Here is the abridged anti-GW reasoning

They run their large company like a large company and screw over their retailers.

1) They penalize retailers that buy from distributors by offering 10 -15% lower discounts over ordering direct through GW.

2) If you order through GW direct they force retailers to buy the entire line, every army, and try to press 3 deep with any SKU#. Lets estimate here: Per army 10 different blister packs ranging from $8.95 to $18.95, 1-3 large boxes for vehicles roughly $35.00 a shot, and an army book or two @ $20.00 a pop. Multiply this by roughly 10 armies. Multiply that by 2 to cover both Warhammer and 40K ranges. Multiply that times 3 to keep the depth of stock they require. Ouch. I have heard it's in the range of $10K NET to buy into the GW ranges.

3) So, lets say you buy into the ranges, great. GW changes the ranges one at a time and re-designs the miniatures and rulebooks every 3-4 months or so, so if you have any of the old stock, it is useless for the new rules, and they won't buy back the stock you are stuck with. And you have to then buy the new range to stay current.

4) GW sets their own prices, so if they decide to lower their price on a product, the retailer has to lower their price as well. So you buy something for $65 to sell @ $100, you can make $35 on the sale. If GW decides to lower the price on the product $20, you can then make $15 on the deal. If it sells before they redo that army and you are stuck with the dead product...

5) They lie. They told retailers there would be no 4th edition 40K and then pushed the current product and offered large quantity discounts for buying product. A few months later they announced the 4th edition, which of course will require new army books, new packaging, new models.....

6) They send reps to stores to okay your GW display and don't allow competing games (Warmachine, Confrontation, etc) to share the same WALL as the GW product.

There is more, and I'm not necessarily trying to be totally GW free, but until I understand the local market, I don't think I want to jump into GW stuff and have to manage that as well as learning a new store.

I REALLY like some of the names you guys have come up with!