We have 2 minor tidbits for you today.
1) There is further scuttlebutt on various forums that 40k 5th Edition is confirmed for Q3 (Aug-Oct) 2008. GW likes to release something "big" right around Gamesday UK, so it seems possible. I believe that would put 4th's lifespan at right at 4 years, so not to bad. Once again, this rumor is getting confirmations from some normally reliable community sources.
2) Just a bit of business news; Tom Kirby the current CEO of GW has stepped down and is assuming a Chairman role. Mark Wells, the Head of Sales is taking on the mantle of CEO. We will have to wait and see what this means for GW's future product and marketing strategy.
19 comments:
I was wondering when news and rumors of this was gonna apper on here, I have heard rumors all over the net for the past 3 weeks
Tom Kirby stepping down makes sense- he's had no new big business ventures since LOTR, and it looks like the Hobbit isn't going to surface anytime soon and get more people into the hobby.
5 years? Didn't 4th ed come out Oct 2004? That'd make it 4 years, or am I mistaken?
oops, it is 4 years, ...fixed!
Thanks for the info. Has there been any comments about any rule changes themselves or have I missed themm in a previous post?
I've heard rumblings of IC and vehicle rule changes. My money is on skimmers moving fast count as obscured and the being only 1 vehicle damage table (like apoc)
i just hope we dopnt lose the ability to destroy vehicles on a glancing hit, i like that chance to nuke tanks on a 6.
im on the fence about the new rending. i play eldar and tyranids to my clowns and stealers will get hurt, but i think ill make the trade to tone down asscannon landspeer spam army of doom.
the proposed skimmer rules are decent,.
yes i agree with dave...doom should be able to fix things mostly for the clowns though. see you in hell termie/skimmer asscan spam.
sadly i dont run farseers in my eldar amry, but then again, i rarely charge my clowns at anything that has T5 or higher either.
I saw the first 5th ed rumour and watched it snowball everyone that posts seems to add something from their own wish-list and three or four posts later that wish is now established fact. I went to the source of the rumour a short post in Italian, did the translation and guess what. It was the interviewer asking about 5th ed not the interviewee who did not seem know anything about an upcoming 5th ed!
It will be interesting to count down the months until the supposed release date and see what happens, could the fanboys push GW to release 5th ed two years early?
Would the company make a cheap grab for cash?
Lets wait and see.
OBTW if anyone cares to do the leg work and track down the start of the rumour? This may be a hard thing to do as it seems the mods have closed down he earlier threads and removed them. With no proof of life the rumour threads keep coming out. Anyhow here you go a link to nineteen pages of drivel. http://warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113113
Such is life.
A link to the Italian page so that you can read the interview in Italian! http://www.forumgwtilea.it/cms/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&Itemid=&gid=25&orderby=dmdatecounter&ascdesc=DESC
For me, the initial Italian interview was just the spark that got folks talking about 5th edition, and I put no weight on it.
It was the repeated confirmations and details added by Brimstone that peaked my curiosity.
Brimstone is pretty much 90-100% accurate, and very carefully parses the info he dribbled out. One way of another, he gets good info.
bigred, I notice that Brimstone pulls a lot of threads on Warseer if they seem to cross some sort of line. A thing that has happened to a number of the 5th ed posts, the oldlder posts have been removed so as to obscure the source.
I feel that a release of a new rule book is a tad early this system could be played for a couple more years before it needs rewriting. There are some codexes that have not been rewritten and they deserve to be printed first.
CoD and Apocalypse will hold the game over for a year or two at least, giving time for more codexes to be released then they can focus on a new rules release.
Many of the things in the 5th ed threads are just reprints of wishful thinking copied from one forum to another by blind 'fan-boys'.
From where I sit it is like watching the Salem witch trials starting up. Whispers and lies become truth for those that want them to.
http://ddpunk6.tripod.com/salemwitches/id1.html
I think an August release for 5th edition is quite possible, because I think it must be on the horizon. There’s too many quirks and bugs that they’re not addressed with the new codex, and are even adding more. Also, it’s UK Gamesday, so it’d be a splash for that. And, with APOC doing well, they may need the revenue from a new edition. As to why GW doesn’t confirm this? The six month window and GW takes a lot of heat if they say 5th edition is an August 08 release, and for whatever reason, it’s either pushed back or pushed up. Frankly, I think it’s plausible they’d release a new edition next year, and that reliable sources are supporting it, that just reinforces the idea.
