Games Workshop supposedly threw away thirty pallets of new-in-box Warhammer products valued at over a million dollars due to overproduction.
Updated November 27th, 2024, by Rob Baer with new information and links to relevant content.
In early 2023, a ton (literally) of Games Workshop products that were supposedly slated to be destroyed (for whatever reason) look to have ended up on the secondary market. This actually isn’t anything too out of the ordinary because also in early 2023, someone found six pallets of Magic the Gathering cards in a dump.
GW “Threw Away” Over $1 Million in NIB Warhammer Products
Here are some highlights of the sheer number of New in box (NIB) products that we saw in the pictures:
- 120 Heart of Ghur
- 100 Kill Team Moroch
- 160 Warcry terrain
- 400 Ash Wastes
- 200 Raven Guard Battleforces
- 100 White Scars Battleforces
- 120 Ad Mech Battleforces
- over 200 Forge World Heresy Character series models (black boxes)
But it wasn’t always like this. Games Workshop has seemingly throttled back their production numbers post-COVID to avoid the kind of overproduction that led to so much product allegedly being ‘liquidated’ for a tax write-off, etc.
Exclusive Image of Verified Games Workshop Product From an Online Liquidator
If you’ve been trying to get any of Games Workshop’s new releases since then, you’ve probably seen the issues… Basically, everything sells out immediately, and if you want a new release, you better be near the computer within the first few minutes when the pre-order goes live. Or get to your local store early and hope you can get in on their allocated release numbers.
Despite the change in ordering policies, Games Workshop has struggled to meet the demand from consumers eager for new releases. A prime example of when this piece was initially written happened when Warhammer: The Old World launch boxes and other products quickly sold out on the first day of their pre-order window (the Bretonnians sold out in no time).
Games Workshop Can’t Get Their Production Right
Exclusive image of Games Workshop product that was reportedly sent to be “recycled” as presented to prospective buyers in a Memphis, TN storage facility.
Games Workshop supposedly sent around a million dollars (in retail value) of new-in-box product to be “recycled” at a landfill in Memphis, TN, and as you can tell by the images in this article, it didnt make it. We can only speculate on why that happened.
However, it doesn’t take much to look up the value of just one of these Warhammer boxes from a phone for the truck driver to realize that a trailer full of GW products could potentially be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to someone. Some of that merchandise is shown above in a storage unit waiting on a “buyer” in these exclusive images shared with us.
One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Heresy?
All told, stacked up, these storage units amounted to over thirty pallets of merchandise. These images were just one of several storage units containing what would fit on one semi-truck. The sellers told us they thought it was worth around $500k based on secondhand prices.
However, our estimates of retail pricing, with knowledge of the products on the manifest they created, suggested it was closer to $1 million in value to hobbyists.
120+ Heart of Ghur Boxes
100+ Kill Team Moroch Boxes
Either way, this is pretty wild, as it’s the most enormous stash of Games Workshop products we’ve ever seen (at least for us) to hit the secondary market like this. From the looks of it, most of the product is in good condition, too, but it is hard to tell for sure how the contents on the inside of these case boxes look and if there are any “defects” or not.
Over 200 Forge World Horus Heresy Character “Black Boxes” Turned out to be Magnus The Red, and The Lion.
The best part about this merchandise not hitting the dump is that, eventually, a lot of these products made their way onto the secondary market at discounted rates. In 2023 and 2024, eBay and Amazon sellers had all sorts of deals, sometimes daily, on Warhmmaer 40k, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Horus Heresy, and more.
Discount Alert: Latest Cheap Warhammer & Hobby Sales
You can still snag some of these deals and give us a high-five in support! Every qualifying purchase helps Spikey Bits keep the lights on and the fun going.
Remnants of some of these items are still being sold for cheap on eBay as of November 2024 by this seller. You can score whole cases of box sets for fractions of the cost, as it looks like they have resorted to volume sales to move all the Warhammer products they have been purchasing over the last few years.
Imagine getting your hands on the latest miniatures, paints, and game expansions for up to 50% off retail prices or even more! We have been posting these deals when we find them for you. You can also check out the bargain on this page to see how you can score more Warhammer, 40k, hobby supplies, and board games on the cheap!
While it seems like GW is starting to understand consumers’ issues getting their products, its CEO said they would continue to sell out of everything. Either way, Games Workshop recently mentioned building a new factory to help meet the demand for their miniatures and rulebooks, but it may still be years from happening.
Click Here For The Latest Cheap Hobby Deals List
What do you think about this much Games Workshop Warhammer production being “discarded,” only to hit the secondary market instead, presumably?
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 is a panelist on the weekly 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.
