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https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/01/15/under-the-hood-with-the-inner-circle-companions-of-the-dark-angels/

Hatchette magazines have changed before as well, not necessarily in content, but it has been changed mid run to have new models etc and the like.

I wouldn't write off the idea that the Hatchette combat patrols could be the newer combat patrols (if factions get newer ones) as by the time the magazines come around, with the space marine and tyranid one being first, the combat patrol may have been released by then.

Alternatively, it is just a good way for GW to shift a lot of the combat patrols they manufactured but didn't necessarily sell and they want to shift before the new combat patrols are released.

I think it bears noting that they're releasing a new Combat Patrol for marines via White Dwarf.

 Shadow Walker wrote:
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/01/15/under-the-hood-with-the-inner-circle-companions-of-the-dark-angels/

We got the gist of that before, but it only occurs to me now that Wolfwolf McMurderface has been dethroned as the edgelordiest 40k unit. Fittingly by a bunch of dudes in nightgowns. Take that, Space Woofs!

 endlesswaltz123 wrote:
Alternatively, it is just a good way for GW to shift a lot of the combat patrols they manufactured but didn't necessarily sell and they want to shift before the new combat patrols are released.

That was my initial thought too and would kinda make sense as to why they haven't been restocked anywhere (aside from their availability on warhammer.com).

What models did they change / add in previous magazines, just out of interest?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Kanluwen wrote:
I think it bears noting that they're releasing a new Combat Patrol for marines via White Dwarf.

So as someone suggested earlier, it could be that each faction will have 2 combat patrols to choose from going forward? The legacy / original one + new one?

Link here if anyone wants to read more - it's the old Space Marine combat patrol (minus the Impulsor) / Vanguard Task Force with the addition of a Phobos Librarian.

Considering GW have enough trouble keeping current models in stock I don't think there's this huge warehouse of unsold models that people keep imaging gets used for promotions like Hattchet Partworks or for the Christmas boxed sets.

All those things are cast, picked, packed, palleted and sent off fully as their own things. The time to make them is part of the GW production schedule. They aren't "overstock waste" from the GW system. It would be a waste for GW staffers to be paid to unbox and unpick items to then repack them up again.

 endlesswaltz123 wrote:

Alternatively, it is just a good way for GW to shift a lot of the combat patrols they manufactured but didn't necessarily sell and they want to shift before the new combat patrols are released.

Seeing sprues are cast specifically for magazine that's neat trick.

Gw casts x sprues and same amount of sprues just vanish into thin air?

It's common myth discount boxes are unsold sprues "to get rid of". Just one problem with that. If gw wants 10000 discount box then spruns for 10000 are cast. Existing stock isn't ripped open and sprues thrown to discount boxes.

 Geifer wrote:

 Shadow Walker wrote:
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/01/15/under-the-hood-with-the-inner-circle-companions-of-the-dark-angels/

We got the gist of that before, but it only occurs to me now that Wolfwolf McMurderface has been dethroned as the edgelordiest 40k unit. Fittingly by a bunch of dudes in nightgowns. Take that, Space Woofs!

Oh, just you wait and see, deathwolf ghosttotem wolfhunter crusader fangclaws is just the beginning.

 endlesswaltz123 wrote:
Alternatively, it is just a good way for GW to shift a lot of the combat patrols they manufactured but didn't necessarily sell and they want to shift before the new combat patrols are released.

Yea the myth of repackaging overstock should have been put to rest with Kill Team 2018 at the latest.

 lord_blackfang wrote:

 endlesswaltz123 wrote:
Alternatively, it is just a good way for GW to shift a lot of the combat patrols they manufactured but didn't necessarily sell and they want to shift before the new combat patrols are released.

Yea the myth of repackaging overstock should have been put to rest with Kill Team 2018 at the latest.

It should have been put to death years ago.

