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$130 at 30% off at my FLGS doesn't hurt that bad. I will pick one up. I like the model and the question is will I have it painted up for an event at the end of October or will it wait for Xmas

What the feth GW?

Bloodthirster AUD$155
Skarbrand AUD$225

The feth???

It's one sprue that's the same, and one new sprue in place of the old one? Why in the hell is it $70 MORE than the Bloodthirster.

Go on Talys. Defend this. I double-fething-dare you!

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
What the feth GW?

Bloodthirster AUD$155
Skarbrand AUD$225

The feth???

It's one sprue that's the same, and one new sprue in place of the old one? Why in the hell is it $70 MORE than the Bloodthirster.

Go on Talys. Defend this. I double-fething-dare you!

which sprue is the same???
it looks like everything is different, the pose, the torso, the head, the weapons, and the wings...
not that it justifies the price difference, but it looks like the two models will not be sharing any sprues...

anybody able to confirm???

cheers
jah

The website has the sprues. One of them is the same.

2 sprues, $225.





Excuse the space, it took a moment for that to process.
Also, what platform does the GW site become functional on? Everything I've tried is terrible.

I wish I could be shocked. Honestly. This just seems normal now for every GW release I see.

You are paying 100NZD MORE to swap out half the original blood thirster for a AOS brand blood thirster...

One sprue is the same, and it looks like the only things used off that sprue are the chest and back pieces as well as a few small armor pieces (what a waste of a sprue).

Holy hell he is expensive and I'm not sure why. I love GW, love 40k, love AOS, but G-D I can't stand these ridiculous price increases and there is no way I can defend this. He isn't a limited edition model. The only thing I can think of is they are probably assuming they won't sell as many kits as he is a specific character model (similar to a terminator librarian costing HALF of a 5 man terminator box set). But this is no different than a bloodthirster kit, people use magnets and 99% of the population isn't buying multiple base bloodthirster kits. I love the kit but may just use my custom model I have been using the past 5 years.

Geez GW.....

 455_PWR wrote:
One sprue is the same, and it looks like the only things used off that sprue are the chest and back pieces as well as a few small armor pieces (what a waste of a sprue).

Holy hell he is expensive and I'm not sure why. I love GW, love 40k, love AOS, but G-D I can't stand these ridiculous price increases and there is no way I can defend this. He isn't a limited edition model. The only thing I can think of is they are probably assuming they won't sell as many kits as he is a specific character model (similar to a terminator librarian costing HALF of a 5 man terminator box set). But this is no different than a bloodthirster kit, people use magnets and 99% of the population isn't buying multiple base bloodthirster kits. I love the kit but may just use my custom model I have been using the past 5 years.

Geez GW.....

But that excuse doesn't wash for them anymore, as their customers are collectors, meaning they expect to be selling just as many Skarbrands as anything else.

..... Well that's expensive.

It's something weird/crazy about Australia / New Zealand.

In the USA - Bloodthirster is USD $116, Skarbrand is $130. And Canada/Europe/UK, the prices are slightly more for Skarbrand like that (CAD $160, GBP 80, EUR 105)

Not sure about the other regions as I'm not familiar with their currencies. Considering it's a hero, and all heroes are just more expensive, the $14 seems ok; the $155->$225 seems crazy.

Incidentally, I have about given up on trying to understand the Australian pricing. Why is a Wraithknight $125, but Windriders $70 -- when USD the prices $115 for WK and are $41 for WR. I think I give up on trying to understand, because there seems to be no rational explanation. I feel sorry for you guys. Ironically, the AUD price for WK is cheaper than the USD price, after you factor in the tax included (I think 10%?) and the exchange rate of almost 25%.


@jah - this sprue is the same, but my Bloodthirster is still unbuilt, so I'm not sure how those parts turn into the Skarbrand model -- since the legs are on that sprue. On the bright side, kitbashing the two models will probably be highly compatible...

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
The website has the sprues. One of them is the same.

you could have at least posted a link...

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-NZ/Skarbrand-Bloodthirster

looking at those two sprues, there is no other explanaition for the price difference, other than the hero tax...

@Talys: Skarbrand's legs are on the new sprue...

i like this guy more than the Bloodthirster...
of course, i'll eventually get both...

cheers
jah

 jah-joshua wrote:

i like this guy more than the Bloodthirster...
of course, i'll eventually get both...

cheers
jah

Prices aside, I think it would look nice with a better paintjob, like the head wound actually looking gorey, and him overall looking more grimdark.
That said, I bought my second BT yesterday, to make a point. (not that gw care, still money in their pockets).

Lets just hope GW dont decide greater daemons is a low priority if this sells badly.

Edit: crap, I just realized the overpriced bloodthirster looked like a bargain next to scarbrand. They conned me!

I remember years ago when I used to play 40K over the internet, where we'd draw the battlefield like an old WD battle report with every individual model represented by a shape (eg Tyranid Gaunts would be triangles, Carnifexes would be large circles. Everything would be colour coded and tagged with text.

It must have been a nightmare to sort out which is why I always let me opponent draw the battlefield while I listened to Muse

But hey - any models I want at no expense

It's £80 for Skarbrand vs £70 for the normal Bloodthirster kit in the UK. For me, the extra tenner is worth it, simply because to my eyes the Skarbrand kit looks much better and more in line with how I'd expect a bloodthirster to look (versus the effeminate, prancing jump pose of the normal one).

I've never owned a Bloodthirster - used to fawn over them when I was a kid, and since I've had money they've kept replacing the kit with progressively uglier iterations - but I quite like this one and am tempted.

