After a promising start, the Leviathan box set release has derailed as GW has adjusted allocations to retailers as they ran out of stock.
As of May 2023, stores have seen three straight months of allocations and restocks not coming in on time. Worse yet, GW is not communicating the reason for the issues to stores. This may, unfortunately, lead some retailers to pull back from Games Workshop, as things do not seem to be improving anytime soon.
We’ve talked about the issues before, and maybe they are due to GW having serious warehouse issues, or perhaps they were ramping up for 10th Edition and can’t just keep up with their regular release schedule. However, if they were ramping up, they didn’t seem to build up enough stock…
Either way, stores are getting hit hard at a time when the economy isn’t helping either…
GW Allocates Leviathan To Stores As They Run Out Of Stock
Originally foreshadowed by GW’s director of global events while bullying a store in online comments, the release of Leviathan has officially derailed.
As of Wednesday, June 7th, Games Workshop has capped Leviathan orders to stores and supposedly gone back and re-allocated other stores’ orders as the stock for trade sales has already run out in North America.
We received dozens of messages from angry store owners who reported being allocated as little as three copies of the Leviathan box set on Wednesday, along with other messages from stores whose “guaranteed allocation” numbers changed after preselling all their copies.
Here are some of the messages we received:
Also puzzling is that stores reported that GW was only shipping a maximum of 8 dice trays and 15 deployment zone markers for their pre-order bonuses, no matter how many copies stores bought. All of these factors seem to put stores at a disadvantage when competing with GW’s webstore for pre-orders.
One retailer went so far as to say this:
After five months of crippling allocations and yet another 40k starter set debacle, you start to wonder if these actions are deliberate or if Game Workshop is just this inept at business.
In his attempt to seemingly bully a store, GW director Mike Brant accuses said retailer of doing the same thing Games Workshop literally just did to stores with their Leviathan pre-orders now.
As a former retailer, community builder, and hobby educator who helps brands and retailers fight for a share of voice and engagement in the digital world, we find these comments by Games Workshop staff and their continued bad behavior towards retailers and customers shameful.
GW Director Hints at Leviathan Allocations & Bullies, a Local Game Store
Order from an independent Warhammer stockist and you’ll receive either a set of 28 double-sided deployment zone markers or a Warhammer 40,000 branded neoprene dice tray featuring artwork of a Terminator helmet lens reflecting a Tyranid face. Speak to your local store to find out more.
Stores reported to us while they were excited that they would be getting their own Leviathan pre-order exclusives for their customers from the Sunday teaser, just a day later, on Monday, many were once again confused about what was going on with the release.
As things stand right now, Games Workshop has informed stores that they will be getting a special phone call earlier than normal to determine their pre-order numbers for the Leviathan box, ahead of even telling them the pricing of the box.
This is to inform you that we are currently starting to take pre-orders for Leviathan, our launch box for Warhammer 40,000! We will be contacting everyone by the close of business on Wednesday, June 7th. We will be adjusting our call schedule, so you may not receive your call on your normal call day.
That seems a little backward, does it not?
So besides not even knowing the price of the new starter box yet, stores will be getting calls asking how many pre-orders they want for a product they do not know the pricing on.
UPDATE: Stores received a pricing email roughly four hours after the “pre-order call” email stating the price of the Levithan box is $250 USD £150 €200.
Strangely a similar thing happened in 2020 as Games Workshop asked stores for their pre-order numbers early in the week before telling them just a day before pre-orders went live on the GW webstore they would be getting allocated. That led to the great Indomitus scandal for the launch of 9th Edition of Warhammer 40k.
Perhaps even worse is that Mike Brandt, Games Workshop’s global director of events, supposedly the man responsible for the broken GW army builder app and the Warhammer Fest 2023 event debacle (among others), has hinted that there would be allocations for Leviathan while seemingly bullying a store for attempting to take pre-order from his customers…
These comments are from a public forum on Facebook, made towards a local game store owner allegedly by Mike Brandt (the GW Global Events Director,) who we would think, by his title, has nothing to do with GW trade or retail accounts.
So why is he even making these comments or using the “A” word (allocations), seemingly against company policy?
Either way, as of right now, all bets are off with Games Workshop, as stores are getting a lot of confusing information from Games Workshop staff from the top down.
What do you think with happen with the Leviathan starter box set release, will there be allocations?
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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.
