40K Kits Moving to GW Direct Only

[Bigred]

Warhammer 40,000 Kits Currently Available via GW Direct Sales ONLY
by Warseer's Archibald_TK (http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?388212-List-of-WFB-plastic-boxes-going-Direct-Only-(updated)&p=7042385&viewfull=1#post7042385) 1-20-2013


This is a list for the 40K side of things that I started on another thread that I think is worth its own thread as I intend to keep it updated every month. There are two important things to remember concerning that list:
- I have to do it by comparing order forms with my own little eyes so there may be mistakes. I'll correct it as needed.
- The list may be different for the US, mine shall concern the countries that depend on GW UK warehouse, which shall include all Europeans countries.

I've organized it by range.

Before you start doing theories regarding why some boxes disappeared from the shelves, keep in mind some of them have been missing for ages (for example you may have seen some very recent rumours on the 40K side regarding Catachan and the Basilisk but in reality those are kits that went out early last year if memory serves me right).
As a final note, another poster (whose name I can't remember for now) whose retailer got info directly from GW US mentioned that the reason for that removal was that space in GW stores was becoming an issue due to the size of the range and they had to accommodate every new release (as an independent retailer we have access to the same products as GW stores, so if something disappear for them it also does for us). Since this look to be more or less the case with the Tyranids release this sounds actually quite credible.

There are boxes I won't take into consideration in the list, as their lack of presence is not really related to the current policy on plastic kits. Those are the Immolator, as well as the Ork Wartrakk and Warbuggy that have been out for years. I also won't point kits that have been replaced by a simple repackaging like Necron Destroyers or CSM Bikes going from single box to box of three, or the now infamous Dire Avengers.


Blood Angels, Chaos Daemons, Dark Angels, Grey Knights, Necrons, Orks, Space Wolves, Tyranids:
- Plastic range is complete, nothing missing

Chaos Space Marines:
- Attack Squad

Dark Eldar:
- Reavers

Eldar:
- Vyper
- Support Weapons
X Falcon
It is interesting to note the Wave Serpent entered that list yet came back on the shelves a few months later.

Imperial Guard:
- Catachan Battleforce
- Catachan Command Squad
- Catachan Jungle Fighters
- Catachan Heavy Weapon Squad
- Basilisk

Space Marines:
- Combat Squad
- Whirlwind

Tau:
- Kroot

As I said before, keep in mind I do these lists by manually comparing order forms so there may be mistakes.

[Wolfshade]

There seems no rhyme or reason for this.

Certainly, the GW-direct ICs when there was a standard GW one available, but it seems most peculiar.

[StraightSilver]

It makes sense from a retail point of view, just not from a customer point of view.

This is something all retailers started doing a while ago, it has just taken GW a while to catch up.

It's related to something called stock turn which is the number of times in a year your stock holding sells, but in a nut shell basically means slow sellers go direct, best sellers and new releases go on the shelf.

This something book shops, music shops and other retailers do as shelf space costs money.

Now that GW is reducing its store sizes shelf space is at more of a premium than ever and also because they have ramped up their release schedule they need to make room. But they also have to get their dead stock levels down which is why so many releases these days are only available for a short time.

My biggest issue however isn't so much stock going direct only, it's about stock simply not being on shelves where it should be.

I went into my local GW just after Christmas (I would normally go to Darksphere but I had vouchers) which is now a one man store. Not only is this store now closed 2 days a week but it is also now a one man store (used to have 3 staff).

I needed a box of SM Centurions (almost £50) and the Escalation book. The shop was busy with lots of kids, but no parents, and the poor guy was swamped trying to undercoat figures for the kids, run an intro game and serve customers. I couldn't find any of what I wanted on the shelf but thought I would wait for a bit just in case. I waited almost half an hour for the poot guy and then didn't want to wait any longer so walked out, but had a cigarette outside and he eventually caught up with me. When I explained they didn't have what i wanted he said "Oh we do, I just can't put the Centurions on the shelf as they get stolen, and I haven't had a chance to put Escalation out yet as I am here on my own."

