As someone who's pretty new to Kill Team, and this hobby in general - I agree with all of this. I DID manage to get a Soulshackle box, but only because I was prepared for it (and in the US, where it was a little less tight to get one.), and expected a fight. I knew I wanted this box though because I wanted both teams, particularly the Arbites. But if I'm a grown adult with a wife and children and an average job, so I can't just throw down $200 willy nilly. So if I hadn't been prepared for this, I just wouldn't have gotten it. There wouldn't have been anything I could have done about it. Now I'm finding myself in the other direction anyway as I've decided I want to play a Blooded kill team. But I can't, because it's sold out everywhere online. GW hasn't had it in stock for a while, and there's almost no listings for it on Ebay and none on Amazon. And I don't have a local game store to try either. Why is this the case? Why does this need to happen?
@@TabletopImpulse I tried to order the blooded team as a xmas present to myself, but the flgs has not been able to get hold of them. I ordered them on the 1st December :(
My Soulshackle box was all messed up and scuffed after taking 2 weeks to arrive :( Not even going to try and ask for a replacement. Though I do suppose the contents are more important than having a pretty box on the shelf. Not sure what can be done from GW's perspective other than producing way too many. Maybe they could hold stock back and trickle it out so that most boxes aren't gobbled up by eBay middlemen on day one. But weekly online restocks would likely create a different set of complaints. Always fun to hear a little rant about our favorite games. Thanks for the video and making regular content!
@@TabletopImpulse Made it to the end and your aloha shirt comment really resonated with me 😅 I doubt GW will ever discount any models because of extra stock (especially because they've moved to more made-to-order over the years rather than overproducing kits), but that's honestly a great solution.
GW pathologically hate carrying stock. It’s one of the reasons that they consider shops their main customers rather than the individual player or hobbyist. It’s been this way since about 1990, and I can’t see it changing despite the current issues. They will always look to shift the problem of a box not selling (Hi all the AoS boxes since the new edition).
The fact that you cant go in to a Games Workshop and buy a box of your favourite infantry or a endless spell or whatever niche item for your faction or warband. Yet there is 5 copies of a Boarding Patrol that nobody needs. Speaks to how out of touch with their customers they really are. Whilst one member of staff stands there losing the will to live.
My friends and I started kill team in december; one of my friends wanted to play necrons and I wanted to play kasrkin but there was no availability on shadowvaults. Flash forward to the boxes preorder which 1 hour after the preorder started when I got home from work the kasrkin were completely sold out. Now the only way to get a box is 200% or higher msrp on ebay. You nail it 100% on the bead though, these kinds of frustrations are something that will turn away all but the most devoted of players. Like we want to give you way too much money for plastic but yall can't be bothered to even make enough to sell adequately. I have friends that want to play starstriders and blooded but they seem to be just as rare. If I knew kill team boxes were supposed to be like limited edition rookie sports cards or something I might have been more cautious before starting.
Yeah, this is exactly my point Lahey. It does not and should not be this way. The odd limited edition thing like a special hero or a collectors version of a book is fine, but right now it feels like almost every kill team product is a special limited edition.
Not receiving the box on time didn't really bother me. But appreciate others who ordered it might have really wanted/needed it on time. The bigger thing for me is the price point. Would love for it to be lower so it's more accessible for younger people... you're right, kids don't have £110 in their back pocket. If it was cheaper more people could get into it and getting into it for hobby/gaming can be great for mental health and being part of a community
hmm. Having fairly expensive premium big boxes would probably be fine if the individual models and rules came out more promptly. It's fine to have products for the superfans but the stuff for kids and the more casual players needs to be available .
@@TabletopImpulse I explained the situation calmly to my wife and I think some of the words she muttered while walking out can be interpreted as affirmation.
You're bang on the money. No-one can argue. I've been building a Kill Team scene in Hampshire and been giving Intro games every week for the last 6 months. Generated a lot of interest but new players are confounded they can't get the bits to play it. It's seriously holding the game back.
