r/killteam • u/EthosProm • Aug 25 '25
Question GW sales tactic fatigue
Is it just me, or are others growing tired and increasingly frustrated with Games Workshop’s limited stock practices?
I’m excited about the box, and the price doesn’t deter me because I understand it’s a niche hobby. However, I think I’ll be skipping this box due to buying experience of these big releases. I know GW won’t produce enough to meet the demand, and it’ll become a scramble to get a copy. I’ve experienced this firsthand with several boxes (most Beta Decima boxes, HiveStorm, and a few major 40k releases) in the past, and I’ve reached my limit.
I still love the hobby, but I don’t want to deal with this aspect anymore. I’d rather wait for the standalone releases or simply print out the items I genuinely want but can’t buy. Is this a common progression for Warhammer fans, or has GW been getting noticeably worse in this regard?
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u/Skult0703 Aug 25 '25
I can only speak for myself, living in Germany, you have a 100% chance to get what you want, if you order on day 1. I never missed anything I wanted.
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Aug 25 '25
I'm still wondering if the US has a different distribution system from europe. I've been reading this sentiment from OP a lot of times and can't wrap my head around it.
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u/Skult0703 Aug 25 '25
Perhaps the scalper problem is simply much worse in the US? I can't think of any other explanation.
Here in germany, I can get what I want in stores or on various European reseller websites with at least a 20% discount all year round.
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u/Hollownerox Aug 25 '25 edited Aug 25 '25
Speaking from US side, while sometimes I might not get it from the official site on time, usually just asking the local GW store or LSG is enough.
These boxes aren't really "limited items." They have their runs based on expected demand, and usually they have some leftover for plenty of those. US definitely has a scalper issue mind, since you can hop on eBay and seeing accounts selling boxsets in their hundreds. But for Kill Team I can't say I've ever had an issue sourcing them either online or locally.
But that's my situation on the East Coast. Probably a completely different situation for the Mid-West or the West Coast so can't speak on that.
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u/TTTrisss Aug 25 '25
Speaking from US side, while sometimes I might not get it from the official site on time, usually just asking the local GW store or LSG is enough.
Unfortunately, I live in a high-demand area. My LGS has gone from being able to say, "No worries, we wrote your name down in our little notebook. We'll hold one for you ;)" during covid to "We have no idea if GW is going to send us enough stock to fulfill the names we already have in our notebook. But we'll put your name down just in case."
Then 3 people get a box out of the 20 names on the list.
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u/Melodic-Pirate4309 Aug 25 '25
At least from my experience from also living in a high demand metropolitan area, you call and put in the preorder the moment the sunday "next week" video says the product you want will be available for preorder.
At this point, I've got one of my LGSs on speed dial for that specific reason.
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u/ExclusivelyPlastic Aug 25 '25
I dunno about the "expected demand" thing, unless GW are really bad at estimating that (which I would hope they're not; they have decades of experience doing this). The Typhon box was vastly under produced, my local stores only got 6 or so boxes each, despite ordering nearly 10 times that amount from GW based on demand.
Obviously, these are manufactured looong before FLGS orders come in, but I have a hard time believing they missed the mark that badly in terms of predicting demand.
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u/RabidMofo Aug 25 '25
They can get expected demand wrong.
The kill team box with votann and genestealers was overproduced.
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u/MortalSword_MTG Aug 25 '25
That box suffered from the trifecta of lame terrain, and two fringe Xenos factions.
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u/Hollownerox Aug 25 '25
Eh, that's just business really. Sales forecasts are made, and they miss the mark. Either over estimating demand or under estimating it. It's just how things work for production lines, and fact is that the runs are made months or even years in advance. So they can't "pivot" right away when something doesn't meet the expectations. By the time these boxes are being sold they already got the quantity of boxes they purchased from suppliers and had the manuals, accessories, and so on made (which is the limiting factor on these boxsets, not the sprues or minis themselves).
Not saying GW can't do better in this regard. But just that is the reality of these things.
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u/No_Acanthisitta5466 Aug 25 '25
Over estimating costs them money, under estimating doesn't. They've been burnt in the past with overstock, and corporately they have a long memory. So yes it's expected demand but they aim to err on falling short rather than over producing.
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u/Caos623 Aug 25 '25
I’m on the west coast and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked my LGS to preorder a release and GW fks it up and doesn’t “receive” our order. And then we can’t get the release for a while
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u/TTTrisss Aug 25 '25
Less supply (GW genuinely can't produce enough), more demand (the US is GW's biggest growing market), politics (stupid fucking tariffs jesus christ why did we elect that moron), and lingering effects of covid (we're still short on a lot of our population that aged out of manufacturing and logistics jobs during covid) are the primary reasons, but I do also think we just generally have a bigger "scalper culture" than others.
Scalpers are a normal capitalist response to restricted supply but high demand paired with a company that won't raise prices to lessen that demand. That, and people with disposable income to overpurchase luxury goods, which is enabled by income inequality.
The only way for GW to actually stop scalpers is to raise prices to match the scalpers prices, and nobody wants that. That, or to produce more product, but as mentioned, that's already a problem. They can't expand any more in the UK, but they've chosen the very noble goal of trying to ensure that they can keep manufacturing jobs existent in the UK market.
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u/capnscratchmyass Scout Squad Aug 25 '25
This is definitely an issue. I think the other thing is a lot of places here don't have physical official stores or even 3rd party physical stores to order through so many are stuck trying to find an online retailer that won't gouge the crap out of them. I noticed when I was in Europe a few months back that it was wayyyy easier to find a physical WH store pretty much anywhere I went compared to the US.
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u/DJDadJoke Aug 25 '25
This seems possible. I'm in the U.S. and I tried to pre-order Kill Team: Typhon through my FLGS. The store ordered 13 copies and only got sent 3.
