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This does make sense business wise. No company should sit on a large amount of stock that isn't selling.

Coming soon to Autotrader: That APC that they painted to look like a Rhino

 Gertjan wrote:
That's a shame, I wanted to get one platoon of each regiment eventually since I don't have the cash at the moment. Ah well, too bad, guess the oppurtunity has passed, guess I can round of my guard army and be done with it then, saves a lot of money for other games

Can't say I'm too surprised though, why keep all metal casting facilities for a few old models, don't like it, but I can completely understand it.

Yes, the writing was in the wall. Also there's the aspect that whilst Collectors and Specialist Games ranges have many great and classic figures, they also have some really old and crappy looking miniatures. Even if merits of modern GW aesthetics can be sometimes questioned, some of the old minis were really showing their age.

However, it can't be denied that this leaves big hole in GW product range. It might be that GW operates under "finite market - zero sum game" assumption, so it would be more profitable if they just stick with their "core" games and discontinue "disruptions", but I believe this to be faulty. Despite lack of support and cynicism by some of the commentators, some of the Specialist Games were still pretty popular and I'd think that there were some pretty good sellers in the range. I doubt GW will totally give up these games and figures. Some of the Collectors range will probably transit to Finecast and then sold as part of the regular ranges. Might be that at least some SG games see also new extension in Finecast, though not all of them - for starters, sheer number of miniatures involved makes it unlikely or impossible. They may also give some of them Space Hulk treatment.

Problem is, even if they WERE planning to retain some SG's in new form, they wouldn't be telling us, would they?

 RiTides wrote:
Heck, this is a golden opportunity for a few companies. Dreamforge's black widows (female guard-type models) will be released this year when Wave 3 of their kickstarter campaign ships, and Raging Heroes is just about to do a female guard-type model kickstarter.

Are ALL sisters of battle models going away, or just some?

Well the Sisters aren't part of the Collector's range, they're merely direct-only normal range.

 Flashman wrote:
This does make sense business wise. No company should sit on a large amount of stock that isn't selling.

1. I doubt they're sitting on a "large amount" of stock.
2. Some companies might try to sell/drum up interest for/re-issue or otherwise promote these ranges, perhaps through the pages of a monthly magazine and via a website, in order to general interest and sales.

Zwan1One wrote:
Don't really understand the point of the collectors section. Most of these miniatures should always have been included in the regular army section on the website.

Especially since most of it is still valid in current codices, or are the only models to fill certain slots (Lord Solar macharius, Norg Deddog, etc).

 Shandara wrote:

 RiTides wrote:
Are ALL sisters of battle models going away, or just some?

Well the Sisters aren't part of the Collector's range, they're merely direct-only normal range.

All metal casting machines sold. Will this affect the full metal range of Sororitas?
Pray for a miracle!

I guess this was inevitable... I'm suprised they lasted this long to be honest. I really hope the old regiments don't fade into dust and do actually get an update- one day! Each plastic regiment would only actually be 3 boxes- infantry, command, and heavy weapons- and if they played the cards right they might be able to double up (Mordian/Praetorian just a head swap, Valhallan/Steel Legion could be pulled off too without compromising too much. Tallarn are more unique, but they could always do something new...)

I'll be snatching up a few of those last Tallarns, I think- just to round things off in my army. Ebay prices are bound to go up.

Incidently I've been noticing the steady decay of the Forge world Tallarn range as well. The Tallarn Sentinel is no longer for sale, as is the heavy bolter team and weapons pack. Must be While Stocks Last, like a lot of their stuff...

New from Mantic/WargamesFactory/PuppetsWar/Everybody Else

Metal Legion!
Arkabian Soldiers!
Frost Legion!

Or so I will expect.

 Polonius wrote:
There are, broadly speaking, two reasons for a company to elminate a product line:
Metal models aren't iPods or automobiles, that require huge levels of production. As long as you have storage and a few pieces of casting equipment, you can make money spinning a couple dozen models a year out of a mold.

They'd definitely be losing money if they were selling just a "couple dozen" a year. They'd be paying employees year round to work the machines, they'd have to pay upkeep cost of running old machines, there'd be cost associated with molds, cost associated with packaging, they'd be paying for the space the machines take up. Even if they could make a small accounting profit, they'd be making a negative economic profit.

ianj253 wrote:

 Polonius wrote:
There are, broadly speaking, two reasons for a company to elminate a product line:
Metal models aren't iPods or automobiles, that require huge levels of production. As long as you have storage and a few pieces of casting equipment, you can make money spinning a couple dozen models a year out of a mold.

They'd definitely be losing money if they were selling just a "couple dozen" a year. They'd be paying employees year round to work the machines, they'd have to pay upkeep cost of running old machines, there'd be cost associated with molds, cost associated with packaging, they'd be paying for the space the machines take up. Even if they could make a small accounting profit, they'd be making a negative economic profit.

I think Polonius meant a couple dozen of each mold, not a couple dozen total. If you're selling enough to keep one machine spinning all year and someone to run it, you can still get money out of each mold, and you can keep a pretty low stock, if not just spinning new models for each order. Basically it's a garage operation. But it doesn't fit with GW's "core product" or whatever.

Difference is, garage space is 'free'. It's part of your house. Paying for employees, machines, 'lectrics, mould storage in a warehouse isn't.

Analogy is close, but not 100% comparable.

Someone should approach GeeDub and ask to buy the moulds and produce under license.

Can't say I'm sad to see 1980s and 1990s metal models go away.. Most are such bad sculpts (compared to current quality) that they're cringe worthy.

