Seeing the news info on the release of Chaos In The Old World immediately got me thinking about FFG's product agreement with Games Workshop.

First of all, it reminded me how surprised I was when this deal was first announced. That GW would ever give up any of its Warhammer/Warhammer 40K trademarks to another company was astonishing. The ban on using any miniatures-based games was not surprising, as this is how GW makes its money, by selling relatively pricey figures.

But what if down the road FFG does so well with the GW stuff it is putting out that GW sees the light...and loosens its position at least in regards to its Specitalist Games (Epic 40K, Necromunda, Mordheim, Battlefleet Gothic, Inquisitor and Blood Bowl). GW still puts out metal figures for these games, and still has the plastic Orcs and Humans in its remaining stock of Blood Bowl boxed games.

But imagine if FFG got permission to do Blood Bowl. I have a vision of a big box version of the awesome fantasy football game with a crushing load of plastic teams, and plastic "scenery bits" such as stuff for Dungeon Bowl and various stadium bits. I see a new wave of fans for my favorite GW game, and a bright future. Plastic expansion teams would be easy to add on. GW would still have its metal miniatures to sell, including its Star Players and ample selection of metal teams. Done right, it would/could be a win/win for both companies. And a major win for us gamers.

Well,

That would be cool, but unfortunatly the press releae for the FFG/GW partnership specifically mentions Blood Bowl:

" The agreement does not include certain GW titles in which miniatures feature as the predominant component of
the game, such as Space Hulk and Blood Bowl."

So while FFG can probably do games that mention the Blood Bowl IP, re-releasing the old game as a "Big Box" style board game with lots of minis seems to be specifically prohibited.

Jhamin said:

Which is exactly why I said "But what if down the road FFG does so well with the GW stuff it is putting out that GW sees the light... and loosens its position at least in regards to the Specialist Games" and followed that by saying "But imagine if FFG got permission to do Blood Bowl."

Clearly I am aware of the GW ban on FFG using the miniatures games, which is why I worded my post the way I did.

And the Orcs would rule all...

Hate to be the party pooper, but;

Some say the reason for GW dumping their (seemingly successful) specialist games, was that they distracted the target audience from their two parade horses (WH and 40k). Supporting multiple product lines is pricey for any company, but when we're talking about GW, the self-proclaimed god of the hobby, and when they produca a game, that sees people buying just a couple of minis and then happily playing with just those minis for years to come, the product obviously has to be cut. First they grouped all those games and named them "Specialist Games" in hopes that scared little kids comming to the hobby wouldn't dare touch anything but the forementioned WH and 40k. At the same time they put the material for the games on the web, tagged it as "for the hobby veterans" and slowly stopped the product support.

Now the reason for the above is not a random rant, but to ilustrate my point of view, being that the GW most likely wouldn't wish to see anyone else cut too much of their license cake. People played a lot of Man O'War, SpaceHulk, BloodBowl, Necromunda, Mordheim, Epic, Warmaster, Battlefleet Gothic, ... WH and 40k's universes are deep, intricate and interesting and as such bound to generate interest in a licensed product, especially if it's packed as a boardgame, appealing even to those who're not into the minis hobby. But such a product works for GW just if it a) generates interest for people to buy into the minis market, b) supports that same minis market (say by having a "boardgame" with expansions of packs of minis), c) produce a share through license royalties. Observe how GW licensed RPGs have no trouble coming out. I think that's because the boardgaming community is, opposed to RP gamers, percieved as the one, that can potentially be targeted by the miniatures market. That the majority of GW's income comes from miniature production should pe appearent to anyone who knows the schedule of GW's release of new rulebooks and codex books.

Everything else is, from GW's standpoint, throwing the investment that is their license (background universe, lore, whatever you call it) through the window.

I for myself would definitely like to seee Blood Bowl in the hands of FFG.

It would make for a great "miniature-game", but having dropped Mutant Chronicles and Confronation/AT-43 the chances for other miniature-games are slim.