# How many codices have you bought NEW in the past 5 years? READ FIRST POST!!!



## Desolatemm (Feb 2, 2008)

READ THIS FIRST

Rules: 
~NEW GW Codex Books ONLY. Purchased from GW directly or a supplier.
~Real Codex *Books* ONLY
~Purchase in the past 5 years ONLY
~40k and/or Fantasy
~NO FW/IA Books as pricing differs.
~If you have really bought over 10 codices in the past 5 years, just vote 10 as it will not dramatically effect the average (I have tested).

Simple poll based on this thread HERE

How many 40K or Fantasy Codices have you purchased new, from GW or a supplier, in the past 5 years?

I will assume everyone has bought 1 rulebook, regardless if some people have bought fantasy, 40k, and LotR or any combination or none. Not everyone has a BRB, so using 1 rulebook should be sufficient.

counting from 0-10 because I had not originally factored in fantasy. If you have purchased more than 10 codices, please just choose 10. The focus zone is the average which will fall between 0-10.

For my own curiosity based on this idea:



Desolatemm said:


> I think a very different and interesting approach would be as follows:
> 1) Make all content digital
> 2) Develop an app for major OS (Apple, Windows, Android)
> 3) Make ALL digital content *FREE*, but...
> ...





Desolatemm said:


> ...I strongly believe it would flatten out into a profit. Then the people who usually buy EVERY codex would be happy and get their content for a better price. Meanwhile a new-comer would have access to every armies rules and fluff and get into the hobby and the game much easier. You can can learn the rules for the different armies and that would facilitate faster and smoother games for new comers.


Last updated 6-15-2012
Average dollars spent per year on Codices ($33 each) and one rulebook ($60) over the 5 year period:

92 Votes $40.12 per year

Average amount of codices purchased per person: 4.26 in 5 years


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## Da Joka (Feb 20, 2009)

I started playing about 3 years ago. I've bought The both the Ork Codex, and Necron Codex.

I technically I could say 3 Codices, because I have the old Necron one, but I bought that off the person I bought the lot of my Necrons from... and assumed you mean how many from GW


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## Desolatemm (Feb 2, 2008)

Da Joka said:


> ... and assumed you mean how many from GW


Yes, this is dealing strictly with money given to GW in some way. Either to GW directly or through a supplier.


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## TheKingElessar (Mar 31, 2009)

Damn, I counted one bought second-hand. Sorry. Taking it to 5 years, instead of the 4 discussed in previous thread means I add the Orks, Eldar and CSM Codexes to my previous tally. I erroneously added my second-hand Dark Angels Codex too - but since I omitted a friend's Dark Eldar Codex that I got in a trade, and of course the Sisters (in hindsight, I also bought the old Nids book about 6 months before it went out, so I bought well over ten from all sources in the last 5 years.)


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## Desolatemm (Feb 2, 2008)

No problem, I wasn't completely clear starting out. Counting all Codices regardless of the source would be a "worst case". Although it is not the desired statistic, it doesn't really hurt the numbers that much. Lets try to keep it to brand new, straight from the store, never pre-owned. Basically how much money from our wallets is going to GW for their written content.


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## Grogbart (Aug 29, 2010)

Started playing 4 years ago, playing Sisters of Battle, so NONE!
Why? Because there've never been any for me to buy!!!

But I had three different Versions of the Witch Hunters PDF Dex since then, here in Germany and I had the change to buy two White Dwarfs to get me a Sisters of Battle WDex, but I hesitated a bit too long and now it's no longer available!


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## spanner94ezekiel (Jan 6, 2011)

Bought 1 back in 2005/6, and then none since, though I've inherited or purchased the rest from various other sources, including all the supplements like Apocalypse and Imperial Armour.


