Hobbyists here in the states are fuming as GW tricked retailers again last week and burned everyone with Cursed City and more…
Major retailers were again put in an awkward spot last week with regards to the Cursed City release. We’ve reviewed the fall-out and while those retailers handled the situation very well from their end with nice and professional responses, it really sucks for them to have been put in this situation by the Games Workshop Trade Sales Team yet again.
We understand how hard COVID hit stores, and when you see an opportunity like Cursed City as this as a store or distributor, you get excited! For many, it really just felt like Indomitus all over again…
So what happened this time?
After their initial product solicitation to stores GW sent out a follow-up email telling them that they could order more of Cursed City and (along with the new Titanicus Battleforce), but when the orders actually arrived… the numbers were nothing like promised.
Let’s first look at Cursed City.
GW Burned Everyone With Cursed City Last Week
This is a snippet from the email GW sent out. It quite clearly says you could receive up to 160, while this could have been a typo for 16, they still sent it out as 160- with no follow-up email indicating it was a mistake. If you’re sending an email about allocation- (or caps as they call it because in theory, an allocation is a guarantee), there is a huge difference between 16 and 160.
Unfortunately for the majority of retailers, regardless of this promise from GW, they were only sent the initial 8 they were offered, not even 16 of the boxes. Many were put in an awkward spot having to send out refunds and tons of apology emails. It does say on a first come first serve basis, but if you promise up to 160 a store, then you better have a ton of stock waiting to ship. However, judging by the social media posts over the weekend that was not the case.
There’s not too much to say about this one other than it just feels bad for everyone involved. If you ordered the box through a local (or online) retailer who was promised 160, then they only get 8, well that’s 152 upset customers.
As it seems like most stores got their cap of 8 boxes, even saying this is a typo for 16 doesn’t make sense with what happened.
New Titanicus Battleforce
But wait there’s more for the 10 of us that play Titanicus…
This just made no sense at all to any of us, at any point. First, we were told by retailers that GW gave them caps of 30 of the new Titanicus releases, which to be honest 30 of anything is great right now. But when their invoices came, the boxes were zeroed out on those invoices, meaning they weren’t getting any. From the retailers we polled, not a single one received their Battleforces they order.
Reportedly GW then changed it to web-only (direct order) which costs retailers 10% more, right off the bat. Then instead of being able to order 30 online, like were told initially, GW put a limit of one on each account. Meaning retailers that were planning on 30 for their store, first had to pay more, and finally, only get a single one.
If a store was planning on the profit from even 10 of them and not the whole 30, that can have a huge impact not only on their bottom line but the time it takes to sort out customer service issues, as well.
We’re not saying GW is doing this maliciously, but their coordination with stores (who are supposed to be their trade partners) is just so bad right now- for so many reasons.
Again, as we’ve said many times, the easiest solution to all of this is to allow hobbyists to order Made To Order through either their local store which cuts down on the scalping, still gives stores an influx of cash, and helps with supply chain issues and product forecasting.
Perhaps more importantly it allows Games Workshop to keep the focus on their (rumored) incessant current quarter profits above all else business model.
What do you think about MTO as the way to change this? Were you able to get either of these boxes?
Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, and make sure you enter the latest monthly giveaway for FREE today!
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.