I have more teams than I can play already so I’m kind of relieved that it was instantly out of stock. I agree that it is odd that they are not more on the logistics. They surely lost money with all the folk that couldn’t buy.
All fair comment. I'm resigned to perhaps converting some Palanite Enforcers, re-purposing Drukhari and possibly, probably pr-eordering (assuming it will be available in the future) a Soulshackle book at a later date... that is **shrugs** SCRIBD doesn't come through first.
@@TabletopImpulse I got burnt on 9th. They’re not going to make 10th AA, which is the minimum requirement for me before I touch Corehammer again. I know what I enjoy, and I’m not buying into something I know I’m advance that I won’t.
I really appreciate your videos and your stance on always assuming the best of intentions. But what had to be said, had to be said. You did that in the politest manner possible, and I applaud you for that! Great video and now I am looking forward for watching the next videos, being more positive again :)
I had decided before hand that I was waiting on the single releases for this one (3-4 months looking at SV releases) but it didnt surprise me. Maybe this time they realise that they need to start being a standard big company. They might not want new players since they are unable to produce / deliver content and are at capacity with 10th like you mentioned. Pure speculation but I do think that someone might have made a big prediction mistake and has always GW will not acknoledge that they made a mistake (thats the worst bit) or punish the culprit.
Yeah, I think a big prediction mistake is likely. Especially since they would have had to make a prediction for soul shackle before they saw the shadow vaults sales numbers.
I think their problem is balancing product range and production capacity. They seem to be focusing on having as many products as possible, and produce a little for each of them due to current limitations, where I think the more sustainable path forwards is to not come out with new boxsets every month, and instead have more of a more confined range until capacity improves
“This boring, painstaking and highly technical work is sometimes called logistics, the ugly cousin of strategic studies.” A fair video. I did wonder if the low number of Shadowvault boxes had been due to some of the moulds being retooled following reports of the walls from Into the Dark being a very tight fit. As someone who has all three of the season 2 boxes have you noticed any difference in the wall pieces? Lack of terrain due to mould issues could explain the delay in releasing the Navy and Kroot teams individually. With the Arks of Omen books needing to be released before 10th edition, releasing the terrain for 40k to tie in with the Abbadon book would have been GW’s priority. If the Kill Team, er, team had less terrain available, and they needed it for Shadowvaults, it might have led to the delay in releasing the stuff from Into the Dark. Would GW release the Into the Dark book containing rules for terrain that wouldn’t be available unless you bought the 40k Boarding Actions box, or would they hold off until there was enough terrain to release it as a Killzone?
It's a fair point Sully. It might have something to do with the terrain, honestly, my second and third sets of into the dark terrain are still sitting on the sprue.
@@TabletopImpulse Yeah, I had been holding off on buying a season 2 box until they featured teams I really wanted because I didn’t want multiple sets of the same terrain. The shortages are really puzzling. I remember the Nachmund box was available until Moroch was released during season one. Problems with moulds for terrain that has to support two release schedules is the only reason I can conceive of for GW’s actions, aside from the business side dropping the ball. It may just be that they significantly underestimated the market for Kill Team.
I am massively disappointed because I was one of the few who managed to secure a preorder at 10:10am with my LGS. But I still have not had it dispatched because the store did not receive their allocated stock.
They like to generate FOMO, but they would've had the sales anyways even without the limited stock. Most of us just have to suck it up and wait until they release it months later.
I agree, they would have had the sales anyway. They do seem terrified of boxes sitting on shelves, but then you have to ask yourself what is the chain of Warhammer stores for. These boxes *should* sit on shelves for a month or two to give folks a chance to get the cash together to buy them.
It's a fair frustration. If there are barriers of entry (crit ops cards) then people won't be able to enter. As you state its simple. Plus scalpers. But then if you start something at 99p and people wanna pay over the odds for it then not sure how to argue that one. It's not ideal and if stores just had the stock then that would make it easier for everyone.
