GW announce price rise for paints and Start collecting sets

[svnvaldez]

I am fine paying these new prices. I like GW paint and if I want something  cheaper there are a ton of options.

I'm glad we got a heads up as well.

[VBS]

10 minutes ago, Infeston said:

I have not much experience with shipping products from the UK to germany, but does anyone know how long it takes for products to arrive? I have never tried this before. But for such a huge discount I think I might try this.

Shipping time usually depends on posting option offered (standard, urgent, etc..) and how fast the local post office works. From experience in different European countries, it should be around a week, or max two if things go slow.

Totally worth it for the massive discount, as far as I'm concerned. It sure is detrimental for local stores but it is hard to ignore saving dozens just by waiting a few more days. I still try to support FLGSs by buying stuff like hobby material, paints or other company minis that aren't as affected by unfair conversion rate. 

[BunkhouseBuster]

I like that GW gave us a notice ahead of time.  I use GW paints, but I have so many pots stockpiled that I'm not too worried about it right now.  And as others have mentioned, I like the idea of new or mixed up Start Collecting boxes.

Or some new bundles like those "ally boxes" they released a while back.  Anyone remember those?  Limited run bundles that had a collection of models at a nice discount.  Some variety like that would be nice for their Start Collecting boxes.

[ageofpaddsmar]

On the topic of the start collecting boxes does anyone notice the plastic quality isnt as good as the single kits. Not complaining just asking. I find they have more mold lines and seem abit more brittle

[michu]

They are basically the same kits, just in different box? What particular Start Collecting! are you talkin about?

[Skabnoze]

5 hours ago, Ragnar Alpaca said:

I think it’s absolutely ridiculous. The paint pots are already way too expensive. The start collecting sets I guess we will see how much they change, but I don’t like it either. They can slowly increase the prices of everything making it harder for people to buy the things they want. I might jut fully switch to Vallejo paints now honestly.

It is their product and so their prerogative to charge whatever they like.  There is no shortage of excellent alternative paint lines for miniatures out there so this is something that I think can easily be decided by the market.

Personally, I prefer Vallejo anyways as I greatly prefer the dropper bottles for just about everything other than washes & glazes.  I pick and choose paints from the GW line when they have a particular item that I like.

[ageofpaddsmar]

11 minutes ago, michu said:

They are basically the same kits, just in different box? What particular Start Collecting! are you talkin about?

The beasts of chaos ones is the most recent. The ungors were slightly less quality vs a box of normal ones. Not a problem just an observation. Ive had 3 start collecting from 3 different places all the same. 

A friend noticed the same with flesh eaters

[Nos]

4 hours ago, Charles said:

This is a fair increase inflation is a real thing for businesses to worry about. 

I really wouldn’t consider buying paints from anyone who isn’t GW, no matter how much cheaper they are. The money GW makes on paints can be reinvested in the hobby I love, paints from a 3rd party don’t do anything for the hobby at large.

GW would not be producing the products it does at the price they are now were it not for competition from third parties.

[HollowHills]

Going to swap to vallejo now. I think it's pretty gross that GW have been announcing record profits and presumably great payouts to their shareholders and follow that with a price hike. Some of the recent releases have been horribly priced as well, such as chainrasps. 

I'd also argue that the best discounts on SC sets in terms of percentage are due to overpriced kits like fyreslayers and ironjawz. 

Be fairer to see things like witch aelves go down in price. Zero reason some boxes of equally sized models cost nearly double that of others. 

Also, I don't mean any offense to anyone here but I don't really see why as consumers we should defend or justify GW. More money might be great for them and their shareholders but is at our expense. 

So for me it's going to be vallejo from the local shop and ebay if I want any army sets. 

[HammerOfSigmar]

The paints are fine. But the price rise of start collecting is a bit annoying since it no doubt prevents some of the potential customer from entering the hobby.

[JPjr]

Yo! Sorry to spin off on a tangent but since we’re discussing GW retail strategy I have a quick GW store terminology question...

I’d been waiting for the Kill Team starter set to come back in stock, after several months it did just before Christmas but I just checked and now it’s not only sold out again but also comes up ‘No Longer Available Online’ (no ‘Temporary’ business).

Does that generally signal the end of that particular set for good? 

[michu]

Unfortunately yes. Maybe there will be another set, but who knows?

[Gaz Taylor]

1 hour ago, ageofpaddsmar said:

The beasts of chaos ones is the most recent. The ungors were slightly less quality vs a box of normal ones. Not a problem just an observation. Ive had 3 start collecting from 3 different places all the same. 

A friend noticed the same with flesh eaters

You may find that they are older kits that have been repackaged. If you aren’t happy with them, contact GW customer support to see if they can get something newer sent to you. May not work but worth a go if they are really bad. Personally, a lot of the older kits suffered from this. Not sure if it’s an issue with the frames aging or they just didn’t have the detail and they have to remake the kit again.

 

7 minutes ago, JPjr said:

Yo! Sorry to spin off on a tangent but since we’re discussing GW retail strategy I have a quick GW store terminology question...

