Author: Lorenzo

  • The Warhammer release cycle burnout – Why it is unsustainable

    Warhammer World Exhibition, too much Warhammer?

    It’s been a busy year for Games Workshop. They have released a lot of products for Warhammer. Some might say that Games Workshop is releasing too much stuff.

    Is it me or does it feel like Warhammer miniatures are released at a neck breaking pace all the time? Beware, this one is a ranty one.

    Warhammer weekly releases

    First off we need to talk about the weekly Warhammer releases. There is a lot that comes out every single week and you get pre-orders every single Saturday. My question would be “Who has the time and money to buy and paint all this stuff?”

    I’m not going to lie, I’ve pre-ordered some stuff myself in the past. But the reality is that the miniatures that I buy are few and far in between. The main reason is that I don’t really have the time to build and paint Warhammer during the week. With a full-time job and a baby, my hobby time is essentially non-existent at the moment. It’s hard to reconcile weekly releases with my life schedule and commitments.

    On the plus side, the Warhammer releases are generally varied and span different games. One week releases for Warhammer 40,000, then another week for Age of Sigmar, then Blood Bowl, Necromunda etc etc. So the reality is that you’re probably not going to buy much plastic every single week.

    The Warhammer 3-year cycle

    Games Workshop essentially releases a new edition of their main games every 3 years. This means that every 3 years the game’s rules get rewritten. Your faction rules will change, the balance within your faction will change and the game style may be affected too. This will force you most likely to at least buy more books and data cards. And then buy more miniatures since the meta will change of course.

    Obviously this is by design. Warhammer is a lucrative IP and Games Workshop knows it. It needs to sell in order to bring profits to the shareholders. It’s their business practise and if they want to run it that way that’s fine. This said, the way they update their games is not very consumer friendly because every time new rules are released you have to buy more rulebooks.

    The reality is: how many games of Warhammer do you actually play a year? There’s going to be a very small minority that plays every week, but the vast majority of people are not going to be playing that much. I am lucky if I get to play once a month. It’s simply really hard for casual gamers like myself to keep up.

    Too! much! Warhammer!

    And it’s not just the 3-year cycle. In 2024 alone, we’ve had three major editions launching. Warhammer Age of Sigmar entered its fourth edition  this summer (which is great by the way) followed by a brand new edition of Kill Team shortly after, and now Warhammer Underworlds is getting a revamp.

    My Stormcasts from the previous edition of Warhammer Underworlds

    That’s three new editions for three different games. All released within a few months from each other. Isn’t it a bit much?

    Obviously, with so many games, the overlap is bound to happen, but this is at the detriment of the games they want to hype up. A new edition doesn’t feel special anymore. It’s just a tick box exercise that has to happen because money.

    There is no breathing room between releases, everything is so fast that you do not have time to even open the box to start gluing pieces that the next big box is already out.

    They teased AoS 4th Edition for months on end, and then they moved on from it so quickly it was unreal. A few weeks later they were hyping up Kill Team! So Age of Sigmar wasn’t so special after all?

    Games Workshop wants you to get in on the hype cycle, and I’m not going to get into it now, but the new edition means new shiny toys, new hype, new sales. Simples. Consumers like me need to be mindful of the hype and try not to get caught into it. But this will be a topic I want to focus on in the future and I’ll stop here for now.

    But what do you think of Games Workshop release cycle? Do you think it’s too much or is 3 years a good time frame between? I’ll be interested to know your thoughts. Let me know in the comments!

  • Is Warhammer too hard to get into? Let’s find out

    We all know that Warhammer can be expensive. It takes a lot of time and money to buy, build and paint your armies. In this week’s post, I want to ask the question : is Warhammer too hard for a beginner. Is it too difficult to get into?

    Where do you start with Warhammer?

    Since I have recently become a dad I am questioning if Games Workshop’s practices are friendly for a kid. If I wasn’t in the Warhammer hobby already, could my daughter start playing?

    So let’s start from the beginning. Imagine this.

    You are walking by your local friendly game store and your kid asks you if you can go inside. Eventually the kid expresses interest in Warhammer. So you look at what the store has in stock. You want to understand what a starter product would be. You also want to know if it would be suitable for a kid.

    The Warhammer Starter Set problem

    I dug through Games Workshop’s web store to see what the starter products are. I actually found it pretty confusing myself.

    Apart from the fact that the website is quite difficult to navigate… Why are there three different starter sets for Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar? Which one should I get?

    For instance, Age of Sigmar has an Introductory Starter Set, a Starter Set and then an Ultimate Starter Set.

    Now you tell me if this makes any sense from a new customers point of view. Which one is the starter set I should be getting?

    The Introductory one should provide a good introduction right? So why would  I get the slightly bigger Starter Set? Is that the normal one? What about the Ultimate Starter Set.. is that for experienced hobbies and I should not buy it? So many questions!

    I am an experienced Warhammer enthusiast. I know that the smallest set does not give a comprehensive introduction to the game. Whoever buys the introductory starter set will probably be disappointed when they get it up and running. But that is not something that a new player would be aware of!

    Spearhead and Combat Patrol

    On the other hand the Warhammer Age Of Sigmar Ultimate Starter Set is really the complete product as it contains two Spearhead forces to play with.

    In my opinion, this provides the best introductory experience by far and the closest replica to the full-blown Warhammer Age of Sigmar. It provides a complete flavour of what Warhammer is about.

    Both Spearhead mode for Age of Sigmar and Combat Patrol mode for Warhammer 40k are great moves from Games Workshop to attract new players. The fact that you only need one box to start is perfect in my opinion. And I hear that Spearhead games are great fun!

