Awoke this morning to find an email from Dark Sphere saying that new Tau stuff is on severe delay from GW and that even GW themselves have had to remove stuff from their website and push release dates back. Text here:
Part of the Tau launch has been delayed by up to two weeks due to stock shortages.
Dear Customers,
Late yesterday afternoon we were informed that due to an unpredicted level of demand, Games Workshop are unlikely to be able to supply many of the new Tau models due for launch this Saturday.
According to a conversation we had with Games Workshop's Trade Department, virtually the entire range of Tau is now out of stock. Games Workshop's own site has removed the launch date and put an expected one to two week wait on these products.
A small part of the range (mainly the new Tau Codex) are unaffected and we should still receive significant quantities of these in time for Saturday; some of the others (e.g. Hammerhead) we still expect to receive this week but we will be unable to reorder additional stock for a small period. Unfortunately, the most popular new products (e.g. Riptide Battlesuit, new XV8 Commander and Commander Shadowsun) are in such high demand that instead of the hundreds that we requested we are likely to only end up with a handful, if any, for release day.
Based on current Games Workshop estimates we expect Riptides to be available in proper numbers around 19th April. In the mean time we have shifted the release date for those products to the 19th April since the stock shortage effectively pushes the release back to then. Any stock we receive in the meantime will be allocated in date order, so the earliest orders get the priority since they will be the customers who have been waiting the longest.
We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience that this delay may cause and assure you that any frustration or disbelief you are experiencing is matched by all the staff at Dark Sphere.
Best wishes,
Alexi Tingey
I wonder exactly where the problem lies? Too much demand? Under estimation of demand? Or some sort of trick to restrict stick flow and artificially raise hype that way? Seems increasingly at odds with the exasperation demonstrated here and elsewhere at GWs business practises.
Due to exceptional demand for Tau Empire miniatures, any orders that contain the following products will not be fulfilled until Monday 8th April at the earliest:
Tau Empire One-Click Launch Collection
Tau Battlesuit Collection
Farsight Enclave
Tau Recon Team
Shadowsun Firestrike Hunter Cadre
XV104 Riptide Battlesuit
XV88 Broadside Battlesuit
Cadre Fireblade
Commander Farsight
XV8 Battlesuit Commander
Darkstrider
Longstrike
Note that if your order contains other products, they will be delayed until these Tau Empire miniatures are back in stock and your items can be sent together. Orders that were placed before 4pm on Tuesday 2nd April are not affected.
For those of you who urgently desire to join the cause for the Greater Good, head to your local Hobby Centre this Saturday - they will have limited numbers of these Tau Empire miniatures in stock.
OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote: Of cource a whole bunch of auctions will be up in anticipation of Tau stock arriving from places like Dark Sphere, or even GW it's self
so while you may win things, they may not have them to send (for a few weeks anyway)
If that does happen, then it is a violation of ebay rules - you cant auction something that you don't own.
This smacks of either bad planning on GW's part (a new Tau codex has been a long time coming and GW should have known how popular it would be - they could have found this out from reading dakka and similar message boards), therefore they should have made sure enough stock was available at launch.
Either that or it is some calculated ploy to raise sales even further on April 19th (as they are betting that people will pick up more models than they normally would if they think they won't be back in stock for a while).
I have recently got the feeling that GW are accelerating their release schedule (to boost turnover or take advantage of 6th ed or whatever), this could affect manufacturing buly shortening lead-in and preparation times for new lines.
GW are after all masters of their own supply chain and production and should be able to meet whatever demand they encounter.
That said a delay in receipt of printed material (packaging) from China could also result in a low supply of finished sets.
Or least likely there could be a huge demand for blue space fishmen like GW say, but this could never be true....right? /sarcasm
OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote: Of cource a whole bunch of auctions will be up in anticipation of Tau stock arriving from places like Dark Sphere, or even GW it's self
so while you may win things, they may not have them to send (for a few weeks anyway)
If that does happen, then it is a violation of ebay rules - you cant auction something that you don't own.
Happens all of the time with ltd edition albums and for concert tickets. I've seen notes on there saying "as soon as the album arrives, I will post it straight on" for flipping records.
"Gah! Demand is outstripping supply. Quick, raise prices!"
I'm not overly surprised by the demand for the Riptide. It's a pretty effective model and people are into the whole Big Mechanical Suit thing.
They may well be getting interest from general sci-fi model enthusiasts and I wouldn't be surprised if they see another sales boost off the back of Pacific Rim.
It's depressing that so many are willing to fork out £50 for it though.
Flashman wrote: "Gah! Demand is outstripping supply. Quick, raise prices!"
I'm not overly surprised by the demand for the Riptide. It's a pretty effective model and people are into the whole Big Mechanical Suit thing.
They may well be getting interest from general sci-fi model enthusiasts and I wouldn't be surprised if they see another sales boost off the back of Pacific Rim.
It's depressing that so many are willing to fork out £50 for it though.
I'm just not sure. I have never seen so much discontentment and anger at GW than the threads that have been appearing recently here, to the extent where it feels like a real tipping point in opinion against GW practises. Witness the pricing threads going on in Dakka discussions as well as all the successful kickstarters that have been cropping up - it all points to consumers moving away from GW so an announcement that Tau demand is seemingly outstripping supply (and outstripping GW's ability to supply which is something we have never hitherto seen before) just does not jibe for me. There is some definite reading between the lines here needed. Dark Sphere seem as incredulous as me judging by the tone of that email. I just can't help wondering if this is some elaborate ploy designed to further weaken internet discount sellers somehow.
OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote: Of cource a whole bunch of auctions will be up in anticipation of Tau stock arriving from places like Dark Sphere, or even GW it's self
so while you may win things, they may not have them to send (for a few weeks anyway)
If that does happen, then it is a violation of ebay rules - you cant auction something that you don't own.
That is not entirely true, you can auction stuff you have paid for and have not yet received, as long as you state in the auction that it can't be set out until a specific date.
filbert wrote: Or some sort of trick to restrict stick flow and artificially raise hype that way? Seems increasingly at odds with the exasperation demonstrated here and elsewhere at GWs business practises.
Games Workshop Plc have informed us that there will be a delay to all UK retail outlets in receiving stock of the New Tau release.
We expect to receive stock around the 15th April and will dispatch it upon its arrival.
We are pleased that Tau have been such a successful release but surprised and puzzled that UK retail outlets are receiving no stock, and disappointed on behalf of our customers.
We are trying to work closely with Games Workshop to resolve the situation as soon as possible.
I hate to be a cynic but this seems to be less and less to do with demand and more to do with GW trying to prevent discount selling and force customers to shop via GW online/in-store. They can't pull the same trade restriction shenanigans that they pulled in the US here in the UK/EU so they are trying a different method.
filbert wrote: Or some sort of trick to restrict stick flow and artificially raise hype that way? Seems increasingly at odds with the exasperation demonstrated here and elsewhere at GWs business practises.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Ladies and gentleman, we have a winner here!
Wow, you know the community here hates GW when news of a new release selling out is greeted by people claiming that GW is screwing their customers over again! To me it seems that the reason things like this are at odds with the "exasperation" demonstrated on these forums is that a lot of people here just plain hate GW and can't admit that they do things right once in a while, and these forums-- or at least the Dakka Discussions and to a lesser extent News and Rumors boards-- are generally far more negative about GW than the wargaming community as a whole is.
Games Workshop Plc have informed us that there will be a delay to all UK retail outlets in receiving stock of the New Tau release.
We expect to receive stock around the 15th April and will dispatch it upon its arrival.
We are pleased that Tau have been such a successful release but surprised and puzzled that UK retail outlets are receiving no stock, and disappointed on behalf of our customers.
We are trying to work closely with Games Workshop to resolve the situation as soon as possible.
I hate to be a cynic but this seems to be less and less to do with demand and more to do with GW trying to prevent discount selling and force customers to shop via GW online/in-store. They can't pull the same trade restriction shenanigans that they pulled in the US here in the UK/EU so they are trying a different method.
This.
GW obviously didn't like people buying codexes with 30% off from Wayland, which put it at a significantly more reasonable price. Wonder how many more they sold at that price point.
Games Workshop Plc have informed us that there will be a delay to all UK retail outlets in receiving stock of the New Tau release.
We expect to receive stock around the 15th April and will dispatch it upon its arrival.
We are pleased that Tau have been such a successful release but surprised and puzzled that UK retail outlets are receiving no stock, and disappointed on behalf of our customers.
We are trying to work closely with Games Workshop to resolve the situation as soon as possible.
I hate to be a cynic but this seems to be less and less to do with demand and more to do with GW trying to prevent discount selling and force customers to shop via GW online/in-store. They can't pull the same trade restriction shenanigans that they pulled in the US here in the UK/EU so they are trying a different method.
This.
GW obviously didn't like people buying codexes with 30% off from Wayland, which put it at a significantly more reasonable price. Wonder how many more they sold at that price point.
If that is the case then we will see similar behavior on the next release.
If this is a question of extraordinary demand then good work GW.
Either way a couple weeks delay is not that big of a deal if you want to save 10 to 20%...
Hold the front page. Ever since I've joined this site, people have been arguing on a daily basis about the decline of GW/falling sales/rivals overtaking it/long term decline etc etc
Now people are saying that there is no stock left and GW stuff is flying off the shelf.
Dare I say it, but could Dakka be wrong about GW's decline
Both could be true if in the last release cycle GW was ordering a 10k copies run of the codex and has decided to lower that number to 5K now on account of lower sales.
Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote: Hold the front page. Ever since I've joined this site, people have been arguing on a daily basis about the decline of GW/falling sales/rivals overtaking it/long term decline etc etc
Now people are saying that there is no stock left and GW stuff is flying off the shelf.
Dare I say it, but could Dakka be wrong about GW's decline
We could be wrong, it's happened quite often. BUT...it could be GW trying to mess around with the flgs and group sellers like wayland games. Me, I believe it's the second option. Yomv. And no I do not have a tinfoil hat.
I still say its a try out of a new marketing policy, supply their own shops on release date then independents a week or so later. If the stock has sold so well where has it been sold from?
Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote: Hold the front page. Ever since I've joined this site, people have been arguing on a daily basis about the decline of GW/falling sales/rivals overtaking it/long term decline etc etc
Now people are saying that there is no stock left and GW stuff is flying off the shelf.
Dare I say it, but could Dakka be wrong about GW's decline
Dare I say the sales numbers are not carved in stone for all eternity? I mean these things do fluctuate a lot depending on numerous factors... For all we know both claims are correct.
Again if its just a case of demand then good for GW.
filbert wrote: Or some sort of trick to restrict stick flow and artificially raise hype that way? Seems increasingly at odds with the exasperation demonstrated here and elsewhere at GWs business practises.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Ladies and gentleman, we have a winner here!
Wow, you know the community here hates GW when news of a new release selling out is greeted by people claiming that GW is screwing their customers over again! To me it seems that the reason things like this are at odds with the "exasperation" demonstrated on these forums is that a lot of people here just plain hate GW and can't admit that they do things right once in a while, and these forums-- or at least the Dakka Discussions and to a lesser extent News and Rumors boards-- are generally far more negative about GW than the wargaming community as a whole is.
Nope, sorry. It doesn't have anything to do with "hate", its just a logical analysis of what we are being told by GW on one hand and the retailers on the other.
If it was the case of demand outstripping supply then we would have the online sellers saying so. But they aren't, they are just saying that GW won't send them ANY of the new models.
So where are these massive orders that are stripping the warehouses bare coming from?
That leaves 2 obvious options:
1st: GW is artificially restricting the sale of the new models to their own stores both physical and online;
2nd: Someone, somewhere along the supply chain has messed up and there really won't be any new stock available anywhere until the 15th...
You can now place your bets on which one is correct.
They may well be getting interest from general sci-fi model enthusiasts and I wouldn't be surprised if they see another sales boost off the back of Pacific Rim.
It's depressing that so many are willing to fork out £50 for it though.
Games Workshop Plc have informed us that there will be a delay to all UK retail outlets in receiving stock of the New Tau release.
We expect to receive stock around the 15th April and will dispatch it upon its arrival.
We are pleased that Tau have been such a successful release but surprised and puzzled that UK retail outlets are receiving no stock, and disappointed on behalf of our customers.
We are trying to work closely with Games Workshop to resolve the situation as soon as possible.
I hate to be a cynic but this seems to be less and less to do with demand and more to do with GW trying to prevent discount selling and force customers to shop via GW online/in-store. They can't pull the same trade restriction shenanigans that they pulled in the US here in the UK/EU so they are trying a different method.
This.
GW obviously didn't like people buying codexes with 30% off from Wayland, which put it at a significantly more reasonable price. Wonder how many more they sold at that price point.
With the 30% off the hobby is just about affordable - 2 riptides, pathfinders, a flier, codex and 2 broadsides would be over £250 from GW, that's not affordable or value for money.
Flashman wrote: I say again... GWs own website states that the Riptide will be take one to two weeks to be delivered.
I think they genuinely underestimated demand.
If you look at what they (allegedly) run out of, it's almost entirely suits (including old Crisis suits! Crazy, you put out a cheaper bundle deal and people will buy it!) and "bundles" which contain suits. The flyer is notably absent from this list.
Kroothawk wrote:Has been posted in the Tau thread 9 hours ago.
I don't read the 100+ page news threads, especially when they degenerate into people arguing rules/build etc ad infinitum. Regardless, I think this deserves it's own thread for discussion.
Flashman wrote:I say again... GWs own website states that the Riptide will be take one to two weeks to be delivered.
I think they genuinely underestimated demand.
Who knows? Its a little tinfoil-like but it certainly wouldn't shock me if GW had deliberately restricted all internet sales including their own (but obviously to a lesser extent) to 'encourage' people into GW stores which apparently do not have a stock problem (or so I assume - I guess if they run out of kits we will soon find out).
nosferatu1001 wrote:Phantom - false dichotomy there. Option 3) is that GW sold a hell of a lot from their own site (people do buy from there) and THAT has caused issues.
Again, who knows? It just seems so weird that GW would significantly underestimate demand to the extent that everything is delayed. They have never done so before (at least, not to my memory) and have never suffered capacity or production issues before so why now? Tau aren't that major a release, surely?
filbert wrote: Awoke this morning to find an email from Dark Sphere saying that new Tau stuff is on severe delay from GW and that even GW themselves have had to remove stuff from their website and push release dates back. Text here:
Part of the Tau launch has been delayed by up to two weeks due to stock shortages.
Dear Customers,
Late yesterday afternoon we were informed that due to an unpredicted level of demand, Games Workshop are unlikely to be able to supply many of the new Tau models due for launch this Saturday.
According to a conversation we had with Games Workshop's Trade Department, virtually the entire range of Tau is now out of stock. Games Workshop's own site has removed the launch date and put an expected one to two week wait on these products.
A small part of the range (mainly the new Tau Codex) are unaffected and we should still receive significant quantities of these in time for Saturday; some of the others (e.g. Hammerhead) we still expect to receive this week but we will be unable to reorder additional stock for a small period. Unfortunately, the most popular new products (e.g. Riptide Battlesuit, new XV8 Commander and Commander Shadowsun) are in such high demand that instead of the hundreds that we requested we are likely to only end up with a handful, if any, for release day.
Based on current Games Workshop estimates we expect Riptides to be available in proper numbers around 19th April. In the mean time we have shifted the release date for those products to the 19th April since the stock shortage effectively pushes the release back to then. Any stock we receive in the meantime will be allocated in date order, so the earliest orders get the priority since they will be the customers who have been waiting the longest.
We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience that this delay may cause and assure you that any frustration or disbelief you are experiencing is matched by all the staff at Dark Sphere.
Best wishes,
Alexi Tingey
I wonder exactly where the problem lies? Too much demand? Under estimation of demand? Or some sort of trick to restrict stick flow and artificially raise hype that way? Seems increasingly at odds with the exasperation demonstrated here and elsewhere at GWs business practises.
Im sure their stores will be fully stocked though if you catch the meaning. They are just laying the boots to retailers.
