Will every hobbyist regardless of country be affected by the US Trade War with China? The answer may be more complex than you think!
There could be some hiccups in the hobby world moving forward. June’s White Dwarf delay appears to be the THIRD instance of a delay due to the US trade dispute with China. It also more than likely will not be the last.
We have actually already started to see delayed releases from GW. While nothing can be confirmed at this point, take a look at these observations:
Delays on Sylvaneth & White Dwarf
Before the White Dwarf announcement, we heard that the Sylvaneth faction releases were being delayed due to trade disputes. WarhammerTV gave it to us straight in this video:
The key thing about the video was that it mentioned a “Bilateral Shipping Arrangement” where one country delayed the shipment to another with almost no notice.
ICv2 pointed out in their post about the China Tariffs some familiar wording to the GW announcement:
The latest round of tariffs came as the result of unsuccessful negotiations on a new bilateral trade agreement. China retaliated to the U.S. announcement with tariffs on $60 billion in imports from the U.S., according to the New York Times.
Previous White Dwarf Showed “Releases” That Weren’t Out Yet
While Warhammer Community has still been steadily releasing a stream of previews, the Dominion of Sigmar was actually first spotted in May’s White Dwarf as already released.
At the time, it had us scratching our heads because nobody knew what the Scenery Range even was yet. However, now that we know that at least the Sylvaneth release has been held up due to trading disagreements, our understanding of the matter becomes a bit clearer.
This interesting document outlining recent Games Workshop imports from China to the US was spotted on Sprues & Brews. This indicates that the Sigmarite Dais, Enduring Stormvault, and Shattered temple (The Dominion of Sigmar Scenery Range) was offloaded in a US port, to be transported to GW’s Memphis TN distribution facility.
Take a close look at the dates. They arrived at some port in the US the week of Adepticon in late March /early April. By the time the White Dwarf hit stores in late April, the terrain was supposed to have already been released!
We’re not shipping and warehousing experts (aka shipologists), but three weeks seems like a pretty tight turnaround from offloading products at the port, to hitting retail store shelves for any company.
Shipping Disputes Could Be Trouble For The Hobby
All in all, it makes sense that some shipping disputes can cause a hiccup in releases. For example, If the Sylvaneth’s battletome/endless spells arrived on a similar date like March 20th, however, the codex/warscroll cards were still being held up into late April, there’s no way Games Workshop could release everything globally.
Regardless if some of it had already arrived in their UK warehouse, it would make more sense to wait for all of their products to be accounted for and ready for their path to market. This would both keep consumers happy but also allow for their sales forecasts to be as close to normal as they can.
For instance, would you buy the new Sylvaneth if a crucial component (rules or model-wise) was unavailable in your country?
TL;DR
It doesn’t matter what country you hobby in, the US trade war with China may still affect you due to delays in release cycles. Hobby companies, such as GW, may also have to re-source production previously done in China to keep their supply chains matched up with their release cycles and forecasting. Which could result in more short term delays for releases this summer as well as price increases for those items.
While it’s not been confirmed, we feel like moving forward, shipping tariffs/disagreements could cause some serious short-term backlash in the hobby world for everyone. What do you think about the White Dwarf getting pushed back? Will this be a short term or long term effect we feel?
Do you think we’ve got even more delays headed our way? Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group.
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures. Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including the Adepticon Team Tournament and American Team Tournaments, and is on a first-name basis with almost every major company in the space.
He’s all gaming all the time. With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. He advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1908s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
