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Hey guys,

Usually I dont complain about GW prices because I can justify them in my head. But I just checked out the new releases this week for AOS. I was baffled to find that 3 prosectuors are 60$. And the two new hero guys are 40$. Who the heck would buy these. If you want 6 prosecutors just buy a starter set and trade the chaos away for another stormcast side. And if you want the new weapons just convert them! Im blown away by how ridiculous this is.

It's pretty much the same pricing structure as everything GW. Who buys 3 dragon ogres, 3 skull crushers, 1 Tzeentch hero on disc etc?

The only thing too expensive IMO are the Liberators and Judicators.

I was actually a bit relieved the prosecutors weren't Centurion priced ($78), since my wife wants 2 boxes, and I want 1 for myself.

The hero is on a full size sprue and is a way better deal than most GW heroes, which are all expensive. It's even a 2 character kit (you can configure it as one of 2 different heroes) which is unusual.

Hero is a dual kit on a full sprue. .. so you are paying for both.


Prosecutors are more detailed, large models and come with different heads and weapon options, which is why they cost so much.

It's one full sprue... for $70aud

A tac squad is $65aud for 3 full sprues.

I really wish GW would just charge based on the cost to manufacture, which entirely comes down to tooling the mold for the sprues. 1 sprue = X price, 2 sprues = 2X, etc.

I don't understand it. If you buy the models separately you only get the three Prosecutors and seven basic sigmarines from the AoS starter set. The rest you get for free. That's well over half the sigmarine faction included as well as all of the khornates.

I suppose if you were really into sigmarines and down to your last £35 and you wanted prosecutors ASAP than it makes sense, but that's quite the niche customer.

Its funny, im new at making models, but warmachine was about the same price or sometimes more. Malifax seems kinda cheap tho.

Dreadnok89 wrote:
Its funny, im new at making models, but warmachine was about the same price or sometimes more. Malifax seems kinda cheap tho.

Yeah warmachine is super expensive. My friends tried to get me into it and I just asked them why would I get into a game that has lower quality models and they cost me an arm and a leg.

A single box of models can look expensive for Warmachine but you'll never need more than that 1 box of something.

A single box of 10 troops in Fantasy was cheaper, but you needed 4 of those boxes.

AoS is.. I suppose you can spend as much or as little as you want on it but if you opponent spends more you better hope you can pull off Sudden Death.

 jonolikespie wrote:
A single box of models can look expensive for Warmachine but you'll never need more than that 1 box of something.

A single box of 10 troops in Fantasy was cheaper, but you needed 4 of those boxes.

AoS is.. I suppose you can spend as much or as little as you want on it but if you opponent spends more you better hope you can pull off Sudden Death.

Unfortunately there are way too many powerful theme forces for that to really feel true with Warmachine now, and they're even worse in that I have no idea if the extra models will be usable when they finally decide to make a third edition.

 jonolikespie wrote:
It's one full sprue... for $70aud

A tac squad is $65aud for 3 full sprues.

I really wish GW would just charge based on the cost to manufacture, which entirely comes down to tooling the mold for the sprues. 1 sprue = X price, 2 sprues = 2X, etc.

i have seen a lot of people complain that the prices are too high for just a few cents worth of plastic...
at least you included the cost of tooling, which is quite high...

my question, though, is how do you think a model gets to the tooling stage???
don't you think that the cost of design, sculpting, painting, photgraphing, printing, storing, and shipping come into the cost of models as well???
tooling is not the only cost that has to be factored into the price of a model...

there is also the fact that you only need a single copy of the single sprue character models, on average, versus the fact that people are normally going to buy multiple boxes of a Troops box...
there are many factors to consider, and many costs to cover...
thinking the prices are too high is fair enough, but disregarding everything that goes into producing a single mini beyond tooling, is really not looking at the big picture...

@Mindstrike1: i hear you, man...
i am a huge fan of WarmaHordes, but the switch to restic curbed my spending a lot...
if it isn't metal, HIPS, or proper resin, there is no way i am paying money for it at any price...
their "plastic" troops and 'Jacks are horrible casts, in a horrible material...
mold lines, warpage, and miscasts just make it way too much hassle to deal with...
the switch to HIPS will bring me back, though...

cheers
jah

 HiveFleetPlastic wrote:

 jonolikespie wrote:
A single box of models can look expensive for Warmachine but you'll never need more than that 1 box of something.

A single box of 10 troops in Fantasy was cheaper, but you needed 4 of those boxes.