So yes, they are making room for best sellers and new releases, but if a one man store cannot stop expensive things being stolen it's a sure sign their retail model isn't working.

[Herzlos]

I needed a box of SM Centurions (almost £50) and the Escalation book. The shop was busy with lots of kids, but no parents, and the poor guy was swamped trying to undercoat figures for the kids, run an intro game and serve customers. I couldn't find any of what I wanted on the shelf but thought I would wait for a bit just in case. I waited almost half an hour for the poot guy and then didn't want to wait any longer so walked out, but had a cigarette outside and he eventually caught up with me. When I explained they didn't have what i wanted he said "Oh we do, I just can't put the Centurions on the shelf as they get stolen, and I haven't had a chance to put Escalation out yet as I am here on my own."

So yes, they are making room for best sellers and new releases, but if a one man store cannot stop expensive things being stolen it's a sure sign their retail model isn't working.

It's not even a small box too. I was aware that there was a theft problem with the smaller blisters, but big boxes?

It certainly implies something is going wrong anyway.

[Bail Ohmar]

This might be old policy, but I believe GW store stocks vary depending on local orders. If an item gets regularly ordered for delivery to a store then it will get added to that stores regular inventory. Likewise poor selling items become mail order. It's store dependant, or at least this was the case 12 months ago.

[StraightSilver]

Yes they have an automated stock control ordering system which is supposed to spot local trends. Managers can still override the order if they want to I believe but generally their orders are generated by their EPOS system.

However Core range is determined centrally by GW head office, so they will tweak the electronic ordering system to make sure best sellers and new stock is ordered, but the amount each store should hold is based on their stock turn value.

All retailers aim for a stock turn figure of 6, in other words the store sales are 6 times more than their stock holding each year. If a store is delivering less than that the store becomes less viable, but i am not sure that with the smaller one man stores a stock turn value of 6 is retainable, but we'll see.

[Wolfshade]

It is obvious, by closing the stoes 2 or so days a week the people who visit them will obviously be able to visit the days that they are open :eyesroll:

[StraightSilver]

Yeah, the whole thing is crazy. Interesting that they now close almost 25% of the week and their retail sales have dropped almost 30%?

I understand the one man store model (I don't agree with it - I worked in retail management for almost 20 years and we tried it and I can tell you it doesn't work), and I understand that said staff member needs days off, sickness and annual leave. But for that you have floating staff who cover this.

You don't shut the store......

I used to visit GW regularly during the week as I preferred to visit when there were no kids, but now you take a gamble on whether they will be open, which frankly is madness!

Now I also know that most of the time I won't be able to just go in store and pick up what I want as it will need to be ordered.

I think the best thing for GW would be to adopt the "Click and Collect" model that is winning for big retailers right now. Hopefully this will be part of the new website and would encourage me to go into their stores.

Because right now there is no incentive to order from GW online when I can walk into a local independent and pick up what I want for an average of 20% cheaper....

[Bigred]

Straightsilver said:

but if a one man store cannot stop expensive things being stolen it's a sure sign their retail model isn't working.

Oh Lordy - I hadn't even considered that Straightsilver. The retail shrink percentage (inventory lost to theft and misplacement) is 1.5% for the United States. I can only imagine what it is for the 1-man stores...

[crandall87]

I'm glad this list is really small in comparison to the Fantasy list. I know a lot of this stuff has been direct only for several months. It does make sense if the boxed sets don't sell very well as it frees up shelf space for the stuff that does.

