IG/Astra Militarum Rumours for April (first post updated 12th April)

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**warboss**

H.B.M.C. wrote:
'Cause the last thing we want is our customer base getting excited about upcoming products.

Total unending secrecy, even in the face of Armageddon!

Um... I hate to break it to you but it worked on you. You had no clue about the void shield generator a week ago and sprung at the chance with only days of LEAKED notice. Why should they spend time/money/effort to advertise?

**tjnorwoo**

Finished my own IG update

**Snrub**

H.B.M.C. wrote:
'Cause the last thing we want is our customer base getting excited about upcoming products.

Total unending secrecy, even in the face of Armageddon!

Armageddon was a big hit though. It was run over 4 or 5 white dwarfs wasn't it?

**H.B.M.C.**

warboss wrote:
Um... I hate to break it to you but it worked on you. You had no clue about the void shield generator a week ago and sprung at the chance with only days of LEAKED notice. Why should they spend time/money/effort to advertise?

The only reason we knew about it was due to leaked information. GW said nothing about it until they put it up for pre-orders.

**jonolikespie**

H.B.M.C. wrote:
warboss wrote:
Um... I hate to break it to you but it worked on you. You had no clue about the void shield generator a week ago and sprung at the chance with only days of LEAKED notice. Why should they spend time/money/effort to advertise?

The only reason we knew about it was due to leaked information. GW said nothing about it until they put it up for pre-orders.

I think he is trying to say that people leaked the into, advertising for GW, and since it sold out so fast it seemed to have worked so why should GW bother paying to advertise.

The response to which would be that selling out all of 1,000 units is nothing special and that every other retail company in the history of forever seems to recognize the importance of marketing, and GW are not the exception.

**Andilus Greatsword**

azreal13 wrote:
Andilus Greatsword wrote:
Dunno if this has been said yet, but still no advanced orders... or will that be tomorrow instead?

Erm, what?

Pre order for the VSG went up last night (GMT) and sold out almost immediately. The pre orders for IG were never expected until next week, and will go up Friday evening as is the new formula.

First page says multiple times that preorders were predicted for Mar. 22nd for the Codex.

**Avian**

BoLS said the 22nd, and you should know by now that they're a bunch of lying douchebags. The scanned photo says 29th for the first batch.

**Kroothawk**

Andilus Greatsword wrote:
azreal13 wrote:
Andilus Greatsword wrote:
Dunno if this has been said yet, but still no advanced orders... or will that be tomorrow instead?

Erm, what?
Pre order for the VSG went up last night (GMT) and sold out almost immediately. The pre orders for IG were never expected until next week, and will go up Friday evening as is the new formula.

First page says multiple times that preorders were predicted for Mar. 22nd for the Codex.

Thread title implies that the April releases were pushed back to April

**Bull0**

He's right though, you could update the first post now that it's the 23rd and Larry Vela is wrong again.

**Perfect Organism**

Does anyone else find it odd that there's no mention of plastic character models? I was convinced that there was going to be a plastic commissar at the very least...

**AllSeeingSkink**

Perfect Organism wrote:
Does anyone else find it odd that there's no mention of plastic character models? I was convinced that there was going to be a plastic commissar at the very least...

Not really, given that we already have the plastic command squad. Not surprised there's no plastic commissars either, given we have 4 basic commissar models already + steel legion commissar + Yarrick + DKOK commissars.

**Mathieu Raymond**

None of them are plastic, though? How long will they keep finecast in production? We know they're not destroying all the moulds post haste, but they haven't introduced new sculpts that way, and it would seem like a reasonable assumption to...

...never mind, I figured it out.

**Kanluwen**

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
Perfect Organism wrote:
Does anyone else find it odd that there's no mention of plastic character models? I was convinced that there was going to be a plastic commissar at the very least...
Not really, given that we already have the plastic command squad. Not surprised there's no plastic commissars either, given we have 4 basic commissar models already + steel legion commissar + Yarrick + DKOK commissars.