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u/corrin_avatan Aug 25 '25
Yes,.it's entirely different in the USA.
In the USA, ALL.shipmenrs to both official stores, as well direct orders,.get shipped out of a single distribution warehouse in Tennessee, for the ENTIRE COUNTRY.
Which means scalper systems set up in Florida, California, New York, and Ohio are all competing for the exact same stock, and will ship throughout the entire US.
Whereas a scalper on the French website, really only has an audience of France/Wallonian Belgium. Ironically, while the EU is a single economic zone, the different languages make it such that GW has to do a better job allocating stock within the countries
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u/Dorlem4832 Aug 25 '25
I don’t have any actual data on this, just feels, but it also seems like we have a lot more serial collectors stateside, peeps who are first in line for every release to just add it to the pile.
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u/corrin_avatan Aug 25 '25
It's also a "vibes" thing, but I think part of the reason is in the USA it's not uncommon for people to have so many rooms in a house that you can just... Have stuff lying around that you never touch for years.
In the US, I had an entire basement that was basically as big as my house, and a detached garage.
Here.... That's super uncommon
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u/Flowersoftheknight Water Caste Ambassador Aug 25 '25
Well, in Europe it is also all shipped from the same warehouse (in Nottingham, in that case), and all of the EU competes with each other and Britain (and iirc Rest of world?) for the English language releases.
But you are correct, other languages are less fought over. There tend to be a lot of people that want a product in English instead of their countries language (if that language version exists in the first place), and the non-English copies stick around much longer.
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u/lastwish9 Greenskin Aug 26 '25
Really? At least in Spain, Spanish products disappear very quickly, and English products are more likely to remain in stock for longer and even have a small discount sometimes. This is because everyone local wants it in Spanish, and people from outside Spain can't navigate Spanish webs that easily and many won't ship outside the country at all. I thought that was the case with the other EU countries as well (I can barely get some boardgames and stuff like that from France, if I try Germany etc it's almost impossible from the outside)
As for the OP problem, if you pre-order on day 1 normally there is no issue at LGS. The only impossible to get thing I can remember was Cursed City, and GW actually re-released it after the complaints. Of course even if it's possible to get everything at day 1, that means a lot of pressure from the FOMO of only being able to buy it during 1 day, but at least if you keep an eye on what's going to release and you like it, you will almost certainly be able to get it.
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u/Flowersoftheknight Water Caste Ambassador Aug 26 '25
I'm only talking Games Workshop directly, not independent retailers, with the discount you seem to be talking about local stores?
Definitely know the issue of navigating webstores in different languages. I am decently multilingual, but it's definitely difficult. Though I've not had any trouble ordering from French stores to Germany at least? EU seems fairly easy for shipping. Not really tried spanish local stores, always found the stuff I needed in German or French stores, and my Spanish is... existant, but not great. Though I've regularly ordered stuff from companies that sell internationally from all over the EU.
Interesting to know about Spain only wanting Spanish product - definitely not the case in Germany.
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u/lastwish9 Greenskin Aug 26 '25
Yes, GW official shop is a totally different experience. TBH I recommend everyone to go through their LGS... cheaper and it even arrives earlier at least in my case!
The language thing is not so weird in Spain, many many people have bad English, even in hobbies like these. Most people I know, me included, if given the choice between buying a boardgame in English or Spanish, will always choose Spanish (I wouldn't mind, but unless it's a solo game I need it in Spanish so local people want to play it too).
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u/Res1dentScr1be Aug 25 '25
Not just the USA, Memphis ships out to stores and locations across most of America as a continent, including Canada
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u/redcloudclown Aug 25 '25
yeah it looks like its real. From France and never had to struggle to buy a special box. But i've been reading it too many times and wondered why
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u/morgaur Aug 25 '25
From Spain, never had an issue. I'm from a relatively smaller city, so I can't speak for everyone in the country.
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u/Mortwight Aug 25 '25
Typhon my lgs ordered 10 boxes and only got 4. That didn't even cover preorders. I put my name down for tomb world as soon as the promo dropped
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u/Potential-Ad-6952 Aug 25 '25
In Australia and occasionally forget to do day 1, most are available from game stores easily up to a week later
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u/quetus72 Aug 25 '25
The biggest problem is that they produce everything months in advance and projections say 200,000 units but then since printing you have new ppl coming in or current ppl deciding to try a new game and it goes up to 300,000 units and ppl will miss out. Luckily down the road they release everything in smaller batches but the fomo is real and it isn’t fun waiting. The bigger problem is the resellers that impact everything. Ultimately the goal is not to have a warehouse full of things that don’t sell. I don’t like the scramble of missing a web sale and then two weeks later running to eight different game stores and trying to score my latest plastic crack fix, but alas this is the way of the world and I agree it blows but the alternative is back to the old ways with slower production and everyone taking to the internet and complaining it’s been 7 months since there has been any 40K releases lol.
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u/Northwindlowlander Aug 25 '25
It has its own allocations and distribution network and it seems pretty certain that it's more "stressed" than the european and UK ones. Quite reasonable really, it's cheaper to sell UK made stuff in the UK so if you're juggling allocations and expecting everything to sell out everywhere, it makes sense to keep more of it for here and send less of it overseas. The more they've returned production to the UK, the more that's applied I think though it also seemed like even the overseas made stuff was mostly coming to the UK for first distribution rather than going out to the world hubs direct.
The different language editions definitely change things up, when there's minis I want but not the whole box it's worked really well for me to pick up a euro one and get it shipped back to the UK.
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u/Radiationfox Aug 25 '25
Yeah the US does. We have a few major distributors who receive the boxes, then distribute out further.
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u/Sufficient_Tart_6201 Aug 25 '25
It has to be, here in Belgium you can still get Hivestorm boxes for example.
