Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Not so long ago it seemed that GW had, well, some limits to their greed.

Kits were more or less priced according to their in-game utility so common units were cheaper than rarer ones.

But it seems that's out the window these days with a lot of kits coming in at more than US$1 per point.

One jumped out at me when I got an old WD spotlighting the orks, in particular their mek gunz.



Now don't get me wrong it is one heckuva nice kit, especially if you remember the one it replaced.



But... $46 for a 18 point model? Even with the most expensive upgrade it's still only 30 points!

How many of these does GW expect to sell?

Ever?

Sure there's lots of bitz left over, but you'd have to scratch build a whole new carriage to make anything useful out of them.

So anyway, what other terrible buys are there?

While not as overcosted (in real money) as mek gunz point per dollar wise, Tau XV88 Broadside Battlesuits are pretty expensive for what you get. You generally need 3 in a unit, and it costs $50 for just one. You do the math. Also, just about anything Skitarii comes to mind, especially the Ironstrider Ballistarius/Sydonian Dragoon kit.

Being in NZ with the ability to buy online internationally EVERYTHING GW sells, without discounted prices from USA or Britain is expensive to me.

I used to look at blister packs and not be too phased, and troop boxes weren't too bad because they had usually 12-20 troops plus some minor bits (like drones or scarabs).

but now I am paying more for less on everything.


But the worst, in my opinion, is their characters. Regardless of their points worth I think that their cost per character is simply over the top. Single pose and usually uninspired character models that cost as much as 65 NZD is just mind boggling to me.

The $30 mono-pose plastic SM HQs get me. While the cash per points ratio isn't that bad, the value is awful. $50 will get you the sternguard box, which will crank out five captain level blinged marines. The GK kits can produce similar results for librarians.

Drop pods are another bad one. You pay for a terrain piece with a storm bolter. An ugly, irritating to build/paint one at that.

Buy from retailers that sell 25% off... Or 2nd hand. So it isn't that bad .

 DaKKaLAnce wrote:
Buy from retailers that sell 25% off... Or 2nd hand. So it isn't that bad .

As if no one already thought of that.. The problem is the prices keep going up and thus so do prices even at 25% off.

Yeah, the $30 for the new Sanguinary Priest and Librarian models really sucks too. I mean, it's one, infantry sized model... and the priest doesn't even look that good...

The worst part is that people actually think their minis are worth something comparable to GW retail on the used market. Like I'm supposed to pay $30 for your twenty leftover AoBR slugga boyz because that's half of the retail cost of 2 boyz boxes. Never mind that your used minis are already out of shrink wrap, cut from the sprue and assembled. Sometimes gunked up with bad primer or bad paint. Pieces are always missing. And the real Ork boyz kit can be used to make things that are actually useful like shoota boyz and rokkits.
Look on ebay for used minis and you have to scroll through page after page of garbage that is inexplicably priced at DOUBLE retail (I guess this is for people who live in very remote countries with little access to GW, or just for morons possibly) before you arrive at a tiny handful of lots that are 20% off retail despite being cut from the sprue, assembled (poorly) and not including all of the leftover bits.

If you want a good deal on 40k minis at all, you have to find the desperate people who are selling lots for $300 US or more. Then you'll get your minis at 60% off retail, with the caveat of buying dozens or hundreds of unwanted minis that are useless under current rules and won't fit into your list no matter how hard you try to make them fit.

Not to mention that somebody else has already put them together and painted some of them, which kind of takes a lot of the fun out of building the army.

 PlaguelordHobbyServices wrote:
Yeah, the $30 for the new Sanguinary Priest and Librarian models really sucks too. I mean, it's one, infantry sized model... and the priest doesn't even look that good...

You can just make one yourself. Cup from upgrade kit, narthecium from command kit, boom.

Hmm... I used to think the Rhino was pretty bad, but I think you've found the worse one there KK (ironically, the Eldar more expensive game equivalent is only £15, compared to the Ork's £28 and you can bulk buy them at 3 for £40).

Shrug... it's all relative though. I'm getting into Guildball at the moment and my first team (6 players) has cost me about £50, although I'd highlight that they do actively promote trying the game for free (via downloads of the players that you can print and paste onto cardboard - old school!)

Having played other (much better) games recently, I'm beginning to think that GWs biggest crime is their rulesets, but at least they've started giving those away for free now.