Its either that or its another attempt to make a product seem like its massively popular by reducing the numbers much in the way they do with the LE dexs and WD. Some people call BS on that but I noticed it with the chaos book and again with the daemon books that they will sell out on the website, only to show up in local GW stores with the accompanying facebook post of "We some how managed to get one! they are sold out! Get it before its gone!".
Honestly, they just need to put Limited Edition on something and then say "YOU CANT HAVE IT!" and people will foam at the mouth to get it. GW is apparently learning a lot from drug dealers.
Im sure their stores will be fully stocked though if you catch the meaning. They are just laying the boots to retailers.
Yes, I'm sure they will, that's why they've limited preordering from their website in Europe...
I hate to tell you mate, but retailers enacting policies to drive foot traffic into their brick&mortar stores is common as muck, GAME used to pull crap like that all the time(despite their actual store managers telling them how bloody stupid it was); instructing the staff to tell everyone coming through the door how rare and special and limited and popular something was going to be, limiting the number of pre-orders that could be taken, plastering "LIMITED STOCK" all over the website, and guess what - the stores always got bloody crates of stock. Hmm, now, what happened to GAME again....?
This makes me sad because it means there are still enough GW sheep out there that will gobble up anything they sell regardless of price or business practices. This sends a very bad affirmation to GW that they are still on the right track.
It's also likely that GW looked at the past few 40k releases which had flyers and a few "big units" that were, in my opinion, out of left field and didn't really fit with the army's existing aesthetic. The DA units were normal Imperial-ish designs with cathedrals mounted on top, and the Heldrake and Forge/Maulerfiends were somewhat out there design-wise as well. Not to say that they're bad per se, but that they deviate from the established norms of the forces quite heavily. Seeing perhaps reduced sales of those kits, GW in their myopic way decide to make fewer kits for the Tau because warehousing is hurting them and in their vision of events, the Tau were never that popular.
The Tau release comes along with big shiny battlesuits which 1) are the iconic unit of the Tau and 2) are a natural development of the army's look. Those sell like hotcakes because they fit in with what people wanted to see. This meets GW's smaller production run because "Xenos don't sell" and "Marine kits were selling less through CSM and DA" and suddenly "Huh, we don't actually have any battlesuits left..." It could also be that GWUK didn't hold back enough stock on their shipments overseas figuring the Pacific Rim and NA would need more as larger bastions of mecha-lust and 40k, respectively.
Do I have any information that leads me to say this is the one true telling of events? No, but I subscribe to Hanlon's Razor that tells me to never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity.
GW is a business that can barely eke a modest profit out of a recession proof product that dominates its market share. I think it's far more likley that they made an error in their supply chain, and are claiming excess demand, rather than intentionally pushing out online retailers. Even GW has to realize that most people don't have ready access to a GW shop.
Of course, I'm not willing to rule out the possiblity that GW did try to understock Tau to screw third party retailers, but there actually was an influx of demand that made even GW itself sell out. Highly unlikely, but possible.
SickSix wrote: This makes me sad because it means there are still enough GW sheep out there that will gobble up anything they sell regardless of price or business practices. This sends a very bad affirmation to GW that they are still on the right track.
Or they simply produced a low number of them, so that they can include 'we sold out due to the overwhelming demand!' in the shareholder reports.
Maybe people are underestimating the pull of the Tau. They're they first army that lured me into 40k, not to mention that a lot of veteran Tau players will have been waiting for this release.
While GW prices can make me cringe quite substantially, I find ordering one or two pieces from online retailers really mitigates this.
Though demand has been high we are seeing approximate sales equivalent to Grey Knights when the were released a while ago. So nothing beyond GW's ability to anticipate demand and supply.
why would gw push away flgs? gw actually makes more money selling to flgs and webstores due to the lack of overheads.. yes I worked for gw and had to sit in on a very very boring meeting about it.. I will admit that was a few years ago now and gw has done a lot to reduce its own overheads but they aren't in any way 'losing' money by supplying flgs and webstores.
also their own website is out of stock.. im pretty sure they just fluffed this one up.
Flashman wrote: I say again... GWs own website states that the Riptide will be take one to two weeks to be delivered.
I think they genuinely underestimated demand.
Cock-up not conspiracy.
Of course that means we can h8 on GW for not having good stock control. They really ought to have had a good idea of the quantity required from sales history, through POS information.
I am sure it will all come back into stock in a few weeks, though. It is quite usual to have stock problems with a new launch.
SickSix wrote: This makes me sad because it means there are still enough GW sheep out there that will gobble up anything they sell regardless of price or business practices. This sends a very bad affirmation to GW that they are still on the right track.
Or they simply produced a low number of them, so that they can include 'we sold out due to the overwhelming demand!' in the shareholder reports.
"What's for supper Tom Kirby? Shadows and lies?"
Probably this too. Have an exalt for The Fast Show reference.
rich1231 wrote: Though demand has been high we are seeing approximate sales equivalent to Grey Knights when the were released a while ago. So nothing beyond GW's ability to anticipate demand and supply.
Interesting... There's more to this than meets the eye then... Also the timings just after the new policies makes this not an isolated event... Future will tell.
rich1231 wrote: Though demand has been high we are seeing approximate sales equivalent to Grey Knights when the were released a while ago. So nothing beyond GW's ability to anticipate demand and supply.
Except for the whole thing about the release being Tau.
When I look at the list of things which are affected by this, it makes me curious as to if the shortages are because of the "bundles" or because the individual components were hot tickets.
Also, with Grey Knights you have 2 boxes that build six units (Strike/Interceptor/Purgator/Purifier and Terminator/Paladin). You're far less likely to run out that way, since you don't run into the problem of having 124501245120406215064125105410245 Stealth Suits go unsold while the Riptide is completely sold out.
Or the "wow we sold out so fast, OMG, hurp durp" is just a PR way of saying... "frak! our containers haven't cleared customs yet and our production is behind schedule."
Though, honestly, the business reason to have a pre-order is so that: a. you get an influx of cash to support your next production immediately, and b. you get a sense of how much you need to get on an immediate replenishment production/resupply schedule. But, since GW is so worried about people's wallets closing up on any existing stuff as soon as they announce pre-orders for the new and improved merch, they don't allow for a long enough pre-order cycle to really be able to do anything about unexpected demand. Now, if they would move up their announcement schedule by 1 month (also meaning they move up their expected obsolescence time table by 1 month), they could probably take MORE preorders and have an extra month to work on additional production if the preliminary numbers exceed their projections.
Might be too much to ask for GW to follow sound business logic, even if it would help the bottom line.
Walrus has a good point. There were considerably fewer kits with Grey Knights. You had the Strike Squad and Terminator Squad boxes along with the Dreadknight and some metal characters.
The vehicles (excepting the Dreadknight and Stormraven) were just the generic Space Marine stuff.
SickSix wrote: This makes me sad because it means there are still enough GW sheep out there that will gobble up anything they sell regardless of price or business practices. This sends a very bad affirmation to GW that they are still on the right track.
During most of these discussions I just roll my eyes. If you hate a company so much, not buying their product is a much more effective measure than complaining about them on a fansite forum. But this? "GW sheep"?
Everyone has a limit for their involvement. Due to price raises, some have reached theirs. Due to business practices, others have as well. The rest that haven't? Well, they just haven't. And they are not "sheep" - they are buying something they enjoy spending time on. Maybe that won't be true forever, but it's true now. You need to get over yourself.
I would imagine it would be harder to judge how well Tau would have sold with a new release by looking at Grey Knights. I would think that Dark Eldar would have been a better option to look at.
Gitzbitah wrote: GW has certainly never had a limited run item sell out multiple times, or lied about what they were going to sell.
Definitely not with Space Hulk.... or Dreadfleet or the SoB white dwarf, or many of their 40K expansion products.
Here, it is the same very effective principle applied to regular release items.
Maybe, but I don't recall this happening before, even with Dark Eldar, which had huge hype and models generally praised. It's not like they can do this every release ("hey, we have AGAIN underestimated the demand for new Black Templar miniatures...")
As for the argument "Xenos don't sell", rumour was that Codex: Tau Empire was one of the best selling army books GW has ever put out. Tau were popular during 4th ed.
GW also done this for the daemons. Its not just the tau and lets be honest the tau are not that popular bit enough to sell out. This is purely GW clamping down on the uk selling websites to drive store sales up. Nothing more
Gitzbitah wrote: GW has certainly never had a limited run item sell out multiple times, or lied about what they were going to sell.
Definitely not with Space Hulk.... or Dreadfleet or the SoB white dwarf, or many of their 40K expansion products.
Here, it is the same very effective principle applied to regular release items.
. It's not like they can do this every release ("hey, we have AGAIN underestimated the demand for new Black Templar miniatures...")
Why not? One would argue that they couldn't raise prices every year and expect to maintain sales- yet they have. GW has extremely predatory business practices. I am actually rather surprised they haven't done this already.
Krinsath wrote: Also, Grey Knights = super cool marines, which naturally sell. GW would have made loads of them.
Tau = Filthy Xenos, and nobody wants to play anything other than Marines, so GW accordingly probably made fewer.
I am sure they did make fewer Tau however it is the ratio of production to demand that seems to have gone wrong, rather than the finite numbers.
I remember reading a long time ago that at one stage Tau accounted for 10% of 40K sales, so it isn't a tiny following.
I have a feeling they vastly underestimated the EU allotment, or had some sort of issue that unexpectedly depleted stock, as so far as we've heard it's GWUK having the issues and not the other regions so far. I'm sure we'll hear more about that as the day goes on and news trickles down the supply chain as to whether it's a global or regional issue.
Why not? One would argue that they couldn't raise prices every year and expect to maintain sales- yet they have. GW has extremely predatory business practices. I am actually rather surprised they haven't done this already.
Of course you can raise prices every year. Most businesses do, y'know
I think most likely explanation is what was already mentioned: their release schedule has been amped up, but they can't do same with production: meaning with anything new, less of each is produced.
Mick A wrote: I still say its a try out of a new marketing policy, supply their own shops on release date then independents a week or so later. If the stock has sold so well where has it been sold from?
Agreed, also an attempt to drive people to the GW stores. It even says to go to your local GW. There is no shortage, they are just trying to lure all the "must have it now" people into paying full retail at a GW store.
Why not? One would argue that they couldn't raise prices every year and expect to maintain sales- yet they have. GW has extremely predatory business practices. I am actually rather surprised they haven't done this already.
Of course you can raise prices every year. Most businesses do, y'know
I think most likely explanation is what was already mentioned: their release schedule has been amped up, but they can't do same with production: meaning with anything new, less of each is produced.
I agree. Occam's Razor suggests that this was a manufacturing bump created by the crazy release pace. There are lots of tinfoil hats around here these days.
Incidentally -- tying this to another recent discussion around here -- I once heard from someone at GW that manufacturing was the main issue with producing a plastic Thunderhawk. The kit would require so many sprues that it'd tie up their manufacturing for an undesirable amount of time.
Gitzbitah wrote: GW has certainly never had a limited run item sell out multiple times, or lied about what they were going to sell.
Definitely not with Space Hulk.... or Dreadfleet or the SoB white dwarf, or many of their 40K expansion products.
Here, it is the same very effective principle applied to regular release items.
Um, I don't get what your getting at. Limited run items are limited avalability? Space Hulk was limited edition and they sold out. They only print a set number of white dwarfs and it sold out. Dreadfleet... well, it was limited and didn't sell our, but hay ho. Just gose to show GW are not that good at judging stock.
IMO they have screwed up on the stock levels. I'm not all that shocked. These are very nice new minis, and it is the first force that many people will look to for allies that has had a codex. I can see us seeing allot of Tau allies going forward.
Gitzbitah wrote: GW has certainly never had a limited run item sell out multiple times, or lied about what they were going to sell.
Definitely not with Space Hulk.... or Dreadfleet or the SoB white dwarf, or many of their 40K expansion products.
Here, it is the same very effective principle applied to regular release items.
Maybe, but I don't recall this happening before, even with Dark Eldar, which had huge hype and models generally praised. It's not like they can do this every release ("hey, we have AGAIN underestimated the demand for new Black Templar miniatures...")
As for the argument "Xenos don't sell", rumour was that Codex: Tau Empire was one of the best selling army books GW has ever put out. Tau were popular during 4th ed.
From what I've seen around my local gaming groups, more people have been hyped over new Tau more than the last three 6th ed codexes. I myself am happy for the Tau and have been eager to see them update despite the fact that I don't play them nor plan on doing so in the near future. A lot of the guys there are going to want the codex first before buying new miniatures anyway though to work what they've got though.
Incidentally -- tying this to another recent discussion around here -- I once heard from someone at GW that manufacturing was the main issue with producing a plastic Thunderhawk. The kit would require so many sprues that it'd tie up their manufacturing for an undesirable amount of time.
Design work for large models is also laborous process: I recall Forge world rep said in recent GD interview that big models tend to be rather uneconomical: Big kits are a balance of cost in time vs how much they’ll sell realistically. For instance the Manta took one and a half years for Will Hayes to produce, during which time he wasn’t getting much else done. Could he have made fifteen other kits that would have sold more in that time? That’s the numbers they run and why big kits are rarer.
Why not? One would argue that they couldn't raise prices every year and expect to maintain sales- yet they have. GW has extremely predatory business practices. I am actually rather surprised they haven't done this already.
Of course you can raise prices every year. Most businesses do, y'know
I think most likely explanation is what was already mentioned: their release schedule has been amped up, but they can't do same with production: meaning with anything new, less of each is produced.
I agree. Occam's Razor suggests that this was a manufacturing bump created by the crazy release pace. There are lots of tinfoil hats around here these days.
Incidentally -- tying this to another recent discussion around here -- I once heard from someone at GW that manufacturing was the main issue with producing a plastic Thunderhawk. The kit would require so many sprues that it'd tie up their manufacturing for an undesirable amount of time.
I find it odd that only the EU are affected by this. If it were a manufacturing issue wouldn't the entire release be held up? It is also strange that the shipping is pushed back by only 3 days and over a weekend at that. It seems more like a shipping or customs issue than anything.
It kinda helps that 'TAU' allies with just about everyone, and shooty units can plug-n-play with almost every type of army list. So you don't just have TAU collectors looking for models, but pretty much everyone who can ally with them. As someone who buys nothing but Orks, I actually had to keep my ears up for both Chaos and Tau releases recently as they are both valid allies for me.
It sounds like they just underestimated and sold out.
Indies were asked last week (before Eastern) to make their orders on the new stuff, with no quantity restrictions. They could add to this until yesterday 4pm. They can reorder the Monday after Tau release. So if any Indie suffered any restriction or shortage, it is because of his own repeated miscalculations, not because of GW malice. The announcement is just for the "order now and pick up at GW" guarantee, that doesn't work this week anymore.
lunarman wrote:Yeah, I think the tau models are probably the best / most original models GW has produced in years, even decades.
I think they legitimately sold out.
Remember Dark Eldar?
And tau are often underestimated. Esp. after half a year of almost exclusively Chaos releases (plus Dark Angels).
Although I don't think that any of the new Tau models is indeed original, just close and fainthearted variations of previous Tau designs.
I find it odd that only the EU are affected by this. If it were a manufacturing issue wouldn't the entire release be held up? It is also strange that the shipping is pushed back by only 3 days and over a weekend at that. It seems more like a shipping or customs issue than anything.
GW has different production facilities for NA, so they don't have to ship across the sea. This is why Death From the Skies has been out of stock for specific regions.
Again, who knows? It just seems so weird that GW would significantly underestimate demand to the extent that everything is delayed. They have never done so before (at least, not to my memory) and have never suffered capacity or production issues before so why now? Tau aren't that major a release, surely?
I have heard from 2 store owners that Tau are the 2nd largest sellers outside of "Space Marines."
I am sure a few of the other store owners can chime in.
GW is aware that finecast had QC issues, so there may be some issue with that end of the release. It is ludcris to think that they only printed 10k codexs as mentioned before. I am sure there are close to 10k+ English based resell accounts. In the business we assume each store front will take at least 3 units if they carry your line, plus who knows what the direct sales does.
What the heck am I getting at? Tau released like 7 years ago, in a much different socio-economical environment. Is it hard to gauge the launch of a product who's grown wildly in popularity since it's last launch? Absolutely. For GW it is better to under produce and have people wait than over produce and sit on stock.
