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Hey all,

As I am new to this kind of thing I am wondering, as far as experienced miniature gamers are concerned, what has proven the best method for securing a copy of a new edition in the UK?

Am I best placing an order with official GW website, or perhaps a third party such as Element Games… or is it wisest to physically go to the store to place the preorder?

I am keen not to miss out so hoping your collective wisdom can point me in the right direction. Thanks all.

If you were asking what I'd actually do, I'd probably register my interest with Dark Sphere and see if they could pre-order one for me. But I think you may be getting a bit late.

I wouldn't be surprised if Dark Sphere/Wayland Games/Element Games don't sell out of any stock they get instantly. It seems to happen with most other releases.

Same sort of story with GW's website. Normally I'd say this will just meltdown and be sold out in approximately 3 minutes - but that may not be the case if they genuinely have the mountain of stock some have claimed.

If you had a local GW store that you vaguely knew you could try phoning to see if they will have copies to pre-order (or if they'll insist on just serving the first person through the door). Again it kind of depends on how long stock lasts.

As Tyel has said many sites now do a register of interest which is a way third party companies can gauge interest and get the stock they require, but you'll probably be too late for this.
Most GW stores will have very little stock, and probably none that isn't already vouched for, I wouldn't advise going to a store on release day hoping to get one.
So I'd say your best bet now is to wait for preorders to go live at 10:00am on Saturday and fingers crossed you get one, but most sites (including GW) will set out within minutes. Good luck.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
As Tyel has said many sites now do a register of interest which is a way third party companies can gauge interest and get the stock they require, but you'll probably be too late for this.
Most GW stores will have very little stock, and probably none that isn't already vouched for, I wouldn't advise going to a store on release day hoping to get one.
So I'd say your best bet now is to wait for preorders to go live at 10:00am on Saturday and fingers crossed you get one, but most sites (including GW) will set out within minutes. Good luck.

What about preordering AT the GW store?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
As opposed to just turning up release day…which I never even considered to be honest…

If you really want to be sure, you're better off just going to a GW store on the morning of release day.

This is all a bit weird to me…

This whole thread is kind of suggesting I have ‘missed the boat’ on preordering a copy BEFORE the time preordering is actually supposed to have gone live..

How is this a thing?

Something is fishy here…

Popularity exploded and a little factory in Nottingham now can’t meet demand. Retailers are doing their best for customers/their sales line by trying to ensure stock and be able to fulfil orders, but it likely won’t be enough. Plus everyone’s website will crash. Not sure what’s not to understand beyond that at this point.

Honestly?

I’m going to be queueing at my FLGS on release day. Not the biggest discounter, but any discount is welcome, spesh on something likely to be in high demand.

I'd say the best chance of getting a copy is to check the webstore of your choice right as the pre-orders go live, then if that sells out right away I would go to the nearest GW store and check there. Stock at the GW brick-and-mortar stores usually sells slower than at the webstore so you could still have a chance.

Some 3rd party retailers do a "register of interest" where they informally reserve copies for people who sign up for them. Dark Sphere is a UK-based store who does this, and their register closes tonight. So you might still be able to sign up for that. They should let you know whether they have a copy for you or not before the pre-orders go live, so if they do that is a guaranteed copy for you right there and if they don't then you still have time to secure one at the GW or a different webstore or at a physical GW store.

XvArcanevX wrote:
This is all a bit weird to me…

This whole thread is kind of suggesting I have ‘missed the boat’ on preordering a copy BEFORE the time preordering is actually supposed to have gone live..

How is this a thing?

Something is fishy here…

FLGS told GW how many copies they wanted - some large ones wanted 1000, for example. GW came back and told them they could have 60 earlier this week. They will get told their final allocation (which will probably be somewhere between 60 and how many they actually wanted) tomorrow. The pre-pre-orders, i.e. the "register of interest" they operate gets served out of that allocation. If it's low, then those who added their name last don't get a copy. Even if they do, there's usually not much extra stock left to go up on "pre-order" day. Registers usually close about now, so you're probably too late to even join one, or at best you'll be at the back of the queue for limited stock.

For GW, they might have a *lot* of stock in hand for leviathan for sale on the main website, but demand is expected to be very high.

