Shocking news about GW prices...

[Cessna]

You know, I’ve come to realize something.

GW figures aren’t overpriced.

No, really. I went to a hobby shop the other day and compared decent 1/35 scale armor models to their closest GW equivalents.

GW actually came out pretty well.

Here’s a breakdown:


Let’s compare Tamiya WWII Germans to Imperial Guard Cadians. Tamiya makes above-average models. They aren’t the absolute best, but they are far from the worst. They’re good, solid, well made models with lots of room for conversions – as comparable to GW game figures as I could find.

- - -

Here’s a German WWII anti-tank gun:



It costs $7.25 retail.

Here’s an Imperial Guard weapons team:



It costs $10 – three in a box for $30.

A bit more costly (138%) , but it comes with bigger figures and many, many more options – every possible weapon the team can field is on its sprue. If you get creative and swap out infantry bodies and a spare base or two, you can stretch six weapons teams out of a box of three - $5 per team, plus conversion parts (bases cost $.50 at the FLGS) works out to cheaper than the WWII A/T gun.


Here’s a German WWII Infantry Team:



It costs $4.50 retail - $1.12 per figure.

Here’s some plastic Imperial Guard:



20 figures for $30. $1.50 per figure.

The Imperial Guard are bigger, better detailed, and have far more weapons and conversion options included in the box – stuff like spare helmets, different heads and arms, etc.


Here’s a German WWII King Tiger Tank:



It costs $42.50 retail.

Here’s an Imperial Guard tank:



It costs $40.

The Imperial Guard tank costs less, is the same size, and has more weapon options.

- - -

All prices are retail. I got GW's from their website, and I wrote down the prices at the hobby store and found the pictures on-line.

As I see it, GW prices compare pretty well to their closest comparison, 1/35 scale models.

The GW figures are all well made, bigger (bigger scale), contain more options and conversion parts, and are of a comparable price. Sometimes they’re even cheaper.

Yes, GW metal minis are pricey – but so are 1/35 scale conversion kits, or one-off high end figures by companies like Verlinden. If you do an army of plastics and save the metal figures for generals and the like, you’ll do okay, price wise.

Go figure...

[Max]

This is true.

Which just makes the way WH40K chomps through my bank account even more amazing...

[wingedcoyote]

I'm not sure we can rule out the possibility that all miniature tanks are overpriced.

[CrazyIvan]

I've long argued this...especially to friends who bring up how expensive a box of miniatures are.

"You spent 35 bucks on toy soldiers?"

"Yep."

"Umm...why?"

"Because you won't play anything but D&D, meaning an RPG book is like throwing money away. I got my paycheck and spent a bit of it. What's the big deal?"

"That army you're building is really expensive."

"So was the XBox game you bought and played through in two days...those 10 figures will give me a week or two of things to do. I win."

"Um..."

[Cessna]

Or:

One box of Imperial Guard, which will take me a couple of hours per night for a couple of weeks to paint: $30.


Tickets to the next Broncos home game (Section 131, row 20): $164.99 each. Add in parking and a beer, and that's a whole army...

[hoo flung pooh]

Thank you Cessna, I've been doing some of the comparissons for a while. In fact everytime people complain about the prices. I always do the metal vs metal, which is about the same for the same quality. You just did the plastics. No GW isn't more expensive, it's just more addictive

[Cessna]

Originally Posted by hoo flung pooh

In fact everytime people complain about the prices. I always do the metal vs metal, which is about the same for the same quality. You just did the plastics.

The Imperial Guard army I'm working on will be a 1500 point army.

83 plastic figures, 16 metal figures, and two tanks.

I could easily swap 10 of those metal figures for plastics (Elite Stormtroops don't have to be metal Kasrkins, they could be standard plastic Guardsmen with different markings).

Yeah, they aren't cheap. But a quick comparison shows that they aren't as obscenely expensive as many people seem to think...

[MACH RIDER]

Originally Posted by Cessna

The GW figures are all well made...

I'll agree on the rest of your points, but not this one. My GW kits have almost universally been shoddy, with poorly-fitting parts, weird assembly, and the occasional missing piece (or getting two left parts instead of a left and right, etc.).

I actually did the same comparison shopping you did a while ago, with the same results. I'm out of the whole 'buying model tanks' thing anyway, so it's not like it matters to me.

[hoo flung pooh]

Yep, not cheap, but not out of hand. It's a hobby, I know people who spend far more on a new set of Golf Clubs. I don't mind paying the prices as long as the fun I get is worth it. So far, I can't complain.

But if you also compare the price to other hobbies, it's not out of hand either. Video games, ccg's, sports equipment, any number of things.

[Cessna]

Originally Posted by MACH RIDER

I'll agree on the rest of your points, but not this one. My GW kits have almost universally been shoddy, with poorly-fitting parts, weird assembly, and the occasional missing piece (or getting two left parts instead of a left and right, etc.).

Really? I'm surprised. The plastic Guard I've been buying has been uniformly well done.