Tinfoil hats or just jaded from past observation of GW antics that are all over the map (to us in the public)? Personally, I think it is a supplyside foul-up on their part, but the "tinfoil" theories could have some truth for all we know... If you have some definitive info one way or the other, please do share it...
If it isn't conspiracy, it shows an amazing failure on the part of GW to understand the demand for one of their major products. Either way doesn't speek highly of GW, especially when the company has done so much lately to limit the avenues on information gathering available to it.
The telling scenario will be how it "recovers" from this. Will incoming product be shipped out to online first? To cover shortfalls to Independent Retailers? To Company store shelves?
My gut tells me the following will occur. GW store fronts will have sufficient stock for preorders and instore sales. There may be a bit of "we don't have it, but GW store X across town does, or we can have it here in three days with GW store Y ships us some of thier overstock." GW Online will push things back until the 19th, however preorders will start seeing theirs in the mail by the 15th with GW saying they were able to juggle production and get things done faster.
Independents will have thier initial orders gut by 40-50%. They won't see the vast majority of thier preorder stock in until the 26th or so with the general excuses of low supply, bad logistics, etc. Restock won't be able to be available until two weeks after that, or, restock won't be available at all with much of it going to direct only.
True. I guess in my mind it -has- to affect the NA webshop in order for it to truely be a production shortage. I just don't see how a production shortage like this wouldn't be worldwide and limited to a region.
If it does stay EU, well that sort of screams that tinfoil is the new finecast this season.
Shotgun wrote: I just don't see how a production shortage like this wouldn't be worldwide and limited to a region.
Different distribution centers. They have the models manufactured wherever and then shipped to the distribution center for that region (in the US it is Memphis, I believe). The reason the delay isn't longer is probably because they just need to have more product shipped to that distribution center in the UK. For example, with DFTS, it was longer because they actually had to have the books printed and then sent to distribution. With the Tau, it isn't as long because they just need to shuffle warehoused product, more than likely.
Like stated several times above; I believe that the amount of people that want Tau and the breakneck (for them at least) pace they've been releasing armies and models lead to this delay. Honestly, the most important thing is getting the codex. You can proxy the models.
Harriticus wrote: This happens with just about every new product they come out with. Probably deliberate.
Citation needed. Other than limited edition stuff (and DFTS), it hasn't happened at this level for an entire region recently that I am aware of. DFTS, obviously, the drastically underestimated demand for. I didn't hear of an e-mail delaying the release of Dark Angels or Chaos though.
Or is it just because there has been a string of stuff recently that has been relevant to 40k? I wouldn't have thought, taking all the ranges into account, there has been a significantly higher number of kits released than there has been in the past few years.
Shotgun wrote: I just don't see how a production shortage like this wouldn't be worldwide and limited to a region.
Different distribution centers. They have the models manufactured wherever and then shipped to the distribution center for that region (in the US it is Memphis, I believe). The reason the delay isn't longer is probably because they just need to have more product shipped to that distribution center in the UK. For example, with DFTS, it was longer because they actually had to have the books printed and then sent to distribution. With the Tau, it isn't as long because they just need to shuffle warehoused product, more than likely.
This and maybe europe sold more.... if they are saying 3 days its most likely a case of ohh ran out here will move from aus/usa to there i wouldnt worry about it too much....
This and maybe europe sold more.... if they are saying 3 days its most likely a case of ohh ran out here will move from aus/usa to there i wouldnt worry about it too much....
Where are these 3 days coming from? All the communiques talk about 2+ weeks.
If 3 is the absolute case then my faith in humanity is lost, it means not only will people support unethical behaviour, they're completely ignorant to it. The likely hood is that it is 2 and they are running lower numbers to meet that increased pace, but if that is the case, how in the blue hell do you not notice that? I know the higher ups are disconnecting from the front lines, but you'd think they'd have the numbers down to figure it out, and like Kroot hawk said, they were letting retailers order this stuff without saying a word, pointing to a massive bung up. 1 is the worst case, and really at this point with GW assuming the worst case isnt that bad of an approach as it usually keeps you from being constantly disappointed.
Ravenous D wrote: 1 is the worst case, and really at this point with GW assuming the worst case isnt that bad of an approach as it usually keeps you from being constantly disappointed.
Assuming the worst of someone or something at all times and then calling someone a white knight when they point out how unreasonable that is takes Tinfoil Hat to a whole new level though...
Lolz. My guess is that it certainly is a planning mistake. They simply were too conservative with their numbers. There's no way they'd purposely short the orders as that would just cost them money in the long run because you'd piss people off. I'd chalk this one up to a buyer/ planner error in properly forecasting the sales.
filbert wrote: Or some sort of trick to restrict stick flow and artificially raise hype that way? Seems increasingly at odds with the exasperation demonstrated here and elsewhere at GWs business practises.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Ladies and gentleman, we have a winner here!
Wow, you know the community here hates GW when news of a new release selling out is greeted by people claiming that GW is screwing their customers over again! To me it seems that the reason things like this are at odds with the "exasperation" demonstrated on these forums is that a lot of people here just plain hate GW and can't admit that they do things right once in a while, and these forums-- or at least the Dakka Discussions and to a lesser extent News and Rumors boards-- are generally far more negative about GW than the wargaming community as a whole is.
Exalted. Haters gonna hate, its what they do. God forbid GW should put out a good product that a lot of people want. It must be a conspiracy, waaaaaah. Pathetic.
Question for you.
Have GW, fairly often, behaved in a way which could be described using the following terms; Adversarial, Conspiratorial, Arrogant, Bullish, Incompetent, Paranoid, Bullying?
Any of those terms that could be applied, for example, to things like:
1. Legalese C&D letter carpet bombing.
2. Putting necessary rules into 'additional supplements'.
3. Tin Crisis, Plastic price 'matching to metal', Finecast 'superiority' pricing, all leading to constant and ongoing elevated prices.
4. Rest of World Price fixing.
5. Online shopping carts for independent retailers.
6. Court cases over symbols and shapes.
7. Removing gamers from stores.
8. Removing large elements of their design team.
9. Treating the online community with contempt then expressing exasperation when, like some self-fulfilling prophecy, the online community retaliates.
10. Overkill 'sledgehammer to walnut' response to someone daring to use the words 'space marine' in a book.
11. Sending flying monkeys after a young kansas woman 'and her little dog too!'.
???
If the answer, for even a few of these claims, is yes, then why would you or anyone else express surprise that the first kneejerk reaction to anything weird or out of the ordinary from Snake Mountain is an immediate assumption that they are up to no good.
I placed my order monday morning. I was doubling it today based on player orders after they saw the white dwarf.
Seems they shipped it to their stores, and a few retailers, and sold out.
I get nothing.
I'm sorry to hear that, your business is a great one and your enthusiasm for gaming, customer service and retail should be a hallmark for other stores. I'd love to behead GW and put you in charge of it.
Do you believe that they are this incompetent or is this something darker?
Ravenous D wrote: 1 is the worst case, and really at this point with GW assuming the worst case isnt that bad of an approach as it usually keeps you from being constantly disappointed.
Assuming the worst of someone or something at all times and then calling someone a white knight when they point out how unreasonable that is takes Tinfoil Hat to a whole new level though...
I guess you missed the part where I didnt actually call him a white knight, because name calling works both ways, and I guess you also missed the 3 possible reasons for the shortage including the reasoning behind both. And now that the shortage has hit the US is it making it kind of hard to keep apologizing for GW? Or are you just going to glaze over that with more snippy remarks?
And here, I'll quote my own post for context since you didnt:
If 3 is the absolute case then my faith in humanity is lost, it means not only will people support unethical behaviour, they're completely ignorant to it. The likely hood is that it is 2 and they are running lower numbers to meet that increased pace, but if that is the case, how in the blue hell do you not notice that? I know the higher ups are disconnecting from the front lines, but you'd think they'd have the numbers down to figure it out, and like Kroot hawk said, they were letting retailers order this stuff without saying a word, pointing to a massive bung up. 1 is the worst case, and really at this point with GW assuming the worst case isnt that bad of an approach as it usually keeps you from being constantly disappointed.
You'll notice that Im not attacking him, the white armour comment is to point out that for ever "hater" there is equal number of apologists.
I placed my order monday morning. I was doubling it today based on player orders after they saw the white dwarf.
Seems they shipped it to their stores, and a few retailers, and sold out.
I get nothing.
Not cool... I see lots of people talking on this thread but if you just isolate stores comments you know something very wrong is happening here... I mean GW has been at this for to long for it to miss the demand numbers by such huge gap.
If it is indeed a shortage because of the pace then how did GW not notice or plan ahead? And why on earth would they let retailers order knowing they cant meet those orders? And then with a straight face fully stock their own stores given everything they have done in the last few months to hurt retailers?
I don't want to say this in case it looks like I support gw in how they operate...
Here we go though...
I now see the sense in advertising the products in advance of release date. I always thought it'd be better to simply sell them on the same day you release their info, though now (if it's a genuine thing and they're not screwing others over) I can see that it's more a case of being able to judge the required stock and bring more in if they don't have enough.
I don't think GW are half as calculating and malevolent as half the posters in N&R seem to believe they are.
Might just be that the stale Tau rules were holding back an otherwise popular line of models which caused GW to oversight. They still have models to produce for all their other ranges this week, including the clearly best-selling Space Marines, it is a balancing act.
If it is indeed a shortage because of the pace then how did GW not notice or plan ahead? And why on earth would they let retailers order knowing they cant meet those orders? And then with a straight face fully stock their own stores given everything they have done in the last few months to hurt retailers?
At lest in the EUGW stores are not getting enough stock to fulfil first day sales orders. Their site also states that their will be a delay.
I also can't see a problem with GW Making sure their own stores have stock ahead of FLGS and such.
Restricting stores form ordering in hand stock is another issue.
GW may not just be thinking of the short term here. (If you think I'm a Tinfoil wearing conspiracy theorist before this post, you might as well stop here before I whip out my armadillo hats for you) consider what a pattern of releases like this will do to the eager release day customer. You cannot get product at brick and mortar stores, and secondary retailers are more delayed than GW itself. Therefore in the future if I wish to get product at release, I'd better go to GW or be delayed a week or maybe more!
So now, those individuals who want love the army and want to use it as soon as possible will believe they need to order from GW personally, and as soon as pre-orders are posted. This will serve to increase GW's profit margin per release by increasing the number of direct sales.
If this is calculated, it is a cunning and evil move. I find that more likely than GW underestimating the popularity of its own products, but judge as you will. Time will show what is aberration and what is their common practice.
Ravenous D wrote: Sure bud, walk into a GW later today and ask them about the 12+ boxes of riptides they got in their shipment.
Does anyone think this is a disturbing trend where GW believes they do not need the LFGS to push their product anymore?
GW's whole business plan is to cut out indy retailers entirely and sell GW product solely through GW stores.
If an indy store is selling enough, they'll set up a GW shop next door, and sale them out of business, then take all their customers.
Yodhrin wrote: I hate to tell you mate, but retailers enacting policies to drive foot traffic into their brick&mortar stores is common as muck, GAME used to pull crap like that all the time(despite their actual store managers telling them how bloody stupid it was); instructing the staff to tell everyone coming through the door how rare and special and limited and popular something was going to be, limiting the number of pre-orders that could be taken, plastering "LIMITED STOCK" all over the website, and guess what - the stores always got bloody crates of stock. Hmm, now, what happened to GAME again....?
chris_valera wrote: If an indy store is selling enough, they'll set up a GW shop next door, and sale them out of business, then take all their customers.
But a successful Indy store doesn't rely on GW product for the majority of it's sales. Not that they don't want to sell it (ref: mikhaila) but they will survive without it or reduced sales or adjust to improve their sales of GW product showing their value over a GW store, etc.
That's what happened in the US at least in my area. GW would open a store nearby an Indy and usually the Indy would not only survive, they thrive and they've outlasted the GW stores.
Flashman wrote:I say again... GWs own website states that the Riptide will be take one to two weeks to be delivered.
I think they genuinely underestimated demand.
Who knows? Its a little tinfoil-like but it certainly wouldn't shock me if GW had deliberately restricted all internet sales including their own (but obviously to a lesser extent) to 'encourage' people into GW stores which apparently do not have a stock problem (or so I assume - I guess if they run out of kits we will soon find out).
Right.. I would say this is almost certainly a deliberate move on GW's part to force sales through their own stores and website.
Flashman wrote:I say again... GWs own website states that the Riptide will be take one to two weeks to be delivered.
I think they genuinely underestimated demand.
Who knows? Its a little tinfoil-like but it certainly wouldn't shock me if GW had deliberately restricted all internet sales including their own (but obviously to a lesser extent) to 'encourage' people into GW stores which apparently do not have a stock problem (or so I assume - I guess if they run out of kits we will soon find out).
Right.. I would say this is almost certainly a deliberate move on GW's part to force sales through their own stores and website.
The war on the FLGS has just been upped a notch.
Kind of a bad PR move on their part then. If they were truly going to ace the FLGS out of product (or just delay their orders) as a matter of policy, then they should just come out and state that policy. That's part of business and they wouldn't be the first to make that kind of move. Sure they will get a lot of nerd rage over the policy, but to make such a policy and then try to hide it behind flimsy and improbable supply issues will ultimately piss off even more people. Gw hasn't been shy about announcing their policies in the past, which is why I think this is more likely a major F-up on their part. We just don't have enough info to make a real determination at this point (IMHO). All we have is anecdotal info, as bad as that is...
War on FLGS? That's insane. Being up front about trying to undermine the sales of indy stores would be PR suicide. No, the better way is through subtle "errors" that would drive consumers to GW stores and online sales. They'd have to do things like limiting the number of special order items to drive a customer or two away. Then they could sell direct only books to drive away a few more. Stopping stores from selling bits and such. Maybe some day even updating an army and having such small stock that you could only afford to send it to GW shops and the GW site. Oh.... wait...
Seriously though, I'd rather just assume that GW literally has no idea what they are doing and just bumbling through the updates. I mean in order for this short selling they'd have to actually know something about their fan base, which they have shown time and time again that they don't.
I'm sure the Bavarian Illuminati were involved here somehow.
A stock shortage for a major release can only be a bad thing for GW. Of course they'd take care of their stores first, because they're THEIR stores. But delays on their website and at FLGSs is going to mean lost sales.
Here's what is baffling me about this all and what I find difficult to reconcile:
1) If it is pure oversight and mistake then it would appear to be the first time GW have ever screwed up in this manner - I certainly can't remember them mishandling a release in this manner in all the years I have been wargaming. Are we to believe that a professional company with decades of experience could bugger up a release this badly?
2) If you aren't inclined to believe it is a simple mistake then the other option that is left is that it has been somehow done by design but if that were the case surely they would have made sure there own stores and webstore were fully stocked and that stock was 'delayed' to FLGS/internet discounters only? As it stands, it seems that the GW webstore is out of stock and some GW stores are low on stock so if we are to believe this is some Machiavellian plan to surreptitiously wage war on FLGS then it smacks a little of GW cutting off their nose to spite their face. Don't get me wrong; I am in no doubt that they would quite happily crush all indy sellers - I just don't see them doing it at their own expense.
I am leaning more towards the mistake hypothesis but I just am having difficulty believing that they would under-estimate demand on such a large and wide scale. Of course, they may well have thought that Tau wouldn't sell as well as other lines but this seems to be a complete breakdown in the supply chain.
Automatically Appended Next Post: It's baffling, quite frankly.
There are a million possible causes of this delay. Maybe some conex containers fell off a ship (not an uncommon occurence), maybe the box printing got fouled up, maybe they are diverting US stocks to UK to try to mitigate some of the delay there and it is rippling here in the US, maybe a warehouse fire destroyed product, maybe there is a customs delay for some part of the end product (boxes, instruction sheets, sprues, etc)... Maybe it is none of that and GW is actually cutting their own sales by not delivering product to FLGS. Bottom line is we just don't know enough right now... Until more info is available and verifiable, all this will just be speculation...
I have heard from 2 store owners that Tau are the 2nd largest sellers outside of "Space Marines."
I am sure a few of the other store owners can chime in.
