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 Overread wrote:
Plus don't forget new prices from GW are at the full RRP whlist many buy from 3rd parties. So they are often comparing a discounted earlier price with a new p rice.

Right, but the discount price is still higher, so the costs are still increasing unless independents suddenly start slashing by 15%-25% (which they won't).

Even as one of the biggest critics about GW on here, even I'm bored of the pricing argument because the same people are just going to keep gobbling it up no matter what, thus incentivising them to raise them higher.

I'm surprised none of these people have tried to organise a boycott.

Except the prices are not consistent. Why are myrmidesh (and hammerelves) 5 to a box vs 10 for other 32mm infantry? Even Melusai are cheaper than them.

Why are LRL infantry 60 for 10 vs 50 for ten for Idoneth with actually less options?

So they can bring those older more reasonable items in line later with a broad “price adjustment”.

Just gonna say, Bonereapers definitely lucked out with a 20man unit for $70, all things considered.

New kits tend to me more expensive, I was always told it was to take in account for future inflation so they wont need price increases for a longer period of time vs older kits. But, who knows.

for # of models per box, is it all based on how many spruces fit into a box? Only fit 2 or 3 in a box, and some kits have more options, or more bulky sculpts and take more space? Like, Mortek Guard are pretty mono-build and small, so they can fit more of them than perhaps some of the others?

It’s a pricing strategy. Drive prices of new releases upwards, create pricing disparity, announce broad range wide increase to correct disparity, rinse, repeat.

GW has a lot of boxes. Why pack 10 into a thinner box when you could back 20 into a box that's wider?
I mean we know why, cause two boxes of 60$ is more than one box of 60$, but as a customer, I couldn't care less about GW profit vs what I need to pay.

 zend wrote:
Not sure why people didn’t see the prices coming, Wrathmongers are $57 for 5 and that kits older than AoS itself is.

Idoneth Thralls are $50 for 10 minis with no customization.

You list the 3 kit that demonstrate the decline in GW effort and resource they put in these kits

Wrathmongers was a 3 sprue kit

Melusai and Thrall are 2 sprue kit sold at the same price before the price adjustment.

The Slaangors are on 1 sprue sold at the same price or comparable price to kits with double, or triple the amount of resource (and probably effort) to make them.

Now me being an ignorant person, I would just point finger and said "haha it's GW, price go up!" or "X number of models shouldn't cost this much!"

Or I can point out the continuing practice and trend of GW in their quest for the highest profit ever: the effort and resource in making these kits went down rapidly, while the price go up. This 1 sprue infantry s kit for 50 is really a milestone.

Kinda suck for people who'd been waiting for some of these unit for a long time, and finally get a low effort one from GW, and those won't be seeing a remake for the next 20-30 years.

That said some of the newer kit like Lumineth Wardens and Sentinels actually have okay price and comparable to similar kit 4-5 years ago.

Using Wrathmongers as a benchmark for "effort and resource" put into kits is a bold move.

JSG wrote:
Using Wrathmongers as a benchmark for "effort and resource" put into kits is a bold move.

Right?

For the most part, their pricing is consistent. The only major outliers I can think of are Fyreslayers, the stupid Grinning Boner Men, and the Kairic Acolytes. Every other major release has had the infantry squads at $45-$50 for 10, including the Nighthaunt which are strictly monopose and ETB. The only questionable thing here is the Slaangor being $60 for 3 when the Tzaangors 3 man multi kit is under $50, even the Glutton King is cheaper than the similarly sized Black Coach.

 zend wrote:
The only questionable thing here is the Slaangor being $60 for 3 when the Tzaangors 3 man multi kit is under $50...

Slaangor Fiendbloods are $50. It's the Myrmidesh/Symbaresh box thats $60.

Myrmydesh and Slaangors are the two "wtf" units. Myrmidesh because they are sold as "elite" units when they really aren't.

And Slaangors is just a abysmal kit. 37 fething pieces. WTF. Nearly 0 options for variance or customization. Compare it with the stone trolls. 91 pieces and a ton of customization for just 5€ more.

Way bigger models for the trolls, too.

The Slaangor kit is downright embarrassing. It really feels to me like they just got bored partway through making a 10-man unit and were like "meh, just scale it up to 40mm and make it a 3 man and we'll charge 50 bucks for it. Job's a good 'un!"

