Mortal Realms - Magazine chat!

[Overread]

So if you're in the UK or Spain (or you've friends in either country sending you some long distance post) you might be joining up to the Mortal Realms Magazine collection

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/01/07/start-your-journey-into-the-mortal-realmsgw-homepage-post-4/

You can find out more and sign up on the official website below:

https://www.warhammermortalrealms.com

 

Fauzhammer fansite also has a neat webpage where they go through the contents of all the issues from 1 through to 80 (updating it in bursts as the issues come out so its not all up there yet)! This might be useful if you only want select issues and not the whole collection or want to plan to double-up on some issues. If you want more than one issue or to pick and choose some newsagents/trades are doing this. In the UK Forbidden Planet is doing this and already have the first 10 issues up for pre-order on their website (link below)

https://www.fauxhammer.com/featured/mortal-realms-magazine-contents-list-issues-1-80/

https://forbiddenplanet.com/catalog/comics-and-graphic-novels/magazines/?page=1

 

There's also a collection of youtube videos being made that follow along with the start of the series to be found below. 

And there you go a nice infoburst on the new Mortal Realms Magazine. If you're joining in then come share your progress here on the forums below. Chat about the models, the lore, what you got, what you want to do. Show off your painting and also ask for tips and advice as well from experienced gamers. 

 

[Baron Klatz]

That's phenomenal!  Thank you for showing these.

[amysrevenge]

How much is it to subscribe?  (Asking out of curiosity, even if it was in my country I probably wouldn't subscribe as I'm in a different phase of my hobby life).

[Paladin of Khorne]

Why is this only available in the U.K. and Europe (later probably)?  I’d sign on for this in a heartbeat but no joy in the states. 

Genuinely curious what the reasoning is and would appreciate if anybody has insight. 

[Overread]

59 minutes ago, amysrevenge said:

How much is it to subscribe?  (Asking out of curiosity, even if it was in my country I probably wouldn't subscribe as I'm in a different phase of my hobby life).

It's around £30 a month for the regular and something like £37-40 for the premium. 
Regular you basically get 4 issues a month (one a week) posted to you in one lot. Meanwhile the Premium you get the very same, but there's also four additional packs you get (flesheaters, sylvaneth, khorne and orruks) which contain a bunch of models for them (some nice ones in there). 

27 minutes ago, Paladin of Khorne said:

Why is this only available in the U.K. and Europe (later probably)?  I’d sign on for this in a heartbeat but no joy in the states. 

Genuinely curious what the reasoning is and would appreciate if anybody has insight. 

This isn't GW doing it but a company that specialises in this kind of product. They are based in the UK and tend to have a more UK/European distribution network. I think that the USA is a very attractive market, but at the same time its MANY times the size of the UK. It's a huge logistical and production consideration to penetrate even just one state let alone the whole of the US market. Even if the magazine company wanted too, GW might have to put limits because of their own production limitations (they have to produce, store, ship to the magazine company - all the model stock). 

 

So there's lots to consider, plus getting into the USA isn't simple and might require some big up-front costs for distribution and warehousing. It might mean GW might try to roll it out in one or two states at first before hitting the whole country etc...

[RexHavoc]

I mentioned it in the other magazine thread as well, but don't be fooled by cheap plastic. If you can buy them in the shop, then great. I'll buy as many as I can get directly from stores. But I'd never take another Hachette.

It's embarrassing that GW are still using them. They are a dreadful company to deal with. I'm still chasing books that I paid for last April for the 40k legends. They blamed my lost deliveries on a problem that was stopping books reaching my country but told me several times that the problem was fixed. Then at the end of the month they stopped returning messages and emails and still no sign of the books. I had to go to GW custom services directly to get them to force them to reply to me. They replied just hours after I did that, but only the once and nothing else again since, which was a month ago.

Take a look at the disaster that is conquest magazine for 40k. There facebook is plague with people having to scream blue murder to get some sort of response from them.

It's a massive shame, as I had a Dredd sub with them a few years ago and it was perfect, not a single issue really. But the 40k ones have been the worst thing I've ever brought. I won't risk another sub with them.

[RuneBrush]

The word on the street is that Hatchette Partworks are in the process of changing their Customer Service software/team (it was unclear which) so "in theory" it should improve.

If you've ever listened to any of the Twitch streams where GW have their licensing team on, it sounds like nearly all of the third-party driven offerings are actually initiated by the third-party.  GW's involvement is generally pretty low.  This means that it's entirely possible that Mortal Realms was approved at the same time as Conquest, which would explain why it's Hatchette Partworks running Mortal Realms.

I signed up to Mortal Realms last year during their "trial" and basically that entitles me to a couple of free issues and received an e-mail last night telling me I'll get another e-mail with how to set up my subscription (I'll be honest, the communications haven't been great).