I'm torn on this one. I think GW are terrible at 2 things, logistics and video content (don't get me started on their livestreams) but they also don't seem to be able to read the room. I think they are using Kill Team to sell 40k units which creates a false need for these box sets but also don't have the infrastructure to maintain the demand. The people at the top have no clue how to run a modern business and it shows. There so many "little" things wrong with the kill team releases from the big boxes to the individual kill teams that I'd love to change. Why aren't the operative rules included in the boxes? So they can sell the books that they don't keep in stock.... Why are they using the same terrain sets for all 4 boxes? So they can sell the boarding actions books that they can't keep in stock... They have the demand but no idea how to supply anymore and it's gotten beyond a joke after their recent financial successes.
Hmm, a lot of points here. I don't have a massive problem with GW Livestreams, I think a lot of them are quite good. I do agree that putting a really desirable 40k unit like Kasrkin in a kill team big box for ages was obnoxious and made that box hard to get. I don't think GW understood how popoular the Kasrkin would be with 40k players. Logistics is of course terribad.
I feel, weirdly, that this is less of an issue in Australia than elsewhere. We probably get a larger allocation proportionally. Part of the benefit of a relatively small population I guess.
@@TabletopImpulse fair, we deserve something for the 60 extra pounds we pay for Soulshackle ;) not as bad as it was in the mid 2000's when we were paying basically double.
One of the biggest mistakes that production planners make (and I was one) is basing the future production model on past performance of similar products. So if we look at past Kill Team boxes, the Chalnath and Nachmund sets did not sell out or even sell well. Still available through GW, I believe, and also available on eBay at deep discounts. As you say, these production plans are set months and months in advance because they’re using Southeast Asian suppliers, which adds an enormous amount of time to your stacked lead time. And you have no way of knowing if these offshore manufacturers production plan has any resemblance to the need dates you’ve specified. If the paper bits of these games were being produced by an outfit in Cornwall instead of China, GW would have a great deal more control over quantity, quality and availability.
Ok, I clearly have no clue as to what I’m saying. I was ABSOLUTELY SURE that I had the Soulshackle problem figured out. It had to have been a shortage caused by a low forecast of demand by the GW Sales&Marketing department. So I walk into my FLGS today and what’s waiting for me? My long lost pre-ordered copy of Soulshackle! The copy I was told I wasn’t going to get, because the distributor told the retail outlet that THEY weren’t going to get it. Then it magically shows up! I’m very happy I wasn’t able to order directly from GW and pay full MSRP. I’m doubly happy that I didn’t pay $300 to a scalper. Apparently the problem is someplace in the distribution and warehousing system, such that no one in the system has any visibility into material location and availability.
Yes… this content is upsetting, I am not a person who wants to watch negative content. But it needs to be said. It’s heartbreaking and disappointing and frustrating.
My main gripe is that.... Well firstly, I go out of my way to AVOID stealing GW’s intellectual property. I always buy the books I intend to use. I don’t use wahapedia except for random research. Now, GW is, rightly, protective of their intellectual property. But they are driving people into the arms of the pirates and scalpers, not to mention the people 3D printing dead nuts copies of GW merch.
I buy all the books too Earnest and honestly don't like using Wahapedia during games (Use it to look stuff up when at the computer, sure) but, they make it really hard to not pirate when you cant get the rules by any legitimate means.
It's a very strange situation. Even in Ukraine everybody is able to buy soulshackle. Maybe that's a trouble of someone who is responsible for logistics in your region .
Thanks for this Heh. It really makes me smile that even with everything going on over there folks are still rolling dice and pushing plastic! I wonder if there is more stock for your part of the world because GW is no longer selling into Russia? That's a funny thought.
@@TabletopImpulse in Russia they have stock on the same level as before. It just costs more. They also do a lot of 3d printing. In Ukraine there is of course a lack of boxes, but not critical, sometimes you just have to wait for 2 weeks for, let's say box, of scarab terminators, because it's a popular set. But it'll arrive anyway. It feels like now it takes 1 week more to bring new products to stores than before.
