No more new Warhammer Forge

[eldargal]

Sad official news.

I know that there had been rumors about Forge World reducing its Warhammer Fantasy focused staff to a minimum. Well, I wrote to them, and got a definitive answer that they've removed all their resources from Warhammer Fantasy because there is no demand for it, and that we shouldn't expect anything from them in that capacity unless the marketplace does a 180˚.

Thought you might want to know. 'Tis a sad day.
From Darnok on Warseer.

This is their own sodding fault. They shifted focus from campaign books, new units and conversion kits which people wanted to large monsters people were only ever going to buy one of at most and then they wonder why demand was low.

[Mr Mystery]

I'd want to see a copy of that letter.

Professional peccadillo.

[Throne Agent]

I can imagine thats true, the demand for Horus Heresy stuff is huge, they're a limited team and are best focused on that to make money on it while its still growing, it'll level out once the excitement has worn off and they can focus on the rest of their stable.

[Gotthammer]

They admitted at the start of the project that a lot of new units would be hard to make due to the $ cost vs points cost imbalance. The example used was Hobgoblins, which might be 2pts each, but at WForge prices few people would buy the quantities needed for a unit to justify producing such a unit. If they'd copied FW's model of add-ons that go with the latest army book release they'd get more people into it I feel. Like with the new Wood Elves make some conversion kits for, say, the Sisters of the Thorn to make them archers on Unicorns or the like. But that would also need them to put out rules and that would mean actually making more than one book... :/

[Wildeybeast]

All of the above are good points, but it basically comes down to this: they aren't Space Marines. FW basically exists now purely to make Space Marines. When was the last time they produced anything for 40k that wasn't Space Marines? HH is basically Space Marines with the odd Mechanicum kit to fight alongside Space Marines. I don't like it, but money talks and people want Space Marines. It's sad that the fantasy side of the hobby is suffering, but GW are just giving people what they want.

[Houghten]

Welp.

I guess I'll just have to scratchbuild my own Khemric Titan, then.

[Slinkyskink]

This is...awful.

I agree with everyone's points about why, and I'm feeling very lucky I got my dread saurian released. (Best of luck building your Khemric Titan, Houghten..please post pics if the project goes ahead. :D)

It's a long story, but I decided recently that I've had enough of 40k, (despite owning a very old genestealer cult, a hell of a lot of nice and my alpha legion). To put more time and love into my first and foremost, WFB.

I hear this news today, and I'm deeply saddened. (And thank the old ones its not on the BOLS front page...)

The Heresy Line is great and all, but it all makes my blood boil. I don't need a thousand variants of the same tanks and all that. Some of it seems...excessive. But as said, Mahreens are sadly the money-maker.. Sigh. I'm sorry, that was a rant. Fantasy means a lot to me.

Thanks for the news Eldargal.

[Clymer]

I am completely unsurprised. They had a few obvious hits like Rhinox riders and the carmine dragon, but maybe 90% of their stuff my first reaction was, "Who on earth would want that?" The giant monsters often looked weirdly out of scale with everything else, even when they had cool sculpts. Many of the monsters that had cool sculpts, like the carmine dragon, weren't going to hit the table top much because who can afford to field a dragon in an Empire list?

With only a few exceptions, their total concept seemed to misfire from the start. I play Empire, and if I wanted to, I could float FW prices. Nontheless, they never seemed to have anything on offer that was worth the price to me.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

I'm one of the few who didn't really see the appeal of Warhammer Forge to start with, so I am not saddened by this at all. *shrug*
I can see why people might be affected though. As everyone has said, Marines make dollar.

[SecondJames]

Are they going to stop producing the stuff they already make?

[xcom]

Are they going to stop producing the stuff they already make?

Good question, there was a couple things I was thinking of buying.

[eldargal]

Are they going to stop producing the stuff they already make?

Apparently not. They will continue selling the current range.

[White Tiger88]

Apparently not. They will continue selling the current range.

Well that is good news that Emperor Fire Dragon is amazing........

[Insert_nickname_here]

I don't think they do that dragon anymore. It's been out of stock for months now.

[Darren Richardson]

damn this thread got me looking at the forge part of FW's site and damn, when did they do the Fimer? I remember them from Heroquest...,

and now I want some.....