[Bork]

i used to work in the liverpool GW in the UK about 10 years ago and it was the number 1 store for theft in the whole company at the time (that's liverpool for you) and back then there was about 6-7 staff. manager, 3-4 full timers and few part timers. we were swamped on weekends, like wall to wall kids and we'd lose hundreds every day in stolen merchandise and you'd see it happen at least a dozen times a week and couldn't even try to stop it because they the store was so full you couldnt get close to them before they either merged back into the crowd or walked out the shop. the new liverpool store is much smaller and i seldom go in so don't know if its a 1 man operation now but i can only imagine how difficult it must be to even man the register alone let alone do any other jobs.

the only possible benefit from this happening is i won't be pestered with sales chit chat as i walk around the place, he won't have a chance to so much as register my presence. i'll never forget i got given the sales spiel a few years ago by a guy i remember giving his first intro game to when he was about 12 years old.

GW have abandoned all aspects of the hobby they used to stand for in favour of as much profit as they can make and they're going to slit their own throats doing it.

[ChaosWarrior218]

I'm trying to figure out why all three GW shops have closed their doors. They seemed to be doing good business.

[Anggul]

Looks to me like a list of things people hardly ever buy.

[Erik Setzer]

Not sure if GW is different in other places, but the way the local store runs, you know when it's going to be open. It does close on Sunday and Monday because of laws saying you're not supposed to work an employee more than 40 hours a week and all that jazz, but those are two days that don't see much traffic. If the manager is sick or has a family emergency or something, they have a backup standing by who can come in and run the shop the rest of the day.

It's possible I could have a store near me that's an exception to a lot of rules... For example, the manager keeps from getting bogged down helping new players by "recruiting" veteran players (or at least people who've been playing a few weeks or more and have the basics down pat) to step in and help newer players. This not only frees him up, but helps create more of a sense of "community." At its worst, I've never seen him get so bogged down that he wouldn't notice a decent size boxed set trying to sneak out the door... but then, most of us would step up to stop something like that, too. And the store layout makes it hard, as you still have to maneuver around stuff and move some distance with the merchandise before you can reach the door, which has a bell on it (and prompts a look from the manager every time he hears it). With the register and the paint/modeling stations right at the front of the store, he'll almost always be in position to see what people are doing going in or out.

Granted, the other local stockists don't have issues either. Only once has someone tried stealing something from a store in the past few years, and they were caught. So it could be that we have an abnormally lower rate of people wanting to steal gaming stuff.

And I know they sometimes force the individual stores to stock things that aren't local best-sellers, because Wraithknights keep getting sent to the store, and people just aren't buying them. Can't say why they aren't, but they're just not a big seller locally, though they are nationally apparently.

[Aaron Schmidt]

Ugh. This is why GW is going to fail. They're moving those kits so that they will get 100% of the profit from selling them. Even putting boxes in their own stores costs them money, so it makes sense then that they would try to eek out as much profit and as large a margin as they can... but if you know anything about business, you'd realize that that is the opposite of what to do.

[Wilfen82]

It's possible I could have a store near me that's an exception to a lot of rules... For example, the manager keeps from getting bogged down helping new players by "recruiting" veteran players (or at least people who've been playing a few weeks or more and have the basics down pat) to step in and help newer players. This not only frees him up, but helps create more of a sense of "community." At its worst, I've never seen him get so bogged down that he wouldn't notice a decent size boxed set trying to sneak out the door... but then, most of us would step up to stop something like that, too. And the store layout makes it hard, as you still have to maneuver around stuff and move some distance with the merchandise before you can reach the door, which has a bell on it (and prompts a look from the manager every time he hears it). With the register and the paint/modeling stations right at the front of the store, he'll almost always be in position to see what people are doing going in or out.

I think your local store may be more of an exception than a rule really. Whilst the support of the local veteran players can be of great use it can't be relied upon due to things like mystery shoppers and the fact that they won't always be there. We have a reasonable local community in the city store here, but we also recognise that we can't and shouldn't do the staffs job for them. That doesn't mean we wont enthuse about our army choices if asked or give tips, but we're not there to supplement their staff by running games, in the same way we wouldn't do them a sales pitch or stand behind the counter to serve.

