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 Hollow wrote:
£22.50 is sooo much money!!!

It's the price of a couple packs of cigarettes!

A 20 minute taxi ride!

A round of drinks down the pub!

A steak!

Or two X-Wing ships.

Or a boargame's expansion set (or full game, depending)

Or about 60 historical miniatures.

Or the new small 40k starter.

Or, like, 10 PC games on Steam...

See, it's not as much the actual pricetag as the perceived value. People like to feel that they're getting their money's worth.

I went in to preorder yesterday, and as I looked up the name for the set online I saw $70 and laughed. I figured $50. They gave us the gathering storm boxes for a similar price, which were amazing boxes. Guess we'll vote with wallets.

At least give them some customizable bits in the pack. As others have mentioned, if we have bits to make them unique it gives a reason for multiple purchases.

 Inquisitor Lord Katherine wrote:
So, I play Sisters of Battle, and I've never really felt ripped off, despite the high prices.

I do wish that my little metal soldier-girls were less expensive, because then I could buy more of them more frequently, but I really do enjoy painting them, and I've never sat there and said, "well, I wish I hadn't paid $80 for this," afterwords.


At the very least, I'd much rather have my 10 little metal toy soldiers than $80 worth of fine food or drink or the likes.

Pricing completely stopped me from buying into GW Sisters. I waited until Raging Heroes came along, now RH has a decent amount of money and I have a decent amount of Sisters I can't play in a GW store (I never play there anyway).

2 things to note here and they both boil down to the same thing: GW probably doesn't expect these characters to sell much at all.

1) A company creates it's most expensice product to sell it's one after most expensive. There's a weird bit of psychology that makes people not want to buy the most expensive gak but they will buy the tier after that.

2) These sprues are relatively expensive for GW to make the price of a sprue for a company is mostly down to the way they're 3D-printed. Size isn't as much of a factor there, just printing any sprue at all is expensive. From a consumer perspectiive tough they are really not worth as much.

these factors combine to make GW sell as many big boxes as possible, and not a lot of characters.

Their expected lack of demand also jacks up the price even more. (If you need make a thousand euros to break even and expect to sell 10 boxes they are going to be more expansive than when you expect to sell a thousand.)

Earth127 wrote:
2 things to note here and they both boil down to the same thing: GW probably doesn't expect these characters to sell much at all.

1) A company creates it's most expensice product to sell it's one after most expensive. There's a weird bit of psychology that makes people not want to buy the most expensive gak but they will buy the tier after that.

2) These sprues are relatively expensive for GW to make the price of a sprue for a company is mostly down to the way they're 3D-printed. Size isn't as much of a factor there, just printing any sprue at all is expensive. From a consumer perspectiive tough they are really not worth as much.

these factors combine to make GW sell as many big boxes as possible, and not a lot of characters.

Their expected lack of demand also jacks up the price even more. (If you need make a thousand euros to break even and expect to sell 10 boxes they are going to be more expansive than when you expect to sell a thousand.)

From a psychological value, once these guys start hitting Start Collecting and other bundle boxes it makes them look like a much better value. Simple because when you tally up the contents of the box ala carte, vs. what they are charging, the “total” value is quite high. Once you start thinking that the $35 for the HQ should be closer to $20, the “deal” starts to tarnish a bit.

But think of all the money you are saving!

I declare myself a victim of that Psychological trap with the Bloodbound overpriced characters...

I bought a Skirmish starter just because it was a better deal to have the ultra cool Deathbringer with spear

Earth127 wrote:


2) These sprues are relatively expensive for GW to make the price of a sprue for a company is mostly down to the way they're 3D-printed. Size isn't as much of a factor there, just printing any sprue at all is expensive. From a consumer perspectiive tough they are really not worth as much.

They are NOT that expensive to make. GW has had in-house tooling for at least the last decade. The total cost of production of a miniature (this includes design, tooling, art etc.) is in the region of 5% of the final cost IIRC (it can be found in GW's financials) so is utterly minscule in the grand scheme of things.