    However, the Ultimate Starter Set may look too expensive to buy outright if you have never been introduced to Warhammer before. Having to dish out 130 pounds for a box full of plastic toy soldiers is too much for a parent to buy on a whim, let alone a kid that has no income.

    I think the Warhammer Age Of Sigmar Ultimate Starter Set is a hard sell for a potential new player. Even if it is still cheaper than buying all of the items separately, I wouldn’t want to spend all that money.

    On the other hand, the Introductory Starter Set on the other hand is actually very bad value because it doesn’t provide the full experience like the Ultimate Starter Set does.

    Starting Warhammer too hard! What to do?

    In my opinion Games Workshop should get rid of the three starter sets boxes proposition.

    Instead, they should provide one single box that contains the full experience. And I mean the full experience. It should also contain dice (why on her earth aren’t there dice in the box), rulers, the whole shabang.

    Most of all it should be cheap. Ideally the box would be a loss leader. Good value for money so that it’s an easy sell  and it should provide the whole Warhammer experience. Basically make the Ultimate Starter Set but cheaper so that it becomes an insta-buy for people to buy on a whim.

    But what do you think? Do you like the 3 starter sets that Games Workshop currently offers? Are these Warhammer Starter Set well placed? Or what would you change? Let me know in the comments!

  • The ONE secret to paint more minis. How to keep your Warhammer motivation

    The ONE secret to paint more minis. How to keep your Warhammer motivation

    Painting Warhammer is a lot of work. Let’s face it: you have to build the thing, then paint the thing. And that can take a lot of time and energy. Sometimes I find this overwhelming. It’s really hard and it’s way easier to buy more minis. It’s easy for me to lose my Warhammer motivation and it’s difficult to find it again. I want to paint more minis, not buy more minis.

    Last week I really wanted to paint something. I had a free evening after work and my wife was looking after the baby. I had the time, I had the space. But I didn’t have the motivation to get started. After much tribulation, I cleared my desk. I set my paint station in order. That alone really made me want to put brush to hand and get painting!

    So what do I do when I lose my hobby mojo? In this article I’ll try to explain my method. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to implement! I call it the Paint The Boot method.

    Motivation is a lie

    The first thing to understand and keep in mind is that motivation is a trap. Motivation is a fickle lady. See, you can’t really rely on it when you need it, because it’s not always there.

    It’s an emotion that tends to always run away the moment you have time to hobby! It happens to me all the time. Picture this.

    It’s a Sunday afternoon, I’m free from chores and I can do whatever I want. Result? I just watch TV all afternoon. When evening comes around, I’m frustrated. I haven’t done anything meaningful with the time I was given. Yes, well said Gandalf. I was waiting for motivation to arrive and do some hobbying, but it never showed up.

    How to keep your Warhammer motivation up?

    Alarielle the everqueen box for the Sylvaneth faction in Warhammer Age of Sigmar
    Cheeky photo of my collection, too much Warhammer?

    The secret here is that you can create motivation yourself instead. No need to wait around – just go and do it. The phrase that I really like to remind myself is this one:

    Activation comes before motivation.

    That’s right, you have to kick yourself into gear first, then motivation will arrive!

    My trick for this is to limit my expectation to only do one very small thing. I call this the “Paint The Boot” method.

    The “Paint The Boot” method and how it can help you paint more minis

    The name of the method should already tell you all that you need to know. Just Paint The Boot!

    By setting my expectations low, I can just focus on one small thing which is really easy to achieve. This way I’ll get my dopamine hit as soon as I finish painting the thing I set to paint. This kickstarts the motivation I need to carry on!

    For me, this looks like painting one boot on one miniature. I sit myself to the desk, then force myself to paint this one boot. After that’s done, I want to go ahead and paint the other boot. Then I’ll finish the trousers. And so on…

    And just like that my 10 minutes painting session becomes a 2-hours one!

    Adapt the Paint the Boot method to your needs

    The heroes and hunters box for warhammer underworlds and other miniatures boxes in the background
    A little peak at (part of !) my backlog, will I paint all the minis?

    Now, the method states to Paint A Boot. However, you don’t have to be so restrictive with this method. You can adapt it to better suits your needs. In fact, you don’t even have to paint anything. As long as you sit down and do something with your hobby, you are winning already.

    Here are a few example variations of my method and how I like to change it up to keep me motivated and paint more minis:

    • Tidy up the hobby space. This is a great one if you are feel sluggish. It helps a lot when feeling burnt down as you don’t have to paint anything. Just make your hobby space nice and tidy.
    • Build a model. Again, this is a great one to get a break from painting. I really enjoy building minis because I don’t really need to think about it, I just do it.
    • Prime minis. I like this one because it really quick! if you have a spray can you can do it in no time. Personally I enjoy using my airbrush for this because, like building miniatures, you don’t really have to think. It’s just one colour!
    • Build list for your army. This one is awesome because it hypes me up to get a whole army ready to go.
    • Play a game. Nothing better than rolling dice and smash your friends with a fully painted collection. This will absolutely make you want to get to the painting desk!

    As you can see you can adapt and change it up as you like. Let me know how you adapt this method to your needs. Always happy to hear how others keep their Warhammer motivation.

    Bring back your Warhammer motivation and paint more minis!

    So remember, the key here is to nudge yourself to start. This will create a landslide motivation loop that will keep you going without even realising it! You’ll even finish your entire army this way.

    What about you? Do you agree with my Paint The Boot method? Maybe you have another way to overcome the lack of hobby motivation? Let me know in the comments! Until next time

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