Do you think GW purposely increases the pricing on fragile miniatures?

[Kugane]

I recently bought 8 Soul Wars sets, I trade and sell a lot in my local community to get my armies together under the retail price, but I've had the unfortunate event that a lot of the Nighthaunt stuff - especially Chainghasts came in the box broken. Weapons broken off, arms broken off, etc.

The parts are so extremely fiddly and fragile that it is nearly impossible to fix them. Luckily GW has been kind enough to replace the broken sprues without question.

When the Chainghast got released as a box set, they were increasingly high in price, which made me wonder, could it be that GW artificially increases the price to cover returns/replacements of customers reporting broken miniatures?

We've seen some price spikes on some DoK and Idoneth stuff, just to name a few, and with all the dynamic poses nowadays, parts are starting to become much thinner as well.

[Barbossal]

I think this is just a GW policy style. You have what is called a whale-based pricing system - few customers that spend A LOT.  Customer service is key there because you will have most players for decades - you'll eat the cost of a broken set because you make up for it over the next year's of them being a loyal customer. I don't think the fragility of the kit factors into it.

[kenshin620]

I actually think its more of a "buy in bulk/costco" tactic where people are incentive to buy more even if they really didn't need to.

 

Why buy 10 Chainrasps for 25 pounds when double that gives you Tempest of Souls! So many people who "only need" 10 chainraps might actually then think "wait I mind as well buy Tempest of Souls". So then GW just sold a 50 pound set compared to selling a 25 pound set! Same thing with Storm Strike and the models in there.

 

[HollowHills]

I don't think GW are increasing prices because the models are more likely to break. Each sprue costs them basically nothing to manufacture. All the cost is loaded into the making of the moulds which costs thousands of pounds. Once they've had the moulds cast then the pricey bit is out the way, hence it costs them nothing to just replace anything that isn't 100%

Part of it will likely due to inflation. They can retroactively increase the price on older items which are in effect worth less, so they bake in a higher cost to newer releases to compensate for older kits and future proof the value. 

I also speculate as to whether newer AoS products are higher priced than older fantasy ones as less models are needed for an AoS army. 

With all that said... I'm not convinced that prices really are increasing a great deal. The witch elves were priced as they are since warhammer fantasy. Fyrrslayers are particularly expensive whereas if you want to collect a 2k beast law army you just need to buy a few start collecting boxes. 

[Kirjava13]

I know, I know, it's a thread about the price of GW, waaah, cry more etc. I know: Having a hobby at all is a luxury, and it's an expensive hobby on top of that. I know.

But every now and again something stands out as absolute bullsh*t. At the moment it's the Chainrasp pricing, push-fit minis, consisting of two parts each, at the price they're asking? It's a little insulting, frankly- I support the company, I buy a lot of the tools when I could easily get cheaper equivalents elsewhere, I put up with silly paint pot designs (guys, just switch to bloody dropper bottles like sane human beings), I make sure to buy the vast majority of my purchases in-store instead of with cheaper third-party retailers. I bought Soul Wars, I bought Tempest of Souls, I've bought every single Nighthaunt box that's been released. So to get absolutely ripped off like I'm getting with Chainrasps is a little galling, and just ensures I will be going with E-bay or trades to get hold of Chainrasps in future. 

The icing on the cake? When they delete comments that rightly mention that the price is nonsense from their Facebook.

Sorry GeeDubz. I love you, but that's not ok.

[Bohemond]

I can imagine that GW’s increased tendency toward more dynamic models somehow complicates production, increase production time and thus increases prices. Not sure how that would explain Chainrasps, but I am merely speculating. ?

[Sleboda]

1 hour ago, Kirjava13 said:

 Having a hobby at all is a luxury, and it's an expensive hobby on top of that. I know.

... Chainrasp pricing, push-fit minis, consisting of two parts each, at the price they're asking?  ... Bought Soul Wars, I bought Tempest of Souls, I've bought every single Nighthaunt box that's been released. So to get absolutely ripped off like I'm getting with Chainrasps is a little galling, 

 

I'm with you in many ways, and while I would prefer lower prices on the chainrasps, as I would with all models, I would actually pay -more- for models that go together faster. Some of my favorite models of all time are the metal single-part Empire swordsmen and handgunners  from way back (the Perry ones). One part. Stick it in the base. Job's done.

Clipping, cleaning, and assembling models is easily my least enjoyed part of the hobby. I'm at a point where I'm considering paying other people to do that part for me, so yes, I will pay more to avoid putting lots of parts together.

[Overread]

I think that GW deleted the comments only because in the past their entire online system fell apart to a toxic community that was partly feral on prices. GW knows that customers want lower prices and endless repetition isn't really going to lead anywhere save for creating long argument threads where the fanbase clashes. 

 

That said don't forget that whilst each individual model has to make its money back they are never priced at their raw material or complexity cost alone. GW has a huge infrastructure behind each model and I'm very sure that they take less profit on various items. It might well be that we enjoy lower prices and thus profit on some of the bigger models and the lower price band ones have the higher profit markup. This isn't abnormal - many companies take less profit on big high price items and more on faster volume sale items. Chainrasps might well be going for a higher sale price because the profit from their sales is backing up another area of the company. 