So far we've only seen two "release waves" for the Guard stuff. One is the Militarum Tempestus "wave", with the Stormtrooper Command squad/Stormtrooper squad dual box and the Taurox Prime/Taurox and the Militarum Tempestus codex.
The other is the Astra Militarum "wave", with the Astra Militarum codex, the Ogryn and Bullgryn dual box and the Hydra dual box.

GW is pushing for each army to have at least one plastic clamshell blister character so I would be really surprised if we do not see one.

**Perfect Organism**

Kanluwen wrote:
GW is pushing for each army to have at least one plastic clamshell blister character so I would be really surprised if we do not see one.

The Tyranids didn't get one, did they? Although Tyranids do seem to be the 'odd one out' in a lot of ways.

**warboss**

H.B.M.C. wrote:
warboss wrote:
Um... I hate to break it to you but it worked on you. You had no clue about the void shield generator a week ago and sprung at the chance with only days of LEAKED notice. Why should they spend time/money/effort to advertise?

The only reason we knew about it was due to leaked information. GW said nothing about it until they put it up for pre-orders.

My point is that they did practically nothing to advertise it and they sold out in minutes. Granted it was a modest world wide supply but they sold out in minutes nonetheless and made an easy $100,000. They have no reason to advertise is they meet their own goals so spectacularly without spending the time/money/effort to plug their products. It's odd that you complain about it yet fell for it completely hook, line, and sinker. As long as there as thousands of people like yourself, they don't need to advertise. Just in case it's not clear, I'm not trying to insult you or anything but rather point out that complaining about the lack of notice when you yourself frankly don't need any notice to jump at the chance to buy new unannounced products is contradictory. You may want advertising but why should they spend the money on it since it won't affect their bottom line for these types of releases? The only reason to advertise is to sell more which would be pointless for a limited release as thousands of people are willing to jump on stuff with no notice.

**Kanluwen**

Perfect Organism wrote:
Kanluwen wrote:
GW is pushing for each army to have at least one plastic clamshell blister character so I would be really surprised if we do not see one.

The Tyranids didn't get one, did they? Although Tyranids do seem to be the 'odd one out' in a lot of ways.

They didn't get one, but I think the only viable option would have been Deathleaper--which, purportedly, has never been a stellar selling model in Finecast or metal. Another option would have been a Broodlord I guess, but he's not an HQ.

I think with Tyranids there's a bit of a weirdness when it comes to characters.

**AllSeeingSkink**

I guess they could do a plastic company commander.

Though I still don't think they HAVE to do a plastic character given we already have the plastic command squad and a bunch of commissar options.

I believe with the 4 kits we already know about, that's already equal to or more than many armies have gotten with their release in recent times.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

H.B.M.C. wrote:
warboss wrote:
Um... I hate to break it to you but it worked on you. You had no clue about the void shield generator a week ago and sprung at the chance with only days of LEAKED notice. Why should they spend time/money/effort to advertise?

The only reason we knew about it was due to leaked information. GW said nothing about it until they put it up for pre-orders.

But it didn't make any difference. If the info wasn't leaked, it probably would have sold out in a couple of days instead of 1.

I still am of the opinion that GW isn't necessarily wrong in their strategy of not releasing info prior to releasing the models. I'm not going to go as far to say they're right either, but I don't think it's as clear cut as all that. IMO, miniature sales are more likely to be impulse sales than hype sales. Also unlike video games and movies, miniatures are sold for the same amount at release as they are 3 months after release, so where video games benefit from massive day 1 and/or preorder sales, miniatures it doesn't really matter if you buy them in the first week, the first month or the first year.

Now, I think they could benefit from more mainstream advertising, but I'm not convinced they benefit from prerelease advertising.

**Zweischneid**

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
But it didn't make any difference. If the info wasn't leaked, it probably would have sold out in a couple of days instead of 1..

