Thursday, February 17, 2011

So cool. SOOO expensive.

Because GW doesn't stand for Grammar Workshop.

Today we are gonna look at the newest Dark Eldar models, the Beast master and it's beasts. First of all, I would like to say i really like the unit. I think it would be really fun on the table top. Just the prospect of the 12" assault makes me wanna give it a try. I think my favorite beasts are the Razorwing Flock. I first glance I thought, "oh, they are like Scarabs" But they are waaaay better. No vulnerable to blasts, 5W, 5A, Rending.


Long of the short of it, I like the unit. One problem. They are all Metal, single blisters. I like math. I also like the concept of opportunity cost. For those of you who don't know what that is, is basically means that when you buy something, you lose out on  the opportunity to buy something else. So, I'm gonna do a price breakdown on the new beastmasters and compare them to other things in the 40k range that you may also want to purchase. All the beast masters units will be maxed out full units.

5 Beastmasters and 5 Clawed Fiends:      $ 186.25
5 Beastmasters and 10 Razorwing flocks: $ 197.50
5 Beastmasters and 25 Kymera:               $ 425.00 !!!!
5 Terminators and Land Raider:               $ 112.00
100 ork Boys                                          $ 225.00
3  Stormravens                                        $ 198.00
3  Valkryies                                             $186.00                       :
3 Ravangers                                            $ 150.00
3 Trygons                                               $ 148.50
Warhound Titan                                      $ 388.00
Standard Warmachine Army                   $ 250.00

That's right a full unit of kymera cost more than warhound titan. To me, I look at this unit and say the opportunity cost is too high. Waaaaay too high. You can buy half of an army for what you'd pay for the unit. And to be honest, id rather just buy a box of wyches for what it does.

The good news is there are many ways to attempt to make this unit cheaply.Good for you, bad for GW. The most notable is that 5 Hellions are only 25 bucks. All you would have to do is make their glaives less glaivey and boom!: 5 Beastmasters. Also, Khorne hellhounds are $41.25 for 5 which comes in at alittle over half the cost of the kymera. Why are they more expensive? Who knows?

I love you GW. I'm a loyal customer and plan to remain so. But every time you come out with new products they seem to get more expensive, and every time they do so, a little voice in the back of my head says, "Why don't you give Warmachine a try?" And quite frankly, the fellows at Mr.Dandy, Mantic, and Chapterhouse have let the cat outta the bag. Other companies are gonna start making models for your games, and somehow they are able to bring them out faster and cheaper than you can. In business that is what we call a problem. Sue Them?You can't fight them all. It's like prohibition.They are too many, and there is too much money to be made. Tournaments? You don't control the tournaments anymore. I've never seen someone turned away because of 'illegal models.' People started running there own tournaments because you don't want to do it anymore. It sounds to me like the only answer is to up your game a bit, and by that I mean make your business more competitive.

 I don't say these things because I am angry, I say them because I care and I want to see you do well, and sometimes, no matter how obvious things are, they need to be pointed out.....
Here it is.


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