"Games Workshop has gone too far!" Topic

I just had a look at the new releases on GW's website, and, whilst some are reasonably priced, I see the dire avengers have been made double the price they used to be!

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I think it is ridiculous to price 5 plastic miniatures at £20.50 GBP!

Luke Hunter

Wow, unbelievable. They used to sell them in boxes of 10 for the same price. $7 USD per figure for a 5-man box set is insane.

GW gouging like this makes me want to get out of the Games Workshop hobby altogether.

Me too! I have not bought a new product from GW for some years now, instead resorting to trawling eBay for good deals. I was tempted by the new Hobbit miniatures, but there has been little support from GW for them, and they are WAY too expensive!

Welcome to the GW world of reality…

Buy or do not buy… it's your choice.

Wish I had a nickle for everytime someone says GW has gone too far……..

I can get a curry and 4 pints for that …becuase I like to eat curry and drink beer … aswell.

ooh.

Figures less fattening. Lower horse content as well.

Neigh

I believe that when a post of "GW has gone too far" gets posted, its usually not really indicating they are going under as a company, but that the OP has reached their last straw and GW has lost them as a customer. At least that is how it went with our gaming group. At some point we realize its costing us more than the enjoyment we get from the game and then we more on to something else….another game, scale, or even different hobby.

Granted, this is just my humble opinion.

Skipper

You are not their target demographic. There is a six year window. Move along.

Skipper is right, of course. This happened a couple of years ago for my son and I (and by extension his friends), except for the odd addition to their Space Marine forces.

What will be interesting in the future is what happens when their strategy of "same price for the box, but with half the figures" strategy runs its natural course and they can't reduce the number of figures anymore. A while back they seem to have discovered that enough people will pay the same price for "the box" and its equivalent hobby and game value, irrespective of the number of figures. However, at five figures per box they really can't go much lower (especially as they would have to retool sprues now), and if they start selling everything as individual figures I would think it would impact the nature of the game.

*shrug*

Cheers,

Christopher

*blue fez*

No business model is perfect. GW's is bound to hit a brick wall down the road at some point, question is when and how will this happen.

And the business model for the people who are in charge when GW does hit the brick wall is to sell the whole thing to Mattel/Hasbro and cruise the Caribbean with the metric ton of money they will make selling GW.

Disgusting, but not surprising. GW price raises are part of the plan.

However it should be said that this particular price raise is a bit more severe than most. Dire Avengers are a pretty standard troop choice. Only having 5 in the box and a price raise is pretty odd for a unit that you're probably going to have to have 10 of.

That's $70 USD for a 10 man basic troop unit! Even for GW that's over the top. I wonder how long before we start seeing the same price for standard Space Marines.

What will be interesting in the future is what happens when their strategy of "same price for the box, but with half the figures" strategy runs its natural course and they can't reduce the number of figures anymore.

Now, THAT's funny.

They lost me over three years ago with nonsense like this. Besides, took to historical wargaming and have not looked back since :-)

Yup GW is long gone in my buying plan. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Every time someone says "they've gone too far", a GW executive gets his horns.

Terminators have been $10 USD each for five or six years now. Just business as usual for GW.

oddly enough its very important to pay ceo's and corporate employees a lot because they are makers and rising price of starbucks means that they have to be paid even more. while the people that interact with customers and sell said products on which the prices are raised have to have their pay and hours cut because they are just takers. so fewer and more expensive models this is to combat the raising price of coffee and paid corporate lunch breaks and on the clock web browsing. I may be bitter lol

Stormspear, being bitter doesn't mean being wrong ;-).

I remember "back in the day" before GW got into fantasy games and miniatures that every game they sold had all the playing pieces included in the box with the board along with the rules and the dice.

I remember some of their first fantasy games having cardboard miniatures (v1 Bloodbowl), I also remember the impact metal miniatures had on their games when they first started making them; That's when it all went to pieces in terms of quality of game play and the slippery slope to becoming nothing but a seller of overpriced miniatures began.

Didn't stop me buying the miniatures, but I do recall a time when a boxed set of ten terminator marines for £10.00 GBP seemed a big spend. This didn't stop me acquiring more than a hundred of them, but it's been literally decades since I last spent a penny in any of their stores.

This is why I always (and I'm not the only one) try to buy second hand of Fleabay. The best thing about GWs bussiness model is every year loads of people leave the hobby and off load everything onto the Bay……….

I do find that some of their large plastic models like the Warsphinx are not that badly priced if you take into account that a similar model in resin or metal would probably be even more expensive.

Masher, here's an exercise. Place your thumb onto a board. Pick up a hammer and strike your thumb several times. Then stop. Now tell me which feels better, striking your thumb with the hammer, or when you stop smashing your thumb with a hammer.

The only thing I but from GW stores is paint and the odd brush or three. I have brought a lot of GW models in the past ten years, but 99% have been from internet auctions and bring/buy stalls at shows.

"Buy or do not buy… it's your choice."

Or you should have gotten your Eldar back in the early 1990's when they are all metal and cost around $1.50 USD per figure.

If you did you wouldn't need to buy anything.

Oh yesterday at the local conventions I picked up 21+ Wood Elves for just $20 USD so less than a $1.00 USD a figure.

At the current Dire Avenger cost that would be like a $120 USD+ savings.

You just should not buy directly from GW let someone else do that.

Go 15mm like me, the average price of a figure for my is about 50c.
link

20% off from many online retailers does soften the punch a bit. Or shop on eBay…

As others have stated do not buy or wait and find it on e-bay or other online venues for less. And I have always found great deals at war game convention flea markets. While I still enjoy the game from time to time, I am glad I bought most of what I have long ago and at much lower prices. Regardless, this is a long old rant that I think feeds some kind of odd dysfunctional response here on TMP. Guess what? GW does not care what we say. And if a person wants to spend their money in this way who are we to cast stones? Many people would think the amount of money we spend on toy soldiers is a waste or plain stupid. But then again, I feel that way about what people spend on golf. It is their, your, my money, and one is free to use it as one wills and circumstances dictate.

It is hypocritical of any of us to keep going on about this old saw. I will raise my hand as being guilty of doing such here on this forum. There have even been times in the past when I have defended GW. In the end it matters not. Be grateful you have disposable income to engage in a hobby. Many are not so lucky.

Im always amazed when I get reminded that people actually do buy GW stuff.
L

Oh I have gotten alot of GW stuff but not from them.

Nope, Ebay or Bring & Buy at the local Conventions.

I have saved hundreds of dollars by doing that.

Though every time they raise their prices the replacement value of my armies go up by $100 USD or more.