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Makes sense really.

I just hope they post the full list of what's being archived before they archive it.


BY...


... no, wait... hold on... forgot something...




*deep breath*

Pity GW can't be bothered to do their own service that allows you to pay a premium for an archive service.

(/obligatory dig at GW).

BYE

The archive service is a good idea.

That's what GW's Classics and Collectors series were, but everyone kept bitching about how GW dares to charge 15 quid for a cavalry model that has to be cast to order.

At least it made nice fodder for people desperate to prove that GW was more expensive than PP or Rackham.

Difference here is that GW is massive company with warehouses and a foundry. Iron Wind is a guy, his wife, and another guy.

BYE

H.B.M.C. wrote:Difference here is that GW is massive company with warehouses and a foundry. Iron Wind is a guy, his wife, and another guy.

BYE

So its Forgeworld is Iron Wind without the wife and the other guy?

lord_blackfang wrote:That's what GW's Classics and Collectors series were, but everyone kept bitching about how GW dares to charge 15 quid for a cavalry model that has to be cast to order.

At least it made nice fodder for people desperate to prove that GW was more expensive than PP or Rackham.

Except GW charged more for every figure bought (not just $8 extra for the first one) and ony offered specific lines rather than their whole back catalogue. Other than that the two systems are comparable.

I would buy so much OOP stuff from GW if there was a $8 (£5.50ish) charge for the first one and the other copies were sold at 'new model' rates.

Wow, IWM has a whopping 600 items to keep track of, and it's too much trouble to stock for individual buyers?

Including SG, I think GW has far more than that in current stock today, not even counting any of their Archive whatnots. Or paints.
____

@george: GW charges a small amount more, and these bitz / models are charged at more-or-less market rates. For example, 10 Tallarns / Mordians / Vostroyans are $35 USD. Compared with metal Storms / Sisters / whatevers, that is actually a "fair" price for metal Guard in the current environment, all things considered.

JohnHwangDD wrote:Wow, IWM has a whopping 600 items to keep track of, and it's too much trouble to stock for individual buyers?

600 products for that one range and no it isn't too much trouble they'll cast up anything in their range. :S

JohnHwangDD wrote:@george: GW charges a small amount more, and these bitz / models are charged at more-or-less market rates. For example, 10 Tallarns / Mordians / Vostroyans are $35 USD. Compared with metal Storms / Sisters / whatevers, that is actually a "fair" price for metal Guard in the current environment, all things considered.

Those IG squads are the exception rather than the rule but I digress I do not have an issue with GW's prices. My point was that I would be willing to pay extra to have greater access to GW’s OOP stock.

George Spiggott wrote:

JohnHwangDD wrote:Wow, IWM has a whopping 600 items to keep track of, and it's too much trouble to stock for individual buyers?

600 products for that one range and no it isn't too much trouble they'll cast up anything in their range. :S

And if you read the article, you'll notice that they have some items that have been ordered a whopping total of 12 times! With that sort of demand, it makes sense to move some things to an on demand basis....

JohnHwangDD wrote:Wow, IWM has a whopping 600 items to keep track of, and it's too much trouble to stock for individual buyers?

No, it is taking up a lot of space and effort.

Sure GW has a lot more items that aren't archived or anything. The also have more storage, far more employees, and more people generally buying from them.

There are a LOT of gaming stores that are bigger than the IWM building. The place is frickin' tiny.

JohnHwangDD wrote:Wow, IWM has a whopping 600 items to keep track of, and it's too much trouble to stock for individual buyers?

Most of us have worked out by now just how ignorant you are DD, but you aren't required to continue to prove that to us though.

As mentioned already, IWM has 3 people working for them full time. Pay attention.

BYE

George Spiggott wrote:600 products for that one range and no it isn't too much trouble they'll cast up anything in their range. :S

Those IG squads are the exception rather than the rule but I digress I do not have an issue with GW's prices. My point was that I would be willing to pay extra to have greater access to GW’s OOP stock.

If GW could do similar surcharges to pass their costs back, I'm sure GW would consider doing the same.

As an IG player who plays Tallarn, and having bought lots of bitz from GW, I believe those IG squads are the general rule. By and large, GW bitz / archive prices have been generally fair. I have never had an issue with GW bitz prices.
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BigToof wrote:And if you read the article, you'll notice that they have some items that have been ordered a whopping total of 12 times! With that sort of demand, it makes sense to move some things to an on demand basis....

And you don't think GW's old Archive service was any different, with loads of unpurchased inventory just sitting there? The difference being that GW had far more product (still does, and still will), so their problem with idle inventory is on a much larger scale.

