# Major Price Increases



## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

The local store is what Games Workshop calls a partner-level independent retailer. That means they recieve the same information at the same time as a GW store. The store was notified that prices were going up across the board between 6 and 50%. Plastic items and codecies are on the 6% end of things, paint and supplies are in the 15-20% increase range, while metal models are going up between 35% and 50%-- the price tag for a box of Sisters of Battle, for example, is set at 60.00 USD. According to the memo, this price change was not supposed to be announced, and has been enacted to cover rising shipping and manufacturing costs, and take effect in September. Might want to do some shopping if you have an army that has a lot of metal models... Whether this pricing change is limited to the United States is totally beyond me, though-- a lot of other countries have had price hikes that the US market has avoided in recent years, so it may just be evening the field, so to speak. Either way, it's a major increase.


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Crap! I hope this is not true.


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## officer kerky (Jun 12, 2008)

games workshop minitures are already expensive enough hope to the emperor that it doesn't go up more. 
hope this isnt true


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## Judas Masias (Jun 5, 2008)

This FUCKING SUCKS!!!:angry::ireful2::headbutt:


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## pixelgeek (Jun 4, 2008)

Posted on TGN already

http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2008/08/22/16543


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## Untitled401 (May 12, 2008)

you think you have it bad? canada's prices have always been higher than in the US. Its $45 CAD for a box of CSM and down there its $35 USD i believe?


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## Captain Galus (Jan 2, 2008)

SONUVABITCH!!!:shok::shok::ireful2:


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## bl0203 (Nov 10, 2007)

The hobby is already expensive this isn't the best news...but without the price hike we would probably lose GW. Then we would probably have to find something half as fun to kill all our spare time. :dunno:


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## EndangeredHuman (Feb 20, 2008)

"For the Empor.. what? We're charged for saying that now? Dammit!"

Though seriously, increased manufactuirng costs is rubbish. They're making up for 2.3 million in lost profits to appease shareholders.

Eh, it's a luxury. Their own deathbed.


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## PieMan (May 1, 2008)

this sucks

hopefully it stays away from australia


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## rVctn_Khaiyn (Dec 1, 2007)

PieMan said:


> this sucks
> 
> hopefully it stays away from australia


Yes please.

At least plastic isn't being hit too hard. 6% is only a few extra dollars for the normal boxed sets.


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## Syph (Aug 3, 2008)

After coming back into the hobby I was pleasantly surprised many of the prices hadn't particularly risen since I last left the hobby in 2001, and in fact some were cheaper. What I didn't first realise stuff like Dreadnoughts (£20 in 2001) were now £2 cheaper but plastic, paints were a standard £2 when I've remembered them being £2.50 for metallics etc but now seem much smaller.

Prices aren't too bad at the moment, particularly when you find an online retailer who knocks 25%. But 50% on the current metal range? I'm sure the apothecary I paid £3 for in 1996 is the same model now and is £7. Thank god I don't buy much in the way of metal models now. Hopefully the majority of the rises don't materialise. Besides, I live in Nottm, shop at Warhammer World - I'm making it really cheap for them lol, where's the shipping costs!?! :biggrin:


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## slaaneshy (Feb 20, 2008)

This isn't surprising given the current economic situation in the uk with EVERYTHING going up. GW needs to be careful or it will price itself out of existence..


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## Alex (Jan 19, 2008)

"Prices aren't too bad at the moment, particularly when you find an online retailer who knocks 25%"

I couldn't agree more , i've just saved about £40 altogether instead of using GW.


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

The increase in cost of white metal is directly related to the banning of lead from electronics in recent years, now all your electrical goods are soldered using Tin alloys, which is exactly what white metal is, so demand for tin has increased so the price goes up.

This is also the reason GW have been working hard to replace metal kits for warhammer with plastic's.


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## phatmatt1991 (Aug 11, 2008)

Post edited .


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## cooldudeskillz (Jun 7, 2008)

And Mine...infact Gw And Suck All Our Cocks If They Increase Their Prices!!!


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## phatmatt1991 (Aug 11, 2008)

i don't care if it cost more its ridiculous already!


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## cooldudeskillz (Jun 7, 2008)

i care alot lol if they do they might loose 1 collecter...me


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## phatmatt1991 (Aug 11, 2008)

and me i count as 12


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## darklove (May 7, 2008)

How often do GW prices go up? Inflation is 4.4% in the UK at the moment - all GW's costs are going up so they have to charge more or start firing staff.


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## cooldudeskillz (Jun 7, 2008)

mmmmmm taking GW's side...........your a spy, amit it:so_happy:


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## phatmatt1991 (Aug 11, 2008)

yeha 4.4 theres are going up between 5-and50%! and not that long ago they went u 20% in everything


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## darklove (May 7, 2008)

Among other things, I am a management consultant and I understand how companies work. It is simple economics, not brain surgery. The UK is on the edge of recession, why would GW be the only company not to face difficult times?


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## cooldudeskillz (Jun 7, 2008)

because they control the world and it's leaders


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## Wilder (Jun 10, 2008)

Like the models and paint aren't pricey enough already?!:angry::shok:


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## ARMORMAN (Jun 8, 2008)

In 91 I bought a box of 30 beakies (still have them and the box) for $16 U.S. Now 17 years later, I can get a box of 5 figs for $35.......that's not just an inflation issue, it's also appeasing the investors (and gouging us). I have no problem with a price increase due to legitemate costs, but trying to appease a group of greedy old farts who don't even play but just suck the life out of younger folks is just wrong. 

