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Back when Warhammer 40,000 5th ed was released, one of the little tools that GW made was a little custom laser pointer, that was supposed to be used to work out True Line of Sight.

However, it does not appear to be under gaming equipment. What happened to it? Was there a health hazard? I just find it odd that it was available for one edition and for the next it wasn't.

Hmmm. You're right, I don't see it. That's kinda lame because I wanted to get one someday. Would make LOS easier.

 TheCrazyCryptek wrote:
Hmmm. You're right, I don't see it. That's kinda lame because I wanted to get one someday. Would make LOS easier.

It's not even on Ebay. It's as if it never existed 0_o

What? wow. I don't remember them being super popular. Im surprised there are none, even on eBay.

But you can pick laser pointers up for a couple of quid on ebay, probably a lot cheaper than the official product. I got one for buttons really.

[

 TheCrazyCryptek wrote:
It's as if it never existed 0_o

The plot thickens...

 dwez wrote:
But you can pick laser pointers up for a couple of quid on ebay, probably a lot cheaper than the official product. I got one for buttons really.

True, but it's still odd how it just vanished.

The beam also formed a little cross-hair, which I thought was a nice touch.

It is possible for gaming supplies to be squatted?

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
True, but it's still odd how it just vanished.

It's really not. GW have a long, long history of gaming accessories and terrain pieces that get a one-off release and then are never seen again.

Had to look it up. Only vaguely remember it. Seems like a nice little trinket to have.

 insaniak wrote:

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
True, but it's still odd how it just vanished.

It's really not. GW have a long, long history of gaming accessories and terrain pieces that get a one-off release and then are never seen again.

That doesn't seem to be a wise business strategy. Was it selling poorly?

It was a limited edition release for 5e. One in working order may be hard to find because they were rather fragile.

This is hilarious because my FLGS has one. I just saw it last week and was like WTF is this? Seirously? And I laughed.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
That doesn't seem to be a wise business strategy. Was it selling poorly?

Welcome to the wonderful world of GW. By releasing a constant stream of limited edition or limited release product, they ensure that these products (usually - see Dreadfleet) sell out, which looks good for the investors.

It's even more silly when they apply it to their core ranges, as they are increasingly doing...

The one good thing about that laser pointer is that it has a hook that lets you center it on the base of a model, which is a pretty nice feature.

Using laser pointers for true LoS is a neat idea.

I remember seeing this at a FLGS for like $15 or something, next door the chinese 1-2-3 dollar store had them for <20% of that.

I can see it being considered a bad idea from a game design standpoint, due to the way that actually stooping down to model-eye-view (supposedly) gets you more engrossed in the game. I say supposedly, I doubt it actually has this effect since you might have to actually do so to check only... once? Twice? Per game to make absolutely sure.

Still, that game design standpoint would go against the over-riding GW policy of "sell anything you can"...

What I think people fail to realize is that GW was selling those things for like $30.

Why buy it for that price? Because it made a cross hair? At that point you're just buying it for the brand name.

I can get one at the corner store for $5 and it comes with 10 different "heads" that make smiley faces, dragons, butterflies and other weird things.

And it comes with extra batteries.

I never thought of getting a laser pointer for true line of sight. What a nice idea. (Off topic, sorry)

A clearer picture:



Apparently, one button lit up the device, and the other just pressed up against the circuit board (apparently there were claims that a basic amount of pressure on the second button cracked the circuit board and broke the device).

probably not many if any buying it since its just a laser pointer.

However the less of those are easily attainable the better. No idea how many donkeyfaces ive come across that get their hands on a laserpointer and start pissing people off with it.

Honestly and truthfully, ive only met about a couple dozen people in my life that were responsible with them...and i lost count how many ive met that had one.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
Back when Warhammer 40,000 5th ed was released, one of the little tools that GW made was a little custom laser pointer, that was supposed to be used to work out True Line of Sight.

However, it does not appear to be under gaming equipment. What happened to it? Was there a health hazard? I just find it odd that it was available for one edition and for the next it wasn't.

Limited releases are limited. Sold out within a week. Not sure what's so odd about limited releases though.

 Rippy wrote:
I never thought of getting a laser pointer for true line of sight. What a nice idea. (Off topic, sorry)

+ 1. That is a really cool idea!

Used one in my last game. The cross hair is cool.

It would be fun to use fibre optic cable and a normal pointer built into my tanks. Run the cables off the pointer, down the gun barrels and with the touch of a button I can see if the tank weapons have LOS. You can even hack the pointer so with the simple touch of a button, opponent’s minis are turned into melted blobs

I have a laser pointer that I bought for that exact use. It has been useful, but more and more my group is getting a sort of unified opinion on is in LoS and what isn't, so it's used less and less.

The item posted is clearly a tau markerlight.

 Kroothawk wrote:

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
Back when Warhammer 40,000 5th ed was released, one of the little tools that GW made was a little custom laser pointer, that was supposed to be used to work out True Line of Sight.

However, it does not appear to be under gaming equipment. What happened to it? Was there a health hazard? I just find it odd that it was available for one edition and for the next it wasn't.

Limited releases are limited. Sold out within a week. Not sure what's so odd about limited releases though.

It was a limited release? I thought it was a just a new thing that was being sold. That explains a lot.

Wait they were limited edition?

I don't think they were specifically marketed as a limited edition, but they were certainly a one-off production run.

I got one of those given to me by a GW staffer.

They came out, and one was broken in its packaging. They couldn't in good faith sell it, so they got a credit on it and threw it, packaging and all into the "bitz box".

I went in for a browse on my birthday weekend, mentioned that was why I was there when asked - and the staffer - who had the same name as me and I considered a friend - tossed me the broken one (the little plastic arc on the back was broken off).

I'd given them tool parts over the years (sub-mm drill bits mostly) when they couldn't get them (I worked in stores and was in charge of stock control. ) I guess it was his way of saying thanks.

I still have it. Now I just use it for infinity.

It's a 1mW diode laser with a diffraction grating on it to make the reticle. The dispersion is hideous at over 6', and even with fresh batteries in it, you'd be hard pressed to see it in daylight.

Yeah, I remember the laser being very weak. It was hard to see what it was targeting.

 n0t_u wrote:
Wait they were limited edition?

They were "while supply lasts" like all the warp grenade templates, also sold out within a week.
Standard procedure for all little gubbins not produced by GW itself.