Jump to content

Squatting Watch: Alerts for Discontinued Models


Recommended Posts

I think everything with horses and/or Karl Franz lettering will probably go out in the coming years, as well as the guards and crossbowmen. The general on griffin is the one of those that I see being replaced with another model if the lettering cannot be retooled (which is actually far from impossible).

  • That is Luminarch/Hurricanum (horse and KF lettering)
  • Outriders/pistoleers (2009 set, horses)
  • Guard (2007 set, I think)
  • Crossbowmen/handgunners (2007 set, I think)
  • Empire captain (old set with square base it needs to stand)

This would leave

  • General on Griffin (simply too glorious not to use)
  • Greatswords
  • Demigryphs

On the Duardin side, the Warden king and Runelord also need their square bases to stand, I don't think those will stay for long.

I don't think they will leave in the coming year, but they won't last to 2021

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, madmac said:

It's not the units, it's the three finecast heroes. Not to mention their one plastic hero comes with a built in square base that includes part of his foot. Would be nice to see some replacements but with the merged Orruk book I'm not sure how likely that is.

Similar problem to Ogors and their extensive range of finecast heroes/units that will probably be fully or mostly purged with the Mawtribes book.

I agree that replacement for the bonesplitterz characters doesn't seem likely in the immediate future, but you never know I suppose. Ogors have at least the new tyrant confirmed and some suspiciously out of focus models in the new trailer so it's a bit more rosy looking for mawtribes. Comparing new and old tyrants I don't think the old tyrant will be missed that much.  Maneaters are super characterful (if expensive) models so it would be a shame to see them go, but they don't add all that much battlefield-wise to the other foot slogging ogors. The gorger sculpts aren't in the same class, but their deep strike adds more tactical flexibility (or at least it would if they could do anything worthwhile after the deep-striked). In an ideal world we get plastic maneaters who can deep-strike like proper ogor ninja's should be able to....

We'll have to wait and see if the old finecast mawtribes get gitz, skaven or mercs only treatment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, madmac said:

Seraphon also deserve mention, they have no less than 11 different finecast kits, and even a lot of their plastics are badly in need of replacement.

Makes me wonder a bit about all the rumors of the Seraphon release being pushed back, I could see squatting a third of their range without replacements or upgrades for existing kits not going particularly well.

They could always give them the Skaven treatment instead, but who knows.

There's literally zero reason for AoS team to gut Seraphon, however, they've already shown themselves to not be the brightest when it comes to gutting factions and models that people still want.

  • Thanks 3
  • Haha 1
  • LOVE IT! 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, the_master288 said:

There's literally zero reason for AoS team to gut Seraphon, however, they've already shown themselves to not be the brightest when it comes to gutting factions and models that people still want.

Seeing as I've had quite a bit of trouble purchasing my units between unavailabilities, and others too, selling models seems not their prime directive 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Ollie Grimwood said:

Blimey Bonesplitterz only have two box sets !! Loosing anything would be pretty major. 

High possibility of some Ogor trimming with a new book coming though I might guess at Gnoblars 

I honestly don't know what's plastic, what's resin, what's finecast and what's metal. I just assumed Bonesplitterz had one or two that GW didn't like anymore.

LEXICANUM

Does anybody have a list of unit names for miniatures from Fantasy Battles? I have a bunch of wrongly named pictures that I need to updated, but unfortunately I don't know which units are which.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Lord marcus said:

Highly unlikely they would squat seraphon. They've always sold well due to the dinosaurs riding dinosaurs asthetic.

Quite impressive in and of itself really if my local GW is anything to go by, given that it has the Start Collecting box and literally nothing else.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Kirjava13 said:

Quite impressive in and of itself really if my local GW is anything to go by, given that it has the Start Collecting box and literally nothing else.

