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I have heard whispers that the plastic sprues may become available sometime next year as a GW direct item, but nothing regarding another run of the actual game.

I have it on good authority that it will be released again 25 years from today.

I do not think they will re-release SH in any form as a boardgame again (at least anytime soon).

All you have to do is look at why they stopped selling it originally in the first place. Depending on which rumor you want to believe, the two main reasons they stopped selling SH were a) sales of it had dropped off and b) it was robbing sales from main 40K.

Any time spent playing SH is time NOT playing 40K. GW wants you to play 40K so you'll buy more models, more books, more armies, more paint, etc. Even though SH could be expanded more than it ever was it is, ultimately, a limited environment compared to 40K and certainly has a much lower model count.

SH's main contribution to GW was(is) as a gateway game to 40K. In that context it has to be kept limited in scope (and thus by definition limited in lasting sales).

With the above considerations it is easy to see why GW released SH as a limited run splash release. They earned X amount in lump profit and put out just enough games to generate the X profit and that can also be used to generate buzz and maybe attract a few new gamers, but long-term, people will tire of SH's limited nature and, again, return to playing 40K where GW wants them.

What many of us really want is a Space Hulk like expansion for 40K with plastic corridors/rooms of some kind and some tweaked rules (ala Cities of Death or Planetstrike). SH could also be seen as wetting the appetite for that product or perhaps just as a gauge on the interest in such a product. This is the area that will be interesting to watch as it fits in with the goals of supporting 40K and also GW's new interest in releasing plastic terrain kits.

When you see the Aegis Defense Line kit you realize that GW could easily do a plastic corridor set that produced 2-3 feet of corridor for $20-$25 if they wanted to. Add to that the rumors of SH-like Battleboards and you have another viable option for terrain. We may never see it but it is certainly within the realm of possibility.

What above poster said is true.

But i think this time around theyll try to turn the tables on us.

Hype the game all the way, and then bring in extra editions at special places like this. When everything has sold, we might get a gold edition with extra bits or whatever.

Thats why im not buying. GW has a money driven strategy, if it sells like hot feth, theyll try tro sell more. If it doesnt, they pack up and move on.

Who's to say the "Limited Edition" Space Hulk is the good one? What if they release another Space Hulk (maybe 50,000 copies this time) with a special, "Limited Edtion" metal terminator a year from now? What if they release another Space Hulk (20,000 copies?) with a special, "Limited Edition" book of new missions with a resin objective counter two years from now? Would you all line up again, money in hand?

You've proven their strategy worked. Look for more of this nonsense in the future.

I don't think we'll see another release of this SH box.

I can see maybe an 'expansion set' with new models, tiles and missions, also as a one-off release - presuming it's up to SH's standard, that will also sell out.

I can also see slightly recut 40K-standard versions (e.g. no inbuilt bases) of these sprues appearing. But then again, maybe GW would think such kits would simply cut into the sales of the normal termie and stealer kits.

And I'm sure GW must be thinking about repeating this sales success by doing something similar for fantasy, so I won't be at all surprised to see a one-off HeroQuest or simiilar next year...

Thanks Guys! Real help. Keep posting though...

We might see re-releases with termies from different chapters, floor tiles and missions but the same rules every few years, and tbh i'd be totally ok with that. a limited SH for each chapter etc etc, it'd be kinda cool, maybe, but without the mystery box bs.

I could easily see a second run. GW likes money.

No reason this run has to happen any time soon - a second run this time next year allows demand to build back up by people who missed out and new gamers, and then they just do another run of 50k copies - less of a run should be required for viability the second time, as even if the card is more expensive the capital for the sprue creation is paid off now.

Getting round it being a limited edition is a doddle - certainly, just changing the plastic colours to grey and non-marble dice would be sufficient legally (toy manufacturers have seen to that - there's no end of "limited edition" toys with slightly different paint masks to full retail releases).

And doing another splash release of the game next Christmas would minimise inventory storage costs too.

I'd be overjoyed if the minis became available separately though. I've ideas for a bunch of termy conversions.

Phazer

Good analysis, everyone. This is why I like reading Dakka.

@tanker- good points, both about Space Hulk as being a gateway to but ultimately competition against GW's core product. Also, great point about ways in which they could unify the two lines with nifty terrain sets and a 40K ruleset expansion. The frustrating thing about GW is how apparent some of this stuff can be from the consumer's perspective ("C'mon, we're DYING to buy this stuff!"), and yet never seem to appear on GW's radar. Of course the complexities of marketing and internals might mask their consideration of such things, but a Hulk-style expansion seems so... elementary.

Oh well- guess it's just one more place where indy companies can innovate around GW's sluggish but powerful leviathan.

