Tomb Kings gone Last Chance to Buy?

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**Da Boss**

How do you guys feel about this?

Personally it makes me feel nervous! I've drifted away from Fantasy in the last few years but I still have a lot of affection for the IP, especially the Empire, Bretonia and Beastmen. I've got enough GW Orcs and Goblins and Dwarves to last me forever, but now I feel like I need to "keep an eye on" what GW are doing so I don't suddenly realise that a kit that had always been on my "someday, I'll pick that up" list doesn't just vanish!

I also think it's always a jerk move to get rid of a faction wholesale with no warning, though to an extent it's inevitable with the number of factions GW accumulates over the years. Still, room for what is it, six distinct varieties of Space Marine, but no room for Egyptian themed undead? *shakes head*

I didn't really imagine this could happen when AoS rolled around, but I guess keeping the inventory there when it was selling poorly does come with a cost. Sad for the TK players, but hey, at least your collections probably just increased in resale value long term?

**akai**

Somewhat sad to see the product will not be kept, but glad there is a "last chance to buy" so I am not completely caught out of surprise if I want to get something still.

**Veshnakar**

Seeing the Sepulcher Stalkers, Tomb Guard, and the Tomb Sphinx on there is a bit troubling. All excellent kits that are relatively new. Kind of a shame.

**durecellrabbit**

Not a Tomb King player but I think it's incredibly sad that they're going away. Tomb Kings are a great range and are still of use to players in other fantasy games even if GW no longer wish to support them in their own games. I wish they could have at least stayed as a web only special order range.

I do agree that I now feel the need to keep watch in case anything happens to my armies although luckily I think I played some of the more popular armies.

**coldgaming**

Always thought they looked great and I like the new plastic kits, so it's a shame. Like them a lot more than the VC style. But they just didn't sell enough I suppose, and they need to cut the SKU bloat. Somehow though the Razorgor, square metal Rat Swarm and Beast of Nurgle live to fight another day.

**Ghaz**

The reason they didn't sell well (IMHO) was the fact that their core plastic kits date back to the initial Tomb Kings release in 2002.

**thekingofkings**

it also didnt hurt that the army is pitiful.

**Accolade**

The great purge seems to be a big factor in the AOS implementation, so I would expect it to continue.

**Stormonu**

There is always E-bay. GW charges too much anyway.

**jonolikespie**

It makes me very, very worried.

The original rumors (that turned out to be largely true) stated that the model range would be purged.

I worry for things like Dark Elves, which we haven't really seen show up in the fluff at all beyond Malerion (or whatever his new name is).

**Malisteen**

I'd be much more worried about bretts, as they're likely on the chopping block already.

**Ghaz**

Dark Elves have a large number of relatively new plastic kits. I don't see them going anywhere.

**jonolikespie**

Tomb Kings got a few good new kits in 8th ed too and they are gone...

At this point I'm considering nothing safe.

**thekingofkings**

anything non-aos-y is likely to get the boot, if it cant be readily rehashed and made copyrightable its doomed...empire, brets, dark elves, tomb kings, yeah hosed, normal dwarves likely dead on arrival too.

**Accolade**

Tomb Kings were too Egypt, too The Mummy for GW to pretend they played any role in the origin of the concept. Bretonnians will be purged for this reason as well.

The rest of the races seem safer- not generally that original, but also not direct ports from other media. I imagine the purge will continue to remove old kits from a lot of factions until everything is parsed down to the best-selling parts of every range. From there, the game can expand again.

**Malisteen**

thekingofkings wrote:
anything non-aos-y is likely to get the boot, if it cant be readily rehashed and made copyrightable its doomed...empire, brets, dark elves, tomb kings, yeah hosed, normal dwarves likely dead on arrival too.

Copyrightable isn't the cause of this. Vampires, skeletons, armored skeletons, zombies, ghosts, bats, corpse wagons, necromancers, undead wolves, undead dragons, ghouls - practically none of the undead line apart from maybe (maybe) the stuff in the deathlords category plus perhaps the engine/throne & maybe, if we're stretching, the terrogheist can be at all protected from 3rd party knockoffs via IP. The new names are generally more IPable, sure, but tomb kings could have been given new names just as easily. Giving something a new name doesn't cost anything. And the Ghoul kings went from the more protectable 'Strigoi' to the less protectable 'abhorrant'. The vamp counts line in general is super generic, and there are in fact far more third party alternatives for generic gothic fantasy undead a la VCs than there ever were for specifically egyptian themed undead like TK.