Once more I feel the Wrathmonger was one of the last great multipart kits. Dual troop style, tons of optional parts, and easy to vary up the figures- I've built a mix of both troop types and have yet to really make any repeats.
Blight Kings were another solid option in terms of parts and build possibilities.

If the newer kits had similar options I think I'd be much less adverse to the prices.

I don't like sprue count as a measurement because it does not take into account the quality of those sprues.

I'm a lot happier paying buying 5 blightkings over 5 wrathmongers because despite being the same price, same level of detail, same type & number of models, the blightking is just better. I know, subjective argument, but that is also kinda the point as well.

Putrid blightkings would probably be the easiest victim of "cost saving technique" by modern GW. They won't be 3 sprue kit if they were made today.

 Galas wrote:
And Slaangors is just a abysmal kit. 37 fething pieces. WTF. Nearly 0 options for variance or customization. Compare it with the stone trolls. 91 pieces and a ton of customization for just 5€ more.

I see a few options on the Fiendbloods kit in the way of horns, tails, two different gilded weapons, one extra claw and other little bits of their outfits. And if those bits can be mixed and matched between the models (need to see the assembly instructions first) then there should be enough options for each slaangor in an average force to be unique.

 Ghaz wrote:

I see a few options on the Fiendbloods kit in the way of horns, tails, two different gilded weapons, one extra claw and other little bits of their outfits. And if those bits can be mixed and matched between the models (need to see the assembly instructions first) then there should be enough options for each slaangor in an average force to be unique.

You get one extra horn and 2 weapons for the "slake-horn" build. You get 6 claws to build a 3 man squad without the "slake-horn"

Cronch wrote:
Except the prices are not consistent. Why are myrmidesh (and hammerelves) 5 to a box vs 10 for other 32mm infantry? Even Melusai are cheaper than them.

Why are LRL infantry 60 for 10 vs 50 for ten for Idoneth with actually less options?

For lrl newer army. Simple as that


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Dread Master wrote:
It’s a pricing strategy. Drive prices of new releases upwards, create pricing disparity, announce broad range wide increase to correct disparity, rinse, repeat.

Only issue is there's no constant price hikes　to old kits. Gw stopped yearly hikes　in favour of upping prices of new kits compared to equilavent older kits.

But they still do price hikes. The fact that they're irregular doesn't make them better.

tneva82 wrote:

Dread Master wrote:
It’s a pricing strategy. Drive prices of new releases upwards, create pricing disparity, announce broad range wide increase to correct disparity, rinse, repeat.

Only issue is there's no constant price hikes　to old kits. Gw stopped yearly hikes　in favour of upping prices of new kits compared to equilavent older kits.

With the exception of... the two general price hikes they have done in this past two years? Like Basic ogors going from 32,50€ to 39€ and a TON of other kits going up in cost?

Thats the problem. They said "We are gonna make new things more expensive to stop the price hikes in old stuff". We believed it. And then they started again doing general price hikes.

 Galas wrote:

tneva82 wrote:

Dread Master wrote:
It’s a pricing strategy. Drive prices of new releases upwards, create pricing disparity, announce broad range wide increase to correct disparity, rinse, repeat.

Only issue is there's no constant price hikes　to old kits. Gw stopped yearly hikes　in favour of upping prices of new kits compared to equilavent older kits.

With the exception of... the two general price hikes they have done in this past two years? Like Basic ogors going from 32,50€ to 39€ and a TON of other kits going up in cost?

Thats the problem. They said "We are gonna make new things more expensive to stop the price hikes in old stuff". We believed it. And then they started again doing general price hikes.

No idea when (or if) they actually said that. Don't know why you'd believe it, however. There certainly wasn't ever any reason to.

The big problem with price hikes on the old stuff is its just greedy. Plastic costs are basically peanuts. Once they've recouped the design costs and mold costs, their expenses on old kits bottom out at electricity, labor and maintenance (all of which are part of the regular day-to-day expenses). The price hikes don't have any justification other than 'they can.'

it isn't like the market fluctuations of white metal, which could rise above their projected costs.

tneva82 wrote:

Cronch wrote:
Except the prices are not consistent. Why are myrmidesh (and hammerelves) 5 to a box vs 10 for other 32mm infantry? Even Melusai are cheaper than them.