GW is aware that finecast had QC issues, so there may be some issue with that end of the release. It is ludcris to think that they only printed 10k codexs as mentioned before. I am sure there are close to 10k+ English based resell accounts. In the business we assume each store front will take at least 3 units if they carry your line, plus who knows what the direct sales does.
What the heck am I getting at? Tau released like 7 years ago, in a much different socio-economical environment. Is it hard to gauge the launch of a product who's grown wildly in popularity since it's last launch? Absolutely. For GW it is better to under produce and have people wait than over produce and sit on stock.
Closer to 12 years actually, end of 2001! Have to agree with the rest of the comment though. If you're unsure on the potential market then play it safe, you can always produce more kits. Last thing GW want is to sit on tons of stock nobody is going to buy.
End of the day Tau players have been waiting years for an update, what's an extra couple of weeks going to do? I'll happily wait a bit longer for my from Wayland, Riptide and the Codex for a few quid more than buying the Codex alone from my local GW on Saturday.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Beast wrote: There are a million possible causes of this delay. Maybe some conex containers fell off a ship (not an uncommon occurence), maybe the box printing got fouled up, maybe they are diverting US stocks to UK to try to mitigate some of the delay there and it is rippling here in the US, maybe a warehouse fire destroyed product, maybe there is a customs delay for some part of the end product (boxes, instruction sheets, sprues, etc)... Maybe it is none of that and GW is actually cutting their own sales by not delivering product to FLGS. Bottom line is we just don't know enough right now... Until more info is available and verifiable, all this will just be speculation...
No, it's definitely a war against FLGS!!!
Seriously think people need to chill a little, whatever the reason for the delay it's effecting anyone who sells 40k stuff including GW and there isn't anything we can do about it but wait.
well have to say I have canceled my order refuse to wait any longer rather not have it than be p***ed about
As for this beng a GW strategy to counter stores other than there own wouldnt be surprised but instead of me spending money on there stuff It will go to somewhere else just because I dont like waiting or being p'ed about
will gw notice of course not and cant say I will notice not spending money on this release ether lol so win win for both sides
OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote: Of cource a whole bunch of auctions will be up in anticipation of Tau stock arriving from places like Dark Sphere, or even GW it's self
so while you may win things, they may not have them to send (for a few weeks anyway)
If that does happen, then it is a violation of ebay rules - you cant auction something that you don't own.
Nonsense. They have many resellers who use dropshipping to supply stock they don't own from someone else's inventory when they receive an order. eBay and other marketplaces bend rules for prosellers.
1. Incompetence. Utter stupidity in production, considering the number of releases this company has overseen and the notion of long term sales ensuring you can't overproduce.
2. A plan to cut the indy stores from getting the benefits of a new release. Ensuring they get their stock after the initial boom.
Or
3. A long term plan to remove the indy stores from the equation and encourage either the indy stores to get sick of them and cut the cord, or the indy stores to die off, a'la the dreamed extinction of online stores.
1. Incompetence. Utter stupidity in production, considering the number of releases this company has overseen and the notion of long term sales ensuring you can't overproduce.
2. A plan to cut the indy stores from getting the benefits of a new release. Ensuring they get their stock after the initial boom.
Or
3. A long term plan to remove the indy stores from the equation and encourage either the indy stores to get sick of them and cut the cord, or the indy stores to die off, a'la the dreamed extinction of online stores.
4. Something went wrong that no one could anticipate. Force majeure and all that.
Its a conspiracy MAAAANN! They know you know and i know that they know you know. you know maaaan. They are just trying to trick you into thinking that they don't know what you know but they know. it all starts with a delayed release and next thing you know they will be dragging local game shop owners out into the streets to publicly execute them. And if you ever ordered anything from their website they have your address and will do the same to you, because they hate being a business and making a crap ton of money for little plastic toys.
OR maybe Terry the wharehouse guy just misplaced a decimal somewhere in some paperwork. who knows.
Gitzbitah wrote: GW may not just be thinking of the short term here. (If you think I'm a Tinfoil wearing conspiracy theorist before this post, you might as well stop here before I whip out my armadillo hats for you) consider what a pattern of releases like this will do to the eager release day customer. You cannot get product at brick and mortar stores, and secondary retailers are more delayed than GW itself. Therefore in the future if I wish to get product at release, I'd better go to GW or be delayed a week or maybe more!
So now, those individuals who want love the army and want to use it as soon as possible will believe they need to order from GW personally, and as soon as pre-orders are posted. This will serve to increase GW's profit margin per release by increasing the number of direct sales.
If this is calculated, it is a cunning and evil move. I find that more likely than GW underestimating the popularity of its own products, but judge as you will. Time will show what is aberration and what is their common practice.
Thats pretty accurate.
I looked over at the Tau rumour thread to see if this popped up there and a bunch of people were saying things to the effect of "I better get down to my GW and buy it before it runs out!". I just shook my head, waiting 2 weeks isnt the end of the world, but to an irrational person they need it now.
Well, Games Workshop DID release nearly triple the amount of miniatures for Warhammer 40K Jan-Apr 2013 than they did in the same period in previous years. Not even considering Fantasy or The Hobbit.
Hard to imagine a company ramping up production like that without some hick-ups along the way.
Doesn't change that they let independents bear the brunt of the costs for their cock-up.
Have GW, fairly often, behaved in a way which could be described using the following terms; Adversarial, Conspiratorial, Arrogant, Bullish, Incompetent, Paranoid, Bullying?
By framing the issue in terms like this, you're nearly guaranteed to make GW look bad-- just as it would be ridiculous to start a thread that said "Have GW often behaved in a way which could be described using the following terms: "Gracious," "Helpful," "Accomodating," "Generous?"" and then listing off a bunch of the things that we all know GW does right (customer service, sending people free kits when a single sprue gets messed up, stores letting people paint stuff using their supplies, etc.). When you start with a biased premise, you end up with a biased conclusion.
filbert wrote: Here's what is baffling me about this all and what I find difficult to reconcile:
1) If it is pure oversight and mistake then it would appear to be the first time GW have ever screwed up in this manner - I certainly can't remember them mishandling a release in this manner in all the years I have been wargaming. Are we to believe that a professional company with decades of experience could bugger up a release this badly?
2) If you aren't inclined to believe it is a simple mistake then the other option that is left is that it has been somehow done by design but if that were the case surely they would have made sure there own stores and webstore were fully stocked and that stock was 'delayed' to FLGS/internet discounters only? As it stands, it seems that the GW webstore is out of stock and some GW stores are low on stock so if we are to believe this is some Machiavellian plan to surreptitiously wage war on FLGS then it smacks a little of GW cutting off their nose to spite their face. Don't get me wrong; I am in no doubt that they would quite happily crush all indy sellers - I just don't see them doing it at their own expense.
I am leaning more towards the mistake hypothesis but I just am having difficulty believing that they would under-estimate demand on such a large and wide scale. Of course, they may well have thought that Tau wouldn't sell as well as other lines but this seems to be a complete breakdown in the supply chain.
They had some shortages in the U.S. with the 6th ed. rulebooks just last year.
Baldsmug wrote: Its a conspiracy MAAAANN! They know you know and i know that they know you know. you know maaaan. They are just trying to trick you into thinking that they don't know what you know but they know. it all starts with a delayed release and next thing you know they will be dragging local game shop owners out into the streets to publicly execute them. And if you ever ordered anything from their website they have your address and will do the same to you, because they hate being a business and making a crap ton of money for little plastic toys.
OR maybe Terry the wharehouse guy just misplaced a decimal somewhere in some paperwork. who knows.
Is this the same terry he warehouse guy who misplaced a couple pallet loads of space hulk a few years back? If so then you know he got promoted due to his resourcefulness in finding more product to sell right?
This is not something unforeseen where product was delayed due to shipping errors.
It can only be an intentional ploy to sell out early, or....
An attempt to screw the flgs stores.
Anything beyond that (or including it as well) should have an big investors concerened that the upper management is incompetent and should be removed. Kirby is not the only problem at GW, he's just the guy who is paid way too much and not fixing them.
I played( past tense) both fantasy and 40k, collected tens of thousands of dollars worth of their stuff over 20+ years, but now just play bloodbowl with stuff I have or third party product. Not completing my marine chapter bothers me, but it's the shenanigans like this and what GW has done to the black library that force me away. done with my rant, cue GW white knight in 5 4 3 2....
Whilst I in no way think there is any conspiracy going on here, I do think this boils down to how GW release things these days. Go back to month in advance preorders, and things would be alot more manageable.
Occam's Razor says the simplest solution is usually the correct one. GW screwed up. It happens. Worldwide logistics is a fickle beast, and can bite you in the ass.
I think they want the LGS's of the world to cease operation. Shame, because nowadays that's about the only places we can game anymore. GW's are pretty small now. 2 tables in most stores with a 3rd covered in models. Either that are have your own table in your basement which I'm a fan of. Beer and pretzels all the way!!
Baldsmug wrote: Its a conspiracy MAAAANN! They know you know and i know that they know you know. you know maaaan. They are just trying to trick you into thinking that they don't know what you know but they know. it all starts with a delayed release and next thing you know they will be dragging local game shop owners out into the streets to publicly execute them. And if you ever ordered anything from their website they have your address and will do the same to you, because they hate being a business and making a crap ton of money for little plastic toys.
OR maybe Terry the wharehouse guy just misplaced a decimal somewhere in some paperwork. who knows.
Is this the same terry he warehouse guy who misplaced a couple pallet loads of space hulk a few years back? If so then you know he got promoted due to his resourcefulness in finding more product to sell right?
This is not something unforeseen where product was delayed due to shipping errors.
It can only be an intentional ploy to sell out early, or....
An attempt to screw the flgs stores.
Anything beyond that (or including it as well) should have an big investors concerened that the upper management is incompetent and should be removed. Kirby is not the only problem at GW, he's just the guy who is paid way too much and not fixing them.
I played( past tense) both fantasy and 40k, collected tens of thousands of dollars worth of their stuff over 20+ years, but now just play bloodbowl with stuff I have or third party product. Not completing my marine chapter bothers me, but it's the shenanigans like this and what GW has done to the black library that force me away. done with my rant, cue GW white knight in 5 4 3 2....
HERE I COME TO SAVE THE DAAAAAY!!!!! By White Knight do you mean a rational person who doesn't soil themselves everytime a toy company does something they don't understand and/or agree with? If so I would like my horse and armor now please. I plan to use it to run around saving damsels in distress while i wait for the madness to die down before i buy me some new Tau stuff right off the shelf from my favorite local game store.
filbert wrote: Here's what is baffling me about this all and what I find difficult to reconcile:
1) If it is pure oversight and mistake then it would appear to be the first time GW have ever screwed up in this manner - I certainly can't remember them mishandling a release in this manner in all the years I have been wargaming. Are we to believe that a professional company with decades of experience could bugger up a release this badly?
You're forgetting that GW, in all those "decades of experience" have never put out nearly those amount of miniatures they currently do. They tripled the amount of Warhammer 40K miniatures released Jan-April compared to 2012.
Take any company you like, with "decades of experience" producing the stuff they produce. Than have them triple their production. Mistakes will happen.
GW pulled this stunt with Space Hulk, they shipped about 10% of the orders to independant distributors then claimed that they were "sold out" meanwhile they had ample levels of stock in store for months afterwards. I checked with my distributor and they have nothing in stock save for older kits, none of the new kits are available. They also did this with the Grey Knights release, other than a very small token alotment general stock wasn't available to distributors until 2-3 weeks after the release date.
What this translates into GW intentionally shorting independants to drive customers to their bunkers and retail locations. Once the inital surge of release day purchases have passed they'll get around to shipping to distributors in a couple weeks. On paper it makes GW's internal sales look amazing. By keeping sales in house they see the lions share of the profits and it also serves as a temporay barrier to discount sellers. But that move costs FLGS a huge amount of sales due to the wait involved as most gamers want the releases the first several days of the army coming out.
It's within their "right" to create false shortages to pad their in store release numbers but it's very distatsteful and isn't creating any good will with the FLGS. It's another example of how their business strategy seems to be drive people exclusively to GW retail and put yet another knife in the back of the FLGS that made our game so popular in the US.
With the new retailer terms excluding stores from selling to bits opperations I'm not sure how much more chain yanking can occur before they find FLGS finally dropping GW as their mainstay line. GW's attempt to establish market control is proving to be more of a choking deathgrip and the independant retailers are the ones being squeezed. Considering they account for the greater portion of sales within the US I think they are playing with fire and something is bound to give way very soon.
Wow, people really get worked up about a 2 week delay. All you need is the codex! You can wait two weeks for the models. Seriously, its not that big of a deal. And what FLGS only stays in business because of Tau? FLGS are full of people that drop hundreds on freaking cards and comic books. The small amount of GW they sell is probably more trouble then its worth.
GW has been releasing a lot of new models and codexes lately and they couldn't get enough Tau done in time. Not to mention Tau are a popular army that probably attracted a bunch of new players. There could have been any number of delays in production or distribution. I work in the logistics field and so many little things can cause delays.
Calm down, take a deep breath, take the tin foil hat off, and read your new codex. Figure out what is worth buying then spend your money. Proxy until the stuff gets here. No one is going to die because their new riptide or Farsight model will be two weeks late.
Davespil wrote: Wow, people really get worked up about a 2 week delay. All you need is the codex! You can wait two weeks for the models. Seriously, its not that big of a deal. And what FLGS only stays in business because of Tau? FLGS are full of people that drop hundreds on freaking cards and comic books. The small amount of GW they sell is probably more trouble then its worth.
GW has been releasing a lot of new models and codexes lately and they couldn't get enough Tau done in time. Not to mention Tau are a popular army that probably attracted a bunch of new players. There could have been any number of delays in production or distribution. I work in the logistics field and so many little things can cause delays.
Calm down, take a deep breath, take the tin foil hat off, and read your new codex. Figure out what is worth buying then spend your money. Proxy until the stuff gets here. No one is going to die because their new riptide or Farsight model will be two weeks late.
Yes, many of us do get upset over a two week wait. Especially those of us with stores.
We spend time and effort to promote GW products. We have to give them a spot in our store, agree to keep a certain amount of stuff in stock, and lots of other little things you can see within their trade terms.
That work is wasted if we can't get the product and GW's own stores have it in stock. If no one had it, no big deal. But that isn't the case here. A few stores get some. Most get nothing. GW stores got their stuff shipped out last week. They are not affected at all and are ready to take your money.
As is, I will be losing hundreds of dollars in sales. GW failed to hold up their end of the bargain.
I have been playing tau since their original release, and I had hundreds of dollars of preorders from my flgs. I just got a call from them letting me know the codex will be there but everything else is back ordered until at least next week.
I'll still be buying my tau from my flgs. I'm not going to rage quit GW, but I am pretty peeved at the delay. It's either poor planning or a lousy ploy to get more sales from GW brick and mortar locations...
Davespil wrote: Wow, people really get worked up about a 2 week delay. All you need is the codex! You can wait two weeks for the models. Seriously, its not that big of a deal. And what FLGS only stays in business because of Tau? FLGS are full of people that drop hundreds on freaking cards and comic books. The small amount of GW they sell is probably more trouble then its worth.
GW has been releasing a lot of new models and codexes lately and they couldn't get enough Tau done in time. Not to mention Tau are a popular army that probably attracted a bunch of new players. There could have been any number of delays in production or distribution. I work in the logistics field and so many little things can cause delays.
Calm down, take a deep breath, take the tin foil hat off, and read your new codex. Figure out what is worth buying then spend your money. Proxy until the stuff gets here. No one is going to die because their new riptide or Farsight model will be two weeks late.
Yes, many of us do get upset over a two week wait. Especially those of us with stores.
We spend time and effort to promote GW products. We have to give them a spot in our store, agree to keep a certain amount of stuff in stock, and lots of other little things you can see within their trade terms.
That work is wasted if we can't get the product and GW's own stores have it in stock. If no one had it, no big deal. But that isn't the case here. A few stores get some. Most get nothing. GW stores got their stuff shipped out last week. They are not affected at all and are ready to take your money.
As is, I will be losing hundreds of dollars in sales. GW failed to hold up their end of the bargain.