At the very best the closest you can get to it is that GW likely plans things like the Christmas boxed sets months in advance and will start doing casting runs and storing stock over a period of time so that it doesn't interrupt their normal release pattern and production too much. Heck between christmas and new editions and big events chances are there's a whole "big event" slot that just rotates between different projects in the production lineup

Given how much time their products spend being out of stock during the year, the idea that they make bundles out of surplus simply cannot be true.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Given how much time their products spend being out of stock during the year, the idea that they make bundles out of surplus simply cannot be true.

Looking at my now nearly fully painted initial collection of Legions Imperialis? Ain’t that the truth.

And as has been said many time before? Struggling to meet demand is absolutely one of the nicer problems any manufacturer can have. But make no mistake it absolutely is a problem, and one they need to fix. Because impulse buys are a thing, and not being able to get hold of shiny new things, or a second, third or fourth box of not-so-shiny-new doesn’t mean we’ll spend that money on Something Else you offer, or even put it aside until later.

Hoomans. We’re an odd bunch.

Heh, I got into it with a dude on Facebook who's convinced that GW spent the last 10 years sitting on massive stock of old whfb kits which they are now reboxing and releasing for sale.

The guy was very insistent on the plausibility of his "theory", despite gw themselves directly stating this was not the case on warcom.

chaos0xomega wrote:
Heh, I got into it with a dude on Facebook who's convinced that GW spent the last 10 years sitting on massive stock of old whfb kits which they are now reboxing and releasing for sale.

The guy was very insistent on the plausibility of his "theory", despite gw themselves directly stating this was not the case on warcom.

I mean I guess I can see the guy's logic, but they just need to shift their mindset from stock to moulds and production assets. GW wasn't sitting on stock; they were sitting on the capacity and material to make stock for 10 years.

chaos0xomega wrote:
Heh, I got into it with a dude on Facebook who's convinced that GW spent the last 10 years sitting on massive stock of old whfb kits which they are now reboxing and releasing for sale.

Even basic economics says that this is a bad idea. Holding masses of inventory has tax implications.

This means that:

1. GW were paying lots of tax on WHFB models in the hope they'd come back one day.
2. GW were illegally avoiding tax on that stock.

Neither explanations are plausible.

 Geifer wrote:

 Shadow Walker wrote:
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/01/15/under-the-hood-with-the-inner-circle-companions-of-the-dark-angels/

We got the gist of that before, but it only occurs to me now that Wolfwolf McMurderface has been dethroned as the edgelordiest 40k unit. Fittingly by a bunch of dudes in nightgowns. Take that, Space Woofs!

They're dipping into the high elf phoenix guard background. Not talking causes fear. Somehow.

Unfortunately, big sword guys on foot aren't anything to write home about. They already have to compete with terminators and blade guard (who probably have them soundly beat defensively).
Reasonably nice models though, so using them as a standard bearer and some converted sergeants might be worthwhile.

 Overread wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
Heh, I got into it with a dude on Facebook who's convinced that GW spent the last 10 years sitting on massive stock of old whfb kits which they are now reboxing and releasing for sale.

The guy was very insistent on the plausibility of his "theory", despite gw themselves directly stating this was not the case on warcom.

I mean I guess I can see the guy's logic, but they just need to shift their mindset from stock to moulds and production assets. GW wasn't sitting on stock; they were sitting on the capacity and material to make stock for 10 years.

I don't even see the logic
GW decided to kill of Warhammer Fantasy, they were not forced to do it or someone else decided for them
ignoring that plastic frames can be recycled, if there would have been a massive amount of stock, we would have seen a big release or event/campaign designed to sell of stock before they ended it and everything remaining carried over to the new game

GW don't sell old stock. It gets sent to landfill. It's been that way for decades.

and plastic sprues don't recycle well due to the type of plastic used. (they use polystyrene.. which has a recycling code of 6. the higher the # code, the harder it is to break it down for reuse, due to the more durable molecular structure of the plastic. most recycling programs don't accept anything higher than a 4.)

besides even if they did send them to a recycler, they'd get maybe a few pennies on the dollar in return. a major loss compared to the price of making them. and they'd lose more money in arranging shipping to the recyclers. so usually unsold stock is either handed over to a third party reseller, or just sent to landfill.

and i could see GW wanting to hold onto stock of WHFB stuff early on, since AoS was still young and the setting and rules fluctuating. while the Endtimes meant they couldn't easily just re-release WHFB, they could easily try to attract people to AoS by tweaking the rules to be more WHFB like and put those legacy factions in. as it was AoS caught on so they didn't need to.

