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Can anyone explain why a group of 10 PLASTIC Greatswords is $41.25? When I first heard they were coming out I thought "Great, now I can afford to play these models as they are not just uber-expensive metal!" But then I find out the Plastic ones are priced just as bad.

Can anyone explain why a PLASTIC Steamtank is more expensive by $8.00 than the old metal one? Do they have special magic plastic at GW that makes it this much more pricey?

I think that this sort of pricing along with the recent price increase may spell the end of my purchases for the most part of any GW goods. Any purchases I make of their products will be from other hobbyists or only upon deep discounted prices and not directly from GW. I am sure everyone has there own "breaking point" where they say enough is enough and I think GW may have just hit mine. I am guessing that GW sales and stocks take another terrific tumble in the near future from which they may not recover. As a fan of their games and products this is sad, but perhaps someone with a competent management team can take over and get the company's act together before they are out of business.

Buying a GW model from a deep discounter still supports GW. In order to bypass supporting
GW you have to buy it second hand, or buy an alternate model from a different company.

I imagine that the "double profit" of buying company product from a company store goes to
supporting the overhead of the store itself.

But I'm not businessman.

Because! greatswords are still cheaper than the metal ones , and you get extra bits , and its in plastic!

steam tank is more expensive before its in plastic! and have bits too!

something like that :<

Hialmar wrote:Can anyone explain why a PLASTIC Steamtank is more expensive by $8.00 than the old metal one?

It is way easier to build than the metal one.

Hialmar wrote:

Can anyone explain why a PLASTIC Steamtank is more expensive by $8.00 than the old metal one?

- It is a better looking model
- Easier to put together
- Wont fall apart under its own weight
- Has bits

Plastic doesnt mean its an inferior product. The plastic stigma that comes with most generic consumer goods doesnt apply to wargames.

Sorry.

This has been discussed to death a lot already, but what the heck, I am more than happy to have another good grumble .

GW is an international company that loves their profit margins. I am sure there is a team of company accountants & economists (who probably play the games) responsible for determining pricing. A lot goes into the price point selection. Cost of design, mold creation, and raw materials are considered. Much more important is, how many units are we going to sell?

Plastic greatswords are, in game terms, a special choice, and not a particularly great one for that army. Since they predict that not as many greatswords will be bought as, say, state troops, they price the greatswords higher. The Steam Tank is a rare choice, hence even fewer are likely to be purchased- even taking into account the extra sales from converters. It is just like pricing the Space Marine Commander (One. Single. Little. Plastic. Model.) at $15, I mean $17. He's not that price because it costs GW a lot to produce a unit, he's that price because GW expects to sell relatively fewer units, and they want to preserve their profit margin.

Now, I think GW has decided to actively try to find the ceiling at which people will stop purchasing their products. Toy soldiers are after all a luxury item, and if you are the sort of person who spends your money on them, chances are that you will continue to do so, rather than switching your hobby spending to, say, golf, or model railroading, or traveling around the world.

In short: GW is raising prices because they think that you will keep buying.

I can honestly say that GW has passed my Warhammer price ceiling. My desire to get two new plastic Steam Tanks to kit-bash & convert cannot overcome my sticker-shock. I think greatswords are a chump unit for the points, but if they were 10 for $22.50, sorry, I mean $24.75, I might have bought some anyway, just to paint. Instead, I will keep my money in my pocket.

I really, really like WotR. And I really, really like the Khandish models. But when I priced putting together a 1500 point (all-metal) Khandish force, I shed a little tear and decided to spend the money on a trip to Machu Pichu.

JohnHwangDD wrote:

Hialmar wrote:Can anyone explain why a PLASTIC Steamtank is more expensive by $8.00 than the old metal one?

It is way easier to build than the metal one.

Actually it got cheaper. The metal steam tank had a price increase EVERYTIME something went up. The last price sticker the Tanks at my FLGS had was $65 USD. That means the tank actually got cheaper by $7.25 USD.
My question is, why the decimal places, why make the valk the only $58 kit?