Seraphon are likely suffering like most "No Battletome" armies are at present. Ergo new people aren't picking it up fast and old-hands are waiting and advising people toward other armies for now. Same reason why Slaves to Darkness still has its christmas battalion on sale despite it being a good sale and having a good chunk of core models in the box. 

KO are likely in the same position as are Gutbusters and many of the other forces. It's the same pattern and why GW are so eager to get AoS up to speed as fast as they can. It's even more critical than for 40K because at least then for most armies, it was when not if; for AoS its not just a case of when/if but also "what" since (as Free Cities and Gloomspite showed) models can be lost. So people are less enthused to start armies that might get gutted or even removed.

 

I'm sure once Seraphon gets a new Tome their sales will pick up even without new models; though new models would jumpstart sales from existing fans who already have armies. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Overread said:

I'm sure once Seraphon gets a new Tome their sales will pick up even without new models; though new models would jumpstart sales from existing fans who already have armies. 

Like me! I've got the battleforce, start collecting and a few other bits and bobs, and I'm holding off on starting with them (even though that damned Carnosaur was the model- besides the Stormfiends- that got me back into Warhammer) because I desperately want a plastic Slann!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Kirjava13 said:

Like me! I've got the battleforce, start collecting and a few other bits and bobs, and I'm holding off on starting with them (even though that damned Carnosaur was the model- besides the Stormfiends- that got me back into Warhammer) because I desperately want a plastic Slann!

Exactly and even without any new models once a new Tome lands I'm sure you'll pick up a load more models once you've got some more assurance and know if anything is being lost or gained. Plus perhaps the new book lets you run armies of Carnosaurs or they get moved to an 800 point slot so now you don't need 3 of them or somesuch. 

Ergo right now many are in the waiting lines and I think GW is fine with that, they know they will get the sales spike when the Tome comes and if they stick to spells etc... then chances are you and all the others will be grabbing terrain and spells and tome and warscroll cards and perhaps even dice etc... .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Ashendant said:

I honestly don't know what's plastic, what's resin, what's finecast and what's metal. I just assumed Bonesplitterz had one or two that GW didn't like anymore.

LEXICANUM

Does anybody have a list of unit names for miniatures from Fantasy Battles? I have a bunch of wrongly named pictures that I need to updated, but unfortunately I don't know which units are which.

I've got all the 8e army books, so if you let me know what you need i should be able to look them up for you. Might not have time u til Wednesday though, as I'm on trains most of tomorrow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, I've done some thinking, which is always dangerous.

Since GW hasn't really recognised this culling, could they do another one with the models that do have a replacement at launch?

So first kill everything that does not get a replacement. Then, at launch, give everything that you want gone but hasn't a replacement but currently pushes square bases or does not fit new aesthetichs.

This would mean the disposessed lords, the Empire captain, (maybe) the Phoenix guard, the Assassin and the Black Ark Fleetmaster. Maybe even the Sorceress, as it has a square base on the sprue (but could be glued on a round).

I can hope it would also mean the Crossbowmen/Handgunners and Guard, because I don't want to purchase the current sets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Dr Ben said:

I agree that replacement for the bonesplitterz characters doesn't seem likely in the immediate future, but you never know I suppose. 

Agreed.  The Maniak Weirdnob could desperately use it (awful model), and while the Savage Big Boss is still very cool (imo) he suffers from the foot being moulded into the square base (very easy fix by clipping off the edges and gluing it onto a round, but that would seem weird and awkward to new players). 

The other two Heroes are decent, they just suffer from the standard Finecast issues of cleaning up flashes etc, but they do look good on the table.  So realistically they could use an update, but I don't think that updating Destruction heroes is a big priority for GW.  I'm not expecting any new models except the standard terrain + Endless Spells, although an Underworlds Warband could be a nice way to slip a new plastic Hero in there.

5 hours ago, Dr Ben said:

Ogors have at least the new tyrant confirmed and some suspiciously out of focus models in the new trailer so it's a bit more rosy looking for mawtribes. Comparing new and old tyrants I don't think the old tyrant will be missed that much. 

