Went to my local game store to buy Age of Sigmar: STICKER SHOCK

[chipset35]

So....this is the first time since 2006 that I have purchased anything from Games Workshop, and at that time it was the Lord of the Rings Mines of Moria Set.
Thus, I drove to my local store and already knew their price would probably match GWs aka $125, and it did.
But, i know this store hosts a ton of events, so even though I did not have enough money to also buy the AoS set, I decided to at least support them by purchasing other items I would need:

Citadel/GW:

1) File Set - $21
2) Project Box- $69
3) Several Paints-$4.50 ea
4) Brush Set - $135
5) Age of Sigmar Hard Cover Book - $75

OVER $300!!!! US

Now, I am an older working professional and I am also into O Gauge model trains from Lionel and MTH, and whose prices average from $300-$2100 depending on the Diesel or Steam Locomotive you are buying, they are digital with ful sounds and effects.
Thus, I buy things I want...however...

These are plastic figurines, made in CHINA? I recall getting beautiful sculpted pewter Napoleonics at $25 a bag for 100 15 mm's from "Old Glory" miniatures back in 1996...
Also, I wonder if I had been better off going to Lowes or Home Depot or Michaels to get brushes and tools?
Maybe even a plastic tool box instead of a GW/Citadel project Box?

How do you younger people afford this stuff?
Frankly, I dont see High School or lower kids buying at these prices...even worse asking their parents.
The parents would have their heads explode!

Is it just me or has Games Work Shop products like Age of Sigmar now become an expensive toy just for collectors? The same way Lionel trains have?
Gone are the days for a child, Teen Ager, or College age person to be able to buy this stuff?

While I was at the store, there was a young man and his friend who came in to buy one large Warhammer item, it was a single figurine in a large box, and he made the comment "There goes my paycheck".

Although, I understand the store needs to make a profit and that is tough these days, but I do feel Games Workshop is to blame....
I learned my lesson though, there are less expensive and better alternatives for the brushes, project, box and tools.
But, I guess I am stuck with the paints.

To be honest with you, as much as I love the products Games Workshop has, i.e. I buy all their PC and IOS games, had Mantic games with their Kings of War sets been available, I would have just gone that route.
But I have found that finding starter sets for Kings of War except for the Undead and Orks is difficult if not impossible here in the USA.

Despite all this, I drew the line and purchased the AoS set from Amazon for $96 and free shipping thru their market place, and saved almost $30.
However, I do plan on buying the remainder of my needs from my local store when I go there to watch or play games.
I feel obligated to do that, its the right thing despite no discounts...plus, they are the only store nearby, the remainder are too far away or difficult to get to.

Also, the $75 book is not needed unless you want to collect it, as all the rules are already free online, and this book albiet top quality and totally beautiful, is more like a collectors item and not something you want beaten up at game events.

[Captain Bubonicus]

Yeah, GW's hobby supplies are generally of good quality, but the prices are outrageous. You can get comparable products for a quarter of the price elsewhere (Armory, Army Painter, Vallejo, etc.) Save on the hobby supplies and spend it on the models, instead!

[Path Walker]

Worth noting GW's miniatures are not made in China. They make all the models in the UK in Nottingham.

[chipset35]

Worth noting GW's miniatures are not made in China. They make all the models in the UK in Nottingham.

Ah ok, well that explains the cost then, which is fine.
I would rather pay more and employ people in the U.K., where the games HQ is, than China that's for sure.

[lobster-overlord]

Ah ok, well that explains the cost then, which is fine.
I would rather pay more and employ people in the U.K., where the games HQ is, than China that's for sure.

Their prepainted and the larger terrain kits ARE made in china, things like the 80 buildings and the battle boards. All minis are produced in UK, and for a time, the were (and may still be) doing a duplicate set in Memphis. Not sure if they moved all back to UK or not. Even some tyranids found their way in to production in AU for a while (have a couple boxes of gargoyles that say australia)

[Mr Mystery]

Though cheaper alternatives are available, GW's tools and that are of decent quality and definitely up to the job. You then effectively have a 'convenience tax', in that any given GW store will have everything you need to get started.

And as a former GW Staffer, never underestimate the spending power of middle class parents who have found something that distracts their child!

[chipset35]

Though cheaper alternatives are available, GW's tools and that are of decent quality and definitely up to the job. You then effectively have a 'convenience tax', in that any given GW store will have everything you need to get started.

And as a former GW Staffer, never underestimate the spending power of middle class parents who have found something that distracts their child!

Very true!!!!

[Reldane]

I do have to agree to some degree with Mr Mystery, it is very convenient to be able to pick up everything I might need without having to wait for delivery and I don't mind paying extra for that connivance. however some of the more recent releases have utterly blown my mind; £12 for a detail brush and £17 for a gold spray paint. yes I know I could and have spent more than that on a brush but why would I spent that much and not get it from an artists supplies shop and be assured of the brushes quality, as too the spray paint, I already wonder how they charge so much (compared to other brands of miniature spray paint) before they increase the price by nearly 100%.