Now, scalpers have seen this pattern, and they've seized the opportunity with bots and other tools to hammer GW very fast, working together, when pre-orders go live for a while now. They then immediately turn around and list them on ebay at double or triple price, then ship it later when GW send it to them. Take the recent pre-order for the Deathguard blind boxes; there's plenty listed by scalpers, and they're selling at 4 times list price, while some normal people who actually did pre-order from GW have now been told there's not enough stock to actually send them.

Thing is, GW doesn't make product needed to meet the 'pre-order', which is normally what is meant by the term. What you're doing is just ordering the stock that's already been made, with a two week delayed delivery. And ordering when 'pre-orders' go live is basically just ordering, with limited stock, lots of other people trying to do the same thing, and scalpers trying to crowd out everybody else with automated tools and a website and stock system that doesn't handle high load very well - and if you miss out, well GW aren't going to make more, and your only option is wait for a more expensive (per-model) smaller boxes with subsets of the content, wait even longer for even pricier multi-part boxes, or go to a scalper at an eyewatering price if you just absolutely MUST have it. Yay.

(Please don't buy from scalpers, it's their obscene returns from desperate customers that perpetuates and worsens this cycle.)

It should also be noted, GW's FOMO sales tactics - e.g. only selling limited amounts of heavily discounted boxes that they market the hell out of, such as Leviathan - means they sell all they make (even if a good chunk is to scalpers) but it pisses off customers who keep missing out. Killteam players have been struggling to buy any of the releases all year, as a large chunk of GW production has been reserved for making Leviathan boxes, and the one-and-done releases had miniscule stock releases that the scalpers have all been scooping up.

 arkhanist wrote:

XvArcanevX wrote:
This is all a bit weird to me…

This whole thread is kind of suggesting I have ‘missed the boat’ on preordering a copy BEFORE the time preordering is actually supposed to have gone live..

How is this a thing?

Something is fishy here…

FLGS told GW how many copies they wanted - some large ones wanted 1000, for example. GW came back and told them they could have 60 earlier this week. They will get told their final allocation (which will probably be somewhere between 60 and how many they actually wanted) tomorrow. The pre-pre-orders, i.e. the "register of interest" they operate gets served out of that allocation. If it's low, then those who added their name last don't get a copy. Even if they do, there's usually not much extra stock left to go up on "pre-order" day. Registers usually close about now, so you're probably too late to even join one, or at best you'll be at the back of the queue for limited stock.

For GW, they might have a *lot* of stock in hand for leviathan for sale on the main website, but demand is expected to be very high.

Now, scalpers have seen this pattern, and they've seized the opportunity with bots and other tools to hammer GW very fast, working together, when pre-orders go live for a while now. They then immediately turn around and list them on ebay at double or triple price, then ship it later when GW send it to them. Take the recent pre-order for the Deathguard blind boxes; there's plenty listed by scalpers, and they're selling at 4 times list price, while some normal people who actually did pre-order from GW have now been told there's not enough stock to actually send them.

Thing is, GW doesn't make product needed to meet the 'pre-order', which is normally what is meant by the term. What you're doing is just ordering the stock that's already been made, with a two week delayed delivery. And ordering when 'pre-orders' go live is basically just ordering, with limited stock, lots of other people trying to do the same thing, and scalpers trying to crowd out everybody else with automated tools and a website and stock system that doesn't handle high load very well - and if you miss out, well GW aren't going to make more, and your only option is wait for a more expensive (per-model) smaller boxes with subsets of the content, wait even longer for even pricier multi-part boxes, or go to a scalper at an eyewatering price if you just absolutely MUST have it. Yay.

(Please don't buy from scalpers, it's their obscene returns from desperate customers that perpetuates and worsens this cycle.)

It should also be noted, GW's FOMO sales tactics - e.g. only selling limited amounts of heavily discounted boxes that they market the hell out of, such as Leviathan - means they sell all they make (even if a good chunk is to scalpers) but it pisses off customers who keep missing out. Killteam players have been struggling to buy any of the releases all year, as a large chunk of GW production has been reserved for making Leviathan boxes, and the one-and-done releases had miniscule stock releases that the scalpers have all been scooping up.

