When I was about 14, I got heavily into Games Workshop’s products–namely Warhammer 40,000. While I rather enjoyed painting, modelling, and playing games with these models, I (and my parents) was not a big fan of the price tag. Although it wasn’t as bad back then, GW’s models were still extremely expensive.
Today these Space Marines would cost you around $40, without assembly and unpainted. And did I mention you’d need significantly more than this 1 box to have a basic game?
After a few years of wallet-draining (particularly unfortunate for me, living in far away New Zealand) I moved away from GW’s products and tabletop gaming in general.
Fast forward to a few months ago, and I realised I missed tabletop gaming. I talked to a friend who has tried a few different games by different companies, and he recommended to me a game called Malifaux by Wyrd Games which describes itself as:
Based in an alternate Earth, Malifaux uses gothic, steampunk, Victorian horror with a dose of the wild west to inject fun and depth into the magical lawlessness of a world rife with monsters, necropunks, man-machine hybrids, gunslingers, and power-hungry politicos.
I read “gothic, steampunk, Victorian horror” and I was hooked.
Partly because of the smaller model count per game, Malifaux is much cheaper than any tabletop games I’ve played before. The money spent on a single box of Space Marines could now be spent on a whole army, or “crew”, and I was happy.
Looking around other games such as Warmachine, Flames of War, etc, I was curious to note that GW’s prices tend to be the exception, not the rule. Because they have such a monopoly on the genre I suppose they can charge whatever they want.
Something I always found to be off putting about GW was the almost slimy reception I got when walking into the store, “Hello, how can I help you? Would you like to buy this month’s White Dwarf? Some new models maybe? Or perhaps this new $100 paint set?” They always seemed convinced they’d have me leaving the store with some new product or another when really I usually only turned up to browse or have a quick game with some like-minded fans.
And now to the point: for those of you stuck in the clutches of Games Workshop, there are other alternatives!
