It was part of the license from Tolkien's heirs, LotR-IP minis had to be kept separate from the GW-IP minis. It's why LotR minis are true 28mm while 40k/WHB are heroic scale. Most GW shops in the US were pretty laid-back about proxying, though, especially if you were adding GW bits to a conversion.
It's more that some of the management team drank more heavily from the company kool-aid cup than others. Remember it was more about "personality type" than "work related skills" for getting a job with GW. I've known some great managers, and some shitty ones. Some absolutely drained that cup dry and metaphorically did the "hand to heart" when talking of the company. Others were more laissez-faire about it.
GW's "GW only" policy has been around since nearly the beginning of 40K, I certainly saw quite a bit of it in tournaments with GW prize support in the early 90s. What makes me wonder though is the modern free to play computer games where 10% of the players generate 90% of the income. Would tabletop companies get greater sales with an expanded player base, even if some or even many weren't using core products?
Even if 10% makes most of the profit, a greater player base can only increase the profit in the end as at least some of those new players will bring more income. Some of them might even join the 10%. As time passes, new players will eventually want some of the cool models that fits the game they are playing, even if it's just one or two. And that's profit for the company. It may seem small, but every bit counts. Not to mention that in some cases the profit margin is already large enough that they aren't scrapping by, so they can afford free rules to attract more people. As was mentioned, the real profit in books is lore, not so much the rules. Rules vary from one game to the other, but ultimately, on the core, they are similar. Each game simply have its own unique factor and gimmick that separate it from the others. It's the lore distinguish the games though. Give away the rules, some people will be happy with it, get some models or many. But hint at your lore a little bit through the models and rules and if it's interesting enough, people will also buy your books.
However this assumes the game company has reasonable prices. If company A's product costs twice as much as company B's suspicously similar products, not many people are going to buy the overpriced versions. They will take the free stuff, and buy the economical products. Gamers will pay extra for perceived quality, and brand loyalty, but only up to a point. I think more than once major brands have believed in their own superiority and nearly priced themselves out of existence.
The fact that GW events and organizers are so rabid about enforcing range purity is one of the things that turned me off their games the most "You can't use morgul cavalry as your vampire knights, you gotta buy the $100 box of 5" Fuck outta here
Wrong game. I have seen pictures of a game of Adeptus Titanicus where someone used his Garage Kits as replacement for titans.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/colossus.htm Flesh Colossus is a more appropiate term than Titan, I'd say... Unless she can reshape creation, that is.
I'm sure i can find a reason why she could have that kind of power. But really I was just plugging in my huge and amazing statue.
Alright @FireFangs we all know you have a massive statue, but the wargaming table isn't the place to whip it out to play with
Well, I am talking about game that had a whole 3 books at $20 each for full rules and entire army lists for every army in each book, along with lots of (very good) fluff. And, somehow, releasing just the rules as a digital file that can be updated instead of needing printed errata would, you know, break the company and send them under or something. Now, they have a rulebook for their second edition that includes literally no units or stats for that game, BUT it DOES include stats for units from a DIFFERENT game. These games share a universe, so the fluff in it applies to both systems, but now you need to buy a book with rules to one game to get the stats for a different one AND/OR you have to haul stats for a game you aren't playing everywhere to have access to the rules for the one you are.
Trouble with the "No Warhammer in LOTR!" rule was that later on someone won a Golden Demon award for a diorama of the scene in Fellowship of the Ring Wraiths being washed away in the river - they clearly used Wood Elf horses from Warhammer for the water horses. As for mixing models, of course they would only let you use GW minis in the store and rightly so, but it was when they didn't like you crossing Warhammer and 40k minis that it got weird. The only official word was the document encouraging the separation of 40k and Necromunda minis, but even the staff thought this was stupid and promptly ignored it.
I understand why they wouldn't let you use other models for a game, but if they are strict to the point that even a newcomers has to have an army of GW minis to even play, that's a severe limit on their choice of new players.