Thankyou for this response, I now understand what is going on far more clearly.

What a messy situation with these ‘scalpers’ … unpleasant business that. Most unpleasant.

I will see if I have any luck with the other methods suggested. Thanks again for taking the time to write this response, it’s appreciated.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ok, I have managed to ‘Register my Interest’ with a place called 7thCityCollectables

Cost me £10

No idea what the stores reputation is like but… there it is

Scalping works when there's a shortage of stock but some people will pay a big multiple to get it today. See the Lion as a recent example.

I'd be surprised if Leviathan works that way - because GW are supposedly creating so many copies. For example I got my Necron half of Indomitus for £42~. I'd expect the Tyranid half to end up on ebay etc for around £60-£65. If it does I might buy one, otherwise not that bothered.

But Indomitus did sell out - and I imagine the Marine halfs were going for more. Although I don't think it was hugely more.

Tyel wrote:
Scalping works when there's a shortage of stock but some people will pay a big multiple to get it today. See the Lion as a recent example.

I'd be surprised if Leviathan works that way - because GW are supposedly creating so many copies. For example I got my Necron half of Indomitus for £42~. I'd expect the Tyranid half to end up on ebay etc for around £60-£65. If it does I might buy one, otherwise not that bothered.

But Indomitus did sell out - and I imagine the Marine halfs were going for more. Although I don't think it was hugely more.

Indomitus sold out really, really quickly, in minutes in each region, and FLGS got substantially less stock than promised. And the ebay scalping prices were nuts, initially. But GW pretty quickly announced they'd do a Made-to-order for it so that FLGS could fulfill their pre-orders, and allow anyone to get a copy direct at list price, even if it took months. That undercut the scalpers pretty much completely, because they were no longer the only people left who could provide it. So prices dropped to much more reasonable levels. And there are always 'box splitters' that take copies, split them up and sell them for parts without a huge markup - many of them also bits sellers, so it was possible to get half of it at a sane price because the MTO made a lot more stock available, even if it was delayed.

GW have said specifically they're not doing an MTO this time, but have made absolutely tons. It's entirely possible that that's enough, Leviathan will be pre-orderable for days, FLGS will get all the copies they asked for and more, and it should be widely available. I really, really hope it is, and everyone who wants a copy can get one, and there's no need for a MTO that GW won't do.

It's just after Indomitus, after the continual stock shortages for the last 2 years, and that most new releases barely last minutes before running out with hundreds of copies being scalped, and that the scalpers have very much grown in number and are intentionally working to drain stock of hot ticket items to raise their profits (they will literally buy out all the cheaper copies of stuff on ebay and then turn around and resell them for much more), it's just worrying that GW doesn't appear to be taking the problem seriously, and just keeps churning out small limited runs as the only way to get new stuff in so many product lines, and that they may have seriously underestimated how many are needed - just as they did with Indomitus. I hope I'm wrong though, I really do - I want a copy myself!

NOTE: US information, added just for an example of how GW works.

LGS had no advance info that wasn't on the community page until Monday. Reps were calling all stores Mon/Tue/Wed to take orders and be done.
Sales reps were told numbers to 'Suggest' based on past sales. We had to make an immediate decision on how many to order, only then learning the exact price and details. Stores that weren't GW savvy or reading community pages didn't get a lot of information.

This is rough info, gleaned from a few dozen conversations with other retailers.

Monday Morning: "Hi, the game is 250. Your number is XXX. How many do you want? No maximum." (Possibly there was a limit, I wasn't told one. ) I asked for, and got, quite a bit more than XXX. Many stores didn't take full allocation. Once you ordered, you are done. They charged us on credit cards and shipped the orders. I will have a couple of pallets of the games sitting in my stores for two weeks before I can sell them. And before they go up for pre-order on Saturday.

Tuesday: Same as Monday, until some panic late in the day. Suddenly "We have tons." became "Let's be careful." Some orders were getting trimmed back. Many stores were limited in what they could order to 6 copies. I don't know if any shipped.

Wednesday: Retailers were severely limited, with many only getting 3 copies. Trade Sales in the US sold out.