HIPS is easier to recycle as long as it is "pure" (EPS is more of a problem) and GW is doing in house recycling as far as we know, not selling it off

 kodos wrote:
HIPS is easier to recycle as long as it is "pure" (EPS is more of a problem) and GW is doing in house recycling as far as we know, not selling it off

Fairly sure they said they donate it to charities etc for floor surfaces in kids playgrounds etc.

Voss wrote:

 Geifer wrote:

 Shadow Walker wrote:
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/01/15/under-the-hood-with-the-inner-circle-companions-of-the-dark-angels/

We got the gist of that before, but it only occurs to me now that Wolfwolf McMurderface has been dethroned as the edgelordiest 40k unit. Fittingly by a bunch of dudes in nightgowns. Take that, Space Woofs!

They're dipping into the high elf phoenix guard background. Not talking causes fear. Somehow.

Unfortunately, big sword guys on foot aren't anything to write home about. They already have to compete with terminators and blade guard (who probably have them soundly beat defensively).
Reasonably nice models though, so using them as a standard bearer and some converted sergeants might be worthwhile.

Agreed, the models are nice and a good source for veterans and sergeants and character conversions even if you don't want the unit itself.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
GW don't sell old stock. It gets sent to landfill. It's been that way for decades.

They tried to sell off some stock in the past before throwing it away. When GW squatted Tomb Kings half a year into AoS, they put stock on last chance to buy and got rid of it almost instantaneously.

Plastic sprues can actually be ground down and used as a filler additive mixed with the pelletized virgin plastic for injection molding. They would do that in-factory as they would want to ensure that they weren't contaminating the mix with material from other manufacturers, as each company basically has their own proprietary plastic mixture.

chaos0xomega wrote:
Plastic sprues can actually be ground down and used as a filler additive mixed with the pelletized virgin plastic for injection molding. They would do that in-factory as they would want to ensure that they weren't contaminating the mix with material from other manufacturers, as each company basically has their own proprietary plastic mixture.

Up to 5% shredded material is usus in the industry, though they could use more for stuff like their black bases (that includes all their PS with colour batches). That said this is usually done in-process and I doubt they transport sprues around the country - it's just too costly and PS isn't exactly expensive.

 Geifer wrote:
They tried to sell off some stock in the past before throwing it away. When GW squatted Tomb Kings half a year into AoS, they put stock on last chance to buy and got rid of it almost instantaneously.

Sorry, I should have been more specific: They don't put things on clearance/sale when they're going out of production. Anything that doesn't sell gets thrown away instead.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 Geifer wrote:
They tried to sell off some stock in the past before throwing it away. When GW squatted Tomb Kings half a year into AoS, they put stock on last chance to buy and got rid of it almost instantaneously.

Sorry, I should have been more specific: They don't put things on clearance/sale when they're going out of production. Anything that doesn't sell gets thrown away instead.

Are you sure? Most of the time these days (and in the last good few years even pre-pandemic) if something gets listed as "last chance" it normally sells out pretty fast on the GW store. About the only ones that might not were one or two duel army sets in the past. I seem to recall the Slaanesh and Khorne one and the Eldar and Dark Eldar ones hung around for a good long while (although I think the Slaanesh and Khorne got an extra large amount made because it was duel for 40K and AoS at the time); but otherwise most stuff set to "last chance" just vanishes from sale super fast.

 Dryaktylus wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
Plastic sprues can actually be ground down and used as a filler additive mixed with the pelletized virgin plastic for injection molding. They would do that in-factory as they would want to ensure that they weren't contaminating the mix with material from other manufacturers, as each company basically has their own proprietary plastic mixture.