I think demand-driven casting is a good idea. But I think people will be very upset with the surcharges for one-off casting.
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Mattlov wrote:No, it is taking up a lot of space and effort.

Sure GW has a lot more items that aren't archived or anything. The also have more storage, far more employees, and more people generally buying from them.

So? GW shouldn't be inefficient. GW is a business.

D'oh! How did I forget? At Dakka you can be a spade, but you can't call a spade a spade. Silly me.

Jonny Boy - I would kindly like to ask you to please refrain from posting in this thread as you clearly A). have nothing to add but attacks against IWM because you don't understand how small a company they are and B). feel the need to continue your sycophantic defence of GW in a thread where they are not the subject.




Anyway,

The list of items that are being archived (and a few 'sets' that are being killed) has been posted. And it's Jan 11th that they'll be vanishing, not the end of Jan, which is a pain in the neck.

BYE

JohnHwangDD wrote:
____

BigToof wrote:And if you read the article, you'll notice that they have some items that have been ordered a whopping total of 12 times! With that sort of demand, it makes sense to move some things to an on demand basis....

And you don't think GW's old Archive service was any different, with loads of unpurchased inventory just sitting there? The difference being that GW had far more product (still does, and still will), so their problem with idle inventory is on a much larger scale.

I think demand-driven casting is a good idea. But I think people will be very upset with the surcharges for one-off casting.
____

I think comparing the ability of a small business to absorb storage cost overheads, to that of a company working on a much larger scale, is not particularly applicable. Economies of scale etc. I don't have the full figures to back this up, of course, but I note others don't let a lack of cold hard facts get in the way of their opinions either

As you say, 'demand driven casting' gives the consumer a choice, which we should appreciate in both cases. Fact is that neither company has any actual obligation to sell things we want them to. We choose to buy what they offer, that's our fault.

I blame whoever (needlessly) brought GW into the topic in the first place...

Yeah, the list is hardly awful. It's not like they're getting rid of the Victor or Caesar or Guillotine, or even the Urbanmech. They're bagging a bunch of stuff that doesn't sell well and making it special order only. Most companies would just bag the product entirely and sell off the molds.

If it means that IWM can be more responsive to their customers, I'm all for it.

As I said, it's a good idea. I'm just surprised by some of the items . A lot more 'Mechs than I thought, and a lot less vehicles. And some of te 'Mechs are new ones, like the Bandersnatch, new Argus and the NAIS Thunderbolt.

I find it odd that things like Rotundas and Bulldogs (the latter being a sculpt almost as old as I am) sell more than these and sell enough to save them from the archive.

BYE

A lot of the original Omnis are going away to Archive...THAT surprises me...Especially the Black Hawk and Ryoken...Uller and Man O War I would think also...Plus the Atlas?!?!?!?

They're the old ones. All of the original Omni's and the Atlas have had resculpts in the past several years.

BYE

In IWM's defense, I know some smaller game lines with lots of products have trouble with distributors due to stores not wanting to dedicate space for an enormous game line and/or having to pick and choose what to stock.

Making the core game line cleaner but keeping the other stuff available is a pretty fair deal, although the $8 surcharge seems a bit pricey.

H.B.M.C. wrote:As I said, it's a good idea. I'm just surprised by some of the items .

Agreed. I'm suprised to see 'mechs like the Lao Hu, Sha Yu, Hellspawn and the Tessen being archived. House Liao's unque 'mechs seem to all be heading towards archives.

And while I can understand the Solaris 'mechs never being big sellers, since all this talk about BattleTech recently has rekindled my interest in the game it looks like I'm going to have to order a Spatha real soon.

H.B.M.C. wrote:They're the old ones. All of the original Omni's and the Atlas have had resculpts in the past several years.

BYE

Plus the Atlas also comes in the starter box, so there is little reason to get a metal version anymore.

Unless you don't have the starter box or you want additonal models.

Ghaz wrote:Unless you don't have the starter box or you want additonal models.

Actually the box is such a good bargain that getting one ( or several ) is a good idea for getting extra copies of mechs. Even several veteran players in our area decided to grap two or even three boxes when it hit the street. You can always pawn the extra mechs to some other players ( preferably beginners ).

$40 when all I want is another Atlas is not a good deal.

A bit of good news:

Iron Wind Metals extends the deadline for archive mechs
Submitted by Mike Noe on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 3:36pm.

Due to very heavy demand, as well as concerns from BattleTech players about the end of January deadline, IWM is extending the window to order the mechs going to archive status without the archive charge to end of business on Friday February 13th, 2009.

Indeed. I was afraid they wouldn't get to my order in time.

But I doubt they'll just turn down $200 either...