Earth127 wrote:
2 things to note here and they both boil down to the same thing: GW probably doesn't expect these characters to sell much at all.

1) A company creates it's most expensice product to sell it's one after most expensive. There's a weird bit of psychology that makes people not want to buy the most expensive gak but they will buy the tier after that.

2) These sprues are relatively expensive for GW to make the price of a sprue for a company is mostly down to the way they're 3D-printed. Size isn't as much of a factor there, just printing any sprue at all is expensive. From a consumer perspectiive tough they are really not worth as much.

these factors combine to make GW sell as many big boxes as possible, and not a lot of characters.

Their expected lack of demand also jacks up the price even more. (If you need make a thousand euros to break even and expect to sell 10 boxes they are going to be more expansive than when you expect to sell a thousand.)

They don't 3D print the things. If they did, they wouldn't come on sprues.

They use injection molding machines, the molds for which are insanely expensive, on the order of several tens of thousands of dollars, if I remember correctly. But you're right: because they don't expect to sell a lot of Primaris Captains, they have to charge more per kit to cover the cost of the mold, of operating the machine, and make a profit.


Compared to metal or resin manufacture, and injection molding machine can make orders of magnitudes for figures, but it's only economical of you're actually selling all the extra figures you can make.

This why I haven't bought anything from GW in a very long time. There are plenty of kind sellers on Ebay that sell cheap still sealed boxes.

 Inquisitor Lord Katherine wrote:

Earth127 wrote:
2 things to note here and they both boil down to the same thing: GW probably doesn't expect these characters to sell much at all.

1) A company creates it's most expensice product to sell it's one after most expensive. There's a weird bit of psychology that makes people not want to buy the most expensive gak but they will buy the tier after that.

2) These sprues are relatively expensive for GW to make the price of a sprue for a company is mostly down to the way they're 3D-printed. Size isn't as much of a factor there, just printing any sprue at all is expensive. From a consumer perspectiive tough they are really not worth as much.

these factors combine to make GW sell as many big boxes as possible, and not a lot of characters.

Their expected lack of demand also jacks up the price even more. (If you need make a thousand euros to break even and expect to sell 10 boxes they are going to be more expansive than when you expect to sell a thousand.)

They don't 3D print the things. If they did, they wouldn't come on sprues.

They use injection molding machines, the molds for which are insanely expensive, on the order of several tens of thousands of dollars, if I remember correctly. But you're right: because they don't expect to sell a lot of Primaris Captains, they have to charge more per kit to cover the cost of the mold, of operating the machine, and make a profit.


Compared to metal or resin manufacture, and injection molding machine can make orders of magnitudes for figures, but it's only economical of you're actually selling all the extra figures you can make.

Of course that's why most other companies use metal for low production count models, the molds are far far cheaper. GW has a long history of adding a point cost modifier to package costs.

Now that's a leading poll if I ever saw one!

People have been complaining about Games Workshop prices since before the internet was even a thing, it's so predictable by now that you could even make a drinking game out of these threads.

Rampant speculation about industry practices and costs? Drink! Armchair marketing strategies? Drink! Blaming inconsistent pricing on in-game points cost and balance? Finish your drink!!

In all seriousness, it's always been an expensive hobby relative to other forms of recreation or entertainment, regardless of which company you buy from or game you play. Is it immoral or criminal or exploitative for Games Workshop to charge what they do for what they make? Of course it isn't, it's not like they're holding a gun to your head or making sure they're the only option when it comes to miniatures wargaming. The simple fact is, Games Workshop makes many products that many people have decided, entirely rationally, are worth the price. If you truly believe that the product quality is inferior to it's competitors and the price is higher, then you probably shouldn't buy it.

 Jambles wrote:
Now that's a leading poll if I ever saw one!

People have been complaining about Games Workshop prices since before the internet was even a thing, it's so predictable by now that you could even make a drinking game out of these threads.

Rampant speculation about industry practices and costs? Drink! Armchair marketing strategies? Drink! Blaming inconsistent pricing on in-game points cost and balance? Finish your drink!!

