing well sales wise.

That is very sad. People haven't boycotted it?

Some did at first, the community moved on without them. It's been about three years now, we're looking at the 2nd edition of AoS now.

Most of the old models are still usable*, the news ones are well proportioned and posed if a bit over-detailed at times (and sometimes too 80s for my taste) and the people in my area who play it, and the ones on other forums I frequent all say it got massively better after the initial silly 'Farewell Fantasy' rules were replaced by the actual army books and general's handook. Lot's of the old special characters survived and became gods in AoS.

*Most of the models that aren't supported are likely ones who didn't sell enough to justifty remaking their casting mould the last time it wore out, like the Bretonnians (who I miss, I needed them for vampire parts) and some Empire units like Reiksgaurd. By now I think

[Rolan7]

Wasn't it initially "don't worry about points, just field what you own and have fun?"  Or am I over-remembering how silly it was?

[Grim Portent]

Wasn't it initially "don't worry about points, just field what you own and have fun?"  Or am I over-remembering how silly it was?

The original rules were 2 pages long plus the individual unit cards, and yes they had no points values or power levels. Lots of older units had gag rules as a silly send off like Longbeards getting stronger if their controller complained about young people or Sigvald getting buffs if his player was looking in a mirror.

I can't remember if the initial release had the Power Rating system of army building or not, but the game only picked up properly after the General's Handbook came out as a proper rules supplement with the more precise points system a year after the initial release and more general rules.

That said the local AoS players still use the Power System, and some even use it for 40k, which I'm iffy on, points are easier to fine tune for balance purposes. Not that GW has ever been great at balance anyway.


GW certainly didn't handle the introduction of AoS well, they had the first models and book resources manufactured months/years prior (takes them a long time to build up stock for releases, sculpts and such are done long before the actual release) and they decided to trickle things out like a normal release. That works fine for bringing out a new faction in chunks over two weeks, but bringing out a new ruleset in spits and spats was a terrible idea.

[Dorsidwarf]

My local GW has a mandatory play by power point thing for 40k and aos.

On the one hand, it’s really quick and simple compared to normal points, but on the other hand it’s pretty bad for game balance, especially on factions which get lots of little “extra buys” in points. Sure the guard Sargent all getting a free power sword/fist might not be hot, but all the tanks getting free sponsons, pintles, and add-ons is very nice.

[Grim Portent]

Sadly GW stores tend not to be great places to play in general ime. Really limited space for gaming, most of the official shops I've been in have a 2x2 as their only table size, though the boards are really pretty, it's generally pick up games oriented and tutorial games are what they mostly get used for outside the day they arrange to be the stores gaming day.

[LordPorkins]

Sadly GW stores tend not to be great places to play in general ime. Really limited space for gaming, most of the official shops I've been in have a 2x2 as their only table size, though the boards are really pretty, it's generally pick up games oriented and tutorial games are what they mostly get used for outside the day they arrange to be the stores gaming day.

IKR? Gimme a big old game store run by two jolly grey-bearded nerds anyday.

[Trekkin]

Sadly GW stores tend not to be great places to play in general ime. Really limited space for gaming, most of the official shops I've been in have a 2x2 as their only table size, though the boards are really pretty, it's generally pick up games oriented and tutorial games are what they mostly get used for outside the day they arrange to be the stores gaming day.

IKR? Gimme a big old game store run by two jolly grey-bearded nerds anyday.

Find a way to run a game store profitably enough to justify the costs of that much square footage, then.

[LordPorkins]

Well, the place I always go manages to do it somehow.

[Grim Portent]

The answer to needing a big store is generally to foster a healthy Magic the Gathering community, it's been the main earner for the gaming stores in my area for decades. Doesn't always work out, and it often leaves the wargamers starved for table space, but it's one of the most stable income sources for gamer shops. Other stuff supplants it sometimes based on the area, but wargaming specifically isn't a great moneymaker due to relatively low stock turnover.

Other option is for a club to pitch together and rent space at a community center, church hall or whatever. My local gaming club used to do that until the costs started to climb too high and we moved into the local games shop, which also eventually went belly up due to not being able to afford to run itself the way it was. Currently the club is based out of a cardgames and comics shop that has a few tables for people to use.

[Tack]

Our local game store doesn’t actually sell MtG.
Their main earnings are paints and hobby, along with selling everything GW at a 10% undercut. Which works out.

[Loud Whispers]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

you will never have a kids 40k crossover where Scooby and the gang uncover the heresy is actually just old man Jenkins spooking the local neighbourhood as part of an insurance scam

[smjjames]

Velma isn’t cyborgified enough to be a technomage. Then again, it’s pretty watered down for everybody except Scooby who seems to have stopped several notches ago.