I am not calling people children, my lord Baron, but rather calling AoS a children's game. Take cards as a good example. In my 20s I had a great time with two very different groups of friends playing two very different card games. With my gaming buddies we played a Chinese game called Gang of Four - most excellent, addictively so. With my (then) lady I played Canasta, teaming with her against another couple, and great evenings were had. AoS is, in comparison to WFB, what the card game 'Snap' is to 'Gang of Four' or Canasta. Worse, as it stands
(and I do know this has to change) it is snap where you can bring as many cards as you like so that you need never lose.
As the honourable Chumley put it:
It (i.e. WFB) was detailed, tactical, addictive, moreish, hordeish and lovely
My attempts to describe how I feel about what GW has created in lieu of WFB are heartfelt, and not meant to be condescending. I have immersed myself in the 'childish' experience of a campaign - with made up characters, stories, and lots of lovely toys. I have fashioned a little corner of the Warhammer World to set it in, basing my creations and interpretations on the reading of several history books concerning Condottiere, Savonarola, the Borgias, Florence, Machiavelli, etc etc. Reading, margin notes, leading onto background and history to set the campaign in, whilst ensuring that the region still feels like part of the wonderful warhammer world. I've been immersing myself on and off into Warhammer Fantasy since I was 15 (1983), adapting and adding all along the way.
And then GW throw this at us. Not as another game, but as the 'new' fantasy that beginners will play. That has an effect - campaigns in years time are going to be harder to populate. But these are minor complaints. More to the point, and pictures say this better, here is my work-table right this very moment...
It pretty much always looks like this. (I field only fully painted armies, and now I need figures galore for the photos in my campaigns). Like I said, I'm fully immersed. I am allowed to be at least disappointed at GW's recent choices and actions. Now I am even worried my current players might drift away if this is the only WFB they get to do (it's not exactly a fast moving campaign). We were enjoying our childish pursuit - no one is playing spammed lists, but roleplaying their characters (the lords and generals) and using themed armies (or my armies). Any audience I have for my campaign threads will diminish too.
I know I could ignore it and just keep 'oldhammering on', and yeah, that'll probably work for a long while. But I also know I am allowed to voice my dislike of AoS as a 'replacement' for WFB. I'm not saying people are children, but that this new game is very weak in comparison to the old, in a way that Snap isn't something Bridge or Poker players want to play.