My love/hate relationship with Games Workshop

 I started with GeeDub in the mind 90's when Necromunda was out, and 40K had moved from 2nd Edition to 3rd Edition. Like most players, I started a Space Marine army. I'm certainly more of a hobbyist, loving the assembly and painting aspect more than actually playing.  I also had a large Necron force, when they were all metal. You had the options of a Lord, Destroyers, Warriors, and Scarabs.  This is also when the Tau got introduced, and I dove in on them. A blast to assemble, fun to paint, but I sold them off when I was preparing to move to Texas.

After the move to Texas, 4th Edition was released The starter set,the Battle for McCragge, was marines vs Tyranids. I had never considered them before, but over I time I had assembled as sizable force of Tyranids. Under Cities of Death rules, my bugs were rough to go against, being a horde army, and if enough models were in cover, the whole brood was in cover.

As 4th edition wound down, I started looking into 5th edition, but never picked it up. I don't remember the full hubbub, but I seem to recall GeeDub was really trying to get into the online space, starting to try and stop any big discounts, and drive all traffic to their website.  This started to sabotage the relationships they had built up with FLGS and the online retailers who helped push the plastic and pewter crack on players, and soured me. GeeDub attacked anyone who remotely made anything that looked like their models, which I have always found hilarious, considering they haven't had an original idea they didn't steal from another property. Their whole 40K line was Dune and Starship Troopers, just filing off the serial numbers. Oh, and. prices were on the rise.

5th edition rolled into 6th. New ruleset, new codexes, etc, not to mention the inevitable price increase.  6th transitioned to 7th. New models, yet another new ruleset, and more price increases. 7th morphed into 8th, again a whole new rulebook was required, and the nerfing of old armies, forcing folks to buy all new forces to remain competitive. Oh yeah, and prices going up.

I swore I'd never go back, even as 8th became 9th. The models are amazing. GeeDub has a fantastic range, the Black Library has some of the most amazing fiction to help get you engrossed in the universe.  It was during this point that somehow a whole new breed of Space Marine emerged. It took the creators 10 thousand years to perfect them, and out of nowhere these new gods of the battlefield emerged.

You know what? Fluff wise, whatever. There is always a massive suspension of disbelief in any setting. But I can understand why so many players are upset. You have folks who have spend thousands of <insert your currency here> and unfathomable hours hours assembling, converting, and painting up their forces, only to have a whole new range come in.

Sure - you can mix and match your forces, Founding Marines fighting Pauldron to Pauldron on the battlefield. but make no mistake, that is the way of future and GeeDub is going that way.

One of the biggest barriers of getting into the hobby is cost. Have you seen the price of GeeDub models? 

I don't have a dog in this fight, right now. I sold off most of my original collection. I swore I'd never go back. However, GeeDub, in conjunction with a company called Hachette, are putting out a new subscription service called Warhammer Imperium. The idea is to help get some new blood into the game, but helping with that price of entry. Each week, a new magazine comes out with either some new models or some paints. I'm not subscribing, I'm going to primarily get the marines, but I can see collecting some of the Necrons too.

Here's the deal. GeeDub might be the biggest kid on the miniature wargamming scene, but they aren't the only game in town. I love the models GeeDub puts out, especially these new Primaris. I think they look fantastic, and I love the more dynamic, action poses. There is another game system out there called One Page Rules. It's a FREE system that looks to be much more simple and its miniature agnostic - meaning you can use whatever you want.

Now, that is not to say I won't go back to 40K, but it's going to be a long time before I have a force ready to do more than be on parade.

Sorry for the ramble, but I have a long love hate relationship with GeeDub. I'll be posting pictures of my older forces, as I am proud of the detail and work I did put into them.