Guess I'll just continue to make my paper figs and armor.....


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## darklove (May 7, 2008)

Simple solution: get a job!


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## bishop5 (Jan 28, 2008)

I don't particularly mind TBH. I'm in the UK and it's pretty obvious that something's gotta give. I'll still buy models, i'll just get less for my money, same as pretty much anything else over here.

I'd rather pay more for my hobby than see it fade away.


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## Orc Town Grot (Jun 28, 2008)

Why?

Is the opperative question. If we pull our heads out of the gaming zones and army lists and have a flick through the financial pages of the paper it should be clear that there are simple, legitimate economic reasons for this happening. Indeed if you need some minis soon, buy before the price increases come.

Note the following:

(1) Inflation on a global basis is running in double digits in many countries and near record high in developing countries at around 5-6% per annum.

(2) Fuel, food and metal price increases have been extremely large due to high demand for all of these for all kinds of consumer products and due also to the gradual growth of the middle classes in China and India as well as other places. Demand increasing while supply does not leads to an increase in cost.

(3) Fuel costs obviously increase the delivery costs of products and shipping companies ARE raising their prices significantly, so that flows on to all products not only miniatures.
As high oil prices looks to be here to stay, that won't go away.

(4) Metal costs have been very high in the last year. Consider other resources. Rio Tinto and BHP (Two mining companies based in Australia) suddenly increased the price of coking coal by 85% IN ONE DAY two months ago. The raw material for minis has I think doubled in price in the last twelve months or so, the prices cannot be held down forever.

(5) Despite it all, GW is not very profitable really. We may feel they rip us off, but its not true, they are much closer to a condition of "hand to mouth" then you may imagine. Businesses incur many costs, and since most of them are paying our beloved GW staff and game designers we should accept that!

So CALM DOWN guys! This is not GW trying to make us all suffer! They are basically trapped in the present world inflation crisis along with the rest of us!

They are passing on costs, and actually doing it after some delays because pewter prices have been spiking for ages, while mini prices have gone up much more slowly!

They are really trying to keep prices within reason!

If you want to panic, it shouldn't be about your hobby! If things get a little hard you will have fewer models and will just have to spend more time painting them properly.

The real concern is if the various economic problems get worse and we have to worry about REAL problems, like losing jobs or, even (yegads!) Starting to go hungry if a real crisis in global inflation continues to unfold over the next couple of years!

Be calm, things always change and global price inflation is part of our present condition.

OTG


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## Lord Reevan (May 1, 2008)

GW are the cheapest warhammer retailer in ireland and by a lot!! If you think they rip people off you should shop around. In 4 shops within 2 miles of GW liffey st. in dublin they sell terminators from €40 to €55. GW sell them for 30. Assault squads are anywhere from 27.50 to 35. GW sell them for 20 euro. That is great because ireland is about 25 to 30% dearer than other european countries.... If, due to rising prices of raw materials, they have to raise their prices then let them. Would you rather not have models at all? 

And yes GW are not massive profit makers either. The cost of all those materials plus all those emplyees, plus the very well detailed and expensive mold process does add up to a lot. especailly taken as a worlwide scale....


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## cccp (Dec 15, 2006)

these threads really do go round in circles. please stop making this a pro/con argument. please.


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## Lord Reevan (May 1, 2008)

If that was to me then I apologise.... I'm merely giving my opinion on the subject at hand....


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## LordWaffles (Jan 15, 2008)

cccp said:


> these threads really do go round in circles. please stop making this a pro/con argument. please.


On that note, what would be acceptable to post, just further news we've heard about the potential price hikes?

Sorry I'm slightly confused by that statement as their's really only two ways you can go about accepting the price hike, anger and betrayal, or the 'grin and bear it'


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## officer kerky (Jun 12, 2008)

quote from white dwarf online e-mail
"As everyone knows costs are going up all over the world, and just like everyone else we are seeing increases in the price of oil, metal, printed materials and transport. Up until now we've absorbed these increases, but the recent and dramatic doubling in the price of tin is simply something we are unable to ignore and therefore some of our prices will be going up too.
As from 29th September 2008 we will therefore be increasing the price of all metal models as well as a selection of other items including most of our books and some accessories including paint.
The good news is that we do not intend to raise the price of our plastic kits at this time which means Games Workshop's plastic range remains excellent value for money for all hobbyists. This has also encouraged us to accelerate our plans for expanding our plastic kit range even more quickly so keep a look out for new projects in the future"
now that sucks all metal products going up in prices. its really sucks considdering im collecting daemonhunters (all metal)


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## KellysGrenadier (Jul 13, 2008)

They may change more metal figurines to plastic. Nothing to panic about, I don't think.


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## Mr Flibble (Jun 17, 2008)

We'll still see majority of the current metal models stay in metal, only sets like Nobz, and other metal models that are worth making in plastic will be done.

Fantasy gets hit the hardest by the metal prices -_-


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## LJT_123 (Dec 26, 2007)

Eh, if this happens online stores are the way to go.


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## Gannon (Mar 13, 2008)

OTG-Excellent arguement and I agree wholeheartedly with you. The average consumer know's absolutely nothing about how Commerce and business really works. I don't have a degree in Business Economics, but do work in the supply industry and we see the same thing across the board. The price of Tin has risen dramatically so that all of our distributors have increased the price by 15%.