Curse You Eldargirl for making me go to that neglected part of the site :p

[Voltigeur]

This is sad news, GW has mismanaged Warhammer almost to death. I'll never understand why they let their once flagship product whither away to such an extent.

[The Madman]

I know this will suck for those who started a chaos dwarf army; most of the units still need models.

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

Chaos Dwarfs are like the only army id ever collect in WHF, and they never bothered to complete the range so I've never started. Never had much interest in large monsters either which seems to be all they've done of late. IMO I think they should of finished off the Chaos Dwarf range, then expanded on things like the Fimir and do things like Cathay, Nippon ect.

[Balor]

Most WFB players already knew this and it has been said several times that FW has stopped for the most working on anything for WFB until they have fully worked through 30k. What they have offered to WFB has been minimal at best and creating half of the chaos dwarf army but leaving out 3 of the models that people want to field in every game. I'm not shocked in the least as WFB has a smaller community then 30k/40k and you also have a very limited range in Warhammer Forge that is hitting a sub-market of a sub-market.

[Marshal_Loss]

Will be disappointed if they don't end up releasing the K'Daii Destroyer...

[Brakkart]

Hmmm seems odd that they only recently added Trish Carden to the FW sculpting crew if this is true, as the "Mistress of Monsters" isn't exactly known for making 40k critters. I suppose she could be working on Tyranids but it's not her usual M.O by any means, she's always been a fantasy sculptor.

It's a sad loss either way and like several have said already it could have been avoided if they'd focused their fantasy range a bit differently. Go for providing options for existing GW units or things like Command Packs, Battle Standard Bearers and the like that are always popular, rather than just loads of big monsters. Alternative war machines would be a good way to go also, things like the Squig Gobber, the Land Ship or the Dwarven Axe-Hewer thing (which I know wasn't a FW creation, but a new version of it would be neat).

[Balor]

Will be disappointed if they don't end up releasing the K'Daii Destroyer...

Unless you are in the UK and can get it a little cheaper I would look at other model makers. I got a good amount of Chaos Dwarfs as a wedding gift but it is FW, they are ok model quality. I personally feel they are super overpriced for the amount of miscasts I get from them. If you want a K'Daai Destroyer here are two locations that you could get a alt model that will save you a good amount of money.

Also remember that this is FW's WIP K'Daai and you better love that design and be willing to pay a high price for it. But it has been a WIP for a few years now so who knows if they will ever finish it.
http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=12014 scroll down


Rothand Studios - I own this one and love it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXuNNRuO4cA

Titan-forge metal beards- should be for sale later this year.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1693348960/metal-beards-tabletop-dwarf-army/posts/837419

[artisturn]

There was a few things I would of loved to buy from Forgeworld for fantasy, but the price was so high once pounds were converted to US dollars and adding in shipping to send here to New Mexico.

There was no way I could justify spending that amount of money on stuff that wasn't even in the Orc and Goblin army book.

[Kaptain Badrukk]

But this does also mean that 30k now gets a bigger team, which means;
more Mechanicus
more Imperial Army
and maybe some Xenos!?!

[Steve Allmyownbattles]

Jeeze. This one is weeks old. If folks actually read the original thread on Warseer. What Darnok actually posted was shown to be nonsense by myself and a number of other posters. As usual Darnok argued his corner regardless of the obvious facts (such as the email a few of us had received from Forge World stating 'This is a false rumour. We do not have plans to stop selling our Warhammer models or releasing any more.' Eventually Darnok backed down and claimed he 'must have been tired and got confused' or words to that effect. This is old whispers and lies recycled as news. I'll happily forward the email to anyone who wants it.

[Balor]

The warhammer forge "Team" has been done for sometime now that is why we have seen so much 30K at a very fast pace for Forge World. Don't worry 30k is the cash cow I'm sure all that stuff is coming.

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

But this does also mean that 30k now gets a bigger team, which means;
more Mechanicus
more Imperial Army
and maybe some Xenos!?!

Some of the 30k alien races sound pretty awesome like the Laer and Megarachnids but I dont think they will touch that stuff.

[Slinkyskink]

The warhammer forge "Team" has been done for sometime now that is why we have seen so much 30K at a very fast pace for Forge World. Don't worry 30k is the cash cow I'm sure all that stuff is coming.

