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 Ghaz wrote:

 Mentlegen324 wrote:
Just because this is something GW have decided to do for free doesn't mean any sort of criticism of the way they've decided to do it should be avoided.

How does being sent 1-2 miniatures for free do much worthwhile, compared to making that miniature made-to-order (even at manufacturing cost) and making both customers and the shop happy? Them deciding to give the miniatures for free is obviously a commendable and generous thing, but the lack of availability for both the shops and the customers isn't suddenly a non-issue because of that.

A silent auction could bring in a fair bit, depending on the store's clientele and how bad they want the mini (and believe others want it as well).

A shop being sent maybe 1 or 2 miniatures they can auction or raffle does not seem anywhere near as supportive, available or beneficial to them or their customers than a more reasonable way of making that limited edition miniature "made-to-order"-able via that shop, even if they paid the manufacture cost.

The current idea of sending a pitiful amount of free miniatures with no way to get more later on is a bad way to do it for both the people who want the miniature and the independent shop that this thing is supposed to support. It's not having them order-able to be made later on that's the problem, as obviously they can't manufacture them at the moment.

So GW should have kept it as another Anniversary model instead is what you're saying, because an increase in production most likely is not going to happen. It's up to the stores to determine the best way to handle what GW gave them and complaining ultimately will get them nowhere.

Remember the old proverb, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

Which part of they only have 10,000 of them and no production capacity are you struggling with, exactly?

 Excommunicatus wrote:
Which part of they only have 10,000 of them and no production capacity are you struggling with, exactly?

Again, the problem here is that there is seemingly no way for shops to order more for when the manufacturing is able to resume....the same thing as those 3 other recent "made to order" miniatures are? It more information is revealed and shops can get more later on, then that's all fine...but currently it seems like it's bad for both customers and shops.

 Platuan4th wrote:
Your conspiracy would be more accurate if it wasn't for the fact that Magic is what keeps stores afloat.

it doesn't anymore. I hear complaints from the stores all the time about how Magic sales are dropping as more and more people are choosing to stay home and play Arena rather than in person at the FLGS.

My local game store is currently keeping its doors open thanks to AoS and 40K. I know that is the exception, but I think Magics days are numbered, just like what happened with Comics.

 Excommunicatus wrote:
Which part of they only have 10,000 of them and no production capacity are you struggling with, exactly?

The sun will rise again, the factory will reopen and preorders could be accepted.

I hope this is what GW will do.

Not sure how our FLGS is going to distribute the ~3 models they're getting, but I talked to the owner and he has a few ideas.

One will be a fun 40k tournament prize to the tournament winner.

One will be in a raffle style thing (everyone gets an equal shot at it, one entry per person).

Any beyond that will be determined at a later date, as he's not sure how many he's going to get but is confident it'll be at least two models.

I personally agree with the store owner here. People want it, and he feels its only fair to try and give as fair a chance to as many people as possible to get one of the very few he's going to get.

Take it easy.

-Red__Thirst-

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Which is exactly what I put in my email to GW asking them to reconsider expanding this somewhat.

I also emailed them, asking if FLGS will get a second wave or if he'll be available elsewhere and I've just gotten this reply:

GW Customer Services wrote:Thanks for contacting us!

That Catachan Colonel model was originally made and set for another promotion. In the light of the global situation, we thought a better use for it would be to provide it to Independent stores reopening after lockdown.

There are over 10,000 of these models out in the world. With our factories still under lockdown conditions, we will be dividing this existing stock as fairly as possible between our independent stockists around the world, depending on the size of the store.

At this time, we do not know if he will be returning to stock, but the Warhammer Community page will announce any plans should they come up!

I hope this helps--please let us know if we can assist with anything further.

Warm Regards,

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
GW’s gesture is a solid one. But, many think the execution is a bit wonky.

So, in other words, the same as everything else GW does?

I suspect they don't want to commit to producing more until they've got a handle on their production facility. They've still no idea when it can come back online - it might be until the end of May before restrictions start to lift and even then they might only be able to operate a skeleton crew due to required social distancing rules and regulations.

Remembering that GW before the shutdown was already operating at full capacity; so this is really going to hit their supply system hard; esp when not only have they not been able to produce but there's also a general boom in sales demand right now.


Plus they've all their original release plans for long term products that they want to get out there into the market.



The unknown and the limits make all things a bit crazy and GW likely also is having to plan for the fact that they might get to turn their factories on one month and then a month or two later turn them off again with a second lockdown.

