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I know lots of well off people and those with Daddies credit card do not venture into 'discount stores' as it means mingling with the lower classes.

However, in my local 'Boyes Store.'

You can buy ONE Space marine captain for £18.
OR FORTY Perry Minatures Napoleonic British line Infantry.(High quality multi-part multi-pose 28mm minatures.)

When a single GW plastic figure is 40 times more expencive than minatures sculpted by the Perry Twins in the same scale.
Can we agree that compared to similar products GW stuff is way more expencive than it needs to be?(Mainly down to poor management.)

And while there are those that can still afford the inflated prices.
Remember its the GAMES that drive interest and add value , when there are not enough players in an area, the support for the system will fail.

But as long as those folks defending GW are happy to pay £50 per minature in a few years , they will be ok...

As a railroad tycoon I eagerly await the day when playing Warhammer truly denotes millionaire status. As it stands I have to stoop to playing games with surgeons and engineers instead of my peers.

I agree that GW prices have certainly increased over the year and, as a full time university student, it can be painful at times to shell out for their products. Having said that, it's only as expensive as you make it. You don't need to spend thousands of dollars on minis and terrain, although you certainly could. All a player needs is the starter box, some glue and a bit of paint and you get hours of entertainment for your money. Reading the rules, assembling, painting, and hundreds of hours playing games with friends comes at a relatively small price tag when put into perspective in my opinion. I believe this hobby caters to wages both big and small and is fairly accessible to everyone. The only reason a player might feel this hobby is too expensive is because they can't afford everything they want to play with as opposed to what they need to play the game. You can't always get everything you want, but for a small price tag you can certainly afford everything you need to play.

Hi drock403.
Your argument for value for money applies to the other games that are comparitively cheaper and have better rules than 40k.(In terms of clarity and brevity.)

Yet most other systems have FREE rules , a choice of starter armies, and a similar or cheaper buy in.

When I can get 3 full sized armies and rule sets for different games, for the cost of ONE 1500pt new army for 40k.(Including the rule book and codex.)
Guess where I am spending my hobby budget.

If GW plc was run efficiently ,their RRPs would be less than HALF their current level.

GW originaly moved to plastic production to reduce the cost barrier of the GW hobby.(Buying lots of expencive metal minatures was putting some gamers off starting WHFB/40k.)
Rather than capitalize on the economies of scale plastic production game GW. (Selling far more at cheaper prices.)
They are now maximizing profit on diminishing sales volumes.(Selling less stuff ar much higher prices.)

Personally some of GWs recent releases aren't so bad. I think the marine squads represent reasonably good value. (we'll not talk about the Dire Avengers though)

The characters are a rip though. £18??? You can do better on FW. I checked.

This thread was predicated on a poor premise that could not have, and did not, go anywhere good... but at least we got this gem out of it.

 plastictrees wrote:
As a railroad tycoon I eagerly await the day when playing Warhammer truly denotes millionaire status. As it stands I have to stoop to playing games with surgeons and engineers instead of my peers.

Well said. Have an exalt.

Well, I am actually a millionaire and I personally don't have a problem with GW's prices.

I do have a problem with GW's prices chasing away kids. I believe that the prices and lack of GW stores in malls is equating into fewer and fewer kids picking up 40k. Which means that in 10 years, I'll have fewer people to play.

When I was a little kid, in 1986, GW models were affordable to me via mowing yards. I'm not really sure that is true anymore. I think that GW is being very shortsighted.

GW is the expensive hobby in the cheap hobby market and that really does affect those who are younger at getting into the game. Its very expensive for kids to get into it. For adults its cheap




Honestly compare the costs of a full army of any faction to those of the costs of many other hobbies and Warhammer is cheap.

Golf - Cars - fishing - photography (heck darn just to get a rebel DSLR, the starting block, is £400+ = that's enough for a 2K force right there! A good speedlite flash is a few hundred more - a really good lens can be half to a full £1K and darn don't approach wildlife photography because you can start to get into car prices - good car prices for those lenses)


Also whilst they are on the expensive side most GW prices are not too far off those for other ranges (though I say this when comparing prices in the UK, I know that other world markets the differences can be greater). I will also fully accept that their prices are tending to be on the slightly more expensive side in general.
However lets also not forget that many GW models often come with a lot of optional parts that you do not see from other producers - they tend to make just the one single pose model; GW models are often multi-part models that have many optional components that we do pay for (And provide great resources for conversions).



In the end its really a null debate; if you can't stomach the prices you get out and get another hobby - or you go to Ebay and buy up cheap old armies that others are dumping. If you can stomach then then complaining about the fact that its more expensive than some other things doesn't really do anything but vent.

ANOTHER price thread?!?!

Take it here, please.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/541941.page