An Open Letter to Games Workshop: 10 reasons Specialist Games need to come back.

Been thinking about this for quite some time. Ever since GW decided to give them the axe really. I think GW has already made some great strides in trying to have more open interaction with their community, especially on the digital release front. But i also know there is a large part of the community - those who were very dedicated to the specialist systems - who have been completely shut out in the dark regarding a big part of their hobby. Now obviously specialist games were smaller than the majority in the gaming community, but that is not to say they were unpopular. Take a look around the net and you will see that a lot of people do still play the systems. Not so much the Warmaster line for fantasy, but definitely Mordheim, 40k Epic, Blood Bowl, and the largest, Battlefleet Gothic. For GW - Here is 10 reasons why you have to bring these back. Letter follows below.
To Whom it may Concern,

In recent times, you have made the decision to remove the Specialist Games and sell off all remaining stock of products. While there has been an admirable focus on new Fantasy and 40k product which i am very grateful for lately, i do also lament the loss of the Specialist Games. While they maybe hadn't sold particularly well in recent years, these games were supported by a large chunk of hobbyists across the globe. The games were relatively well balanced - with a few exceptions -, had robust rules, great fluff, and interesting models and units. While it may never be on the cards again, here are some reasons why I strongly think they should be revived and really shown off to an embracing community who are willing to buy the products. I started at 10 and worked my way to 1, from weakest to strongest in my personal opinion. Here goes....

10) A lot of people still play these games!

Even though this is not an all encompassing view, this is likely a fairly accurate assessment to some extent. The numbers speak for themselves. Battlefleet Gothic in particular is still played by a lot of people out there, along with Blood Bowl. If bringing any of the systems back, the argument could be made for either one or both of these should be the priorities. But when systems are still played this much compared to much newer systems from competitors, if you provide some new and interesting product support for your own, people will buy the goods. 

9) They Expand the universes of the Main Game systems

With the release of the Battlefleet Gothic, we got to experience what the Void based warfare in the 41st millennium was like. Add in 40k supplement books like the Eye of Terror and Armageddon Codexes that were released, and we had incentive to engage in pivotal battles for sectors in campaigns, which were pretty important in particular for the Eye of Terror Campaign for the Imperials. Finding out how the Terminus Est was used by chaos to spread the Zombie Plague across the Cadian sector was interesting, as was the insight provided into how Abbadon utilized his fleets when conducting his Black Crusades. Add in the use of void-bound fighters and bombers against their respective torpedo and ship targets and you really got a sense of how the different units made sense and were used. With Epic, you had the Armageddon campaigns that were huge scale conflicts across the planet that had impact on the 40k games to some extent. This stuff was all great as it gave players of all systems the chance to work together to accomplish goals in the campaigns and didn't leave anyone out. Every game had its uses and was fun for all. There hasn't been any of this type of thing in recent years, and is probably a big reason you very rarely saw these systems being played at your local stores. It didn't mean that people weren't still playing them though. Mordheim has been particularly popular in private gaming circles for years even though its never in stores.

8) It brings the hobby community closer together.

Fewer stronger examples exist of this than the Eye of Terror campaign. This was a perfect example of how multiple game systems and hobbyist worked together with synergy that hasn't been seen since. Many Chaos players used online communication to coordinate their movements on attacks and defense, while the Imperials for the most part neglected such resources. This led to them being almost swept out of the space around Cadia AND losing most of its surface to Abbadon and his hordes. Only after a last ditch effort were the able to regain control of the space around it, but they had ultimately lost the important part - Cadia itself. This was in large to the fact that the chaos side as a community were far more concerted in their efforts, and this was across both the 40k games and the Battlefleet Gothic games, which led to such great success. More focus on such events and support for them would be a really good thing for this hobby, especially for the newer players who have never experienced it. GW really needs to recapture this aspect of the hobby I think.

7) Some of the coolest Forge World Units were inspired from Specialist Games

Baneblades, Gargantuan Squiggoths, Valkyries, Titans..... all of these awesome models were once nothing but tiny little Epic minis for that game system. Forge World did a great job of adapting many of these into larger scale products for 40k in later years, and even made some of their own models to support Epic. Specialist games allowed a large number of previously unused or unseen models to be fielded on the tabletop. Many of these units seem mainstream in 40k fluff today such as the Warhound or Revenant Titans, but a large group of them started out in Epic, and may never have seen creation if not for the flexibility of such games systems. Today we are thankful to have hundreds of really nice models available from both GW and Forge World, but a big chunk of them are originally pulled from these older games, which a lot of the younger crowd likely didn't know. If the games were brought back, there is even more that we could end up seeing, especially since the advent of the Apocalypse system, and the datasheet mechanics which it allows.

6) Ease of Re-establishing rules and support.

Since the specialist game systems already have some pretty solid and robust rules, and have really only been out of circulation for a short time, most wouldn't really need a complete overhaul. Epic 40k is probably the one in need of the most work as so much has changed with 40k since its inception, but it wouldn't really be difficult to do. As previously said, there are plenty of people out there who are just waiting for something to happen with their specialist games so that they can jump back in with renewed fervor, you just have to be willing to give them something to get. Every single specialist games system has potential to be a goldmine if they are given the attention that they need to do so. plenty of people asked about this, but due to seeing no particular care given to it, did not pick it up. It does not take much effort to establish a good community and drive behind these games. Digital Releases have proved that there is a lot more interest behind some of the more niche areas of the fluff/hobby for people.

