# Are extra bits worth paying for in a Fantasy kit?



## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Hi all,

With all the furore over the price of the new Empire releases it seems relevant to ask everyone what they actually want in a Fantasy kit. GW made a big thing of the new kits having lots of extra parts that they claim add extra value to the boxes, due mainly to the modelling possibilities it seems. For example the archers come as 10x Empire archers (106 piece set) and the gold-plated greatswords come as 10x Empire Greatswords (66 piece set).

So do you look for kits that have extra bits with them, would you consider all the little extras like spare weapons, bits of scenery, extra arms, etc, worth a bit more money? Or do you buy the sets primarily for the models and look upon the extras as fine as long as they are free, or indeed a waste of plastic?

Feel free to add your thoughts as well as your vote, if you have an opinion not on the poll do post it. Please stick to the topic of extra bits and their worth, rather than disappearing off on wider pricing issues, etc. There are plenty of general pricing woe threads in the N&R forum.


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## NagashKhemmler (Apr 28, 2009)

Well, I find it outrageous that they constantly raise prices, even in a worldwide recession and it defies all common and intelligent business logic.

The reason we were supposed to accept the inferior plastic minatures (inferior in terms of details and still are last time i looked in terms of definition of detail and appearance....) was because they were cheap and because you got more bang for your buck.

Ironically enough it's what, 10 swords for 55 AUD which is a blatant ripoff. Having more recently read a bit of the GW financial reports and such I find it laughable what's happening and just how airheaded they really are with such things. 

Get this, they complain of falling sales rates and their response to that, is to raise the prices once again.....Now in any other business, such an occurance would be met with a price decrease.

I don't have a problem with paying extra for additional parts, I do have a problem with what they're doing with their pricing system and how they attempt to use extra parts to justify exorbidant prices. The end result of their pricing is two things, people are buying minatures from alternate ranges (no clubs care in fact many encourage it...) or people are just playing less than before. Not only that, but the quality of their products is actually detereorating, the minatures and plastic sprues have worser join lines and worser quality than ever before, comparing them to unassembled plastic kits I have that are as old as first released, to current. The detail has improved, but the overall quality just sucks.

This last price hike on the new plastic kits coming out will be the last straw for me and I will now, in preference to buying new minis, play just with my old armies, it's just ridiculous. No other company in a monopoly position raises their prices or downsizes their products this consistantly, even going with price raises in a recession.

EDIT: I double checked and it's $69 for a box of the new swords...tripe.


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## karlhunt (Mar 24, 2009)

I have to say that NO I do not want to be forced to pay for extra little bits and bobs. If they really felt that we the customers were willing to pay money for them then they would make a bits box we could buy seperatly. The only exception are bits that add significant versatility to a box. My best example for this would be the Empire Militia box which includes hand guns, bows halbards, even great swords! Twenty men for roughly $35.00 US, I'll take it. I get twice as many troops for a minimum price bump and can make them into anything I want!


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## karlhunt (Mar 24, 2009)

Damn you MK, You pulled the ninja on the first post!


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

Hell to the yeah they should. Being able to make 4 more models from 2 Box Sets, especially on Warriors of Chaos is a real benefit.


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## Syph (Aug 3, 2008)

I really like the Corsair and Cold One Knight kits as examples of the excellent detail you can achieve with a plastic kit, but also the extra bits they've included such as heads, arms and other bits and bobs. I hate the limited choice of pose you get from metal models, particularly when they only do a few variants. Looks especially pants when you have a skirmishing unit of Shades that must all be twins or triplets.

I'm happy to pay a bit more for extras in the box - it's great for conversions and I'd be stuck converting the High Elf dragon without the excellent bits left from the Corsair and CoK boxes. I don't think it's a good decision however to make boxes even more expensive to accomodate them.


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## neilbatte (Jan 2, 2008)

While I like working with plastic and often use the extras for conversions the amount of conversion work I do doesn't offset the extra cost now.
For basic troops I put as little extra bits on as possible its just more to paint even in 40k the pouches, backpacks and grenades just don't ever get used so for me its a waste of plastic.
I prefer painting the metal models and as I usually sell 1 army to fund another when It gets stale the metal models have more resale value as well so replacing good metals with plastics with loads of bits just isn't cost effective for me.


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## HorusReborn (Nov 19, 2008)

spare bits are cool, but if you're paying for them then they're not really spare bits. They're bits you're paying for. It's always good to have a bits box, you never know what's going to be needed down the road


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## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

I don't get hold of WHF spares very often,
so Im always happy to find a well stocked bits box and quite often make fair swaps for things like the Lizardmen spears that make nice Chaos spikes on Vehicles.


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## arachnid (Nov 17, 2008)

well, seeing as some regiment boxes are up to 50% made up out of redundant pieces, I'd say it's getting a tad ridiculous.