Shipping costs have risen-Go to your local post office and you'll see. A package that cost me $8.25 just 2 months ago now costs me $8.65. Orc Town Grot just got some rep from me. Good point and way to hit it on the head.


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## dizzington esq (Apr 24, 2008)

On line stores are definitely the way to go. I recently purchased the necron phalanx box. The local gw stores's price was $318, Aust dollars. Online stores price including freight/shipping $190 Aust dollars. Why would you pay full price at gw ?

Did I mention that the box came with lots of scarabs...


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## Cadian81st (Dec 24, 2006)

I read threads like this, all the "oh noes! GW is raising teh prices again!!!! I hate them sooo much!!!" and I think to myself, if it really bothers you that much, why do you keep playing? There have been plenty of expletives tossed around these four pages, and clearly a lot of hard feelings and rage. So quite simply, if this bothers you so much, just stop playing! I mean, no one is holding a gun to our heads and forcing us to buy minis, we are spending our hard earned cash on little lumps of plastic, and we seem to enjoy it. This hobby was the main reason for I got my part time job, and I have several other friends for which it is the same thing. And I accept that, I enjoy what I do and am willing to work to earn money to do it.

But I think you have to ask yourself, if you react so violently to the price raises that you scream bloody murder and suggest that GW fellate you, is this healthy? Maybe it's time to move on for a bit, try your hand at life without GW, and see how that goes for you. Because at the end of the day, they're just plastic spacemen.


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## Hailo-15 (Aug 4, 2008)

nice put Cadian81st and there is a simple thing we Chaos Space Marines are willing to offer to those who wish to seek rest from this troubling price increase 


"There is no peace in this universe, but if you seek quick rest and recovery i offer you an easy and quick option, all you must do is lay your sorrow filled mortal mind and fall ill to my Blade of Chaos for the Blood God will enjoy your blood drenched on my blade"


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## Death Shroud (Mar 1, 2008)

I wonder where this will put the price of the majority metal armies (like sisters of battle) in comparison to the resin armies that Forgeworld produces?


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## Cadian81st (Dec 24, 2006)

That's a good point death shroud, if the metal price increase is significant enough, FW might see a boost in sales.


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## killmaimburn (Mar 19, 2008)

Didn't GW state that they would not raise plastic mini prices? Unless you're playing a mostly metal army, like the unfortunate sisters of battle or grey knights, IMO metal models can be done without...I always convert my own characters/special units from plastic and GS neway, and its pretty rewarding. I don't want to force my way on anybody, but you should try it because it lets you put your vision of the character out on the table (or make up your own character with their own fluff)


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## bl0203 (Nov 10, 2007)

In the White Dwarf e-mail they said this may help them push toward more plastic figures, which could be more advantagious to us. I like metal models however they fall apart and chip easier and they're just harder to convert IMHO.


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## jb biggs (Sep 1, 2008)

its takes affect on september 29th and its all over world, u think u got it bad we have to pay = $40 for 1 (yes, 1) mini!!!!!! over her in the uk


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

Are you sure mate? I can't think of many minis that cost £22 each.

:wondering if the currency converter is working cyclops:


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## Cadian81st (Dec 24, 2006)

bl is right, the (possibly significant) upside to this is that GW will push their plastic range conversion up a few notches in terms of importance. It would be nice to have all plastic armies, and that might be the side affect of this unfortunate business.


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## Orc Town Grot (Jun 28, 2008)

Howdy American Friends,

Hope Gustav doesn't damage too much.

And fear not, a 50% rise on prices for you guys will mean you will be paying the same as Australians have been paying for the past ten years!

Our cheapest "deals" have been squad boxes at AU$50, and Detachments at AU$150. When the Australian dollar was 80 to the US it was already much more than US prices. when the Aussie dollar was at 93 to the US it was WAY more. You guys have been getting it good and CHEAP for ages, sad to say, and for most of you with relatively more disposable income, not bad at all.

Don't quit on the hobby because of a little price though.

Its all for a good cause, the hobby itself!

You will survive!

And your scratch building skills are sure to improve with that little extra incentive.

I proxied and scratch built everything for years!


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## itsonlyme (Aug 22, 2008)

Gannon said:


> OTG-Excellent arguement and I agree wholeheartedly with you. The average consumer know's absolutely nothing about how Commerce and business really works. I don't have a degree in Business Economics, but do work in the supply industry and we see the same thing across the board. The price of Tin has risen dramatically so that all of our distributors have increased the price by 15%.
> 
> Shipping costs have risen-Go to your local post office and you'll see. A package that cost me $8.25 just 2 months ago now costs me $8.65. Orc Town Grot just got some rep from me. Good point and way to hit it on the head.


As true as that may be this isnt really the problem of the customer, the thing is no matter what the price of a item has to look attractive in order to spend the cash. While i dare say GW having to pay a normal pay rate again this isnt my problem (they shouldnt have relied on students in the first place only after cheap models).

When my gas bill is nearly going up by 50%, food prices shooting up the last thing im going to buy is a spacemarine spearhead for £160 with how many models again? 20? (on warseer its said to be 160 anyways). This kind of price rise really isnt going to help GW one bit, its just going to drive more and more customers away.


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## Tigirus (Apr 13, 2008)

I'm not too worried about that price hike 'cause I buy from a rogue trader and they sell everything 5$ cheaper than the old GW price, for example I bought a Avatar for CAN$31 yesterday and on the GW site it says 40. Also, Warhammer is a pretty cheap hobby compared to some others, like my dad and brother who do model trains, they bought a train a while ago that was CAN$400


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## bobss (May 18, 2008)

Even now metals are pretty expensive, sure most people can afford a £10 skulltaker but a tener is abit too steep for a relatively smallish model that comes with a slightly damaged base, and yet the increase will drive me further away from metals....