Why are LRL infantry 60 for 10 vs 50 for ten for Idoneth with actually less options?

For lrl newer army. Simple as that

The Lumineth Archers are 1.5 sprue kit for 5 men, So in a 10 men box you get double of that. The blind Elf are 2 sprue kit for 10 men. It's one of the more reasonably price (pretty much 30$ for 5) GW kit in modern day, comparing to kit like low effort Slaangors.

The big problem with price hikes on the old stuff is its just greedy.

Let's be real, most of GW pricing is based on greed. They are a corporation, they will try to maximize profit as much as humanely possible, even if it seems sleazy, cause...they can get away with it.

Makes it easier not to buy actually. Not a problem with that by the contrary.

Thanks GW.

JSG wrote:
I'm surprised none of these people have tried to organise a boycott.

If disgruntled Warhammer fans want collective action all they need to do is buy 3D printers, find a guy willing to contract digital sculptors to make original designs of the models they want, and they pay him $10 each every month on Patreon. You'll have all the Hedonistites models you could ever want, complete with Mymidire Warriors, Blisterblight archers, and the infamous Retainer of Things To Keep Quiet.

More like what are we supposed to boycott; it is not all the minis or all the new minis, it is only some of them. And whether the price is acceptable or not varies dramatically based on subjective opinion of a given item. A boycott would amount to 'don't buy the things you think are overpriced' which is... what people do anyways.

Another impracticality is say, a boycott is to last for a year. There would be a surge of purchases both at the start and the end of the boycott as people build up a backlog to work on/fill in gaps of their hobby line which have built up during that period. And seven if creating a successful multi-year boycott until GW responds will run into the first issue where people will individually decide at different points that prices have fallen enough for them to end it.

But to end on a positive note; the range-wide price increases are vastly reduced once inflation is factored in. And newer more expensive kits are providing a higher quality product than older sculpts using less advanced production techniques. So it isn't ALL just GW screwing us.

Boycotts don't work anyway in this situation. Either you collect their miniatures or you play their games - mostly both. That's why you buy GW products. You can buy miniatures in other companies, sure, but that limits where and with whom you play. Not everyone can afford themselves that luxury.

If you keep buying other GW products, that just means their sale statistics shift in another category - but they don't lose any money here and won't make them change their strategy. At most, it'll just hurt the army you intended to play first.

About the 3D printer's "revolution"...it's the same reason in the end why people keep buying sandwiches instead of making them themselves even though it's cheaper : because it still takes time and investment...or people just like the service. If it was easy without any disadvantages, it would already have happened a long time ago.

Also...GW fantasy and SF plastic miniatures are still on the top in their category. Period. No other company puts as much investment as them on that matter on long term. That's not the same level of an individual with a 3D printer or a band of patreon 3D sculptors, no matter how good or passionate they are. Numbers matter as well as quality...and there is a price to it, like it or not.

Well, not to flex my awesome business knowledge, but to say 3D printers can't effect the miniature gaming industry or they would have done so long ago, would be the equivalent to saying streaming services can't topple Blockbuster or else they would have a long time ago... in 2010. I mean, if the opportunity comes up to gamble on that proposition, I know which way my money's going, but people are free to take their own counsel.

While GW does invest heavily in their product, at the end of the day you can only put so much into something before there's no gain left to be had. I know GW justifies their silly prices that way to consumers who want their minds soothed, but the fact is you pay a design artist, you pay a sculptor, you make a tiny statue out of plastic material. These things only cost so much, and anymore money thrown at them doesn't improve the end product. Absolutely freelance artists not only can, BUT HAVE made models as good as GW's. And while there are skeptics out there because they haven't done the research or seen results first hand, even low cost consumer grade resin printers can now print miniatures of equal detail to the human eye as GW's. Maybe under a microscope there's a difference, but there's no difference that anyone on Earth can see.

So while my comment before was largely made in jest, if a rich guy wanted to destroy GW's policy of charging $30-50 for infantry hero models, an investment of $100,000 (of which he'd make it all back and then some) would tank their prices inside of a year. That's just a business and manufacturing reality.

Then why hasn't anyone done it?