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## TheKingElessar (Mar 31, 2009)

Grogbart said:


> Started playing 4 years ago, playing Sisters of Battle, so NONE!
> Why? Because there've never been any for me to buy!!!
> 
> But I had three different Versions of the Witch Hunters PDF Dex since then, here in Germany and I had the change to buy two White Dwarfs to get me a Sisters of Battle WDex, but I hesitated a bit too long and now it's no longer available!


Issue 380 is still available in English, but it has only the *ahem* "fluff" and bestiary sections, not the Army List.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

11 Codexes (12 if you count the Sisters WD one), 2 BRBs (40K and Fantasy) and 6 Army books for Fantasy.

I like collecting them to understand how other armies play and what they bring to the table, as well as what kind of fluff they've got.


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## Desolatemm (Feb 2, 2008)

Hadn't thought about Fantasy, but it certainly counts.


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

Hmmm, 5 years... that's a harsh one. Lets see:

SW
Nids
Space Marines
Ogres
Wood Elves
High Elves
Chaos Daemons
Necrons
Nids 5th
Ogres 8th
Daemons of Chaos
Imperial Guard
CSM
Lizardmen
Necrons 5th
Orcs & Goblins

(in more or less the right order too)

... there doesn't seem to be an option for 16. Weird.
Then again if your talking about money spent I did buy a few of those while a staff member, which is always nice.

As for rulebooks- 4th and 5th hardbacks for 40k, 8th hardback for WFB. I got all my mini-BRBs from eBay, so GW get nothing for them (I refuse to carry and damage the huge ones, and certainly don't want the starter kits).


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## HOBO (Dec 7, 2007)

Personally only bought IG, DA and SM Codices, but within the Gaming Group I belong to we have all of them....either because the armies are collected by members, or just so we know the in's and out's of an army.

The Group do the same for the Fantasy range, and I also personally bought OK, Dwarfs, and the FW Chaos Dwarfs so needed to buy the Tamurkhan book.

And the Rulebooks of course...4th/5th Ed 40K, WFB 8th Ed.


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

All of the ones pertaining to 40K, including Necrons. That includes non-Forge World supplements too, so Battle Missions and so on.


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## Jace of Ultramar (Aug 2, 2011)

So far, 3 Codicies and 1 BRB. I bought AoBR and the Marine 'dex at one time, eventually bought the Dark Angels book because someone gifted me a Ravenwing battleforce, and finally bought the Necrons book because of the "shiny" factor at the time. However, I have traded off the 'Crons 'dex and use the Dark Angels for my own chapter's 'dex.


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## kain1989 (Dec 1, 2009)

It's suprising how they add up. of the armies I actually have, I have orks, eldar, tomb kings, and wood elves. Then I still have a grey knights, space wolves, and space marines. I like to keep codexes, even old ones, I think it's really fun to read old rules and fluff on a slow day.

I buy them retail because I have an excellent local gw. The manager is a credit to games-workshop, and I'd rather spend a few extra dollars and support him.


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## Sothot (Jul 22, 2011)

5th BRB, and New Necrons. I purchased Oldcrons more than five years ago


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## Codex Todd (Mar 22, 2009)

Ok I hit 10, purely because I buy every Codex as soon as it hits the shelf, I own every single codex ever released so far  Missing several Rogue trader books though


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## MetalHandkerchief (Aug 3, 2009)

$0. (Got the BRB in a used AoBR box)

If I could get a printable digital format of all codices I would easily pay $100 for permanent access.


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## Madden (Jan 22, 2012)

All of them except tomb kings and latest empire(which is to come for my son) I'm not sure eldar is that recent but I don't have that one either. The reason is simple I've been at this for 2 decades and have all the armies except brets, eldar and now tomb kings which got added to my vamps. As for the future fantasy is on hold and won't be restarted any time soon due to reduced points and increased prices, shame really as I love fantasy.