Not shocked at this given their most likely very low sales numbers especially for models that serve no game purpose.

So long, Tallarns, Mordians, Valhallans and Steel Legion.

You will be missed.

The steel legion are nice in person. I prefer Cadians with the FW environment upgrades or DKoK, but steel legion have a lot of character.

Just had a look through the 40k collectors range to make sure there was nothing that still wanted. Seems like all the good stuff has switched over to finecast and there is really nothing good left in metal anyway. Sure some of the IG regiments are nice for nostalgia's sake but Victoria Miniatures already produces stuff with a similar theme that far surpasses them in every way. Everything else is just ancient sculpts which needed to be dumped years ago except maybe the csm guys which are still very nice.

I will miss the Warhammer metals though, most of them are incredible sculpts. Granted I would never buy them but they were nice to look at!

I notice Vostoroyans despite being metal are not in the collectors section, does it mean they will be going also? They are perhaps the only thing I would mourn, lucky I already bought them last Christmas.

I still think GW could make a profitable side branch (something like FW) that just rotated through old molds and produced models for a limited time. The collectors range had stagnant sales because they were released, people who wanted them bought them, then the sales stagnated. There's a number of ranges that are very popular online that obviously people are willing to pay actual GW prices for (rare specialist games crews are one that stands out). Make molds available for 6 months then put them back into storage once sales drop off.

The special IG regiments don't really fit this trend, but probably just weren't selling enough (pretty solid second hand market for any that people did want).

Also, because there's still a considerable amount of metal that's not specialist or collectors, I don't believe that GW sold all their metal casting equipment. Some, or even most seems likely, but they have to maintain some of their capacity.

I wonder if the finecast collectors models like the Empire 'characters' (scribe, merchant, duelists) will go?

Those and some others (Sartosa vampire etc) are beautiful sculpts and I may be forced to purchase them if so.

Part of me hopes that this is just the prelude to some unexpected release like, say, a revival of specialist games or the launch of bitz sprues to customize Imperial Guard infantry kits...

But the more rational part of me just thinks that the Tau supply fiasco made GW notice they're running out of warehouse space, so they're shaking off dead weight.

Anyways, it's sad to see those bits of GW history go.

decker_cky wrote:
I still think GW could make a profitable side branch (something like FW) that just rotated through old molds and produced models for a limited time. The collectors range had stagnant sales because they were released, people who wanted them bought them, then the sales stagnated. There's a number of ranges that are very popular online that obviously people are willing to pay actual GW prices for (rare specialist games crews are one that stands out). Make molds available for 6 months then put them back into storage once sales drop off.

The problem I see is that what purpose does a 6 month special serve when those same models were on the site for YEARS with most likely extremely little sales. The amount of players that will spend 8$ on an ancient metal model that is outclassed by modern models just for nostalgia sake is fairly slim I would imagine. In relation to IG units specifically, you can't even build a current army with them due to their models being based on only using 3 different weapon options, so that reduces their demand by an even larger degree.

It's sad to see history go into the dustbin.. but that's what pictures are for.

It appears that Games Workshop is preparing itself to be purchased. All of their recent moves have been to divest themselves of a huge amount of non-core property including subsidiaries (e.g., Black Industries), operations (e.g., manufacturing in Memphis), and slower selling products (e.g., Specialist Games and Collector Range models). Combined with the recent extreme cost cutting and draconian price increases it appears that they are trying to boost the appeal of the company to buyer(s) through extreme streamlining and short-term profit boosting.

Ugh! loved the collectors ranges!!

I hope they're just getting moved to Finecast. Overall the range is outdated, but the CSM and IG line have some very nice models in them.

Collectors range and Specialist games didn't make much money, why not cut them?


The sky isn't falling yet people.

I bought the Last Chancers, it seemed appropriate

maybe one of these days I'll test my Last Chancers 6th ed rules.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/501331.page#5500300

It's the first time I ordered from GW since they canceled bitz back in what? 2008?

Their ordering system is... not very good. They promise a chance to review your order at step 3 but whenI tried it the order was finalized. No chance to add more, no chance to check my address. Which really sucked since I made a typo.

So I head to wait 2 hours for them to open so I could call them and make the change by phone.

Oh and 3 hours later, no confirmation email.

Compare with Amazon where my confirmation email arrives half a second after I click.

 pities2004 wrote:
Collectors range and Specialist games didn't make much money, why not cut them?

But when you cut them, they make zero money. Seems to me "not much money" is better than "zero money", no?

 Ktulhut wrote:
It's a huge shame, and really regrettable. But I'm amazed they lasted this long, to be perfectly honest.

Agreed. They like to rip most of their history down

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 Kroothawk wrote:
Seems like Games Workshop is preparing for the final countdown.

There's a perceptible shift in the air. Very interesting.

Agreed.

What people should realize is that it may not be the end of the various IPs. No doubt someone will come along and buy up the 40k associated IPs. WHFB...well if GW proper came to an end Id imagine so would WHFB...its not unique or popular enough to be worth much. Maybe if the price was right, or as a full GW IP purchase deal.

The hope is that it all goes to someone who can write a decent rule set, and correct many of the GW errors of late.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 Kroothawk wrote:
Seems like Games Workshop is preparing for the final countdown.

There's a perceptible shift in the air. Very interesting.

Indeed, what shall they tell shareholders when they run out of things to cut?

Out of interest, what is happening to the likes of the Vostroyan range? I asked GW just before christmas if these were going finecast and they said that they had no plans to change them.

Does this mean they will go too? If so I need another 6 squads lol