COMMENT: GW raise model prices from jun 1st

[General Biakal]

the eveil corporate empire have spoken... and they have used the language of cash.

from june the 1st 2010 a large selection of GW models will have a cross-the-board 10% cost rise, some even more.

now, i will be frank with you- this is a fucking disgrace.

here is a case in point... in 2001, the plastic Catachans were introduced. almost a decade ago. so they were designed a long time ago.

before last year 20 of these would cost you £18.

then they were re-boxed as groups of 10 with a price of £12- a real world INCREASE of 33%

now these boxes go to £15 from June the 1st... thats a 66% in one year...

that is a pretty exteme examble but it is indicative of the policy... more is less.

the OAP landraider is now £2.50 more expensive, as is the Valkyrie.

All codex books are now £17.50 which frankly is an argument for torrents if ever there was one.

for full details of the rise click here...

http://www.darksphere.co.uk/index.php

but what can we do?

[MortiS-the-Lost]

For fuck sake! While most companies lowers the prices of their products to remain competitive, GW have not only monopolised their own (rather large) corner of the miniatures market and practically deny the existence of other miniature companies, but continually increase their prices and extort their captive market.
They really are going to far and people need to be made aware that there are alternatives to GW.

Games Workshop is not THE world of hobby games, just one corner of a much wider world of hobby games. So people vote with your wallets, go out and buy your miniatures from companies like Ral Partha, Mantic, Scotia Grendel, Heresy, Hassle Free, Freebooter, Reaper, OtherWorld, EM4, Privateer Press, Black Hat, Black Cat, Black Tree, RAFM, Mithril, Moonlight, Kobbelstone, West Wind, Ironwind, Dragon Rune, Fenryll and the many, many other miniatures companies out there!    

[General Biakal]

hasslefree are good minis but still similarprices to individual GW metal minis....

unfortunatley there are three important factors:

1. with the exception of certain recent Fantasy releases the plastics GW do are pretty top-hole.
 there is a lot of detail and thought you just dont get anywhere else. plus the actual quality of fit and the quality of the raw plastic seems pretty high.

2. the models are (although im no longer fully convinced) made in the UK which i really dont mind paying a premium for : british jobs for british workers and all that.

3. the stores themselves do more than really they have to- the free painting and modeling areas in many stres mean each shop is a social hub. plus i assume they plow a bit into GCN

BUT

Just about everyone is tightening their belts now, and even those who don't really need to still are as they ride the public opinion wave... so with CD's and books being discounted to fuck to promote sales and video games dropping in price after only a few weeks on sale (if that) how can they justify another £5 on the Black Reach box, or the general price rise on SM vehicles and troops which after all is the motherload anyway.

if they are raising prices on the plastic SM kits how much trouble are they actually IN? the SM kits should almost be a loss-leader to promote expansion into paints, brushes and other more complicated kits and stuff which strike me as fairly high profit products.

BR should totally bea loss leader and should be in toys R us and Argos- i fear the only reason it isnt is cos GW are such twats to work with. A buyer for ANY major toy chain might well ask why two sprues of plastic and a few cheaply printed books costs £55 and the answer- "Cos we say it fucking does, OK? and dont you go trying to discount it..."

seriously, sales are sure to drop off from this... even the most spoild brat is gonna have to go to 11 on the pester power amp to get a tactical squad- essentially the basic building block of an 13 year olds SM force.

I fully accept GW need to make a profit and i don't resent it.

i also accept the price of oil has gone very high and that affects everything from the very raw plastic costs to transport, shipping and hell even the execs expenses.

but why not throw us a bone on the stuff you really COULD knock down a bit...

[BobbieTheDamned]

 10%?? Got to be kidding me?? GW plastics are going to be more expensive than most companies metal figures after that. £15 for 10 basic IG is way way to much, you can easily get 10 metal 28mm figures from most manufacturers at that price, heck for £1 more you can get ten figures from Pig Iron who look way better. There are now plenty of alternatives to GW that look way better (because they're metal minis not plastic) at pretty much the same price.

I don't accept that making miniatures in the UK is a valid excuse to hike prices up. There are tones of mini companies in the UK that are aren't raising their prices by 10% every year.

There are some models in GWs range that have become ridiculously expensive compared to first release. The Green Knight is probably the best example, came out mid-nineties as I remember at around £7, after this hike it sounds like its going to be pushing £17.

I really don't expect to be buying any GW stuff ever again.

[MortiS-the-Lost]

check out what Mantic had to say on the subject!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/video/video.php?v=396051105911

[MarkRG]

For the last few years i only seem to be buying the odd model and there novels, funny enough i need to resubskribe to white dwarf, lol