 Overread wrote:
I suspect they don't want to commit to producing more until they've got a handle on their production facility. They've still no idea when it can come back online - it might be until the end of May before restrictions start to lift and even then they might only be able to operate a skeleton crew due to required social distancing rules and regulations.

Remembering that GW before the shutdown was already operating at full capacity; so this is really going to hit their supply system hard; esp when not only have they not been able to produce but there's also a general boom in sales demand right now.


Plus they've all their original release plans for long term products that they want to get out there into the market.



The unknown and the limits make all things a bit crazy and GW likely also is having to plan for the fact that they might get to turn their factories on one month and then a month or two later turn them off again with a second lockdown.

They committed to producing more of the others, though. They changed the release plan for the other exclusives - unless I've got something wrong, Lieutenant Amulius and Librarian Varos were both meant to be at this years Adepticon last month, so those went from having a limited number already made to just "made-to-order" without a specific limit.

True and I believe GW is also supplying them through 3rd parties as well (though I'm unsure if stores are able to order with discount or if they are just customer loyalty orders - ergo low to no profit for the store but if they get your sale you're more likely to buy other things).

 Togusa wrote:

 Platuan4th wrote:
Your conspiracy would be more accurate if it wasn't for the fact that Magic is what keeps stores afloat.

it doesn't anymore. I hear complaints from the stores all the time about how Magic sales are dropping as more and more people are choosing to stay home and play Arena rather than in person at the FLGS.

My local game store is currently keeping its doors open thanks to AoS and 40K. I know that is the exception, but I think Magics days are numbered, just like what happened with Comics.

You mean the same Arena that Hasbro sent FLGS' codes for to support those stores and let them continue to run events through? Your stores may want to contact Hasbro if they didn't get their codes or weren't properly informed by their WotC reps as to how to continue to be supported by their MtG players.

Your store is definitely an outlier as the vast majority of stores still had most of their nightly event calendars stuffed with MtG before this went down.

 Gimgamgoo wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

tneva82 wrote:
Limited edition models are rarely cast in advance and these were cast and done before corona became even close to issue. So even if GW wanted to give more to stores they literally would have none. They were likely intended for some event exclusive/Whatever and stock was what they had available.

You're acting like they can't make more...

Exactly. Why on earth does GW insist on producing a mold for a plastic model - expensive but designed to recoup its cost over thousands and thousands of uses. Then making them a limited run? They seem to be doing this regularly now. Why? Do fomo sales really outweigh long term sales?

Because the production costs for HIPS miniatures are nowhere near as high as some have claimed. So of course GW will jump on the "limited" product bandwagon.

Blastaar wrote:
Because the production costs for HIPS miniatures are nowhere near as high as some have claimed. So of course GW will jump on the "limited" product bandwagon.

When you're GW, who has been in the plastic producing game 30 years now, and have your own warehouse and production facilities, of course producing HIPS moulds is going to be dirt cheap. GW would have this whole "thing" as close to a science as possible.

If you're any other company then it's going to still be prohibitively expensive in most cases. Expensive as it was 10/15 years ago? No, maybe not. But still out of reach for the overwhelming majority of players.

 BroodSpawn wrote:
So GW should have given, freely, 10-20 models to every store and sucked up the cost of development, production and shipping (worldwide shipping too I'm betting)... and because they haven't/couldn't/can't the fact they're giving any out to stores is a .. bad.. act?

Because those other wargame companies are doing the same thing right, they're giving out free stuff for stores to sell and taking a hit financially to do so?

Why not? WOTC is giving LGS's 10 or more BOXES of mystery boosters for free.

Blastaar wrote:

 BroodSpawn wrote:
So GW should have given, freely, 10-20 models to every store and sucked up the cost of development, production and shipping (worldwide shipping too I'm betting)... and because they haven't/couldn't/can't the fact they're giving any out to stores is a .. bad.. act?

Because those other wargame companies are doing the same thing right, they're giving out free stuff for stores to sell and taking a hit financially to do so?

Why not? WOTC is giving LGS's 10 or more BOXES of mystery boosters for free.

And those retail for something like $160 USD.

 Platuan4th wrote:

Blastaar wrote:

 BroodSpawn wrote:
So GW should have given, freely, 10-20 models to every store and sucked up the cost of development, production and shipping (worldwide shipping too I'm betting)... and because they haven't/couldn't/can't the fact they're giving any out to stores is a .. bad.. act?

Because those other wargame companies are doing the same thing right, they're giving out free stuff for stores to sell and taking a hit financially to do so?

