Rumours on low Dominion sales - discussion

[Roland]

GW have done some rather "interesting" things this year.

Plushies. Candles. X-mas sweaters to say the least.

Yet potentially the most amusing is their Warhammer Day sale.

Can't recall GW having that many sales in the past.

All the more amusing cause it's a sale for all intents & purposes. Clearly to clear old stock that isn't moving.

Yet they're not calling it a sale. It's instead - "Special prices!"

[Kodos der Henker]

On 11/1/2021 at 6:35 AM, yukishiro1 said:

And I don't know if plastic sprues can just be tossed back into the vat and boiled down and then remade into a different sprue, or whether there'd be any economic reason to do that rather than just binning them

Yes you can, you even can do this at home, although it depends on raw material prices and availability if it makes sense or not (not for other companies that produce externally but for GW it can be easy ro just recycle stuff that does not sell)

[RuneBrush]

4 minutes ago, Kodos der Henker said:

Yes you can, you even can do this at home, although it depends on raw material prices and availability if it makes sense or not (not for other companies that produce externally but for GW it can be easy ro just recycle stuff that does not sell)

I'm 99% positive GW recycle internally.  HIPS plastic basically can just be shredded and go back into the plastics hopper - might need a wash first as I think they use release agent.  Any mis-casts and left over sprues will likely get fed back into production like this - we've seen GW have big wheelie bins dotted around the company specifically for sprues in one of their videos which backs this up a bit.  What GW likely won't have is the capacity to do recycling on an industrial scale.

[Kodos der Henker]

On 11/1/2021 at 6:35 AM, yukishiro1 said:

 

I cannot remove the quote on mobile, sorry

For GW it would be just stupid not to recycle with everything already be in house

Question is just if it is cheaper to keep stuff in the warehouse until it sells, or recycle unsold kits and produce new stuff if needed

With current plastic raw material being hard to get, recycling will be better than selling on discount

Edited November 3, 2021 by Kodos der Henker

[Chikout]

11 hours ago, Roland said:

GW have done some rather "interesting" things this year.

Plushies. Candles. X-mas sweaters to say the least.

Yet potentially the most amusing is their Warhammer Day sale.

Can't recall GW having that many sales in the past.

All the more amusing cause it's a sale for all intents & purposes. Clearly to clear old stock that isn't moving.

Yet they're not calling it a sale. It's instead - "Special prices!"

GW user to do sales all the time. They used to do 3 for the price of 2 on their plastic boxes at grand openings or anniversaries. 

I remember being very happy to get three of this Skaven box for £20. 

There's no doubt gw products are much more expensive now, but I can't understand why I thought those minis looked good. I wouldn't get them again if I was paid to. 

I think sales of slow moving stock is a good idea. I finally caved and bought Dominion so it worked on me. 

[Clan's Cynic]

53 minutes ago, Chikout said:

There's no doubt gw products are much more expensive now, but I can't understand why I thought those minis looked good. I wouldn't get them again if I was paid to. 

Because they looked good for the time.

Sort of graphics in a video game. You probably remember a PS2 game's graphics being a lot better than if you went and Youtube'd a playthrough today... but that doesn't mean the graphics weren't good back then.

Might be in 10-20 years you think a lot of stuff released today looks naff.

 

Edited November 3, 2021 by Clan's Cynic

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

5 minutes ago, Clan's Cynic said:

Because they looked good for the time.

Sort of graphics in a video game. You probably remember a PS2 game's graphics being a lot better than if you went and Youtube'd a playthrough today... but that doesn't mean the graphics weren't good back then.

Might be in 10-20 years you think a lot of stuff released today looks naff.

Except late SNES and PS1 sprite work. That stuff still looks great today. Just goes to show how much a good art style matters for timeless aesthetics. I actually think a lot of the current GW offering is still going to look quite good in 20+ years, simply because their art style has become better. Really old GW models used to have a lot of questionable proportions and poses because of the wire armature sculpting style of the time. Also the need to be cast along a single plane.

Although it's not universal. Some of the end times models are already starting to look kinda dated.

[Public Universal Duardin]

It's a mixed bag, really. Yes, some of those metal minis from mid-90s look rough. Really rough, to be honest. But then there's miniatures like Aekold Hellbrass who still looks absolutely awesome with a modern painting scheme. Many models, especially characters, from the 2000s have a charm I miss dearly.

