How would the Death of GW affect your gaming?

I'm just curious.  How would the death of GW affect your gaming?  Do you have lots of many sunk into GW figures and armies like I do?  Do you use them for other gaming systems?

I'm curious to learn what other people do with their figures.  I'm using GW High Elves for a generic fantasy game this afternoon at a local gaming shop.

Regards,
Blake

28mm ECW AAR - 18JAN14

I ran a 28mm English Civil War game at Wargamers Cave in Granite City, IL on Saturday, January 18th.  My players were Glenn Wilson (Warbeads), Steve Hood (Combat Colours), Kevin Joyce, and Don Cox.  Glenn and Steve were the Royalists.  Don and Kevin were the Parliamentarians.  I didn't bother to let them have cuirassier or cannons this game.  It was infantry and cavalry.  We used Warhammer ECW for rules.

The jokers had fun at my expense.  I was told I didn't want to do "serious" gaming like certain people in St. Louis who still play Empire.  The jokes went downhill from there.  However, the battle see-sawed until the Parliamentarians lost both their horse regiments and an infantry regiment by the end of turn 5.  The game was then conceded.

Here are some photos of the Royalists and their "commoner" opponents:

                                         Beginning of the battle.

                                          Parliamentarian and Royalist cavalry in melee.

                                          Parliamentarian infantry try and reform in the face of the Royalist advance.

                                          Near the end of turn 4.

28mm Darkest Africa AAR: 27DEC13

The British fought the Germans in a Great War in Africa game using The Sword in Africa.  A company of British regulars took on a platoon of German marines and a platoon of German askaris.  It was a downhill for the Germans.  Lance Western ran the British and Don Cox ran the Germans.  Here are some photos of the game:

                                          British and German firing lines at the beginning of the battle.

                                          Lance moves up his company of British regulars.

                                          What's left of Don Cox's units break on army morale.

With a view on the Titanic: GW stock drops 25%

http://www.lse.co.uk/SharePrice.asp?shareprice=GAW

Overview:
I've divorced myself from my GW addiction last year.  I haven't bought any Games Workshop product recently.  I'm still playing the 6th edition of WH40K with friends.  But I've given up on WHFB 8th edition.  I don't wish the company ill.  I believe they produce good looking models.  However, their current management needs to go.  They'll either driven the company in bankruptcy or or be forced to sell it in a fire sale.

Here is my reasoning:

1)  Games Workshop has upset its customer base.  No one is happy with GW.  Or I should say few people are.

2)  The company has been cranking out new releases no one can afford or wants.  And the initial cost of their basic box set is too expensive for most novice gamers.
     
3)  There has been little marketing of new supplements for WH40K or WHFB.

4)  Little thought has gone into play testing new product.

5)  New releases have been rushed to market to make up for the fact product hasn't been selling with said customer base.

6)  Specialist game lines have eliminated in the name of profitability.  This has further alienated the customer base who'd been buying their specialist games.

I could on about this Titanic.  The only thing I can say is I'm glad I'm not in charge of the shipwreck.

However, my problem is two-fold.  I own four different WH40K armies.  I'm willing to go to other game systems like Stargrunt II or an older edition of WH40K whenever the ship finally hits the iceberg.

I don't see GW's current management turning things around.  I see them selling the company to a large corporation that wants GW's IP for toy manufacturing or producing movies or video-games.  In order to turn things around, GW would have to lower the prices on their product lines and radically revamp their current WH40K and WHFB rules for the sake of playability and balance.

Good luck on that happening....

So, I'm sticking to my prediction of the impending financial train wreck that is Games Workshop.      
 

Review of The African Knights by Conrad Cairns

Author:  Conrad Cairns.
Title:  The African Knights - The Armies of Sokotu, Bornu, and Bagirmi in the Nineteenth Century.
Publisher:  Foundry Books.
Pages:  62.
Copyright:  2006.


Overview:
I bought this booklet for $15.00 when Foundry got rid of its books.  I wanted to learn more about the Muslim warriors of sub-Saharan Africa.  I thought I could come up with a The Sword and The Flame variant for it.  Alas, no one really makes figures or African knights in 28mm.  It's one of those weird colonial side shows that interests me for a while.  Then common sense reigns in...

Aside from that, I enjoyed the booklet.  It gave me information on armies I didn't know existed.  These armies were centered on the open plains and savannas of Nigeria.  But they were mopped up by British regulars and their askari troops when Nigeria was finally conquered in 1900.  

Unfortunately, I don't think The African Knights are currently available from Foundry.  I could be wrong.  

Recommended.

Review of Panzer Leader by Heinz Guderian

Author:  Heinz Guderian.
Title:  Panzer Leader.
Publisher:  Da Capo Press.
Pages:  523.
Copyright:  1996, 2002.
Price:  $18.50.

Overview:
This is a memoir by General Heinz Guderian.  He talks about the opening campaigns of the Second World War and his time as Chief of the General Staff under Adolf Hitler.  Guderian was known for his development of armored warfare and its use in spearheading offensives.   His victory in the Ardennes sealed the fate of the French army in June 1940.  Guderian also presided over the collapse of the German war effort on the Eastern Front in 1945.

The author is candid in what kept Germany from winning WWII and what went wrong.  I get a sense Guderian didn't really care about Hitler's tirades after he was called back to service as Chief of Staff in 1945.  By then, the war was lost.  It was just a matter how large an Allied victory would be.

Recommend reading for any serious or casual student of WWII.

Reading Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs

I decided to learn several foreign languages later this year.  One of those languages is ancient Egyptian.  I bought several books on learning to read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs for beginners.  I need to buy more books before I start teaching myself to read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

I'm wondering how much of a challenge this will be with my dyslexia.  But I'm up to it.

For the record (in addition to English), I took several years of German in high school and three semesters of Latin during my undergraduate years.  I don't know how much help they will be for me to learning reading middle Egyptian.

Here are the books I've bought so far:

1)  How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs by Mark Collier and Bill Manley.

2)  Easy Lessons in Egyptian Hieroglyphics by Sir. E. A. Wallis Budge.

I'll see how this project progresses as I get more books...