Sad fact games workshop has outgrown itself and customer base. Its a global powerhouse of a company in its field. But its still ran by people who don't understand the logistical requirements of a global business. It's not run with games in mind, ie. its actively shafting us for every penny it can squeeze even though reducing its prices would make the hobby more approachable for new players (with the Amazon deal there will be a big influx), but at the same time its not go the production to distribute to vast numbers of peoples its attracting. So get off the fence GW, either accept your a small UK business that;s happy to operate on a shoe string budget and take what it can get or ramp up production, spend the millions on print presses and expand. edit: Marks and Spencers - A posh shop for poor people. A shop your gran would buy a mauve jumper from that she thinks is nice, and it was £12.
Unfortunately, I think you underestimated the magnitude of the supply chain disruption and logistical nightmare 2022 created. If GW produced everything in-house, maybe the rant is warranted, but I have seen very few companies that don't rely on contacts with other companies. You are right that we hold other companies to a higher standard, but GW is not an essential product. For reference, I know of water treatment plants, and power plants that have had critical components back ordered for 12 months. If only people understood how fragile our society is right now. It will take at least another 12 months for the supply chain to recover. So the question you should ask is, should GW produce more products with a less frequent release schedule? This means more products but could mean fewer jobs in product planning. I want to believe with the frequency of releasing products that they want to continue supporting these games. But when my grocery store shelves go bare (which they had in 2022), I will give GW the benefit of the doubt for 2023.
You make some really good points, and some less good ones. I agree that I probably do underestimate the magnitude of the supply chain disruption from 2022. I am a simple teacher and not very knowledgeable about such things. GW not producing everything in house is a fair enough comment, but the strange thing in GW's case is they *do* produce the most important thing - that is to say the injection molded plastic sprues on site at Nottingham UK. They have then got this reliance on China for printed components which. I just, honestly I really want them to invest in a print house on site in Nottingham. They have shown they have a commitment to the UK economy and the UK labor market because they haven't outsourced the plastics production to China. Bring the printing in house, I'd happily pay a bit more for that. I think saying we don't hold GW to a high standard because they are an un-essential product is actually backwards logic. I need power and gas to live. If my power can gas company start treating me badly, to an extent I just have to suck it up. Sure, I can move supplier but I can't cut back really on my dependance on the product. GW on the other hand should be aware that if they don't look after there customer base, its very easy for that customer base to buy less. Or move on to other hobbies. I agree with you that one solution for GW would be to slow down the pace of releases. I think they should definitely do this. I remember when GW releases were monthly, rather then weekly. And you got maybe 2-3 big 40k releases a year. This actually gave people time to buy, build, paint and enjoy the products. Now things come out so quickly it will be a small miracle with my lifestyle if I get the Dark Eldar painted before the next box comes out, I only got my first set of into the Dark Terrain painted last week, and have yet to get a single game in on it. So for my money, GW should slow down and make sure everyone can buy what they want. - But this looks bad to shareholders.
As someone who's pretty new to Kill Team, and this hobby in general - I agree with all of this. I DID manage to get a Soulshackle box, but only because I was prepared for it (and in the US, where it was a little less tight to get one.), and expected a fight. I knew I wanted this box though because I wanted both teams, particularly the Arbites. But if I'm a grown adult with a wife and children and an average job, so I can't just throw down $200 willy nilly. So if I hadn't been prepared for this, I just wouldn't have gotten it. There wouldn't have been anything I could have done about it.
Now I'm finding myself in the other direction anyway as I've decided I want to play a Blooded kill team. But I can't, because it's sold out everywhere online. GW hasn't had it in stock for a while, and there's almost no listings for it on Ebay and none on Amazon. And I don't have a local game store to try either. Why is this the case? Why does this need to happen?
Wow no Bloodied? They have been out for ages. GW need to sort it out!