[Voltigeur]

I feel as if GW has been saying for a while now (in actions if not in words) that their products are premium models and supplies for collectors which you can play a tabletop game with if you want to. Whether or not that's a good idea remains to be seen, but the prices are certainly set at that premium price point, and AoS with its' very light weight rules certainly give the impression that the models are the focus.

As to your question of how younger people afford the hobby I would say that those of us that can't or don't want to pay GW prices have a great deal of options. Hobby supplies can come from a vast number of sources and many are higher quality products than GW for less cost. Warhammer models have a massive secondary market through e-bay and various re-sellers. I have been e-baying 99% of my Warhammer needs since about 2004 and usually pay about 50%-70% less for the models. You can get many great proxies from 3rd parties and If you don't morally object to pirating the books then there's no cost for new editions and army books.
The hobby can be as expensive as you let be. If money is a concern you can make it lot cheaper than the GW retail price.

[Reldane]

At the end of last year I would have disagreed. Yes Games Workshop does charge a lot for their product, however they also seemed committed to making 40k the best game that it could be; they released a new edition when it became clear that 6th ed was broken, they released a number of codexes that baring a few outliers balanced the game pretty well and there looked to be movement towards making Fantasy more accessible with more powerful character that drop the model count.

the first half of this year we saw an almost brand new tier of play in in 40k a tier that a lot of the codexs updated only a few months ago struggled to play at, and the release of 3 half armies (Harliquins, Skitarii and Ad Mech), and now we have a new game to replace fantasy that rules as written instruct players to use as many models as they feel like. it is certainly more than a few steps away from the idea that we are buying into a game.

[Erik Setzer]

I don't try to afford that stuff.

File set is just a regular file set. Go to a smaller hardware store to get a more specialized set for $10-$15 (pay for good ones). The knife is ridiculous, because their old knife was $15, used #11 X-Acto blades, and had an awesome handle, so even compared to the one it replaced, their knife is a horrible deal. Just get an X-Acto knife. Clippers? You can get a set of Testors clippers at a model store cheaper. Paints? Use Army Painter, Vallejo, ones like that. Brushes? Army painter makes awesome brushes, but you can also go to a hobby store to try to find some. Do NOT try to get model brushes at a hardware store. Brushes for painting terrain? Yeah, those you can get there. But heck, you can also get one of those cheap brush sets at a department store to handle that duty.

I vote on those prices with my wallet, buying stuff elsewhere. Well, the stuff I need, that is.

I *do* have an older GW knife, but I would have gladly recommended that one to people, because the handle is soft and shaped to fit the hand wonderfully, and for $15 that's not bad. This new one hurts my hand to use.

[kaboomzi]

I get most of my stuff through auctions or trades. I'll even take poorly painted minis at a cheaper price and repaint them. I rarely get new stuff straight from gw. The stores I shop at can save you 20-25% off retail so that helps too.

[nsc]

File set is just a regular file set. Go to a smaller hardware store to get a more specialized set for $10-$15 (pay for good ones). The knife is ridiculous, because their old knife was $15, used #11 X-Acto blades, and had an awesome handle, so even compared to the one it replaced, their knife is a horrible deal. Just get an X-Acto knife. Clippers? You can get a set of Testors clippers at a model store cheaper. Paints? Use Army Painter, Vallejo, ones like that. Brushes? Army painter makes awesome brushes, but you can also go to a hobby store to try to find some. Do NOT try to get model brushes at a hardware store. Brushes for painting terrain? Yeah, those you can get there. But heck, you can also get one of those cheap brush sets at a department store to handle that duty.

My file set was $5 for 5 files in different shapes and sizes from a general store. It's a damn good set!

I don't recommend x-acto blades but I've been using a set of hobby knives my grandparents got me when I was 12, I think they were from a model train store.

As for clippers I had a pair which cost $5 from a hardware store that were better than the citadel clippers, but I lost 'em while moving and couldn't for the life of me find a pair of clippers anywhere else, I went to the model train store (with airplanes, rc and car kits etc) and the ******* behind the counter looked at me like I was stupid when I asked for clippers, "most people just use an x-acto knife," is what he said. What a jerk. I'm glad they went out of business.

For paints I'm citadel, although I've been meaning to branch out and try more vallejo, while I don't like the dropper bottles the inflation creep of GW's costs are starting to put me off. For my terrain paint it's like $0.50 for 2 oz of acrylics from the craft store.


I don't have a problem paying the GW premium for their models because frankly they're the best models in the world for the scale, the price and most importantly, the availability. Mantic isn't cheaper when you're trying to get them in Canada, and the models are noticeably worse quality. The only thing I don't agree with are the $40 Characters which usually boil down to "just a space marine" or the like. I don't mind $20 for a beastlord, or $20 for a great bray-shaman, but when you're asking $40 for an elf? I'll buy a box of 10 elves for $30 and convert one to be special jeez!

Also I'm very very much about supporting local stores, I know my old comic book shop in College closed down recently :( but I know all the lads who worked/ran there are doing fine, and recently the GW near me was closed down (they opened one that's closer to me, farther from some regulars, much less rent at the new place, and more table space!). So I'm very much about keeping stores near me open, wish there was another gaming store so we could do things like a bloodbowl league or even just casuals games, it's a pain because you can't have cool conversions from other model lines, they have to be citadel figures at the gw.