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u/Res1dentScr1be Aug 25 '25
So the problem with US stock is you basically compete with everywhere else that the US warehouse in Memphis distributes to. So Canada, South America etc. The only stuff you wont is translated versions like the French copies that go into Canada along side English copies.
I'm a Brit that moved to Canada and I have noticed the difference a little, however, being chummy with the GW store guys has helped, also if I don't care about the book and only want the models... I'll often buy the French copy then donate the book to one of the local non GW hobby stores.
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u/OrigChruzzy Aug 25 '25
Yeah, same here. The only Box I did not get, was the World Eater christmas box. Understandable tho. That box was amazing.
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u/Engineseer5725 Aug 25 '25
The Thyphon box was gone within a couple hours on day 1 in Germany. You might say that's a "100% chance", but you have to know in advance it's gonna release and need to be available in that exact timewindow. Some people work on Saturdays, some people aren't dialed into the Killteam news-cycle. I think the kind of availability we have here is totally unreasonable. If you don't snipe it in a tiny fixed time frame, you gotta pay scalper prices on ebay or wait for the much more expensive single-box releases from GW - if those don't sell out too before you have a chance to get one.
I got my box by the way, I'm not salty for missing out. Still think this is bullshit.
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u/WillingBrilliant2641 Aug 25 '25
In Poland also it's pretty easy to get new boxes either from online or b&m stores. And KT is pretty popular here.
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u/North_Refrigerator21 Aug 25 '25
Haven’t had a problem in Denmark either. Only if I suddenly want a box from GW half a year later or so, then it’s a bit of a coin toss if it’s possible to find or not.
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u/Royal_Front2038 Aug 25 '25
Same here in sg/indonesia the store will open pre order and everyone who want usually can get one. Event people that dont preorder can get one when it arrive.
There almost none on my 7 years im this hobby that i cant get new product i want.
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u/Kind-Tangerine-7099 Aug 25 '25
Same for me, I never had a problem picking it up at a LGS or at the GW online store.
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u/thedreadwoods Aug 25 '25
Thar might change slightly now a huge retailer has been caught redistributing to Europe from the UK, against the terms of their retail agreement.I would assume that you'll have more luck direct unfortunately
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u/Crusader_Genji Intercession Squad Aug 25 '25
I've been following KT for a few years now, it was at its worst during the Boarding Actions era, where boxes would sell out within minutes. I still remember how I wanted to get the Kasrkin box, went on a few sites at like 11:15 (most preorders start at 11 in Poland) and couldn't find any stock. It's been better nowadays, I could find the boxes I wanted and even a few days later, got both Hivestorm and Brutal and Cunning this way. While I didn't want Typhon, I've seen it being sold out in a few hours, so this one will be a gamble too I'd guess
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u/Gilchester Aug 25 '25
I've never struggled to get anything I legit wanted. A little prep work goes a long way.
1) Shoot messages to your LGS as soon as the thing is announced (not as soon as the preorder is announced, I mean as soon as the minis are shown in a preview show). Many shops allocate their limited stock on a first-come first-serve basis
2) If you buy direct from GW, be on the pre-order page at least 5 minutes before it is scheduled to go live.
I guess I am a bit frustrated that this prep work is necessary at all, and it of course penalizes those without the time to be hitting refresh on GW's website at 12:55 on a Saturday, so in general I wish it would go away, but at the same time, it's not nearly as bad a low inventory experience as it could be.
For this box in particular, I am more put off by the price than the availability. I'm paying for 10 necron warriors I don't want, and probably can't resell since every necron player (I am one of them) has too many warriors already.
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u/RegalMuffin Aug 25 '25
100% to all of the above. I either know I'll be at the GW site at 12:55 or if I know I can't do so I've gotten my order in with the FLGS the week prior to confirm my order with them. If you can't be on the site ahead of launch time on the Saturday early orders through your game store are the way to go. My Local shop almost always get every pre order fulfilled and are active in their letting customers know if they won't be able to get the number people are asking for. Its rare that anyone who puts their order in by the Tuesday before the sale goes live doesn't get their product.
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u/Aiyon Aug 25 '25
I got real lucky, i met a local player who wants the warriors and KT. And i have a bunch of old warrior sculpts from the battleforce days, which i can use just fine for NPOs
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u/Unscheduled_Morbs Tomb World Aug 25 '25
Agreed. I might even go so far as to add on:
1.5) Also buying literally everything from that specific gameshop (when possible).I do this, and have never missed out on anything I wanted, in spite of the many reduced allocations that have happened over the years.
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u/Anby_Thighs Aug 27 '25
Yeah straight up lol. I just text my flgs when I see something I want get announced. Never once checked the GW site.
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u/Emergency_Win_4284 Aug 25 '25
If it helps I just mentally prepare myself to wait for the 3 month solo release of whatever team you are interested in (death watch for me) as I have no interest in playing the whole "I hope I click faster on the pre-order button than everyone else" type , that just does not interest me. Similar for the switch 2, I didn't even bother trying to log in at midnight to get a pre order, I just waited till launch day and picked one up at Target.
Again I am at the point where I have no interest in playing the "click the pre-order button" type game anymore.
I think if you are willing to wait the 3 months you do have a few options:
-For the non plastic stuff, the dossier, the pve stuff, the cards etc.. you will more than likely see them sold separately on ebay post release
-For the teams, you already know you can wait 3 months to buy them solo
-The terrain, since the typhon terrain is being released separately perhaps we will see the same for tomb world at some point/in 3 months. If not willing to wait 3 months then I think your options are: magna/picasso tiles, gallow dark terrain , some type of etsy/3rd party solution
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u/Traditional_Client41 Aug 25 '25
Everything in the box will be available to purchase a few months after it sells out. Don't sweat it so much.
Regardless of your fatigue, GW's sales are the best they've ever been and they won't be changing their practices anytime soon.
