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So a heads up as someone over on the Hive noticed this for Tyranids - it seems GW has put a new bunch of models on direct order only on their website. Tyranid Warriors and a bunch of other things as well as stuff in other forces (I noticed that Doomfire Warlocks are now also on direct order only).

This might just be GW trying to ease its production issue by moving more products onto direct order and thus not having to produce excess for their own stores and for the 3rd party retail market (since the whole distribution network not only takes stock for sale, but can also have some products taken up that then sit around for a while; esp as not all customers buy from 3rd parties and not every GW store has demand for the same inventory). Hopefully this is a short term (year or so) thing as GW gets over its production shortfall. Considering their current massive profits I doubt that GW is hungering for the increased profit from direct sales over 3rd party sales.

For now it would be good to check for your armies and if there's anything you were after best grab it now if you want it from independent stores.

Yeah, there's been a "Last Chance to Buy In Store" section in GW stores for a few weeks now. There was a mild panic amongst Ork players as it included a load of their stuff - Gorkanought, Flash Gits, etc.

Ahh its been a while since I last went into my local store (well by local I mean its an hour away)

I wouldn't be surprised if this is being done to clear shelf space for Kill Team and Adeptus Titanicus. Those kill team boxes are friggin' massive.

Direct Only stuff is tougher to get with a discount. I can't get Helbrutes at a discount because of that.

A lot of the big models in the start collecting boxes seem to have gone direct only. I suppose it's their way of not having duplicate products on shelves in already packed stores.

phillv85 wrote:
I wouldn't be surprised if this is being done to clear shelf space for Kill Team and Adeptus Titanicus. Those kill team boxes are friggin' massive.

Yeah, plus the Pelennor Fields box.

beast_gts wrote:

phillv85 wrote:
I wouldn't be surprised if this is being done to clear shelf space for Kill Team and Adeptus Titanicus. Those kill team boxes are friggin' massive.

Yeah, plus the Pelennor Fields box.

Ah yeah forgot about that, maybe they'll start showing LOTR a little attention in store again.

I hate direct only stuff but whatever. One has to accept it. Is the reason I dont expand my ogres.

They have such a massive number of SKUs and insane release pace that I'm not surprised... What DOES surprise me is that despite these problems they do stuff like release the Armiger and Dominus Knights as two boxes each for a total of four, further increasing the SKU bloat.

 Mymearan wrote:
They have such a massive number of SKUs and insane release pace that I'm not surprised... What DOES surprise me is that despite these problems they do stuff like release the Armiger and Dominus Knights as two boxes each for a total of four, further increasing the SKU bloat.

Well, they've just freed up a load by dumping square bases... The Dominus was apparently cost - if it was a dual kit it would have pushed it over £100, which they don't (currently) want to price things at.

Yup, recently ordered Necron Destroyers, and a Doomsday Ark, and both came in white Citadel boxes. Lots of kits are moving to Direct only.

beast_gts wrote:

 Mymearan wrote:
They have such a massive number of SKUs and insane release pace that I'm not surprised... What DOES surprise me is that despite these problems they do stuff like release the Armiger and Dominus Knights as two boxes each for a total of four, further increasing the SKU bloat.

Well, they've just freed up a load by dumping square bases... The Dominus was apparently cost - if it was a dual kit it would have pushed it over £100, which they don't (currently) want to price things at.

Well, the price is completely up to them, so it's really no excuse. It's not like their prices are consistent based on any readily available metric such as number of sprues, points cost, expected purchases per army, etc... it's inscrutable.

 Mymearan wrote:

beast_gts wrote:

 Mymearan wrote:
They have such a massive number of SKUs and insane release pace that I'm not surprised... What DOES surprise me is that despite these problems they do stuff like release the Armiger and Dominus Knights as two boxes each for a total of four, further increasing the SKU bloat.

Well, they've just freed up a load by dumping square bases... The Dominus was apparently cost - if it was a dual kit it would have pushed it over £100, which they don't (currently) want to price things at.

Well, the price is completely up to them, so it's really no excuse. It's not like their prices are consistent based on any readily available metric such as number of sprues, points cost, expected purchases per army, etc... it's inscrutable.

As much as their pricing and logic is loosey goosey at best, I personally see the value in what they did. I expected the armiger box to be about £60-70 and if it was a dual kit I dare say it would have been, with the dual purpose nature being their justification.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Direct Only stuff is tougher to get with a discount. I can't get Helbrutes at a discount because of that.

If you’ve not got a work around already, this is covered by the Looters

Square bases are gone, damn it where am I going to get large bases for monsters now!
I still have an outstanding order from the last made to order which had about £20 worth of bases with it.

Well, the stores complained about having too many SKUs to handle. I suspect this is GW's solution. If it doesn't sell a lot they'll direct order it. If it only sells a little it'll be made to order.

phillv85 wrote:
I wouldn't be surprised if this is being done to clear shelf space for Kill Team and Adeptus Titanicus. Those kill team boxes are friggin' massive.

It's still weird though as some of the kits moved to DOO are both troops and KT mainstays. How are people supposed to start armies/KTs, when say in elite Tyranid Kill Team both potential units included can't be bought in vast majority of places selling 40K...?

phillv85 wrote:
A lot of the big models in the start collecting boxes seem to have gone direct only. I suppose it's their way of not having duplicate products on shelves in already packed stores.

Not sure what GW's store inventory logistics are like but based on the stores I've seen in the US, if shelf space was an issue then they could do with some better floor plans. So much wasted space that could have more shelves and/or more tables for people to paint/play on.

 Irbis wrote:

phillv85 wrote:
I wouldn't be surprised if this is being done to clear shelf space for Kill Team and Adeptus Titanicus. Those kill team boxes are friggin' massive.

It's still weird though as some of the kits moved to DOO are both troops and KT mainstays. How are people supposed to start armies/KTs, when say in elite Tyranid Kill Team both potential units included can't be bought in vast majority of places selling 40K...?

Order them from gw. Conveniently with higher margin for gw

I really want to get some Hive Guard, but as they are direct only it's impossible to get them except at GWs super high prices.

It's annoying.

I don't think this is a shelf space issue - yes stores have to stock X amount, but they are not required to stock everything. I know at least one or two smaller shops that don't stock vast amounts and would never be able to stock one of everything. And that's fine, they can order in the models that they can't stock and everyone wins.

No I see this as GW streamlining their production to try and cut out some of the excess that is produced for general stocking to try and get control over production. Hopefully in the future more stuff will move back from direct to open distribution.

Loads of kits have been direct order for a while. Sad to see more headed that direction. GW has very few products which are genuinely worth the MSRP.

tneva82 wrote:
Order them from gw. Conveniently with higher margin for gw

Yes, yes, I get that, but for a game designed to be a gateway fueled by impulse-buys, adding more hoops to jump through will quickly change that into nope-buys...

tneva82 wrote:

 Irbis wrote:

phillv85 wrote:
I wouldn't be surprised if this is being done to clear shelf space for Kill Team and Adeptus Titanicus. Those kill team boxes are friggin' massive.

It's still weird though as some of the kits moved to DOO are both troops and KT mainstays. How are people supposed to start armies/KTs, when say in elite Tyranid Kill Team both potential units included can't be bought in vast majority of places selling 40K...?

Order them from gw. Conveniently with higher margin for gw

It's trivial for your local store to order them for you at the same cost with no shipping charges.