In all seriousness, it's always been an expensive hobby relative to other forms of recreation or entertainment, regardless of which company you buy from or game you play. Is it immoral or criminal or exploitative for Games Workshop to charge what they do for what they make? Of course it isn't, it's not like they're holding a gun to your head or making sure they're the only option when it comes to miniatures wargaming. The simple fact is, Games Workshop makes many products that many people have decided, entirely rationally, are worth the price. If you truly believe that the product quality is inferior to it's competitors and the price is higher, then you probably shouldn't buy it.

...and in a fit of irony you give the predictable rebuttal.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Purifier wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:
Wow. This is just utter lunacy.

35USD.

A Dominus Tech Priest is 36USD.

They're all unreasonably high, but it's not new.

Oh, that classic mistake. $35 is high, but at least not "I could buy a FW primarch for that" level.

For $35 you can get a 5-man Deathwatch Kill Team.

Their pricing is why I keep saying that 3D printing is going to put them out of business one day, and that they need to shift their business plan really, really hard and focus more on books and licensing.

The moment 3D printers get close enough in quality, Citadel is out of business unless they have a plan to leverage emerging tech. I could see them charging a fee to stores to print resin mini bits, but they're not going to be shipping models around at $35 a box anymore. All it will take is one person with a decently high-rez 3D scanner to put their entire catalog online, and people will go there instead because of their pricing.

Hell, 3D modeling isn't exactly a niche skill anymore. It's now something you can learn to do on the weekend, and the programs we use are constantly getting better and cheaper as well.

Arandmoor, if you really believe that they haven't planned about the evolution of 3D printed techs, being the top dogs in the market and having the most advanced plastic manufacturing techonology in the miniature world...

22 pounds.

Ok that is rather expensive I admit but not Australia bad but still expensive.

A tac squad is like 30 pounds.
So on a scale of number to money... Yeah...
Expensive.

Did anybody buy Space Marine Captains? I bought years ago a Sternguard Box and with that I did 5 captains for my space marines
They are like the... easiest HQ to convert from normal kits.
The Primaris Liutenaut from Dark Imperium for example, just change his head and boom, a captain.

 Jambles wrote:


In all seriousness, it's always been an expensive hobby relative to other forms of recreation or entertainment, regardless of which company you buy from or game you play.

Dunno out of all my hobbies(cars, motorcycles, guns,etc) 40k is the cheapest one. At least with 40k everytime I want a new model it doesn't cost thousands of $$$.

But GW's pricing has always been bad, I remember back in the day buying my squats were like 3 times the $ compared to my d&d miniatures.

 Galas wrote:
Did anybody buy Space Marine Captains? I bought years ago a Sternguard Box and with that I did 5 captains for my space marines
They are like the... easiest HQ to convert from normal kits.
The Primaris Liutenaut from Dark Imperium for example, just change his head and boom, a captain.

Mix a bits box, vanguard and a sterngaurd kit.
Youl probbly get 10 captains out of that set if you wanted, maybe a few honour guards, or other officer and veteran models.

 Arandmoor wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:

 Purifier wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:
Wow. This is just utter lunacy.

35USD.

A Dominus Tech Priest is 36USD.

They're all unreasonably high, but it's not new.

Oh, that classic mistake. $35 is high, but at least not "I could buy a FW primarch for that" level.

For $35 you can get a 5-man Deathwatch Kill Team.

Their pricing is why I keep saying that 3D printing is going to put them out of business one day, and that they need to shift their business plan really, really hard and focus more on books and licensing.

The moment 3D printers get close enough in quality, Citadel is out of business unless they have a plan to leverage emerging tech. I could see them charging a fee to stores to print resin mini bits, but they're not going to be shipping models around at $35 a box anymore. All it will take is one person with a decently high-rez 3D scanner to put their entire catalog online, and people will go there instead because of their pricing.

Hell, 3D modeling isn't exactly a niche skill anymore. It's now something you can learn to do on the weekend, and the programs we use are constantly getting better and cheaper as well.

you can already get a 3d printer that will do passable minis for under $1k I have seen passable rhinos from a diy $300 3d printer. the templates are all over to download. I have not done much in the way of making full models and figures, but I have commissioned things like custom chapter logos and alternate razorback turrets for assault cannon razerbacks as all other options were way to pricey.