In retrospect? Yes.

But there is nothing saying GW could've known that ahead of time. It could've just as easily been the next DreadFleet.

GW has recent experiences with plastic terrain kits (Aquila Strongpoint, etc..)
GW knows how many Stronghold Assault books they sold.

So the VSG proved significantly more popular than GW had guessed based on the above two? Great for them. But hardly a DreadFleet-style disaster. And by capping explicitly as LE, they also avoided looking like the dumbasses FFG currently are being once again with their inability to ship Imperial Aces for X-Wing. GW's been there before when demand exploded beyond all expectations (e.g. Riptide). So they played it safe.

Spoiler:

It's a pity not everyone who wanted got one, but that is arguably the point of a Limited Edition.

Frankly, the only way I could think of for companies like FFG or GW to match production runs to demand and not be left sitting on stock taking up expensive warhouses, would be to "pre-measure" demand with sites like Kickstarter.com (or a clone of that on their own website, still diverting FLGS though). But we all know what kind of [Please find a different way to express yourself - thanks! - Alpharius] that would start.

**AllSeeingSkink**

Zweischneid wrote:
AllSeeingSkink wrote:
But it didn't make any difference. If the info wasn't leaked, it probably would have sold out in a couple of days instead of 1..

In retrospect? Yes.

But there is nothing saying GW could've known that ahead of time. It could've just as easily been the next DreadFleet.

GW has recent experiences with plastic terrain kits (Aquila Strongpoint, etc..)
GW knows how many Stronghold Assault books they sold.

My point wasn't so much that it was bad they sold out, but rather that they didn't need to do prerelease advertising when they sold out in a few minutes with nothing more than a leak 1 or so weeks prior, even without the leak they probably would have sold out in a day or two.

So the product proved significantly more popular than GW had guessed? Great for them. But hardly a DreadFleet-style disaster. And by capping explicitly as LE, they also avoided looking like the dumbasses FFG currently are being once again with their inability to ship Imperial Aces for X-Wing. GW's been there before when demand exploded beyond all expectations (e.g. Riptide). So they played it safe.

Except they are going to look like arses because according to the other thread, they DID over sell the kits....

Kroothawk wrote:

Concerning angry faces:

a reader on Faeit 212 wrote:Just heard that the void shield generators have been over sold, so even if you have confirmation of order you may not be getting one! I'm one of the unlucky ones :-( they took payment but no order for confirmation. I was talking to customer service and they confirmed they had not only charged to many people, but they had indeed over sold them. Some people will be very unhappy soon...

**Zweischneid**

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
Except they are going to look like arses because according to the other thread, they DID over sell the kits....

Sure. If they indeed oversold, it'll be a feth-up. But I'd wait until next weeks shipping, and see if this actually is true and people who paid won't get one, before passing judgement.

Either way, GW has a week to "fix" it. Perhaps we get a few sneaking "LE Chaos Space Marines Codex"-style extra copies if they (truly) oversold by a few.

http://imgur.com/a/2csqE

Or perhaps the Faeit-"reader" is just pissed and slinging mud, cause he didn't get one. I find it unlikely (though not impossible, just unlikely) that some GW customer-service guy would (a) know and (b) tell random-person-on-the-phone that they screwed up big time.

**Bull0**

Zweischneid wrote:

Either way, GW has a week to "fix" it. Perhaps we get a few sneaking "LE Chaos Space Marines Codex"-style extra copies if they (truly) oversold by a few.

http://imgur.com/a/2csqE

Can confirm LE CSM was weird, mine came with 2 different numbering cards :/

**Storm Shadow**

ugh, can't wait to get my hands on those scions.