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u/Shed_Some_Skin Aug 25 '25
I'll be honest, I've never had any issue ordering these sets from 3rd parties. As long as you're logged in and ready to go when they launch, they don't sell out instantly. I managed to get Hivestorm and two copies of Typhon with no issues
Hell, I think they even made some more copies of Typhon available closer to release on the GW official site
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u/NewestCereal Aug 25 '25
I think a side of this issue that often gets overlooked—because the conversation usually defaults to “blame GW” or “GW is being scummy”—is that Games Workshop isn’t actually as big of a company as people assume.
The idea that they deliberately make products artificially scarce to boost profits doesn’t really make sense when you look closer. GW’s business model isn’t built around artificial scarcity. The real issue is production capacity. They don’t have nearly as many factories as people imagine—around five worldwide—and each one has to juggle everything: paints, models, books, new releases, reprints of older kits, and keeping core products in stock. That’s a huge workload for a surprisingly lean operation.
And then you have to factor in how wildly Warhammer has grown over the past few years. It’s not just a niche hobby anymore; it’s gone mainstream. Between video games, streaming, the rise of painting channels, and the upcoming Amazon show, demand has skyrocketed in a way that few companies—no matter their size—could have realistically prepared for.
On top of that, GW isn’t competing in a typical retail market. Their products aren’t made in dozens of factories across multiple countries like toys or board games from big-box companies. Every Warhammer product requires specialized molds, tools, and staff trained for highly detailed miniature production, which makes scaling up far harder than simply “just make more.” Even something as “small” as Citadel paints requires its own manufacturing setup and logistics.
Then there’s the global distribution side. Shipping and supply chains are still messy after COVID, and moving product around the world to keep shelves stocked adds another layer of difficulty. When you look at it this way, GW struggling to keep up with demand isn’t some malicious scheme—it’s a very real logistical problem.
Honestly, what’s more impressive is that, despite all these challenges, they manage to keep such a huge catalog of products available at all. Most companies in this situation would just cut back and only keep a handful of core products on shelves, but GW tries to balance new releases with keeping old favorites in circulation.
So while it’s easy to point the finger and say “GW is being greedy,” I think it’s worth recognizing that the reality is a lot more complicated. They’re a medium-sized company running a global operation in a market that has exploded almost overnight, and keeping up with that demand is going to come with growing pains.
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u/TTTrisss Aug 25 '25
I'm not entirely sure it's intentional at this point.
They're one factory in the UK manufacturing at not-Chinese prices. Their second factory was built back during covid, but was only initially intended for paint production. Their tertiary factory construction has been held up by finding an endangered species on their construction grounds.
Meanwhile, 40k is only getting more and more popular globally. This means increased demand without increased supply, restricting what people can get.
While their FOMO business model doesn't help with this, this is exacerbated by the fact that it's very dangerous to over-produce low profit margin products like the prepackaged boxes that, ultimately, give us products at a discount. (That's the real reason people want them 99% of the time.) Each box that GW makes that doesn't go on a store shelf sits there taking up shelf space for a very long time, not only not being sold but taking up space that something else could using that could otherwise be sold.
Lastly, the US has been one of their biggest growing markets in the past almost-decade, and just this past year we elected the stupidest motherfucker on the planet who has decided tariffs are a sound and prudent international trade policy, meaning their profit margins on stuff they send to the US are unpredictable. Who knows if the MSRP will change between sending them to port and them arriving? Suddenly their product that costs $50 to make, $40 to ship, and MRSPs for $200 now has a $120 tariff on top and cost them $10 to send to us instead of being a $110 profit. (And I'm not even accounting for the 25% brick-and-mortar store cut.)
So I understand your frustration, and GW doesn't help, with how they market it. But it's not just "Evil Greedy GW twirling their mustache, templing their fingers, and cackling because they've made your life more unfortunate."
They could fix a lot of this by just manufacturing in the US or China, but they probably don't want to do that for political and ethical reasons respectively. It's one of the things that's actually pretty noble about them - keeping manufacturing in the UK where their local people can directly benefit from having jobs.
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u/Noun-Numbers Aug 30 '25
I was steaming a bit at the idea that we even need “strategies“ to buy boxes of toy soldiers but this well measured response brought me back down to reality a bit; whilst *some* of the blame lies at GW’s feet (their oh so loved FOMO sales tactics), there’s quite a lot out of their hands, or things I wouldn’t want them to change (their factories mostly being in the UK).
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u/Northwindlowlander Aug 25 '25
A major thing to remember is that it's not purely a tactic, in fact not even primarily a tactic.
Bottom line is they sell everything they can make, their manufacturing capacity is fully utilised. This is a great place for a manufacturer to be, though it does have costs. This influences everything and everything has to be seen in that light. They are not choosing to underproduce, they are basically incapable of meeting every demand. Some things have to be shelf items, the core stuff that maintains the heart of the key games, everything else is just a decision of <what> to make not <how much> to make, what to spend their capacity on. If they could easily make more stuff, they'd sell it, and make more money and so that's the opportunity cost of being flat out. But the advantages are huge too.
They've been cranking up manufacturing hard for years but that's still coming after a long spell of underinvestment- and the onshoring process has meant that it's not really added as much capacity as it seems, the new capacity has largely just meant they can do it mostly in house and control the whole process, instead of importing so much.
But when you can sell everything you make, every unsold box on a shelf basically comes at the expense of some unfulfilled demand, and has extra warehousing costs, shelf space costs... So tbf it is only smart to underproduce most things rather than risk overproducing. A kill team box isn't a maximum priority, it's not something they need to have on a shelf so that new gamers can buy it like core 40k is, so it's inevitably something they want to produce a maximum of "just enough". And when the maximum you want to produce is "just enough" then inevitably what you actually produce is "not enough", to avoid overstock, if you're going to err you err on the side of caution and make more stuff that you know will sell instead.