If you look at the recent codeci, one of the things that jumps out at me is that ICs can’t take retinues – they can’t start as part of a squad. Which means they have no transport option. Especially for a drop-podding army, this is problem. The captain arrives first and waits for 2+ turns for the troops to show up? I was at Adepticon last year and went to one of Jervis’ discussions. People were pointing out some quirks in the rules. One of which was that a drop-pod Black Templar army resulted in the Emp’s Champ being on the board by himself (just as a BA would have to do). Jervis’ comment was something to the effect of, ‘I’m pretty sure that’s not what was intended, but I realize that by the rules, that’s what does happen. I’ll take it back to the design team.’ Which makes me think that there are a number of little rules/quirks that 5th edition will address. Another comment was how Ghazkull Thraka has a great mini, but it’s not a good tactical choice, since he’s armed with power klaws, and often his killzone is cleared by Initiative 1.
The single damage chart in Apoc certainly suggests it’s a trial balloon. GW used to do this all the time – whether it was the trial assault rules or a separate game (like GorkaMorka, which iirc, was a trial for some of 3rd edition rules).
If you look at the Orky damage chart for trukks, it’s much worse to take a penetrating Immobilized or Weapon Destroyed than to take a penetrating Vehicle Destroyed. That doesn’t make sense to me, so I suspect that the results from penetrating hits (like emergency disembarking) may change.
I'd liek to comment on the move of Tom Kirby.
I think it's not a great move for him to go from CEO to Chairman, especially as they'e a listed company in the UK.
A move like that flies in the face of Corporate Governance and for the US guys it kinda sticks it Sarbanes Oxley.
I'm not sure this sounds good for a multi-national company - they should be displaying good corporate governance (acting in the interests of shareholders and others affected by the business) and this action goes against all guidelines in place.
It concerns me that the man that has just set the 5 year strategy of GW is now the person that will be approving it and calling the new CEO to account if they don't deliver it.
Sorry for being totally un-hobby with this comment, but it makes me wonder what the future of GW will be like?
Discuss!
Well, Cloud Runner, SOx only applies to companies listed on the various American stock exchanges, the NYSE being the largest. LSE:GAW is not so listed, and so does not need to comply with that particular piece of onerous legislation - and with the UK having it's own well established financial services authority, it's not necessary.
But looking at their published financials - cash flow is decreasing, long term debt is up. At least they got their operating line refi'd... they'll be around for some time, at least. I just wonder how a new CEO from a Sales background is going to affect their product development plans.
I was reading the 2007 Full year financials last night. Reading the Pres preamble from 2003 to current shows some of the mindset over time. The 2007 sums it up well with needing to place focus back on customer service, sales and reducing operating costs.
The profit margin looks fine but operating expense is eating it up. Which is why they have cost reduction plans in place to reverse this. They are going through a business process many companies go through. They were resting on past success and got caught with the pants down.
As a public company they have a duty to the shareholders to be profitable so a change of head was needed since the decline has been a 3 year trend. I'd expect an upturn in 2009 with 2008 used to stem the bleed out with the reorg.
Don't get me wrong, I'm painfully aware of the UK position regarding SOX and lack thereof.
I was commenting on the fact that they're a listed PLC and should adhere to the Combined Code - I know it's just guidelines and I'm assuming they'll explain any departures - guess it had been a bit too much revision for tomorrows exam on it (gotta love Ethics!)
Just concerned that the uy that's recently set strategy is going to be measuring the new guys against it is all.
As for the future, I hope it does go towards the customer focus - it certainly would be appreciated.
Thanks for the info on the financials - haven't picked them up yet, but intend to soon.
Sorry, slipped on the post button
Don't forget they don't oly have a duty to shareholders, but to all stakeholders in their business, which we as gamers a one of the largest.
As we all know, strategy tends to be slow in the implementation, especially within an organisation as large as GW.
I agree that 2009 should be the start of the time we see the benefits form such a change and only hope that it will be for the best interest of all concerned.
The price margin is not fine, really. My club sells the minis at 25 percent off, and still makes a profit.
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