I’d been waiting for the Kill Team starter set to come back in stock, after several months it did just before Christmas but I just checked and now it’s not only sold out again but also comes up ‘No Longer Available Online’ (no ‘Temporary’ business).

Does that generally signal the end of that particular set for good? 

Quite possibly yes it’s gone for good. However, I think GW are very keen on Kill Team, so I can see a new boxed set coming out soon (probably to tie into Vigilus campaign or show off another battle zone). We will probably know more from the open day tomorrow.

 

57 minutes ago, HollowHills said:

Also, I don't mean any offense to anyone here but I don't really see why as consumers we should defend or justify GW. More money might be great for them and their shareholders but is at our expense. 

It’s always going to be at our expense 😉

I know what you are saying about them having record profits and this feels a bit of a kick in the teeth, but I suspect they are doing this for a few reasons....

1) They know the bubble is going to burst so preparing for it

2) Gives them flexibility around the start collecting sets now. Rather than sticking to the £50 price, there is wiggle room so we may see more variety in the sets.

3) That Brexit thing that is happening and the impact it will have (please no discussion. It’s a very polarising subject and will derail the topic).

I get it’s annoying, but being older and less prone to rush out to spend all my money on GW kits randomly. This won’t effect many people but will make a few grumpy. For me, I have no issue with what they are doing but I get why some people are annoyed. 

[Storm]

1 hour ago, ageofpaddsmar said:

The beasts of chaos ones is the most recent. The ungors were slightly less quality vs a box of normal ones. Not a problem just an observation. Ive had 3 start collecting from 3 different places all the same. 

A friend noticed the same with flesh eaters

There's no difference between a plastic frame that has been packaged individually or in a start collecting box as it would be the same plastic that has been made in the same mould in the same machine.

Beasts of chaos and flesh eater courts are both re-branded models from WHFB so they're a bit older than some AoS units which could be why they would have more prominent mold lines, but that's to do with the age of the mold and not the quality of the plastic which would be unchanged.

[Lucio]

Quick update, spotted a comment from the team that *all* the SC are going up in price except for the Thunderstrike Brotherhood and Bloodbound Goreblade

 

Not the end of the world, but does mean a bit of a rougher bump than expected

[PJetski]

Not in favour of the price increase on SC boxes. I got into the game because the SC boxes were so inexpensive.

[RexHavoc]

26 minutes ago, JPjr said:

Yo! Sorry to spin off on a tangent but since we’re discussing GW retail strategy I have a quick GW store terminology question...

I’d been waiting for the Kill Team starter set to come back in stock, after several months it did just before Christmas but I just checked and now it’s not only sold out again but also comes up ‘No Longer Available Online’ (no ‘Temporary’ business).

Does that generally signal the end of that particular set for good? 

There's been plenty of chitter chatter on the 'webs that this year has loads of kill team stuff coming. I'd suspect that with it being so popular we will see a stand alone book for it or a new box set. Some people have guessed around the time the sisters get their release, as that way they can do a inquisition style set.

 

13 minutes ago, Gaz Taylor said:

 

 

1) They know the bubble is going to burst so preparing for it

2) Gives them flexibility around the start collecting sets now. Rather than sticking to the £50 price, there is wiggle room so we may see more variety in the sets.

 

I've been saying this for a while now. Their 'record breaking' profits and insane release schedule for the past two years can't keep up, not with out returning to their old model is rinse and repeat- as in ditching all the rules and forcing us to replace everything on a two or three yearly cycle like before. At some point the bubble will burst when people realise that they have everything they ever need to continue to play the game or build up such a backlog of minis that they just won't need to buy any more. (this of course can be beaten with simple changes. The new Gloomspite for instance- There is enough Grots out there on the market that no one needs to buy any of those news models (or at least any that are not replace the awful finecast mangler!) and I bet they still have a record number of sales on them, they seem insanely popular and seem to be pulling in crowds of people that even left warhammer when AoS came out, facebook has been packed with greenskins this week alone)

I've mentioned it before in conversations, but this will be the very last copy of any warhammer game I will ever buy (which is part of the reason I don't mind pumping more money into each current army release than I ever normally would) If AoS2 hadn't had such a decent starter set I wouldn't have even moved on from AoS1. There is just no need for me to buy another version of the game (baring some mind blowing, incredible update or a starter set with minis I just can't resist) I was still happily using GHB1 before this current one came out (Between the nighthaunt and the aerial rules, there was enough new stuff to warrant this version)
Between how much an open sandbox AoS is, how little I get games in and how much I now have stashed away to paint, there is just no reason for me to keep buying updates. I've brought into a couple of 'full size' armies recently as I'm mostly a skirmish player but would like to try larger games of AoS, but honestly I can see that wearing off very quickly, and as fun as it might be, I'll return to skirmish games and again won't need to buy into any more large releases.
I can't be the only one that has stock piled enough minis and GW must be starting to prepare for that. They must know that at some point the market is going to be flooded, driving people towards buying 2nd hand, especially with things like social media trade groups now only a click on a phone away.