Regardless of whether this news is true or not, (as mentioned above by another poster) the fact is 30k IS the "cash cow" right now.
Everyone's entitled to their preference, be it 40/30k, I mean no ill will to them. For those of us who don't care for it It kinda grates that WFB is seen as the "lesser" game and less important cause it doesn't sell, or doesn't have guns and tanks, or whatever.

Sorry long rant, I'm tired with the bank holiday weekend, I just wish fantasy got the recognition it deserves sometimes, as others have said, there's so much potential.

[Balor]

Regardless of whether this news is true or not, (as mentioned above by another poster) the fact is 30k IS the "cash cow" right now.
Everyone's entitled to their preference, be it 40/30k, I mean no ill will to them. For those of us who don't care for it It kinda grates that WFB is seen as the "lesser" game and less important cause it doesn't sell, or doesn't have guns and tanks, or whatever.

Sorry long rant, I'm tired with the bank holiday weekend, I just wish fantasy got the recognition it deserves sometimes, as others have said, there's so much potential.

Friend, I'm not sure what you are trying to get at here? People that play WFB know it is a wonderful game and are enjoying the best or one of the best points in its life cycle right now. The community will never be as large as its GW counterpart game for whatever reason but that might be a good thing. The system has held steady sales with no great deviation in either direction. You can now days easily find the GW apologist on every corner next to the GW doomsayer and the GW hater.

[Marshal_Loss]

Unless you are in the UK and can get it a little cheaper I would look at other model makers. I got a good amount of Chaos Dwarfs as a wedding gift but it is FW, they are ok model quality. I personally feel they are super overpriced for the amount of miscasts I get from them. If you want a K'Daai Destroyer here are two locations that you could get a alt model that will save you a good amount of money.

Also remember that this is FW's WIP K'Daai and you better love that design and be willing to pay a high price for it. But it has been a WIP for a few years now so who knows if they will ever finish it.
http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=12014 scroll down


Rothand Studios - I own this one and love it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXuNNRuO4cA

Titan-forge metal beards- should be for sale later this year.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1693348960/metal-beards-tabletop-dwarf-army/posts/837419

Thanks for the links mate, will give them a look!

[daboarder]

From Darnok on Warseer.

This is their own sodding fault. They shifted focus from campaign books, new units and conversion kits which people wanted to large monsters people were only ever going to buy one of at most and then they wonder why demand was low.

yeah why they didnt just replicate the method they use in 40k I'll never know, their best models are elspeth, brucner, lietpold and turakhamun hands down

[Slinkyskink]

Friend, I'm not sure what you are trying to get at here? People that play WFB know it is a wonderful game and are enjoying the best or one of the best points in its life cycle right now. The community will never be as large as its GW counterpart game for whatever reason but that might be a good thing. The system has held steady sales with no great deviation in either direction. You can now days easily find the GW apologist on every corner next to the GW doomsayer and the GW hater.

..Yeah, sorry dude I was tired. I was agreeing with the cash cow statement you made.

..The rambly part could have been summarised as- "I love my game and its better than 40k in my eyes, no offence intended to others."

And I agree totally with everything you just said. I am neither apologist' hater nor doomsayer. Like yourself, I'm just here to enjoy my game. :-)

[eldargal]

yeah why they didnt just replicate the method they use in 40k I'll never know, their best models are elspeth, brucner, lietpold and turakhamun hands down
Yep, I mean I bought one of most of the monsters but I probably spent the same amount on Empire conversion kits and whatnot, if they had started making conversion kits for other armies I collect I would have done the same.

[daboarder]

Im going to have to try and get my hands on elspeth then before they decide not to re-cast the mold

[DrLove42]

Well i spoke to Tony (head of FW) at the Heresy weekend and asked about WHF. He said its not gone but will be "ona break" till next year now

[eldargal]

Hope that is true, kind of reluctant to believe them given they said it would be unaffected by 30k at all.

[daboarder]

to be fair though, everything has been affected by 30k, even the 40k stuff comes out at a snails pace (if at all)

[eldargal]

No doubt, but they also promised Imperial Armour wouldn't be affected by it.:p

[daboarder]

still waiting on that DE book aren't you eldargal?

[eldargal]

><

Yes.

[daboarder]

If it makes you feel better I half hope the rumours about a chaos Imperial armour were incorrect.