Demand is running much higher than GW anticipated. Saturday should be interesting. I'm betting websites crash immediately, despite ques. I will be watching from my large throne made of 10th edition boxes.

Yeah, all of the LGSs around here I have been in touch with only got very limited stock and told me they expect to sell out in minutes.

Don't know if that is different in the UK (I imagine they might have more stock allocated there).

Either way, for me personally the best bet is probably pre-ordering at the local GW store. It is just a few streets down from where I live, they will open up early for pre-orders (allowing people to place pre-orders even before they go live on the GW webstore) and once the webstore stock runs out they will give you dibs on the big pile of boxes the store wil get for release day (they said they are getting a ton of them). So overall that sounds like a good chance of getting a box.

I don't know if different GW stores do things differently, but it might be worth checking out if you really want a box.

Indomitus had three things against it working

1) A massive shutdown of all GW operations prior to its release.

2) A massive reduction in operating capacity once GW were up and running again. Not just trying to recover their operation from the shutdown and stock drain; but also new operating practice which slowed things down and shipping issues getting material in.

3) A massive rise in market demand. LOTS of people stuck at home suddenly all got back into Warhammer. Way more than GW ever anticipated in their wildest projections.


Indomitus had a lot against it stocking well, yet I have to say many people did find copies and there was a good chunk of split (and fair priced) kits on ebay well after the original launch day and before the second "made to order" wave hit.

 Lord Damocles wrote:
If you really want to be sure, you're better off just going to a GW store on the morning of release day.

From what I saw/understand the pre-order goes live 10AM PST - by the time the stores around here open I would assume pre-orders will already be sold out.

If definitely getting a copy is what you're after, I'd go with your FLGS first. After that the GW website on Saturday would be my next bet, followed by the various other online retailers. Most of the big UK online retailers are pretty reliable with stock info so you should be safe if they say they have copies to pre-order.

Tyel wrote:
Scalping works when there's a shortage of stock but some people will pay a big multiple to get it today. See the Lion as a recent example.

I'd be surprised if Leviathan works that way - because GW are supposedly creating so many copies. For example I got my Necron half of Indomitus for £42~. I'd expect the Tyranid half to end up on ebay etc for around £60-£65. If it does I might buy one, otherwise not that bothered.

But Indomitus did sell out - and I imagine the Marine halfs were going for more. Although I don't think it was hugely more.

Thing is, GW projects demand and manufactures to that projection, rather than getting hard concrete demand data from customers and retailers and manufacturing to that demand. In this case they projected a "boat-"load" or whatever of demand and manufactured that, placed no cap on how many copies retailers could purchase initially, started taking orders from their biggest volume retailers (online stores) who themselves place massive orders in excess of GWs projections (because those retailers expect this to be a hot commodity that will sell out and want to be sure they have enough for themselves), which then forces GW to then turn around and put caps on how many copies smaller retailers can order. Its a problem of GWs own making.

Breton wrote:

 Lord Damocles wrote:
If you really want to be sure, you're better off just going to a GW store on the morning of release day.

From what I saw/understand the pre-order goes live 10AM PST - by the time the stores around here open I would assume pre-orders will already be sold out.

I'm not suggesting that OP pre-orders though.

I'm saying go to the store on the day of actual release and not engage in the absurdist bunfight to pay for something before it is released.

Odds are not good you get one that way.

Pre-orders at the store are basically waiting in line and walking in to order on the store PC from the GW website. So you might as well do it from home. The only bonus you get is contributing toward supporting your local store managers sales targets (not a bad thing to support your local) and also eligibility for store rewards (the monthly metal coin or other rewards if its your stores local birthday event)

 mikhaila wrote:
Monday Morning: "Hi, the game is 250. Your number is XXX. How many do you want? No maximum." (Possibly there was a limit, I wasn't told one. ) I asked for, and got, quite a bit more than XXX. Many stores didn't take full allocation. Once you ordered, you are done. They charged us on credit cards and shipped the orders. I will have a couple of pallets of the games sitting in my stores for two weeks before I can sell them. And before they go up for pre-order on Saturday.