Guys in accounting are running this huge company wide betting pool to see how many boxes will sell with jacked up pricing. If you don't believe me check the Warseer Fantasy rumor round-up section, Brimstone confirmed this.

Examples of previous pools are Blood Knights and the Realm of Battle.

I believe it. I'd love to know the results, too.

Are they taking into consideration the discounters?

I know buying from one or the other is still supporting GW, but I think they are putting the prices higher just because they know the discounters will sell it for less.

GW is still getting their share, it's just you're not buying it from the GW site. Anyone who buys GW product from the GW Site is either really rich, incredibly stupid, or both.

fellblade wrote:

In short: GW is raising prices because they think that you will keep buying.

Bingo.

There's really only one way the rather insane price increases and ridiculous price points will stop.

But I don't think we've hit that point yet...

Greatswords are an excellent choice for a new price point. It's a special choice for a common army in Fantasy, which means that there are customers waiting but nobody is buying it because it's the best unit or anything. There's no real artificial demand, but it's not so obscure that people will simply skip it.

The steam tank price is beyond the ability of my puny mortal brain to fathom. There's less plastic on that thing than a freaking rhino, how does that make any sense?

Whatever, it's their funeral I guess.

And that's what has to happen for this to, well, slow down if not stop.

If Greatswords and the Steam Tank do NOT sell, that is the only message that will be received at GWHQ.

I've a feeling that we'll only be 50% successful.

The Goldswords will gather dust on shelves, but I think the Stank will sell OK.

I hate GW and their pricing structures. However; that said I did just finish building our FLGS display model Steam Tank. The kit really is quite fantastic. Both excellent looking and quality. There are a number of extra bitz to convert and make it your own. Two different cannons; you can have the hatch open or close, a number of different heads/arms for the engineer. Truly an excellent kit. I would happily pay the price for this current plastic as opposed to the unmanagable hung of lead that was the old steam tank. If you need proof look in this months WD on pg. 23 or check the pick on The Waaagh Cast's Flickr site. (Links below)

The greatswords though I don't know about. Our FLGS didn't get a preview sprue of those so I haven't a clue what they look like; or what extra bitz come with.

I wouldn't worry about it too much, even if we were successful and no one bought any models until GW became more realistic about prices, they'd still go under because I honestly don't think they know how to lower prices, their answer to everything is just to raise them even more. Even if no one's buying models because they're too expensive, raise the prices!

Well, the Stank will sell because it's a limited use item that's awesome. I'm going to buy one, and I've played my empire army less than a half dozen times.

Generally speaking the only GW models I purchase are from the local non-GW game store or from other modelers. I have for the most part forgone purchases from discounters in order to support the local store.

I do not think I will ever purchase the Steam Tank or Greatswords unless I find them on some dusty bin in the future. While there are some interesting theorys being put forth by some on here regarding accounting and retail pricing I thiink you are giving GW too much credit. They are certainly searching fo rthe ceiling on their goods while the economy we are in, especially for luxury goods, basically demands that prices go down and not up. GW management has been mismanaging the company for many years and I think will sooner rather than later implode unless they change their officers, managers and business plan.

In regards to the steam tank the local store has tow each of the metal and the plastic and the metal are $8.00 cheaper than the plastic as of yesterday, and the model just is not good enough to justify the cost.

In regards to the greatswords, I would suggest it is too easy to convert some of the standard $22.00 units into Greatswords at almost half the price, killing that item before it ever starts. GW continues to compete with themselves, while at the same time seeming to think that they still have no competition. I have seen more people use non-GW in 40K and Fantasy in the past year than I ever have in the past 25 years.

Hialmar wrote:I have seen more people use non-GW in 40K and Fantasy in the past year than I ever have in the past 25 years.