I really did think long and hard over if I wanted to do this or not, I ended up going for it as it'll basically fill out my Nighthaunt/Legion of Grief army and give me a manageable amount of new scenery whilst paying by instalments.  The Stormcast element I may end up painting too or selling off/giving away.  Although in theory I could do this under the £600 total, I still think I'll ultimately have a lot of saving - issue 1 is a good example in that the saving to (even if you paid full price) is brilliant (though this is compounded by Chainrasps being very expensive).

[Overread]

They are also moving warehouses it seems and everything on their website, barring Mortal Realms, is unavailable for further details until they finish i.t

[Carnelian]

I said in another thread I emailed them 5 times with no response but I've since ended up phoning them and they were helpful (although I spent 5+ mins in a queue). 

[RexHavoc]

1 hour ago, Carnelian said:

I said in another thread I emailed them 5 times with no response but I've since ended up phoning them and they were helpful (although I spent 5+ mins in a queue). 

I've tried but the phone number they gave (before the CS move) for Ireland didn't work at all. They were always helpful in messages when they did answer- it just never produced any results.

I've brought a few copies of the first issue, as my local store gets millions sent but never sells very many. We live rural and have a couple of newsagents around. The bigger of the two newsagents refuses to push their magazines due to the supply problem and customer service problem. I won't be buying the others though.

 

10 hours ago, RuneBrush said:

The word on the street is that Hatchette Partworks are in the process of changing their Customer Service software/team (it was unclear which) so "in theory" it should improve.

I don't see it improving, new CS team or not. I was chasing this for months last year and they switched teams in December and I'm still chasing it over a month on. I've emailed gw again, I get that they don't have a lot of input but it is their name on the sets and they are pushing these items. Its bad on their image. The internet is full of horror stories of the two 40k ones now, yet people are still going mad that this isn't available in their country- they really are not missing out on anything.

[Sunshine]

This will cost c.£600 for everything. Has anyone worked out what savings you would make?

[HollowHills]

Picked up 10 of these today. Don't really see myself starting nighthaunt and definitely not etb stormcast, but the value is fantastic. 

[Khadral]

When did 40k conquest started selling in uk? Just trying to understand when  mortal realms could reach my country 

[hughwyeth]

1 hour ago, Sunshine said:

This will cost c.£600 for everything. Has anyone worked out what savings you would make?

I can't find the link or where i saw it, but i believe it's something like 8-10% saving. issue 1 is extremely good value. But when they reach full price they're not so much. I imagine when they get to later issues, something like the Celestant-prime will come over 3-4 issues, rather than 1.

[Mcthew]

So decided not to subscribe. I enjoy the hobby too much and didn't fancy the Hachette hassle.

Still, I managed to pick up 4 copies in Smith's and the local GW, for £12, and got a nice blob of 40 chainrasps and models for a unit of 10 sequitors. That's over £100 of models for the price of a couple of pints in the local pub. Not bad at all... Considering how overpriced chainrasps are.

[Envyus]

Wish it was in NA

[Mcthew]

7 hours ago, Envyus said:

Wish it was in NA

Yeah - and the fact that not all of the AoS community can access this, sucks.

Makes our arguments over Hachette's poor customer service feel a little churlish 😕

[hughwyeth]

11 hours ago, Mcthew said:

So decided not to subscribe. I enjoy the hobby too much and didn't fancy the Hachette hassle.

Still, I managed to pick up 4 copies in Smith's and the local GW, for £12, and got a nice blob of 40 chainrasps and models for a unit of 10 sequitors. That's over £100 of models for the price of a couple of pints in the local pub. Not bad at all... Considering how overpriced chainrasps are.

It is good value, save for the repeated poses! It's really a case of getting a lot of models for a small saving- but do you want those models? I think if you find a friend who wants the other force and you build a gaming table between you it's perfect. 

[sandlemad]

12 hours ago, Mcthew said:

So decided not to subscribe. I enjoy the hobby too much and didn't fancy the Hachette hassle.

Still, I managed to pick up 4 copies in Smith's and the local GW, for £12, and got a nice blob of 40 chainrasps and models for a unit of 10 sequitors. That's over £100 of models for the price of a couple of pints in the local pub. Not bad at all... Considering how overpriced chainrasps are.

It's really something and yeah, probably more of an indictment of the expense of buying chainrasps solo. Obviously that's down to weirdness in how bits of Soul Wars are repackaged but when you can chainrasps for only like 12% of their normal retail cost, it's a weird situation.