All I know is, I'm really glad that I held off building my 40K hulk table until now. The roomies have been pissed about the ever-growing pile of bitz in the basement, and I had to chew more Bubble Tape than a grown man should ever admit to (power generator coil bitz!), but this winter will see a magnificent wreck take shape from all that trash. I just needed to know how line of sight rules worked, and now I do. Awesome.

I heard the reason they're only doing one run is because the tiles were really expensive to create in relation to the miniatures.

The idea of the sprues coming out later through direct makes plenty of sense to me.

A second print run would only make sense if the first run sold out extremely quickly. However, this has not happened. While the majority of the run sold extremely well and quickly, the remaining 10-15% is sitting around on store shelves for over the counter sales now. My local stores still have multiple copies to sell.

If the craze is over and it takes a few weeks to sell out of the remaining copies, that would be an indicator that GW got the number of copies printed just right on the first run, but that sales would be slow on a second print run. In that case, there's no reason to do a second printing and have a huge inventory that would take months or years to sell.

Agreed.

If people want expansions for Space Hulk it is easy to work out the factors for SMs and the Grenade Launcher from the first edition information available online. Nothing has to be 'official', it's not a tournament game.

(I can't remember the factors for SMs but it was something obvious like a Bolter hits on 6, roll 1 die, the Genestealer hits the SM on a 5 or 6.)

IMO the simplicity of the rules makes it difficult to shoehorn other factions into the game, due to the low range of variables.

I don't think it matters, as you don't get a lot of extra excitement from fighting Orks vs Genies or Eldar vs Genies.

It's easy to make larger missions and variant missions. Getting the balance right is harder. I wouldn't trust GW to do that anyway.

What's needed for the super modellers is a 3D corridor system of some kind.

hammerofulric wrote:Wouldn't surprise me. After all, everything we have been told is a lie.

But one of the things I have heard is thet GW didn't design Space Hulk, they bought it in all those years ago. Their rights for the game are about to expire, so this was their last chance for a reissue.

This sounds more like the rumor I've heard for Talisman.

Well. Interesting.

1) Talisman was indeed the game where GW had to pay a designer for its release, and they did a splash release a while ago. SH was developed in house- as explained in WD.

2) SH will probably not be reprinted anytime soon. It was a splash release, and the factors involved in the manufacturing/distribution/warehousing etc. listed above are all true...It won't factor into their plans until it is time for a 35th or 40th anniversary edition....

3) Though it may seem easy, at least in concept, choosing to spend money on the plastic hulk corridors would detract from money/time/ r&D into new products that they need/know/have done before. It is after all fairly easy to predict how many new space marine x, or tau x, or tyranid x release will all sell. Now the tooling and manufacturing guys seem to have gotten ahead of the studio, but not yet so far that they can spend the time and money and detract from all of the other stuff they want. After all, the tooling guys are probably running close to 24/7 as it is.....

4) I though JJ hinted at that type of concept years ago, and hopefully it does come out (I for one would love it). But I think it was dropped because AC left and the time and money was to be spent elsewhere. (note that is think not KNOW).

5) It will be a great success if it sells out in the stores and there are not a lot bought on ebay for $100s....Then they will have gotten the number right. Regardless, it is a splash release where they were able to say...print x and we make $y in profit. Splash release, reliable profit, and its is now gone and shipped out of the factory....for business, it is great and reliably has now generated the profits to then invest in projects a,b, or c.....(wouldn't it be cool if they used the profit from this to make the plastic corridors?)

6) I wish they'd release more games (both old and new) like they used to....I know they expect that it detracts from the core, but it seemed to feed the hobby more reliably.... For games I'd like to see:

1) A re-release of Man'O'War (but with bigger ships...)
2) Necromunda-with extra sets of plastic floors for the old bulkheads
3) EPIC - in plastic!/Adeptus Titanicus
4) WARHAMMER Quest....though more detailed....with less character expansions....maybe 1-2 boxes with all the characters inside....
5) Maybe a new LOTR board/mini game
6) Anything else they can come up with (how about Necromunda style game of Eldar Exodites....Or a Imperial Insurrection game with Imp Guard vs. Traitor Guard - in Epic scale)?

the_Armyman wrote:Who's to say the "Limited Edition" Space Hulk is the good one? What if they release another Space Hulk (maybe 50,000 copies this time) with a special, "Limited Edtion" metal terminator a year from now? What if they release another Space Hulk (20,000 copies?) with a special, "Limited Edition" book of new missions with a resin objective counter two years from now? Would you all line up again, money in hand?

No, most of use probably wouldn't. A single model is not going to serve as any inspiration to repurchase the full game again, and while a big book of missions would certainly have appeal, again you would have a lot of people not willing to rebuy the whole box just for that, and it would be inevitable that the mission book would quickly be scanned and pirated on the internet.