QFT

GW think they can sell it for more because new=better, and better means it should cost more. But the Steam Tank was overpriced anyway, it really was very expensive for what you were getting out of the box, thus the plastic kit is even more expensive again!

It's all very well talking about mould costs and the rest, but that's a singluar expense, after that they can churn out plastic kits quickly and more efficiently, the transport costs are slashed because the new kit is much lighter than the old. GW are getting it all back to front, they'll claim this is a 'rare' unit and few people buy them. But that's due to their rules that they write and the prices they fix on their own products. They are effectively claiming that their products have to be expensive because they cost so much that few people can afford them. Umm...

Maybe that works for small amounts of metal miniatures, but when you're casting in plastic you do it *big* to get the best return you can. What exactly was the point in making this kit in plastic if they're effectively going to limit their production of it? Plastic is good for cheap mass production, you don't therefore make small numbers of specialised models that hardly sell because they really do end up costing more per unit than metal.

Durr. If they used their plastic production to make their hobby a mass production, affordable one I think they'd make more money rather than continually making it a rich boys game.

And that's the bit of elitism I really don't like about GW. Forget the cheesy players, the whiners and the rest of bad players. GW ultimately foster the worst elitism through their prices. All the best units, characters and vehicles are priced at a premium and people with money to throw around will be able to make up the best armies while others will have to make do with cheaper bog standard armies that have few or no special units/characters.

Oh, FWIW, if I didn't already have a Steam Tank (the latest metal one), I could have bought one at the Bazaar for less than $20...

And I'm sure the guy would have gone $25 for the assembled one.

So, yeah, $5 for having Steam Tank built?

Probably would have been money well-spent!!!


Of course, I'd have had to sell the unbuilt one, but still...

I'm pissed off at the price of Greatswords. I'd just stock up on the metal ones.

As the accounting sections's betting demonstrates. GW are not pricing the goods so high because *they* think the models are worth it, they are pricing them high because they think *you* will think they are worth it.

They really are trying to push the boat out as far as it will go with these prices, betting that there are enough insane morons who think a few scraps of crappy plastic in the shape of a particular toy are worth a king's ransom, just because their lives are so empty they can't find a better use for so much money...

Simply put, don't blame GW for the prices, blame the pathetic, basement-dwelling mummy's boys who are prepared to pay them!

I got beaten up in an argument over GW's pricing at my LGS by an employee and his sock puppets.

Anyway, do you think they'll do plastic Blood Knights at AUS$140? (currently $150, btw.)

ungulateman wrote:I got beaten up in an argument over GW's pricing at my LGS by an employee and his sock puppets.

What ever would make you try to have an Internet conversation in real life?

FWIW Maelstrom games is already 10% cheaper than UK GW prices, and are having a further 15% off for the next 8 days or so.

The staem tank I can see, as you should only need 1-2 per army. But I do agree that the greatswords (or goldswords as the wags at the local GW are calling them) are insanely overpriced.

Folks, there's a solution to your grievances! Participate in tournaments and win! GW's prices offend me as well, so I've decided to limit expansions on my army to tournament prizes.

This past month I played in three tournaments and won a Catachan Battleforce box (which I traded for a Battlewagon and 10 stormboyz), $50 of store credit in that store, $40 of store credit in a different store, and $50 of store credit in another store.

And I only play 40k; if I knew how to play Fantasy, and had time to learn the tactical nuances of playing, practice, etc...I would hope that I'd do pretty decently there too.

Guys, participate in some tournaments and place. Get some store credit. Get your greatsword.

Dash, your right, but in order to do that I'd have to start a Daemon army, and from that point on life will never be the same....

I think some of the new kits prices are just fine. Look at the nob box for instance. 20ish bucks, the minis look AWESOME and it has over 100 bitz in it. Im STILL using parts from that kit on builds of mine. Same with the new boyz box.
BUT some things are insane IMO. $30 for 3 bikers? No thanks, Ill stick to my deffcopta conversions for bikes lol

Would those nobs be such a good deal if they were $40 though?