I've trawled through most forums etc on this round base topic over the last couple days. Tbh i'm a bit embarrassed that most of the warhammer fantasy community has reacted to images (such as the ones below) in such a pessimistic, childish-stroppy manner of 'I will quit if rounds come to fantasy' and such.
https://scontent-mxp.xx.fbcdn.net/hp...3b&oe=5609C2A3
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.n...b55c6167f93553
http://tozudosadieces.blogspot.com.es/2015/05/warhammer-world-llegan-las-peanas.html
These images are of models that the Eavy Metal team have modelled and painted, and include models with round bases, yes. However, notice how the focus of each picture are the round-base models... we're ignoring that, in most images, the majority of the models are still on
square bases. People have posted these images titled as 'LEAKED IMAGES OF ROUND BASES' or 'ROUND BASES CONFIRMED FOR FANTASY', and such.
They are not leaked- they are pictures of display cabinets... these models are not for playing warhammer fantasy games with; they are entirely for display.
They are also not confirmation of round bases.
Other information on the amazingly omniscient internet has people saying that employees of GW have said that 'round bases are purely for aesthetics NOT for gaming'.
Do you really think that GW forced the Eavy Metal team to base on circular bases, what is essentially random groupings of showcase fantasy models, but not all? Do you really think they told all their staff to outright lie to anyone questioning this?
Despite this, it seems that ~80% of the internet's warhammer players think that round bases are a certain thing for fantasy. A part of this is probably because of a very early rumour of round bases, due to the image below (notice the other models on
square bases). This probably makes people automatically put 2+2 together with the latest images, and rally behind the idea of round bases being a certain thing in the future... because y'know, rumours made by anonymous people on the internet are 100% accurate, especially despite all other explanations...
http://www.dakkadakka.com/s/i/at/at2/2015/1/10/f479289a9cf79ae7926335b44a1e5981_5046.jpg
One thing i've read multiple times is 'GW is moving all bases to circle so that they save on production costs, ie they don't have to make round and square'. '40k is more popular, so of course GW will want to streamline their products'... I would like someone with real in depth knowledge of the financial costs for producing square and round bases for GW to have some input into this, not just random whingers on the internet. What qualifies these people to know so much about the industry? It seems to me that this part of the production line is probably the cheapest and simplest, aside from the boxes themselves- should my opinion not have equal weighting in this argument, assuming that these people have no actual first-hand knowledge of this process? Also, the oval bases are not exactly widespread throughout 40k right now (as i understand it, only the new broodlord model is on an oval base?); these oval bases' production would have to be ramped up, which would seem counter-productive to a large extent.
Games Workshop is still a professional company at the end of the day, and they are not going to outright lie to
their entire warhammer fantasy customer base about something of this magnitude. Despite this mantra of 'I wouldn't put it past GW if they did X...' that the community is throwing around on every forum, remember GW is not dumb in business; they have not been staying afloat for so many years out of sheer luck. You may describe them as cold-hearted in many ways, but this is not synonymous with 'self destructive business model'.
Another thing being said is that 'the old guard are not a source of income for GW... therefore, they don't care about the old guard at all.' This is untrue. Plenty of older warhammer fantasy players are still pumping money into the Games Workshop business in one form or another (a very easy example is the End times releases), albeit probably less than a very new player joining the hobby. Alienating all mid-long term fantasy players by telling them to 'play by new 9th rules by converting all models to circular/oval bases, or quit the hobby' is a very extreme move to pull. Do you honestly think this is the case?
Others have said that a combination of rounds and squares is possible in the new rules set- this is entirely speculation of course, but currently holds as much water as any other theory. I doubt this will be the case, since GW don't do this mixing of model bases in their games, and it would probably look bad on the tabletop. But it would quell this issue of converting entire collections to round bases.
...I guess from the image below (of a showcase) that we will just have to conclude that warhammer fantasy models don't even have bases anymore, and our whole collections are all going to be glued onto one massive piece of terrain? Impeccable logic.
https://www.facebook.com/warhammerw...3968311969098/959114237454503/?type=3&theater
I agree that GW should release statements on issues such as this, and that for a company to not have a general customer service resource in the year 2015 is atrocious. But their silence is not lending credence to this conspiracy: that they are trying to suddenly transition to round bases in fantasy, know that most current players won't want to, so are keeping it secret until 9th's release, when they can suddenly spring it out on their customers, then ???, then profit...
Another point to make is that if this transition to rounds were true, then a radically different rule set will have to be prepared, one which will look very different from fantasy 8th edition (this is very conflicting with plenty of rumours i've read online recently btw). This would be very risky in terms of getting it right, since they can't copy+paste 40k rules, and they can't slightly edit 8th fantasy rules- neither of these would work.
I suppose my conclusion or TL;DR is that the evidence backing up this round bases rumour is wholly and entirely based upon random internet rumours, and showcase models at GW central which are never going to be used in a real warhammer fantasy game. It is possible that round bases will be coming to fantasy, but I highly doubt that based on what little evidence we have right now. Also, I guess people love to whinge, and the nature of the internet is such that people can feel emotionally detached enough to faceroll-on-keyboard any dribble they want, which just makes other internet users worry more, in a positive feedback loop. As always, chill, and wait to see what 9th brings to the hobby.
...
Anyway, I voted '
Excited!... round bases look better than squares!' because i'm assuming that if this rumour were somehow true, then GW will have people familiar with fantasy write the rules for 9th edition which work for round bases. I guarantee they will not make a new ruleset that includes round bases yet does not work; it is in their best interest to make a rule set that people will want to play. If it is aweful, they will lose customers and hence lose out on their precious moneys. Of course, they could always make mistakes and screw it up to some degree, but we won't know that until 9th drops.
I also think these models look great on round bases- the temple guard and the monsters look really fantastic.
Lol....touche!
