Most of the products in the Uk Gw stores are being affected by the VAT increase in Jan,

Easiest way to figure it out is to multiply the price by 1.025 (the VAT is being increased by 2.5%). And then round it to the closest 25p/50p/£ in most cases. So GW are also gaining a few pennies from this..

I saw the price sheet today, so will try to remember the prices..
So all the £16.50 box sets and blisters are going up to £17.
Tape Measures, dice and the £5 starter sets for 40k/fantasy are all going up 10p
£35 is going to £36.
I think the £18 sets are £18.50
£12 to £12.50

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Neither surprises or matters to me that GW would use the VAT rise to increase their prices further than neccessary. I've boycotted GW for about 2 years now. I shop solely at ebay or Independents now (unless I get given a GW gift voucher). They've had a couple of thousand quid out of me. They ain't gettin anymore. Someone should point out to them there is a recession on.

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Dosn't effect me, it's all ebay for me.

It is at least 2 years since I bought anything from them - it was a few items that could only be obtained direct.

Oh, VAT is not the only thing going to affect mini prices - plastic or white metal. Commodities are going up in price, partly due to demand, partly due to greed-mongers speculating on prices of oil and metals. So, no matter where you live, all minis are going up in price to a greater or lesser extent.

I will be taking things easy over Christmas/New Year and working on a couple of projects that were on hold. But it is highly unlikely that I will be buying any LOTR minis until well into 2011. From a independent retailer...

And I may also use some of the excellent Gripping Beast and other lines to add to Rohan, Dunland and other areas.

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Shopping at independents is not boycotting GW... They still get the money.

It seems odd that I read on these forums that people want more from GW in terms of support, models etc and yet also don;t want to give them money...

Paying for a product is no problem, its just the amount they demand you pay that puts the Vets off. I'm the same as ukfreddybear, I've not bought a product direct from GW since the Gondor release and bought from independents so you basically get the models at a pre-price increase price. But I've not bought from them either since the last rise either, there metals are no longer worth the cost, especially the cost of heroes or command sets.

GW gets less money when you shop at independents and with some stores you don't have to pay full price. It is better to support your local retailers than the big company. When GW first came to my city I was so happy and then over the years the way GW HQ managed their stores always tend to do little things to milk their customers. Ex. Hiking prices every year, seeing plastic models almost costing the same as its previous metal counterpart that it had replaced (not to mention the quality of those sculpts decreasing in quality), eliminating the ability to order online single sprues or models from a box where you don't need the rest. and the list goes on. At least with an independent retailer you get discounts and fidelity cards. With GW you get close to nothing for being a loyal customer, in the old days I used to wheel and deal with the friendly employees that's until HQ clipped their balls preventing them from making deals anymore.

You know there is a difference between supporting the company that you love and having the blood sucked right out of you. Any working class person that tries to keep up with this hobby now on a regular basis will need life support to do so. If there's anyone here who is having their pie and eating it too, it's not us the consumers, it's the big fat company.

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My Lotr backlog: 305/952[][][][][][][][][][]32% completed
Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA

i can remember when their where no local GW stores it was all indies as gw was mail order lol !! but since the hit of the internet and the fact that all the online stores sell cheaper than GW them selves is it any wonder i dont shop with them anymore ? i mainly deal with mealstrom or ebay when im not using the trade thread here to swap different minis with people like yourselves

Nope, untrue. GW get more profits from independants as they don't have to pay building rent, utility bills or staff.



Many things can be said that I can agree with, but there's no way you can truly believe this!
The quality of sculpts have gotten increasingly better. The plastic Morgul/Dol Amroth knights were far above any other LotR sculpts and more inline with 40k/FB plastic kits.

I'm all for supporting local independant stores- small businesses should be supported, and it still pushes GW sales so they can invest more etc...

I think people need to realise though that creating new models and especially plastic kits is high risk, even more so for LotR. The people at the top won't let it happen unless they're sure of a financial benefit. If no one seems to be buying the product then there's no point in creating more models, rulebooks etc.

Also, in terms of what you get for being a loyal customer does depend on what you want from GW really. If you're a teenager and new to the hobby then GW and their stores give you lots- the stores are there for your use and advancement in the hobby. you need help with something, you can get it; you want to learn how to play something new, they help you.
Agreed, the longer lasting and more experienced players don't get as much but then they offer GW less in the way of income...

Sorry, what's VAT? is that like the Goods and service Tax like we have in australia?
And is that going to affect the prices internationally? or just the UK?

I apologize for asking dumb questions, I'm just curious and a bit concerned.

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I do believe in plastic sculpt replacements to be of lesser design quality of their metal counterparts, except for the example you have given with Dol Amroth & Mogul Knights which was their last replacement. The examples I'll give are the wood elves and the lothlorian Haldir armoured elves.

I am partial to metal models though for being a collector not a gamer, so if the head office decides not to make more plastics, that's more in my favor personally, but I get your point that this is a business and they need to make their grub and you cannot make dough on a product that is not selling. But why is that? Less gamers would buy KoDA in metal blister packs than they would as plastic box sets simply because of the price value for the amount of knights you'd be receiving. It's much faster to build up a WoTR army with plastics than it is with metals, and supposedly more cost efficient. If Lotr Wotr is a failure it is because GW shot themselves in the foot. The way that they designed the game for you to build up an army is simple greed on their part. A formation with less than 3 companies is basically useless especially when the command company is dead when it's half way through. And in Lotr there are more metals than plastics. So if you want an elite unit formation of 3 companies you need to buy 8 metal blister packs of generally three models in each to make a 3 company formation. WHO HAS THE MONEY TO DO THAT, besides the rich!?! And there are fewer rich people in this world than there are middle class and out of those rich people how many play this game? This is why the metals need to be converted to plastics for the gamers (much to my chagrin). It's hard for the consumer to support this game when the company makes it hard to.

