Games development and miniature manufacturing. Whilst being two distinct businesses they are inherently intertwined and enjoy a symbiotic relationship. The better the miniatures the more inclined people are to enjoy table top war games with them, and similarly the better the rules set for the war games the more inclined people are to buy more miniatures to play with.

It comes as no surprise that the miniature and war game market is filled with companies that simultaneously live in both business spaces. It seems logical as one of the prime focuses of any company is the diversification of revenue streams and secondly the ability to benefit one revenue stream via the good work in another.

Unfortunately there is a down side to this business model from a gamers perspective. And this is what I want to discuss today.

Invariably there are two types of companies that live in the table top war game space, miniature designers/manufacturers that produce a game to boost miniature sales, and game design companies that design/manufacture miniatures to get more people to play their games. It just so happens that at this point in time the market is dominated by one company that excels in both areas. Games Workshop.

I don’t know the historical intricacies of Games Workshop the company but I have been around long enough to remember Citadel miniatures and my understanding is that at some stage Games Workshop "absorbed" them. Even in the 80s Citadel produced some of the best miniatures around and I am a big fan of what Games Workshop produce today. The advances in their plastic range over the last decade is commendable and many of their lead miniatures are simply fantastic.

Similarly Games Workshop has made great strides with each edition of their popular Warhammer Fantasy game and with 7th edition they have produced a very good rule set for table top war games and the game is as popular as ever, particularly in Australia.

However I often lament the fact that the same company that designs rules for a game that I love also produces the miniatures. Yes they are running a multi-national company and their responsibilities to their shareholders is of major importance, I understand all that. But purely from a gamer and customer's perspective I wish that the two business streams of Games Workshop were run by two completely separate entities.

There are two reasons for my feelings on this subject; namely the game design process being influenced by the drive to sell more miniatures and secondly the inability to completely focus on producing the best possible rule set with each army book and game edition release.

Lets look at the first item; games design process being influenced by selling more miniatures.

If I had to make a judgement call I would say that Games Workshop are in the "miniature company that produces a game" category, and this is unfortunate for us lovers of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. I don’t believe they started this way but the economics of it all have lead them down that path in my opinion. Over the last few years we have seen a plastic Giant model kit that came with a new set of rules allowing the vast majority of armies to field a giant. This was a nonsense when considered in game terms but made a lot of sense when you consider the extra giant models that would have been sold as a result. The most recent army (Ogre Kingdoms) was released with a great range of new plastic ogres and a new army book that was both character full and fun however the majority of the units in the army could once again be fielded as Dogs of War units in most other armies. This reeked of disregarding the game's balance and trying to increase sales and when you consider that several other armies are crying out for a new army book in Dark Elves, Lizardmen and Skaven (not to mention the much maligned Chaos Dwarfs and Dogs Of War) it was curious that an entirely new book was released at all.

The second item is perhaps the more serious and lamentable in my opinion. A company that is dedicated to producing the best possible set of rules for a table top war game will pride themselves on stringent standards with regards to their core rules and army book supplements. That would not be driven by other factors such as aiming rules releases to coincide with miniature releases and altering rules to cater for desirable miniature sales. In a worrying trend us gamers have seen an increase in poorly worded rules and "broken" combinations that dominate the tournament landscape. Merely days after a new army book is released there is a host of questions and queries circulating the various forums from player unsure the intent of the rules. Granted a lot of these queries are driven by one's desire to twist the rules in their favour and/or by the sheer stupidity of some players but it is hard to deny that Games Workshop have become somewhat "loose" of late with their releases. You sometimes sit back and wonder how thorough the play testing of new army books actually is.

I come from a software development background and with any software project there is a very stringent, planned and systematic approach to testing all aspects of the product before it goes into production. Even more so when you consider the release of computer games. Most computer game companies have multi-tiered beta releases of their product for many months involving thousands of people before their product is deemed fit to be released as final. In an ideal world GW would release a "beta" version of an army book in PDF format online months before the scheduled release and have a public forum where players could voice their opinions. If they want to filter this they could get a selection of prominent players from a few countries/regions and give them access to a private forum where more sensible discussion could take place. Now I am not naïve enough to suggest that something like this does not happen now, but whatever testing is currently conducted I dare say that it is not nearly enough.

Straight off the top of my head I can think of Bretonnian Pegasus Knights, Empire War Altar with Van Horseman's, 99% of the Wood Elf book, Tomb Kings magic, the Sylvanian list, not to mention all the current queries circulating about the new Vampire Counts book as things that were almost immediately recognised as detrimental to the balance of the game by hundreds of players around the world, but somehow were missed by the game's designers. It seems that now more than ever the gaming community is waiting with baited breath for an official FAQ to be released after an army book. And I don’t really want to go into the theories behind why it takes so long for GW to release said FAQs.

The point I am trying to make is that if a company was dedicated to designing and developing a game and it was their primary focus I think that most if not all of these issues would be resolved. I am not a Games Workshop "basher", I love what the company has done for table top war games and I am an avid player, tournament organiser and community leader for Warhammer Fantasy in Australia. I just wish I had more faith in the game's design process and was not dreading every new army book release waiting to see what imbalances the new list is going to introduce.