With how Warhammer 40k 10th Edition is structured, the only thing you really have to buy now is a codex book for your army!
With Games Workshop basically forcing everyone to buy codexes for 10th Edition (as it’s really the only way to unlock the rules in their APP), it has sort of flipped the expectations of what people are actually buying from stores.
This, coupled with some lackluster releases and student loans being due again here in the States (supposedly draining between 12 and 100 Billion from the US economy), has seemed to mark a super slow period for sales and may have changed the buying patterns for many players.
The Only Thing You Have to Buy Now is a Codex Book For Warhammer 40k
We’ve polled a lot of game stores here in the States for October 2023, and it seems like the only releases that are selling for Warhammer 40k are codex books
Considering you have to buy the codex book to get access to the 40k app, players have been more or less forced into buying them. Other than that, things just don’t seem to be selling according to the stores we polled. The stores have said a few meta units for armies have been selling to revamp armies; it doesn’t seem like people are buying “older” models or even the new Space Marine releases.
Unless something is really sitting pretty in the meta (super hot units like Sagitaurs, Armigers, Biovores, etc.), it’s not moving from shelves, from what we have been told.
Recent 40k Win Percentages From Stat Check
This could be for a few reasons, but it just doesn’t seem like people are revamping their armies right now, as most people seem to be waiting for things to settle down in 10th Edition before they make big decisions about their armies.
Now, considering you basically have to buy codexes, and both of the newest armies had a giant release box, there really isn’t a big incentive for people to buy anything for their armies.
While there have been some hot new releases, there haven’t been too many can’t-miss releases.
While Leviathan sold well, that sort of was all people needed to buy, as if you already had a Space Marines or Tyranids army, that is enough new miniatures to last you a long time.
Then, nothing has/will be released for other armies for a while, and Ad Mech is only getting a single new model with their codex. So, for that release, it will pretty much just be codex book sales until something rises in the meta for Ad Mech that is just so good everyone needs it.
One of the problems, retailers noted, is the new Jump Pack Intercessors. They are basically the same models as Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs, and most people we’ve talked to have just converted or their own and saved a ton of cash!
Considering you only get 5 for the price of 10 Assault Intercessors. Really, the coolest model we’ve seen in a while is the Jump Captain, but one model probably isn’t enough to get sales moving.
We’ll have to see if things settle down with 10th edition Warhammer 40k and people start revamping their armies, but at this point, the string of releases (and a two-week pre-order period for everything) does not seem to be enough to get players excited about starting new armies or revamping theirs.
What do you think about stores reporting such slow sale numbers for 40k, with people just buying a codex book each release?
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