Up to 5% shredded material is usus in the industry, though they could use more for stuff like their black bases (that includes all their PS with colour batches). That said this is usually done in-process and I doubt they transport sprues around the country - it's just too costly and PS isn't exactly expensive.

A friend (using the term loosely, more an acquaintance) who worked manufacturing for GW said in the past they would go 10% filler.

But again, it was mostly internally generated material such as leftover sprues from outdated product, test shots, defective/unsellable kits, leftovers from internal modeling projects (studio armies, etc.), etc. As you said, it didn't make sense for them to collect and ship the sprues from afar, doing so was not only more expensive but also more environmentally destructive than using non-recycled material. Which is why its surprising to see GW now has this recycling test pilot program. I'm guessing that maybe these are stores that GW delivers product to using its own fleet vehicles and they can return the sprues to the factory using their own trucks when they make their return trip in order to offset the cost and environmental impact.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 Geifer wrote:
They tried to sell off some stock in the past before throwing it away. When GW squatted Tomb Kings half a year into AoS, they put stock on last chance to buy and got rid of it almost instantaneously.

Sorry, I should have been more specific: They don't put things on clearance/sale when they're going out of production. Anything that doesn't sell gets thrown away instead.

My bad, I misunderstood. Yeah, GW seems to believe it's more advantageous to just dump unsold goods than to entice people with lower prices.

 Overread wrote:
Are you sure? Most of the time these days (and in the last good few years even pre-pandemic) if something gets listed as "last chance" it normally sells out pretty fast on the GW store. About the only ones that might not were one or two duel army sets in the past. I seem to recall the Slaanesh and Khorne one and the Eldar and Dark Eldar ones hung around for a good long while (although I think the Slaanesh and Khorne got an extra large amount made because it was duel for 40K and AoS at the time); but otherwise most stuff set to "last chance" just vanishes from sale super fast.

Just recently a whole bunch of low selling items (basically a lot of Warcry stuff, and things like the Infiltrator Kill-Team box) was recovered (somehow, I don't know the specifics - I only saw the photos) and sold off privately rather than going to landfill.

GW makes things that don't sell, and "Last Chance to Buy" isn't always their final destination.

And I said, this has been going on for years. I remember that as far back as 4th Edition, when the 3rd Ed starters were all being junked, even though they contained completely current kits.

 Overread wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 Geifer wrote:
They tried to sell off some stock in the past before throwing it away. When GW squatted Tomb Kings half a year into AoS, they put stock on last chance to buy and got rid of it almost instantaneously.

Sorry, I should have been more specific: They don't put things on clearance/sale when they're going out of production. Anything that doesn't sell gets thrown away instead.

Are you sure? Most of the time these days (and in the last good few years even pre-pandemic) if something gets listed as "last chance" it normally sells out pretty fast on the GW store. About the only ones that might not were one or two duel army sets in the past. I seem to recall the Slaanesh and Khorne one and the Eldar and Dark Eldar ones hung around for a good long while (although I think the Slaanesh and Khorne got an extra large amount made because it was duel for 40K and AoS at the time); but otherwise most stuff set to "last chance" just vanishes from sale super fast.

My understanding is that if its still good (ie - current) product in an unsold bundle box they do repackage the sprues into individual kits - the individual kits have more value than the bundle does so the cost of labor to do so is justified on that basis. Same like when a codex or battletome gets updated and they re-release kits in new packaging - if there is a significant amount of old inventory they oftentimes do repackage the unsold old kits into new boxes rather than throwing them out because they are in the wrong box, though the way they conduct business its rare for that to happen as they try to sell out the existing inventory from their stocks prior to the rerelease.

What they don't do is take excess inventory and repackage them into bundles - the individual kits will usually sell eventually and carry a higher value than the bundle, so theres not a business justification to invest the labor into repackaging them to sell at a lower cost. If the individual kits don't sell they go to landfill and become a tax loss.