A simple price comparison

[Vorpac]

Just a quick note regarding 3d party minis- My local GW does not allow any models unless they are 70% GW based to be used on the tables. Cheaper 3rd party minis are great on a budget or with non-GW groups but as I mostl;y game with my wife and best mate or at GW store I sadly have to pay top quids for the models By enforcing the 70% rule (or flexibility if the idea/conversion is really unique/cool) they keep the strangle-hold on the market and our spending whilst forcing us to become more creative with the models at hand. It's not ideal for students or those of us with houses and families but it has made me re-evaluate my armies to be more fluff focused and unique (i.e. my former WoC now VC army!).

Thanks for reading the ramblings of a newbie

Vorpac x

 

[hairyjeff]

Way to beat GW stranglehold- never play in store. Hire alocal hall, about 40-50 quid for a day, invite every player you know for a days play for a fiver donation. We've been doing it for years, it's made a terrific little games group. Once every 4-6 weeks seems to be ideal.

 

[Zeleck]

the prices will level off eventually. If you read the gw financial reports it makes more sense. They are being hit by increased production costs and fewer players. They also have to cover the costs of implementing finecast. As they need to keep shareholders happy they need to maintain profits and They would rather increase profit per unit than increase sales of units. In some cases they are struggling to keep up with demand on kits. It makes sense to increase the price.

I don't know how many of you know this but they only have 1 mould for each kit and they need to run their machines 24 hours a day. They will do so many of one kit then swap it out etc. Finecast requires new equipment and They are rolling out the new kits as they implement the new gear.

They firmly believe that the new plastic kits combined with finecast coupled with the huge playerbase relative to alternatives will be the drawn bridge the moat and the high walls of the business.

Just want to add that i can't really afford th hobby at this level. I bought a huge tau army, vc army and bret army about 3 or 4 years ago before the increases and I'm still working through it. I recently got some of the new kits though. Bottom line is their prices will get to a point where it reduces sales so much that they start to lose money and it will all pan out

 

[Akira]

Greetings,


in Belgium we always have Mantic boxes in the little hobbyshops. The skelletons are also pretty cheap too create a mas.
I use the official models in the front and mantic in the middle.
In the early days they would send you free zombie models.


Akira

 

[Necromancer]

I'm a student and fully aware of the difference in price. Personally I still get all GW, I think Mantic looks like crap(my own opinion of course). Well the zombies are better, but I currently don't use those.

I adore GW models in general, and like the game a lot, so if it keeps it around I'll pay more.

 

[FirestormXL]

Ever since I got crap quality fine cast at outrageous prices I have stopped purchasing from them entirely, going further to undermine them at every opportunity.

 

[Shadow14_8]

I kept waiting for that 60 zombies for $40 Mantic deal to show up again at the warstore. But they never got anymore, so I broke down and bought 60 more GW zombies just to keep with what I had. I agree though Mantics prices are great but its unclear how they achieve this and make a profit,:konrad:

 

[Irisado]

I'm not entirely sure where this thread's heading, but yet another debate about GW's prices is about as original as advertising on commercial television, so I'll focus purely on the comparison between Mantic and GW in terms of their undead models.

I recently looked into purchasing Mantic models, and while I could find some good deals, not all of their models are as great a saving over the GW equivalent as you may think. It really does depend on how many models you need.

If you've played the game through various editions and decades, then just adding a few new models from GW here and there shouldn't hurt too much, even if you don't have a great deal of money to spend.

I also haven't really warmed to a lot of the Mantic sculpts, which makes the decision easier for me.

 

[Chaos_Born]

I detest mantic models. I wouldn't use them if I was given them for free. I am willing to accept extortionate prices in order to avoid them. I really don't see what people mean when they say they prefer mantic sculpts to Games Workshop ones. Completely different aesthetics that just don't fit. IMO of course.

 

[hairyjeff]

As you said, Chaos, it's an opinion. As long everyone remembers that, I see no reason why we shouldn't use any mini's we want. I'm not going to refuse to play a guy with just GW stuff, and would be enormously offended if he didn't reciprocate. In store, of course, is different- it's their house, so their rules. And I have no problem with photo-copied rules, but everyone seems to miss the page with the bad bits... Seriously, £25 for a book that will be replaced every 3-4 years max is excessive to me.And going hardback was totally unnecessary-IMO. As for differences in style of sculpts, thats just personal taste, and not really part of the discussion. The bottom line is that for bigger troop blocks, Mantic are one of the cheapest. Not always better, but as you start your ninth skeleton regiment, you realise how much other stuff you can still afford. End of pontification. thanks.

 

[Rav3nKing]

Just a quick note regarding 3d party minis- My local GW does not allow any models unless they are 70% GW based to be used on the tables.

Does anyone know how common this is, or how tolerant GW are in general? I've spent this last week looking at awesome alternative models for a VC army and it hadn't even really crossed my mind about whether GW would actually let me play with them! I like most of the GW mini's but they don't tick my boxes for what my army should look like.

I'm new to the game so I can't summon up a load of friends and GW's the only place I know locally that I could go play at..

 

[Chaos_Born]

All of the vast number of 2 Games Workshops I've been to have had policies regarding third party miniatures. One said point blank no, the other said that the vast majority of your army must be Games Workshop, but occasional characters or small units are allowed, on the condition that they look cool.

 

[Jagged_Dragon]

Outside of the zombie kit, I'm a big fan of the GW minis..
granted grabbing a kit of zombies, spare bases and hitting the bits box ends up being pretty fun