The fact that it fuels FOMO and rapid selling is a bonus but it's a side one, the real reason is "don't have anything gathering dust on a shelf except absolutely key products, when you could have made something else and sold it" Holding stock costs money and means basically having money stuck, every product on a shelf is undelivered profit, every sold box is money in the pocket (and an empty shelf for a new one)
GW are <incredibly> stock averse, have been for a very long time, it's baked in at this point. And we amplify that, if a boxed set doesn't sell out instantly the internet declares it to be a failure.
There are risks to this of course. You lose customers to frustration, people go to competitors or use proxies or buy a 3d printer. Of course, you lose money, if they went back to making tons of stuff in china they'd definitely make more cash. But the rewards are huge.
Arguably what they should be doing is making less games but that has its own risks, you can become a single product company that way and cut off future opportunities. Like, right now skirmish games as an intro tactic make little sense, because they simply do not need intro games, they can sell everything they make to the customers they have and need only small growth to replace expiring/leaving customers. And likewise broadening the customer base with skirmish games isn't actually that valuable right now. But if that changes- if there's a downturn, if a major competitor takes a big share, or if they ever catch up with the production capacity issues and have spare capacity- then they'd soon feel the issues. So the range of games is inefficient but grants options and flexibility that's probably worthwhile for them (and also helps them grow design talent etc and generally avoids stagnation)
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u/Teh-Duxde Aug 25 '25
One of GW's stated strategies during their most recent earnings report was to produce just enough to meet demand to avoid warehousing costs. Warehousing costs already almost put GW out of business, once upon a time. They aren't going to make that mistake twice.
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u/p2kde Aug 25 '25
Zero problems pre ordering Kilteam stuff in the first 2-3 days in EU. Onlinestores here have tons of copys and its 20% off from GW prices.
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u/N0-1_H3r3 Aug 25 '25
I know GW won’t produce enough to meet the demand
Is it won't or is it can't? There are innumerable factors involved in deciding how much of a product to make, and not all of them are as simple as "how many people want to buy them".
Demand has been growing over the past years - there are more people getting into GW's games than ever before, and all signs point to that continuing. But, amongst other considerations, after a certain point, increasing supply to meet that demand requires things like building factories, getting more equipment, hiring more staff, and building or renting warehouses. We know that GW are doing those things - they're mentioned in press releases and investor statements and things like that - but it's not like those things are quick or easy to do.
I'm fairly sure that GW absolutely want to take your money, if they could produce enough product to sell.
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u/FISH_MASTER Aug 25 '25
Gw don’t produce enough stock: GW are evil and should rot and die
GW produces too many: GW is dying no one is buying their products. They’re wasting too much production on things no one wants.
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u/Pleasant_Narwhal_350 Aug 26 '25
Considering that the 1st option won't bankrupt GW, but the 2nd option has a good chance to, it's clear which is the more sustainable business strategy.
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u/losci Aug 25 '25
while not uncommon, it's been especially bad lately. I reached out to my LGS the moment it was announced to get on their queue for a box, so hopefully I made it.
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u/Kozak170 Aug 25 '25
I’ve literally never had a problem with this honestly, at worst I’ve had to just open a new tab and place my order with a different retailer.
My LGS even had two boxes of Typhon sitting on the shelf for a week or two. Mainly though I just think it’s a ridiculous idea that GW doesn’t want to make all the money they can and purposely underproduces things.
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u/SauceorN0 Nemesis Claw Aug 25 '25
When someone says “the price doesn’t deter me” I hear this one is very expensive and I was under the impression it would be cheaper due to no core rules book. I’m new and this is my first time a set is releasing while I’m in the hobby. I can’t find the price. Does anyone know at the moment?
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u/otakuon Aug 25 '25
In the US, it will be $250.
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u/SauceorN0 Nemesis Claw Aug 25 '25
Holy hell. That’s not what I expected due to give storm and blood and zeal being $180 or less online. Thank you for the info my dude.
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u/Jiffah_ Aug 25 '25
Don't buy from GW directly and buy from a LGS, they can pre-order stuff for you so you don't have to deal with the limited quantities/fomo BS.
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u/Swim2TheMoon Aug 25 '25
My trick is just to be good with my LGS. They know me as "The Kill Team Guy". I run tournaments there regularly, answer Kill team questions for their staff, do demo games constantly, etc. When a new box comes out they just put one aside for me and if I don't want it they put it on the shelf.
That said, the shop (and others in my town) do pre-orders ahead of the GW pre-order. You just gotta get it to them a week prior, then they can order one for you. The shop orders happen the week of the pre-order. My shop does their orders on mondays.
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u/Cypher10110 Aug 26 '25
If there is something I want coming out, I call my FLGS and put in a pre-order with them.
9/10 times they will be able to pre-order it for me, I pick it up from them on day 1, and there is no fuss. Occasionally, the supplier won't be able to allocate them enough, or there is some other supply issue that causes a delay or them to be unable to unfulfil the pre-order. They just let everyone know what happened, and I live with it!
Smooth experience for years that way.
I don't actually remember the last time I had a pre-order issue with them. But the last time might have been that one time they declined to take pre-orders because they already had a lot of people interested and were unsure if they could fulfil everyone on day 1. In that case, I probably made the pre-order with an online retailer or skipped the item.
I'm not really that fussed about limited releases or getting stuff day 1 these days, so it's been a while since I actually pre-ordered anything. The last time was probably around the CSM release or the MTG 40k decks or something.
Most of the time, I'm not even looking to buy stuff week 1.
I'd never EVER even consider attempting to pre-order something day 0 from GW directly. I don't want to have to set an alarm and refresh a browser window to buy something. Either I can place an order at a time that is convenient to me, or the item is effectively not for sale, and I move on!
