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Writing has been on the wall for some time.
Several battalions and battleforces discontinued, no new ones for a while. Instead some bigger and more or less double that expensive boxes like the SM Strikeforce ($225.00) or the Dark Elf Warhost of Naggaroth ($170.00), which are also made compulsory for the most dedicated GW stockists (module 4).

Here the current rumour posted on faeit212:

Anonymous source over at Faeit212 wrote:a memo received from HQ: no more battalions or battle forces. Stores are not restocking them, nor are they re-releasing with army revamps as and when they come.

Consider, the new Dark Elves release didn't come with a battallion, and nor did the Space Marines. All that's going to be coming out now are the big, big megaforce sort of things that come with a free character, or something.

The megaforce thing with the free character seems to be more a historical reference, not the actual name or content.

I guess GW don't want new players having an easy way to expand their armies.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
I guess GW don't want new players having an easy way to expand their armies.

The easy way is to tick the box for everything your heart desires in this free gift guide, and let Mummy and Daddy buy it for you!

Makes sense I don't see why they're necessary when the webstore has all those one-click bundles, just a waste of shelf space.

And they were a bundle of models sold at a discount so GW was deliberately losing money for their shareholders every time they sold one.

You can't have that sort of thing going on and still expect to maximize quarterly dividend yield.

I think the Strikeforce is more appealing when it comes to starting a new army. £105 at Dark Sphere and it looks like what, 800 points or so? Not bad.

The removal of choice is always bad though, so something of a bummer for new players who are unsure about getting involved, especially since DV limits your power armour choices to the rather bland DA book

 scarletsquig wrote:
Makes sense I don't see why they're necessary when the webstore has all those one-click bundles, just a waste of shelf space.

And they were a bundle of models sold at a discount so GW was deliberately losing money for their shareholders every time they sold one.

You can't have that sort of thing going on and still expect to maximize quarterly dividend yield.

On the off chance that isn't sarcastic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader

If they are replacing battleforces with strikeforces that is fine by me. The strikeforces tended to be a better deal anyway.

Can't help thinking it was a self fulfilling prophecy though. They stopped releasing battleforces when the army was first released, instead releasing them several months later after everyone had already bought everything they wanted and the hype had gone. Then they wondered why they weren't selling as much as before?

I really hope this isn't going to happen.

The easiest way to start a new army is a starter box, the codex and a blister pack character model. Job done.
Justifying a 3 item purchase to yourself/spouse/parent is much easier than the character, codex, couple of troop box sets, transport and something else to get to the same amount of figures.
I don't see how this can be anything but bad?

Battalions lose GW profit margin but gain them sales. Net gain.

We got two discount bundles with the space marine release, but they didn't fit the "battleforce" template in that they were bigger. For me, I'm happy enough if they continue in that direction, as I always liked the bigger bundles, but yeah. Sucks for newbies. Courting newbies really doesn't seem to be in GW's MO right now.

They may be switching focus to time-limited boxed sets like Storm Wing and Ghost Warriors. GW have developed a serious love of limited-edition products lately, likely because it helps them plan production/stock in a much easier fashion and the time limit helps to drive sales.

I think we'll see more theme sets like this, designed to push items that may have excess stock. The Ghost Warriors set is an ideal example, as I can't imagine they've sold too many Wraithlords this year in comparison to the newer wraith kits.

 scarletsquig wrote:
Makes sense I don't see why they're necessary when the webstore has all those one-click bundles, just a waste of shelf space.

Not everyone uses the web store, especially not new players who are children.

 scarletsquig wrote:
And they were a bundle of models sold at a discount so GW was deliberately losing money for their shareholders every time they sold one.

That's a remarkably simplistic way of looking at it. The shareholders have nothing to do with it.

 Bull0 wrote:
Courting newbies really doesn't seem to be in GW's MO right now.

That's their only MO.

Sell someone a starter kit, get 'em for 1 Birthday and 1 Christmas, and then they don't care. Battle Forces are perfect for that.

I dunno, they seem to be in the "Sell veterans overpriced limited editions" business these days, while, as has been pointed out, cutting back on the battleforces. That said, they've gotten free and easy with licensing the IP for computer games and such lately, that's got to bring in a few kids.

You do have a point though. Particularly in the stores, the KPIs are intro games, starter set sales, rulebook sales.

 scarletsquig wrote:

Top sarcasm.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 Bull0 wrote:
Courting newbies really doesn't seem to be in GW's MO right now.

