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I recently made an order online and tried to get a couple of Finecast kits (Fabius Bile and the Varghulf), but was told that they're GW direct only, and that the store isn't allowed to stock finecast. However, I recently lived in Germany and the FLGS had finecast stuff for sale. I remember specifically that they stocked the finecast DE special character that kinda looks like Fabius Bile and also the Grotesque (the thing with 6 eyes or whatever).

So what's the deal? Can retail stores stock finecast? What about online storefronts?

I am reasonably certain that whether or not a store can stock finecast depends how much GW stock it has overall and how long it has stocked GW stuff and so on.

 Tangent wrote:
I recently made an order online and tried to get a couple of Finecast kits (Fabius Bile and the Varghulf), but was told that they're GW direct only, and that the store isn't allowed to stock finecast. However, I recently lived in Germany and the FLGS had finecast stuff for sale. I remember specifically that they stocked the finecast DE special character that kinda looks like Fabius Bile and also the Grotesque (the thing with 6 eyes or whatever).

So what's the deal? Can retail stores stock finecast? What about online storefronts?

I would not be surprised if a store was not allowed to stock Fine Cast.To me though this sounds like a company policy rather than G.W since they would have to deal with the customer complaints and it would reflect poorly upon their business. I went through about four Fine Cast Dark Eldar Archons before I finally found one that had less casting issues so I would suggest not buying fine cast online.

This is store policy, not GW policy.

Most likely the employee left off part of the statement. Probably should have said "this store isn't allowed to stock finecast, per our manager".

Which, given the relatively low quality of finecast during it's initial release, and for months thereafter, I wouldn't be surprised. It will be a long time before I buy a finecast model sight unseen.

That said, there are certain models which even a regular GW store doesn't normally stock. For example, the only time I saw Typhus or Ahriman in store was during the CSM codex launch week.

clively wrote:
This is store policy, not GW policy.

Most likely the employee left off part of the statement. Probably should have said "this store isn't allowed to stock finecast, per our manager".

Which, given the relatively low quality of finecast during it's initial release, and for months thereafter, I wouldn't be surprised. It will be a long time before I buy a finecast model sight unseen.

That said, there are certain models which even a regular GW store doesn't normally stock. For example, the only time I saw Typhus or Ahriman in store was during the CSM codex launch week.

Also the entire Sisters of Battle range.

And for some reason, my local GW had no Bretonnian Knights of the Realm, and barely any Bretonnian stuff at all, but maybe I just didn't look in the right spots and confused an Empire unit for a Bretonnian unit. ^^ (I don't normally play WHFB, I just wanted to use the Bretonnian lances for my bike jouster models.

So, is there a way to check and see what models, if any, you can only buy directly from GW?

 Tangent wrote:
So, is there a way to check and see what models, if any, you can only buy directly from GW?

There's this cool invention you may have heard of, called the telephone...

I kid, I kid. But there is no way, as far as I can see, of checking a store's stock levels online. Your best bet would be to give them a call before going in and asking if they have the item. They might even be able to check stock levels in other nearby GW stores in case those have what you're after instead.

 Tangent wrote:
So, is there a way to check and see what models, if any, you can only buy directly from GW?

For an FLGS you would have to call them, for a GW store, go to their website, every model with background picture on the model is stocked by a GW store, everyone without isn't.

GW have some Finecost in actual retail boxes such as plague marines. They will supply these to your FLGS if they have them in stock. Other Finecost is direct only special order because they do not have boxes for them. These are packed to order into plain white Citadel boxes with a sticker showing what's in them. I have some wraithguard and chaos havocs like this. They will not supply these to the FLGS as there is no packaging per se. I imagine they have simply got hoppers full of Finecost sprues, other full of, say, CSM backpacks, others full of bases, etc. The picker goes down and gathers all the bits to make the box and puts them in a white box for dispatch. They can't and won't supply those to the FLGS its not designed for retail but for direct only mail order. GW used to only allow the FLGS to buy Finecost in twos but then changed to allow them to stock any with retail packs, so they could get you a Typhus say, but not a Noise Marine upgrade pack.