On the other hand, some of the End Times miniatures just look busy in a really unflattering way - I think GW is getting better with that currently, but instead they have opted to release models with dynamic poses which in some cases make them look derpy (and will look especially goofy in 10-20 years). Not to speak of the trend we see among Lumineth - I could never collect them as I'd be afraid my prized minis would snap in half just by looking at them! Might be a marvel of miniature design, but I wonder how many accidents happen when people take their miniatures to tournaments.

The videogame comparisons earlier were apt (Tekken on PS1 seemed "lifelike" to my child self! Not to speak of the worry parents had over the "realistic violence" of San Andreas...) but just like I consider some of those early 3D PS1 graphics still having a certain charm, so does the chonky monopose miniatures from the same era. If PS1-esque graphics can trend now, why not Chonk?

Bring back the classics!

[yukishiro1]

3 hours ago, Kodos der Henker said:

For GW it would be just stupid not to recycle with everything already be in house

 

For stuff in the UK factory and warehouse, sure, I buy that, they're close together. But if you have to send an unsold box of X back halfway across the world to be melted down, the economics of that start to look quite different.

These days plastic is expensive enough that it might still be worth shipping unsold stuff back to the UK to be made into new stuff, but I doubt that was the case pre-plastic spikes, and I kinda doubt GW would have paid a premium back in the day to do that. But I obviously don't know for sure. 

[edmc78]

5 hours ago, Kodos der Henker said:

Yes you can, you even can do this at home, although it depends on raw material prices and availability if it makes sense or not (not for other companies that produce externally but for GW it can be easy ro just recycle stuff that does not sell)

GW can just take all of the Spruces in unsold Diminion boxes and add them to single boxes for starters and units. 

[Greyshadow]

Dominion is no longer appearing on the Australian web store. A shame GW didn’t keep it around for the Christmas period, (assuming it didn’t sell out). I hope everyone who wanted one managed to get it.

[Skreech Verminking]

Since we have reached the thirteenth page, I thought it would be the right thing to say,

”Skaven are awesome!!!!”

[EccentricCircle]

27 minutes ago, Skreech Verminking said:

Since we have reached the thirteenth page, I thought it would be the right thing to say,

”Skaven are awesome!!!!”

When is it not the right time to say that?

[Skreech Verminking]

16 minutes ago, EccentricCircle said:

When is it not the right time to say that?

It never ends,

it only begins

[Roland]

On 11/13/2021 at 12:54 PM, Greyshadow said:

Dominion is no longer appearing on the Australian web store. A shame GW didn’t keep it around for the Christmas period, (assuming it didn’t sell out). I hope everyone who wanted one managed to get it.

 

Probably sold out for the GW Aus. wharehouse.

Yet there's still plenty available from independent retailers.

Although.
GW could also have shifted the last few copies they had onto independent retailers to be finally rid of them.

[Skreech Verminking]

5 hours ago, Roland said:

 

Probably sold out for the GW Aus. wharehouse.

Yet there's still plenty available from independent retailers.

Although.
GW could also have shifted the last few copies they had onto independent retailers to be finally rid of them.

If I’m not mistaking, there still is one left at my local store, although they never really got more then 1 of the boxsets.

As cool as those stormcast look, nobody really plays them in my local area, So that really tells ya hoe much they are loved by the current community in my area.

There are a few beginners who started with stormcast but considered the army as pretty bluntly put space marine like boring.

I think the same could be said about the ogor vs. bonereapers boxset, something I’ll probably will be buying soonish, just for the ogors, love those models.

Edited November 15, 2021 by Skreech Verminking

[Greyshadow]

I don’t know. I actually think Dominion is a fantastic box. I have really warmed to the Thunderstrike and I think the new Orruks are incredible. If I had my time again I probably would have bought it over the GHB and core book. I am definitely going to get some Thunderstrike for my Cities army at some point.

[Roland]

A clear indication of either :

- Lack of interest.
- Over supply
- Or oversaturation.

I saw quite a few independent retailers selling Dominion box sets as their only GW specific Black Friday sale.
Or. If selling other GW products as part of a Black Friday / Cyber Monday sale.
The Dominion box sets had the greatest discount.