> IMO metal models can be done without...I always convert my own characters/special units from plastic and GS neway, and its pretty rewarding. I don't want to force my way on anybody, but you should try it because it lets you put your vision of the character out on the table (or make up your own character with their own fluff)


i heartily agree with this, with maybe the exception of mounted heroes ( because single plastic steeds to your choice are pretty hard to come buy, without buying an entire box ) I pretty much do it anyway. bit of greenstuff, and stick on a rock an, ordinary chaos warrior is now an aspiring champ.


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## darkane (Nov 14, 2007)

this is when i am happy that i picked up my hive tyrant already. Fortunately the Hobby is big around here, we have about 5 stores with in 30 minutes of my place. 2 of them offer 20% off special orders for GW which is pretty sweet. $90 american dollars for a battle force becomes 72 and that is a great deal.

Most of this does have to do with the prices to them, they need to maintain their margin dollars as well as everyone else. i dont know about you guys, but at the end of the year, i am not spending an amount of money on this stuff that would shock me. (so far this year i bought a Devilfish and a Hive Tyrant and might get another nid battleforce.)I wonder how much some of you are buying to get that freaked out over price increases. And yes, i think $25 for an obliterator is nuts, its one model, but unfortunately its the world we live in, people need to make money. I doubt any one got into this hobby because it was inexpensive. :crazy:


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## Stella Cadente (Dec 25, 2006)

bl0203 said:


> but without the price hike we would probably lose GW.


that would not be a bad thing


darklove said:


> How often do GW prices go up?


I think its once every 2 weeks now isn't it?


darklove said:


> Simple solution: get a job!


put some more thought into that, once you take out everything from a minimum wage for BASIC Living costs you ain't gonna be able to afford much from GW.......unless you have more money than sense

heck I only get an average of £500-600 a month


killmaimburn said:


> Didn't GW state that they would not raise plastic mini prices?


if you believe what GW says you believe anything


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## Gambit14 (Aug 30, 2008)

ebay.... all i have to say


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## spike12225 (Aug 21, 2008)

h ha ha ha aus will feel it were paying more then anywere else its bull i buy from states an uk paid 80 for brand new battle force from uk compared to 150 now


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## Sniper (Mar 9, 2008)

well us aussies are safe from extra "shipping costs" cause everything is made in China!:biggrin:

Sniper


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## Stella Cadente (Dec 25, 2006)

Sniper said:


> well us aussies are safe from extra "shipping costs" cause everything is made in China!:biggrin:
> 
> Sniper


only the materials are made in china, the models are still done in England


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## World Eater (Aug 31, 2008)

ra I mean, no one is holding a gun to our heads and forcing us to buy minis, we are spending our hard earned cash on little lumps of plastic, and we seem to enjoy it.[/QUOTE]

Actually last week a GW representative from GW Canada knocked on my door with a Bloodthirster on a massive chain leash. I responded by saying 'Nice Bloodthirster. What's 'is name? Cuddles?"
The rep informed me that I was to purchase more GW minis or else 'Cuddles' would ransack everything I own including my miserable little life!

So all I have to say is GW is GREAT! Price hikes are completely fair!
There is nothing rotten at GW, its the rest of the world that's rotten!
ROTFLMAO!!
No wait.. Cuddles.. NO! Cuddles put the Xbox 360 down!Please! No not the Corrolla, that's my wife's car! You don't want piss her off now, right Cuddles...


And now for something completely different.. A Khorne Berzerker falling on his own Chain axe...


BFTBG!!!

World Eater


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## Mighty (Jun 8, 2008)

Come on guys lets give Games-workshop a break they whole world is going up in prices not just them. And its not like they are just like hey lets randomly raise our prices to please everyone but are customers there are reasons why and its not to please some old guys, it's to not go bankrupt! The prices are raising for them which means they have to raise the price for us if they didn't they would go extinct from bankrupt and we would cease to have our fun hobby. So if you want to get mad at somebody get mad the world, not GW.


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

Untitled401 said:


> you think you have it bad? canada's prices have always been higher than in the US. Its $45 CAD for a box of CSM and down there its $35 USD i believe?


Yeah, exactly. It's nice to see that GW's leveling things out a little. We Canadians have been getting screwed for ages.


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## Son of mortarion (Apr 24, 2008)

The differense between the Canadian and us prices is because, until recebtly the Canadian dollar was worth less than the u s dollar.

However, when the Canadian dollar rose in value to be more valuable than the u s dollar, the prices should have gone down to reflect this.


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## Gannon (Mar 13, 2008)

Maybe the only reason I'm not bitching so much is because I pretty much have everything I need right now for 40K. And I don't plan on paying full price for anything else ever in my life. I'd rather go on B-Town and buy it used, no matter how beat up it is.


