It really feels as if Games Workshop is desperate to sell their Warhammer 40k Battleforces this year, and here’s why.
If you look at the last year or so of Games Workshop releases, they all share a very similar pattern, and now the Battleforces have followed suit with a giant push for new armies. While we don’t have an insider on the information, the current releases have all basically been the same, and the Battleforces just seem to push the idea forward.
Get the latest on all the new Warhammer Christmas Battleforces for 2022 by clicking below!
- What We Know About New 2022 Battleforces So Far
- Age of Sigmar Battleforces Value
- Warhammer 40k Battleforces Value
Games Workshop is Desperate to Sell Battleforces Now
Let’s look back at the most recent army boxes and then get into the Battleforces.
At first, we didn’t think too much about this army box, as it was a new faction. However, the trend of brand-new minis pushing current quarter profits for the company (and getting people to start a new army) didn’t really start or stop here, to be honest.
The issue with every release cycle is that really feels like Games Workshop is trying to make every single release a giant hit with maximum profit. It seems like GW is no longer as worried about giving both existing and new players something super useful. Then, once the box is out, they have no issue NERFing the book (as they did with Votann right after the boxes sold…) or not having enough stock for the rest of the faction and promptly selling out key items.
Worse yet, sometimes there is no product to actually sell to consumers who clamor for box sets that were hyped to them for weeks by Games Workshop and their favorite content creators.
It wasn’t just with Cursed City either; recently, we saw the same thing happen with Shadowvaults, where the Kasrkin are selling for triple digits right now on eBay if you can even find them!
This whole thing may have started in 2021 when the Beast Snagga box was released (or maybe even with the Sisters of Battle box in 2019). The box had all brand new minis, and people who didn’t play the army were enticed to pick it up. While this did help existing players, this offering moved from a good collection of current minis to mostly all-new ones.
If every box and every faction release has to be this big giant hit now, it seems like GW thinks one of the best ways to do it is to put new minis in a box! Almost every army box has been all-new minis, and it feels more of a focus than normal to entice the maximum number of players possible to start new armies.
Another example is the Black Templars box with all but one new mini. Again this could very well represent Games Workshop trying desperately to make each box a 100% hit, as it feels like they plan their quarterly earnings around the new releases like these army boxes instead of just the normal sales of miniatures.
While there really isn’t anything more exciting than new miniatures, we think the problem is with how they release them all together. Paywalling the new rules and the large gaps in time between the individual release of the models themselves seem to be frustrating players and retailers alike ( and makes the paywall even more apparent).
Just think, this seems to have happened with basically every release that had an army box up to now, not to mention all the two-faction battle boxes and starter sets.
The box also includes an exclusive copy of the new Codex: Astra Militarum with a soft-touch cover starring Lord Solar Leontus, as well as 63 datacards to keep track of your Strategems, psychic powers, and Regimental Orders. Absolutely everything contained within is currently only available in this set – and won’t be sold separately until next year.
Now GW has even said that the new Imperial Guard individual releases will come out “next year” in 2023, creating even more fear of missing out for players who have seen all the hype from Games Workshop and YouTube for weeks and weeks.
We won’t fault new minis; they are always welcome. However, it’s more that it feels like they are doing this just to boost profits every quarter and then let the armies just sort of sit around with no support after the fact unless something threatens sales (like we saw with the Votann Army Book).
What’s Actually Wrong With The New Games Workshop Battleforces
So what about the Battleforces? Again, we’re not complaining about getting value out of the boxes; however, the problem may actually lie with the contents inside them.
When you look at every box, most of them seem to put a decent amount of value into characters. This means existing faction players won’t get much out of the box. You could argue that’s because, to Games Workshop, these players have already spent their money on that faction, so they are less likely to buy again unless enticed with something new.
Like, say, another new box with a big shiny model for a different faction…
Just look at the Thousand Sons, Death Guard, Ad Mech, and Sisters’ boxes. The Thousand Sons and Death Guard both have a model inside that costs $160, which almost every person who plays that army already has. So, if you have those models, these boxes really have no value to you.
For the Sisters, it’s not as bad, but if you already have Morvenn Vahl, you lose about half of the box’s value in one go. Then, for Ad Mech (or Custodes with Trajann), it’s the same deal as Cawl, as he makes up about half of the value (above the cost of the box).
What does all that mean? You could argue that the content gears these products towards hobbyists who want to start a whole new army because of the savings from those models that existing players would already have.
So, while the 2022 battleforces are awesome to start a new army, they aren’t nearly as good if you already have that faction.
Again, it feels like this is intentional by Games Workshop to get hobbyists to start new armies because of these stellar values and not just expand their existing army potentially at the slower rates at which GW updates factions over time.
This, in turn, could put hobbyists on another treadmill of spending to finish their new army they started from a 2022 battleforce box.
It just really feels like Games Workshop is pushing every release to be the biggest hit possible (sometimes with all-new everything) to get players starting all the armies they can.
What do you think about the trend of Games Workshop with their army boxes featuring brand-new miniatures, paywalls, and FOMO?
Get the latest on all the new Warhammer Christmas Battleforces for 2022 by clicking below!
- What We Know About New 2022 Battleforces So Far
- Age of Sigmar Battleforces Value
- Warhammer 40k Battleforces Value
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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 also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), 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 1980s, 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.