**Shandara**

Zweischneid wrote:

Frankly, the only way I could think of for companies like FFG or GW to match production runs to demand and not be left sitting on stock taking up expensive warhouses, would be to "pre-measure" demand with sites like Kickstarter.com (or a clone of that on their own website, still diverting FLGS though). But we all know what kind of [Please find a different way to express yourself - thanks! - Alpharius] that would start.

Well they could have a real pre-order period where they gauge interest instead of just the one week. It irked me to no end that they used to have a week of pre-orders where things sell out and then sometimes only mention the product in WD a week or two later.

Even now it was sold out before WH:Visions was officially available.

**AlexHolker**

Zweischneid wrote:
And by capping explicitly as LE, they also avoided looking like the dumbasses FFG currently are being once again with their inability to ship Imperial Aces for X-Wing. GW's been there before when demand exploded beyond all expectations (e.g. Riptide). So they played it safe.

That is an incredibly stupid argument, Zwei. If one of your products sells ten times better than you predicted, you work hard to meet that unexpected demand and thus make up to ten times more money. You don't just sit there with your thumb up your ass and pretend that selling out of pre-orders 7 days before release is meaningfully better than selling out 6 days before release. That is money left on the table. That makes you look like a dumbass.

**Zweischneid**

AlexHolker wrote:
Zweischneid wrote:
And by capping explicitly as LE, they also avoided looking like the dumbasses FFG currently are being once again with their inability to ship Imperial Aces for X-Wing. GW's been there before when demand exploded beyond all expectations (e.g. Riptide). So they played it safe.

That is an incredibly stupid argument, Zwei. If one of your products sells ten times better than you predicted, you work hard to meet that unexpected demand and thus make up to ten times more money. You don't just sit there with your thumb up your ass and pretend that selling out of pre-orders 7 days before release is meaningfully better than selling out 6 days before release. That is money left on the table. That makes you look like a dumbass.

I don't think GW is pretending that their quick sold-out is anything, positive or negative. They had a production run and it's gone. They had a production run of the LE Imperial Knights Codex and are still sitting on more than half of it.

Just the way it is. Some things go quickly, some things don't. Again, in retrospect, GW could've sold more of the VSG. I also think they wish they'd only made 500 or perhaps only 250 of the LE Imperial Knights Codex, not 1000. Hindsight is always easy. But that doesn't mean the VSG was a bad move.

I keep hearing this stupid argument about how GW is "proud" of selling LE-things fast? Is there a link to these kinda boasts? Because I can't find them. Sure, LE is a tool to push sales into a smaller timeframe, but a sale is still a sale in the books and financial reports as far as I can see, LE or not.

**Azreal13**

AlexHolker wrote:
Zweischneid wrote:
And by capping explicitly as LE, they also avoided looking like the dumbasses FFG currently are being once again with their inability to ship Imperial Aces for X-Wing. GW's been there before when demand exploded beyond all expectations (e.g. Riptide). So they played it safe.

That is an incredibly stupid argument, Zwei. If one of your products sells ten times better than you predicted, you work hard to meet that unexpected demand and thus make up to ten times more money. You don't just sit there with your thumb up your ass and pretend that selling out of pre-orders 7 days before release is meaningfully better than selling out 6 days before release. That is money left on the table. That makes you look like a dumbass.

For the record, I'm expecting my Imperial Aces tomorrow.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Zweischneid wrote:
AlexHolker wrote:
Zweischneid wrote:
And by capping explicitly as LE, they also avoided looking like the dumbasses FFG currently are being once again with their inability to ship Imperial Aces for X-Wing. GW's been there before when demand exploded beyond all expectations (e.g. Riptide). So they played it safe.

That is an incredibly stupid argument, Zwei. If one of your products sells ten times better than you predicted, you work hard to meet that unexpected demand and thus make up to ten times more money. You don't just sit there with your thumb up your ass and pretend that selling out of pre-orders 7 days before release is meaningfully better than selling out 6 days before release. That is money left on the table. That makes you look like a dumbass.