As for shoplifting, really its not that hard in one of the stores. With a 1 man store a career thief has a much easier time of it. I've witnessed as a retailer, and been on the receiving end of, things much bigger than one of their boxes stolen, in one case a bounce bounce Tigger! We aren't talking about the kid or teen stealing because they want it or to show off, were talking about the professional adults easily capable of misdirection who steal the £40 kit and sell it for half that on ebay or are even stealing to order!

Cherish you store because those ones are few and far between.

[Caitsidhe]

Heh. I'm so tempted to search back several months to my posts speaking to this matter and predicting certain things (and being told I was an idiot). :) I could sum it all up by saying I pointed out that companies doing the kinds of things Games Workshop had begun to do (reducing hours, harassing independent points of sale, rerouting online sales, reducing stores, etc.) were "cooking the books," i.e. slashing costs and labor to try and keep the stock prices from falling. I pointed out, likewise, that eventually that doesn't work anymore and that we were due to see a drop in profits. I commented on several other things too, not the least of which was pricing. I stated that I believed they had already hit the apex and that they are now engaged in trying to milk everything for all it is worth because they do not believe they will continue upward. In short, their people have told them that competition has his the saturation point, the niche market isn't growing, and the only thing they have going for them is brand recognition.

Many companies (or at least those running them) aren't interested in the long haul and will only ride a stallion. Rather than correct the issues causing the drop and accept slow, steady profit, they attempt to milk it for whatever they can and crash the system in the process. Think of it as the business version of slash and burn agriculture.

[Cap'nSmurfs]

Yeah, except "cooking the books" refers to this thing we call "accounting fraud", not just restructuring your business (whatever you think of that). Nice try.

[Caitsidhe]

Cooking the books so that things look solid for your investors and keeping stocks artificially high so you look like you are maintaining growth and steady profits amounts to the same thing (albeit a legal version). :) You can bet even money the investors aren't at all pleased and are probably asking quite a few questions. I'm not sure what you mean about "nice try." I didn't have to try. I didn't have to do anything. The report came out out as predicted by many people besides myself. Are you implying that the profits did not fall? :) Are you implying there is some other reason profits fell besides there being nothing else for them to cut or move around? If so, please educate us?

[phil035]

@Erik you have to think 10 years ago most the stick was balisters all stuff you could fit in your pocket

[eldargal]

Cooking the books so that things look solid for your investors and keeping stocks artificially high so you look like you are maintaining growth and steady profits amounts to the same thing (albeit a legal version). :) You can bet even money the investors aren't at all pleased and are probably asking quite a few questions. I'm not sure what you mean about "nice try." I didn't have to try. I didn't have to do anything. The report came out out as predicted by many people besides myself. Are you implying that the profits did not fall? :) Are you implying there is some other reason profits fell besides there being nothing else for them to cut or move around? If so, please educate us?
Yes, you'd been saying it before the last annual report with profit growth came out too. Say something vague enough and often enough and it will come true.

[DarkLink]

Plus, I'm not entirely sure if you know what the phrase 'cooking the books' actually means.

[Wolfshade]

Well you know it's not as if the books are required to be independantly audited or anything...oh wait...

[Caitsidhe]

Plus, I'm not entirely sure if you know what the phrase 'cooking the books' actually means.

Of course I do. You should be asking yourself if YOU know what it means. I keep seeing people post as if "cooking the books" means fraud. It doesn't. It means playing with the numbers to make things look better than they actually are in fact. You don't have to take my word for it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooking_the_books

And feel free to check some other sources. If we look back over the last few reports (including the recent one with the big drop) we see that Games Workshop kept posting steady profits. It was often spun as the hobby (and thus market) was recession proof. :) The truth, which many people pointed out, is that they were making desperate cuts every place they could find to try and artificially maintain those numbers for stockholders. If you like it better I could call it "massaging the numbers" but "cooking the books" is the more common term.

