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GW: Age of Sigmar Brings in the Women

3 Minute Read
Jun 14 2018
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Age of Sigmar 2nd Edition is adding a lot of female models and they are doing it the right way.

It seems like every week we have another industry struggling and coming to terms with the reality that half the population is women and girls, and they want in on more and more activities that may have previously skewed more towards boys and men.  Companies are responding to different degrees and with different strategies to the new realities.

  • Some just have ignored the issue altogether and let the chips fall where they may regarding products.
  • Some are subtly adjusting formerly make-focussed product lines to include and be more approachable to women. (GW)
  • Some are jumping in with both feet and pulling out the stops to get more women buying their products. (WotC)

This is occurring broadly across society and is affecting everything from video games, to movies/TV, to even tabletop games.

GW is Moving Too

It turns out that if you look sharp you can see some slow but steady movement from Nottingham in this department. I would put them in the second group. They are adding more and more mixed gender models as new model ranges come along and are adding more heroines and female warriors to their universes. They are just putting out the models without any fanfare and letting the products speak for themselves – changing the facts on the ground without wearing it on their shoulder.

I think this is the best approach for tabletop wargaming. Tabletop wargaming is one of the most male-skewed sub-genres in analog gaming, with a gender ratio much more extreme than either RPGs or Boardgames. I’ll leave the reasons for this for you to speculate on, but I think taking a subtle but determined approach is the right move.

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During the past year, we’ve been seeing a lot of female artwork showing up in 40K codexes, and a lot of heroines in artwork and models arrive in Age of Sigmar. These have been strong vibrant figures that are identifiably feminine without being cheesecake. Most importantly the models are fantastic.  Take a quick look at these:

 

Welcome to Age of Sigmar 2

The pace is only accelerating, with several female models included in the early models and boxed set. What I like about these models is the untraditional nature of the minis. Often the female form is either being treated very subtly such as the Stormcasts, or used in ways that take the expected female form in very different directions, such as the undead minis.

In any case – I love where this is going, and I hope this pays off in spades.  Not only are we getting a boatload of fantastic models, but hopefully we are putting out the welcome wagon to a new wave of women gamers. The more the merrier!

~ What do you think of the slow and steady approach?

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Author: Larry Vela
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