@@TabletopImpulse I tried to order the blooded team as a xmas present to myself, but the flgs has not been able to get hold of them. I ordered them on the 1st December :(
19:13 that would be Shatterpoint, which will ship in June. Good to know the link works properly though 😉
Well thank you for your use of the link :)
My Soulshackle box was all messed up and scuffed after taking 2 weeks to arrive :( Not even going to try and ask for a replacement. Though I do suppose the contents are more important than having a pretty box on the shelf.
Not sure what can be done from GW's perspective other than producing way too many. Maybe they could hold stock back and trickle it out so that most boxes aren't gobbled up by eBay middlemen on day one. But weekly online restocks would likely create a different set of complaints.
Always fun to hear a little rant about our favorite games. Thanks for the video and making regular content!
Sucks that your box was scuffed up. I do think there is something going on with GWs warehousing, but even so its not great.
@@TabletopImpulse Made it to the end and your aloha shirt comment really resonated with me 😅 I doubt GW will ever discount any models because of extra stock (especially because they've moved to more made-to-order over the years rather than overproducing kits), but that's honestly a great solution.
GW pathologically hate carrying stock. It’s one of the reasons that they consider shops their main customers rather than the individual player or hobbyist. It’s been this way since about 1990, and I can’t see it changing despite the current issues. They will always look to shift the problem of a box not selling (Hi all the AoS boxes since the new edition).
I hope your logic is sound because at least that means Element Games and the like will continue to get stock.
It does indeed seem like something is pathologically messsed up
The fact that you cant go in to a Games Workshop and buy a box of your favourite infantry or a endless spell or whatever niche item for your faction or warband. Yet there is 5 copies of a Boarding Patrol that nobody needs. Speaks to how out of touch with their customers they really are. Whilst one member of staff stands there losing the will to live.
My friends and I started kill team in december; one of my friends wanted to play necrons and I wanted to play kasrkin but there was no availability on shadowvaults. Flash forward to the boxes preorder which 1 hour after the preorder started when I got home from work the kasrkin were completely sold out. Now the only way to get a box is 200% or higher msrp on ebay.
You nail it 100% on the bead though, these kinds of frustrations are something that will turn away all but the most devoted of players. Like we want to give you way too much money for plastic but yall can't be bothered to even make enough to sell adequately. I have friends that want to play starstriders and blooded but they seem to be just as rare. If I knew kill team boxes were supposed to be like limited edition rookie sports cards or something I might have been more cautious before starting.
Yeah, this is exactly my point Lahey. It does not and should not be this way. The odd limited edition thing like a special hero or a collectors version of a book is fine, but right now it feels like almost every kill team product is a special limited edition.
Not receiving the box on time didn't really bother me. But appreciate others who ordered it might have really wanted/needed it on time. The bigger thing for me is the price point. Would love for it to be lower so it's more accessible for younger people... you're right, kids don't have £110 in their back pocket. If it was cheaper more people could get into it and getting into it for hobby/gaming can be great for mental health and being part of a community
hmm. Having fairly expensive premium big boxes would probably be fine if the individual models and rules came out more promptly. It's fine to have products for the superfans but the stuff for kids and the more casual players needs to be available .
being forced to 3D print stupid sexy Arbites because of this screw-up by GW.... won't somebody please think of the children?
Real gun to your head situation huh.
🤣
@@TabletopImpulse I explained the situation calmly to my wife and I think some of the words she muttered while walking out can be interpreted as affirmation.
You're bang on the money. No-one can argue. I've been building a Kill Team scene in Hampshire and been giving Intro games every week for the last 6 months. Generated a lot of interest but new players are confounded they can't get the bits to play it. It's seriously holding the game back.
It's maddening! Best GW game. Really hard sell to new folks. I feel your pain Bruce.
I have more teams than I can play already so I’m kind of relieved that it was instantly out of stock. I agree that it is odd that they are not more on the logistics. They surely lost money with all the folk that couldn’t buy.
I agree with you Disco. A company of this size should be more on top of Logistics.
All fair comment. I'm resigned to perhaps converting some Palanite Enforcers, re-purposing Drukhari and possibly, probably pr-eordering (assuming it will be available in the future) a Soulshackle book at a later date... that is **shrugs** SCRIBD doesn't come through first.