On many occasions; quite a hefty discount.

Clearly indicating that a number independent retailers were trying to simply get rid of their stock of Dominion.

[Gitzdee]

I wonder if it sold that badly. Maybe there was a case of oversupply or maybe it had to do with the bad economy in general. But i see a lot of talk about people playing kruleboyz or at least giving them a try. Just look at the kruleboyz discussion on this site. Have they ever shared something about bad sales?

[Overread]

Don't forget a year before Indomitus was set to be a major boxed set that would last a while and it sold out in about a day or two and GW decided to do a second print run of a starter discount box. The Pandemic basically threw all of GW's marketing predictions out the window. Dominion might well have been a reaction to boosting production in anticipation of higher than normal sales that then didn't happen; or it might have happened and just wasn't as big as GW thought it would be. They rarely release full data on sales even at shareholder meetings. So we rarely have proper insight. 

 

A good few stores have sold Dominion at a steep discount, but don't forget part of that isn't just that its not sold as fast as they want, but also as fast as they need. Many independent game stores are on tight margins and just can't leave multiple boxes sitting on a shelf for 3 years. So they slash the price to clear them - even if they don't make much profit it releases that money for them to buy something that does turn a faster profit. It's why many 3rd parties rely heavily on card games and such for their main income and wargames are, whilst higher cost per unit, often slower to shift and slower to recoup profits from.

But its a hard line to walk - if GW undersupplies too much customers complain that they couldn't get the product; if GW oversupplies too much then 3rd party stores complain about lack of fast enough sales. The line between the two is a tight one and one that is probably impossible to ever get perfect. As customers slight over-production is a good thing as it ensures we get what we want. 

So long as GW doesn't make a long series of blunders in over producing, they will be fine. One outlier every so often is fine; its when you get repeat bundles and boxed sets that don't shift fast enough that you have a problem

[pnkdth]

35 minutes ago, Iksdee said:

I wonder if it sold that badly. Maybe there was a case of oversupply or maybe it had to do with the bad economy in general. But i see a lot of talk about people playing kruleboyz or at least giving them a try. Just look at the kruleboyz discussion on this site. Have they ever shared something about bad sales?

Not sure how it reflects on the larger community but they're the 7th least played army whereas SCE is the 4th most played army at events. When including unique characters you end up limiting the boxing sharing value and buying multiples too. The attendance numbers could also indicate that many SCE players already had most of the units they want and preferred to get separate boxes to complement their existing force.

So my theory is, 1) too big of a box, 2) not enough of the new stuff to get existing SCE players to buy in, 3) decent 'getting started' for kruleboyz. This makes it difficulty for many SCE players to buy in while making sure there's an expensive barrier of entry for everyone interesting in Kruleboyz (who has to find an SCE buddy). This latter is significant since Kruleboyz does not have huge lore-build up to get people "omg omg omg they're finally here!" to get people excited. Interestingly enough the Kruleboyz Kunnin' an' brutal kollectshun-box sold out real quick which further suggests a strong will to buy Kruleboyz specific stuff like, let's say, a dedicated 'start collecting'.

Sometimes the easy explanation is the right answer, the box simply was a dud and didn't appeal to enough people. Another aspect is that GW banked on SCE having the same sales power as marines which is a tough sell given the relative short lifespan of AoS. Yes, yes, I know and I can already hear someone typing out furiously how much better the setting and lore is in AoS but isn't the point, the AoS setting isn't as established and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who can actually distinguish the different stormhosts from each other visually (never mind the confusing naming scheme SCE has to begin with). I dig the setting in AoS too (mostly due to 2+tough and Age of Nagash) so put down the pitchforks and torches.

TL;DR: The box was a dud, live and learn.

As a side note, yeah, I'm also seeing heavily discounted boxes. Shame I have no interest in the contents.

[Gitzdee]

8 minutes ago, pnkdth said:

Not sure how it reflects on the larger community but they're the 7th least played army whereas SCE is the 4th most played army at events. When including unique characters you end up limiting the boxing sharing value and buying multiples too. The attendance numbers could also indicate that many SCE players already had most of the units they want and preferred to get separate boxes to complement their existing force.