Of course the other half is willing to sacrifice innocents to the chaos gods to get it but thats by the by

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

the DE imperial armour one sounded quite cool from the sounds of it, as did that chaos one I remember them mentioning years ago. Then again I found the FW necron model releases to be pretty boring and uninspired compared to the Eldar ones so I'm not sure the DE are missing out on much. They never even did the necron characters from that book.

[Lord-Boofhead]

All of the above are good points, but it basically comes down to this: they aren't Space Marines. FW basically exists now purely to make Space Marines. When was the last time they produced anything for 40k that wasn't Space Marines? HH is basically Space Marines with the odd Mechanicum kit to fight alongside Space Marines. I don't like it, but money talks and people want Space Marines. It's sad that the fantasy side of the hobby is suffering, but GW are just giving people what they want.

Saddly true to the extent that you now can't buy an uncrewed Rapier and have to fork out an extra 4 pounds/$8 for one with space Marine crew...

[Lord-Boofhead]

No doubt, but they also promised Imperial Armour wouldn't be affected by it.:p

To be fair I suspect that they were holding off till the Astra Millitarium codex came out so the Elysians, Tallarns and Kreigers in the 2nd editions of books 3 to 7 didn't clash horribly with the New Dex.

[Kaptain Badrukk]

Just to re-iterate this has been debunked as a BS rumor.
Just can't find the thread now :(

[Gotthammer]

It may as well be true for how slow the releases are :/

[Wildeybeast]

Gott is right. Battle for Blackfire Pass has been indefinitely suspended (despite assurances HH would not affect it), there are no plans for any new books and the only models they have released for some time now have been monsters for Monstrous Arcanum, which are long over due. Once those are done, besides possibly doing some Chaos Dwarfs for the units from Tamurkhan that need models, without new books there is no point in doing new models. Warhammer Forge is effectively dead, whether they have officially pulled the plug makes no real difference.

[Darren Richardson]

yeah it diffo dead, the site now has only one piece of Warhammer Terrain now, when it had loads a year or so ago, which sucks as I was gonna eventually buy the Empire Cannon Emplacements for my Empire Nuln army....

which are now sadly gone the way of the dodo :(

[Lord-Boofhead]

2 things need to happen to make WhF a Viable thing.

1) the new edition needs to be more accommodating of battle Scrolls so I actually get to use my awesome over the top WF gribblies more than once a year.

2) They need to bring books out that cover stuff we actually care about. I don't care about some Random Nurgle Champion, Give me a book on the Vampire Wars culminating at the Battle of Hell Fen and I will buy the **** out of that book!

[Mr Mystery]

Hey, whoa...and indeed, whoa there Pedro!

HH has indeed taken up a lot of time, but then that's because they're right in the middle of defining the 18 Legions, providing them with rules, generic models, Legion specific units, Primarchs etc. That's an awful lot of work, and for HH to go well, they need to make sure all the Legions are covered as quickly as is reasonably possible.

That done? Well, there'll be a lot more books to come, but th ebulk of the models will already be out and about, yes?

That's when we can expect resources to be better distributed.

[Wildeybeast]

Sorry Mystery, but I think you are being wildly optimistic. We are talking about several years to get through the HH, and they aren't going to simply stop when they have covered all the legions. As long as the money keeps rolling in, they will keep producing books, and people are going to want campaign books to fight with their shiny new legions. They battle for Terra will be a massive money spinner. I wouldn't expect any redistribution of resources to Warhammer in the foreseeable future.

[Chronowraith]

I agree with Wildey. The Horus Heresy will take at least 2-3 years and they could potentially milk it for much longer. The first book came out almost 2 years ago and so far the story of the heresy hasn't moved very far (still on Isstvan). They still have a myriad of topics they *could* cover before they move on to the Siege of Terra.

If Horus Heresy sales slow down, the first step will be to return to publishing Imperial Armor books, not Warhammer campaign books. Why? Because 40k sells better (unfortunately).

My best guess is that *if* Forgeworld does go back to making Warhammer stuff with a dedicated staff of more than 1 person and publishing books it will be a minimum of 5 years. I'll gladly let Forgeworld prove me wrong but unless 9th edition WFB proves a massive success that causes Fantasy to eclipse the popularity of 40k I don't see them coming out with anything more than they have. So we might see two to three models per year if we are lucky.