That's the one good thing that can come out from this, we might see SC sets for more expensive armies suddenly appearing. I'm hoping that we get to see some other things like dwarves and dark elves make a return in start collecting, DoK would be especially welcome. I'm hoping that we might see something like flesh eaters one but for vampires as well. Plus with out the need to keep all the boxes at the same £50 price point, we might get too see some variety in the sets or even 2nd sets for for forces that have lackluster or not optimal sets already (KO could do with another set with standard troops in)
 

[Dodo]

3 hours ago, Infeston said:

Damn! I never tried ordering GW products from UK retailers and let them ship to me in germany. I looked at the prices and even with tracked shipping costs of 8 Euro I still pay less than I would pay if I bought them here in germany.  Never realized how much more I pay when I buy product from GW or german retailers directly.

It is true. If I buy it in germany I pay 65 Euro for a Start Collecting box, but if I buy the box somewhere else I pay 55 Euro + shipping costs. 

I have not much experience with shipping products from the UK to germany, but does anyone know how long it takes for products to arrive? I have never tried this before. But for such a huge discount I think I might try this.

As a German, who reguarly makes big orders in UK, I can say it works quite well. If you buy things for 60£ at wayland games you are free to choose free shipping, so the savings are even greater. 

Waiting time is about 10 days when the items are in stock

That being said, the next store is an hour away from me and more a toy shop than a FLGS so i have no regrets ordering from UK

[Infeston]

1 hour ago, Dodo said:

As a German, who reguarly makes big orders in UK, I can say it works quite well. If you buy things for 60£ at wayland games you are free to choose free shipping, so the savings are even greater. 

Waiting time is about 10 days when the items are in stock

That being said, the next store is an hour away from me and more a toy shop than a FLGS so i have no regrets ordering from UK

Oh cool thanks. I never tried shipping before. Do you also know how fast "Premium Shipping" is?

I would really consider buying the new releases at a shop like this, but i would be cool if it didn't take 10 days for my purchases to arrive.

[Charles]

3 hours ago, Nos said:

GW would not be producing the products it does at the price they are now were it not for competition from third parties.

If everyone purchased from third parties GW wouldn’t be producing anything

[Nos]

15 minutes ago, Charles said:

If everyone purchased from third parties GW wouldn’t be producing anything

GW is what it is today in part due to the need to react to competition from third parties though. Monopolies don’t encourage creativity. 

[gjnoronh]

WFB disappeared in part because the third party market to play GW games was sucking enough sales out of the system that the game wasn't financially sustainable.  We may all be happy about AoS but that can happen again.

Third party competition to play excellent other games (i.e. warmahordes) is a different story then third party competition to make miniatures that allow people to play GW games without buying GW products.  I think the former competition is healthier for the game in the long run then the latter.

 

[Artobans Ghost]

8 hours ago, Kramer said:

I bought 14 pots of paint in the whole year, kept track this year, so for me its nog a bunch. Buying paints directly from GW was always a hassle. You always pay imports charges, long delivery times etc. (live in the Netherlands for reference). Here we just had a small rise in foodstuff due to changes in taxes. Can easily imagine something like that increasing the cost of production of paints. But it's a shame they don't tell what the reason is. 

Regarding the SC boxes. I was looking at the Ironjaws one for a Skirmish warband. And I saw this: 

Kind of says it all... it's not a viable way to sell some armies. In total it would be €138. So will see. 

Just out of curiosity, if the Ironjawz stays the same but is increased to a 40% discount it would be €83. Still incredible value. But indeed a much higher starting point. 

I think the spiderfang starter box was very much the same. An arachnarok and 10 spider riders for the same as an arachnarok. Wish I had bought them when they eee available 😾

[Overread]

Actually the 3rd party market is fractured. 

Warmachine/Hordes is in its own trouble after PP messed around with various platsics that didn't quite hold up well; removed their PG program; removed most of the chatter on their forums and also released MKIII in a very haphazard way that sort of unsettled a lot of people. And they did all that around the same time so they kind of bled gamers and quite a few 3rd party stores are dwindling or dropping stock. Heck PP itself has had to fast sell a lot of stock with their bundle boxes. 

Many of the other games for fantasy are in various states of weaker play; they might have some local strong points, but in general they lack the massive widespread marketing and market penetration that AoS/Fantasy has/had. 

 

Fantasy of old died more because GW ignored it for years (Esp with Lord of the Rings around) and because there was no universally popular cheap way into it. You generally need a lot of models built to get in even at 1K points. Couple that to being ignored for years and it bled buyers not attracted them. 

AoS isn't any much cheaper, but pushing rules systems like Skirmish will help out a lot at the entry level ;and GW is paying a lot of attention to AoS now so that is going to help market the game. Give them a year and a half or so to get more factions up to date with a battletome and I can wager we'll see a dedicated new book for Skirmish released - posisbly with some hero reboxings - ala how they did it for Killteam. 

[Dirtnaps]

Yeah this is pretty rough, I'm going to fight the urge to rant about this just adding to our already steep prices in Australia (and New Zealand) and just move on to begrudgingly accepting it, all it really does is just slow down the rate at which we can build and paint an army (if you choose to use citadel paints I mean). I don't like it but what can you do.