Especially when they decrease the number of models possible to make with each, while at the same time increasing the price.


The dark elf warrior box is one example.
(60% of the box won't be used either way you equip your warriors)


Bits should be nice stuff added to provide options and variations without hindering the purpose of the set in the first place, in my own opinion, of course


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## BrotherYorei (May 9, 2009)

i like the extra bits sometimes. however, i think they would be better if i could just go a buy the extra stuff if i want it. 

Geez, GW, dont force me to buy what i wont use.


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## neilbatte (Jan 2, 2008)

I've always thought that it would make more sense to charge a reasonable amount for the actual troops (I don't mind paying that bit extra for different weapon load outs like in the state troop boxes) and then bringing out equiptment boxes full of conversion goodies for all those who want to convert which to be honest would be most of us.
That way if you wanted to use stuff for basing you could buy race specific boxes there would be army cross over potential with armies that loot such as OK and O&G and this would work for both fantasy and 40k.


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

i think alot of it depends on what you define as "extra", alot of the sprues come with far more heads than you have bodies for but it means that you can have almost all different people which was impossible in metal, like wise alot of kits come with more than one set of weapons,again you get to choose how to arm your units without the cost of metal ( and if your clever you come to my site and buy magnets to allow you to swap weapons )
Some items are just for show ,like the brettonian dog,pouches ,knives etc these things add a certain level of cool and individuality and for the most part i dont think you are paying any extra for these ,they are just to fill in the gaps on the sprue.

that said GW seem to be aware people are not happy with the price of the new empire stuff and are using the "but they have loads of extra bits" as a cheap excuse for what is an unacceptable rise in price,the sprues for the empire stuff are no more full of bits than the recent ork nobs and the lizardmen temple guard and should be no more expensive . 

The empire are a flag ship army for fantasy and as this stuff is likely to be the last of the range for a number of years so they have decided to profiteer from it as sales after this launch will start to fade away as people move to other armies.


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## torealis (Dec 27, 2006)

Theyre great up to a point, but now i've got quite enough arrows, and feathers, and powder monkeys. I'd rather they made 'extras' sprues and released them as bitz packs...


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

torealis said:


> Theyre great up to a point, but now i've got quite enough arrows, and feathers, and powder monkeys. I'd rather they made 'extras' sprues and released them as bitz packs...


you can never have too many powder monkeys, infact im hoping that the next new army for fantasy is a powder monkey legion :grin:


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## Wiccus (Jun 2, 2008)

I'm of the opinion that has been stated a few times already. Bits should be a separate kit that you can choose to buy or not. I mean it seems like the new greatsword kit should allow you to build your 10 men and then have enough extra bits to convert 20 greatsword models. It seems like a waste. I do love extra bits but if I want those bits really bad I dont mind buying another kit for it. I dont like having to pay an assload for something I may or may not use.


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## Ascendant Valor (Jan 3, 2009)

I'm a very frugal Warhammer player. I hate spending more money than I need, and I often am one of the first among my friends to complain about not having enough money for just about anything.

As such, I'd love for GW to reduce the cost in any way possible for their products. Even if it meant that we could only assemble a unit in a certain way (like with pre-determined poses) with little or no customization capacity, I'd still accept this over paying more for something I usually don't optimize.

If I were to choose to model my pieces better, I'd then go out and buy the extra bits that I'd need.

At least this way, I could have my army for little excess expense (aside from the already evil prices...). Then I could easily choose to enhance my units at my own whim by buying only the bits that I'd want (perhaps by the sprue, or something).

Just an idea.


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## karlhunt (Mar 24, 2009)

Yes, but that would allow us to choose what we are and are not willing to pay for. By doing it this way they expend such a small ammount of extra plastic that the price to them, per sprue, is negligible. Honestly they probably have more waste that they toss than what they use for the extra bits. But by putting the bits on the sprue they "can" charge us more because we the consumer are not willing to take a stand and stop buying their models. Then again, now that I have found places like Warlord and Wargames foundry, I doubt I'll ever buy a rank and file troop from GW again.


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## NagashKhemmler (Apr 28, 2009)

I just don't find it necessary. Majority of people I know, don't add the bits because it's more to paint, of the gamers anyways and not the painters.

End of the day, how much does an extra pouch really add to the model?


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## Dafistofmork (Jan 9, 2009)

it realy depends on the person, whether or not the extra bits are valued or not. gw should make extra bits seperate, but this would mean those who want that added bit of realism would have to pay more, and first and foremost, gw is a company that produces plastic men for you to build and paint, the game is an add on to enhance your enjoyment.

or something like that.


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## karlhunt (Mar 24, 2009)

no no no, you have it backwards. They made a game and as a side note they made little men to paint. That's why the "classic" models look so rediculously bad.


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