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## itsonlyme (Aug 22, 2008)

Mighty said:


> Come on guys lets give Games-workshop a break they whole world is going up in prices not just them. And its not like they are just like hey lets randomly raise our prices to please everyone but are customers there are reasons why and its not to please some old guys, it's to not go bankrupt! The prices are raising for them which means they have to raise the price for us if they didn't they would go extinct from bankrupt and we would cease to have our fun hobby. So if you want to get mad at somebody get mad the world, not GW.


actually oil prices are coming down (on the news today), i believe also they said food prices are peaking and should start coming down around november (i end up watching the news alot in mu job). The thing is will GW lower its prices after we all recover from the recession? No, blatantly not. At the end of the day business isnt about feeling sorry for a company, pay their extremely high prices or some kittens might die. Buisness about having a product that people want and sellings at the right price, GW clearly isnt doing this, all it really does is fleece the remaining fanatics for everything they can



Osbad said:


> Before I comment I want to ask, Jedi, that you please don't interpret my following comment in any way as a perosnal criticism, because it isn't. I take your comment as being entirely rational and justifiable.
> 
> That said, can I say that this behaviour is what GW have been on the record as believing about their customers. They think that selling less product for a higher unit cost is a Good Thing as it means a greater profit margin for them. Taking it to the extreme they would be happy with just 1 customer who is prepared to pay £110m for one model per year, rising with inflation, because servicing fewer customers is cheaper than servicing many.
> 
> ...


The above is from warseer, i think the guy makes alot of sense.


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## effigy22 (Jun 29, 2008)

itsonlyme said:


> actually oil prices are coming down.


Very true, but im on gamesworkshops side here.

They have to pay for store rent and bills. Staff wages. New molds for new models (which in the long run turns out cheaper, but initial costs, BOY thats expensive). They have to pay for all their contractors (sculptors, literature etc.) AND dont forget about shipping costs. 

GW Prices wont drop till the market has dropped. Not just oil prices, but EVERYTHING else they have to pay for.

Im not one for these kinds of debates (it is really my weak point :crazy but im sure you guys can get what im aiming at. And dont forget they rely on you! Less Customers = Higher Prices.


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## loyalist42 (Sep 7, 2007)

Precisely. 

Not only does GW have to wait for every other commodity and service upon which they rely to drop to reasonable levels, they also have to wait until the world market regains a measure of confidence. I've been told in the past (in classes, if you're interested) that the market tends to run about five to six months into the future-meaning that stock prices reflect the level of confidence the market has in the future of a given company, as opposed to its current situation. 

In a market such as what we're seeing now, confidence is fairly low. Things are a bit too unstable for most people, which drives prices up. Until a measure of stability can be regained and confidence restored in the future of the market, we'll see prices at least hold steady, if they don't increase. Things take time, but in the end, I think we'll see GW prices become more reasonable. 

One last point: the prices themselves may not go down, but with inflation, the market tends to catch up. So a $2 increase today will, in time, mean less and less. A weak point, I know, but I think it's important to point out that eventually, given no further action from GW, the market as a whole 'catches up' to the price increase.


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## itsonlyme (Aug 22, 2008)

Aside tha fact that GW has been well above the rate of inflation for several years, I seem to remember that Chaos warriors used to be £12, currently £18, thats a 50% rise in 4 years, im yet to inflation catchup.

Part of the reason the prices are going up is the transportation costs, well, again prices of petrol have been coming down for a while, i've been seeing them go down on a weekly basis (if that).

I would would also point out that its the cost of things that people cant do without that go up, not everything, the price of food, drink, gas, oil, things such as DVD, TV's, computers, really the luxury items go down. Exactly were do we class GW, a necessity or a luxury item?

Now what am i more likley to spend my cash on, a DVD i see in a sale on say play.com (actually very large sale  ) or a £15 troll (£45 for a unit), think about it, my gas bill, food bill have gone up, my disposable income is far less. GW is not a charity, its a business, if they want my money then they market should their product at a decent price and not plead for me to accept their prices, How would people react to say Sony doubling the prices of TV, im pretty sure it wouldnt resemble some of the posts i have seen here, i think it would be more like "no thanks".


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## effigy22 (Jun 29, 2008)

If anyone is interested. GW Business Reports http://investor.games-workshop.com/latest_results/Results2008/Interims/default.aspx


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## Julius Kaesoron (May 14, 2008)

Hi guys,

Look at the new Black reach boxset, there is so much stuff in there for £40 its a real bargain, Give them some credit.

As for the beaky boxset the models were really crap, you get alot of better models now.

Cheers J


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## itsonlyme (Aug 22, 2008)

You are right, compared to everything else its is a very good deal, i would be tempted to say its one of the better starter sets i have seen GW do. But thats something im only going to buy one of to be fair, one good box set dosnt really justify yet another price rise which is on the premise of rising prices (which are actually dropping), infact in the england the only reason we arnt seeing these lower prices is due because the price is in $


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## Mighty (Jun 8, 2008)

itsonlyme said:


> actually oil prices are coming down (on the news today)


You are right they are coming down and I won't say I watch the news a lot, but more then most sixteen year olds and know enough to know that yes oil is coming down but I wasn't just talking about oil I meant everything in the world in general is going up. A lot of things not just GW are going up in price and thats all I was saying.


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## itsonlyme (Aug 22, 2008)

Mighty said:


> You are right they are coming down and I won't say I watch the news a lot, but more then most sixteen year olds and know enough to know that yes oil is coming down but I wasn't just talking about oil I meant everything in the world in general is going up. A lot of things not just GW are going up in price and thats all I was saying.


Aide from fuel, oil, eletric isnt really increasing in price, my other hobbies arnt seeing the same price rise, infact all the factors GW mention as the reason for a price rise really arnt true. Its amazing what you learn watching the news


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

Odd, my gas and electricity bills are going up by between 9-32%, there's just been a rise in my main transport costs of 8.5%, over the last year food has gone up between 25-70%, and it was announced today that the UK inflation rate is 4.4%, more than double the government's target... so you must be living in the only part of the UK that _isn't_ showing inflation, as far as I can see.

