Profiting from Necromunda
Recently I've gotten pumped about the idea of Necromunda.
I think it will be difficult for Games Workshop to produce Necromunda the same way it was produced back in the day. For one, they no longer make pewter miniatures, and the resin ranges are disappearing. These means of production suit smaller scaled range of miniatures. The company is now geared towards large scale miniature production, many mens and big machines. It would be difficult producing the variety of gang sets that once graced the hives of Necromunda.
If a customer buys in to a certain gang, it means there are several different gangs they will not be buying. The smaller size of gangs (compared to full armies) means that customers are also buying less models. There’s also the problem of scenery. Necromunda traditionally uses multi-level scenery and all of the Specialty Games of late are supplied with 2D boards.
An Introductory box set for Necromunda has got to feature models without gang affiliations (like betrayal at Calth was wise enough to do), and a variety of outfitting options. It would be so cool if the gang models had terrain pieces included on the same sprue. Necromunda needs cool terrain. Asking gamers to make it all themselves steals time away from hobbying, and is a missed opportunity to make money. It amps the size of sets that would contain relatively small amount of models. Customers can not avoid acquiring the scenery needed to make the game fun and engaging.
The coolest thing they could do is change the sprue so that all the gates (paths plastic is poured through) looks like terrain junk. People often use the excess plastic left over in the sprue to make terrain, but what if that excess stuff came already looking like ladders and I-beam and cables and pipes. There are resin model companies out there already doing this.
Forge World is best geared to producing the individual models we used to buy in pewter. I think whatever happens when Blood Bowl is released will give hints of what to expect with Necromunda.
If we only get Human and Ork teams then perhaps we should expect something similar for Necromunda… BUT if Forge World steps up and supplies addition factions, then perhaps they too will be the major supporters of Necromunda.
I totally understand if GW decides to make all of its Specialist Games 'one off' box sets that never need additional support. After throwing so much support behind the Lord of the Rings line, they received very little payoff.
Necromunda is the perfect game for growing the hobby. It only requires a small purchase to get into, its easy to travel with, less competitive but to be done right it certainly requires a great deal of support on the part of GW, so if they want to make it just a one off thing, I'd rather they simply not do it at all.