We would love to see Games Workshop start using Made To Order (MTO) to get people what they can’t produce enough of, not random reprints of models.
Obviously, we’ve been a proponent of MTO for a while now. However, Games Workshop seems to use it the wrong way constantly. More often than not, they only really use MTO for older casts, and now barely one-year-old last chance to buy models and previously exclusive minis.
While that’s all well and good, we would love to see them utilize the option for their recent releases that Hobbyists can’t get, and scalpers are buying up and reselling at ridiculous prices.
If you remember, they have done MTO for Indomitus and Cursed City, so why can’t they do it for more?
GW Should Start Using MTO the Right Way
Instead of offering things that just went out of print or previously exclusive items (which is nice to get at lower prices, don’t get us wrong), how about doing MTO for all the items that have been seeing allocation/caps that have robbed stores of much-needed revenue, and hobbyists of affordable access to new releases.
Just think, if they put The Lion on MTO? They would have made way more money, hobbyists wouldn’t be mad, and people wouldn’t have to spend a ton of cash for a non-exclusive miniature.
This also isn’t some random idea from us; they have done it before for hobbyists! They did it with Indomitus and Cursed City. They even were doing it for a bunch of the new army boxes.
When the initial stock sold out, people would get the release as MTO but didn’t have to scrounge on the secondary market.
This is a great way to use the system. Even if you have to wait a couple of months for the release, it’s way better knowing you have something secured instead of trying to find it on the secondary market or wait for the models to come out on their own.
There is precedence for this, and GW has to get things in gear for Leviathan and the big Warhammer 40k 10th Edition launch. If the initial releases for 10th Edition do not go well, people and game stores will lose more confidence in them.
Even if they have to go on MTO for some of the releases, hobbyists will be far more receptive than just not being able to get what they want…
They have done it before; why not do it again?
What do you think about the recent sellouts of products, and should Games Workshop start offering the items the products with allocation caps as MTO releases for hobbyists?
Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, or our new Discord server, and make sure you enter the latest monthly giveaway for FREE today!
Get ad-free access to our hobby videos, a monthly drop of miniatures, and support some of the best creators out there for as little as $6 a month on Patreon!
Click Here For All the Hobby Products & Tools We Swear By
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.