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## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

does WD SoB count lol


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## falcoso (Apr 7, 2012)

New cron, CSM and Deamons for fantasy and 40k - also I think they heard you because its funny how they have just announced digital format GW books


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

MetalHandkerchief said:


> $0. (Got the BRB in a used AoBR box)
> 
> If I could get a printable digital format of all codices I would easily pay $100 for permanent access.


Obviously not seen the prices GW is thinking to charge for digital media: they want the same $$$ as the printed copies. Ridiculous...


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## chromedog (Oct 31, 2007)

Three fifth ed codices.

SM, IG and GK.

I don't buy them for armies I don't play. I don't even read the codices for armies I don't play. I prefer not to play against them, either (newcrons and bleeding wolf angles especially).


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## MetalHandkerchief (Aug 3, 2009)

chromedog said:


> Three fifth ed codices.
> 
> SM, IG and GK.
> 
> I don't buy them for armies I don't play. I don't even read the codices for armies I don't play. I prefer not to play against them, either (newcrons and bleeding wolf angles especially).


So in your perfect world all matches are between those three armies.

WHAT A NIGHTMARE!


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## TechPr1est (Nov 6, 2011)

Until now i didnt realise the plural of codex was codices


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## asianavatar (Aug 20, 2007)

2 if you count SOB, other being grey knights


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## SGMAlice (Aug 13, 2010)

Where's the option for more than ten  Do FW/IA books not count?

I own each and every codex. The better to learn of the enemy 

Alice


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## Desolatemm (Feb 2, 2008)

SGMAlice said:


> Where's the option for more than ten  Do FW/IA books not count?


The option for more than ten is... ten! I could change the 10 to 15-20 for all the people who voted 10 and the average number doesn't change dramatically. No need to include more at this point considering the majority of votes are between 0-6. For example: at the time of this post, the average per person is 4.5 codices and $42.02 a year. If I changed the votes for 10 to votes for 15, the average is 5.4 and 47.85. Not a huge change. About 14% and $5 a year.

FW/IA does not count in this vote. Codices from GW only for this. SOB doesn't really count either as this is a vote for Codices, actual books from GW.

I think a lot of people are forgetting: this is specifically which Codices you have bought NEW in the past 5 years alone. I don't care about how many you own.


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

If you are doing this for research you probably shouldn't assume most people have been in the hobby for 5 years... it seems like I've been playing forever but I only picked up the hobby 4 years ago (did play for 3-4 years when I was a kid, but that was a looooong time ago).
If people have been playing for a few months chances are they only have 1 dex... if they've been playing a year or 2 then they'll likely only have 2-3. I wonder how many people have been playing all of those 5 years and don't have 10 new dexs within that timeframe.


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## Desolatemm (Feb 2, 2008)

I have been playing for 5 years and own 2 dex. Everyone I play with has been playing for over 5 years. During that timeframe though, 1 has bought 4 dex, 1 has bought 3 dex, 1 has bought 2 dex, 2 have bought 1 dex. My community is a little different because we play A LOT of other tabletop games, so we don't need to change things as often.

This is just to determine the average of all gamers in the community. I picked 5 years because 5th has been out for at least 4 years. Also, in the past 5 years, most codices got an update so someone might have purchased their codex 4 years ago and none since, so 1 year wouldn't cut it. 

In the end, we have an average amount determined by veterans and new-comers. If I had made the time 1 year, it wouldn't take into account the veterans of the game who buy a codex more often. It goes both ways, so I chose to stick with a set time and set price to reduce the variables.

I do realize this does not cover everything. I know a lot of people that do not own a BRB (the majority actually) and yet I factored it in because it is "worst case" This also does not cover FW/IA or multiple BRB from 40k and/or fantasy.

To make it a simple poll, a lot of complexity has to be taken out. That can always be explored separately from this exercise. Simple polls get more attention and a greater quantity of participation. For instance we have over 50 voters, but less than 30 posts.