If it's a bundle with something I want, I assume I'm paying the full price for just what I want. If that seems too much I skip. The idea of selling half a box or trading is a nice-to-have but also a hassle to actually get sorted. (I still have Indomitus Necrons on sprue..., and at least 1 kill team)
Also, there have been plenty of times where there have been claims of stuff out of stock or not enough stock for the pre-orders and then there being a bunch on the shelf the following weeks. I guess because I'm in the UK, the USA stock panic echoing around online doesn't necessarily apply to the same releases.
Basically, I have one or two websites and an FLGS that I buy from and only use GW for their FW stuff. I mostly ignore fomo pre-orders, and honestly, with the delay between announcement and release, I'm often unaware of when stuff becomes available! I do browse GW's store or WarCom occasionally, but I never feel the need to catch a release window. My pile of shame ensures I'm never bored! :P
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u/Dr_Frankenderp Aug 25 '25
If you put in the “Time” and review other sites, and even normal resellers like eBay you can usually find them. Do Agree it’s frustrating you have to secure day 1 though. I’m also at the point where it feels like we get a new set every 5 minutes. Love tomb world but prob just getting the terrain. My backlog is bad
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u/aggie1391 Aug 25 '25
I’m moving to a whole new state between now and when this comes out. As soon as the preview dropped I emailed a couple LGSs where I’m moving about it, ended up on both reserve lists for it. Email your LGS and it should be pretty easy.
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u/MysteriousOne884 Aug 25 '25
How much do you recon it would be, as I’m in the fence, £100 and I’ll get
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u/ProtectandserveTBL Aug 25 '25
I’ve had no issues ordering and receiving from the store itself. My local one is great on fulfillment
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u/otakuon Aug 25 '25
I am right there with you. The amount of dread and anxiety these releases fill me with over if I will even be able to get a copy makes it not really worth it. I get it these are “first world problems”, but it seems like such a needlessly aggravating situation that GW has created. It’s made even worse now that these boxes contain gameplay aspects that can’t be obtained outside of the limited release such as special mission cards and additional NPO rules. Sadly, I don’t have a reliable FLGS near me, the closest is actually an “official” Warhammer store but their allotment of product like this is so minuscule that standing in a line on Saturday morning only to be told that since you are the 6th person, you won’t be able to pre-order is not my idea of a “good time”. I really don’t get GWs strategy with Kill Team releases. They make oodles of the big introductory box sets like Hivestorm that sit on shelves for years and then make a tiny fraction of that production run when it comes to these expansion boxes. It actually ends up becoming self defeating for them because it turns away potential customers and they loose out on a massive amount of sales they could have otherwise captured.
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u/MattyT088 Aug 25 '25
I was very much looking forward to this box. Then I saw the price tag. IT'S MORE THAN THE EDITION LAUNCH BOX!!!!
So yeah, fuck that, I ain't buying it.
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u/juicebox225 Aug 25 '25
Thanks to this post I looked up nearby warhammer stores, and theres one just down the street lol. Ive been driving half way across town to my lgs.
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u/HarukaAmami Aug 26 '25
I've never missed a single preorder for anything I wanted. Stop using the GW website and use an online LGS (it's cheaper too!). The GW website should only ever be used as a last resort out of desperation. I have like 8 LGS I can cycle through l. And don't use Wargames Portal either since everyone and their mom dogpiles it since it's the only one most people know and the most popular thanks to all the YouTube affiliate ads.
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u/zhelfrich Aug 26 '25
Preorder through your LGS if they offer it. I submitted mine yesterday it’s not guarantee and these boxes aren’t meant for wide release. Unfortunately kill team is more popular than ever and since they are using it as a way to introduce new miniatures we have 40K players to deal with as well.
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u/17Havranovicz Aug 25 '25
I was sad with this during Typhon box, cause me and my GF wanted to buy it together but it was immediately sold out.
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u/grahamja Hunter Cadre Aug 25 '25
It's just a board game, all those models will be on sale separately in a few months. Kill Team rules are up to you if you even like them and you don't need a fancy rule book. I wouldn't touch anything after the 2020 compendium. If you don't like that they are putting selling product, stop buying product. Grats on determining you aren't buying product in a subreddit about product I guess.
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u/MeridiusGaiusScipio Veteran Guardsman Aug 25 '25
GW is not unique in this sales tactic - FOMO is simply the (unfriendly) way in which many different distributors of luxury items market and sell their goods to maintain demand. In the “instant gratification” of relatively worldwide distribution, this is the typical tactic used to ensure “exclusivity”.
This doesn’t make it right, but it’s certainly not unique to GW. The fixable problem as a result of this tactic is the bots/scalpers/availability.
Some other industries/items I’ve personally seen this applied to:
- Luxury baby blankets/clothing
- graphic novel “special” editions
- Music artists’ merch and vinyl
- cars
- trading card games
- video-game adjacent items
- clothing/shoes
- etc etc
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u/TTTrisss Aug 25 '25
FOMO is also a solution to having stock sit on shelves going unsold for years, taking up space for other products that you could be selling.
It sucks, but for low-movement, high-storage-space, low-profit-margin, non-perishable items like tabletop games, it's a real issue they have. My LGS still has some of the lower-demand big discount boxes on its shelves and has for years.
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u/GlennHaven Aug 25 '25
I think if they were made to order it would be better for sales. They dont over produce and then they kill the scalper market. Maybe do it as a limited release. Ship a few out to stores for the release window and thats it.
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u/rabidbot Kommando Aug 25 '25
I'd rather have a company that under produces and sticks around than one that over produces and disappears.
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u/Damsa_draws_stuff Aug 25 '25
It's not like GW is under some threat of going under
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u/rabidbot Kommando Aug 25 '25
They where like 10 years ago, shrewd business practices and good choices kept that from happening. Better safe and steady than over extended and gone
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u/MechaPlatypus1982 Aug 25 '25
Everyone wants that terrain, unfortunately. Unless you have a GW store near you, good luck.
