So, general Forgeworld discussion. Do you think their rules should be legal by default (i.e. should Forgeworld books count as 40k expansions)? What do you think of their prices?

I'm all for the former; their rules are about as playtested as GW's are (if not more) and their characters always seem to have interesting special rules with fair drawbacks.

I'm in two minds about the latter. Forgeworld stuff is pretty, no doubt about it, but the quality of the moulding is fairly hit-and-miss from my (limited) experience and from reading online. For something that's supposedly hand-moulded, it's a bit disappointing. Furthermore I don't really think that the detail is that much greater than GW's... Just different. I would go so far as to say that the prices do not at all reflect the merchandise (you'd expect more bits or better casting for that sort of money), but that it's probably worth it for those once-in-an-army purchases.

All I know about Forgeworld is that they have pretty stuff. (BTW - i'm almost back on the net... yay.)

In terms of rules I think Forgeworld stuff is acceptable. After all GW have pretty much taken some Forgeworld stuff and written it into their own army books etc.

I find it interesting that when I spoke to the guy in GW Meadowhall, he said all Forgeworld stuff is official... Yet (as I understand it) it's disallowed in official GW tournaments, etc.

GW seems to have incorporated some of the stuff into their own books / rules. Maybe his reasoning was that as there are now so many crossovers etc that it would be fair to play with the forgeworld stuff if your opponent doesnt mind?