I think that this is the most cogent argument that I've heard in a long time.
I knew John from a long way back, and you could not have accused him of being
a jerk, and you'd be mad to claim that he didn't love GW games.
Me and him both date back to the days of the original Space Marine game and
the Rogue Trader books. I've often referred to GW as "the lowest common
denominator" of gaming. No matter where in the world you go you can usually
rely on two things.
1) If you have a 40K, or even a WFB, army you'll be able to find opponants.
2) If you play a different minis game, even if you provide figs for both
players, finding opponants is like pulling teeth.
I think what may be biting GW in the ass now is that you can regain a certain
amount of your equity in a way that was never available before. Until
recently Ebaying your minis off just wasn't an option.
Speaking of, has anyone attempted to create AB files for WarMachine yet? I'm
trying to figure out how to create templates for the damage box system, but
it may be something that's beyond the program.
On Saturday 12 April 2003 10:07 am, John L. Martin wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve Mansfield" <steve@gametools.com>
>
> > But that aside, if they're such money-grubbing parasites, why do you
>
> continue
>
> > playing the game?
>
> In a word: equity. The process of purchasing an army and painting it
> creates a certain amount of equity in your army. If you quit playing, then
> you lose this equity.
>
> SO, when the rules change or game abilities change from edition to edition
> only to sell more miniatures...people get angry. Unfortunately, a person's
> only choice is to stop playing (and lose their equity) or to continue
> playing, often "under protest."
>
> BUT, that one change is not the end of the story! There will be another,
> and another, or perhaps the army you've collected goes they way of the dodo
> (Squats and Chaos Dwarves come to mind) OR the army you've collected is
> split and suddenly the mummies you had can't be used alongside your
> vampires any more. Unfortunately, a person's only choice is to stop
> playing (and lose their equity) or to continue playing, often "under
> protest."
>
> As you can see, to continue creates EVEN MORE equity and harder to quit
> until one day...the final straw is reached and all that anger finally turns
> to hatred. I have started to look for rulesets that are "no equity loss"
> (NEL)...otherwise known as generic. The premise is that you can use ANY
> company's miniatures to play the game and fit them into ANY army you can
> develop.
>
> Historicals are a NEL option because if you hate Napoleon's Battles, maybe
> Volley & Bayonet is the thing, or maybe Grande Armee. In these cases the
> army is still viable for any rules. For Fanatasy and Sci Fi, I play NEL
> games like Fantasy Rules!, Shock Force, Stargrunt, Full Thrust. If the
> system has a "design your own..." section you're all set.
>
> Once a person knows there is a NEL option, suddenly the world is your
> oyster...in fact, you can continue to play GW games (if you want) knowing
> that you can always play the NEL game which would preserve your investment.
>
> Oh and many of the NEL games like Fanatasy Rules! have army builder files
> available.
> John
> E-mail & WM:
jlmartin@wi.rr.com
> URL:
http://home.wi.rr.com/jlmartin
> "It is well that war is so terrible, or we should get too fond of it."
> Robert E. Lee
>
>
>
>
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