I don't think GW is pretending that their quick sold-out is anything, positive or negative. They had a production run and it's gone. They had a production run of the LE Imperial Knights Codex and are still sitting on more than half of it.

Just the way it is. Some things go quickly, some things don't. Again, in retrospect, GW could've sold more of the VSG. I also think they wish they'd only made 500 or perhaps only 250 of the LE Imperial Knights Codex, not 1000. Hindsight is always easy. But that doesn't mean the VSG was a bad move.

I keep hearing this stupid argument about how GW is "proud" of selling LE-things fast? Is there a link to these kinda boasts? Because I can't find them. Sure, LE is a tool to push sales into a smaller timeframe, but a sale is still a sale in the books and financial reports as far as I can see, LE or not.

You know what doesn't show in the books and financial reports?

All the sales that didn't happen because there wasn't stock in hand to fulfil demand.

**Zweischneid**

azreal13 wrote:

You know what doesn't show in the books and financial reports?

All the sales that didn't happen because there wasn't stock in hand to fulfil demand.

Yes. But you know what does show?

All the unsold product regularly destroyed to keep expensive storage to a minimum, as well as the cost of producing it, and the costs of a bloated inventory that has far too much "we'll stock this forever", when a leaner GW could probably live with half of their current range as "always available" and move a lot more to "LE" or "until stocks lasts". 90% of the board game and miniatures gaming (and book) industry runs entirely on this concept.

There's a print-run for... dunno... FFG's Imperial Aces or Z-Man Games latest Board Game or the latest MtG expansion or the latest Twilight Novel. And when it's gone, it's gone. If it sells exceptionally well, there might be a second (and third) print-run. But not unless people are confident the entire new print-run will also sell again. If not, they don't bother. Storing stuff over long periods isn't worth it. Only GW even bothers with a good size of their range.

The (real) costs of having too much of something far exceed the (opportunity) costs of having not enough of something.

**AlexHolker**

Zweischneid wrote:
They had a production run and it's gone.

Then you make another production run. Smart companies notice that people want to buy their product and actually do something about it, by selling them their product.

Zweischneid wrote:
All the unsold product regularly destroyed to keep expensive storage to a minimum, as well as the cost of producing it, and the costs of a bloated inventory that has far too much "we'll stock this forever", when a leaner GW could probably live with half of their current range as "always available" and move a lot more to "LE" or "until stocks lasts".

If that happens then Games Workshop should die. Such a company would be a parasite that is fundamentally at odds with the customer's goals of bringing in new blood so they can actually play a game, and we'd all be better off if they stopped sucking up so much of the oxygen in the room.

**AllSeeingSkink**

Maybe we should at the very least try and keep the discussion about IG if not IG rumours.

**Azreal13**

Zweischneid wrote:
azreal13 wrote:

You know what doesn't show in the books and financial reports?

All the sales that didn't happen because there wasn't stock in hand to fulfil demand.

Yes. But you know what does show?

All the unsold product regularly destroyed to keep expensive storage to a minimum, as well as the cost of producing it, and the costs of a bloated inventory that has far too much "we'll stock this forever", when a leaner GW could probably live with half of their current range as "always available" and move a lot more to "LE" or "until stocks lasts". 90% of the board game and miniatures gaming (and book) industry runs entirely on this concept.

Except this seldom happens, as your inventory is an asset, and if you've been stuck with it for a while, you can devalue it and offset the reduction in value against tax.

But, as mentioned, if you're doing this frequently, you deserve to fail. In the day and age where even I, as essentially a one man operation, can employ a system which can provide me with extensive info about my sales and the composition of SKUs that comprise them, and predict future sales based in that, and you're also the market leader with 30 years of experience selling your product, what does this say about the level of competence on show?

Automatically Appended Next Post:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
Maybe we should at the very least try and keep the discussion about IG if not IG rumours.

You're very right, I nearly fell into the "weekend click bait trap," I must be more careful.