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A swirl of trends shook up the miniatures business in hobby game stores in Spring 2023 (January-April), with BattleTech breaking into the top three and the Dungeons & Dragons miniatures frenzy beginning to fade as Games Workshop continued to undersupply demand.
Games Workshop began slowing restocks and allocating new releases late in 2022, and continued through the Spring season, with retailers unable to get enough of new releases for their customers, and distributors’ allocations cut to the bone. Reports on sales of Warhammer 40,000, the top miniatures line, clustered around flat as a result; they would likely have been up had demand been filled.
"We’re still having issues with getting allocations on new stuff and getting restocks of older things in," Bob Schaeffer of Dragon’s Lair in San Antonio, Texas told us.
There was speculation that the reductions in Games Workshop supply were due to a redirection of manufacturing capacity toward the upcoming release of Warhammer 40,000 10th Edition. But since the beginning of Covid, there have been varying degrees of supply problems on GW products, so it’s not clear that’s the only issue.
On the other hand, supply on WizKids’ Nolzur’s Marvelous Miniatures improved during the season, even as demand on the red-hot Dungeons & Dragons line appeared to ebb. "The WizKids minis were down slightly," a distributor observed.
The big mover to the upside was Catalyst Game Lab’s Battletech, which moved to #3 on our chart. For the first time in years, the BattleTech boxed starter sets were widely available, which removed the biggest barrier to sales on the line. "Catalyst has done a good job with the intro sets," he said. "We’ve been able to keep those in stock and showcase them." Fuge said the player base in his stores had quadrupled since the beginning of the year.
Games Workshop began slowing restocks and allocating new releases late in 2022, and continued through the Spring season, with retailers unable to get enough of new releases for their customers, and distributors’ allocations cut to the bone. Reports on sales of Warhammer 40,000, the top miniatures line, clustered around flat as a result; they would likely have been up had demand been filled.
After the crapstorm that 3rd party distributors here in the US allowed to happen with things like Indomitus, I can't say I am shocked that GW cut their allocations.
Undead_Love-Machine wrote: I wonder what attributes a miniature line needs to have to be defined as "non-collectible"?
Non-randomised. The Nolzur's D&D stuff, where one buys what you want, is non-collectible, but the grab-bag, contents-unknown-till-opened sets are collectible.
Battletech in the 3rd place feels surreal after how completely dead the franchise was until recently, but Catalyst seems to be doing a lot of things right in the last 5 years, so this is nice to see that effort being rewarded by customers. Completely not surprised by having three RPG-centric figure lines on the list as well, that hobby just exploded during Covid.
Another pleasant surprise is Malifaux, a game that feels permanently on the cusp of breaking into mainstream.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2023/08/05 21:20:04
Undead_Love-Machine wrote: I wonder what attributes a miniature line needs to have to be defined as "non-collectible"?
Their "Collectible Games" category is stuff like MtG, Pokemon & Yu-Gi-Oh! TCGs, etc. I can't spot anything for "Collectible Miniature Lines".
Shakalooloo wrote:Non-randomised. The Nolzur's D&D stuff, where one buys what you want, is non-collectible, but the grab-bag, contents-unknown-till-opened sets are collectible.
Thanks.
I imagine it would have annoyed Tom Kirby to hear 40K described as "non-collectible"
Overread wrote: So honestly I didn't expect Battletech to be that high on the list so that's a nice surprise! The other surprise is Malifaux!
I can only assume its much much bigger in the USA than the UK
As a long time Battletech fan I'm honestly pleased but honestly not suprised.
Battletech's always had the potential, but the Mini's situation has been holding it back (archaic metal minis you had to order online in 99% of cases)
Once that was resolved, and production issues with keeping the core set in stock where resolved, people who didn't know about Battletech found a VEEEERY good thing.
A game with a solid proven ruleset that had seen only "minor adjustments" over 30 years, the, arguably, deepest fiction and lore of any table top game it's got an easy enterance but also has an insanely deep rabbit hole.
I'm glad to see it getting the reckongization it deserves
Opinions are not facts please don't confuse the two
and being USA based i'll bet their data aquisition is better from there than international markets but it's probably fairly solid overall for the big games they're talking about
Having just had a peep at the range? I’m not surprised Nolzur’s are doing good business.
Super cheap price point for what seem to be Really Nice Sculpts. Haven’t and probably won’t ever see one in real life, but even if it’s that hideous rubbery crap material wise, the price is still absolutely right.
Fed up of Scalpers? But still want your Exclusives? Why not join us?
Yeah, a lot of the Nolzur's range are great, and they are very cheap.
My favs are the Beholder and the Halflings. I remember a while ago when it was almost impossible to get certain models without paying through the teeth via re-sellers, I think that this was due to them being produced in "waves", then taking a while for the next wave to come into production.
Looks a bit nonsensical to me. Hard to believe that Nolzur's is higher than every wargame bar 40k, and it doesn't make much sense that Nozur and Pathfinder Deep Cuts are so far apart, they're the same thing with a different brand icon.
The old meta is dead and the new meta struggles to be born. Now is the time of munchkins.
lord_blackfang wrote: Looks a bit nonsensical to me. Hard to believe that Nolzur's is higher than every wargame bar 40k, and it doesn't make much sense that Nozur and Pathfinder Deep Cuts are so far apart, they're the same thing with a different brand icon.