And here's the bigger picture, how can a new player come into Wotr when it requires you to spend a lot to build a vast playable army? At least SBG doesn't require much in models and would serve as a foothold for someone getting started in Lotr, but now GW slowed their support of that game. Gamers are daunted in wanting to build a Wotr army. If you want people to support your game, you have to support them first instead of bleeding them. That's what GW needs to realize (but I don't want them to realize that they need to switch everything to plastic for personal reasons

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My Lotr backlog: 305/952[][][][][][][][][][]32% completed
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Whatever VAT is, I'll bet prices are going to soar internationally and usually January is the time that they do it.

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My Lotr backlog: 305/952[][][][][][][][][][]32% completed
Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA

VAT is Value Added Tax, so at the moment, 17.5% of the cost we pay for a product goes to the goverment, In Jan it goes up to 20%. I know that I thought that GW would simply absorb the cost and not rise prices (because of the last price rise they had, unannounced, a few months back), but no.

I shop at GW all the time, mainly because I live across the road from it, I'm good friends with the staff, and parcels don't get delivered to my flat, so I have to walk a few miles to get them

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That statement would only be true if the didn't have their own stores, but they do, along with all the overheads with it. If you went to an indie and bought a model from them, they make less than if you bought it from GW. Lets say a model costs £1 to make, they sell this to you direct for £5, they sell it to an indie for £3 so they can make a profit when they sell it on - they make £4 selling direct and only £2 selling to the indie.

Myself, I'm in it as a hobbyist at this point (don't often find time for a game), and I like both plastics and metals - my two favorites of what I've done are both metals, but plastics are a lot easier to convert.

The point that they need to make their minis more accessible to their market is a good one, though. I haven't bought direct from them, except for a handful of bases that I can't find otherwise, for some time now. They talk about having to raise prices to protect their stockholders, but that just makes people want to look for cheaper ways they can get the supplies they want - or give up entirely. Basically, every time they get worries about their profits being high enough, they wind up making people like them less than before.

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Well I'm one of those many people who are fed up with GW looking for every excuse to jack their prices up. This VAT seems to be another one. I just wait for independent store liquidation sales or store closing sales to stock up now. I have a whole back log of things to paint anyway that I don't really need to buy more models. And if I am buying it's once every few months thanks to the price raising. Clients buy a lot less not more when products are expensive, especially in tough economic times. I wonder how GW keeps afloat with their marketing strategy.

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Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA

Well, technically it's not an excuse to put up prices, it's the government that is doing so.

Sorry but no. Due to the costs incurred with running brick and mortar stores, paying staff etc, selling to trade accounts actually makes GW more money. This is from their own mouths.
In your own example they wouldn't make £4 as some of that profit is eaten up by costs.


And again, as Hitherto says; this is the UK government making VAT rise by 2.5% it has nothing to do with GW- every business in the UK is doing it.

Also, people need to look at prices and compare them with older prices. I have a White Dwarf from 1997. Army books and codices were £15. They were £15 each up until this summer. That's 13 years and no price rise.
Boxed 40K game was £50. again, that was 13 years without a price rise.
Blisters and box sets are similar. A single Knight blister has gone up £2.50 in 13 years.
Comparitively with non-GW products these are small price rises.

Yes, and if GW were to only increase the prices by this much I would not complain in the slightest. A £7 blister should be £7.18, but there is no way GW will be able to resist bumping it up to £7.50 for their own convenience. If they do not I shall eat my hat.

I understand Lorizaels statement that GW earn more net profit from Indy sales than from their own stores, and I see his argument but I disagree with it. If these indy sales are so great profit-wise, then why did GW limit their product availability to Indy sellers? Indy's have a reduced catalog to order from now, and only get new releases for a limited period before they too are taken away. I'll tell you why. They were taking too many sales away from GW direct and the stores. People will always want to pay the smallest amount for a product they can. Especially in these tough financial times. Indy's also usually offer a customer loyalty bonus too, creating further savings for the consumer. Indy sales were rocketing, GW sales were bombing. So higher NET profit or not, they stiffed the Indy and kept all the good stuff for themselves - purely because they have to justify paying all the GW staffers who were selling less due to the inflated prices.

As to the price comparisons, I can only compare to LotR models which have only been produced since 2001.

A single hero blister in 2001: £4
A single hero blister in 2010: £7.50
A single hero blister in 2011: £8

A 100% increase in 10 years.

A 3 x warrior blister in 2001: £5
A 3 x warrior blister in 2010: £8
A 3 x warrior blister in 2011: £8.50

A 70% increase in 10 years.

A metal boxset in 2001: £20
A metal boxset in 2010: £32.50
A metal boxset in 2011: £33

A 65% increase in 10 years.

I'd be interested to see if Lorizael is a GW employee, or are you just playing Devils advocate? Or perhaps you are one of the fortunate among us who has a large disposable income? I'm not having a pop, just curious

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I am one of the people with a large disposable incomes. I have more than one bone to pick with GW. You are beating the wrong horse. The Increase in prices has more to do with the devaluation of your currency and higher and higher taxes than GW greed.You should point the pitch fork in the right direction. Corporations don't pay taxes you do. The VAT is destroying your economy and will drive manufacturing to the third word.
I do not want to defend GW or get in to an economic debate so every one have a Happy new year.

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