Why not? WOTC is giving LGS's 10 or more BOXES of mystery boosters for free.

And those retail for something like $160 USD.

I wouldn't necessarily say they should do that, personally. What should they not do though? Well, that's easy. They shouldn't announce financial relief for indy retailers in the form of a couple of LE plastic minis per retailer (effectively zero financial relief). That would be a rather transparent and clumsy attempt at a PR grab at a very inappropriate time. They definitely shouldn't do that. Oh wait, they did that, didn't they?

 posermcbogus wrote:
And no silly mid-flight ULTRA-DYNAMIC POSING, no smoke...

It's ok, I fixed it:

No Swirly Bull Gak™.

0/10. Would buy again.

Right, for all the people hopping up on their majestic white chargers to ride to the defence of Milady GW, let me try and explain this issue to you in a nice simple way:

Firstly, GW are not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. Every FLGS in the world could go bankrupt tomorrow and nobody making these decisions at GW would even bother to pretend to be sad, were it not for the fact they themselves would lose revenue. They are doing this for exactly two reasons: to keep FLGS owners on-side so they'll keep ordering GW products after this whole fiasco is over, and to garner some positive PR by presenting themselves as the Caring Corporate Daddy who looks after their Valued Partners etc. The fact that their motivation is so obviously cynical immediately invalidates any of your "but they're doing a nice thing so you should shut up and stop being a meanie-weenie!!!!1" guff.

Secondly, regardless of what their actual motivations are, GW gave a clear stated goal for this course of action to achieve, and it's entirely valid and fair to point out that the course of action is a rubbish way to achieve said goal. By failing to indicate in the marketing material how rare these are going to be, rather than making customers better disposed towards FLGS they are in fact engendering ill-will towards them by making them be the ones who have to repeatedly disappoint people who call up trying to order one. And as for the idea literally less-than-a-handful of free miniatures is going to make any meaningful difference to their income - ahaha. Given the previous, it could do the reverse, as people who *would* have made purchases go off in a huff because they can't get the fancy Catachan model(and don't start moralising - whether they're justified in throwing a hissy is irrelevant, plenty of them will do so, and that fact is entirely foreseeable).

Thirdly, this pantomime act that you have going about poor GW just trying to do their best with a limited resource, oh noes they only have 10,000, oh boo-hoo it's a limited anniversary model so what more could any right thinking person expect them to do etc, is bad comedy.

GW own the design. GW own the molds. GW made the decision what kind of model it would be and how it would be sold. They are evidently capable of changing any of those previously made decisions, as evidenced by the fact they already did when they chose to give them to FLGS. There is nothing whatsoever preventing them from going further if they wanted to.

No, they can't crank out extras right now at this exact moment, but what exactly is stopping them from making this product Made To Order exclusively through independent retailers, giving them the models wholesale(or even, whisper it, at-cost), with the understanding orders will be fulfilled when the lockdown ends and the factory is up & running again? They are in complete and total control of all the factors that would allow such a course of action, and they're sitting on a giant pile of cash reserves so it's not like it would bankrupt the company(hell, if they were doing them at wholesale prices, they'd likely make far more money than they would have selling a few thousand exclusively at store anniversaries).

If they were actually interested in boosting the incomes of poor defenceless FLGS owners, that's the kind of thing they'd be doing, not this ineffectual PR stunt.

Criticism is entirely warranted.

..the way this is apparently being distributed is not so great, but hey, a model with feet placed firmly near the ground, and its IG! yay for this at least.

...how many Catachan models have they put out recently? I wonder if that means anythin'.

Friend of mine said this to me earlier today:

"The smarter thing for GW to do is make this a made-to-order thing that is ordered through the FLGS, and they sell the model to the FLGS at cost + 5%. Then there is no limited supply and everyone is happy."

 Yodhrin wrote:
Criticism is entirely warranted.

'Tis a grand shame that I have but one 'like' to give.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=Astra+Militarium+Catachan+Colonel&_sacat=0

And so it begins.

 OPULENCE wrote:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=Astra+Militarium+Catachan+Colonel&_sacat=0

And so it begins.

Yep - and at least one store has taken their auction down due to on-line abuse.

More fool those doing the bidding, I guess.

Except the auction supporting Help for Heroes, a military veteran’s charity. They can all rock on most righteously.

beast_gts wrote:

 OPULENCE wrote:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=Astra+Militarium+Catachan+Colonel&_sacat=0

And so it begins.

Yep - and at least one store has taken their auction down due to on-line abuse.

