[unofficial weekender] yet another week passed

[sundancer 42900xp 2]

### Start of shameless copy and paste ###

First time visitor to OTT? Then please introduce yourself in the New Member Thread and look around in the Project System. Then come back and read on…

https://www.beastsofwar.com/forums/topic/introduce-yourselves-new-member-thread/

https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/

Read all of this before you start as it will save you any trouble later.

First thing you must do is make your “pledge”. It can be anything gaming related, big or small, and you don’t even have to finish it. No, in here, happiness is the road. Have fun doing whatever it is, but it is not a race. Accompany your work with pictures or we might think you are do something sinister and just using us for cover.

You are also presented with a few questions. It is to get the conversation started. Try and keep your answers ‘conversational’, no text speak, and certainly no “basically”. This is how we all get to know each other better. While you are here feel free to tell us a story, show a picture, joke, tales of love or woe, or just add your own little bit. This is the whole point…in here it is just us.

If you have never taken part before we may bark and bite, but we also like a cuddle! It is all done in the best possible taste and it is character building. feel free to give as good as you get.

A few other things to note: NO RELIGION & NO POLITICS! Glasgow pub rules are in effect. If you need to make a better point then it is fine, but don’t take the piss. And always keep it civil. This includes no philosophy, no home computer culture wars.

Play plenty of music to go with your work. Loud and through proper speakers. Write us a playlist of things we might not have heard before.

Now, after all of that there is only one ‘real’ rule in here and it cannot be broken: NO DICKS! (Exceptions may be made for little fighting men with little plastic/resin/metal wieners)

And don’t forget the highlights of the weekend: The Weekender on Friday and XLBS on Sunday. And the little show that is the unofficial Hobby Hangout over at twitch.tv

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Question of the week:

• Bursting bubble of James Gorkshmock?

And now back to the show.

[sundancer 42900xp 1]

Pledge: do stuff

Answer with context:

So Dave from MS Paints did post a video [A Year Without WARHAMMER – What i Learned] this week and at some point postulated that “The bubble of Games Workshop/Warhammer will burst at some time”. (I’m paraphrasing but watch the video it is interesting as a piece. And I somehow feel that could be a thing. But I don’t know how that would affect the hobby on a larger scale if Games Workshop suddenly went “puff”.

What’s your take on it?

[templar007 52366xp 0]

Pledge :: I am continuing to write campaign scenarios for ‘Pulp Alley’ adventures.

 

Question of the week:

Bursting bubble of James Gorkshmock?

Answer :: I do believe that if…. stress the if….GW was to stumble or crumble under it’s own weight, it would lead to an influx or infusion of monetary resources into smaller companies that are already established with good structure in place.  I don’t think that it would lead to a Kickstarter 2.0 though.  I believe that so many people have been burned badly by Kickstarter that we will continue to see that avenue decline.

I do think companies like Goblin King Games with their award winning game ‘Moonstone’ could double or triple in growth.  Many other companies could do this as well.

But there is the possibility that investors (not players) could panic and pull founds from the hobby market (the medium sized companies).  Which would damage the market for awhile.  But hobbyist will be hobbyist and continue to spend money on gaming and models.  Maybe not in the amount raked from our pockets like the GW Plague Days but money will still be spent.

IMHO

[pagan8thParticipant 10744xp 1]

Pledge: Continue my terrain project in preparation for starting a once or twice monthly wargame session with a friend… and work out which game we are going to try first…

If GW popped it’s bubble it think the OCD fans would ask Bob Geldof to do a charity record called Game Aid.

They rest of us probably wouldn’t notice… or be relieved that there was one less source of plastic out there…

[sundancer 42900xp 0]

@templar007  interesting take on it. I’m curious if we will ever see it happen or if G’Wullu will just devour all hobby and then fade away.

If GW popped it’s bubble it think the OCD fans would ask Bob Geldof to do a charity record called Game Aid.

@pagan8th that made me chuckle XD Maybe we could ask Henry Cavil to do a charity stream with miniature painting and hot tub?

[danlee 22433xp 0]

This week’s pledge is to start the terrain aspects of my Dungeonalia project. The last model was finished yesterday: https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/1853973/

 

 

• Bursting bubble of James Gorkshmock? – at the moment it seems a lot of GW employees who leave go on to join another Nottingham based model company or start their own YouTube channel, so if GW wen under I guess you’d see an influx of staff into nearby companies. The size of the industry overall may drop but many of the smaller companies would get bigger. A few years down the line GW would be a distant memory and hopefully the industry would be spread out a bit more.

[blinky465 17027xp 1]

I’m not sure GW would ever go “pop”.
I think one day we’ll just stop thinking of it as the monolith that looms over all our hobby head-space.
As more and more of us do this, eventually it will just become ignored. I think it will just decline and more and more replacements will enter the market.
A bit like Kodak – who famously refused to innovate and just kind of slumped; they didn’t disappear, they didn’t go “pop” like Woolworths and just disappear, they just kind of limped along for a while and everyone just forgot about them (or maybe like Yahoo!)

I’d be surprised if GW shareholders allowed such a thing to happen – but they might be helpless to prevent it, if player tastes/demands change and the company fails to keep up; I honestly think that in the next few years, their business model will have to change from the current “we’ll tell you what you think you want” to “we’ll deliver what you’re asking for”.