[eldargal]

Yup and WF was already on life support with just monster released. Basically it is dead and maybe in a few years they will relaunch it is what we can hope for. Wouldn't be so cranky if they hadn't promised HH wouldn't affect WF and Ia at all.

[Wildeybeast]

I assume they never expected HH to be so popular and had every intention of keeping that promise, otherwise why bother making it. Though if HH is doing so well, you would think they could afford more staff for it.

[eldargal]

They said they were taking on more staff to help with HH to avoid what has happened so while I don't doubt they were sincere they still made a decision to focus all their efforts on HH after assuring everyone they wouldn't. Understandable in the sense that HH is a huge cash cow but it still means they lied.:(

[DWest]

It may also be that Brooks' Law- "adding more manpower to a late project makes it later" applies in this case. While Brooks was specifically talking about computer science, the problem he was referring to was that the task at hand was so complex that anyone who hadn't been there from the beginning had to be walked through the entire logic of the project step-by-step, eating up the time of someone who otherwise would have been working on it. While sculpting isn't computer science, I suspect that there's a similar hand-holding period as they make sure the newcomer gets dialed in to the aesthetic they're trying to create, in order for that person's pieces to blend in with the rest of the line. Again, not absolving them of lying, but we might see more being done once whatever new talent they've taken on are blended in to the workforce at large.

[Metacarpi]

I assume they never expected HH to be so popular and had every intention of keeping that promise, otherwise why bother making it. Though if HH is doing so well, you would think they could afford more staff for it.

Why would you hire more staff though? From a business point of view, if WHF isn't generating income the most sensible thing to do is to transfer those working on it into the areas of the business that are generating income - in this case the Horus Heresy stuff.

It makes me sad, because some of the WHF models are absolutely beautiful - I have several Plague Toads, a Greater Daemon of Nurgle, Curs'd Ettin, Kazyk the Befouled, and plan on purchasing several more (really tempted by a Carmine Dragon to use as a mount for a tooled up Chaos Lord - only problem is that he'll weigh in at a HUGE amount of points, meaning I'd need to be playing 3,000 points to realistically field him).

One thing I am thankful for is that Daemons are cross-system. Hopefully this means that their fantastic greater Daemon models (and hopefully stuff like the Plague Toads/Orges etc) will continue to survive if they should ever choose to finally pull the pluf on the WHF life-support.

[eldargal]

It wasn't generating income because they stopped producing things like conversion kits that people would buy a lot of and focused on large monsters which people would only buy one of. Tamurkhan was popular and people were really excited for more campaign books and then it just stopped even though we saw some quite far along work for the new campaign book Battle for Blackfire Pass. They mishandled WHF and then lied about transferring resources from it, that's really the problem.

[tiamat79]

Wonder if they will put all the fantasy items on a sale to get rid of them then?

[miteyheroes]

I suspect that if Rick Priestley hadn't left, things would be different. It was Rick who had the passion for the grand over-arching narrative, the 4 Chaos Lords (one for each God) all invading bits of the world in different directions, with Tamurkhan as the first and hitting the Empire. And that over-arching narrative was the whole point of Warhammer Forge, the thing that was going to drive their sales and direction. Rick leaving was a sad day.

[miteyheroes]

On the other hand, the whole End Times thing seems to basically be what Warhammer Forge wanted to do but done in the main studio. Big epic narrative, some key players dying, everything being shaken up, etc...

[Bumm1987]

It would be amazing if Forge World did something for the Time of Legends. Imagine being able to use Sigmar as a general in a game of Warhammer or Alcadizzar for a living Khemri army or any of the original skaven lords of decay like the Greylords that sat at the head of the council before the greater clans starting ousting them. That would be awesome. Maybe in the future if fantasy sales pick up with 9th.

[Ylyon]

such a pity.... their sculpts are amazing

[Lord-Boofhead]

Monstrous Arcanum seems to have vanished from the store. I wonder what that says about 9th ed?

[Wildeybeast]

Not much? It's been clear for some time that all support for Warhammer Forge was being pulled, mostly due to lack of profit and diverting of resources to HH. Given Forgeworld is still run as a separate business, I can't see how it would have any impact on 9th edition. End Times is much likely to have a hearing on the next editin.