No, copyrights aren't the reason for this. Sales are. Sales and a product line aesthetically out of step with the more popular vamps line. But mostly sales.

**jonolikespie**

The fact that the very recent Dragon Slayer dwarf doesn't fit in with the Fyrelsayery dwarves and is under a different section of the webstore (with the other old dwarves) isn't encouraging either. Doesn't look like they are mixing the two lines but rather the old WHFB models are just there are placeholders until they are all replaced or removed.

**Bottle**

Yes, I have thought about the Dragon Slayer and what his fate might be. It is a great model so I would likely pick one up when it's added to LCTB.

My main concern is the entire Order grand alliance being culled in one go - there are vast swathes of the Empire range I would like to add to my collection as well as many dwarf and elf kits. I would also like some brets as 'alternative' human models to go with my empire army.

Hopefully they will at least do it in drips and drapes so I don't have to break the bank!

**Dowager Countess M**

I am quite shocked and angry, because I loved the aesthetic and theme of the Tomb kings, and my friend has begun to collect Tomb Kings and explaining this to him is going to be difficult. Also wanted a lot of models from the range and trawling through ebay is going to be a nightmare.

**AllSeeingSkink**

It's disappointing. I'm glad a few weeks ago when someone was selling a TK army that I didn't pick it up.

At this point I feel like just writing off my half finished WHFB armies as a loss because I'm not keen on panic buying.

**jonolikespie**

Panic buying would be the worst response to this I think.

**AllSeeingSkink**

jonolikespie wrote:
Panic buying would be the worst response to this I think.

Depends how much you want to complete your existing armies I suppose.

**jonolikespie**

True, but it just feels to me like it is going to lead to a lot of buyers remorse.

**Bottle**

I think a lot of the kits will sell just so people can slap a "OOP BNIB" tag on it and make a quick buck on eBay for higher than retail value.

**MongooseMatt**

Bottle wrote:

My main concern is the entire Order grand alliance being culled in one go - there are vast swathes of the Empire range I would like to add to my collection as well as many dwarf and elf kits.

Why so concerned? Remember, this is one of the strengths of AoS - models may disappear from retail but the Warscrolls will always be valid and always useable. You may not be able to grab everything you want right now, but there is always eBay and, chances are, you'll get them for a lot less than retail, even a few years down the road...

**AllSeeingSkink**

jonolikespie wrote:
True, but it just feels to me like it is going to lead to a lot of buyers remorse.

I think at this point if you have a half complete WHFB army you probably already have buyers remorse

**Davor**

Stormonu wrote:
There is always E-bay. GW charges too much anyway.

GW doesn't charge to much. People will pay what they feel is worth it. Problem is, GW makes sure their products are not worth it for a number of reasons. A lot of people will not buy on eBay, no matter how cheap it is because it's not worth to fix them up. So it doesn't come down to price but to worth.

**Bottle**

MongooseMatt wrote:
Bottle wrote:

My main concern is the entire Order grand alliance being culled in one go - there are vast swathes of the Empire range I would like to add to my collection as well as many dwarf and elf kits.

Why so concerned? Remember, this is one of the strengths of AoS - models may disappear from retail but the Warscrolls will always be valid and always useable. You may not be able to grab everything you want right now, but there is always eBay and, chances are, you'll get them for a lot less than retail, even a few years down the road...

I'm not overly concerned about the warscrolls (although a minor niggle is to how long comps are going to provide points for OOP models), the main reason is for not being able to pick up stuff before it's gone. In my experience stuff on sprue goes for a lot on eBay. The only good deal I have had in recent times is getting the IoB Skaven on sprue for £23. My views may be warped by buying Necromunda (where you will now pay £5-10 per model) - I don't think we'll see BNIB OOP kits go for less than current GW retail. If I was selling that would be where I would start the bidding at.

**MongooseMatt**

Yeah, Necromunda will screw your view of eBay prices

I would not be worried about prices and availability for a couple of years (and you are likely to see some great bargains over the next few months). As for comps, if there is demand, they'll keep these models in - they have no reason not to...

**Pojko**

Honestly this is the best thing that could happen to TK players. eBay is the better option than buying directly from GW. No one gouges prices for things unless they're super old or super rare. I get all my stuff for 33-50% off retail price when I find a good lot. Sure sometimes you have to hunt, or do a little restoration where you strip paint. But it's worth it.