GW is a business; it has costs. It needs to recoup on them if it is to stay in business. It may make its financial situation worse by its bad decisions, but really that's by-the-by. Bottom line, it needs to make money. Raising prices is one way of doing that.

Cutting prices could _also_ be a way of doing it (making £5 profit on a million items is not as good as making £1 profit on 10 million of them). Both strategies have risks.

It doesn't really matter if the prices of other luxury goods are coming down, and you're right they are; partly because GW's transportation costs are higher than for CDs, for instance - think how many CDs you could fit in the Macragge or Skull Pass or Black Reach boxes, then work out how much that "space" is worth. I'd suggest you could fit at least 60 CDs in the Macragge box, at a tenner a pop, that's £600 pounds. Multiply that by 500 boxes or ahatever a truck can hold... so a "GW trukkload" is worth 500x£40 = £20,000; an "HMV truckload" is worth 500x£600 = £300,000... but the costs for the truck are the same. In other words, GW have to run 15 times more trucks (have 15 times more transport cost) to pull the same profit as HMV. But that extra 15 times has to come from somewhere, so in fact, as their overheads are more, they need to sell more than 15 truckloads...

Not that I'm defending all of GW's decisions here. I think they could have handled many things better over many years. But some things that might be bad for GW are actually great for us in the short term. Black Reach is fabulously good value... there's about £160 worth of minis in there, if you buy them a box at a time, for £40 - that's a _quarter_ of the price you'd pay over the year for them, which is pretty spectacular. I can't see how GW can sustain that, but in the meantime... wayhay! 120 quid's worth of free minis!

Meh. It's all just stuff. We'll continue playing while we can afford it and it's interesting. GW might price themselves out of the market, they may go bust, the quality may go down if they cut production costs, they may dick about and piss us all off. But, at the moment, in the face of mounting costs, some of the plastics (and especially Black Reach) are just _fantastic_ deals.

:economic cyclops:


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## itsonlyme (Aug 22, 2008)

Red Orc said:


> Odd, my gas and electricity bills are going up by between 9-32%, there's just been a rise in my main transport costs of 8.5%, over the last year food has gone up between 25-70%, and it was announced today that the UK inflation rate is 4.4%, more than double the government's target... so you must be living in the only part of the UK that _isn't_ showing inflation, as far as I can see.


Gas is the primary riser, not electricity, this has been going up by a far smaller amount, to be honest my eletric bills havent gone up, guess you choose the wrong supplier  Btw the i have seen GW products raise by 50% in 4 years (chaos warriors used to be £12), this is well about inflation, in short inflation has little to do with GW price rises. The price rises just create more price rises, people spend less and less on the hobby thus forcing a price rise (i think GW really overvalues that GW sticker on a packet)



> GW is a business; it has costs. It needs to recoup on them if it is to stay in business. It may make its financial situation worse by its bad decisions, but really that's by-the-by. Bottom line, it needs to make money. Raising prices is one way of doing that.


And raising prices again helps this how? sure it helps if people to continue to buy the same amount, i hear many people being put of from starting new armies or evening start new games. One of my mates was going to start a marine army however is struggling to justify paying £18 for a codex (which it will be after the 29th.



> Cutting prices could _also_ be a way of doing it (making £5 profit on a million items is not as good as making £1 profit on 10 million of them). Both strategies have risks.


The merit of lower prices however is that people start to see the product as better value or lose with their wallets. I've been playing GW games for a long time, i think the chaos warrior box hit £18 i really started to question the value of their products, just recentlt i noticed that a plastic orc chariot costs the same as a metal Chaos chariot (WTF)



> It doesn't really matter if the prices of other luxury goods are coming down, and you're right they are; partly because GW's transportation costs are higher than for CDs, for instance - think how many CDs you could fit in the Macragge or Skull Pass or Black Reach boxes, then work out how much that "space" is worth. I'd suggest you could fit at least 60 CDs in the Macragge box, at a tenner a pop, that's £600 pounds. Multiply that by 500 boxes or ahatever a truck can hold... so a "GW trukkload" is worth 500x£40 = £20,000; an "HMV truckload" is worth 500x£600 = £300,000... but the costs for the truck are the same. In other words, GW have to run 15 times more trucks (have 15 times more transport cost) to pull the same profit as HMV. But that extra 15 times has to come from somewhere, so in fact, as their overheads are more, they need to sell more than 15 truckloads...


Ahh but it does because GW is a luxury item, nothing more, its matters because they are GW competitors, the real money loser for GW is it stores, hence all the closures. The other thing with GW is that is actually has little within the impulse buying range (this would actually boost sales alot). On impulse i might go buy a CD, its doubtful im going to buy a £40 box of knights because i have that urge.



> Not that I'm defending all of GW's decisions here. I think they could have handled many things better over many years. But some things that might be bad for GW are actually great for us in the short term. Black Reach is fabulously good value... there's about £160 worth of minis in there, if you buy them a box at a time, for £40 - that's a _quarter_ of the price you'd pay over the year for them, which is pretty spectacular. I can't see how GW can sustain that, but in the meantime... wayhay! 120 quid's worth of free minis!


I think most things better would be more like it, i agree however that black reach is a great bargain, its a shame im only ever going to buy one box and need a £18 codex to use the marines.