Which is a shame. I love all of those grots and would buy them just to paint. But at £28 it's not gonna happen.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

destrucifier wrote:
The worst part is that people actually think their minis are worth something comparable to GW retail on the used market. Like I'm supposed to pay $30 for your twenty leftover AoBR slugga boyz because that's half of the retail cost of 2 boyz boxes. Never mind that your used minis are already out of shrink wrap, cut from the sprue and assembled. Sometimes gunked up with bad primer or bad paint. Pieces are always missing. And the real Ork boyz kit can be used to make things that are actually useful like shoota boyz and rokkits.

I used to sell old 40K stuff at 50% RRP (often more than I paid for it) and up until maybe 2-3 years ago it'd get absolutely snapped up.

In AOS I started to count per wounds.
Here 5 Chaos Knights are very cost effective: 26€ : 15 wounds = 1.73.
Five Liberators are at the other end 40€ : 10 wounds = 4,0.

Herzlos wrote:
[spoiler]

I used to sell old 40K stuff at 50% RRP (often more than I paid for it) and up until maybe 2-3 years ago it'd get absolutely snapped up.

50% off might be a regular thing in the UK, but you gotta scrounge for it in the US. Post something on Bartertown today at 50% off, it will still get snapped up. Unless of course it's something that nobody wants, like minis with awful paint jobs or AoBR minis.

Really the ultimate way to save money is to buy minis with terrible paint jobs. Assuming you can strip them, that is. Amazing how a little layer of ugly paint can devalue a model kit more than actual missing bits and pieces.

destrucifier wrote:

Herzlos wrote:
[spoiler]

I used to sell old 40K stuff at 50% RRP (often more than I paid for it) and up until maybe 2-3 years ago it'd get absolutely snapped up.

50% off might be a regular thing in the UK, but you gotta scrounge for it in the US. Post something on Bartertown today at 50% off, it will still get snapped up. Unless of course it's something that nobody wants, like minis with awful paint jobs or AoBR minis.

Really the ultimate way to save money is to buy minis with terrible paint jobs. Assuming you can strip them, that is. Amazing how a little layer of ugly paint can devalue a model kit more than actual missing bits and pieces.

I see minis being sold at 40-50% off retail all the time, US or otherwise. There might be a perception skew based on the fact that sales that sell disappear from the search list, while those that don't linger on.

After being asked to pay £20 for 10 plastic Guardsmen I stated a new army based off Britain and German in WW2. £24 for 25 infantry, £18 to £20 for a tank.... I love Warlords

destrucifier wrote:The worst part is that people actually think their minis are worth something comparable to GW retail on the used market. Like I'm supposed to pay $30 for your twenty leftover AoBR slugga boyz because that's half of the retail cost of 2 boyz boxes. Never mind that your used minis are already out of shrink wrap, cut from the sprue and assembled. Sometimes gunked up with bad primer or bad paint. Pieces are always missing. And the real Ork boyz kit can be used to make things that are actually useful like shoota boyz and rokkits.
Look on ebay for used minis and you have to scroll through page after page of garbage that is inexplicably priced at DOUBLE retail (I guess this is for people who live in very remote countries with little access to GW, or just for morons possibly) before you arrive at a tiny handful of lots that are 20% off retail despite being cut from the sprue, assembled (poorly) and not including all of the leftover bits.

I can't disagree too much, though I'd love it if they were only gunked up with primer and paint. Most I've bought have been gunked up with poly cement. Case in point: I recently bought seven plastic cold one knights off ebay for £7.50. Bargain! After I got them, and after going to bits shops to get replacements for ruined and missing bits, that total rose to about £18. This is the kind of thing that's convincing me to buy NIB again. Good thing for 25% discounts. Although there are still some things I wouldn't touch, even with that.

And yeah, some sellers on ebay seem to think the same as GW: that they're offering highly valuable collector's pieces (that or they're feeling a bit daft for spending so much in the first place - I saw at least one seller say his starting bids were high 'cos of GW's price labels) rather than hawking their cheap old tat. But as Herzlos says, there seem to be fewer items going at the higher end. Even constant free relistings for buy-it-nows don't seem to help. Me eyes almost fell out of my head when I saw the Troll Trader selling small units for a 99p starting bid.

To the original topic: I've no idea what points costs things have these days. Haven't bought a codex or army book in yonks. Doesn't surprise me that it's getting to the situation of $1/1point, though.