Oh that is appalling. I actually know one of the stores selling and the owner was honest about his plan as he had so many customers asking for it and he was only getting two. Fair play to him if it keep his store in business. His other one heis going to use as a prize when he re opens.

I am disappointed I can't get one but not going to throw a radger about it - it is just a model after all.

 Yodhrin wrote:
Right, for all the people hopping up on their majestic white chargers to ride to the defence of Milady GW, let me try and explain this issue to you in a nice simple way:

Firstly, GW are not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. Every FLGS in the world could go bankrupt tomorrow and nobody making these decisions at GW would even bother to pretend to be sad, were it not for the fact they themselves would lose revenue. They are doing this for exactly two reasons: to keep FLGS owners on-side so they'll keep ordering GW products after this whole fiasco is over, and to garner some positive PR by presenting themselves as the Caring Corporate Daddy who looks after their Valued Partners etc. The fact that their motivation is so obviously cynical immediately invalidates any of your "but they're doing a nice thing so you should shut up and stop being a meanie-weenie!!!!1" guff.

Secondly, regardless of what their actual motivations are, GW gave a clear stated goal for this course of action to achieve, and it's entirely valid and fair to point out that the course of action is a rubbish way to achieve said goal. By failing to indicate in the marketing material how rare these are going to be, rather than making customers better disposed towards FLGS they are in fact engendering ill-will towards them by making them be the ones who have to repeatedly disappoint people who call up trying to order one. And as for the idea literally less-than-a-handful of free miniatures is going to make any meaningful difference to their income - ahaha. Given the previous, it could do the reverse, as people who *would* have made purchases go off in a huff because they can't get the fancy Catachan model(and don't start moralising - whether they're justified in throwing a hissy is irrelevant, plenty of them will do so, and that fact is entirely foreseeable).

Thirdly, this pantomime act that you have going about poor GW just trying to do their best with a limited resource, oh noes they only have 10,000, oh boo-hoo it's a limited anniversary model so what more could any right thinking person expect them to do etc, is bad comedy.

GW own the design. GW own the molds. GW made the decision what kind of model it would be and how it would be sold. They are evidently capable of changing any of those previously made decisions, as evidenced by the fact they already did when they chose to give them to FLGS. There is nothing whatsoever preventing them from going further if they wanted to.

No, they can't crank out extras right now at this exact moment, but what exactly is stopping them from making this product Made To Order exclusively through independent retailers, giving them the models wholesale(or even, whisper it, at-cost), with the understanding orders will be fulfilled when the lockdown ends and the factory is up & running again? They are in complete and total control of all the factors that would allow such a course of action, and they're sitting on a giant pile of cash reserves so it's not like it would bankrupt the company(hell, if they were doing them at wholesale prices, they'd likely make far more money than they would have selling a few thousand exclusively at store anniversaries).

If they were actually interested in boosting the incomes of poor defenceless FLGS owners, that's the kind of thing they'd be doing, not this ineffectual PR stunt.

Criticism is entirely warranted.

Oh I'm sorry, we should only criticise GW no matter what moves they do. You're right, they should have totally waited until they had a production slot available in the future, then sell models to stores assuming those stores would still be open instead of giving out items and losing money in the process.

It's almost like GW losing money on a nice gesture isn't enough for some people.

(Is my sarcasm at your complaint too strong here? With all due respect I sincerely hope it's not.)

The long and short of it is this: it's a nice gesture by a supplier/manufacturer to independent stockists of there product. It's not perfect, but then again nothing GW is. If you (and others like you) want to be angry over this direct it at GW's email box.

Oh and on that whole 'white-knight' comment you've gone with: surely those of us in the community that have shrugged and went 'okay, guess it's not for me/not getting one but I can live with it' or are more accepting of this situation don't deserve to be, frankly, insulted for not joining in with the pitch-forks of the 'GW Hate Mob', or did you intentionally write that out knowing you'd get a bite from someone?

It's not perfect, but then again nothing GW is.

I mean i got no dog in this fight but that isn't excactly what you'd call a great defense now is it?

Free puppies are not gifts, they require a lot of work and upkeep and disruption in your life. Especially if you're not expecting or prepared for it and have a lot of other stuff going on in your life.

With these GW has dropped a load of free puppies in the laps of FLGSs and asked them to figure out how to deal with them.

A kind gesture may have been free stock or army boxes or extending credit or better wholesale rates or something, or as I and others have said, allowing them to preorder the Sgt.

Instead stores have to put in extra work and take the heat when folks can't get this product.

And that's the issue. A half-baked plan to help can do more harm than good.