So chainrasps might be up so the Blackcoach can be down

[Sleboda]

Wait, wait, wait.  I just took a look at the "outrageous" price for the chainrasps... And it's $5 cheaper than the other 10 model Nighthaunt sets.

Where's the crime?

10 models that go together quickly and with no glue needed, all for less than other 10 model kits that take time and extra materials to assemble, and there are complaints?

 

Not getting the angst now.

[Chikout]

I was surprised by the price on the chainrasps too. Most people think easy to build stuff should be cheaper as it has fewer options. That said the pricing strategy has been explained clearly in the last couple of financial reports. Gw wants to increase the price of their averall sales in line with inflation, but they don’t want to increase the price of the back catalogue. The result is that new releases are increasing in price faster than inflation. 

Honestly if you are on a budget you should not buy new gw releases except the starter sets. For the last couple of years gw has come out with hobby bundles in November and battleforces in December. I will be very surprised if nighthaunt don’t get a battleforce at Christmas and a start collecting set sometime next year. Alternatively you can buy armies off tournament players who are chasing the new hotness. I have already seen some people trying to get rid of  nighthaunt armies on twitter.

[blueshirtman]

13 hours ago, Kirjava13 said:

I know, I know, it's a thread about the price of GW, waaah, cry more etc. I know: Having a hobby at all is a luxury, and it's an expensive hobby on top of that. I know.

 

Well the thing is, costly or not the new haunt stuff does break very easily. My friend brother painted a very nice army of them with free hand stuff on the cloth of all of them, and all it took was one trip to Krakow and 6 models just snaped at the base. Now I play BCR, my models break if someone uses a hammer on them, same with most of the SCE stuff. But some of the GW models are horrible to transport. Nagash requires a separate person to carry him around, the bows and arrow on SCE judicators  snap off constatly.

 

The chain dudes seem to be a lot like Witch Elfs were in WFB, or so I was told, GW knows people want them, so they put a higher price on them and the whale buyer will be buying the sets anyway, angry at the price or not.

[Overread]

Witch Aelf prices are old and set back way before they were battleline unit; they were set when they were an elite choice in the whole Dark Elf range. So they were a smaller purchase item not the 1-200 possible units that they are now. Thing is GW appears to not like to revise old prices on released products unless the price is going up. 

Also GW is making some relaly fine but really fragile models now - my Khinerai look great, but they are SOO fragile! Heck there is one part that is a long tassle that is held on by such a thin bit of plastic that all 3 of the boxes I've bought and assembled thus far have had that part break just in the cleaning phase (I don't mind as its so fragile at that stage that painting and playing would likely see it fall off) 

 

I'm all for fine high detail posed models, but I think someone at GW needs to put the breaks on the creative team and say "Hey these have actually got to last!" 

[Kramer]

No,  i do believe that being able to make to fine and detailed models has a higher investment cost. Then extra costs for inflation over the years and some weird decisions over the years make it hard to compare things to each other. 

[Bohemond]

If we look at the new Nighthaunt units and the big Kharadron ship(s) that can't even be properly supported by it's own flying stems, it is clear that certain design decisions were not optimal. Perhaps we should realize what our new and fragile toys actually suffer from bad design, or certainly aesthetic over durability. Question is perhaps how much you are willing to pay for bad quality.

[Overread]

Based on the fact most of us are talking about models we own and continue to buy - current GW prices

[Kugane]

19 hours ago, Kirjava13 said:

I know, I know, it's a thread about the price of GW, waaah, cry more etc. I know: Having a hobby at all is a luxury, and it's an expensive hobby on top of that. I know.

But every now and again something stands out as absolute bullsh*t. At the moment it's the Chainrasp pricing, push-fit minis, consisting of two parts each, at the price they're asking? It's a little insulting, frankly- I support the company, I buy a lot of the tools when I could easily get cheaper equivalents elsewhere, I put up with silly paint pot designs (guys, just switch to bloody dropper bottles like sane human beings), I make sure to buy the vast majority of my purchases in-store instead of with cheaper third-party retailers. I bought Soul Wars, I bought Tempest of Souls, I've bought every single Nighthaunt box that's been released. So to get absolutely ripped off like I'm getting with Chainrasps is a little galling, and just ensures I will be going with E-bay or trades to get hold of Chainrasps in future. 

The icing on the cake? When they delete comments that rightly mention that the price is nonsense from their Facebook.

Sorry GeeDubz. I love you, but that's not ok.

The deleting comments I wasn't aware of, this really surprised me reading through all the comments on here. I guess it makes sense from a company standpoint that you don't want people talking negatively about your product on your facebook page, but that is quite harsh.

[paul7926]

To be honest it's a hobby so you either pay it or you don't.  I don't think that complaining is ever going to bring the price down.  Hordes of people not buying something might but that's never worked in GW's history I don't think.  Look at the price of some of the Forgeworld stuff.

As someone returning to the hobby I have to agree with a previous poster on the sheer number of parts that some of the kits are now.  I get that it's a personal thing but I would prefer far fewer parts. 