Still intrigued to see how they will (or, possibly refuse to) deal with 3d printing.
In just three or four years, the quality (and quantity) of sculptors (many of whom are ex-GW freelancers) has gone from “meh” to “amazing”. The days of having stuff manufactured and shipped from a place half way around the world are coming to an end. It may take ten years or more, but more and more manufacturing is “coming home” – it’s a movement that will gain momentum as just the fuel costs alone for transporting goods around the globe makes them prohibitively expensive.

But I don’t think they’d ever disappear and leave a vacuum or a black hole – they’ll lose ground to other companies and the overall market will remain pretty healthy, I reckon.

Here’s this weeks meme courtesy of social media

Here’s this weeks music.
Reminds me a little bit of 90s rock sensations Little Angels. I like them. The north east produced some fine rock bands during the 80s-90s.

 

[sundancer 42900xp 0]

Good morning. Monday. Again.

@blinky465 I think you’re right with the “dwindling and fade away” as the most possible outcome. Unless of course they do start to change or (due to some unseen circumstances) suddenly go belly up and are bankrupt.

And your internet meme hits closer to home currently than I’m willing to admit! XD

[blinky465 17027xp 0]

I got my email this morning from Army Painter, saying the fanatic range was finally ready for pre-order.
I’d clicked the link before the message from my brain had got to my fingers. Woo hoo! I’m all prepared to ditch my current paints and consolidate around one, good, consistent brand (even the critical reviews of the fanatic range are generally positive).

Then I saw the price.

699 euros (about £600) for the complete set? Ouch.
I mean, I get it that for 216 paints, that’s less than three quid a bottle, which makes them pretty decent value.
But it’s still a bit wedge to shell out in one go.

The Mega Set is a little more reasonably priced at 175 euros (about £150) but that’s still nearly 50% more than the last Mega Set I bought, just a few years ago (for my son-in-law, my own Mega set is almost ten years old now and still going strong!)

But from my own last Mega set, I’m aware that there are about 20 or so of the 50 colours that barely get a look in.
So if I buy the fanatic Mega Set, from the entire range, I’ll be getting a select mix of colours – many of which I probably won’t use this time around either. My idea with the fanatic range was to go all-in and have a full selection of colours (fully aware that about half wouldn’t get used). But that means about £300-worth of paint sitting on the shelf, just for the sake of “completeness”.

And while, long ago, I recognised I’m more of a paint collector than a painter, that feels like a lot of money in one go.
So I guess I’ll be picking them up as I did Contrast paints – the odd pot here and there, until I’ve built up quite a collection of just the colours I need.

Which means my paint shelves will probably remain a mix of old-and-new, half-incomplete sets from a range of brands.
Now… who is selling individual Speed Paint 2.0 bottles individually?? 😉

[sundancer 42900xp 0]

Got that email as well and felt the same. Love the Mega Set coming with brushes and paint holders (!!!). But I really do not need a set like that.

Now… who is selling individual Speed Paint 2.0 bottles individually?

Currently no one AFAIK. But as always they will. And I’m keeping my eye on some of the greens.

[blinky465 17027xp 0]

Favourite green for orc/goblin skin? I go with “malignant green” or “ghillie dew” speed paint, myself.
I prefer the lighter 90s-style luminous green over “forest green” for skin tones.

[sundancer 42900xp 0]

Since it’s mainly for bases I think the new Fanatic range will be more suited.

[blinky465 17027xp 0]

I think my basic technique isn’t actually going to change much, even with the fanatic range.
I love their “six colours in a triad” approach but that’s not really how I paint – I’m more a slapchop-with-highlights kind of painter. What I love about the super-pigmented fanatic paint is that it makes end highlights really “pop-py” (I spent years trying to prevent my painting from looking old-school cartoon-y and once I gave up fighting it, learned to love my own style of painting). So I’ll probably end up using the same two or three shades in each colour for highlights (anything yellow-ish will probably get an ivory edge highlight, in the same way everything blue-ish at the minute gets a “crystal blue” highlight, since that’s the brightest most vibrant blue I have).

I was just curious as to whether people prefer darker tree-green for orc skin (the actual “orc skin” green across all ranges – Citadel, Army Painter etc) just feels too dark and too green for me. I prefer the lighter yellowy-green shades for skin.
(which is miles away from the “original lore” of grey-greeny-blueish)

[sundancer 42900xp 0]

I think I’ve used “Orc Skin” speed paint for the last orcs and it looks perfect. When the primer is light enough.

[horati0nosebl0wer 19610xp 0]

*breeches the surface from the deep with a literal cough and sputter* Phew! Ok, taking a breather and back from delving into hobby. I’ll be trying again for that Master Magos this year.

Now then what did I miss? *looks over past posts like emails* Ehhh… well then.. best to catch here while we’re all together.

Pledge: Continue hammering at unseen projects. No, not even Gerry has access to things I haven’t posted yet

GW implosion sounds plausible as far as if they overextended assets recklessly. I think the video/multimedia wing of IP development is one of those things that they are amateurs to beyond videogames and have fumbled a bit on. This, I think, was what lead to a tried and true Old World re-release to stir grognard nostalgia. Tooling of models has come a long way and the work is better looking with more complicated parts.

Frankly I think the inclusion of more people like Cavill who love yhe IP, will stay as close to canon lore as possible and that have connections to the film industry is going to be their branch off point to catch more normies. Look back to TSR and Gygax’s financial foibles and how ttrpg’s really almost did the same kind of “pop”. Who knows? The fizzle is most likely the way things go as, unlike Disney, GW didn’t take on the same corporate culture as many companies suffering at present.

Now, something to make your head wobble

Or if you want a Burgerpunk space opera

[Author]

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