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If like me you were probably shocked by this Friday’s release of the new Warhammer Fantasy “End Times” series sudden 11 minute sellout of the new hardback books. Only the limited edition held out for a few hours, for those willing to spend $165.00 to ensure they get a physical book. I’ve noticed this trend more and more over the past year for any new supplement books that GW releases. As a consumer I am most certainly not a fan of the practice of making less than what there is a demand for. However, hats off to GW as they sell all of the hardback books of these new supplements and then anyone who is unable to order online, get to a GW/local hobby store, or afford the EBay reseller prices is then force to buy a digital copy.

After all why spend all that money on product materials for unsold products to just sit on a shelf. Create a low number of products, save the money, and then offer the digital product that takes up no store space. Makes perfect business sense, but still pisses me off to no end. Perhaps I should be happy that GW is being so financially smart about this, after all the more successful they are in business the longer they’ll stick around.

However, I really do not like being rushed into buying any new supplements when they come out. Selling out in 11 minutes seems rather extreme to me, and this sellout occurred even with a limit of 1 per customer. I’m not writing this post to whine about not getting the new supplement (I managed to pre-order a copy), but I find forcing many GW fans to pay for digital copies to be in rather poor form on GW’s part. In a hobby where we enthusiasts work so much with our hands I think having a physical book to thumb through and to then add it to ones library is something that is still savored by many hobbyists. The digital copies I do own are read more for a quick reference on a unit, rule, or some other tidbit of information and not for the enjoyment I get from a new book. Perhaps I’m just reeling against this change, and have passed the threshold to being a crotchety old cook.

What is your thought on the recent books selling out so fast?

One theory. GW printed a set number of hardbacks. Retailers get 1st dibs.

In the past campaigns & supplements didn't sell well (Storm of Magic, Sigmars blood, Triumph & Trechery). Stores were not willing to buy the end times book 1 because previous supplements sold like gak.

So we saw nagash take a while to sell out. But it did. not retailers are more confident & ordered more copies of Glottkin, which sold out in 7 hours. This makes retailers even MORE confident & they buy even MORE copies of Khaine. Thus the direct to consumer pool of books is shrinking (and thus selling faster) because the retailers are taking more off the top.

Also GW is supposedly releasing softcovers.

I agree that it seems absolutely ridiculous how fast they sold out. At the same time tho it is a positive thing to me. It means fantasy is getting lots of attention and the community is starting to notice it more.

Nagash...few weeks to sell out?
Glottkin....few days?
Khaine...10 minutes?
Skaven or next book....2.8 seconds?

I'm glad that my flgs gets copies in. He still has a glotkin book in and had the nagash in still last week but I think someone picked it up. Still have 2 or 3 copies of spacehulk too.

Anyways I wouldn't preorder online anyways because I'd just get it from my flgs because I don't have the time to constantly check the gw message and be ready to order the new book within minutes lol

@chief, grab that glottkin & ebay it. Theyyre selling for between 120 & 150 USD.

Also I agree with the support the LGS mentality. The issue is my LGS doesn't do pre-orders or reserves because they've been burned in the past by people reserving but never paying and when GW pushed back the Tau 3 times people got pissed. It kinda sucks but I understand why & they blanket the policy to be fair to everyone.

 Shas'O Dorian wrote:
@chief, grab that glottkin & ebay it. Theyyre selling for between 120 & 150 USD.

Also I agree with the support the LGS mentality. The issue is my LGS doesn't do pre-orders or reserves because they've been burned in the past by people reserving but never paying and when GW pushed back the Tau 3 times people got pissed. It kinda sucks but I understand why & they blanket the policy to be fair to everyone.

For realz? I should if that's the case but by the time i do the soft backs will be out probably haha

I'm not sure if my flgs owner let's you preorder these books but he always has enough copies usually

You never know they might just be getting rid of the normal books or faking it selling out so that people buy the limited editions up real fast. Dunno if that'd happen but it's possible i guess.

As I've mentioned in one of the other threads (and lambasted by white knights), GWs current policy on under production has shoved me out of their games.