My hat goes off to you mikhaila,
I have worked in a flgs twenty years ago right after high school. I understand what small business owners face, and how you've handled yourself online hear just shows how respectable you are.
Is there anything in the terms and agreements that you can fall back on? If your not allowed o talk about it I understand, feel free to pm me so as not to go off topic.
As to people getting upset because of the delays...
Flgs need each of their lines to produce in order to stay in business and competitive, if they aren't getting defensive, then their doing it wrong.
People who game at local stores should be offended that they have to wait or go into the local GW and be treated less satisfactorily than at their favorite hang out. It's not about the inconvenience it's about the ethics behind the decisions to me.
Will I buy bloodbowl when it comes out this fall like the rumors say? Yes. Will I buy direct from GW? Only if it is GW exclusive, even then I'll give the local lgs a chance.
I guess we are just spoiled in this area. We have a few really great stores and none of them are GWs and all of them have fairly loyal customers who will gladly wait the extra 2 weeks for their stuff. What i just don't get is why people NEED to buy all of the models the second they come out. I guess its because i am so new to this hobby that i have trouble wrapping my mind around it. Also most of our FLGS offer discount prices so there really is no reason to buy from anywhere else.
Well my local GW store does not seem to have been able to get all the stock they were expecting either
I'm sure GW stores got more of what they asked for, but even so it looks like there just arn't enough kits to go round.
Whether that's under-estimating demand, manufacturing screw up, transport screw up or just the sheer volume of releases catching up with them who knows
(or even an evil-empire style conspiricy)
I'll facinated to see the the pace of releases keeps up (especially as none of the forthcoming stuff is oficial yet, it could be delayed)
mikhaila wrote: Yes, many of us do get upset over a two week wait. Especially those of us with stores.
We spend time and effort to promote GW products. We have to give them a spot in our store, agree to keep a certain amount of stuff in stock, and lots of other little things you can see within their trade terms.
That work is wasted if we can't get the product and GW's own stores have it in stock. If no one had it, no big deal. But that isn't the case here. A few stores get some. Most get nothing. GW stores got their stuff shipped out last week. They are not affected at all and are ready to take your money.
As is, I will be losing hundreds of dollars in sales. GW failed to hold up their end of the bargain.
1.) In Germany, FLGS including independents got all tau stuff already, they ordered last week. No problem, no shortage AFAIK.
2.) If you need a refill of stock here, you order next Monday as usual and get your stuff Thursday as usual (that's what the official announcement says, the "one to two weeks" is just the lowest delay message).
3.) Officially there is no shortage in North America.
So I don't know where your special situation comes from. It certainly is not the normal situation. Maybe ask your sales rep.
BTW there have been shortages in the past, like Grey Knight boxes etc.
IdentifyZero wrote: This is some kind of major conspiracy to screw the FLGS owner among other things is what I am getting out of this topic.
Maybe it's a conspiracy or maybe, just maybe? A massive company made a mistake.
I don't think conspiracy. I think incompetence.
A massive company has incompetent people setting their production numbers, and doesn't care enough to make sure they make enough product to sell to the stores that carry their product.
In the past GW had a huge stock of new releases ready to go. This past year they have been selling out of many things, and not keeping enough stock in the US. We've had trouble with both Chaos Space Marines and the Demons release. I've never had a problem before giving GW my money. They simply aren't worried about keeping in enough stock to fill demand for Trade accounts. In many cases, they don't even allocate any of a release to us, like the flyers book.
Understand that they stuck trade accounts at the back of the bus. GW stores got product. Mail order got their product. There was a little bit left, they shipped to a few stores..and its gone.
The pie was cut up and gone before they got to us.
Baldsmug wrote: I guess we are just spoiled in this area. We have a few really great stores and none of them are GWs and all of them have fairly loyal customers who will gladly wait the extra 2 weeks for their stuff. What i just don't get is why people NEED to buy all of the models the second they come out. I guess its because i am so new to this hobby that i have trouble wrapping my mind around it. Also most of our FLGS offer discount prices so there really is no reason to buy from anywhere else.
One of the local flgs carry GW, but only a little as they cater to magic, comics and Yugio. It doesn't help that the next closest store has 10% off GW all the time and dedicated gaming tables, nights, and employees who live to game. The next closest location is miniature markets brick and mortar store (so heavily discounted). I don't understand the need to have it right away either, but the fact that they took the flgs out of the picture by not sending enough/any product is what has my dander up. By doing this they hope they can deal with those pesky flgs that take away their profits, hopefully your area is strong enough to deal with this and the stores survive. I have seen a lot of stores in my area dry up over the years. A few because of poor management, but I'd hate too see anyone be out because of a greedy company that intentionally shoots its supporters in the foot.
mikhaila wrote: Yes, many of us do get upset over a two week wait. Especially those of us with stores.
We spend time and effort to promote GW products. We have to give them a spot in our store, agree to keep a certain amount of stuff in stock, and lots of other little things you can see within their trade terms.
That work is wasted if we can't get the product and GW's own stores have it in stock. If no one had it, no big deal. But that isn't the case here. A few stores get some. Most get nothing. GW stores got their stuff shipped out last week. They are not affected at all and are ready to take your money.
As is, I will be losing hundreds of dollars in sales. GW failed to hold up their end of the bargain.
1.) In Germany, FLGS including independents got all tau stuff already, they ordered last week. No problem, no shortage AFAIK.
2.) If you need a refill of stock here, you order next Monday as usual and get your stuff Thursday as usual (that's what the official announcement says, the "one to two weeks" is just the lowest delay message).
3.) Officially there is no shortage in North America.
So I don't know where your special situation comes from. It certainly is not the normal situation. Maybe ask your sales rep.
BTW there have been shortages in the past, like Grey Knight boxes etc.
Kroothawk- Who do you think is telling US stores their orders are cancelled? My sales rep at GW called today to inform me of it. The invoice in my email confirms it. No Tau models.
I spent an hour on the phone with him. More time getting calls from other retailers who all got the same call.
Well, my local indy got all it wanted with no problems. Did the rep also confirm the 2 weeks wait? As in Europe something else is official.
Here a post from the other tau thread:
tidalwake wrote:Just got told by my local store (independent retailer, not a GW store) that GW oversold the new Tau stuff and does not have enough plastics to fill orders. He will have the Codex and Finecast, but wasn't even given an ETA on the plastics. I saw the post from the EU yesterday and had a bad feeling it might happen here as well.
Kroothawk wrote: Well, my local indy got all it wanted with no problems. Did the rep also confirm the 2 weeks wait? As in Europe something else is official.
Here a post from the other tau thread:
tidalwake wrote:Just got told by my local store (independent retailer, not a GW store) that GW oversold the new Tau stuff and does not have enough plastics to fill orders. He will have the Codex and Finecast, but wasn't even given an ETA on the plastics. I saw the post from the EU yesterday and had a bad feeling it might happen here as well.
They won't confirm anything. It's going to be "weeks", and they don't want to say more than that.
I got all I wanted as well...Monday morning. Wednesday they called to say we aren't getting anything but books. My order was one of the first orders placed. But they fill orders for the stores further away first. Some us stores on 3-4 day ship got stock. Everyone else gets to wait unil they make more and ship it from the UK.
I spoke to the guy at my FLGS today and it sounds like they'll have some Tau stuff. They don't order very much. Most of their business is magic (everytime I hear that I expect someone to pull a rabbit out of a hat), comics, flames of war, and that other minatures game that I always forget the name of. They don't keep the store stocked with GW products and only order it if someone needs it. And they provide a great discount.
If nothing comes in then I wait 2 weeks. The point of my post was for all those freaking out they they weren't gonna get their models for two weeks and were talking about quitting 40K. The important thing is the codex. You don't need the specific models to play.
Also, I still think GW made a mistake or were running behind due to all of the other releases. gak happens. I'm sure they won't make the same mistake again. And if they do then we know what their intentions are and we can act accordingly.
IdentifyZero wrote: This is some kind of major conspiracy to screw the FLGS owner among other things is what I am getting out of this topic.
Maybe it's a conspiracy or maybe, just maybe? A massive company made a mistake.
At both UK and US factories?
That makes it above the factories then, and any smart manager would know the numbers and what to run, especially in relation to its trade accounts. Just saying, but when you have over 830 some odd stores in north america alone, you should probably think to your self "make enough to fill those orders" and cross reference with the ordering history. A smart manager would also know when the factories wont make a deadline.
What it says to me is that the production run was cut in half and now we have a 2 week gap, so that tells me that the factories can make enough tau models for every single GW and FLGS worldwide in 2 weeks. So what were they doing over the last month then? And why would you let trade accounts order when you didnt have the product? Whats worse? Telling someone they cant order because of low stock, or cash your cheque and then tell you to deal with it? One is ethical, the other isnt.
I had a weird call from another local store, apparently they are getting everything except finecast, Riptide & broadsides, and I am only getting codexes and finecast... I'm trying to figure out how two stores on 2 day ship got such different numbers and storys from their reps.
Davespil wrote: If nothing comes in then I wait 2 weeks. The point of my post was for all those freaking out they they weren't gonna get their models for two weeks and were talking about quitting 40K.
Really? All who? The word "quit" appears twice in this thread. The first time it's someone saying he's not gonna quit or anything. The second time, it's in your post.
Sergeant Horse wrote: I had a weird call from another local store, apparently they are getting everything except finecast, Riptide & broadsides, and I am only getting codexes and finecast... I'm trying to figure out how two stores on 2 day ship got such different numbers and storys from their reps.
IdentifyZero wrote: This is some kind of major conspiracy to screw the FLGS owner among other things is what I am getting out of this topic.
Maybe it's a conspiracy or maybe, just maybe? A massive company made a mistake.
I'd assume that the orders that got shipped earlier were massively more popular for broadsides and riptides than expected, and less popular for the finecast models? That way there'd be more left of the finecast and less left of the broadsides and riptides.
Theres really no excuse for this. The same thing will happen when High Elvee come out, and Eldar. Then there are 3 other books that are a decade old for Fantasy, that this same thing will happen for unless they plan better.
They had to have had some idea that this would happen. When you leave a popular book undone for so long, of course it will happen.
I'd assume that the orders that got shipped earlier were massively more popular for broadsides and riptides than expected, and less popular for the finecast models? That way there'd be more left of the finecast and less left of the broadsides and riptides.
Not only that, but I have to wonder if the "bundles" that they had on their website actually ended up being more popular than they thought.
When you look at the listing of what was "out of stock" as of Monday on the GW website, a lot of it corresponds to the bundles.
Games Workshop wrote:Tau Empire One-Click Launch Collection
Tau Battlesuit Collection
Farsight Enclave
Tau Recon Team
Shadowsun Firestrike Hunter Cadre
XV104 Riptide Battlesuit
XV88 Broadside Battlesuit
Cadre Fireblade
Commander Farsight
XV8 Battlesuit Commander
Darkstrider
Longstrike
Of course, for the purposes of looking at it objectively you would ignore the bundles themselves. That leaves you with the following:
So that's 4x Finecast(Darkstrider, Farsight, Longstrike, XV8 Battlesuit Commander) and 3x plastic kits (XV104 Riptide and XV88 Broadside Battlesuits and the Cadre Fireblade) that were underestimated.
It's interesting that the Crisis Battlesuit Team boxed set and the Pathfinders boxed set were not affected by this, nor were the Hammerhead/Skyray reboxing or the new flyers.
Kanluwen wrote: Not only that, but I have to wonder if the "bundles" that they had on their website actually ended up being more popular than they thought.
When you look at the listing of what was "out of stock" as of Monday on the GW website, a lot of it corresponds to the bundles.
Yeah, perhaps this will finally stop people on Dakka from describing the bundles as "insulting" or "offensive..."
filbert wrote: Or some sort of trick to restrict stick flow and artificially raise hype that way? Seems increasingly at odds with the exasperation demonstrated here and elsewhere at GWs business practises.
Ahh yes, the common tactic of when people are not buying enough of your products, to stop them from buying your products.
Oh wait a minute.
* I don't mean to sound harsh here, but I do sincerely think that its not a trick.
What some people don't know about supply chain, or business is stunning.
This kind of thing happens all the time to various companies (even apple, with billions in resources has shortages).
Personally, as a guy who is a gamer, a business owner, and has been working in supply chain for 20 years, to me its almost expected, here is why;
1 - Gw has increased produciton and relaese dramatically in the last several quarters - this is not an easy thing to do, especially depending upon the technology or processes.
2 - Clearly marketing is disconnected to just how popular "non marines' and specifically tau are. They either did not estimate enough demand, or they did not priortize it enough to deal with supply shortfalls (prebuilds, etc.).
3 - Some unknown major supply issue - could be anything really - some companies ocassionally get big delays when one ship is late, or worse a container gets flaged by customs for inspection (no, they don't inspect them all, and yes, that should bother you).
Oh, and why did they ship to their stores first? Easier to control leaks that way. Why then ship to stores with longer lead times...duh, because they want them to arrive about the same time.
I think they just did not realize how popular tau would be.
Which hopefully will translate into more kits (terrain, supplments, etc.) for xenos.
Kanluwen wrote: Not only that, but I have to wonder if the "bundles" that they had on their website actually ended up being more popular than they thought.
When you look at the listing of what was "out of stock" as of Monday on the GW website, a lot of it corresponds to the bundles.
Yeah, perhaps this will finally stop people on Dakka from describing the bundles as "insulting" or "offensive..."
Nonsense. If the Riptide is out of stock, so are all bundles containing it. That simple. It's not like the bundles are separate boxes or something.
Sure, but if I have 2 orders: one for a Riptide, and the other one of those 800 dollar bundles that contains a Riptide, and only a single Riptide, which is going to get fulfilled? I think that was the message - how we got here, not so much where we are now.
Davespil wrote: Wow, people really get worked up about a 2 week delay. All you need is the codex! You can wait two weeks for the models. Seriously, its not that big of a deal. And what FLGS only stays in business because of Tau? FLGS are full of people that drop hundreds on freaking cards and comic books. The small amount of GW they sell is probably more trouble then its worth.
GW has been releasing a lot of new models and codexes lately and they couldn't get enough Tau done in time. Not to mention Tau are a popular army that probably attracted a bunch of new players. There could have been any number of delays in production or distribution. I work in the logistics field and so many little things can cause delays.
Calm down, take a deep breath, take the tin foil hat off, and read your new codex. Figure out what is worth buying then spend your money. Proxy until the stuff gets here. No one is going to die because their new riptide or Farsight model will be two weeks late.
Yes, many of us do get upset over a two week wait. Especially those of us with stores.
We spend time and effort to promote GW products. We have to give them a spot in our store, agree to keep a certain amount of stuff in stock, and lots of other little things you can see within their trade terms.
That work is wasted if we can't get the product and GW's own stores have it in stock. If no one had it, no big deal. But that isn't the case here. A few stores get some. Most get nothing. GW stores got their stuff shipped out last week. They are not affected at all and are ready to take your money.
As is, I will be losing hundreds of dollars in sales. GW failed to hold up their end of the bargain.
Mikhaila, not to disrespect you mate i know youve been at this a long time, but do you remember saying GW dont stuff you around in a thread to me the other week because you were on great terms with your rep, and i said just wait? then sumone else brought up the DFTS debacle... here we have another example of GW "unintentionally" shafting everyone but themselves....
The fact that this has hit america now.... well i know where there will be a few Tau models... Aus... cos they cost twice as much.... if they sell out here, you KNOW its been fethed up
Byte wrote: I thought GW was in its final death throws because of all the boycotts...[/sarcasm]
Then you were the only one...
Doubt that... Certainly you haven't missed the one billion boycotts threads... However, I was being sarcastic in the case you missed that which I'm sure you did.
Ouze wrote: Sure, but if I have 2 orders: one for a Riptide, and the other one of those 800 dollar bundles that contains a Riptide, and only a single Riptide, which is going to get fulfilled? I think that was the message - how we got here, not so much where we are now.
Uh, what if nobody bought the bundles? It seems a bit presumptuous to assume a lack of riptides is because of bundles selling rather than riptides selling. It seems much more likely that they sold out of riptides which results in the bundles being marked out of stock to me. This has the side effect of making the bundles look popular when we really have zero idea if they sold a single one.