> Meh. It's all just stuff. We'll continue playing while we can afford it and it's interesting. GW might price themselves out of the market, they may go bust, the quality may go down if they cut production costs, they may dick about and piss us all off. But, at the moment, in the face of mounting costs, some of the plastics (and especially Black Reach) are just _fantastic_ deals.
> 
> :economic cyclops:


I dont think its a maybe, i think the problem is that GW relies to much on fanboys and kids with rich parents, to be honest i used to be a very loyal GW customer but i think with hoe poorly the rules are usually written and comments from jervis johnson along the lines of "i dont write rules for rules lawyers" or "its you own fault if you have rules arguments" Then we factor in the poor done HE release "oh lets just tweak two units, _majorly_ shake up the force origination chart and use ASF in a really cunny manor, so cunning infact it fixes nothing! :crazy: :good: (the other thing that makes me think it was just to boost sales was the lack of any new core models). Then we move onto the chaos split invalidating so many armies, why exactly, ah yes, not to improve a game (better game = happy customers = more sales), no, and attempt to get people to buy what they dont want (i was less than impressed being stuck with a beastman army i dont want.

Ontop of all this (just to name a few) we then go and raise prices! oh yes! i swear to god, everytime i get past something GW does that annoys me they throw me a curve ball :scare:

Not the avid fan i once was, still i do enjoy my wargames  well maybe its just the company that pisses me off


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## beenburned (May 15, 2008)

Surely the reason black reach is such a bargain is because they get more people into the game, as they see how cheap it is in comparison to the other products. This them gets people hooked, so they buy a few more units, expanding the armies provided. They may not end up being long time customers, but they've already given GW an overall profit. Surely that's how they can sustain it?


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## itsonlyme (Aug 22, 2008)

Yeah its a great deal if you want to play marines or orks, what about all the other armies? what about if you dont fancy playing 40k but warhammer? To start a new army is still going to cost more money because of a needless price rise. So i guess one good deal out weighs the rest of the products, well atleast some are kept happy easily, at the current priced a 2k Dark elf army is still going to cost me arounf £200, it dosnt have the largest model count either.


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## Mighty (Jun 8, 2008)

itsonlyme said:


> Aide from fuel, oil, eletric isnt really increasing in price, my other hobbies arnt seeing the same price rise, infact all the factors GW mention as the reason for a price rise really arnt true. Its amazing what you learn watching the news


Tin really is going up. Isn't that there reason why they are raising there prices? And I totally agree it is thats why I make sure to watch it at least once a day so I can stay up to speed with wordly events. :grin:


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## itsonlyme (Aug 22, 2008)

yeah its a sad thing that tin has been going up, i believe reaper miniatures are going back to using lead to lower the cost of models (almost halves it actually), i'd be more than happy if GW did something like that to cut costs. Its also not the cost of tin but the minimum wage raising, i have no symphony for this because they shouldnt have relied on taking advantage of students to get a decent profit margin in the first place.

Still the price of tin going shouldnt have a effect on the priced of codexs, i mean £18 for a marine codex (its £15 until the 29Th so only on advance order). The other thing is that GW has made alot of mistakes, basically they expect the customer to pay for these. At the end of the day it comes down to who needs the other more, do you need GW or does GW need you. If you think GW needs you why are you willing to pay more than you should, if you think you need GW then be my guest and support the constant price rise of GW. Currently i really do think they are pricing themselves out of my budget and i doubt i actually need to buy more models, the other thing is that GW isnt the only company that makes models, plenty more companies about that offer good better value (reaper certainly seeming like it may be one), I guess it depends if you have to have that GW chaos knight or space marine.


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## DarthIbis (Aug 20, 2007)

I have to say that the "transport prices have gone up" argument is somewhat misleading as well. Since GW will sell you something from mail order and still charge shipping for it calls that into question.

One could say that it's part of their distribution cost in getting the product from their base to their outlets, but since you pay the same list price on a box whether you buy it from a GW corporate store or mail order makes me wonder. Rogue Traders (at least here in the US) pay 55% of retail as "cost" when they buy stock from GW. Assuming they sell at full price, 45% of the list is gross profit for the retailer. Because of the large mark-up, some retailers chose to sell at a discount (20% is common) so they are making only 25% gross profit now and can handle it in all likelihood due to their reduced overhead, etc. Many times, you'll pay extra for shipping from there as well if you are mail-ordering product.


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## CardanoPB (Jun 7, 2008)

A short bit in defense of the evil giant on the hill. 
First about the price hike. It only makes sense looking at the market now a days. The costs for shipping are through the roof. While over the past few years much of this fuel cost has been subsidized by the gov, that is funneling off. For education, google the price of tin over the past decade. That will explain almost everything. Consider market value of goods between say 98 and now. Compare the rise in price of gas, milk, eggs, electricity to the rise in price of miniatures. You'll find that the ratio of growth is much lower for minis. Remember also that in the 90s, early 00s we where in an unprecidented peak in economy. High salary, low unemployment. The market for for our recreational dollars was saturated. That is no longer the case. 
Look at the upsides. I cannot count high enough to remember how many gripes I hear about 'it's turning into a kids game'. Rule of economy should bring the 'this tall to ride' back up to at least the bottom of our beards. So people can no longer buy a tourney smashing list they read on the internet in one swoop, then never paint it, all the better. I personally hope the price hikes motivate people to do more with what they buy. We should see more conversions, better paint jobs. Over all more love for the models people do own, less second hand crap armies on ebay that didn't survive when the table met the mathhammer.
Almost forgot. About the online and retail discount merchants. This is only a way that we cheat ourselves. An online store emlpoys maybe a handful of people, in a remote loacation, with no customer service. you'll never go to www.cheapgwminis.com on saterdays to play a few games with the boys. As more people shift to this alternative, those sales are lost by local comic/gaming/hobby shops that actually participate in the hobby. That or takes sales away from GW. Many complain about how from direct order they profit too widely. This is an invalid arguement to cover frugalty. They are a business, they will make thier money off us. If we try to skirt around it and use discount merchants, this forces price hikes. The question becomes do we as gamers support the hobby, or do we support consumer fulfilment. Becuse the latter can be fulfilled buying cheaply made t shirts at walmart, and accomplish further selling out your country's economy at the same time.