If anything, this poll will help refine a new poll to get more detailed information and come up with a more precise average. I will probably start a new thread for people to post: How long they have been playing and what books they have bough new. Simple as that. This is just giving me an idea of what the majority of our community looks like in terms of books bought. For instance, I notice the majority of voters are much lower on the scale or 0-10 but then then the single most voted amount is 10+. This tells me that you could be correct, that a lot of people are new-comers and have not been playing the entire 5 years. Or it is a division between people who specialize in only a handful of armies and people who buy/collect all of GW's books for their own reference, even if they do not play any of the armies. The fluff is a huge part of the hobby of course.


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## morfangdakka (Dec 31, 2006)

Living out in the middle of no where and not having anyone to play I have not had to buy anything new right away so over the last six years I get everything second hand off ebay or minimum 20% below GW cost.


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## Silens (Dec 26, 2010)

Tyranids - First army
Tyranids - Replaced the last one which broke
Necrons - Second Army
Necrons - Replaced the last one which I lost and then found a few months later
Daemons - First WHFB army
Necrons - 5th edition release
Beastment - Latest Army

In chronological order.  I included WHFB Army Books


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## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

My shop is a lot different than most. The majority of players play xenos and I think only one guy plays vanilla marines with a salamander variant style. GW would certainly sell more models/dex here if they worked on more non-space marine armies.


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## chromedog (Oct 31, 2007)

MetalHandkerchief said:


> So in your perfect world all matches are between those three armies.
> 
> WHAT A NIGHTMARE!


I'll settle for the argumentative twonks* leaving the game and finding something else to argue every single frigging rule over - like tiddlywinks. As it is, I don't even play it anymore - apart from the odd 2nd ed game.

*Most of them have left for WM/H - so it's a good start.


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## Wax (Jan 6, 2010)

Two. One for my 40k army, one for my WFB army. I'll buy two more when Tau and Brets are redone.


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## Fallen (Oct 7, 2008)

6 - each for the armies that i play.

C:SMs
CSMs
Nids
Orks
IG
Demons

i got a 4th ed BRB, a mini 5th, and a BRB 5th all second hand from friends who had extras and just gave away.


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## Bane_of_Kings (Oct 28, 2009)

Space Marine Codex
Blood Angels Codex
Tyranids Codex 
Space Wolves Codex
Orks Codex
Black Templars Codex
Imperial Guard Codex

Mostly for fluff reasons as I'm yet to actually start an army. The closest I've ever come is twenty-half painted Grey Hunters. 

The SM one was the first that I brought, followed by Orks, SW, IG, BT, Tyranids, BA's.


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## shaantitus (Aug 3, 2009)

chaos just before it was updated,
csm
old nids
new nids
old ig
new ig
demons
grey knights.

so 8. not including the other old ones i bought for fluff and background on the armies i play all the way back to first ed(about another 8 or so.)


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## Lucian Kain (Jul 19, 2010)

Only GreyKnights since 4th Ed and yea probably no more as I love the game and the Hobby but can't justify it financially and I've got money,who knows how the young dudes scrape by.


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## HOGGLORD (Jan 25, 2012)

I own every codex and most of the army books, but I only bought the CSM codex. The rest were downloaded


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## humakt (Jan 2, 2008)

HOGGLORD said:


> I own every codex and most of the army books, but I only bought the CSM codex. The rest were downloaded


Thats not technically owning them, thats more like having them in you possesion.


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## Dicrel Seijin (Apr 2, 2011)

I only started playing last year, but I picked up the SM codex and earlier this year the Ork codex.


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## Marzillius (Jun 30, 2011)

I bought an Eldar and Imperial Guard Codex, and a Vampire Counts and Empire Army Book.


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## High_Seraph (Aug 28, 2009)

Daemon Hunters
Dark Angels
Tau
Chaos Space Marines
Black Templars
Imperial Guard
Grey Knights
Necrons
Orks
Tyranids
For 40k
Vampire Counts 7th ed
Vampire Counts 8th ed


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