I don't think anyone is trying to over-generalize (or be hostile for that matter, hopefully I've not come across as such!)
I don't think so either, I've just disagreed in text form enough times that I like to make sure everyone knows I'm not *trying* to be a jerk. This is a good discussion and I think valid points are being made in basically every thread, I just disagree with some of the broader conclusions.
All that said, I personally doubt that FFG is going to carbon-copy their X-Wing/Armada upgrade/model distribution pattern for RuneWars. Packaging specific upgrades with specific models would seem like shooting themselves in the foot for a game with more than two factions and a large model count that has to be both assembled and painted.
I predict the very worst we'll see out of this game is a requirement to buy the core set for templates/dice/rules, and even that may change prior to Q1 2017.
I actually think this is exactly what they are going to do and it would be quite brilliant for them to do so. See the thing is that FFG is in a unique position because as you can see from posts here and many posts on this forum, there is already a fan base here. None of us have any idea what this game really is, but people are already rallying around it because its FFG. That is their strength, the great relationship they have cultivated with their customers and immense trust in their product we have as consumers. It's leverage few companies out there have in particular in the amount of consumers that FFG has.
So if they are smart they will ensure that every player that picks up Runewars will not only have good reason to buy the core set, but continue to collect not one, two or three faction but every faction they produce. They will ensure that it's always worth it to you to get everything and FFG are masters of doing that.
You will rarely find a player who plays X-Wing, Armada, Imperial Assault or any of their Living Card game that simply chooses a faction and only collects that one faction, in particular competitive players and you can bet your bottom dollar that FFG will make Runewars a spectacle organized tournament event with special limited edition cards, skulps, coins, plaques.. etc.. as rewards for participation as they do with all of their games.
Trust in the cleverness of FFG to not only attempt this, but succeed at doing it. It's going to be a very interesting second half of 2016 and first half of 2017, if this game picks up steam its going to be a runaway success but the truth is that what I do know about the miniatures community is that, the people that play Armada and X-Wing.. they play it because of the IP, because it's pre-painted and accessible, all things working against Runewars. So this first core set, the release of the rules and the first reviews are going to be absolutely critical for them for this game to succeed.