Yep, I think that's an interesting case.  I love my current Tyrant with Gutgouger and he's painted to a nice standard.  And although I could carry on using him as a Tyrant under the new book, I'll still probably by the new model because it's so cool, and in this case it won't leave a sour taste because you're not being compelled to dump your old miniatures - you're doing it through choice.

5 hours ago, Dr Ben said:

Maneaters are super characterful (if expensive) models so it would be a shame to see them go, but they don't add all that much battlefield-wise to the other foot slogging ogors. The gorger sculpts aren't in the same class, but their deep strike adds more tactical flexibility (or at least it would if they could do anything worthwhile after the deep-striked).

Yeah, end of the road for Maneaters I think.  Gorgers and Yetis could make a really nice dual-purpose plastic kit imo...I'm not confident that it will happen, but they could and should be something amazing. 

Gorgers could actually be quite useful, even without doing anything much, if they were cheap enough...a unit that deep strikes straight onto an objective always has some kind of utility, even if it is just "trade to win" (dangle it out there then follow up with something heavy), or messing with your opponent's resources by forcing them to leave something more expensive standing around on an Objective to guard against the deepstrike.  The main reason I think they suffer is because they have the most restrictive deepstrike in the game (both in terms of timing and 12" positioning) - with slightly more generous rules there, I think they could really have a niche. 

Or they just get squatted.  As you said, we shall see!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's been a lot of talk about production capacity being the reason for the discontinuing of these models. That isn't the problem at all. It is storage that is the problem. Gw is still a company with a large retail presence. The average retail store can stock a fraction of gw's total product line.

Warehouse storage is also a serious problem. In a number of interviews with Adam Troke when he was in charge of lotr, he said the biggest barrier to them bringing back old kits was the lack of warehouse space. 

This is also the reason why gw errs on the various side when producing limited run products like Looncurse. The rumour is that an over production of gorkamorka almost killed gw back in the day. 

The new production facilities will make this problem even worse. Gw has already produced somewhere in the region of 80 kits this year. I remember reading a white dwarf article which said they had produced that many kits in the entity of 2016 so production has already increased significantly. 

The recent financial report showed that gw's worst performing sector was online orders. So gw has not been selling these kits in any significant numbers.

Gw will constantly be looking to make cuts in order to manage their inventory. Unfortunately for us it wouldn't surprise me to learn that virtually noone has bought some of these kits for months. 

Gw is improving their warehouse facilities in Nottingham and Memphis, but that is probably being done to cope with the ever increasing demand for new products rather than the minimal return that these old products will bring. 

That said , I do think these are all the cuts we will see for this selection of order units for a while. I would expect to see Mawtribes, slaves to darkness and Seraphon lose a few units especially in light of how poorly the slaves to darkness army box sold. 

The area where I think gw could do better is the way they manage these changes and the rules support. 

They should have announced the changes the day after the AOS open day with a community post explaining the situation, a commitment to keeping points for legacy minis in the ghb  even if they are no longer updated and a statement that old models which have a warscroll and points will be officially useable in tournament play until at least the next edition . 

Edited by Chikout
  • Like 10
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sure but we have a problem.

Gw just set a very bad example with those axed units.

Before this,people as me were veeeeery wary of get nothing with square bases due to the fear to be removed..so we only got some boxes and not all that we wanted due to this fear.

Due to this seems gw have deleted them.

Now in the future what gonna happen???????people know that gw gonna delete every kit that dont sell and be old.

So it is a bad circle,gw gonna delete old and unprofitable kits,but those old kits wont be bougth by people now due to know that they gonna spend money in kits that gonna be deleted. So those kits wont be profitables due to this move of gw and they gonna be deleted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Chikout said:

The recent financial report showed that gw's worst performing sector was online orders. So gw has not been selling these kits in any significant numbers.