I've played WHFB for 30 years and 40K since 1998. I have 4-5 armies for each and spend money each month on the hobby. However for most of this year, I trundle down to my local model shop to get my WD on release saturday. I read it that morning and then go online to buy my choices only to find that they're no longer available.
GW have lost £391 in sales from me in the last few months because of this. In fact since Summer I bought in to Deadzone and play that instead of 40k. I now am going to try Kings of War for my fantasy fix.
I no longer see the point in trying to play a game that I can't spend my money on even when I try to.
I've stuck by the game for 30 years despite a few dubious editions and changes, but for the time being I'm quitting.

I will keep an eye on GW and its games, if they stop their current ridiculous marketing methods then I'll come back. But for now, as I can't get what I'd like. It's pointless trying.

I hope the new CEO fixes it. It's been a huge chunk of my life. But, it could be the start of 30 years of money for Mantic.

Oh, and releasing the paperbacks several months after the interest in that campaign section has waned is rather pointless imo. They need to do some market research rather than guess how many copies of the standard hardbacks are needed.

 Gimgamgoo wrote:
As I've mentioned in one of the other threads (and lambasted by white knights), GWs current policy on under production has shoved me out of their games.

I've played WHFB for 30 years and 40K since 1998. I have 4-5 armies for each and spend money each month on the hobby. However for most of this year, I trundle down to my local model shop to get my WD on release saturday. I read it that morning and then go online to buy my choices only to find that they're no longer available.
GW have lost £391 in sales from me in the last few months because of this. In fact since Summer I bought in to Deadzone and play that instead of 40k. I now am going to try Kings of War for my fantasy fix.
I no longer see the point in trying to play a game that I can't spend my money on even when I try to.
I've stuck by the game for 30 years despite a few dubious editions and changes, but for the time being I'm quitting.

I will keep an eye on GW and its games, if they stop their current ridiculous marketing methods then I'll come back. But for now, as I can't get what I'd like. It's pointless trying.

I hope the new CEO fixes it. It's been a huge chunk of my life. But, it could be the start of 30 years of money for Mantic.

Oh, and releasing the paperbacks several months after the interest in that campaign section has waned is rather pointless imo. They need to do some market research rather than guess how many copies of the standard hardbacks are needed.

Wait, you're quitting because... the books sell too fast?

Off back to lurking. Pointless trying to make a clear point here without attempts at being ridiculed.

I thought it was clear. I'm jacking it in because for the last 6 months nearly everything I've wanted to purchase to improve the game I've played for 30 years has been made in such miniscule amounts that they are impossible to purchase.

If this starts to change, then I'll come back. GWs loss. Mantics gain as it stands.

 Gimgamgoo wrote:
Off back to lurking. Pointless trying to make a clear point here without attempts at being ridiculed.

I thought it was clear. I'm jacking it in because for the last 6 months nearly everything I've wanted to purchase to improve the game I've played for 30 years has been made in such miniscule amounts that they are impossible to purchase.

If this starts to change, then I'll come back. GWs loss. Mantics gain as it stands.

End Times is not an improvement.

Nagash and KFA do nothing but exclude none-End Times book armies. Unless said armies have massed artillery.

I thought they were selling out so quickly because they determined the size of the print run before selling Nagash. Back then their impression was that WFB wasn't as popular because it didn't sell as well as 40k.

When Nagash sold out quickly I think it stunned them.

Which is why I see the rumoured new softcover release as a great step forward for GW in looking after its customers.

I am another devoted player with 10 armies living abroad in Indonesia. No GW shops anywhere nearby (in the region...not even Singapore, which baffles me), and no real FLGS here in a city of 20 million. So I am pretty much out of luck. Because of the time difference, by the time I even SAW the products on the website, they had all sold out.

So...I guess it is time to go digital, or find a new hobby, as people have discussed here. Or just wait... Thirty years is a long time. If things are not perfect right now, perhaps another window will open later on. That's certainly the way I have to look at it, being able to play only every few months or so.

Softcover releases would be great, but I don't really think that's likely given that all new Army Books/Codex have been hard cover for a while now.