AoS is.. I suppose you can spend as much or as little as you want on it but if you opponent spends more you better hope you can pull off Sudden Death.

Unfortunately there are way too many powerful theme forces for that to really feel true with Warmachine now, and they're even worse in that I have no idea if the extra models will be usable when they finally decide to make a third edition.

Like what? I've heard the doom reaver one used as an example for this before and that's bull. Those kinds of list catch people off guard once but there isn't really anything more to them than that.

Also, *if* they do a 3rd edition. Other companies only do new editions if they feel it is needed, unlike GW.

 jonolikespie wrote:

 HiveFleetPlastic wrote:

 jonolikespie wrote:
A single box of models can look expensive for Warmachine but you'll never need more than that 1 box of something.

A single box of 10 troops in Fantasy was cheaper, but you needed 4 of those boxes.

AoS is.. I suppose you can spend as much or as little as you want on it but if you opponent spends more you better hope you can pull off Sudden Death.

Unfortunately there are way too many powerful theme forces for that to really feel true with Warmachine now, and they're even worse in that I have no idea if the extra models will be usable when they finally decide to make a third edition.

Like what? I've heard the doom reaver one used as an example for this before and that's bull. Those kinds of list catch people off guard once but there isn't really anything more to them than that.

Also, *if* they do a 3rd edition. Other companies only do new editions if they feel it is needed, unlike GW.

Some that come to mind are Ravyn's theme force (often running three units of Mage Hunter Strike Force), Kaelyssa's theme (more arcanists, etc), stuff like Calandra's theme (huge piles of identical light beasts), Bradigus' theme (lots of Woldwatchers, extra stones), eVyros' theme (a billion griffons), Runes of War (all the Runeshapers), etc etc. All these themes are very powerful.

Sorry to contradict you, I just don't think that's as much a strength of Warmachine now as it could have been if they'd avoided certain things, in theme forces especially.

Yay! Quick reply is back! Spam spam spam!

Lol...

Anyways, saw this thread last night and was like "oh he must be new, GW prices lost the plot years ago" and then this morning I figured well lets go see and holy moly! OP ain't jokin. gaks expensive.

On the Canadian site its $305 for 15 dudes and a gate thingy. 280 of your cold Canadian dollars for a dozen of the other flavours of Sigmarines...

Like seriously?

Is this the new age of beginner friendly wargaming? Damn, I hope my kids never want to play anything made by GW!

TBM wrote:
I don't understand it. If you buy the models separately you only get the three Prosecutors and seven basic sigmarines from the AoS starter set. The rest you get for free. That's well over half the sigmarine faction included as well as all of the khornates.

I think at this point most of GW retail targets only the mathematically challenged. Sort of like the lottery only nobody wins. Also, even people who spend their paychecks on scratch tickets know what ebay is.

The only GW stuff that is even close to sane prices is the starter sets.

It's not the prices that I am struggling with, it's the logic behind the change. Whfb was a hard sell because of the high starting price of an army, but you could start well with a battalion, character and maybe another box, coming in at around £100. AoS was supposed to counter that, so say I start a stormcast or khorne army (without the starter box, as they represent the new pricing model). 2 units at £35 each, and a character at £20. So that's nearly the same price for half the number of models. It just isn't doing what it was intended to do, which was to lower the entry price of the game. That's what I can't get over.

Ill gladly pay as long as im having fun, i need one vice! I love all the models so far and love the books that been coming out. Im just goad the good guys are stomping chaos. The khorne figires are awesome too, i love the exalted deathbringer and his rules. The stormcast paladins are awesome too, 5 retribtuors can pump out serious damage. Warmachines looks cool too but i just love warhammers lore too much.

Better hope GW keeps loving that lore too, then.

A year or two down the road, the floating islands of the Shimmertarn and the blood-spewing geysers of the Igneous Delta (as advertised on GW's site) just might end up joining Averland, the Border Princes, and Mousillon...

 Spinner wrote:
Better hope GW keeps loving that lore too, then.

A year or two down the road, the floating islands of the Shimmertarn and the blood-spewing geysers of the Igneous Delta (as advertised on GW's site) just might end up joining Averland, the Border Princes, and Mousillon...

Ya i hear you, but ill just keep playing with what i got. I been getting the old stuff as well and throwing into AoS. Ill collect as much as i can

 JamesY wrote:
So that's nearly the same price for half the number of models. It just isn't doing what it was intended to do, which was to lower the entry price of the game. That's what I can't get over.

