There’s no money in “basic infantry”. Newer companies like Mantic Games, for example, don’t even bother to make miniatures for their basic human factions in Kings of War. There’s no point. GW, so far, is dragging the legacy of unprofitable things like the Warhammer Empire or Bretonnian Army around with them, and need to balance it all the more aggressively with top-sellers like the Riptide.

I think this *GW has to give* may (should? must?) happen at some point. But, ideally, it’ll come from two ends. Culling the dead weight armies from their line (probably half of the Fantasy armies and 2 or 3 non-Space Marine armies from 40K) to, hopefully, be a bit less “Riptides-in-your-face” with the leaner, more profitable lines that are left.

And for painters, a lot of miniature painters (non-gamers) are happy to buy a Riptide or Wraithknight to show off. Or a nice 20 quid plastic HQ sprue. No “painter-only” buys 40 Empire State Troops to show off his skills. Those are the “game only” miniatures.

I think the painters, if anything, they amplify the problem.

Still, I would just like to say my original argument, the main thing I wanted people to take from it is GW *has* to give somewhere. They ARE dying and I think it’s for two reasons. Their models are no longer competitively priced for people who simply do modeling as a hobby, so it’s only appealing to fans of the universe/game. There’s a lot of us that are that, true, but there are still even more people who like to paint and model miniatures for the sake of the hobby. Now that the majority of their purchases are just in it for the game, their outmoded model for pushing gameplay and rules out the door doesn’t hold water in today’s era of PC and digital gaming, where it’s possible to tweak and balance a game on a daily basis.

And while I prefer physical copies too, I remember very well that less than a year ago, everyone was complaining that GW wasn’t doing anything digital and effectively still living in the early 90s. Now they test digital offers, and it’s wrong again unless they make sure they print and ship every last little digital test-balloon they launch.

It’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t kind of situation.

Plus, having to store rules on my phone does not appeal to me. I’d simple prefer a hard copy and I know I’m not alone in that.

Don’t read that as a counter to the rest of your argument, but the myth that GW digital products are Apple-only appears to be strangely persistent.

I hope to hope to hope that GW sees the success of Warmachine and realizes the rules should be free for all armies, and printed online, for free, so they can also be updated whenever the need arises to rebalance the game and actually make it fun for everyone rather than just the guys running Tau/Eldar cheese lists.