If I can throw my hat into this discussion, I really find myself in agreement with John on some of these issues. While I tremendously appreciate the work that Thom did for these games, I was less than thrilled by the UWZ rulebook. While it went a thanfully long way towards fixing what I considered problems with 2nd Ed., I felt it ultimately fell short of what made 1st Ed. so much fun, and so popular. (Just a note, but at the peak of WZ's popularity, when the 2nd Ed. boxed set first appeared, the game was outselling Warhammer Fantasy in the U.S.). Now before anybody cries out about 1st Ed.'s balance issues or just assumes that the "fun" I'm talking about was cybernetic arm equipped, command helmet wearing, Nimrod Autocannon carrying heroes, I can assure you, it wasn't. And, unfortunately, my gaming group has long been of the same opinion, resulting in me being the only one to purchase any of the later incarnations of the game.
Second, I agree about the mistake of including older sculpts as individual unit types. Of course, you are right Wedge, in that some people prefer some of the sculpts. Heck, I've developed a renewed fondness for the Copplestone sculpted troops that were first released for the game and think the Capitol Special Forces figures are some of the best sci-fi models ever sculpted - far better than the resculpted Sea Lions that replaced half of them.
However, as Pietia noted, requiring individuals to buy horrible looking figures (and for as many old sculpts as we may like, everyone has at least one they dislike) to complete their army when newer figures, sculpted purposely to replace the old, are available seems like business suicide - especially in a business as depended on aesthetic value as the miniatures industry.
And that, Gallagher, is why I would have to respectfully disagree with you. While a solid ruleset is what keeps players around long after a game dies off, it is high quality miniatures that attracts the unfamiliar gamer, whether by seeing pictures on the net or stumbling across the blisters in the store. If your introduction to Warzone came through randomly picking up ol' Beach Ball Head, the Brotherhood Elite Sgt., you'd quite likely be immediately put off.
My recent mulling over what a new licensee of these games would need to do to become successful, I came across another reason that I believe removal of lower quality sculpts is necessary. As it currently stands, WZ and Chronopia each encompass catalogs of miniatures that dwarf nearly all of their rivals. While you might be able to convince a skeptical retailer that the games are now backed by a company that has the resources to produce a game that will keep customers coming back for new releases, you'll quickly run aground the second you show them the list of codes from which to order. Sure, you can offer suggestions as to what figures make good starters, but eventually, a retailer is going to want to carry as close to the full line as they can; they don't want to lost customers to competing stores simply because they chose to make Enhances Chasseurs a special order only figure.
Gutting the line and retaining only the newest (or best) sculpts would definitely ease a retailer's shock. Go ahead and keep molds for the old figures to provide for veteran gamers or those that want some "old school" character to their army, but by no means should they remain essential to the game.
As Wedge noted, not looking for a fight here, just some spirited discussion. And for those that made it through all of my rambling, congrats.
