Arena Mortis Price

[Rodiger]

Sorry bit of a rant here.

Arena Mortis has a price of 45 dollars U.S./ 30 pounds U.K. That is for a board, some cards, a token sheet and a rule pamphlet. 45 dollars! I haven't played this game, but from what I've read it just sounds like a White Dwarf game. It is like GWs pricing team have decided their pricing model is 'How much can we get away with charging and enough people will buy it' rather than the usual model that takes into account design, production costs, wages etc.  I can't see any justification for this price, 15 dollars would seem a tad too expensive for me for this. 

As a comparison you can get Combat Arena for 39 dollars, which is a similar style of game, and it comes with 5 models too. I have Combat Arena and Gorechosen, I think Combat Arena cost me 50 dollars including international postage, and I am prepared to bet that these are better games.

Anyway what do other people think? Are you going to buy it? Do you think the price is alright? 

Edit. I see the cards are available to use in normal Underworlds games. So it is a mandatory purchase for competitive players. 

Edited September 19, 2020 by Rodiger

[Intrinsic]

First off, not defending the prices because I too think they're too high. That said, the prices aren't actually that far off from buying each section of products individually. Board sets on their own are $25, and card packs $20, even though the card pack in this set is 20 cards lighter than say Power Unbound. As a semi-competitive player I'm going to buy it for $35. I still feel as though I'm paying about $10 too much, which is a shame because I feel like GW has really priced out a lot of players from one of their best games on the market at almost every turn. 

[Rodiger]

I stopped buying this game at the end of Nightvault. I own everything up to then, including the extra board and cards they released. In a month or so nothing I own can be used competitively anymore. I don't have much chance to do that anyway at the moment, but by the time I could I'll have to buy everything again, and with the 2 price rises the warbands took in under a year I have no desire to do that.  So I have currently been priced out like you say. 

Arena Mortis is something I would have bought if it was over 50% cheaper. It sounds like a fun little game, but it just seems a cynical cash grab the more I think about it. Competitive players need to have every card, so instead of selling them a card pack, they bundle a board in and whack the price up knowing they will buy it what ever. I recently did the same thing with Ascension for Blackstone Fortress, it was the last expansion and I wanted to complete my set, but I felt completely ripped off buying it, and I'm part of the problem because they know they can charge that much and suckers like me will buy it. 

While I understand the need for card rotation, the cards should be getting cheaper not more expensive, especially how short a life span they have is. 
The cards in this set have around a years life span, and they aren't even good physical quality, compare them to a deck of bicycle cards that costs a few dollars, they are trash, I have loads of different sized ones, ones with different shades on the back and the only way to make the playable is to spend more money on sleeves. 

Sorry this is maybe just the straw that broke the camels back. I just think GW pricing has got so ridiculous and it feels like they are now just taking the mick out of their customers. GW's customer base is largely well off middle class people who can take these price hikes in their stride, GW know that and are exploiting it to the full.