GW Price-rise list!

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[MortiS-the-Lost]

You missed it - the hike was yesterday, but don't worry there's always next year ...

[Vlad The Impala]

I've been crunching some numbers - it's not pretty.

First off, let's understand that the government's measure of inflation, the Consumer Price Index, was measured on the 22nd of May at 3%. That is the lowest its been for over two years, falling from a peak of 5.6% in September 2011. The CPI tracks thousands of branded products against their price 12 months previously, changing their sample to reflect market trends (recently, for example, they dropped DVD rentals from the list but added the cost of a subscription to netflix or lovefilm). This is the standard measure of inflation in the UK, and is used to calculate "Index Linked" figures such as state benefits and pensions; a second measure (the Retail Price Index, or RPI) tracks the costs of products TO RETAILERS (ie before tax and any promotions) is less vulnerable to fluctuations and provides a better LONG TERM measure of inflation, but as we do not have the trade prices available we will have to compare GW's RRP against the CPI.

We must also consider the global commodities market in these calculations. Between December 2010 and December 2011, prices for (raw) plastics in the EU remained static or FELL by around 1%; prices for resins fell by between 3 and 4%. Metal prices do not concern us since post-finecast GW is melting down their old stock of metal minis and has 0 cost in this area.

Here endeth the economics lesson

So, the figures (by product line):

Warhammer Fantasy: Up 10.25% - not bad, but marred by the fact that army books have had two separate price hikes (the first in January, and now another in May), giving a 22.2% increase on their price this time last year.
40K: Up 12.92%. The biggest culprits here are all Space Marine (or variant chapter) plastic kits which increased by up to 33% - GW clearly feels the need to milk their cash cow.
Lord Of The Rings: Up 11.15% ON RELEASE PRICES IN FEBRUARY. Looks good, but this does not take into account the repackaging of LotR infantry from boxes of 24 for £16.50 to boxes of 12 for £13.50 in February; if we factor in those figures the actual increase on basic infantry is a whopping 81.8% since this time last year, and the average goes up to 48.1%
Hobby Supplies: Up 16.5%
Terrain: Up 18.0%

Fineca$t dodged a bullet - possibly because resin prices have fallen globally so all GW needs to do is freeze prices to increase their profit margins.
The figures for hobby supplies and terrain are bad, at 5.5 and 6 times the rate of inflation, but (almost) excusable because these ranges did not increase last year.
WFB and 40K are about what I have come to expect by now - 3-4 times the rate of inflation on plastic kits, despite the fact that plastic prices have remained static. Although you have to remember that 40K codices will get a gradual price rise when they go to hardcover which will bring the figures up by a LOT over the next year.
But the figures for Lord of the Rings are shocking. Between the repack and the completely arbitrary price rise, ALL the basic infantry have gone up by 27 times the rate of inflation since this time last year.

Why has LotR increased so much? Standard economic theory would suggest that you only increase prices if demand is (or is expected to be) outstripping supply - so do GW REALLY expect demand for LotR minis to increase by almost 50% when the hobbit movie comes out?! No. It's a game of smoke and mirrors to mislead the shareholders. Remember that most of GW's shareholders don't understand the industry, and certainly don't keep track of individual prices; and all they see in the shareholder's report is the total VALUE of sales. So by ramping up the prices now, GW can create the illusion that sales of LotR will have increased this time next year - justifying their multi-million dollar license while sales actually fall...

[Vlad The Impala]

@ Lumberjack: If you're anywhere near a branch of the Toymaster chain, see what they have in stock. They don't track GW price rises, and charge whatever the RRP was when the product came in - I've got some ridiculous bargains on LotR that way...

[Brainleaf74]

All i can say is i paid £30 for two boxes of chaos knights a little over a year ago say 18 months.and the same two boxes would now cost me £40 .im not sure if mortis or other members have already mentioned this, but warhammer historical has closed its doors for good and without any warning .needless to say there`s a lot of really pissed off historical gamers out there.most of which fled 40k and whfb years ago due to power creep and figure price .

[Vlad The Impala]

While the demise of Warhammer: Historical is to be regretted, it wasn't really surprising. It had been on life support for years, and it was only a matter of time before the company switched it off.

I can't really fault their logic - when they started the historical games acted as a "gateway drug" to draw established historical gamers into fantasy/sf gaming. By the time they shut up shop, the reverse was true: the historical rules were sucking players out of Warhammer Fantasy and into historicals, where they discovered inconvenient truths like 44 plastic infantry for £20 (Perry, Warlord, Victrix, Gripping Beast), balanced tournament play, and accurate scale. No wonder GW try to convince people that they are THE wargaming Hobby...

[Brainleaf74]

I have already bored Mortis to death on facebook. so i wont get into the whole historical side of things here.i just figured id mention it as its another recent event in which GW/FW has really managed to woe its fans .

I predict fanboy`s screaming "if it wasn't for GW there`d be no hobby" and "gw invented wargaming "to which i reply "so you have never played the Fletcher Pratt's Naval War Game from 1943 ?" not because that was the first but just to piss them off .or the classic "GW is a company man its their job to make money" wtf it doesn't mean they can kick you in the nads while they do it. "GW`s figs are the best in the world " yip they are pretty good when they aren't over priced have bits missing or have pubic hairs in the packaging .GW hasn't been about the hobby since the mid 90`s , its only ppl who don't know any better that toot that lame excuse .seems to me they only care about how much money they can shaft the fans for.

Just like to point out i do actually feel bad for ppl into whfb 40k and the lotr game .

[jogar_t_hutt]

well i can say that boycotted GW from there last price-hike & i'm still going stronge

[keith baggott]

IVE JUST READ THIS ON FB "theyre still trying to claw back money from the injection moulding upgrades which has improved the minis a hell of a lot. i can live with a couple of extra quid". Im not saying names or replying to it as i will be call a troll but god help the poor brain wash fool with kids like that GW could triple their prices and they keep paying its bloody criminal what their doing to the hobbie.

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[MortiS-the-Lost]

keith baggott wrote

IVE JUST READ THIS ON FB "theyre still trying to claw back money from the injection moulding upgrades which has improved the minis a hell of a lot. i can live with a couple of extra quid". Im not saying names or replying to it as i will be call a troll but god help the poor brain wash fool with kids like that GW could triple their prices and they keep paying its bloody criminal what their doing to the hobbie.

I think the worst thing is that this isn't even GW making this lame excuse up, it's someone so deluded by GW that they will make up lame excuses for them

[MarkRG]

Most of the plastics are now made in China, owned by GW. Getting the stuff shipped over here and packaged.
If a company produces a model in the Uk it does not need the pay shipping tax for the stuff inported from China.
So as usual we all get screwed if we continue to buy the stuff.
I must admit I am daft enough to buy only a few models now, but only a few.
The product i still get screwed the most with is codexes and novels. I still cannot resist them.

It is still our fight with the love & hate we have with GW

[Scumdog47]

I'm kinda glad I haven't bought much from GW in quite a while.

But now?

Hoo boy, they'd better present me with a truly spectacular mini to make me dole out the cash.