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## itsonlyme (Aug 22, 2008)

CardanoPB said:


> First about the price hike. It only makes sense looking at the market now a days. The costs for shipping are through the roof. While over the past few years much of this fuel cost has been subsidized by the gov, that is funneling off. For education, google the price of tin over the past decade. That will explain almost everything. Consider market value of goods between say 98 and now.


No your right Tin has increased in price, this is why you look for cheaper alternative  going back to part lead isnt really such a sin, by doing this the demand for tin is less and the prices drop again, pretty simple really. The price of fuel has been going down for some time round here, i actually live next to a petrol station so do pay some attention here.



> Compare the rise in price of gas, milk, eggs, electricity to the rise in price of miniatures. You'll find that the ratio of growth is much lower for minis. Remember also that in the 90s, early 00s we where in an unprecidented peak in economy. High salary, low unemployment. The market for for our recreational dollars was saturated. That is no longer the case.


The difference here is that the examples you listed are things that are required to live, electricty isnt also raisng at half the rate the gas, i think the last price rise was 9% compared to gases 34% (well round abouts). The other thing you certainly dont take into consideration is that many supermarkets still offer great deals on foods, if you shop about you can take advantage of great offers, so many do buy one get ones free deals or buy x for the price of y



> Look at the upsides. I cannot count high enough to remember how many gripes I hear about 'it's turning into a kids game'. Rule of economy should bring the 'this tall to ride' back up to at least the bottom of our beards. So people can no longer buy a tourney smashing list they read on the internet in one swoop, then never paint it, all the better. I personally hope the price hikes motivate people to do more with what they buy. We should see more conversions, better paint jobs. Over all more love for the models people do own, less second hand crap armies on ebay that didn't survive when the table met the mathhammer.


A price rise wont stop warhammer/40k becoming a kids rise, most the kids i have seen play warhammer certainly dont come from poor backgrounds. The powerlists of the internet are usually of low model count so again has no real affect here. You hope it will motivate people to do more with what they buy? so you support this price rise people it will make people buy less stuff thus meaning less spending in GW and thus the need for yet another price rise! Have actually thought about this?



> Almost forgot. About the online and retail discount merchants. This is only a way that we cheat ourselves. An online store emlpoys maybe a handful of people, in a remote loacation, with no customer service. you'll never go to www.cheapgwminis.com on saterdays to play a few games with the boys. As more people shift to this alternative, those sales are lost by local comic/gaming/hobby shops that actually participate in the hobby. That or takes sales away from GW. Many complain about how from direct order they profit too widely. This is an invalid arguement to cover frugalty. They are a business, they will make thier money off us. If we try to skirt around it and use discount merchants, this forces price hikes. The question becomes do we as gamers support the hobby, or do we support consumer fulfilment. Becuse the latter can be fulfilled buying cheaply made t shirts at walmart, and accomplish further selling out your country's economy at the same time.


Nope i wont, i wouldnt go to GW on a saturday and play games of warhammer either, full of kids, i would rather get my board out, have someone over and have a few beers. Tell you what, i will start to use online stores, if GW wants me to return to their stores the they need drop the prices. For the record this price rise is the reason i will no longer shop in GW. GW is screwing itself out of customers, if it wants them to return to the stores it needs to lower its prices, simple as really. Its not a charity case, its a business, im certainly not going to visit a store because i feel sorry about their profit margin. If i wanted to donate some money id go to the rspca and get a new cat 

I still find this funny, so many people out their dont think GW has to work for your money, every other retailer does :so_happy: At the end of the day GW needs its customers, not its customers needs GW, the hobby would continue with or without GW in one form or another.


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## bobss (May 18, 2008)

> full of kids


but this could mean less kids? i mean kids get less pocked money so it means less of them in stores, less of them to crowd it on a saturday and less kids to beg there grandma for a £30 model which they then f*** up within 10 minutes , believe me ive seen it..

lol, if it wernt for the hobby and a few beers here and again, i would go and live in the scotish highlands with my mate, seriously he does it with just a machete, hes a total nutter


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## itsonlyme (Aug 22, 2008)

It could mean less kids, it could also mean less players in general, hardly the greatest thing, you more likely to see less people on a lower wage in the shops than kids who arnt paying for it in the first place. besides plenty of kids can get a aunt, a uncle, grandparent to buy them things.


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## Skull Lord Kar'gor (Aug 25, 2008)

Ugh this sucks, as it is i spent a fair bit of cash last year buy a shit load of bitz b4 they got rid of them... now I'm gonna have to do the same with the minis b4 the prices go up, although i think its always cheaper to buy them from an indepentant online retailer


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## Wolf Lord Dan (Sep 7, 2008)

maybe it's just one gigantic pranks.


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