Ouze wrote: Sure, but if I have 2 orders: one for a Riptide, and the other one of those 800 dollar bundles that contains a Riptide, and only a single Riptide, which is going to get fulfilled? I think that was the message - how we got here, not so much where we are now.
Uh, what if nobody bought the bundles? It seems a bit presumptuous to assume a lack of riptides is because of bundles selling rather than riptides selling. It seems much more likely that they sold out of riptides which results in the bundles being marked out of stock to me. This has the side effect of making the bundles look popular when we really have zero idea if they sold a single one.
Hey. this wasn't my premise, I'm not defending it - simply clarifying what I took as a question from Kroot.
I have no idea why they ran out of Tau stuff. I don't t think we have any evidence one way or the other to make any determination.
I'm slightly annoyed but I'm not head banging the wall. I very sorry for whats happening to the FLGS's that are being shorted. I'll wait tell my local has their stock and purchase through them. I get very annoyed with GW lately. They keep pissing of my local store to the point where they're talking of not stocking GW anymore. They don't need GW, they mainly survive on MTG sells in store and online. So it doesn't hurt GW or the store so much but it does hurt me since its the only local store in 40 miles of my house and that pisses me off.
I don't know if its by accident or design. Normaly I give people and company's a break and assume accident but since we have such a lovely past history this last 2 years from GW I wouldn't be surprised if something fishy is going on. (pun intended, ya i went there)
wowsmash wrote: I'm slightly annoyed but I'm not head banging the wall. I very sorry for whats happening to the FLGS's that are being shorted. I'll wait tell my local has their stock and purchase through them. I get very annoyed with GW lately. They keep pissing of my local store to the point where they're talking of not stocking GW anymore. They don't need GW, they mainly survive on MTG sells in store and online. So it doesn't hurt GW or the store so much but it does hurt me since its the only local store in 40 miles of my house and that pisses me off.
I don't know if its by accident or design. Normaly I give people and company's a break and assume accident but since we have such a lovely past history this last 2 years from GW I wouldn't be surprised if something fishy is going on. (pun intended, ya i went there)
I believe that this is no accident. I firmly believe that this corporation is doing everything it can to attain revenue. If that means cannibalizing their normal distribution lines to achieve higher profit levels, you better believe that they are going to do it.
The bottom line is they want their money now, and they will do anything to get it.
Mike (and all of the other retailers out there) - this is fethed up - no two ways about it! I hope everyone supports you and waits to buy.....I'll be telling all at my FLGS to proxy until the store can get the models!
Someone screwed up big time - whether it was just production, planning, or even the box printer. We'll probably never find out. I doubt your rep will ever really know himself....it will be a rumor about some guy in UK who got canned or something. (sorry, made redundant is what you use in the UK, right?).
Sorry if I doubt it was on purpose.....on purpose would have been GW had plenty in stock, webstore was happily selling them and oops we don't have any. Pretty sure Mike's store would have been one of the ones who would have been least likely affected (rather than small stores 3-4 ship days away getting theirs and Mike is screwed.)
I can only think of a few REALLY bad mistakes that GW has made-and most of them the customers probably never knew about (things got moved around from one week to another, but noone but GW knew it - not even most of the retailers). The Falcons and Black and White Paint were crazy exceptions here in the US. There have been a few others, but an entire release?
Definitely they weren't ready for some reason. The ramped up release schedule, crazy demand, or whatever.
My only question is why they don't contact everyone tell them not to sell until April 19th (as a date that was thrown around as being available again). If you are caught selling then they can put you on probation. The cats out of the bag if they started to ship to FLGS, but couldn't they at least try this route? Oh, well, that is probably me mistakenly assuming the best of people.
However, I'm a big proponent of supporting your FLGS! I waited to get Death From the skies from there, so I'll just wait. And I'll try to convince everyone else as well. Hopefully the stores on Dakka can expect the same!
However, I'm afraid that Mark Wells viewpoint of limited release info increases sales will be proven in GW's eyes.
mikhaila, couldn't it be more to do with your rep (and one or two others) doing something wrong rather than GW as a whole? As several users have checked out their locals and had no issue, and others have had problems, couldn't it be that? I mean, haven't there been a few threads involving you where your trade rep has been less than honest and less than useful?
Davespil wrote: Wow, people really get worked up about a 2 week delay. All you need is the codex! You can wait two weeks for the models. Seriously, its not that big of a deal. And what FLGS only stays in business because of Tau? FLGS are full of people that drop hundreds on freaking cards and comic books. The small amount of GW they sell is probably more trouble then its worth.
GW has been releasing a lot of new models and codexes lately and they couldn't get enough Tau done in time. Not to mention Tau are a popular army that probably attracted a bunch of new players. There could have been any number of delays in production or distribution. I work in the logistics field and so many little things can cause delays.
Calm down, take a deep breath, take the tin foil hat off, and read your new codex. Figure out what is worth buying then spend your money. Proxy until the stuff gets here. No one is going to die because their new riptide or Farsight model will be two weeks late.
Yes, many of us do get upset over a two week wait. Especially those of us with stores.
We spend time and effort to promote GW products. We have to give them a spot in our store, agree to keep a certain amount of stuff in stock, and lots of other little things you can see within their trade terms.
That work is wasted if we can't get the product and GW's own stores have it in stock. If no one had it, no big deal. But that isn't the case here. A few stores get some. Most get nothing. GW stores got their stuff shipped out last week. They are not affected at all and are ready to take your money.
As is, I will be losing hundreds of dollars in sales. GW failed to hold up their end of the bargain.
As a store owner, Mikhaila, do you think there is a point beyond which you would give up selling GW? Logically there will be but do you think it is near away or still fairly far away?
davethepak wrote: What some people don't know about supply chain, or business is stunning.
This kind of thing happens all the time to various companies (even apple, with billions in resources has shortages).
Personally, as a guy who is a gamer, a business owner, and has been working in supply chain for 20 years, to me its almost expected, here is why;
1 - Gw has increased produciton and relaese dramatically in the last several quarters - this is not an easy thing to do, especially depending upon the technology or processes.
2 - Clearly marketing is disconnected to just how popular "non marines' and specifically tau are. They either did not estimate enough demand, or they did not priortize it enough to deal with supply shortfalls (prebuilds, etc.).
3 - Some unknown major supply issue - could be anything really - some companies ocassionally get big delays when one ship is late, or worse a container gets flaged by customs for inspection (no, they don't inspect them all, and yes, that should bother you).
Oh, and why did they ship to their stores first? Easier to control leaks that way. Why then ship to stores with longer lead times...duh, because they want them to arrive about the same time.
I think they just did not realize how popular tau would be.
Which hopefully will translate into more kits (terrain, supplments, etc.) for xenos.
Without being rude your view of logistics and supply chain management is a bit off the ball with regards to the EU.
From our perspective this isnt about them underestimating demand, its that some channels namely GW retail and GW web, as well as some indies outside of the UK that have extended shipping times for GW to supply getting access to product before us, and GW not telling any of their trade partners within a reasonable period that there were issues. We should all be able to order stock at the same time, and have it shipped depending on the requirements of location, not place orders in that fashion.
They took advantage of their vertical integration to use a horrific term, and it could be argued that in some regards that is unfair competition in this case. We were denied the ability to order when others were, including GW's own channels and denied the ability to mitigate the issue even though GW were well aware of the problem and in the past had sent information to us on weekends, so it was not an unreasonable expectation that they could communicate.
Mr. Burning wrote: I also can't see a problem with GW Making sure their own stores have stock ahead of FLGS and such.
It's anticompetitive, because it's treating its own stores differently to it's trade stores, which it can't do as a manufacturer/retailer. It has to treat it's store chain the same way it'd treat an independent as far as stock goes.
It also sets a bad precedent of essentially training customers to believe that GW stores will get more stock in first, so the people who really want the product without random delays are best ordering from them and not LGS's, which is obviously of great benefit to GW whilst hurting LGS's
Mr. Burning wrote: I also can't see a problem with GW Making sure their own stores have stock ahead of FLGS and such.
It's anticompetitive, because it's treating its own stores differently to it's trade stores, which it can't do as a manufacturer/retailer. It has to treat it's store chain the same way it'd treat an independent as far as stock goes.
It also sets a bad precedent of essentially training customers to believe that GW stores will get more stock in first, so the people who really want the product without random delays are best ordering from them and not LGS's, which is obviously of great benefit to GW whilst hurting LGS's
Mick A wrote: I still say its a try out of a new marketing policy, supply their own shops on release date then independents a week or so later. If the stock has sold so well where has it been sold from?
Agreed, also an attempt to drive people to the GW stores. It even says to go to your local GW. There is no shortage, they are just trying to lure all the "must have it now" people into paying full retail at a GW store.
My local manager told me yesterday that he was getting limited supply on most of the new plastics and that the next order wouldn't be in until the following week. So kinda puts down the "stockpiling at their own stores to the detriment of the flgs theory".
Let's face it. This is not the kind of feth up that will ruin anyones lives. Not even the FLGS. If your customers are loyal, they will buy the product from you in 2 weeks. If they go elsewhere to buy it, that may be a sign that you need to find ways to promote customer loyalty.
Point in case: I've been waiting 2 weeks for Campaign Book: Icarus from my FLGS. It's available all over, I could drive 30 minutes away and get it but I am loyal to my local business owner if I can be. He still has not got it, I may be waiting a week or two. Loyal customers would be doing the same with the Tau release.
IdentifyZero wrote: This is some kind of major conspiracy to screw the FLGS owner among other things is what I am getting out of this topic.
Maybe it's a conspiracy or maybe, just maybe? A massive company made a mistake.
Certainly. I've said as much in all of my posts on this topic. I've never said that they did it on purpose. But the people paying the price for this mistake are the FLGS, NOT GW.
As mikhaila posted,
US manufacturing is gone several months ago, machines were sold off, molds returned to the UK, plant manager given his walking papers. Memphis is currently a giant warehouse for shipping and receiving.
I dunno..I don't think it's JUST the LGSs that are affected. My local GW has said they'll be getting much less than expected and some of the pieces online now have 1-2 week shipping times, as opposed to the usual 2-3 days....
Captain Vyper wrote: As mikhaila posted,
US manufacturing is gone several months ago, machines were sold off, molds returned to the UK, plant manager given his walking papers. Memphis is currently a giant warehouse for shipping and receiving.
LMAO. So they sold off all their manufacturing capability where the dollar is weak and moved it to England, where the GBP is strong....I guess the Chairman really doesn't want GW to continue on after his retirment next year....
Captain Vyper wrote: As mikhaila posted,
US manufacturing is gone several months ago, machines were sold off, molds returned to the UK, plant manager given his walking papers. Memphis is currently a giant warehouse for shipping and receiving.
LMAO. So they sold off all their manufacturing capability where the dollar is weak and moved it to England, where the GBP is strong....I guess the Chairman really doesn't want GW to continue on after his retirment next year....
what you makes you think he is going to retire next year?
Captain Vyper wrote: As mikhaila posted,
US manufacturing is gone several months ago, machines were sold off, molds returned to the UK, plant manager given his walking papers. Memphis is currently a giant warehouse for shipping and receiving.
LMAO. So they sold off all their manufacturing capability where the dollar is weak and moved it to England, where the GBP is strong....I guess the Chairman really doesn't want GW to continue on after his retirment next year....
what you makes you think he is going to retire next year?
Pretty sure if he hasn't stated he is looking to retire soon then it's just been heavily implied in the past.
Either way it's a pretty common theory that he is going to retire soon and is just pumping the stock short term at the cost of long term viability.
Salacious Greed wrote:
LMAO. So they sold off all their manufacturing capability where the dollar is weak and moved it to England, where the GBP is strong....I guess the Chairman really doesn't want GW to continue on after his retirment next year....
So they reduced their production capability? Is there any word on if they added production capacity in the UK? If that isn't the sign of a company on the decline, I don't know what is.
what you makes you think he is going to retire next year?
Pretty sure if he hasn't stated he is looking to retire soon then it's just been heavily implied in the past.
Either way it's a pretty common theory that he is going to retire soon and is just pumping the stock short term at the cost of long term viability.
Even if it is a common theory, it is unsubstantiated. I believe he is 62 - 63 years old. Unless the UK has an automatic retirement law, I don't see him retiring just because he hits retirement age. There are plenty of examples of CEOs who work past retirement age. I just think the policies are more to line his pockets and those of the investment houses in general.
I think the retirement comments are probably based on
a ) his age
b ) the fact that so many of the policies seem to be aimed at short-term gains without much thought to longer-term future sustainability. He is a significant share-holder, and apparently gets close to half a million GBP which each dividend payment. Obviously, if profits and therefore share prices (which many have commented have been propped up by a series of unsustainable cost-cutting measures) begin to drop, then the longer he leaves it the less he will have to collect when he does finally retire.
Re. the main topic, I don't think it's too hard to imagine that this might have been done deliberately. The fact that GW have done it many times in the past, and are on record from numerous sources (including my own experience for that matter) as withholding new releases for a short delay so the GW stores can get the lion share of sales was used to crush FLGS as far back as the 90's, and it wouldn't surprise me if they tried to do the same thing again now.
Pacific wrote: I think the retirement comments are probably based on
a ) his age
b ) the fact that so many of the policies seem to be aimed at short-term gains without much thought to longer-term future sustainability. He is a significant share-holder, and apparently gets close to half a million GBP which each dividend payment. Obviously, if profits and therefore share prices (which many have commented have been propped up by a series of unsustainable cost-cutting measures) begin to drop, then the longer he leaves it the less he will have to collect when he does finally retire.
Except that many of these "short term gains" have been going on for several years. They haven't had any "long-term stability plans" according to the internet for the last 10 years. People were throwing out the whole "retirement" theory long before. A pump and dump is done over a short period of a couple years at most. You hype up the stock with great returns and then jump ship right before everything starts to go sour.
If Kirby were looking to retire, he would have jumped ship before the Hobbit came out. The stock was at a high before the movie came out. It is clear GW sees it as a lost cause and has only put minimal effort into it. They knew it wouldn't help them and now their stock has started to decline and is trending downward because people see there isn't going to be a repeat of the LotR bubble. Waiting a year or two can easily mean the loss of millions. The amount of money tied up in Kirby's shares is significant and if the stock were to drop 25%, that would be the loss of millions. Far more than any dividend payment is worth. Just based on the current price vs. the 52 week high, Kirby has lost 1.6 million GBP in value.
As I said, this is just a continuation of policies to maximize dividends to share holders and not some retirement conspiracy.
I had inquired as to why they were charging me for all the models they weren't able to ship. The answer is that even though they called Wednesday to tell me I wasn't getting them, I really am, and they are in transit.
I'm hoping this is the case for my stores and customers, as well as another other FLGS that was affected.
Captain Vyper wrote: As mikhaila posted,
US manufacturing is gone several months ago, machines were sold off, molds returned to the UK, plant manager given his walking papers. Memphis is currently a giant warehouse for shipping and receiving.
LMAO. So they sold off all their manufacturing capability where the dollar is weak and moved it to England, where the GBP is strong....I guess the Chairman really doesn't want GW to continue on after his retirment next year....
Maybe they sold off their manufacturing capability because they've been moving fewer and fewer units each year, while raising prices. If units sold continues to decline, they don't need the capacity. Unless of course something is very popular, possibly what we're seeing here, and then they can't keep up with demand.
Who knows? It all seems to be a bit of an unknown quantity at the moment. Wayland's update:
As a quick Tau update, we are pleased to report that some of the stock we require has now been allocated to us by GW, and that as soon as it arrives stock will be allocated to orders in the order in which we received them. We should have further updates each day on more stock arriving.
Sounds to me like either a shipping container was held up in customs that has now been released or one of their suppliers resolved an issue preventing shipment.
I had inquired as to why they were charging me for all the models they weren't able to ship. The answer is that even though they called Wednesday to tell me I wasn't getting them, I really am, and they are in transit.
I'm hoping this is the case for my stores and customers, as well as another other FLGS that was affected.
Someone must be lurking Dakka and wants to silence you... I'll now remove this silly tinfoil hat that somehow appeared on my head...