Yeah, they make it really hard to not pirate when you cant get the rules by any legitimate means.
13:46 everyone who touches a GW thing except me you mean 😉
Well, maybe. The Hype train might get you.
@@TabletopImpulse I got burnt on 9th. They’re not going to make 10th AA, which is the minimum requirement for me before I touch Corehammer again. I know what I enjoy, and I’m not buying into something I know I’m advance that I won’t.
I really appreciate your videos and your stance on always assuming the best of intentions.
But what had to be said, had to be said. You did that in the politest manner possible, and I applaud you for that!
Great video and now I am looking forward for watching the next videos, being more positive again :)
Glad you enjoy the video and the content in general Io, don't worry I will be back to positivity next time!
I had decided before hand that I was waiting on the single releases for this one (3-4 months looking at SV releases) but it didnt surprise me. Maybe this time they realise that they need to start being a standard big company. They might not want new players since they are unable to produce / deliver content and are at capacity with 10th like you mentioned. Pure speculation but I do think that someone might have made a big prediction mistake and has always GW will not acknoledge that they made a mistake (thats the worst bit) or punish the culprit.
Yeah, I think a big prediction mistake is likely. Especially since they would have had to make a prediction for soul shackle before they saw the shadow vaults sales numbers.
I think their problem is balancing product range and production capacity. They seem to be focusing on having as many products as possible, and produce a little for each of them due to current limitations, where I think the more sustainable path forwards is to not come out with new boxsets every month, and instead have more of a more confined range until capacity improves
I totally agree with you Chris.
Agree with everything, yeah. It's frustrating that both rules and models are not actually available.
Cheers Glass.
“This boring, painstaking and highly technical work is sometimes called logistics, the ugly cousin of strategic studies.”
A fair video.
I did wonder if the low number of Shadowvault boxes had been due to some of the moulds being retooled following reports of the walls from Into the Dark being a very tight fit. As someone who has all three of the season 2 boxes have you noticed any difference in the wall pieces?
Lack of terrain due to mould issues could explain the delay in releasing the Navy and Kroot teams individually. With the Arks of Omen books needing to be released before 10th edition, releasing the terrain for 40k to tie in with the Abbadon book would have been GW’s priority. If the Kill Team, er, team had less terrain available, and they needed it for Shadowvaults, it might have led to the delay in releasing the stuff from Into the Dark. Would GW release the Into the Dark book containing rules for terrain that wouldn’t be available unless you bought the 40k Boarding Actions box, or would they hold off until there was enough terrain to release it as a Killzone?
It's a fair point Sully. It might have something to do with the terrain, honestly, my second and third sets of into the dark terrain are still sitting on the sprue.
@@TabletopImpulse Yeah, I had been holding off on buying a season 2 box until they featured teams I really wanted because I didn’t want multiple sets of the same terrain.
The shortages are really puzzling. I remember the Nachmund box was available until Moroch was released during season one. Problems with moulds for terrain that has to support two release schedules is the only reason I can conceive of for GW’s actions, aside from the business side dropping the ball. It may just be that they significantly underestimated the market for Kill Team.
In Japan, they don’t even have soul shackle preorders yet!
That's madness. Thanks for the info.
I am massively disappointed because I was one of the few who managed to secure a preorder at 10:10am with my LGS. But I still have not had it dispatched because the store did not receive their allocated stock.
That really sucks, I'm sorry. I hope you get your box.
They like to generate FOMO, but they would've had the sales anyways even without the limited stock. Most of us just have to suck it up and wait until they release it months later.
I agree, they would have had the sales anyway. They do seem terrified of boxes sitting on shelves, but then you have to ask yourself what is the chain of Warhammer stores for. These boxes *should* sit on shelves for a month or two to give folks a chance to get the cash together to buy them.
It's a fair frustration. If there are barriers of entry (crit ops cards) then people won't be able to enter. As you state its simple. Plus scalpers. But then if you start something at 99p and people wanna pay over the odds for it then not sure how to argue that one. It's not ideal and if stores just had the stock then that would make it easier for everyone.