Fraud is fraud. It is against the letter of the law. Cooking the books is usually legal by the letter of the law. It is all in presentation.

[Caitsidhe]

Yes, you'd been saying it before the last annual report with profit growth came out too. Say something vague enough and often enough and it will come true.

I agree with you in spirit but would like to point out that I am never vague. I'm always pretty specific.

[lattd]

Except playing with the numbers is illegal, playing the system which doesn't change any numbers but changes how they impact each other is different.

[DarkLink]

Of course I do. You should be asking yourself if YOU know what it means.

No, I mean that you're contradicting yourself. Here:



I keep seeing people post as if "cooking the books" means fraud. It doesn't. It means playing with the numbers to make things look better than they actually are in fact.

Fraud is fraud. It is against the letter of the law. Cooking the books is usually legal by the letter of the law. It is all in presentation.

You sound like you're accusing GW of committing fraud, then whenever someone says anything you play it off as 'not really fraud'. Which is it? Is GW committing fraud, or not?

Edit: BTW, I think this is generally what Eldargal means by being vague. If you say, 'this company is manipulating its accounting to look more profitable than it really is, but they're really going to take some hits soon', you can apply that to virtually any company and you'll eventually be right.

[Wolfshade]

Yes for instance, one company I worked for used to not pay any invoices during August so that the mid-year cash position was inflated.

[Caitsidhe]

FraudI don't think they committed fraud. If I felt that way, I would have said that. I think they are cooking their books to put themselves in the best light. I think they are 100% legal by the letter of the law. From an ethical standpoint, however, they are often in murky territory. I think their stockholders are going to be asking hard questions.


Edit: BTW, I think this is generally what Eldargal means by being vague. If you say, 'this company is manipulating its accounting to look more profitable than it really is, but they're really going to take some hits soon', you can apply that to virtually any company and you'll eventually be right.

Yes, but I was specific. I stated not only how I thought they were manipulating their accounting, but I also stated when (as in the next 1-2 reports) they would be taking a hit. I don't believe in being vague. I agree with Eldargal completely that a lot of people do what she is talking about. I don't engage in it. I take my stance and let the chips fall where they may. I predicted, with near pinpoint accuracy I might add, the outcome of the Chapterhouse legal affair. That pleased me. I predicted very inaccurately the ruling on exiting vehicles and being able to assault if it hasn't moved yet. I had to take my lumps on that one. :) I don't believe in shouting insults from the cheap seats. If someone has an opinion they need to state it up front and put their money on the table. Being vague bypasses that and would be hypocritical. Thus, I endeavor to never be vague.

[Caitsidhe]

Yes for instance, one company I worked for used to not pay any invoices during August so that the mid-year cash position was inflated.

This is an example of cooking the books. It is entirely legal but completely unethical. :D

[Duhgame]

I never understood some of the kits that they made. Space Marine Combat Squad? Yes, some people only want 5 instead of 10; but making packaging and retail shelving space available for the oddball sized units just never work out IMHO.

[MajorWesJanson]

I never understood some of the kits that they made. Space Marine Combat Squad? Yes, some people only want 5 instead of 10; but making packaging and retail shelving space available for the oddball sized units just never work out IMHO.

The Space Marine combat squad will likely be a "while stocks last" kit. The old Tac marines easily split into 5 man sprues, the new one does not. And there is no reason to keep producing the old Tac sprues just for the combat squad box.

[StraightSilver]

The only problem with getting rid of the 5 man combat squad box is it then makes it difficult to make up 10 man Devastator squads, but then again not that difficult....

[John Bower]

Not really, if like me you run 2 Dev squads, just by a tac squad as well and you have half on each dev squad. That's how I built my Company.

[tentfox]

Got an order list from miniature market in the US and Grey Knights are missing strike squads, might be just this store doesn't want to sell them as the remaining GKs are on sale with them as well.