My issue isn't with just this new kit, but pretty much all of them. Imo every kit should contain all the options available to the model/unit. One of the worst kit changes in recent history is the difference between the old SM Commander/captain kit and the new one. The old kit pretty much had all the weapon and gear options minus the bike and terminator (which is fine). You shouldn't have to buy 3 or 4 kits to build either one model or one unit.

Galas wrote:Arandmoor, if you really believe that they haven't planned about the evolution of 3D printed techs, being the top dogs in the market and having the most advanced plastic manufacturing techonology in the miniature world...

I'd like to believe that GW has planned around it...


...but this is GW we're talking about.

 Arandmoor wrote:

Galas wrote:Arandmoor, if you really believe that they haven't planned about the evolution of 3D printed techs, being the top dogs in the market and having the most advanced plastic manufacturing techonology in the miniature world...

I'd like to believe that GW has planned around it...


...but this is GW we're talking about.

They're still in denial about the presence of competing wargame lines...

Yes, 60 dollars is outrageous, but people will people pay it? (you bet'ya). That's why GW can sell it for that price.

But war-gaming options aren't great at the moment.

OP suggests FOW as alternative. Honestly that game is in serious trouble, head over to the unofficial fb page and soak up the discontent (lots of people saying they are going to stop playing). Battlefront are as in to profiteering as GW and the stubborn, border line racist design team (apparently soviet Afghanistan veterans have inferior skills and lower IQs then untried, rookie US units who have been sitting on there bums in west germany playing cards for the last 12 months) that just doesn't listen to player feedback. The rules for V4 were lazy and are pretty much broken in LW and EW and the mid war V4 desert book had a pathetic amount of lists and has essentially unkillable units (how fun!). If you get into that game with all BF products it's probably as expensive if not more expensive then GW. Plus serious supply chain issues (I hope you enjoy getting your product several months after you ordered it!).

Or KOW (I assume thats what the OP meant by AOK), with a garbage fluff, a game that requires you to paint hundreds of models to do it properly but at the same time has a culture that says its acceptable to just multibase a bunch of my my little pony toys and use that as your army. (and even without the my little pony toys there is a general mismatch in model style, with bigger historicals fighting smaller LOTR riders of rohan fighting the more cartoony and bigger Mantic and Fantasy models, which is just ugly). Many of the mantic models are also hideous.

It's a shame, GW needs strong competition, thats the only way you are going to keep prices down.

Hint to OP, buy from discounters. A lot of GW stockists knock 5 or 10 percent off the rrp, so search around.

MadMarkMagee wrote:
Yes, 60 dollars is outrageous, but people will people pay it? (you bet'ya). That's why GW can sell it for that price.

But war-gaming options aren't great at the moment.

OP suggests FOW as alternative. Honestly that game is in serious trouble, head over to the unofficial fb page and soak up the discontent (lots of people saying they are going to stop playing). Battlefront are as in to profiteering as GW and the stubborn, border line racist design team (apparently soviet Afghanistan veterans have inferior skills and lower IQs then untried, rookie US units who have been sitting on there bums in west germany playing cards for the last 12 months) that just doesn't listen to player feedback. The rules for V4 were lazy and are pretty much broken in LW and EW and the mid war V4 desert book had a pathetic amount of lists and has essentially unkillable units (how fun!). If you get into that game with all BF products it's probably as expensive if not more expensive then GW. Plus serious supply chain issues (I hope you enjoy getting your product several months after you ordered it!).

Or KOW (I assume thats what the OP meant by AOK), with a garbage fluff, a game that requires you to paint hundreds of models to do it properly but at the same time has a culture that says its acceptable to just multibase a bunch of my my little pony toys and use that as your army. (and even without the my little pony toys there is a general mismatch in model style, with bigger historicals fighting smaller LOTR riders of rohan fighting the more cartoony and bigger Mantic and Fantasy models, which is just ugly). Many of the mantic models are also hideous.