I agree, the only way to stop scalpers is to produce a decent amount. No one scalps boxes of intercessors.
I'm torn on this one. I think GW are terrible at 2 things, logistics and video content (don't get me started on their livestreams) but they also don't seem to be able to read the room. I think they are using Kill Team to sell 40k units which creates a false need for these box sets but also don't have the infrastructure to maintain the demand.
The people at the top have no clue how to run a modern business and it shows. There so many "little" things wrong with the kill team releases from the big boxes to the individual kill teams that I'd love to change.
Why aren't the operative rules included in the boxes? So they can sell the books that they don't keep in stock.... Why are they using the same terrain sets for all 4 boxes? So they can sell the boarding actions books that they can't keep in stock... They have the demand but no idea how to supply anymore and it's gotten beyond a joke after their recent financial successes.
Hmm, a lot of points here.
I don't have a massive problem with GW Livestreams, I think a lot of them are quite good.
I do agree that putting a really desirable 40k unit like Kasrkin in a kill team big box for ages was obnoxious and made that box hard to get. I don't think GW understood how popoular the Kasrkin would be with 40k players.
Logistics is of course terribad.
I feel, weirdly, that this is less of an issue in Australia than elsewhere. We probably get a larger allocation proportionally. Part of the benefit of a relatively small population I guess.
A plus side to being an Australian Warhammer fan? Well for the prices you guys pay you deserve an upside!
@@TabletopImpulse fair, we deserve something for the 60 extra pounds we pay for Soulshackle ;) not as bad as it was in the mid 2000's when we were paying basically double.
It’s an odd thing that we are encouraging games workshop take more of our money, but in a better more efficient manner 😅 fix your inventory GW
Hard agree!
Logistics and warehousing is probably not the forte of creative types.
One of the biggest mistakes that production planners make (and I was one) is basing the future production model on past performance of similar products. So if we look at past Kill Team boxes, the Chalnath and Nachmund sets did not sell out or even sell well. Still available through GW, I believe, and also available on eBay at deep discounts. As you say, these production plans are set months and months in advance because they’re using Southeast Asian suppliers, which adds an enormous amount of time to your stacked lead time. And you have no way of knowing if these offshore manufacturers production plan has any resemblance to the need dates you’ve specified. If the paper bits of these games were being produced by an outfit in Cornwall instead of China, GW would have a great deal more control over quantity, quality and availability.
I think I agree with everything you have said Earnest, very well put.
Ok, I clearly have no clue as to what I’m saying. I was ABSOLUTELY SURE that I had the Soulshackle problem figured out. It had to have been a shortage caused by a low forecast of demand by the GW Sales&Marketing department. So I walk into my FLGS today and what’s waiting for me? My long lost pre-ordered copy of Soulshackle! The copy I was told I wasn’t going to get, because the distributor told the retail outlet that THEY weren’t going to get it. Then it magically shows up! I’m very happy I wasn’t able to order directly from GW and pay full MSRP. I’m doubly happy that I didn’t pay $300 to a scalper. Apparently the problem is someplace in the distribution and warehousing system, such that no one in the system has any visibility into material location and availability.
I'm still waiting to get a deck. Wondering when they will come back in stock?
I have no idea. I'm told the lead times from China are long. I'm sorry.
Yes… this content is upsetting, I am not a person who wants to watch negative content. But it needs to be said. It’s heartbreaking and disappointing and frustrating.
Really glad you agree Matt, back to positivity next time.
My main gripe is that.... Well firstly, I go out of my way to AVOID stealing GW’s intellectual property. I always buy the books I intend to use. I don’t use wahapedia except for random research. Now, GW is, rightly, protective of their intellectual property. But they are driving people into the arms of the pirates and scalpers, not to mention the people 3D printing dead nuts copies of GW merch.
