zobo1942:
Surely you must worry for the future of the hobby though? It's ok for us oldies who've got the readies (just!) but what about newcomers? Price hikes in a recession seem to be a dangerous strategy too?
vulcanologist
Vulcanologist makes really good point.
I was in a hobby store, and saw a parent hear what a box of miniatures their child wanted cost. The look on his face was one of disbelief.
They left the store to go buy a new xbox RPG.
I got the same look from my wife when I bought some brushes and some files.
Kera foehunter:
I no longer spend my Money on Gw stuff
I spend our money 
But like most of ya I don’t spend more than 50.00 Dollar on gw stuff a year
I still have ton of stuff in boxes not even open…
I will probably buy Dwarf slayer if they come out this year in plastic.
or a Blimp if the dwarf get one
but that probably be it
Vogon:
Reading this thread has reminded me that I vaguely remember that in some annual report it was stated that hobbyists are price insensitive and that the annual price rise would not affect the buying habits of their customers.
Can this really be true? I know my own spending habits have been affected but on a grander scale are the price increases biting? In this era of recession cutbacks and pay freezes can they seriously continue with this business strategy?
Cheers
Vogon
vulcanologist:
I’ve read that too. Hobbyists simply economise in some other way to be able to afford their GW ‘fix’. But what about those who haven’t got ‘hooked’ yet!
Thorne:
There are so many alternatives to gw it’s not even funny now. With a bit of work you can get space marine alternatives from em4 miniatures. You know this jumps out more of gw pricing themselves out of their own market.
spineyrequiem:
Yeah, the thing is that long-term hobbyists (those who will grumble, but keep buying) buy online at reduced prices and buy non-GW models a lot more than people just getting into it. They also don’t tend to buy all that many, since they already have their armies. But people who look in the window, think ‘ooh, that’s cool, think I’ll check it out’, go in, get told some background on the various forces and then buy an army will soon instead be going in, hearing the prices and going out again at high velocity. Thus, when old hobbyists finally give up/move to a different game system completely, there aren’t any youngsters who can afford to fill in for them. Which is probably bad.
zobo1942:
I just may be seeing a lot more rulesets for skirmish games, but I get the feeling that a lot of people who are getting started in tabletop gaming are starting out more with smaller-scale games (for initial buy-in and effort reasons), as opposed going ‘whole hog’ into ‘the GW hobby’.
Baggronor:
I don’t think we are any more price insensitive than many other similar buyers really. Computer games, sports equipment, cosmetic beauty products, booze, cigarettes - all similarly luxury and totally non-essential, all similarly prone to eyebrow-raising prices. People still buy them without a moment’s hesitation though.
beefcake:
Soon forgeworld will be cheaper
rpitts2004
Already is for me 18 pounds for 3 miniatures (Daemonsmith etc) works out to be about $36 for me. That's a little more than the price for 1 single miniature in NZ
About computer games though, I remember paying $100ish for Diablo (the original) when it came out. Now however many years after Diablo III is only $20 more expensive. That's probably about a dollar a year. 20% increase over 20ish years. I'd like to see the % rise in GW's hobby. :)
rpitts2004:
Soon we will have to finance to get gw models
zobo1942:
Soon forgeworld will be cheaper
rpitts2004
Already is for me 18 pounds for 3 miniatures (Daemonsmith etc) works out to be about $36 for me. That's a little more than the price for 1 single miniature in NZ
About computer games though, I remember paying $100ish for Diablo (the original) when it came out. Now however many years after Diablo III is only $20 more expensive. That's probably about a dollar a year. 20% increase over 20ish years. I'd like to see the % rise in GW's hobby. :)
beefcake
The hobby shop in the town where I live no longer sells miniatures, or GW products. When I asked the owner about it, he said 'World of Warcraft ate my business'. Which could be a bunch of crap, but it was interesting to think about that comment in reference to the future of 'the hobby'.
As I've mentioned in other threads, I tend to break the costs of things down to calculate the 'cost per hour of entertainment'. Most video games (particularily RPGs) have a very low cost per hour, and make them a very good purchase. Old PnP RPGs were also very good in this regard because when you have the books, some players and your imagination, that's all you need - and all it has to cost you.
I guess it all comes down to how many games you're going to play. Buying an expensive miniature is a reasonable purchase if you are going to use it a lot. If you are not going to use it a lot, then the price is a much bigger factor.
For me, the lowest 'cost per hour of entertainment' is building terrain. Because it takes me so damn long to complete anything, and the materials are so cheap, it literally cost me a few cents per hour.
Lava Lord:
I agree with the majority that this is awful. Soon you won’t be able to be a child and enjoy this great game / hobby. shame 
But I made what I believe is an interesting observation, only the main Bretonnian characters were listed. That lends me to think that the Bretonnian core troops are being redone and will be fresh releases. Unfortunately probably just as expensive…
Bitterman:
I don't think we are any more price insensitive than many other similar buyers really. Computer games, sports equipment, cosmetic beauty products, booze, cigarettes - all similarly luxury and totally non-essential, all similarly prone to eyebrow-raising prices. People still buy them without a moment's hesitation though.