What got me was the new AdMech release. When all the images and rules were leaking, I decided I wanted an AdMech army and wanted 12 of those walkers, to run 6 of each kind. And then the prices were leaked: $40 for a 40pt model (or thereabouts). Guess what? I went from being ready to give $500 to GW to giving them $0.

 master of ordinance wrote:
After being asked to pay £20 for 10 plastic Guardsmen I stated a new army based off Britain and German in WW2. £24 for 25 infantry, £18 to £20 for a tank.... I love Warlords

And Warlord are on the more expensive end of historical plastics... You can pick up Hobbyboss Sherman tanks for £10, and they're vastly superior to the comparable Tamiya ones.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
But... $46 for a 18 point model? Even with the most expensive upgrade it's still only 30 points!

The old metal Chaos Spawn was in that ballpark in the early 2000s already.

While not bad on the $ per point side the new character blisters are a bit insane. You could buy a rhino a few years ago for what one HQ model now costs. And these aren't even poseable. You would be far better off buying elite boxes like the stern/vanguard boxes or grey knight boxes to make characters out of.

I actually recently purchased a GK box for the sole purpose of making a Librarian conclave.

What's even more baffling about GW's pricing schemes is that they put out some great kits in the Ork line that are cheaper, have higher relative value, and look great to boot.

Exhibit A


Beautiful model, mutliple builds, plenty of build options, and bitz leftover. Around $.30 per point.

Exhibit B


Again, great models, lots of options, you get a SQUAD of vehicles, and huge value from one box. A measly $.25 more than a mek gun box, yet a jaw-dropping, one-fourth the cost in points per dollar spent.

The pricing for Mek Guns is pants-on-head, flying rodent gak insane.

When Space Marine Captain #57 in mass-produced HIPS goes for more than a boutique, limited-run, much larger, resin Kingdom Death kit, you know GW has lost the plot.

 the_Armyman wrote:


Exhibit B
Again, great models, lots of options, you get a SQUAD of vehicles, and huge value from one box. A measly $.25 more than a mek gun box, yet a jaw-dropping, one-fourth the cost in points per dollar spent.

The pricing for Mek Guns is pants-on-head, flying rodent gak insane.

Damning evidence that GW is intentionally designing its rules to drive up prices. Kans used to be good, now that everyone owns a few they're not good anymore. But GW hasn't had any new Ork artillery kits in about 20 years so they made sure the new one costs hardly any points and that your army can't be effective without several of them. Then they tacked on an arbitrarily inflated cash price because their experiences with Riptide, Dreadknight and Wraithknight models have demonstrated that players will pay anything for their army list's best unit.
I assume they had just finished designing the molds for the gorka/morkanaut and intended to make it a 100 point unit before they realized that they could sell mek guns in squads of five. When they realize that they aren't selling enough 'nauts, they'll introduce a formation that gives you five of them for no points.

This one is just, just short of the $1 per point line



$48 for a 50 point transport.

Which again we'd supposedly want in bulk.

Compared to the Chimera, more points for $37



Granted it can also make an 80pt Taurox Prime but few units can even use that.

Now if GW has cut those options, sold the truck for $30 (and give it wheels and a suspension, but that's another story) I'd be interested in a picking up a few. But as is.... Nope.

Pass.

I remember being horrified by the price of the static pose DE grotesques. £15.50 for 1 terminator-sized model.

I'll let someone with a DE book to hand do the £ to point ratio, but I'm certain the outcome won't be good.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
This one is just, just short of the $1 per point line

Spoiler:

$48 for a 50 point transport.

Which again we'd supposedly want in bulk.

Compared to the Chimera, more points for $37



Granted it can also make an 80pt Taurox Prime but few units can even use that.

Now if GW has cut those options, sold the truck for $30 (and give it wheels and a suspension, but that's another story) I'd be interested in a picking up a few. But as is.... Nope.

Pass.

I'm actually mildly embarassed I purchased it and then bought an $18 resin conversion kit to make it look presentable. Not to mention the hours of plasticard work and turret conversion that will be necessary in addition to the $66 total investment...

Come to Australia and New Zealand, see what we pay in retail.

I think the point is already moot. It is only a matter of time before 40k get an AoS makeover and points become a thing of the past.

 Breotan wrote:
I think the point is already moot. It is only a matter of time before 40k get an AoS makeover and points become a thing of the past.

Isn't that what hasting is saying in conjunction with the upcoming rumors about the Horus Heresy release?

Fiends of slaanesh. Horrible old metal models that look like a joke, like a pet some kid made out of playdoh. Ive wanted to run a unit of 9 for fluff reasons, and theyre not terrible ruleswise, but 25 CAD for 1 model? Min squad size is three... Wtf gw? You cant even buy them in threes!