At the same time, in AoS, the Sigmarine faction is quite strong on the table, so you need quite a small amount of models to be able to take on quite a bit of armies. I think the only army that generally out-wounds the Sigmarines, top to bottom, is the Ogre Kingdoms.

With sigmarines, it very much is unlike my Empire, where you can run 10 State-Troops, but to really be useful you need 20-30 or more models. Sigmarines can be quite effective at even the minimum squad numbers, and take on many more things.

Lowering the entry price of the game is what the community assumes GW wanted to do with AOS. I'd say these prices indicate otherwise.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 JamesY wrote:
So that's nearly the same price for half the number of models. It just isn't doing what it was intended to do, which was to lower the entry price of the game. That's what I can't get over.

At the same time, in AoS, the Sigmarine faction is quite strong on the table, so you need quite a small amount of models to be able to take on quite a bit of armies. I think the only army that generally out-wounds the Sigmarines, top to bottom, is the Ogre Kingdoms.

With sigmarines, it very much is unlike my Empire, where you can run 10 State-Troops, but to really be useful you need 20-30 or more models. Sigmarines can be quite effective at even the minimum squad numbers, and take on many more things.

I'm referring more to the entry price of the game than the model count. I really like the fact that I can play warhammer with 9 models now, but can't get my head around the fact that the entry price is the same, the fewer models just adds salt to the wound.

@thewaspinator when I left gw a year ago, apparently the purpose of aos was being argued back and forth between management and the accounting department. I'm guessing I know who won.

I used to play WHFB and 40k, about 3 and a half years ago I couldn't afford both and so switched to just Fantasy. About 2 years ago I stopped buying new models for fantasy and just played with what I had. AoS got me buying things again (once I found a comp I liked), but aside from a grand total of 1 box, all of its has been ebay or non-GW counts as models. Moral of the story? GW would make more money off me if they lowered their prices. One can argue quality of product, supply-demand, and whatnot all day, but their falling sales suggest that holding the course simply isn't a long term solution.

So to answer the question of the OP: the same thing is going on that has been for about a decade; GW makes decisions for short term gain at the expense of long term success. High/rising prices falls into this.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
I used to play WHFB and 40k, about 3 and a half years ago I couldn't afford both and so switched to just Fantasy. About 2 years ago I stopped buying new models for fantasy and just played with what I had. AoS got me buying things again (once I found a comp I liked), but aside from a grand total of 1 box, all of its has been ebay or non-GW counts as models. Moral of the story? GW would make more money off me if they lowered their prices. One can argue quality of product, supply-demand, and whatnot all day, but their falling sales suggest that holding the course simply isn't a long term solution.

Got a question here...

GW have been experimenting with different price points, and with the Plague Monks, Dryads and Bloodreavers, they put more models in the box. I assume the specific models did not appeal to you, but is the concept of the price point of those particular sets attractive?

At the other end of the pricing scale, but with the same concept, the Sylvaneth Warhost could be considered too...

The only thing expensive in GW is their tools and glues... I buy my brushes, tools, glues from outside GW almost 3x cheaper and better... Super glue is the biggest one, cheapest £1 glue will do the trick, but I pin most of my things... For extra hold, best brushes I have tried have been pro arte prolene plus, great hold and much cheaper than gw, I did buy the w&n university brush recently but it just does not feel right... In short GW is only good for paints and miniatures.

 TheWaspinator wrote:
Lowering the entry price of the game is what the community assumes GW wanted to do with AOS. I'd say these prices indicate otherwise.

AoS on amazon is like 79 dollars it comes with alot of stuff at that price.

 bitethythumb wrote:
The only thing expensive in GW is their tools and glues...

That word...I do not think it means what you think it means.

It's telling of the impression I've gotten from both GW's management and pricing policies that I'm not sure which side JamesY thinks won the debate. What were the opposing viewpoints, can you share those?

Perhaps it is a pity that the game design and marketing departments weren't involved in the discussion.

In a nutshell, whfb performed very poorly, and it was decided that this was because the entry price for the game, I.e. buying a playable army, was too high. The decision was made to change the game so it could be played with far fewer models, therefore removing the barrier. Not long before release, the finance team chipped in that selling fewer miniatures was a bad idea. So the outcome has been a game designed to play well with only 10 models, boxes that only have 3-5 models in them, (all the end time boxes were made with AoS in mind), but priced in a manner that maintains the high introductory cost. So the accountants won. I want to be clear that I really like the game, it just can't do what it was supposed to do, which is bring new players in in the long term by dropping the cost.