Please note I'm not making light of the bad situation it would have put FLGS in (and still might since we're not totally sure yet). Just making light of the tin foil hat brigade.
haha Ok.. take the piss all you like, but it's something I've seen happen first-hand many years ago, and have heard the same thing from others.
The moment a GW store opened in the town, suddenly the new releases started coming weeks (and sometimes even longer) late. By the time they were in stock, everyone had already got them from the GW, and the store I worked at stopped dealing with GW altogether because of this and because of the amount of BS he got on the phone from the rep.
You could say (as could well have happened here with the Tau) there is an entirely innocent reason - GW didn't produce enough to fill demand, but the end result is the same, that the FLGS loses out on the sizeable chunk of money from those first week sales, and GW makes a lot more money from it than they would the FLGS sales.
For every one of those stories I have stories from the same period where FLGS's grew when a GW moved in near them assuming they took advantage of the opportunity. Heck, I worked hand in hand with a FLGS when I ran a GW Store, it was good for both of us. Granted that was here in the US, not the UK.
I had inquired as to why they were charging me for all the models they weren't able to ship. The answer is that even though they called Wednesday to tell me I wasn't getting them, I really am, and they are in transit.
I'm hoping this is the case for my stores and customers, as well as another other FLGS that was affected.
So,
This begs the question to ask if they put out this propaganda to infuse the situation, increase demand, and increase the market demans for tau.
I had inquired as to why they were charging me for all the models they weren't able to ship. The answer is that even though they called Wednesday to tell me I wasn't getting them, I really am, and they are in transit.
I'm hoping this is the case for my stores and customers, as well as another other FLGS that was affected.
So,
This begs the question to ask if they put out this propaganda to infuse the situation, increase demand, and increase the market demans for tau.
Sounds like they did this on purpose.
Or if they've shifted product from their own shops/web orders to independents instead.
I had inquired as to why they were charging me for all the models they weren't able to ship. The answer is that even though they called Wednesday to tell me I wasn't getting them, I really am, and they are in transit.
I'm hoping this is the case for my stores and customers, as well as another other FLGS that was affected.
So,
This begs the question to ask if they put out this propaganda to infuse the situation, increase demand, and increase the market demans for tau.
I had inquired as to why they were charging me for all the models they weren't able to ship. The answer is that even though they called Wednesday to tell me I wasn't getting them, I really am, and they are in transit.
I'm hoping this is the case for my stores and customers, as well as another other FLGS that was affected.
So,
This begs the question to ask if they put out this propaganda to infuse the situation, increase demand, and increase the market demans for tau.
Sounds like they did this on purpose.
Or if they've shifted product from their own shops/web orders to independents instead.
What I'm hoping for as well. It's what they should be doing. They might not remember it always, but selling to stores, hell, selling to distributors, is selling. That makes them customers, that means you provide them with customer service, you go the extra mile for them.
Or they're shelling out for overtime and getting the molds running into the night. Glad to see them dealing with it. I hope all the FLGSs are now going to be sorted for the stock they need.
Well done GW for sorting this out, perhaps you could make some form of statement on what went wrong and what you're doing to insure it doesn't happen again. (Root Cause Analysis + Process Improvement = Robust Business). Alas, of course, we won't get to hear about anything, either the error or the resolution, as GW does not communicate... So, instead we get to redon our tinfoil and speculate.
MeanGreenStompa wrote: Or they're shelling out for overtime and getting the molds running into the night. Glad to see them dealing with it. I hope all the FLGSs are now going to be sorted for the stock they need.
Completely agree with this. Take back everything I have said about GW's intent if they can get this sorted for the independents !
MeanGreenStompa wrote: Or they're shelling out for overtime and getting the molds running into the night. Glad to see them dealing with it. I hope all the FLGSs are now going to be sorted for the stock they need.
Well done GW for sorting this out, perhaps you could make some form of statement on what went wrong and what you're doing to insure it doesn't happen again. (Root Cause Analysis + Process Improvement = Robust Business). Alas, of course, we won't get to hear about anything, either the error or the resolution, as GW does not communicate... So, instead we get to redon our tinfoil and speculate.
The injection molding machines that GW uses already run 24 hours a day.
filbert wrote: Or some sort of trick to restrict stick flow and artificially raise hype that way? Seems increasingly at odds with the exasperation demonstrated here and elsewhere at GWs business practises.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Ladies and gentleman, we have a winner here!
Wow, you know the community here hates GW when news of a new release selling out is greeted by people claiming that GW is screwing their customers over again! To me it seems that the reason things like this are at odds with the "exasperation" demonstrated on these forums is that a lot of people here just plain hate GW and can't admit that they do things right once in a while, and these forums-- or at least the Dakka Discussions and to a lesser extent News and Rumors boards-- are generally far more negative about GW than the wargaming community as a whole is.
I had inquired as to why they were charging me for all the models they weren't able to ship. The answer is that even though they called Wednesday to tell me I wasn't getting them, I really am, and they are in transit.
I'm hoping this is the case for my stores and customers, as well as another other FLGS that was affected.
I really wish I hadn't read your post... Up unil then, I had come to grips with my order being pushed back.... Now you've injected a sliver of hope and I'm getting all exited again. I just know its too good to be true.
I had inquired as to why they were charging me for all the models they weren't able to ship. The answer is that even though they called Wednesday to tell me I wasn't getting them, I really am, and they are in transit.
I'm hoping this is the case for my stores and customers, as well as another other FLGS that was affected.
I really wish I hadn't read your post... Up unil then, I had come to grips with my order being pushed back.... Now you've injected a sliver of hope and I'm getting all exited again. I just know its too good to be true.
I agree with you and I hope that it all goes well, but like you I have my suspicions. But.... If GW pulls through and my LFGS gets all of their orders in, then I'll give GW credit when it is due and praise them for their efforts here on this site as well.
You see I never changed up my Tau Firing line army. Maximum Amount of Drones and FW's. If the synergy of this new codex works well with the rule set then I'll be happy indeed.
GW are like an abusive spouse. They keep shovelling gak like this at you and then when you least expect it they do something "nice" to keep your mind off the crap.
KRakarth wrote: GW are like an abusive spouse. They keep shovelling gak like this at you and then when you least expect it they do something "nice" to keep your mind off the crap.
Your married to GW?
You are not bound to GW or its products in anyway unless you choose to be.
This is a poor analogy. It would possibly work if you said that overly loyal customers are like battered spouses.
So we've gone from "everything is sold out and we won't be able to restock anyone for the next 2 weeks" to "everyone is getting everything that they've asked and there is no shortage whatsoever" in under 2 days?
GW really needs to fire that warehouse manager that keeps misplacing stock like this... First the Space Hulk release, now this one, that man is clearly incompetent!
Glad it all turned out ok to all the independent retailers and the Tau fans who will get their new toys earlier than expected!
KRakarth wrote: GW are like an abusive spouse. They keep shovelling gak like this at you and then when you least expect it they do something "nice" to keep your mind off the crap.
Your married to GW?
You are not bound to GW or its products in anyway unless you choose to be.
This is a poor analogy. It would possibly work if you said that overly loyal customers are like battered spouses.
If the overly loyal customer were like a battered spouse then GW would be the abusive one, no?
But you're right the only way to avoid abuse is to leave.
PhantomViper wrote: So we've gone from "everything is sold out and we won't be able to restock anyone for the next 2 weeks" to "everyone is getting everything that they've asked and there is no shortage whatsoever" in under 2 days?
GW really needs to fire that warehouse manager that keeps misplacing stock like this... First the Space Hulk release, now this one, that man is clearly incompetent!
Glad it all turned out ok to all the independent retailers and the Tau fans who will get their new toys earlier than expected!
I don't believe it was the warehouseman's fault though. I heard they had a visit from Kirby, who dropped his wallet. Kirby wasn't that bothered as it was only piddling small change, and said he'd pick it up on the way out but he forgot. When they moved it several days later, they found out it had been hiding isles 3-7 inclusive!
Incompetence or conspiracy GW should have been more open with the life's blood of gaming "FLGS". More over, their customers want to know what is going on and when they can buy the new product from the people who give them the ability to play, The FLGS.
anonymous source on faeit212 wrote:the mail order delay is due to having sold 2 months worth of stock within just 2 days of preorder. Someone clearly underestimated how popular tau would be.
And because this is the only open Tau news thread:
This includes Altars of War, 6 new 40k scenarios only available to Ipad owners.
Tons of stock at my local friendly game store. Got my codex and pathfinders yesterday, went in today to play Vanguard and there was a ton of Tau stuff left so I bought a Riptide too.
Looking at the piles of stuff, they looked to have about 5 Riptides, 4 Broadsides, 8+ Flyers and plenty of the single characters left too.
My local store is Tabletop Tyrant (aka Gifts for Geeks).
I would most likely assume that this is all just GW artificially creating demand, but what ever they did it succeeded. My local store got in all of their preorders, BUT only 3 of each set, and 10 copies of the codex. Yesterday was the first and hopefully only day that I had to line up outside waiting for the store to open just to get a copy on time.
spaceelf wrote: All was not well with the Tau stock at some shops in MD.
Same with Saint Louis. Got the Pathfinders, reboxed Crises and Finecast SCs, but no Broadside, Riptide, or bomber. If their ACD announcement holds, not sure we're getting them for a quarter.
I went to my LFGS. He got the majority of items however he did not get any of the special characters. I do have feeling on what is happening but I'll post that in another more suitable topic.
If this wasn't GW's doing and Tau really are just that popular, then I think GW picked the wrong army to be its poster boys, because I don't ever recall a Space Marine release being this successful in the time that I've been in the hobby. Never saw guys lining up outside the local store just to ensure they get the new SM codex/models before everyone else on release day, or seen people go nuts and buy up an $85 kit like they have with the riptide, which most people are saying was the most popular item this weekend, selling out in stores everywhere despite the ludicrous price point which most people seem to agree is insane even for GW's standards.
Sidstyler wrote: If this wasn't GW's doing and Tau really are just that popular, then I think GW picked the wrong army to be its poster boys, because I don't ever recall a Space Marine release being this successful in the time that I've been in the hobby. Never saw guys lining up outside the local store just to ensure they get the new SM codex/models before everyone else on release day, or seen people go nuts and buy up an $85 kit like they have with the riptide, which most people are saying was the most popular item this weekend, selling out in stores everywhere despite the ludicrous price point which most people seem to agree is insane even for GW's standards.
Tau are harder to play than SMs and have less appeal to newcomers but more appeal to veterans.
I remember reading somewhere that Tau used to account for 10% of 40K sales. I have no proof of that, though.
Vet Tau players have been waiting an awful long time for this update.
Sidstyler wrote: If this wasn't GW's doing and Tau really are just that popular, then I think GW picked the wrong army to be its poster boys, because I don't ever recall a Space Marine release being this successful in the time that I've been in the hobby. Never saw guys lining up outside the local store just to ensure they get the new SM codex/models before everyone else on release day, or seen people go nuts and buy up an $85 kit like they have with the riptide, which most people are saying was the most popular item this weekend, selling out in stores everywhere despite the ludicrous price point which most people seem to agree is insane even for GW's standards.
Tau are harder to play than SMs and have less appeal to newcomers but more appeal to veterans.
I remember reading somewhere that Tau used to account for 10% of 40K sales. I have no proof of that, though.
Vet Tau players have been waiting an awful long time for this update.
Not to mention that it's much easier to make sure you have enough Space Marines for a release. They have a much better idea of how they sell. The "people lining up so Tau must be better selling than Space Marines" argument really doesn't make sense though; if there was a shortage of Space Marines at launch and you weren't sure you'd get the stuff you wanted, why would you not max out your chances to get it? It's not about "getting it before everyone else", it's about getting it at all.
Sidstyler wrote: If this wasn't GW's doing and Tau really are just that popular, then I think GW picked the wrong army to be its poster boys, because I don't ever recall a Space Marine release being this successful in the time that I've been in the hobby. Never saw guys lining up outside the local store just to ensure they get the new SM codex/models before everyone else on release day, or seen people go nuts and buy up an $85 kit like they have with the riptide, which most people are saying was the most popular item this weekend, selling out in stores everywhere despite the ludicrous price point which most people seem to agree is insane even for GW's standards.
Heh, I went to buy the Codex to my FLGS on Saturday, usually when there has been launch day, it has been *crickets*, with large piles of new boxes laying around. Now I went there, "sorry, all the Codex have been sold out! Better luck next week." All the Riptides were gone too. Now, I believe GW simply has not produced new stuff that much, after all they have been releasing lots of new things of late, that has to create production bottlenecks. But it's true that Tau at their 4th edition heyday were popular army (to the point of people complaining about it), and lots of players have always been interested about them, but turned off by other people telling them that the army's terrible.
I know lots of players have 5-6 Devilfish hulls stored away, from the 4th edition days, waiting for the day they become good again. Many of them probably bought the book last Saturday, hoping it would be the day. Alas, it wasn't...
Kilkrazy wrote: Tau are harder to play than SMs and have less appeal to newcomers but more appeal to veterans.
Appeal is not the same as "easy to play". Some people hate to play evil, some people hate skullz. There are many reasons to start an army, including "Tyranids are so cuuuute"
My 14 year old son and his friend both have Tau forces and both are willing to keep plugging away and learning how to use them as they both like the "high tech" and "good guy' nature of the Tau. Good guy as defined for Warhammer 40K not in real life of course.
Kroothawk wrote: There are many reasons to start an army, including "Tyranids are so cuuuute"
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I wasn't there for the unboxing, so I can't say for certain what was originally in the box, but it seemed like my FLGS got most of what they normally would including all the special characters. The Broadsides were the only thing MIA (ordered but not shipped) and while I believe he said he received 4 Riptides Friday, there was only 1 left Saturday morning and it was in the "spoken for" area behind the register so those sold out relatively quickly. I don't know about the number of codexes ordered, but they typically get about a dozen and I only recall seeing 4 more out (though sometimes they stash them in weird places down the aisles). All in all I'd say the release sold fairly well for them.
The only other army I recall being released that had such a shortage of models available on release weekend was the Grey Knights, though I may have had a personal hand in why only one or two other people could have gotten models after both their initial release and their 5th ed codex...
Maybe GW decided not the release the Broadsides because they look ridiculous. I seriously thought that the missile broadside pic was a photoshop, like the Dreadknight ones.
spaceelf wrote: Maybe GW decided not the release the Broadsides because they look ridiculous. I seriously thought that the missile broadside pic was a photoshop, like the Dreadknight ones.
Funny you say that as I mentioned to a friend of mine that Tau were coming out (he's a lapsed Tau player) and his quote was "Wow, I'm glad I didn't buy any FW suits, because the new ones look pretty cool!" While I think the new Broadsides are a vast improvement, I wouldn't go so far as to put them above FW's.
GW stores were understocked just like everyone else on release day this past Saturday. My local GW store had a fraction of the usual stock for a new release. Instead of getting a case of Codex books to sell they had only about a dozen. The store lost thousands of dollars in sales this weekend from being understocked. All the new models were gone shortly after opening on Saturday and even some of the older existing models sold out too. Advance Orders were so big they ate up a huge chunk of what would have been shelf stock for stores on release day and with only a week between advance orders and release day GW had little time to make up the difference. The guy in Nottingham HQ who did the sales projections for this release may find himself sacked, he or she messed up in a big way.
I haven't seen such large piles of Advance Order stock at my local GW Bowie Battle Bunker in a long time. Many people advance ordered huge expensive piles of Tau models and I even saw multiple copies of the $100 limited version of the Tau Codex being cracked open on Saturday.
This demonstrates really clearly why a one week period between advance orders and release day can be a terribly bad thing for GW, their stores and their independent sellers.
BrassScorpion wrote: GW stores were understocked just like everyone else on release day this past Saturday. My local GW store had a fraction of the usual stock for a new release. Instead of getting a case of Codex books to sell they had only about a dozen. The store lost thousands of dollars in sales this weekend from being understocked. All the new models were gone shortly after opening on Saturday and even some of the older existing models sold out too. Advance Orders were so big they ate up a huge chunk of what would have been shelf stock for stores on release day and with only a week between advance orders and release day GW had little time to make up the difference. The guy in Nottingham HQ who did the sales projections for this release may find himself sacked, he or she messed up in a big way.