Looking at the shape of sales, it seems like GW had the demand for the game pretty well figured out. I'm betting that the last boxes are going to make it to Christmas before inventory is completely depleted. If that's the case, I'm certainly not seeing a market for another 70,000 units over the next few years that doesn't leave GW with a massive number of boxes taking up space while the inventory slowly trickles out over the course of a few years.

Warhammer Quest would be amazing... *drool*

The problem with having so many Space Hulk threads is that you end up repeating yourself. The problem with having so many Space Hulk threads is that you end up repeating yourself. The problem with having so many Space Hulk threads is that you end up repeating yourself. The problem with having so many Space Hulk threads is that you end up repeating yourself.

Tethyr13 wrote:1) A re-release of Man'O'War (but with bigger ships...)
2) Necromunda-with extra sets of plastic floors for the old bulkheads
3) EPIC - in plastic!/Adeptus Titanicus
4) WARHAMMER Quest....though more detailed....with less character expansions....maybe 1-2 boxes with all the characters inside....
5) Maybe a new LOTR board/mini game
6) Anything else they can come up with (how about Necromunda style game of Eldar Exodites....Or a Imperial Insurrection game with Imp Guard vs. Traitor Guard - in Epic scale)?

1. Not going to happen. Not a self-contained game. Would require support.
2. Ditto.
3. Ditto, except in a limited 8-Titan (or thereabouts) Adeptus Titanicus game that was not expanded to Epic.
4. Possible, as it is a game in a box. I would say double the amount of heroes (so 8), and maybe a few more badguys, but otherwise it would be a game in a box. No expansions. No support.
5. Only if it is self-contained... though that's less important as LotR is on store shelves.

EPIC - in plastic!/Adeptus Titanicus

..would resin Titans be alright ?

Kilkrazy wrote:
I don't think it matters, as you don't get a lot of extra excitement from fighting Orks vs Genies or Eldar vs Genies.

From what I gathered from my first game it wouldn't make that much of a difference anyway, since the Termies can't shoot, suck in close combat and get shredded to pieces in seconds.

reds8n wrote:

EPIC - in plastic!/Adeptus Titanicus

..would resin Titans be alright ?

I see what you did there.


I love Aeronautica Imperialis so a Titan fighting game from FW would be awesome.

You can buy it online again. They just wanted to push store sales - it was never sold out.

Are you sure? I can't see it available anywhere.

Leggy wrote:Are you sure? I can't see it available anywhere.

Leggy, what part of the world are you in? GW USA has copies (I gave in and got a second copy on Tuesday), GW UK claims they sold out from Direct before Sept 5th (reports are that they shorted independents and demanded GW stores send some copies back to the HQ to fill out the pre-orders).

Like the flags says, i'm a brit. Sucks to be me :(

His Master's Voice wrote:Saying something is a limited release and then releasing it again is a no-go in Europe. They may however release 4th edition to go around this.

All they would need is a white-bordered box with an "Unlimited" label, and they're in the clear.

Better yet, they can include an Errata sheet...

Any bets we may see Chapter spacific "add-ons" splash releases for Space Hulk? I think it could be a way to get out the DeathWing,Black Templars ETC non Ultra style Termi. Not that I believe they would have any trouble selling them, they could market them as short run add-ons and be done with it.

Preatorians were indeed a limited release in about 96/96 but up until about last year were fully avaible from mail order. So I am not betting on the Hulk Minis "Never again " statement.

Leggy wrote:Like the flags says, i'm a brit. Sucks to be me :(

I just went to the UK store. It's on sale.

This "sold out" thing was a compelte myth designed to drive people towards GW stores on release day, nothing more. It is as much as lie as the "something we've never done before" nonsense that came about before Hulk was released, and only serves to prove the "everything you have been told is a lie" T-shirts.

Leggy wrote:Like the flags says, i'm a brit. Sucks to be me :(

While flags can be wrong, I just realized that I had no flags showing for anyone when I asked that.

H.B.M.C., I am not sure what you are seeing, but it has not been available on the UK site since the 3rd of September (depending on time zone). The product code (60010699001) says No Longer Available and has since the 3rd. If you follow the direct link and are already signed in, it works this way too. If you have it in your wish list, it will be removed automatically (well, sort of, it just has a space and some buttons but no codes, links or pictures). If you try the links off of the front page, it goes to the "sold out" page with a second page that lists GW stores.

Edit: My bad, it is "sold out" of a few of the other EU sites too.

I went to the 'Gaming' Menu, chose Space Hulk. Available for £57 or whatever the price is.