New High Elf stuff up!

WM/H looks cheaper on the surface because the game size is smaller - but on a model per model basis I think it is really expensive.

LoTR box sets are stil cheap if you can think of a good way to convert them to fantasy.

That is true about the models, but I mean we could have fun with a 15 point or 25 point as easily. And while it does hold true that the cavalry does cost a lot, they're also expensive as hell on a model to model basis in the game as well.

We could also try historicals... some of those historical sets are much cheaper than GW stuff, esp. the plastics, and you can use them for several different rulesets, so it's like getting several different games per army.

I personally have some ancients, napoleonics, ACW, AWI and ECW stuff I'd like to pay attention to some day.

Hell, if you *really* want to save money, getting smaller scales is also an option (e.g. 15mm or even 6 mm)...but I much prefer 28mm for painting.

I told Joel the other day that he should look into dealing Mantic figs as a GW alternative.

Bad approach, Joel won't stock 'em precisely because they're a GW alternative. He's sunk so much money into GW, it would hurt him a LOT to abandon that side of the business.

Money spent on GW is for product, which he could still sell. Anything else would be terrain or paints which could be used with any figs or system. It's not like he has GW stock options.

The GW price point is now too high IMO - the 20% off from Joel makes it better, but still pretty high.

One thing you can do is paint your army. You can make a profit on everything you spent if you sell it painted or uniquely converted. I am currently trying my best to find time for it. As much as I go through armies, I really need to paint them up in order to finance my hobby-crack.

ShadowMaster wrote:
The GW price point is now too high IMO - the 20% off from Joel makes it better, but still pretty high.

GW is indeed excessively high priced now. I've been talking to Joel and he says GW sales have gone down dramatically; to the point he's strongly considering reducing his inventory. He says board games, Flames , and magic are so far the driving force of the store. Where GW was easily the top seller last year at the same time. It's a sign of the times. Bad economic situation + GW being stupid with their pricing is a simple recipe.

Back on topic: high elves hooray!!!

Problem with alternatives is that as a GW stockist you have to keep selling the GW product to keep up any incentives or discounts, otherwise your wholesale pricing bracket goes up. Bringing in alternatives just in turn cuts down on the profits of his GW range which he puts the most clout in in the long run. As for the sales, I highly doubt price is that much of a factor as much as people are trying different things. Not to long ago there was lots of complaints about Joel losing faith in Flames of War for example and how very few people were playing it, and suddenly many of the former Gw players are now playing Flames of War. If the regulars move to a different game, the sales are obviously going to shift, as I doubt Joel gets tons of new customers each week.

Mantic also is very limited range also and is being made into it's own game (the beta rules are out, and it's a bit meh so far). Problem with alternatives is just most people don't like to mix figures and lot of people are afraid of having non tourny legal armies which is what you get if you use non GW figs.

The hobby is not that expensive really, it only gets expensive if you let it and you constantly are buying new armies to play. Even with new editions and codex changes, it usually only requires you to make a few army tweaks every couple years. Game is expensive when your constantly building new armies.

Skirmish level games like Malifaux, Infinity, AEWWII, Freebooters, Anima tend to usually stay relatively cheap with the size of the game, but they also are usually limited on their own success because they aren't making tons of money selling large volumes of figures. Lot of companies are trying out the skirmish level of gaming but for the most part they are having to stay small.

I think Privateer Press learned this early on as Warmachine was often labeled as a skirmish game and promoted heavily on how little you needed to play the game, but as the game aged and with expansions, they kept promoting the increase in size of the game, and by nature of design with how warcaster/warlocks greatly change a force, players are generally forced to have many alternative army builds to get proper synergy in the army, as synergy is a key factor in their games.

yea...