Warhammer Rip Off

[monty--]

Am I the only one that thinks Games Workshop miniatures are a complete rip off? Look at the size of them! They're plastic! Detailed, sure. But how can you justify ?5-?10 for a small plastic/ metal figure? And get this....if you buy a figure which acts as a hero/ main character (more point value in the game)it'll cost you MORE money EVEN THOUGH it's blatantly obvious it cost no more money to produce.

I've never seen such a rip off. You can forget your motorway service stations, Warhammer is THE rip off!

[House of Usher]

Well, yeah. Not so very expensive back in the early days of the hobby when a single miniature cost between 40p and 60p, the cover price of 2000ad at the time, more or less.

The sound Warhammer makes is 'ker-ching!', the sound of an old-fashioned cash till.

I'm amazed at how they manage to redesign ordinary troop types and races almost every year and get people to buy the new updated version.

That's where eBay comes in very handy. You can pick up miniatures with outmoded appearance but of the same armies currently produced, at only a fraction of the cost.

[paulvonscott]

Well, Foundry produce their small 2000AD miniatures for a fiver each.

[Buddy]

I agve up on Games Workshop a long time ago when White Dwarf bacame a glossy catalogue of their games.

WD used to be a great mag, but as soon as they started on their 'all our games are  better  than all the others' line of thought I just gave it up.

I remember letters in WD at the time mentioning this.. their reply was "Games Workshop don't make poor games".

meh!

[House of Usher]

White Dwarf was a very nice magazine for the games hobby. A pity it became a full-time promotional tool for Games Workshop. But they're in it to make money and not to do anyone favours. It was good while it lasted, and it covered my FRPG years well enough.

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.

[Max Kon]

you pay for the quality of the sculpt not the material. Most GW hobby centers run at a loss.

that's why there are so few independant model shops, they don't make much money unless they do mail order as well, which you don't need a shop for

[Leigh S]

Surely if they do run their shops at a loss (which I find hard to believe) its due to the fact they alienated a lot of people in exactly the same way - I was another who got into gaming through the Dredd RPG and jumped the gaming ship when WD turned into a GW only product mag.

And the increasing prices didn't help.    

[Marbles]

If you like Sci-fi & fantasy miniatures you don't have to pay GW's rip-off prices for their lame-o game.

There are tons of cheaper, better alternatives - both in terms of game systems & miniatures.

 

Link: http://marblesminis.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Alternative Miniatures Reviews

[Darryl]

finally, somewhere to post this..... kind of.

Caption anyone?

[Darryl]

helps if I post the picture!http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v651/redram/GW/DSCI0043.jpg">

[Max Kon]

the shops run at a loss but the company makes a profit, they keep the shops running to interest people in the games, and keep hobbiest active and ordering from mail order

[Jim_Campbell]

Ephrael Stern! Where's my fucking royalty?

Cheers

Jim

[Waddie]

But how can you justify ?5-?10 for a small plastic/ metal figure?

Easy: people pay it.

And get this....if you buy a figure which acts as a hero/ main character (more point value in the game)it'll cost you MORE money EVEN THOUGH it's blatantly obvious it cost no more money to produce.

It costs more to design; character models are typically more detailed than average troopers so they take longer to sculpt.  They're typically more complex and come in more components, which means you get fewer from one casting run.  And it will sell far fewer because nobody needs more than one, whereas you need anywhere from 5-30 troops for every unit, so recouping the development costs takes longer.

The new multi-part plastic characters for Warhammer avoid a lot of these problems, and there you'll get two characters equipped however you like for under a tenner (I think, price might change by release).

Pretty much none of the price of a Citadel miniature goes towards materials.  You're paying for the concept artists, game developers, sculptors, the guys who paint them for the promotional materials, manufacturing and packaging, warehousing, the retail chain, and all the hundreds of support staff that make it all work.

[Wils]

they keep the shops running to interest people in the games

As long as you're the right kind of person, it seems. I went into GW in Northampton with Cait a couple of years ago, and *everyone* in there stopped what they were doing and glowered at her until we left.

I also might have inadvertently set off the alarm that detects if someone entering the shop doesn't live at home still and has actually been with a lady.

[The Amstor Computer]

Heh. My most recent GW experience was visiting a gaming shop in Tasmania a couple of years back. The only reason I went in was because I knew that they stocked comics as well, but it was one of the chilliest receptions I've ever had. The guy behind the counter stared at me every moment I was in the shop, and the chap at the front of the store painting miniatures actually stopped painting when I came in & didn't start again until I left!

Before that the last time I actually visited a proper GW store would probably have been back in the late 80s / early 90s when I was in Edinburgh. ISTR that being a far more pleasant experience - relatively busy shop, with a decent mix of customers and friendly staff.