How to Beat GW Price Rises

Jill Masterson was dead, but at least with her gold-plated
corpse Bond could afford a GW Battleforce.
I'm sure that if there's one thing the blogosphere doesn't need, it's another rant about GW price hikes.  Lots of people have shared their thoughts on this, and I won't waffle on except to say that I'm very disappointed about the latest round, although I'll still go on buying some GW products - not directly from GW, natürlich.

Just a random aside - has anyone else noticed the scary parallel between GW 'dropping' prices while reducing the number of models in a box set to make it look like a price drop, and the 'increase' in the chocolate ration to 20 grammes in George Orwell's 1984?  Worrying...

So I thought I'd share some hints and tips, partly ones I'd amassed and some gleamed from articles/websites during the course of my blogging.


  • Gaming on a Budget (Pt 1)
  • Gaming on a Budget (Pt 2), both from Hive World Terra
  • Partizan and other shows - you can often get great second hand deals from gamers.
  • Blogosphere - many blogs I've come across have gamers selling of complete painted armies, if that takes your fancy.
  • eBay and Amazon - great deals to be had here, as well as a wide range of collector's models (as any Praetorian gamer will tell you)
  • Could the new price rises be real?!  Winston decided
    not to think about it and just carried on typesetting the latest
    issue of White Dwarf
  • Local Hobby Shops - especially if you know the staff/owner, you can sometimes negotiate a deal with them.  I picked up a carrier bag full of the old GW paints for £15 the other week.
  • Other Ranges often do perfectly usable 28mm figures, especially for generic things like zombies and are sometimes available in bulk for cheap!
  • Me - I have a fairly sizeable range of Cadian infantry parts (except legs!) which people are quite welcome to for free if you drop me a line.  I have about 30 models' worth of torsos, heads, and arms.  On a wider note, most bloggers will do swops and such like.
Hmmm, that's all I can think of.  It's a little sad when you have to think of ways of avoiding buying from a company which has given us over 25 years of enjoyable gaming, but they brought it on; we acted in self-defence, m'lud.  I haven't brought anything from GW (excluding FW) for over three months now, and don't intend to again.  A lot of these people probably know about, but I keep finding people who still buy direct from GW.

If anyone has any other tips they'd like to share, please post them in the comments.  In particular, a lot of the websites are EU-centric so delivery is cheaper here.  If any of our gallant wargaming cousins around the world have any hot tips please share them; I'll try and keep the links section updated as comments appear.  Thanks for reading.

Cheap Games Workshop Links

Comments

  1. This is useful and proactive, some price articles I've read are a bit on the "Oh no, how lamentable my current predicament is, well I'll just keep buying things or commit suicide which ever seems more cost effective."

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  2. Also its good to 'recycle' your money , look at all the stuff you have lying about ruthlessly decide what you need/are going to use and sell swap the rest to kick-start new projects/armies, you might be suprised at how much money you have lying about in mothballed project and unwanted junk.

    I also get GW stuff for birthday/crimbo , vouchers are easy for the rellies to get and take the sting out of purchases.

    I know a way to get discount FW stuff .....

    It saddens me I do not have to go to these lengths with my other hobbies, ultimately GW is just plastic toys, we are close to a point where I will be quite content to just spend my money elsewhere and just play with what I have until it is obsolete.

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    1. At 31 and after 17 years in the hobby I still daren't admit it to my friends and relatives. Only a select few know. A very select few!

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  3. I've just stuck up my Deathwatch squad from when my gaming group played the dull rpg. And I have more to sell off to boot. Recycling certainly is the way to go.

    Thanks for posting the links, they'll certainly come in handy.

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  4. These are good links and ideas, thanks for them.
    I didn't really get into W40K until my teenage (at the time) son evinced an interest, and for a while it was a good way to spend time with him. Now I still have a lot of the kit, and won't likely sell it soon, but I like it and I like the W40K vibe and when time permits, I will probably revisit it.

    However, I don't feel complelled to just use GW figures and rules and codices. If am quite happt to mix my IG figures with zombies, space orks, or space teddy bears if I could find the figures. I would quite happily use GW rules, altGW rules, or homebrew rules as the mood struck me and as my opponent agreed. It matters not.