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u/Phaeron_Amentech Aug 25 '25
If even there are a lot of scalpers, what is the point of waiting for a month? It is not a starter set or a limited Christmas box, it will be restocked and keep going for a long time.
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u/MrMoncrieffEsq Aug 25 '25
When is this going to be available for pre-order? Do we know yet?
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u/rawiioli_bersi Aug 25 '25
It's always the upcoming Saturday if it is mentioned in the Sunday Preview.
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u/nsgallup Aug 25 '25
Is it a specific time/timezone?
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u/BartyBreakerDragon Aug 25 '25
10AM UK time for UK/ EU at least. Idk about the US or other territories.
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u/MoonriseRunner Aug 25 '25
I gave up on getting any GW model on release. The best you can do is get in contact with a local Tabletop gaming store and just ask if you can order it trough them. I got a store an hour away from me and they were nice enough to do pre-orders for INTO THE DARK back then.
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u/Royta15 Aug 25 '25
For me the fomo-part is very frustrating, especially considering books. Unless the book is reprinted, you're generally out of luck. I've been trying to get my hands on Era of Ruin for a while now, and that new book on Isstvan hitting soon I know I have to buy not because I want to read it...but because I may want to read it in the future and if I don't buy it I'll probably never get my hands on it.
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u/JuneauEu Aug 25 '25
GW has far too much range and not enough manufacturing capability. UK is holding up its expansions.
Along with a lack of storage its safer for them to make too little than too much.
It's not that they do it on purpose to be evil.. its just the only way they can do it.
Im massively not a fan because scalpers thrive in this scenario. it's why my LGgroup lost about 12 Kill Team players. They just had enough of not getting it day 1
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u/Aiyon Aug 25 '25
We need a US-side manufacturing arm. Saves you guys money on shipping, gets us more stock, etc.
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u/JuneauEu Aug 25 '25
They won't do this. They've said many times they want to retain and stay 100% UK as a business.
They are, however, buying/building more warehouse capacity abroad, and they are TRYING to build new factories in the UK.
It's just red tape and slow.
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u/BartyBreakerDragon Aug 25 '25
Given the actual moulds to make the kits are very expensive, and would have to be on site, I don't think a US manufacturing arm would save as much money for the consumer as you'd hope.
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u/Aiyon Aug 25 '25
Short term no, but long term maybe.
Hard to say really
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u/BartyBreakerDragon Aug 25 '25
Yeah it is hard to say. Cos flat out doubling one of the biggest costs on every kit you want to make on both sites ain't easy.
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Aug 25 '25
I’m only bummed that I’m going to be on vacation and nowhere near internet when this goes on sale. I need to find someone willing to buy a copy for me.
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u/William_Thalis Aug 25 '25
Eh. I think that if you don't want to have to deal with the FOMO, you don't have to. The contents come out separately (though you will lose out on the tasty tasty box set discount) so to me it's meh. What you're getting FOMO for is a discount.
It's important to evaluate if you're getting a box because you really want or need the box or if you're getting the box because it's this big new exciting thing. Like I think the only box I've ever actually did the runaround for was the Typhon and I almost didn't get it? But I also try to avoid doing this as much as possible and really try and decide if I care or if it's just FOMO and a shiny new thing.
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u/Daniel2305 Aug 25 '25
Hivestorm was available for months after release. I honestly haven't struggled to get any box.
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u/MandibulateEdibility Aug 25 '25
When you think about the hours you’ll spend building, painting, playing, and best of all thinking about the box, it’s a lot cheaper than going to a movie theater, or golfing, or sailing, or even tennis.
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u/Lord_Wateren Exaction Squad Aug 25 '25
I havent had issues with minis (always order through my FLGS), but Black Library novels....man am I tired of physical copies of those arriving late or not at all.... (not even talking about the collectors editions, just regular paper- or hardbacks)
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u/Mahdouken Aug 25 '25
Something that a guy in store told me is that if you go to an official store you can preorder 10 minutes before pre orders go up. I'm not sure of i definitely heard him correct, but that's an option
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u/CalvinJ_ Aug 25 '25
I feel your pain, if there’s something I really want then I usually make a point to go to the store to get the preorder done as you can usually make the order earlier but it’s hassle and it would be nice to do it from home and not have to be refreshing a web page at 10am knowing if I don’t get it before 10:02am then it’ll sell out.
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u/Hinu_sama Aug 25 '25
In Spain I never had a problem getting the boxes but only if you preorder, and you have a good discount of the price. Maybe in US the distribution is a little more complicated.
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u/Round_Refrigerator96 Aug 25 '25
I live in the US and have never had an issue getting a single kill team item. When they go on pre-order I call any of the number of FLGS in the city and place an order and go pick it up after it ships.
Have you tried not buying from the GW website?
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u/stopyouveviolatedthe Aug 25 '25
Do we even know how much this’ll cost? I’m wanting to split it with a mate but if it’s a lot on day 1 I might have to put some money to the side so I can buy it quick then have him pay me back for his half
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u/thrukg Aug 25 '25
Im lucky in that my local LGS is super 40k focused so I get KT stuff easy on order. But then again with exception of the latest mission deck ive gotten everything i ordered.
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u/kain149 Aug 25 '25
In my area, the local game store always has at least 1 box of new stuff around.
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Aug 25 '25
My experience in EU is mostly positive, I have never missed a box which I wanted. So this might be a scalper issue in US dunno
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u/Periodic_Disorder Aug 25 '25
Unless you can get to an actual Warhammer store before they open on release pre order day, definitely go for a LGS for a preorder. I stopped caring much about fomo when I realised I've got stuff already to paint and other projects I could do, while I wait for that one kit in the expensive box I want to become available.
I'm literally doing that with this one. The ignoring bit, not pre-orderimg. I only want the new necron kill team and I'm happy to wait three months.
