Not sure about this, you use your economies of scale to give yourself a larger profit margin. You price according to the maximum people are willing to pay, balanced vs how many people will buy. GW sells a lot at a high price. Other manufacturers serve the more price sensitive customers, perhaps.

I'd wager that the reason GW doesn't launch these things as extensive series' of box sets is because the market they envisage buying them is not really the people who currently buy 6/10mm games like hawk's, but their existing customers. So I doubt they'd be too bothered by what these companies are doing. And as a consequence, they need these people to spend extra cash on a one-off impulse splurge, not divert their cash from 40K. Hence the "limited edition" box sets that are completely independent of their existing games.

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When you're profits drop 54% YoY, you're obviously above the margin on what people want to pay. GW's entire strategy, if you can even say they have one, is to dominate and BE the hobby. That means competing on being ubiquious, price, and quality to make your product(s) the clear winner. The main issue for them isn't one of focusing on a segment to maximize profits but by allowing a profitable, though relative small sized market to be abandoned that allows competators to be established, learn the ropes, and grow into your core areas (Mantic and Spartan). This lack of strategic insight was exactly why Microsoft came to dominate the mid size server market and Novell is a small part of SUSE and really just a name now. (peep 37 signals for some fantastic business insight on cannibalizing your own sales being a core business principle and why boutique pricing models almost always fail).

I fully concur that their impulse buys being a clear driver of sales with specialty one off items. Space Hulk was a good one. Even re-re-releasing it was good (it's money on the table). The fact that's about the only thing they've come up with and keep rehashing it shows a distinct lack of strategic vision and they're simply blindly reacting, fighting fires, and consumed with immediate operational issues (thinking tactical, not strategic).

Regardless, we're thinking too had about a wish-list thread, mate!

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Hi!

At this point only GW's demise and the pickup of the IP by another will let see epic in any palatable form.

Primarch

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Hey, I never said I think GW have got their pricing right, only that they think so

I suppose they could snuff out the competition by drastically cutting prices (the wal mart model) though I'm not sure we want that! However I can't help think this would actually hurt themselves the most, since they are the ones with hugely expensive bricks and mortar stores (which are all that is pulling in new teenage customers, let's be honest). I think a significant price reduction to undercut the competition could put them out of business as I'm skeptical that they would sell either to enough new players or enough stuff to existing players to make up for it. It'd be interesting to see sales figures for mantic etc though, maybe they have a lot more customers than I think.

True dat, my brother! But I do so love a pointless debate

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Oh true, they've got plenty of overhead but there's lots and lots of sneaky wat around that type of things (for instance, I doubt GW actually has the leases but some funky shell company - my partners and I set up that for all our branch offices). In addition the so called high st model on worked in the UK and somewhat, mainland Europe. Absolute disaster in the US and Canadian markets due to the rock bottom population density we have on avg. I would say their approach is preventing US customers

The thing that makes me wonder is just what new thing they're going to try and add to the line. They've not had a new product since LotR and to be honest, that's really not theirs to begin with. Tangentially, I hear it's one of the best rule sets they've ever made. Anyone back that up? Everything they're doing is based on properties they developed in the 80's and early 90s. I expect that anything new from them probably would encounter serious resistance as the customers would not believe the product would continue to be supported. That limits them to one off products but again, going to be a revamp of a beloved game like gorka morka or maybe Necromunda or if new, must be priced cheap enough that people will gamble on it so you don't have another dreadful awful fleet again

Some claim Blood Bowl but considering how vibrant the fantasy football miniature markets are going, why bother with GW?

For epic-ish game either going back to the Heresy (cheaper as you can be Red vs Blue) or focusing on Titans would be best. I'd suggest a titan game as giant mecha seem to be coming back in vogue. >:)

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I keep seeing all these products out there, products GW used to cover in the 90s (scifi micro armour, fantasy sports, dungeon crawlers) and can't help thinking they are nuts not to have their version on the market with their obviously popular and established universes. Would people decamp back to GW if they came late? As you say it depends on minis I suspect.

Minis aside, I'm intrigued in the 6/10mm world what people think of the Spartan/hawk rule sets. Dropzone looks cool, but from what I've seen limited by its tight focus on its core spec ops/drop ship concept. Just doesn't seem to have the combined arms appeal of EA.

If everything that is being promised by Planetfall comes to pass then it could be amazing - though I have concerns as it seems to follow the same mechanics as Dystopian Wars. And from seeing games of that going on at our local club it does seem to play like 40k - line up an improbably dense gun line, advance once and roll buckets of dice at each other until one side gets luckier than the other...? Biggest model wins.

I haven't heard of planetfall before. I'm not really looking for that kind of mechanic though. If something is going to be so simple in strategy, then why aren't the rules and mechanics simple too?

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I am just getting into DZC but I had the same concern. However, because of the way that missions are set up - and it is a very scenario-centric game - the combined arms side does come through. I still feel that it is a little limited and formulaic at times, and most missions seem to be along the idea of 'infantry search buildings for an objective, then bus back to the dropship and high tail it off the board', but with infantry only able to search buildings, tanks able to destroy buildings, AA shooting down dropships on the way in or out and fliers performing CAP, it does have all the elements required.

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Hi!

In my case I could get past the resin models from DZC. Some are nice, but others not so much.

I just can't pay those prices for non-mteal. ;(

Primarch

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While I can grant you on the style I find the hesitancy of resin curious. It's pretty much a superior medium when it comes to detail.

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I've always disliked working with resin. It feels like such an inferior, fragile material, and there's something wonderful about the heft of a great metal miniature.

Hi!

I could not have expressed it better myself.

Primarch

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Quoted for truth. hahah
I still wake up with panic attacks from all the years of putting together metal BFG ships of the line only to have them pop something off in transport. Marine Strike Cruiser, from hell's heart i stab thee!!!

And every time I see the wondrously higher detail you can achieve it makes all my metal models sudden seem like blobs of poo poo in comparison.


That's what basing your vehicles is for

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Nothing like a model that can be pressed into service as a deadly weapon - 1990s SM dreadnaught, we're looking at you! ;-)