That's their only MO.

Sell someone a starter kit, get 'em for 1 Birthday and 1 Christmas, and then they don't care. Battle Forces are perfect for that.

So does that mean "feth everyone!" is GW's new official policy?

No more battleforces? Time to make more supplements for people to throw away their money on..

 Kroothawk wrote:
Writing has been on the wall for some time.
Several battalions and battleforces discontinued, no new ones for a while. Instead some bigger and more or less double that expensive boxes like the SM Strikeforce ($225.00) or the Dark Elf Warhost of Naggaroth ($170.00), which are also made compulsory for the most dedicated GW stockists (module 4).

Here the current rumour posted on faeit212:

Anonymous source over at Faeit212 wrote:a memo received from HQ: no more battalions or battle forces. Stores are not restocking them, nor are they re-releasing with army revamps as and when they come.

Consider, the new Dark Elves release didn't come with a battallion, and nor did the Space Marines. All that's going to be coming out now are the big, big megaforce sort of things that come with a free character, or something.

The megaforce thing with the free character seems to be more a historical reference, not the actual name or content.

Those were army boxes not megaforces. They included the army book within the box and in the case of Fantasy there was also a Battle Standard Bearer character and the boxes were pretty expensive.

The Strike Force at $225 is $320 worth of product--and what's more, it ticks most of the requirements for starting an army.
The Warhost of Naggaroth is $212.50 worth of product at $170--and again, it ticks most of the checklist for actually starting an army.

Personally I would have liked to see a battalion but I'm not too fussed by the addition of the bigger boxes.

so...the batallions are being replaced by things that are almost identical to batallions, only bigger and with a larger saving?

The negative response to this doesn't surprise me in the least. Gw could double the size of tactical squads for the same price and we'd still get the exact same replies - gw hates money, gw are going under, and gw don't care a damn about newcomers/vets.

Personally i couldn't give a damn since the ig one was useless anyway. Back when it had russes it was worth something, but who wants a sentinal?

"Larger saving", gak.

Larger savings don't matter to people who don't want to shell out that kind of money in one go. Some people want smaller bundles, you know, for less money.

You're missing the point. It's a larger saving, but you're being asked to spend twice as much in one go. That's off-putting to newer customers, who by and large were already put off by the prices in the first place. I still remember when I bought my first Tau battleforce, standing around in the store for like half an hour just mulling it over and asking myself "Do I really want to spend $100 today on toys?", and the old Tau battleforce was only $90 and actually considered a good deal on top of that. Luckily for me I got a 10% discount to help it sting less...to this day I'm still not sure why, but I appreciated it.

And the larger saving is only worth it if you actually want everything in the box. Like you said, "Who wants a sentinel?" It doesn't matter if there's lots of stuff and a big discount if you're not going to use half the box because it's currently crap, or has been crap for several editions and GW can't sell the models any other way.

Basically te individual box prices have risen to be so close to the original £50-70 price point of battle forces that it becomes impossible to offer a multi kit box at that price point. This is why you are now starting to see the new £100+ bundles. It's a consequence of rising prices, so essentially the new £100+ boxes are the replacement battleforces/battalions.

I think that was when Battleforces went up to £60 from £50. Or £80 from £60, or whatever the most recent gouge was :(

The loss of battle forces is a blow, as they were for over a decade a good way to build up an army with solid units, and they generally had a pretty good discount. Some were better than others (Tau, Ogres, and Wolves had amazing boxes back in the day).

It's not a surprise, and the mega deals will offer some of the same function, but nothing could bootstrap a new army like the Battle forces. I think staying under $100 was a good thing for new players.

I am a harsh critic of GW. However, I do not see this as bad. The main issue for vets is the discount. Given that the larger boxes are still discounted at a good rate, I do not see any issue.

For a beginner, a one box purchase that puts you well on your way to having an army is very good. Many kids parents bought them a battalion and a character, but stopped short of buying a proper army. Thus, they could not truly get into the game. This way, the initial purchase will give them something much closer to a fieldable force.

 fishy bob wrote:
"Larger saving", gak.

Larger savings don't matter to people who don't want to shell out that kind of money in one go. Some people want smaller bundles, you know, for less money.

when the average box costs around £30, i think there's a limit to how big the savings can be in a box only twice that amount.

Plus most of the batalions weren't even legal forces, and if they were then they sucked.