The question is, what are significant numbers.

I mean, in 2018 I bought 12 Boxes of White Lions and about 32 Boxes of Chariots for my Brotherhoods of Korhil Army during 6 months.

I still have some stuff to build and have about 4500-5000 points (fanmade) but now I can't make them bigger because the mainscource for the project is gone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not an expert of manufacturing, but I'm a process engineer. Just thinking about the system, if making one sprue takes about 15 to 30 seconds. If you run the machine for say, two hours you'll have already close to five hundred sprues and I believe it is not optimal to swithc the molds too often. Thus in a run you might realistically look at, say, thousand boxes of product. If you sell 200 boxes per year, it takes five years to empty to storage. So I would say that meaningful amount of sales must be in thousands of boxes.

Edited by Jamopower
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Jamopower said:

I'm not an expert of manufacturing, but I'm a process engineer. Just thinking about the system, if making one sprue takes about 15 to 30 seconds. If you run the machine for say, two hours you'll have already close to five hundred sprues and I believe it is not optimal to swithc the molds too often. Thus in a run you might realistically look at, say, thousand boxes of product. If you sell 200 boxes per year, it takes five years to empty to storage. So I would say that meaningful amount of sales must be in thousands of boxes.

It's as if you sell a lot less boxes of them if you don't distribute them, so customers have to buy them from your webstore where they are commonly unavailable. I think the general on horse was unavailable twice in the two months I played, so that shelf life isn't too long, I know the demis, pistoleers and greatswords were were temporarily out of stock as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, EMMachine said:

The question is, what are significant numbers.

I mean, in 2018 I bought 12 Boxes of White Lions and about 32 Boxes of Chariots for my Brotherhoods of Korhil Army during 6 months.

I still have some stuff to build and have about 4500-5000 points (fanmade) but now I can't make them bigger because the mainscource for the project is gone.

Wow, that's quite a mighty sight, I imagine!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

24 minutes ago, Maturin said:

Isn't there a way we could launch a collective complaint to GW to tell them how much they ****** us up ?

No please don’t. This hobby can be embarrassing enough without people going full ‘RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT’ on GW.

Edited by JPjr
  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, Maturin said:

Isn't there a way we could launch a collective complaint to GW to tell them how much they ****** us up ?
Brets, TK, and now Elves and Empire alike ...

I think GW is in a damned position either way. They've got other armies they clearly want to add to the game and there is a limit on how many they can support in total before it gets too much for them. AT the same time they've a lot of legacy models and old armies and old stuff around. I think its painful, its not ideal and its darn horrible if you've had one of those armies they've cut from the game. They could have done so much better than they have; but in the end we can only hope that after this and perhaps one or two more losses of models we will get over this hump of pain and move into better times. Where we see model additions and wherever GW removes a model its rare and often replaced with an updated sculpt. 

That's really where we want them, I'd honestly rather push forward toward that goal than get stuck in thequagmire that GW has had for the bulk of AoS's life thus far. 

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, zilberfrid said:

It's as if you sell a lot less boxes of them if you don't distribute them, so customers have to buy them from your webstore where they are commonly unavailable. I think the general on horse was unavailable twice in the two months I played, so that shelf life isn't too long, I know the demis, pistoleers and greatswords were were temporarily out of stock as well.

The issue is also worse for overseas because they have to import everything and can't ad-hock cast up a new batch to restore stock. Plus GW's main site is still suffering power shortages and production shortfall. Once the council sorts out the power grid and once GW's new factory comes online I think the stock issues should start to become a thing of the past. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, Maturin said:

Isn't there a way we could launch a collective complaint to GW to tell them how much they ****** us up ?
Brets, TK, and now Elves and Empire alike ...

They haven't really acknowledged that they squatted sets (banner is down again, nothing on warhammer community or other outlets. Why assume they will listen?

The only thing that signifies it, is the 36 words in the mail. Just over a word per set removed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...