For some single purchase centre piece model then sure go to town but for battleline stuff where you end up assembling many of the same thing and especially where even with all the parts there is no real difference in the assembled figure it actually puts me off buying things.  I guess I'm a gamer more than a hobbyist however.

I mean seriously do Gore grunta hooves really need to come in two parts?

[sorokyl]

 

On 8/4/2018 at 9:08 PM, Sleboda said:

Wait, wait, wait.  I just took a look at the "outrageous" price for the chainrasps... And it's $5 cheaper than the other 10 model Nighthaunt sets.

Where's the crime?

10 models that go together quickly and with no glue needed, all for less than other 10 model kits that take time and extra materials to assemble, and there are complaints?

 

Not getting the angst now.

10 Chainrasp horde - 80 points. For 40 dollars.     That's really expensive.    20 MPP components for 40 dollars. That's really expensive.   1 small sprue for 40 dollars. That's really expensive. 

It's expensive pretty much however you look at it. 

[Mcthew]

Just looked at the Chainrasp price myself and thought well that ain’t bad for 20 models.

But it ain’t 20 - it’s 10.

So, ok, the things are push fit which is great. And yeah they look great. And yeah they do break even if you breathe too heavily near them. 

But if you look at the pricing elsewhere in GW they’re... 

Well let’s face it, GW’s pricing is all over the place anyway. I imagine their finance department uses a great big dart board when it comes to pricing most models.

So let’s ignore that bit best we can, and look at the Soul Wars boxset. If you consider that to buy 20 Chainrasps separately will set you back £50 (a little eye watering for battleline?) then the main set should be called Steal Wars. I mean £45 for the Core Book and 35 minis?! Jeez, no brainer really!

Soul Wars is extraordinary value. Ludicrously good value compared to separate releases.

That is unless GW really haven’t got a clue what they’re doing, that is.

[Bloodmaster]

On 8/5/2018 at 12:14 PM, Overread said:

Also GW is making some relaly fine but really fragile models now - my Khinerai look great, but they are SOO fragile! Heck there is one part that is a long tassle that is held on by such a thin bit of plastic that all 3 of the boxes I've bought and assembled thus far have had that part break just in the cleaning phase (I don't mind as its so fragile at that stage that painting and playing would likely see it fall off) 

I'm all for fine high detail posed models, but I think someone at GW needs to put the breaks on the creative team and say "Hey these have actually got to last!" 

NOPE, please don't even suggest such a thing in thought. Quite the opposite is the case, someone should whip the creativ team to new hights of creativity and pushing them even further. Compared to 50, 75 or even 90 mil models GWs models still look like cheap toys, but they are rapidly improvingand reaching new hights. it is something GW should expand on! And if the models aren't treated as if handled by a monkey*, they are quite durable.

 

*= no personal offence ment, but what I have seen at the local FLGS and GW stores defies all discription.

[Overread]

Have you seen/held khinerai? These models move if you hold them by the base and paint them with a brush and wobble when you put them down on the table if handled by the base. They are fantastic but plastic isn't the right material for them - metal would have been better - but again  a slightly different pose; adding in a second base rock to have the feet leaping off etc... 

They area very crafty and neat way to give a flying model without a plastic flight rod and its let the GW team make them a lot finer in structure and body shape. They are perhaps half the size in body mass compared to, say, a doomfire warlock. They are akin to the jockeys of the fantasy realms. But I can see them breaking, I can see someone with a magnetic tray arriving and having to untagle them very carefully from each other e tc.. Sure careful use will keep them going, but these are far more fragile than normal. 

 

By all means new heights and new developments but practical "this IS still a toy" thinking has to be in there somewhere.

[Bloodmaster]

yes I have, and they are completly fine. Thing is, you don't use a transportation method that increases chances for damage significatly. And plastic is the right material for models like this. Metal couldn't hold the balance or would bend under its own weight.

And of cause they are toys, but that kind, that you handle with care, not like one of those little green palsitk soldiers that cann be tied to rockets and survive nearly unharmed.

[AGPO]

People have been complaining about GW's pricing for decades; I remember these exact conversations going on in the mid nineties. I don't have too much of a problem with the price of minis when set against the opportunity cost - that £25 gets me two cinema tickets (about 5hrs worth of entertainment) which is probably less than the amount of entertainment I get just from the painting side of things. That's before you factor in all the games I'm going to play with them and the pleasure I get from having them on display. There have always been certain models that are more fragile (5th ed Bretonian lances anyone?) but it's a risk you take and careful handling makes a big difference. What I would like to see is some consistency in the pricing. GW has to cover the price of a mould, but I'd be happy enough to go back to the old annual price rises if the price of single characters and core units could be a little more consistent across the range.

[chord]

I don't think its intentional.  

I would love to see a community video on the site that shows how to pack the fancier models into the official GW Cases without breaking!

 

[Gaz Taylor]

4 minutes ago, chord said:

I would love to see a community video on the site that shows how to pack the fancier models into the official GW Cases without breaking!

Same here but I don't think it's possible unless going down the custom foam route. Best way I know for such models is magnetic bases but this is no good if you need to travel via air or public transport