ITS ALL ABOUT PLAYING THE GAME HOW YOU WANT TO PLAY IT. Except if you want rank and file regiments. If you want that you can fuck off.
I just laughed milk out of my nose! Thanks Banat, you made my day.
I'm bowled over by this news! They put the rules up for free, clever girl... I'll definitely hear them out, see how it plays, if my mates don't just stick to 8th anyway. It certainly looks to be a very fresh approach and if it works, it'll be revolutionary. A living rules set, from these guys? Incredible!
I'm also very hopeful for the new models (although not those we've seen), I can definitely see some new Elves joining my End Times force for a more harmonised look, as long as they don't go too high fantasy or steampunk pauldrons, and hopefully there'll be some highly inventive Undead and Skaven bits to carve up as well.
I think Infernal Skull nailed the whole issue over us skeptics, it's about communication. I've got such a love/hate relationship with GW, they used to be so cool with their opening sales and clearances, random store prizes, community input in White Dwarf... I've had a couple of recent rants regarding their impersonal approach of late, the sales strategy that squeezes panic purchases as with End Times and the so-called 4th Edition of Space Hulk, but their hand's been forced, they have to protect their IP, and there's a lot more going on: aside from all the excellent new releases over the past few years, I just found out there's a Warhammer Channel on YouTube, the paint guide I was shown is a strong but not a hard sell of their new paint system, and I liked what I saw. I hope we see a lot more upfront info from Nottingham in the near future; maybe even an interview or two, or a little tour of the head office? Show everyone they're human beings and not above us simple folk.
I'm sure there are a few stubborn mules that will troll anything GW does for better or worse, equally a few that believe GW can do no wrong, but I think those of us that sit on the fence need to see less high-handedness from what is essentially a toy company. Fair enough if they're restructuring and they're all about toys now, someone else writes and develops the rules and setting and Black Library does the novels, but at least send someone down to us hobbyists every now and then (metaphorically of course) to have some kind of dialogue regarding what's going on, what's in the pipeline and how we can all enjoy their games as fully as possible. Give us the unofficial line on where they're taking the company or what legal challenges they're facing outside of the annual shareholders' report or press releases for the papers. Fair enough it may go over the heads of the youngest players, but GW depends on a fanbase that's too invested in them to ignore. Putting a couple of guys on YouTube to represent head office, leading the charge on these big releases and smoothing over some of the more controvrsial stuff, might not be the safest thing to do but it would be appreciated, I think.