It's a shame, GW needs strong competition, thats the only way you are going to keep prices down.

Hint to OP, buy from discounters. A lot of GW stockists knock 5 or 10 percent off the rrp, so search around.

This post seems a bit out of date.

Yes the hero models are expensive - they are that way because they are a luxury purchase (compared to troops choices, for example) which you are likely to buy only one of at most. However GW have been working very hard to provide lots of affordable products for the market.

Start Collecting boxes are a bargain, the starter sets (of which there are about to be a series of different priced variants for different entry points) are terrific value, they've released lots of great deals on 'boxed games' (Execution Force, that Imperial Knight thing, Silver Tower, Calth and Prospero). There is a clear effort to provide competitive pricing compared to how they used to be. The Primaris heroes are clearly an exception to that, but right now they actually reflect an oddity. Prices haven't been going up - for once.

Start collecting boxes are a joke I'm old enough to remember the original ones which gave you way more for £40, modern ones barely give a discount.

They also are not equal across all races.

I really wish the gaming industry would stop marking up HQ models as if rules make them cost more to produce. This guy should cost $5-10 at most. It's pretty sad that the much older Space Marine Commander kit is costs as much or is cheaper than these new mono-pose kits and has a far greater value. I'd just wait until they make a Primaris Veterans kit and kitbash yourself a captain out of that.

Umbros wrote:


This post seems a bit out of date.

Yes the hero models are expensive - they are that way because they are a luxury purchase (compared to troops choices, for example) which you are likely to buy only one of at most. However GW have been working very hard to provide lots of affordable products for the market.

Start Collecting boxes are a bargain, the starter sets (of which there are about to be a series of different priced variants for different entry points) are terrific value, they've released lots of great deals on 'boxed games' (Execution Force, that Imperial Knight thing, Silver Tower, Calth and Prospero). There is a clear effort to provide competitive pricing compared to how they used to be. The Primaris heroes are clearly an exception to that, but right now they actually reflect an oddity. Prices haven't been going up - for once.

That's what I mean though. Again GW just charges what they think they get for things. The full age of sigmar starter used to be like 100 AUD (150 now they have the new one with the matt). cheap, cheap, cheap? Why? Because the game isn't terribly popular and they can't sell it for anymore. That's why you see older models being bundled into value boxes. The demand isn't there any more, they aren't the shiny new toy. GW have become experts at market segmenting.

I'm realistic. I'm not one of those people who says GIVE IT TO US FOR 10DOLLARS!!!! I understand that there are RND costs (molds and sculpting $$$$), logistics and labour costs (plus being a company you obviously want to make a healthy profit on top of that). Putting all those special characters in plastic would be a lot more expensive in the short term then pewter. But 60 dollars is still way to much for something like that. Those new easy to build marines and nurgle have the same amount of plastic sprus and are over half the price.

Meh, like I have said before. Even if you don't have the starter, get one of the lieutenants off Ebay for about 5 bucks plus shipping, buy a couple bitz too if you aren't already a Space Marine player, and convertup a Captain that's just as cool, 1/3 the price, and will match the official profile.

 NorseSig wrote:
My issue isn't with just this new kit, but pretty much all of them. Imo every kit should contain all the options available to the model/unit. One of the worst kit changes in recent history is the difference between the old SM Commander/captain kit and the new one. The old kit pretty much had all the weapon and gear options minus the bike and terminator (which is fine). You shouldn't have to buy 3 or 4 kits to build either one model or one unit.

But these are all of the options becasue of GWs new policy.

Not totally ontopic but It should be noted that GW models will likely always be pricey compared to others, largely because the way people think if something costs more it is of better quality..(which if youve ever had to assemble anything from deadzone/warpath you will clearly see the difference)..but i digress..GW stuff will always cost more because people believe theyre paying for a premium product...same thing for apple products etc..another example being BMW which lowered their prices a few years back and actually ended up hurting sales because people equated the price decrease as a decrease in quality so they quit buying the vehicles.