GW Price Increases and My Reaction

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post are C Swizzy's and his alone. They do not reflect the views of TEW in it's entirety. 

That's right, I'm not going to BUYcott GW as we have in the past with Planetstrike. As it turns out the term Buycott is the exact opposite of Boycott, as in buying goods from a company in order to show your support. So I would recommend everyone to get their terminology straight...

Now that I got that little PSA out of the way, let's get down to business. GW, unsurprisingly, announced another price hike that goes into effect at the end of May. Yup, it's that time of year again. You can almost set your watch to it.  Here's the best link I could find that has a list of the price increases http://www.3sdgames.com/iumaddog/?cat=5. Props to these guys for the info. On average we're looking at a 22% increase.

There is also a list of the new Citadel Finecast prices. For those who don't know, the Finecast stuff is the resin replacement for the old school metal models we all loved or hated. Shockingly enough, they upped the prices on these as well and rumor has it they are direct order only.

On top of all of this "good news" GW decided to screw over the whole southern hemisphere by putting an embargo on retailers selling and shipping GW product down there. I have already heard the rantings from the Aussies and a certain someone in Asia is already planning to make one last bulk purchase before this goes into effect. It appears that GW is trying their hardest to exploit the conversion rate of foreign currencies. This is such a great way to treat your customers....

So let's get this straight. A few months ago GW stated that their sales were down. What's the best way to increase sales? Apparently it's by increasing prices, again....

I seriously have had enough. I'm done. My Astral Claws project is on hold, if not axed all together. I'll probably make a squad or two from bits I have but that might be it. I hope (but doubt at the same time) that when my Templars get a new book, I'll be able to use my old BT stuff, but then again look at the Grey Knights book. A lot of the old figs the old school GK players had can't really be used as much as they were in the past.

I hereby vow that I will NEVER buy from a GW store again. I am officially boycotting GW but there are stipulations. I will still continue to support Black Library as much as humanly possible and I will leave open the option of dabbling in some Forgeworld from time to time.

Now I know some of you will say that Privateer Press isn't that much cheaper and you might be right to some extent. I still believe that it's a better bargain because of the support that PP delivers and due to a lower model count, you can get away without buying as much in order to get into Warmachine/Hordes. I still believe you can get a decent 25 point army for right around $100. Malifaux and most of the games put out by Spartan can be started up for just under $100 and this includes a decent sized tournament ready army, not just a beginner army.

I've just had enough of GW's oppression and I'm going to let my wallet do the talking from here on out. I know I'm not the only one who will be doing this, and if you feel as I do, I encourage you to do the same. E Bay is always an option if you just can't pry yourself away from 40K or Fantasy.

I made a prediciton last year that GW will go under in 5 years. We're one year in and I think they're making excellent progress. I even made a wager with Carl from the Independent Characters about this. So Carl, you better start getting sized up for that Sister of Battle costume! LOL