I buy all the books too Earnest and honestly don't like using Wahapedia during games (Use it to look stuff up when at the computer, sure) but, they make it really hard to not pirate when you cant get the rules by any legitimate means.
It's a very strange situation. Even in Ukraine everybody is able to buy soulshackle. Maybe that's a trouble of someone who is responsible for logistics in your region .
Thanks for this Heh. It really makes me smile that even with everything going on over there folks are still rolling dice and pushing plastic! I wonder if there is more stock for your part of the world because GW is no longer selling into Russia? That's a funny thought.
@@TabletopImpulse in Russia they have stock on the same level as before. It just costs more. They also do a lot of 3d printing. In Ukraine there is of course a lack of boxes, but not critical, sometimes you just have to wait for 2 weeks for, let's say box, of scarab terminators, because it's a popular set. But it'll arrive anyway. It feels like now it takes 1 week more to bring new products to stores than before.
Sad fact games workshop has outgrown itself and customer base. Its a global powerhouse of a company in its field. But its still ran by people who don't understand the logistical requirements of a global business. It's not run with games in mind, ie. its actively shafting us for every penny it can squeeze even though reducing its prices would make the hobby more approachable for new players (with the Amazon deal there will be a big influx), but at the same time its not go the production to distribute to vast numbers of peoples its attracting.
So get off the fence GW, either accept your a small UK business that;s happy to operate on a shoe string budget and take what it can get or ramp up production, spend the millions on print presses and expand.
edit: Marks and Spencers - A posh shop for poor people. A shop your gran would buy a mauve jumper from that she thinks is nice, and it was £12.
Yep. I think you hit the nail on the head, they are a global powerhouse with the mindset of a small business.
!!!!
I know, so out of character.
@@TabletopImpulse From now on I will call thee Tabletop-Discourse-Impulse
Unfortunately, I think you underestimated the magnitude of the supply chain disruption and logistical nightmare 2022 created. If GW produced everything in-house, maybe the rant is warranted, but I have seen very few companies that don't rely on contacts with other companies. You are right that we hold other companies to a higher standard, but GW is not an essential product. For reference, I know of water treatment plants, and power plants that have had critical components back ordered for 12 months. If only people understood how fragile our society is right now. It will take at least another 12 months for the supply chain to recover. So the question you should ask is, should GW produce more products with a less frequent release schedule? This means more products but could mean fewer jobs in product planning. I want to believe with the frequency of releasing products that they want to continue supporting these games. But when my grocery store shelves go bare (which they had in 2022), I will give GW the benefit of the doubt for 2023.
You make some really good points, and some less good ones.
I agree that I probably do underestimate the magnitude of the supply chain disruption from 2022. I am a simple teacher and not very knowledgeable about such things.
GW not producing everything in house is a fair enough comment, but the strange thing in GW's case is they *do* produce the most important thing - that is to say the injection molded plastic sprues on site at Nottingham UK. They have then got this reliance on China for printed components which. I just, honestly I really want them to invest in a print house on site in Nottingham. They have shown they have a commitment to the UK economy and the UK labor market because they haven't outsourced the plastics production to China. Bring the printing in house, I'd happily pay a bit more for that.
I think saying we don't hold GW to a high standard because they are an un-essential product is actually backwards logic. I need power and gas to live. If my power can gas company start treating me badly, to an extent I just have to suck it up. Sure, I can move supplier but I can't cut back really on my dependance on the product. GW on the other hand should be aware that if they don't look after there customer base, its very easy for that customer base to buy less. Or move on to other hobbies.
I agree with you that one solution for GW would be to slow down the pace of releases. I think they should definitely do this. I remember when GW releases were monthly, rather then weekly. And you got maybe 2-3 big 40k releases a year. This actually gave people time to buy, build, paint and enjoy the products. Now things come out so quickly it will be a small miracle with my lifestyle if I get the Dark Eldar painted before the next box comes out, I only got my first set of into the Dark Terrain painted last week, and have yet to get a single game in on it. So for my money, GW should slow down and make sure everyone can buy what they want. - But this looks bad to shareholders.