(I too am getting the proverbial blob of 40 chainrasps because why the hell not. Now to play around with how to make the dreadwardens look either distinct or like normal dudes. Not fussed about repeating poses in blocks of this size but I'd rather leaders should either stand out or just blend in entirely where not needed)

[Spears]

53 minutes ago, sandlemad said:

(I too am getting the proverbial blob of 40 chainrasps because why the hell not. Now to play around with how to make the dreadwardens look either distinct or like normal dudes. Not fussed about repeating poses in blocks of this size but I'd rather leaders should either stand out or just blend in entirely where not needed)

The dreadwardens have an alternative build if you want them to use them as a normal dude. I made the mistake of gluing mine but it should be easy enough to just push together whichever you need at the time.

[uk_unbeliever]

Got the first copy, looks awesome, clearly the first copy is amazing value. Subscribing looks to be good value, I wasn't going to but it looks attractive. It's all well explained, but there's one potential mini-scam in this in that you agree to:

 

"As a subscriber  i will automatically receive any binders as they become available at a cost of £8.99 each"

 

Does this mean they can vary the direct debit to add in a bunch these overpriced binders at various points "when they become available" with no opt out?

Edited January 10, 2020 by uk_unbeliever
Spelling

[RexHavoc]

On 1/9/2020 at 7:36 AM, Mcthew said:

Yeah - and the fact that not all of the AoS community can access this, sucks.

Makes our arguments over Hachette's poor customer service feel a little churlish 😕

Not really. Crappy service is still crappy service and I wouldn't wish there awful service on people in other countries. They are not missing out on that much tbh. The play matt is a4 and rubbish, yes the first issue is cheap but it about evens out, you might save a bit of cash on the whole lot of models, but you are over paying for the issues that are just paint and you  could save 20%+ from shopping from independent stores. I only unique thing is the one stormcast and it's not like its unique enough to that special. A slightly different sculpt of a model that is available. I really don't see why so many Americans are desperate to spend more on postage to get this issue sent to them. It's only a bargain because we can pick it up in the shops at cost.

1 hour ago, uk_unbeliever said:

Got the first copy, looks awesome, clearly the first copy is amazing value. Subscribing looks to be good value, I wasn't going to but it looks attractive. It's all well explained, but there's one potential mini-scam in this in that you agree to:

 

"As a subscriber  i will automatically receive any binders as they become available at a cost of £8.99 each"

 

Does this mean they can vary the direct debit to add in a bunch these overpriced binders at various points "when they become available" with no opt out?

Correct. You *can* opt out, but usually they send it too you and then its too late to opt out of it. A lot of people missed the noticed about the art book with conquest and got left with a book they really didn't want for a cost they didn't agree too (as far as I can remember as well, it was never advertised on the site or part of the original sub. People got the first notice in a letter with a delivery and by then the next payment had already been taken and they couldn't opt out)

[HollowHills]

I wouldn't really recommend subscribing beyond issue 5. It's probably worth subscribing until you get the exclusive stormcast as she may be difficult to find in the shops / on forbidden planet given how it went with the space marine. Bear in mind the AoS collection includes way more scenery than the 40k one. Unless you're planning on building a gaming table at home or run a club then you probably won't use a lot of that scenery and it doesn't have that much resale value either. You'll also get paints way too slowly to actually paint the army properly and the paints you do get won't necessarily be ideal. So you will need to buy a load of extra paints unless you're content to wait a year or two to have a painted army. 

It's also hard to build a decent force out of the models you get. For example, you will almost certainly never use the thorns of the briarqueen in an AoS army and will need to purchase cards separately on ebay etc to play underworlds. I don't think you can even use the coven throne / mortis engine in a pure nighthaunt army. Units like castigators never see play. You get a load of liberators which are etb and are just worse versions of the sequitors you already have. 

If you want these armies you are probably best buying individual issues on Forbidden planet to get the good units, then just ignore the rest. 

Also as others have mentioned there is the hassle of art books, binders etc being added on for extra cash. 

[Overread]

Honestly for the same price you can get one decent chunk of an army for what you want instead of the Magazine; and you'll get it faster (provided you can afford it). The magazine though really isn't aimed at people building a specific army fast nor for competitive games. It's a gateway product that just so happens to also be really popular with regular gamers too for a few of the armies (and many for terrain and some other additions). GW's main hope is that this starts people on the path toward those two armies or AoS in general. Either from scratch as totally new gamers, or people who get tempted into starting one or both as new armies to add to their already growing legions of models. 

 

[Newsh]

I've subscribed but only recently - mainly as a way of getting some extra nighthaunt minis plus the free gifts. Will likely end my subscription after the second or third delivery.

I managed to get an extra issue 1 from WH Smiths, and issue 5 is out now with the exclusive mini - they had one in Tesco yesterday so i picked that up.

£2.99 for the first issue is good value tbf.