    I am puzzled by the people who feel that because they don't like GW any more, they have to get rid of it and renounce it. I pity people who feel trapped like that. Either by GW kit used, as you wisely suggest, or mix it up with other stuff - figures, rules, whatever - by other companies as you wish. Just have a good time. It's like people who feel they can only play WW2 games if they use exclusively FOW rules and figures. Perhaps that's the attitude that the big fish in the hobby like GW wish to engender, and as a former sales person, I always tried to sell "turnkey", one stop shop solutions. You make more money that way. I admire GW for wanting to make money. That's what publically traded companies do. But for goodness sake, be a smart, self-empowered consumer and an adventurous gamer. It's a big hobby. Enjoy it.

    And, ummm, that's all I got to say. :)

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  5. Cheers for stopping by all, really appreciate the responses.

    @Chris: I did get halfway through a 'rant', before I decided to be a bit more helpful...

    @Sorrowshard: That mothballed projects one is good - I really need to clear up some of my half-done projects that'll never be finished.

    @Dai: Thanks for the heads up. I've kept all my armies in dusty boxes once I finished them - maybe it's time I started selling them off.

    @MadPadre: Thanks awfully my good man. That sounds like the perfect attitude to 40K - use the setting and some of the rules, and the nice figures, but not being tied down into buying every last bit they have to sell. Take the best bits and run. And yes, there seem to be many blogs with an 'I'm Never Collecting or Playing Any 40K Again' post today, and a 'Look At My Shiny Land Raider' tomorrow. Have a Good Time should be stamped on every box.

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  6. Great post Colonel, I just had a WTF! rant on mine, this is far more constructive! I think I will add a link to this post on mine as its a great little "how to". Nearly all my stuff is second hand and I have just bought a large amount of stuff from Victoria Lamb so I had already bought into most of these ideas! The stupidity of GW just disgusts me though! One top tip though that GW is good for, use their free delivery on orders over £10 to buy spray cans and other very heavy items on orders around the £10 mark. The cheaper shops like Wayland's shipping for these items can completely offset and cost more than buying direct from GW while GW stuff is very quick to ship and arrive.

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  7. I've found GW shipping to be quite poor, and I live 20 miles from the HQ...

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    1. Really? I have only had things delivered 3 times in the last 6 months and they came within 2-4 days of making the order. Maybe not lightening quick but free delivery and beats the 3-4 weeks of my last few Wayland Games orders. But to be honest the only thing they had going for them in my opinion was the free and relatively quick delivery (reading back very quick was maybe a tad generous! Again maybe influenced by my recent Wayland orders!). If that's not the case, and I just got lucky, the last reason to buy from them (Relatively quick free delivery) disappears in my opinion!

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    2. Hmmm, I rarely order from GW but have to agree the free shipping thing is open to manipulation as you point out, and generally the order times are very good. FW is another matter, sometimes taking 2-3 weeks, and talking of long delivery times I've just had an email from Warlord Games telling me an order I placed in Feb has been 'upgraded' to dispatched!

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    3. Warlord being practically next door to GW....

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  8. GW's corporate approach = bleak Orwellian dystopia.

    Genius!

    Sorry about the leg delay - I've been snowed under at work. My year group have left school now and it's half term too, so watch this space...!

    - Chris.

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    1. Thought your scholarly obligations would be keeping you busy, good to have you back!

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  9. I ordered from Gift for Geeks over a month ago and I'm still waiting for some items.

    They sent the wrong models initially and then expected me to pay additional postage to return them. They ignore emails and even though their website says the items I ordered are in stock and can be dispatched within 24 hours I am still waiting after a month.

    Cheap but definitely not cheerful. I guess you get what you pay for :(

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    1. Thanks for the feedback anarchy. That's a shame since they were the cheapest, but as you say sometimes they might end up being a false economy. I suppose you can say for GW that their delivery is generally very reliable!

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  10. I'm definitely interested in Cadian parts except heads if you still have them. I'm in East London if that's convenient for a meet up.

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    1. Thanks - I'm working away from London at the moment but I have the bits with me, there are still a fair few left. Mostly torsos and arms - drop me an email and we'll sort something out!

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