D&D is much more popular than Pathfinder still, and because of this, has a more "generic" look to them so even if you play some other Fantasy rpg than D&D, you will probably buy Nolzur rather than Pathfinder models. As for popularity, wargaming really is a small hobby compared to other "nerdy" hobbies, I'm not saying the IcV2 chart is absolutely correct, but it doesn't surprise me that one of those lines would be so high on the list. Nolzur was in 3rd place right behind 40k and AoS in their Fall 2022 chart too (Pathfinder was 7th).
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2023/08/06 00:30:47
This is a true "blast from the past," reminding me of the days when I was convinced GW was going to go under. Apparently, they did skirt the ragged edge of disaster, so I wasn't all wrong.
Battletech still hanging in there, though. Good for them!
Hanging in there? This is a far better result than just "hanging in there". This is moving up the ranks. Gen-Con's on right now, and Catalyst should be shouting these results from the rooftops.
And is no one going to comment on yet another attempt to shift blame by a certain someone? He's just gonna get away with the "blame everyone else except sacred and holy GW, who can do no wrong"?
lord_blackfang wrote: Looks a bit nonsensical to me. Hard to believe that Nolzur's is higher than every wargame bar 40k, and it doesn't make much sense that Nozur and Pathfinder Deep Cuts are so far apart, they're the same thing with a different brand icon.
Probably just a matter of what sculpts go with what brand. If "deep cuts" is specific characters and the core Nolzur's range has the most common generic heroes and monsters one is obviously going to out-sell the other.
As for being higher than 40k, it's easy to believe. D&D is huge and there are a lot of people buying miniatures for it. Every non-40k wargame is a niche hobby within a niche hobby.
It's amazing to see Battletech so high. I remember playing it in like the 90's and haven't seen it since. Then I walk into my LGS and they have all kinda box sets, single box, and game sets. It just appeared over the last few months big time.
The price of Battletech is a huge sales point. I feel they are probably one of the best priced games and easy for an entry point or to add on. Shows you don't need to charge $10-40 per minature to make a game desireable.
DnD, RPG, cardgames and even Larping have all grown in massive strides over the last years. Wargames have almost been a bit of an enigma in geek hobbies because whilst they've most certainly grown, I don't get the impression they've grown as rapidly.
I can lay some blame at GW's feet as the market leader. I think a LOT of the growth we see now was founded during those earlier internet days and those times when Kirby was in charge and was honestly pulling back from a lot of new marketing approaches and even ones they already had. When video games were pushing for the competitive big events; when internet groups were all the rage GW was pulling out of tournament support and mostly attacking the internet with CD letters.
I also feel like wargames end up with a lot of people playing in basements/friend groups or in clubs that don't really market well/heavily/at all. In many ways its still quite an insular sector of geeks.
I wonder if part of it is that whilst card games have had very aggressive marketing to push them forward; meanwhile RPG games have pushed because those who organise and run them are often much more socially adept and aware and thus marketing and getting more people in comes more naturally to them. Meanwhile wargames have kind of just not gone down those pathways.
Again its not that wargames haven't grown, GW's profits and size and the fact that we have SO many more companies now running around making games and having viable markets - this all tells me that wargames are way bigger as a market than they were. But they still feel like they've been on a slow grow not a rapid one.
But they still feel like they've been on a slow grow not a rapid one.
For RPGs you need a handful of books and some cheap minis (optional) and printed maps. For CCGs you literally just need a premade deck if you're just going to play with your friends.
Both have significantly lower startup cost, RPGs have the added bonus of basically being a cooperative group activity, and card games you can play multiple games in a very small amount of time.
Meanwhile wargames combine the "worst" aspects of RPGs (elaborate rules, long playtime) and card games (competitve nature, but you lose after 2hrs of time instead of 15min so you can't try again immediately). Plus the terrain/army storage issue, which will only become more of an issue as GenZ simply doesnt and likely never will own big enough living space to make storage of massive collections viable.
Stormonu wrote: Makes me so sad that X-Wing isn't even on the radar anymore (or Star Trek Attack Wing).
X-Wing is such a great game, it deserved a far better fate than what it has become.
Both of these died locally when they did their edition changes, and tried to force people to spend money to keep playing with the models they already had. Its a real issue for any game that requires accessories unique to each model to play, then you change the rules so you need different ones.
I know personally when x-wing 2.0 came out I price up how much the conversion packs would cost and hitting £400 just for cards and tokens, and knowing it didn't 100% match all of my collection I stopped playing, as did many others.
For star trek attack wing I actually liked the rules changes, but suddenly all new releases had the ships / upgrades massively cheaper than the old sets and there was no update to re-cost the old stuff. So you couldn't play competitively unless you replaced your collection. I went from playing in a tournament a month (and ranking top 10 in the UK) to boxing my stuff up in the loft.
Glad to see battletech doing well, the recent kickstarter making millions show how popular its become.
it's the quiet ones you have to look out for. Their the ones that change the world, the loud ones just take the credit for it.
It is not an issue for 40k, but just for everyone else trying the same sales model
With 40k everyone is happy to spend way more to keep playing with the models they already have.
And Battletech being there again after 2 successful KS is not a suprise but still nice to see
Harry, bring this ring to Narnia or the Sith will take the Enterprise
Nice to see Battletech moving up in the ranks. Any kind of competition beating out GW is healthy. Hopefully they don't blow themselves up with some big controversy that sends people running back to GW like usually happens when a non-GW game starts doing well.