 Polonius wrote:
The loss of battle forces is a blow, as they were for over a decade a good way to build up an army with solid units, and they generally had a pretty good discount. Some were better than others (Tau, Ogres, and Wolves had amazing boxes back in the day).

It's not a surprise, and the mega deals will offer some of the same function, but nothing could bootstrap a new army like the Battle forces. I think staying under $100 was a good thing for new players.

I agree with most of what you're saying, but a big thing is exactly what you mention:
Some were better than others.

If the Warhost is the "new standard", I look forward to a High Elf set--especially if they get over their apparent fear of keeping the Lothern Sea Guard frames as direct only.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 spaceelf wrote:
I am a harsh critic of GW. However, I do not see this as bad. The main issue for vets is the discount. Given that the larger boxes are still discounted at a good rate, I do not see any issue.

For a beginner, a one box purchase that puts you well on your way to having an army is very good. Many kids parents bought them a battalion and a character, but stopped short of buying a proper army. Thus, they could not truly get into the game. This way, the initial purchase will give them something much closer to a fieldable force.

The Warhost of Naggaroth, it's worth mentioning, gives you a potential three hero option box.

The Fleetmaster(obvious choice as he gets billed as "the leader"), a High Beastmaster(part of the Scourgerunner Chariot), or a Master/Dreadlord(part of the Cold One Chariot).
With a bit of fiddling you can have a Fleetmaster(or a generic Master/Dreadlord with a Sea Dragon Cloak), a High Beastmaster and his Scourgerunner Chariot(High Beastmasters must be mounted on either a Manticore or a Chariot sadly), and a pair of Masters/Dreadlords on foot(the crew from the Cold One Chariot are multipart with the bodies being very clearly "Cold One" and "Scourgerunner").

Add to it the 20 Corsairs, 5 Cold One Knights, and 20 Warriors(player's choice of armaments) you have a pretty good start for a Dark Elf force with a good amount of options.

jonolikespie wrote:

 scarletsquig wrote:
Makes sense I don't see why they're necessary when the webstore has all those one-click bundles, just a waste of shelf space.

And they were a bundle of models sold at a discount so GW was deliberately losing money for their shareholders every time they sold one.

You can't have that sort of thing going on and still expect to maximize quarterly dividend yield.

On the off chance that isn't sarcastic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader

H.B.M.C. wrote:

 scarletsquig wrote:
Makes sense I don't see why they're necessary when the webstore has all those one-click bundles, just a waste of shelf space.

Not everyone uses the web store, especially not new players who are children.

 scarletsquig wrote:
And they were a bundle of models sold at a discount so GW was deliberately losing money for their shareholders every time they sold one.

That's a remarkably simplistic way of looking at it. The shareholders have nothing to do with it.

Hey, where is your sarcasm detector.

xruslanx wrote:so...the batallions are being replaced by things that are almost identical to batallions, only bigger and with a larger saving?

GW could make a "buy 15 Broadsides and get 2 for free" starter bundles ... and beginners would still complain about the 1000$ price tag

Point is, that GW is systematically destroying all incentives to start the game.

If the Strikeforces are in a similar setup to the previous two Christmases, they should be giving around a 30% discount, plus you can often find stores that make a 10, 20 or 25% discount doable. That's a pretty decent chunk off GW's normal cost. It's actually a decision I don't think is too bad. And at that cost, the discount can be better than "look, a free rhino!" It's a good mix of models. I promised I'd compliment when they make good decisions. I think this is one, even if the cost is a bit higher. Hell, we all know I support Mantic's choices and they do big boxes like this too that sell at $180-250. Why would I knock GW if Mantic does the same? Both offer fair discounts at that bulk purchase (in one box).

The Strikeforce is not a "splash release" item, nor is the Warhost apparently.

Stores are lucky to have the 100$ battalion sold to a rich teen once in a while, esp. around Xmas.
But 200$ is way beyond the reach of teens even around Xmas.
Only positive thing: customers learn from the start, that only rich fanatics are supported, not children, teens or casual gamers.

 Kroothawk wrote:
Stores are lucky to have the 100$ battalion sold to a rich teen once in a while, esp. around Xmas.
But 200$ is way beyond the reach of teens even around Xmas.
Only positive thing: customers learn from the start, that only rich fanatics are supported, not children, teens or casual gamers.

Oh please. Enough of this damn nonsense.