So my theory is, 1) too big of a box, 2) not enough of the new stuff to get existing SCE players to buy in, 3) decent 'getting started' for kruleboyz. This makes it difficulty for many SCE players to buy in while making sure there's an expensive barrier of entry for everyone interesting in Kruleboyz (who has to find an SCE buddy). This latter is significant since Kruleboyz does not have huge lore-build up to get people "omg omg omg they're finally here!" to get people excited. Interestingly enough the Kruleboyz Kunnin' an' brutal kollectshun-box sold out real quick which further suggests a strong will to buy Kruleboyz specific stuff like, let's say, a dedicated 'start collecting'.

Sometimes the easy explanation is the right answer, the box simply was a dud and didn't appeal to enough people. Another aspect is that GW banked on SCE having the same sales power as marines which is a tough sell given the relative short lifespan of AoS. Yes, yes, I know and I can already hear someone typing out furiously how much better the setting and lore is in AoS but isn't the point, the AoS setting isn't as established and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who can actually distinguish the different stormhosts from each other visually (never mind the confusing naming scheme SCE has to begin with). I dig the setting in AoS too (mostly due to 2+tough and Age of Nagash) so put down the pitchforks and torches.

TL;DR: The box was a dud, live and learn.

As a side note, yeah, I'm also seeing heavily discounted boxes. Shame I have no interest in the contents.

I have to agree that its not a good box to buy multiples of. Also the killaboss on foot and the hobgrots go for almost nothing on secondhand market sites.

[Bosskelot]

Yeah if anything I think Kruleboyz were the bigger aspect discouraging people from buying into the box. It's been talked about endlessly on previous pages, but I really think GW hasn't handled the roll out of them very well. Compared to Nighthaunt they feel a bit lacklustre in terms of releases and numbers of models and worse still there was a lot of confused messaging in the lead up to Dominion about whether they'd be their own army or part of OWC etc. Then there's the weirdness of tying them into Kragnos but not really representing this at all well enough and Kragnos himself being a bit of a damp squib in terms of reception despite being the BIG BAD of 3rd edition.

The Thunderstrike SCE on the other hand actually got SCE-haters like me to buy into them. Locally there's been a giant jump in SCE players too, new and old, all using the new stuff from Dominion. Any OWC players are still just using Ironjawz though.

[Greyshadow]

Games Workshop have said the release schedule for the Dominion tie in releases was delayed, had those releases arrived on time I think their would have been more interest. I recall them saying in a Warhammer Community article that they produced ALOT of Dominion. Agree, with your comment @Bosskelot, Kragnos comes across as a bit meh. Perhaps if I saw the actual model I might like it more. For some reason, photographs don’t seem to convey his huge scale. He looks like a regular Centigor on the box cover.

[Indecisive]

Hm... Giving it thought.

While space marines may all be space marines to me, Grey Knights, Blood Angels, Death Guard, and Chaos Space Marines for example are very distinct, have been distinct for a long time and their fanbases absolutely distinct and devoted. So all the power armour spam works because people like space marines a lot and the separate flavours people will die on a hill for.
Stormcast are not the space marines GW would like them to be, nor do they have the flavours established either, only recently was there a non-Hammers mini released and the Stormhosts aren't as fuel for fanbase as space marine chapters.

Subsequently, Stormcast can't mimic space marine volume remotely. There has been an utter glut of releases for them in such a short while that they've probably achieved a degree of saturation. I've got loads of Stormcast for instance, bunch of Liberators, Lord Relictor, Lord Arcanum and Incantor, 2500pts maybe of Stormcast altogether. Dominion doesn't really appeal since I don't want another stack of battleline, albeit better looking, or another Relictor or standard caster wizard. I'd rather pick up a few kits of interest, like maybe Annihilators/dragons/Yndrasta separately then an entire box. I don't think I'm alone in this situation, if you've already got Stormcast more redundant units aren't appealing. There is just too much stuff doing the same thing around and they aren't Primaris, a reboot of a massively popular line 30+ years in age, so they can't match it.

It's a good starter for newbies and Thunderstrike look nice, but there is just too much Stormcast around in such a small timespan that it's hard to want to pick up a boxset of dudes I already (basically) have. I'd rather buy a few new kits of note.