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u/FarolfoPoronzio Blades of Khaine Aug 25 '25
Preorder trough a shop, they have chance to preorder one week before the official preorder from GW, you'll not miss anything
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u/Dr_Passmore Aug 25 '25
Scalpers have made the limited stock a much larger issue.
Black library books are a nightmare if you want a limited edition. Sold out in minutes with scalpers throwing them onto Ebay for 3 to 5x the price
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u/TMtoss4 Adeptus Mechanicus Aug 25 '25
I jumped off the GW bandwagon years ago. The constant rules/codex churn is a huge turnoff.
I paint slower than molasses, my army was never done before the next rule change 🥴
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u/TristoWarhammer Scout Squad Aug 25 '25
I shop exclusively at my FLGS, never had a stock issue, never had a GW allocating issue, GWs website is horrendous, I always recommend a small store for that reason. Even preordering off an FLGS’s website is reccomended more than GW.
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u/BreezierChip835 Aug 25 '25
I think this is a US problem, man. I’ve never struggled pre-ordering smth just waking up at a normal time and ordering it on the day. Usually stuff stays for like a few days.
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u/kreene25 Aug 25 '25
The point people are missing by offering solutions is that gw creates fomo and shafts LGs stores
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u/jeldh Aug 25 '25
I ordered my blood and zeal a bit before release and got it no problem, and I think my local store still have it in stock. Are you guys in the US? I assume the increased tarrifs is heavily affecting both quantities and pricing.
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u/HerrvanLipwig Aug 25 '25
I was not able to get the last one I realy wanted and I will skip this one because I am still a bit frustrated.
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u/OperationIntrudeN313 Aug 25 '25
Ordering online is a nightmare but tbh if you have several LGSes nearby you can usually find one that'll have the release you want it will put one aside for you. Especially LGSes that are in less populated areas.
I managed to snag Blood & Zeal a week after release from an LGS in a small suburb about 20 minutes out of the city. They had 2-3 on the shelves. The more popular LGS that's in the city, you'll be hard pressed to find even any regular Killteam in stock. When I got my Salvagers it was because I happened to be there and it was the ONLY thing left in their KT section besides overpriced GW dice.
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u/ValarOrome Aug 25 '25
Plenty of supply in Japan 🤔, I can still find hivestorm boxes in most shops.
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u/Guyonabuffalo63 Aug 25 '25
I’ve never had an issue asking to preorder/allocate from a local store.
If anything I’m more pissed just at the pretty outrageous pricing for plastic. But that’s been said 81728362726 times
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u/Prudent_Psychology57 Aug 25 '25
Where are you located? Never an issue here for me, but then am in the UK.
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u/PootPootMagoot Aug 25 '25
Ask your local shop to set one aside? If you ask as soon as it’s announced they’ll usually be able to do it.
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u/Smokey9mm Aug 25 '25
How does anyone keep up? You have to build, paint, play.... buy new thing, build paint play, repeat.
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u/No-Function4335 Aug 25 '25
I had this same issue when ordering from GW or online. Now I order almost exclusively from my flgs down the road from me and have never had an issue getting the stuff I want from them😃
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u/Roenkatana Aug 25 '25
For me the fatigue is in that they both under print boxes, and are inconsistent with printing kits people actually want.
Fronteris is the example I use, that box was ludicrously under printed and the separate terrain boxes were printed for a month and then d/c'd.
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u/Due_Skill_7467 Aug 25 '25
I just wish they would do the pre order further out from release and have a set 2-3 day order window. Then they produce all the preorders. I'd rather have to wait longer for the product and be able to actually buy it on preorder without having to drive an hour to the closest WH store just to do a preorder.
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u/hunter324 Deathwatch Aug 25 '25
I'm with you, as much as I'd love to have the Deathwatch team on day one, I will wait for the team box to be released 3 months after and really hope that it isn't just a box of 5 models that you need to buy two of to get all the options... though magnets exist so I'll drill that bridge when I get to it.
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u/TheAirborneUnicorn Aug 25 '25
Do we know how much this will cost? Sorry if I'm being dense, I haven't seen a price posted anywhere yet and I'm only three months back into the hobby and this is the first box set I'm hyped for! This and the new Nightbringer, what a time to come back!
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u/bring_out_the_python Aug 25 '25
See if your LFGS does preorders of preorders ie. you sign up for a waiting list up front
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u/OpenPsychology755 Aug 25 '25
I backed off of GW years ago due to FOMO, prices and stocking shenanigans. I have plenty of minis and games to play, (Including old 40k stuff) and don't need to put up with GW's nonsense business.
If they ever get their act together, I'll start buying again.
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u/Terrible-Ad1555 Aug 25 '25
Is this available for pre order on Warhammer? How much will this cost usd? I just ordered mine for $260 . How bad did I get screwed. I was willing to pay $300 for this
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u/Aaronsolon Aug 26 '25
Maybe this is privilege from having a few LGSs near me, but it's been easy to preorder any of the KT products I want.
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u/Krytan Aug 26 '25
How is this box worth $250? It's two kill teams (that seem to retail for $70?) and a bunch of rather short terrain?
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u/daniel-to-the-maniel Aug 26 '25
In North America, the limited releases always sell out, often so quickly that I don't even get excited about them anymore. Squatting by my computer every Saturday in hopes to try and get a new release just ain't worth it anymore.
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u/Legion_of_None Aug 26 '25
Good thing I ordered 8 for my store... not that my stuff sell I still have typhon
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u/Doomguy6677 Aug 27 '25
It is such crap.
Either be a modeling company or a game company.
Don't try to screw both sets of fans lol
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u/[deleted] Aug 25 '25
Are you just checking the GW website? I had zero problems preordering any of the past boxes on other websites and even found blood and zeal months after release in a small online shop.