I haven't seen such large piles of Advance Order stock at my local GW Bowie Battle Bunker in a long time. Many people advance ordered huge expensive piles of Tau models and I even saw multiple copies of the $100 limited version of the Tau Codex being cracked open on Saturday.
This demonstrates really clearly why a one week period between advance orders and release day can be a terribly bad thing for GW, their stores and their independent sellers.
I agree, the week is just too short. I generally understand the logic behind their secrecy strategy, but still just a week of preview period is IMO too short. It doesn't give playerbase enough time to get properly excited and if the launch is more popular than expected, leads to situations like this. But this gives me hope that GW might note that fish guys can sell, and maybe now I don't have to wait until 2024 for a new Codex....
Tau have gotten 3 codexes since 3rd Edition (and late third at that). Tau have gotten more full codexes than any xenos outside of Tyranids from 3rd edition onward and none of them were the small thin books. That's the same support as DA (if you count their thin book) and BA (if you include the thin book and a WD codex), and more than Spacewolves. The only codexes to get updated more (assuming a 6th edition release) are Codex Space Marines and Codex Tyrannids (oddly the tied with SM's for the most updated codex). Sorry for the rant but the we don't get updated thing gets old.
Out here everything seems to be pre-order only that came in and on the shelf I can only find Hammerheads, Pathfinders, and repackaged Crisis.
Tau were immensely popular in 3rd and 4th so I'm a little shocked they undervalued them so highly.
My flgs was told by his GW sales rep that they would only get finecast and the codex. They ended up getting everything the ordered.
If your store didn't have the codex, it's because they either didn't order any, or sold out. The codex was the 1 thing that sales reps said would NOT be in short supply.
My FLGS got everything they ordered (mainly because the person doing the ordering has no knowledge of the system, or the local customers, so orders a minimum of everything, ongoing issue at the store, as said person is the owner's mother, and it's hard to broach subjects like this with him), and sold out of everything but pathfinders.
In fact, the codexes were all gone at 12:45AM on Saturday (Open till 2amish on friday night), as were the riptides. Interestingly, they got three riptides, but one of them had no base, and had two of the weapon sprues, and no body sprue.
I know the owner's been increasingly incensed by GW's screw ups (not enough of the Xmas megaforces, often not getting what they order, or the incorrect items, poor communication), but this one pissed him off mightily. It's a big ticket item, guaranteed to sell, with limited available stock, and 33% of what they sell him is unsellable.
My opinion is this affects only the "gotta have it now" gamers, so I can field my grey Tau army before the next shiny codex comes out. I myself am not concerned as I have things to paint and this supply issue will be sorted once I get finished with the small amount of minis I have at the moment on my painting desk.
Alastair78 wrote: My opinion is this affects only the "gotta have it now" gamers, so I can field my grey Tau army before the next shiny codex comes out. I myself am not concerned as I have things to paint and this supply issue will be sorted once I get finished with the small amount of minis I have at the moment on my painting desk.
No, the biggest losers are stores. There has been so much talk about brick & mortar stores (both GW and indy) being in trouble these days, but for once there was a suitably popular launch item that people were lining up to the stores just that they'd get the stuff right away...and there was not enough to sell. What if the people start to think this will be the trend? Maybe next Eldar release will be hugely popular but people remember the Tau release "nah, they don't have enough them to sell anyway, might just as well preorder from GW". I can see why the stores might be slightly miffed because of this.
Hulksmash wrote: Tau have gotten 3 codexes since 3rd Edition (and late third at that). Tau have gotten more full codexes than any xenos outside of Tyranids from 3rd edition onward and none of them were the small thin books. That's the same support as DA (if you count their thin book) and BA (if you include the thin book and a WD codex), and more than Spacewolves. The only codexes to get updated more (assuming a 6th edition release) are Codex Space Marines and Codex Tyrannids (oddly the tied with SM's for the most updated codex). Sorry for the rant but the we don't get updated thing gets old.
Well, the update from the first Tau codex to the Tau Empire codex (the second one) was lackluster. The Tau Empire codex lost some special characters and gained Vespid. The old metal stealth suits were replaced with plastic ones which did not look nearly as stealthy.
The new update is also lackluster in comparison to recent xenos releases. With the new codex we got two new units; the riptide and the flyer; and plastic versions of pathfinders and broadsides. There was also finecast Shadowsun and Darkstrider. That is five new types of units total. The nids got Mawloc/Trygon, Tervigon/Tyranofex, Harpy, Pyrovore, Venomethrope, Hive Guard, Parasite of Mortrex, and Doom. That is ten new units. The Necrons got a flyer, Ghost ark/ doomsday ark, Command barge/annihilation barge, Triarch Stalker, Lychguard/Praetorians, Immortals/Deathmarks, Tomb blades, finecast flayed ones, plastic wraiths, plastic spyder, and 8 new special characters. That is twenty new units. I will not even mention the Dark Eldar. GW is upping its release schedule by not releasing as much stuff. The Tau release is like a half release. It sucks, as now Tau players are stuck with the same old stuff for a couple of years.
Tau don't need twenty new units. The flexibility of the Tau Codex's wargear selection system for suits and the way that the markerlight mechanic works means that Tau armies can feature many of the same unit entries as one another and yet play entirely differently. This, to me, is much more interesting and appealing than having a whole bunch of units specialized for different tasks.
Also, all the Tau units are good. The same cannot be said for Tyranids or Necrons. I'd rather have a Codex with a smaller selection of really solid units than one with a large variety of units, most of which are never used by any serious player.
Maybe GW does have a plan. I was thinking about this the other day. Now, first off I'll say I don't particularly like this thought, but it seems plausible.
With the recent trend in releases, that being only include rules for models released at launch, what if they plan to add new units later through WD pack-ins like the recent Chaos add-ons. And then, as an incentive, these get added to the iBooks Codex.
It doesn't seem to stretch the imagination too far.
Also, all the Tau units are good. The same cannot be said for Tyranids or Necrons. I'd rather have a Codex with a smaller selection of really solid units than one with a large variety of units, most of which are never used by any serious player.
This would be a first from GW. Not all of the units used to be good. The Space pope and Vespids were particularly bad. I would have to take a closer look at the codex to verify your claim, but I am suspicious at best.
@OP: I got some Tau preorders on Saturday. Whatever my FLGS ordered they only apparently got 2 of most things. Me and one of the employees were the only people to get our Riptides. The store employee was offered $100 to sell it at opening time. They were also told they'd not be able to get a restock on Tau items for 3 weeks.
Also, all the Tau units are good. The same cannot be said for Tyranids or Necrons. I'd rather have a Codex with a smaller selection of really solid units than one with a large variety of units, most of which are never used by any serious player.
This would be a first from GW. Not all of the units used to be good. The Space pope and Vespids were particularly bad. I would have to take a closer look at the codex to verify your claim, but I am suspicious at best.
Some choices are better than others, yes, but there is no pyrovore or mandrake in the Tau book. The closest is maybe Aun'Shi, who is in my opinion, rather meh.
Aun'Va, space pope, is quite useful now, and Vespids got a decent amount of buffs- extra point of armor, extra 6" on guns, move through cover, stealth ruins, hit and run.
Also, all the Tau units are good. The same cannot be said for Tyranids or Necrons. I'd rather have a Codex with a smaller selection of really solid units than one with a large variety of units, most of which are never used by any serious player.
This would be a first from GW. Not all of the units used to be good. The Space pope and Vespids were particularly bad. I would have to take a closer look at the codex to verify your claim, but I am suspicious at best.
Some choices are better than others, yes, but there is no pyrovore or mandrake in the Tau book. The closest is maybe Aun'Shi, who is in my opinion, rather meh.
Aun'Va, space pope, is quite useful now, and Vespids got a decent amount of buffs- extra point of armor, extra 6" on guns, move through cover, stealth ruins, hit and run.
I would agree with this; Aun'Va looks like a good force-multiplier. I don't think the Vespids will end up being taken often, just because Pathfinders and Flyers will probably take up the FA slots due to markerlights. Vespids don't read as cover-your-eyes-awful; just too situational to be worth it over the other options in the FOC.
The new update is also lackluster in comparison to recent xenos releases. With the new codex we got two new units; the riptide and the flyer; and plastic versions of pathfinders and broadsides. There was also finecast Shadowsun and Darkstrider. That is five new types of units total. The nids got Mawloc/Trygon, Tervigon/Tyranofex, Harpy, Pyrovore, Venomethrope, Hive Guard, Parasite of Mortrex, and Doom. That is ten new units. The Necrons got a flyer, Ghost ark/ doomsday ark, Command barge/annihilation barge, Triarch Stalker, Lychguard/Praetorians, Immortals/Deathmarks, Tomb blades, finecast flayed ones, plastic wraiths, plastic spyder, and 8 new special characters. That is twenty new units. I will not even mention the Dark Eldar. GW is upping its release schedule by not releasing as much stuff. The Tau release is like a half release. It sucks, as now Tau players are stuck with the same old stuff for a couple of years.
Necron and Deldar were arguably more in need of new models and major update than Tau. Most of the Tau models are newer than DE/Necron models were, some are much newer, and still up to the standards of modern day, whilst DE needed their entire range done. It was a huge design effort.
Plus, I think GW is somewhat deliberate sometimes with Army updates. They don't want necessarily put all the possible goodies right out of the gates. Lots of people have been expressed disappointment that Tau ally races were undeveloped in the new book, but this is obviously potential big selling point for the 7th edition Codex....
I havent looked at the new tau releases until now and its disappointing. They got a bomber and a big suit and one new hero. Thats IT!?. AND the new suit is just a big version of same old tired xv8 design. Really gakky work gw
Kilkrazy wrote: Several new or revised heroes, three new or revised suits, revised Pathfinders, a bunch of new drones, and a fighter/bomber kit.
As is evident from ChocolateGork's reply, lots of vets are not particularly interested in the revised releases, as they already have the old models. Thus, the release looks like nothing more than a book and a couple of models. Even including the other models, it pales in comparison to Nids, Necrons, and Dark Eldar.
GW's choice of models to update was questionable. Although the old Pathfinders were metal, you did not need a whole lot of them. If metal was really a problem for you, then you could make some out of fire warriors. Aun Va, on the other hand has a terrible sculpt (take a look at his bodyguards) and could use a revision.
I wonder if some of the shortage in stock is due to the fact that so few different items were released. Thus, anyone who was interested in new stuff had to get the same thing as everyone else.
It also goes to show that a codex update, however lame, gets people buying models. This stuff is nothing more than was released for flyers, or their white dwarf tank supplement. However, I think that it has sold better.
Update from Wayland on Facebook - supply issues continue but situation is slowly improving:
Hi everyone, We have some Tau. This represents about 60% of our requirements for most items and about 10% for others. We have more arriving tomorrow and hopefully every day after. Orders are being processed now, please bear with us. The items still in short supply should be here in much larger numbers tomorrow and so should improve things again. Thank you everyone for your patience and understanding.
Okay so here's the skinny. We have "some" Tau now in stock that's ready to ship.
However we are completely out of Broadsides, Pathfinders, and Fireblade Cadres, BUT we have tons of everything else ready to ship right now! Liked · 14 hours ago
Okay so here's the skinny. We have "some" Tau now in stock that's ready to ship.
Seems the new official line is that all new Tau Finecast items are mail order only from now on, after less than a week, because the allotment for stores sold out that fast and they don't intend to stock it up (except orders made in the first week). Not sure if this is a North America only thing currently. Here a chart found on faeit212:
That is actually what has been happening for a while on all new releases, and I expect will continue with each new army release.
(This reflects GW NA, i have no knowledge of the rest of the world).
New models are released for an army:
-All finecast models are a 'splash' release. Meaning we can order them as long as trade sales has them, and then they go direct.
-Trade Sales seems to only have them for a week.
In addition, each month, some of the current blisters become direct only. My 40k blister section is about 1/8th of what it used to be. I expect that within another year I will have no blisters on my shelves at all.
There have been a few all plastic blisters released, like the Nurgle demon Herald. But a dozen blisters don't replace several hundred.
mikhaila wrote: New models are released for an army:
-All finecast models are a 'splash' release. Meaning we can order them as long as trade sales has them, and then they go direct.
-Trade Sales seems to only have them for a week.
This is good news, as it frees FLGS of precious shelf space and reduces wear of cashiers. GW: always supporting brick and mortar stores
It looks like the Tau HQ are all going to be direct only. I could understand this being the case before the rerelease of the codex, but now it just makes me wonder. To play their game you need an HQ. If all of the HQs are direct, it takes business away from FLGS. If I were a FLGS I would aggressively push other companies stuff until the GW stuff died of neglect.
spaceelf wrote: It looks like the Tau HQ are all going to be direct only. I could understand this being the case before the rerelease of the codex, but now it just makes me wonder. To play their game you need an HQ. If all of the HQs are direct, it takes business away from FLGS. If I were a FLGS I would aggressively push other companies stuff until the GW stuff died of neglect.
Command suits are typically made from normal suits. The Cadre Fireblade is also a plastic kit. I believe GW is attempting to phase out Finecast and move to plastic, but isn't quite there yet.
Kroothawk wrote: Fits the general theme of artificially reducing potential sales. GW as a publicly owned company must really hate revenue
Well have we not been stating that it looks like the bottom line is to pad the financial reports? Looks incredibly good to the share holders.
The financial report I think is going to look fantastic. They will show a large amount of gross profit since you have to consider the increase amount of product release they are doing.
Not to mention the what was it, 9 licenses for games they've recently handed out. - Though I still suspect that was done mostly because it was to cover up the hobbit failure.
zippo151 wrote: this is like when wii came out, put out less people beg for MOAR and cant wait to get a chance to get it.
The Wii came out when at a time when the games and accessories were cheap. Now all game consoles are the decline. Reasons I am getting from my contacts are. Video game costs. Increase change in usuage of platform, such as smart phones.
spaceelf wrote:As is evident from ChocolateGork's reply, lots of vets are not particularly interested in the revised releases, as they already have the old models. Thus, the release looks like nothing more than a book and a couple of models. Even including the other models, it pales in comparison to Nids, Necrons, and Dark Eldar.
I'd just like to point out that prior to their most recent Codex, the Necrons entire army was as follows:
HQ Necron Lord
Nightbringer
Deceiver
TROOPS Warriors
ELITES Pariahs
Immortals
Flayed Ones
FAST ATTACK Wraiths
Destroyers
Scarabs
HEAVY SUPPORT Heavy Destroyers
Tomb Spyder
Monolith
Also of note is the fact that other than a maximum of 100pts of expensive wargear on the Lord, there was zero wargear or customization with these units. So yes, the Necrons got a lot more new stuff in their codex than the Tau did. However, the Tau also had an entire army already, whereas the Necrons had about half the toys everyone else did.
spaceelf wrote:As is evident from ChocolateGork's reply, lots of vets are not particularly interested in the revised releases, as they already have the old models. Thus, the release looks like nothing more than a book and a couple of models. Even including the other models, it pales in comparison to Nids, Necrons, and Dark Eldar.
I'd just like to point out that prior to their most recent Codex, the Necrons entire army was as follows:
HQ Necron Lord
Nightbringer
Deceiver
TROOPS Warriors
ELITES Pariahs
Immortals
Flayed Ones
FAST ATTACK Wraiths
Destroyers
Scarabs
HEAVY SUPPORT Heavy Destroyers
Tomb Spyder
Monolith
Also of note is the fact that other than a maximum of 100pts of expensive wargear on the Lord, there was zero wargear or customization with these units. So yes, the Necrons got a lot more new stuff in their codex than the Tau did. However, the Tau also had an entire army already, whereas the Necrons had about half the toys everyone else did.
The Tau had one more Troop, one more non-SCHQ, and one less Elite . If the Necron was half an army, the Tau were 3/5ths.
Keep in mind that as Codices have crept forward, more and more has been piled on to add to what has already existed; armies before the end of 4th featured considerably less options than what started to come out at that time.
Guess it is affecting US as well then
done with my rant, cue 
I'll now remove this silly tinfoil hat that somehow appeared on my head... 