Ok, not as bad as I had thought thanks to ebay! Ebay gave me as $20 off my next purchase of over $100 coupon, and I found he is listed already for $105-$106 with free priority mail shipping.

Just got mine for $86 with free priority shipping... whew

I wanna see a side by side comparison with the new Bloodthirster before I even consider paying the premium for this kit.

I will say I like it overall. The wings, however, I think look ridiculous. If I get one, I'm gonna see if someone will trade a set of regular Bloodthirster or Hive Tyrant wings for the tattered ones...

-C6

Isn't that part of his fluff, though? His wings are supposed to be tattered and useless because Khorne got mad and kicked the crap out of him.

 Kirasu wrote:
Way better pose than the terrible posed bloodthirster.. but once again the GW sculptors mess up something so simple that detracts from the entire model.. Uh why is he holding the axes like that? It's such an obvious error I gotta wonder what goes on in the studio.

Perhaps because he is not yet in the fight yet and it is easier to carry the axes that way until it's time to use them. Remember, we're discussing what is supposed to be a 12' tall demon, so it would be possible to assume he has acquired some serious skills with those axes over the millennia far beyond what a short lived mortal has.

 Sidstyler wrote:
Isn't that part of his fluff, though? His wings are supposed to be tattered and useless because Khorne got mad and kicked the crap out of him.

Yep - He is not allowed to heal those wounds as they are part of his punishment and a reminder of his masters wrath.

As others have already noted - thats how you hold axes when not actually in combat

Well, given his main body/torso appears to be the part identical to the regular Bloodthirster, the regular BT-wings (or weapons) should slot in perfectly.

But yeah, Skarbrand can no longer fly. His Wings are useless. Many fan conversions have him without any wings at all. That's the entire point. He's a monstrous creature, not a flying monstrous creature.

Wonderwolf wrote:
Well, given his main body/torso appears to be the part identical to the regular Bloodthirster, the regular BT-wings (or weapons) should slot in perfectly.

But yeah, Skarbrand can no longer fly. His Wings are useless. Many fan conversions have him without any wings at all. That's the entire point. He's a monstrous creature, not a flying monstrous creature.

Thanks for the clarification, guys. I would maybe just leave off the wings entirely then.

-C6

 Sidstyler wrote:
Isn't that part of his fluff, though? His wings are supposed to be tattered and useless because Khorne got mad and kicked the crap out of him.

Yup, though I still prefer my "useless stumps" interpretation of the injury. As already mentioned, those wings look like the Zombie Dragon and Morghast ones, which are perfectly functional.

 Grimtuff wrote:

 Sidstyler wrote:
Isn't that part of his fluff, though? His wings are supposed to be tattered and useless because Khorne got mad and kicked the crap out of him.

Yup, though I still prefer my "useless stumps" interpretation of the injury. As already mentioned, those wings look like the Zombie Dragon and Morghast ones, which are perfectly functional.

Because Nagash Magic. In a similar form, Skarbrand is an extension of Khorne's will (as all Khorne Demons are). If he doesn't want Skarbrand to have functional wings, then they won't work.

He uses the same bloodthirster rear body/upper torso piece as the bloodthirster kit. I am thinking I may magnetize his wings and head so I can use regular bloodthirster wings and head as well.

This means this kit will provide me with a bloodthirster of all three types (twin axes could be used as one big axe, and I can throw a coiled whip on his base) and as skarbrand!

GW raises prices... I find ways to save

To be fair, on the 360 view of him, he actually looks pretty cool, proportions arent as bad as I thought and the wings look ok too.

 Ratius wrote:
To be fair, on the 360 view of him, he actually looks pretty cool, proportions arent as bad as I thought and the wings look ok too.

GW paint jobs and photos made a really cool model look way worse at first glance? Well I never!

Looking even better on the 360, I like is pose much more than the bloodthirster one.

As for the question if its worth the price tag? For some will for others not as much, personally I think its inferior to the Glottkin which I have in my collection so I believe this should be around the 60gbp mark and not more.

Yea he is nice. Most of the kits coming out of the GW foundry are (in terms of at least technical excellence) but 80 quid for plastic sprues... it hurts too much these days. In the past half year i have tapped out. In fact weirdly my GW "fix" is now going in to older finecast models. First cause they are now "reasonably" priced and 2nd how long before they are phased out? Honestly do a search of webstpre exclusives and there are still some real gems to be had. Krell for example.

Having said all that i would love to see when they get around to explaining Slannesh

 NAVARRO wrote:
Looking even better on the 360, I like is pose much more than the bloodthirster one.

As for the question if its worth the price tag? For some will for others not as much, personally I think its inferior to the Glottkin which I have in my collection so I believe this should be around the 60gbp mark and not more.

Do you use the Glottkin as a Great Unclean One?

 Bull0 wrote:
It's £80 for Skarbrand vs £70 for the normal Bloodthirster kit in the UK. For me, the extra tenner is worth it, simply because to my eyes the Skarbrand kit looks much better and more in line with how I'd expect a bloodthirster to look (versus the effeminate, prancing jump pose of the normal one).

This is what I don't get about GW customers these days.
You're happy to pay £10 more just because a previous (already overpriced) version was designed in a poor pose (Billy Elliot the Khorne Lord). They make a slightly better pose a year later with the same amount of plastic but a 14% increase?

I agree, it does look better. It isn't prancing - but then the way it's gripping the axes kills any desire to own it. I guess to make a decent version you need 2 kits. :-(