5) Advances in Product Technology

 (Picture courtesy of Sons of Twilight blog)

A minor reason, aside from lack of support, for certain specialist games not selling well, may also be attributed to the fact that, in some cases, models are EXTREMELY old. Some having been around since before i even started hobbying. When models get this long in the tooth it can be glaringly obvious how great the leaps in manufacturing have come. However, the design process has made monumental strides in all of these areas since these games were first around. This particularly applies to Epic 40k and Battlefleet Gothic, where the limitations of the time, really probably hindered sales on some of the models. But with the new processes available and being used by GW in their manufacturing processes, this is all a thing of the past. Models now have an unprecedented amount of detail, and if GW were to revisit these games, and renew the models in plastic kits across the board, the difference in quality would be substantial. Even for how old they are, if you take a look at the details of the old tanks, they are still surprisingly good considering what the designers originally had to work with. Forge World were also able to coax a great amount of detail out of such tiny models with relatively minor effort, so think what both divisions could do for these games if they actually put their minds to it. It should also be noted that, while it may cost a little to redo the models in plastic, the actual cost of making each model once this is done would be incredibly cheap as they would use a very minimal amount of material.

4) The Success of The Horus Heresy.

What Forge World attempted with the Horus Heresy was risky. They poured a lot of money into something that at the time even though a great idea, was largely unproven as a game expansion. It was genius. The Horus Heresy game and models sell really well across a lot of Imperial players in the hobby, which are the bigger part of the 40k side of the hobby. What Forge World proved, was that if you spend the time, and the effort, you can make something really special that, despite being a bit of a jump financially for a lot of players, they are willing to do it for a good game and good rules. The same can be said with the Specialist lines. There was always less of an entry tag with them to begin with anyway, but people still spent a good amount of money on their tiny armies for Epic, or their imposing fleets in Battlefleet Gothic - not to forget the amount of time and effort I've seen be spent on some amazing Blood Bowl teams - and most armies had a lot of character to them. Not to mention the massive amount of Crossover opportunity that GW now has with the success of the Horus Heresy. I am telling you right now that nearly every Battle-fleet Gothic players would be all over the idea to play using Heresy Era ships and fleets. How amazing would it be to be able to use Primarch Flagships? And in Epic, basically all of the Horus Heresy units could be easily ported over. This can generate a lot of easy money if enough thought its given to it.

3) Enticing entry to the hobby.

As with any fantasy/sci-fi universe, there are those who it may appeal to, but also those who may not see a clear area for them to fit into it. For example, i have a lot of friends who love space and spaceships, but not so much ground warfare that one encounters with 40k. Or those who like fantasy, who like battles more in scale with historic/realistic lines rather than skirmishes. Warmaster offered this to anyone who wanted it, and it was cool to see. it looked more like you had an army of thousands strong clashing with another rather than the smaller scale skirmishes that are what is more often reflected in Fantasy. These reasons often let people talk themselves out of participating in the hobby in some ways. However, when they exist, and people start playing them, they quickly find themselves drawn more heavily into the background, or how their actions would influence the bigger picture of a campaign, and often, before they know it, they have spent another bunch of cash on starting a mainstream army to go along with their Specialist game. Being more affordable, these games allow a lot of people to get their feet wet in the hobby so to speak, and decide whether they want to do it, without risking quite so much as when starting a main army. It does however mean that either way, they are spending some money, rather than no money, as happens when they don't have these sorts of games to get them hooked.

2) Lower cost in manufacturing and initial loss.

With the removal of all non-essential metal products from GWs supplies, they are able to save a significant amount of money on materials. Plastic is cheap, is the molds that cost. however, molds for the Specialist games are potentially much less in cost due to their smaller sizes. Meaning the amount of money in overall product design and mold cost would be a lot less than for their standard line games. A pack of 10 Leman Russ tanks for Epic 40k used to be $50 in metal. The same pack, but better quality and detail in plastic could easily only be between $30-$40 in cost to buy. For a higher quality model set, this would be totally reasonable, not to mention you are getting 10 tanks for your army versus less than one in the 40k equivalent. But this doesn't mean that players will buy less since it is cheaper. It is relatively obvious that in a lot of cases, when there is a sale, and people feel like they are saving a bit, they end up spending more anyway on other products because they have money left over. Cheaper box sets for the Specialist games does not necessarily mean less sales at all. in fact, it can mean more. For Example, two boxes of Epic 40k Leman Russ Tank Battalions, could be between $60-$100 depending on your pricing, but for 20 of them, a lot of players would be more than ok with this. That's up to $100 on two boxes, rather than the person buying maybe one 40k scale Leman Russ for $49.96 or whatever it is now. When people feel they are already paying a lot of money for less, they will buy less at once. If it feels like a saving, people more often than not, spend more. slightly lower cost Specialist models, with an even cheaper manufacture cost, is more money for every single one that is bought.

1) Everyone Wins.

In summary, this is good for everyone, especially GW. You get to spend very little in money, for much higher return on the models produced. Players get the games they love back, plus new models and rules. Those people, and many new ones, buy a bunch of new stuff with the releases and you make easy money. Some of those same people branch into your main game systems and start new armies, making you even more money. Supplements include scenarios/rules for the relevant specialist games, and in turn, the community grows, and has much more synergy than ever before. Happy customers buy more stuff, you make more money - Everyone is happy. This whole process would not be difficult or even expensive to do, and as with anything else, you get back what you put in. But, thanks to the original games, this isn't nearly as much effort as starting a new game from scratch. 

Sorry for the length, but i felt the need to get this down as soon as it came to mind, and I think there are plenty of people in the community with a will and ideas enough to make this work if you just listen to them about it. Hopefully one day this will perhaps be a real possibility.

Sincerely,

Games Workshop hobbyists and Specialist Gamers across the world.