Baggronor
I think that's true once the plastic crack addiction has kicked in. Heck, this is a
Chaos Dwarfs forum - if it's not Forge World prices, it's eBay... we know all about expensive toy soldiers! I personally am spending less on GW stuff than I used to because I feel their prices have gone beyond a joke, but I bought about 3000 points of LoA straight from FW since January, and trust me that wasn't cheap. I'm not sure if this makes me more discerning than the average hobbyist or just a hypocrite. Hmm.
But I digress... the point I was
trying to make was that those of us who are used to spending X every month on toy soldiers (where X can be quite large) are probably less bothered by a price rise than a potential new player. I'm thinking of some friends who noticed my games room when they came round to my house, and were really interested until they asked "how much does it cost?" and the moment I told them, they just switched off. £18-25 (or even more) for ten plastic infantrymen is
obscene, especially when you often need 40 of them in
one unit nowadays. A new player simply doesn't want to spend £100 to get one unit which is only a quarter of his army, plus rulebooks (going up to £27.50 for an army book!!!), and that's without even considering paints.
If I'm quick I can redirect them at my Perry's Napoleonics (£18 for 46 infantryman is a lot easier to swallow than GW prices) but not everyone sees the appeal in historical gaming. Those new gamers who are initially tempted by Warhammer and/or 40K just check out the moment they see the price tag... even if we, established hobbyists, grumble a bit but end up buying anyway.
Such is my experience, that is.
brotsorrow:
Soon forgeworld will be cheaper
rpitts2004
Already is for me 18 pounds for 3 miniatures (Daemonsmith etc) works out to be about $36 for me. That's a little more than the price for 1 single miniature in NZ
About computer games though, I remember paying $100ish for Diablo (the original) when it came out. Now however many years after Diablo III is only $20 more expensive. That's probably about a dollar a year. 20% increase over 20ish years. I'd like to see the % rise in GW's hobby. :)
beefcake
The hobby shop in the town where I live no longer sells miniatures, or GW products. When I asked the owner about it, he said 'World of Warcraft ate my business'. Which could be a bunch of crap, but it was interesting to think about that comment in reference to the future of 'the hobby'.
As I've mentioned in other threads, I tend to break the costs of things down to calculate the 'cost per hour of entertainment'. Most video games (particularily RPGs) have a very low cost per hour, and make them a very good purchase. Old PnP RPGs were also very good in this regard because when you have the books, some players and your imagination, that's all you need - and all it has to cost you.
I guess it all comes down to how many games you're going to play. Buying an expensive miniature is a reasonable purchase if you are going to use it a lot. If you are not going to use it a lot, then the price is a much bigger factor.
For me, the lowest 'cost per hour of entertainment' is building terrain. Because it takes me so damn long to complete anything, and the materials are so cheap, it literally cost me a few cents per hour.
zobo1942
This is well put. If you look at what we get from the hobby, its a great purchase for me. But like others have mentioned earlier, what about new blood? I too saw a parents face at GW a couple weeks ago when they added up how much an army book and a couple boxes cost. The question that they asked was "im paying this much and i still have to paint them?" They too left the store without a purchase........
Zuh-Khinie:
This year sees the release of ‘The Hobbit, part1’… GW isn’t scared about loss of costumors, because they know that for the next 5 years, everyone will go LotR-crazy again, grow up, and just start playing Warhammer anyway.
Kera foehunter:
I don't think we are any more price insensitive than many other similar buyers really. Computer games, sports equipment, cosmetic beauty products, booze, cigarettes - all similarly luxury and totally non-essential, all similarly prone to eyebrow-raising prices. People still buy them without a moment's hesitation though.
Baggronor
lol cosmetic beauty products, But these have a benefit that you don't get from gw !!
If Done right , you can get all gw stuff for nearly nothing
if done wrong step 2
booze, cigarettes is always good support fall back on
these are a stable support system to human daily life:hat off
at least with Gw stuff i can say i had enough and go on with out this product
Vardan Painkiller:
I’d agree that hobbyists are priceinsensitive under 1 condition -product stays the same, but as changes happen over time, ew see increase in prices and fall in quality of the game, i would pay todays prices for 6th eddition, i am not paying that for 8th,
Hashut’s Blessing:
I worked at Games Workshop for 6 months (finishing at the beginning of this one) - I had to compare a start up bundle (which increased in price because of the new paint/hobby starter sets) to the cost of an Xbox. Then I had to compare additional bits that are “optional” to the games they’d need to buy to play on their xbox (and point out they were essential).
The problem is, that this comparison was straining to work - they claim to focus on new hobbyists, but they’re damned hard to get when they hear the startup cost (at cheapest instore) is over £100 and that’s saving about the same amount.
Just saying, that it’s hard to believe that they think people will join the hobby at the rate of price increase.
zobo1942:
That is a scary number.
I can’t wait to get my kids into complex gaming. Hearing my five year old daughter say ‘That bighat Chaos Dwarf is awesome!’ is… well, awesome. However, I was looking at my warhammer skirmish supplement yesterday, and I think that’s the way we’ll be going… maybe 6 - 12 models per side, maximum, played on a board covered in cool scratch-built terrain.
Still requires math, good communication skills and imagination while being economical and fun.