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Games Workshop is Desperate to Sell Battleforces Now

battleforces-will-they-sellIt 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!

Games Workshop is Desperate to Sell Battleforces Now

Let’s look back at the most recent army boxes and then get into the Battleforces.

Leagues of Votann Army Set

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.

new-releases-pricing-gw-kasrkin

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!

beast snagga box

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).

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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.

Cadia Stands Astra Militarum Army Set

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.

2022 Games Workshop 40k Battleforces

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…

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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.

Adepta Sororitas – Sanctorum Guard

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!

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About the Author: Rob Baer

Virginia Restless, Miniature Painter & Cat Dad. I blame LEGOs. There was something about those little-colored blocks that started it all... Twitter @catdaddymbg