Tuesday: Same as Monday, until some panic late in the day. Suddenly "We have tons." became "Let's be careful." Some orders were getting trimmed back. Many stores were limited in what they could order to 6 copies. I don't know if any shipped.

Wednesday: Retailers were severely limited, with many only getting 3 copies. Trade Sales in the US sold out.

Were these 3 different retailers, so they phoned up a store that usually buys 250 boxes on Monday, phoned a store that usually buys 50 on Tuesday and then phoned a store that usually buys 10 boxes on Wednesday?

I'm saying go to the store on the day of actual release and not engage in the absurdist bunfight to pay for something before it is released.

Haha… this made me laugh

The whole world is becoming an absurdist circus, even preordering a box of little toy soldiers has become slapstick.

I mean we are all literally discussing the merits of ‘registering your interest’, which is no different from ‘preordering your preorder’

Fractal insanity.

 Lord Damocles wrote:

Breton wrote:

 Lord Damocles wrote:
If you really want to be sure, you're better off just going to a GW store on the morning of release day.

From what I saw/understand the pre-order goes live 10AM PST - by the time the stores around here open I would assume pre-orders will already be sold out.

I'm not suggesting that OP pre-orders though.

I'm saying go to the store on the day of actual release and not engage in the absurdist bunfight to pay for something before it is released.

I'm confused. What's so absurd about making sure you get a thing you want to get when you suspect supply may not keep up with demand? I've got a box reserved at my FLGS and paid nothing yet, but even if I did have to pay, I'm planning to do so anyway, so why does it matter if I pay beforehand or on the day? It's not like we're pre-ordering something a year before it's out and have no idea what we're even paying for.

Yea. At least here pay when you pick it up is normal.

Seems local flgs got enough to satisfy local demand so looking good for getting my hands on it.

So, looks like the scalping begins…

I just got this email from Darksphere, having registered with their pre-pre-order list earlier this week.

Thank you very much for filling out our Register of Interest for the forthcoming Leviathan boxed set.

Unfortunately, despite Games Workshop apparently producing a 'mind-boggling quantity', we have still been heavily allocated and we will not be able to fulfil your request.

Best wishes,

The Dark Sphere Team


Looks like limited supplies going out to the FLGS. Oh well, I have a stack of oldskool Nids still to build and paint, and more marines than I know what to do with, so my wallet can breathe a sigh of relief. I’ve been saving a ton of money on GW recently, thanks to these release shenanigans.

Hope you can get your copy sorted.

Baltika wrote:
So, looks like the scalping begins…

I just got this email from Darksphere, having registered with their pre-pre-order list earlier this week.

Thank you very much for filling out our Register of Interest for the forthcoming Leviathan boxed set.

Unfortunately, despite Games Workshop apparently producing a 'mind-boggling quantity', we have still been heavily allocated and we will not be able to fulfil your request.

Best wishes,

The Dark Sphere Team


Looks like limited supplies going out to the FLGS. Oh well, I have a stack of oldskool Nids still to build and paint, and more marines than I know what to do with, so my wallet can breathe a sigh of relief. I’ve been saving a ton of money on GW recently, thanks to these release shenanigans.

Hope you can get your copy sorted.

I got the same, after a little introspect I'd rather get the nids slowly and the marines don't exactly fit what I have now anyway. Rather build the army I want than the one I'm forced to take sort of thing.

Funnily enough, I’ve come round to the idea of skipping the box as well.

My main army is Blood Angels, and my OG Terminators sound like they’ll be dwarfed by the new boys. Would look odd lined up together. I have the BA Captain and BA Librarian both in Terminator Armour, so I’m good there, I already have about 48 Termagants, and while the new sculpts are great, do I really need more? Already 3 S-Ks in my Nid list, so fine.

Time to work through my pile of shame, and get annoyed about my Vanguard Vets being reduced to all carrying “heirloom weapons”!

I’ll download the free rules and Indexes and take it from there.

Hmm. I haven't heard anything from Dark Sphere yet. I pre-registered about a month ago, maybe I made the cut?

I am also starting to come around to skipping the box. I'm not really actively collecting either faction (although I am casually building up SMs since the Indomitus box) so it wouldn't be the end of the world if I missed out.