Why are the new army books so expensive?

[lbecks]

So people complain for years that Army Books and Codices alike are falling apart and need to be sturdier, and then when they make them so people still complain?

... and charge more.

[Rogue]

All speculation on my part, but how else would GW get their due from veteran gamers unless they upped the antie to play in the current edition? Veterans already bought the models needed to play so GW is not going to get significantly that much more from veteran players. Concerning new players, they just don't have a frame of reference as to how expensive auxillery items like books have become.

I am well aware that the counter point to this statement is that a new edition is going to have new armybooks and you would still have to pay to play no matter what. However that argument looses credibility with me when I bought two army books ($20 each) seven years ago for the price of one today. That old price of $20 was by the way the same amount as they were back in 1994 when not only they first sold armybooks, but when I started playing. As mentioned before everything but the rules are recycled so they are not paying for new GW product. The hardback is an added expense but not enough to justify double the price.

[Maskedman5oh4]

Bread costs more, along with milk, electricity, clothing and property.

I need those things to live.

If I cannot afford to purchase little plastic army men this month, then I don't. But I also don't complain about it.

This forum emulates the crowd that plays 40k and Fantasy nowadays; younger people that gripe incessantly when they cannot get what they want or provide it for themselves.

Grow up- it is called a budget; make one or shut up.

Regarding the thread topic : The army books are more expensive because they are larger and better. Durrrr.

[loveless]

How do people treat their books that the bindings fall apart? I am honestly curious, given that I haven't had a paperback fall apart on me in nearly 10 years (though the back page of my Warriors of Chaos book is a little loose).

I like my core rules in hardcover, my army rules (the thing I'm using to build a list) in paperback. It's a fair bit easier for me to flip through when I'm referencing things, in my opinion.

I still say they should have done a mix of hardcover and softcover army books and see which one sold more. Some die-hard army fans or the people who kept "breaking" their paperbacks would have likely bought the hardcover (heck, I might have for some of the armies), while those of us who don't bust our softcover books could get a little bit of a break for knowing how to take care of things

Eh, whatever though - the books aren't worth $41 by any stretch of the imagination. Luckily you can find them for around $31 with online discounters - which takes the price from "jawbreaker" to "horse pill" in terms of swallow-ability I'm a lot more selective with book purchases - GW's successfully taken me from buying every army book to next to no army books. I'm sure they're making a killing off of that switch! I couldn't pick up the Empire book - I flipped through a store copy and...ugh...just not worth it when I don't know if I want to pursue that army or not.

Regarding the thread topic : The army books are more expensive because they are larger and better. Durrrr.

If you must whine like a child about people trying to comprehend GW's book pricing, at least get your facts correct.

The Empire book is 96 pages.
The Vampire Counts book is 96 pages.
The Ogre Kingdoms book is 96 pages.
The Tomb Kings book is 96 pages.
The Orcs & Goblins book is 112 pages.

In comparison:
The Beastmen book is 96 pages.
The Bretonnian book is 80 pages.
The Daemons book is 96 pages.
The Dark Elf book is 104 pages.
The Dwarf book is 80 pages.
The High Elf book is 104 pages.
The Lizardmen book is 104 pages.
The Skaven book is 112 pages.
The Warriors of Chaos book is 128 pages.
The Wood Elf book is 80 pages.

Tell me again how the books are getting bigger. Outside of the 6th edition books and the O&G book, the hardcovers are on the short end of army books.

[sturguard]

Malorian,
I don't need a lesson on taking care of books, I am 42 and have a bookshelf full of book from when I was in my teens. I didn't bring anything on myself, the binding simply isnt the quality it could be, especially for the price. I'll use my hardbark Lord of the Rings book which I have read dozens of times over the years, is still in near mint condition and cost around $40 years ago when I purchased it.

[Maskedman5oh4]

Malorian,
I don't need a lesson on taking care of books, I am 42 and have a bookshelf full of book from when I was in my teens. I didn't bring anything on myself, the binding simply isnt the quality it could be, especially for the price. I'll use my hardbark Lord of the Rings book which I have read dozens of times over the years, is still in near mint condition and cost around $40 years ago when I purchased it.

Dozens? Like 24 (first applicable for dozens)? Which part have you been cast in plays of LoTR?

When I wear shoes often and they are no longer acceptable- I buy new shoes! I don't find someplace to complain about how they should have lasted for 3 more years on an internet forum.

Guess what- Warhammer (fantasy and 40k) is a game. You can survive withouth it. If you can't, please don't make me read about it.

Maybe you should just go read your mint copy of LoTR again...

[Lord Dan]

If you must whine like a child about people trying to comprehend GW's book pricing, at least get your facts correct.

The Empire book is 96 pages.
The Vampire Counts book is 96 pages.
The Ogre Kingdoms book is 96 pages.
The Tomb Kings book is 96 pages.
The Orcs & Goblins book is 112 pages.

In comparison:
The Beastmen book is 96 pages.
The Bretonnian book is 80 pages.
The Daemons book is 96 pages.
The Dark Elf book is 104 pages.
The Dwarf book is 80 pages.
The High Elf book is 104 pages.
The Lizardmen book is 104 pages.
The Skaven book is 112 pages.
The Warriors of Chaos book is 128 pages.
The Wood Elf book is 80 pages.

Tell me again how the books are getting bigger. Outside of the 6th edition books and the O&G book, the hardcovers are on the short end of army books.

Thanks for that page breakdown, Loveless. I've suspected the new books were about the same length, but haven't seen any numbers to support those assumptions.

[Maskedman5oh4]

Fair point, loveless.

[decker_cky]

So tell us how you really feel.

I have to agree with EmperorNorton on this one. Short of the Lord of the Rings price gouging this is one of the more obvious profit ploys on GW's part in the last year. The new books are pretty, but they're certainly not $41 pretty, especially given that just 3 years ago I was paying $20 for almost the same content.

Except...it's not $20 more for the hard cover and full cover, it's $8 more. And in my opinion, the quality is worth that over what we were already paying $33 for.

[vinush]

Since some people seem to be comparing what we use to pay for army books to what we now pay, I remember when the army books cost £8 to buy. There was no outrage when they went up to £10, the same again when they went to £12, then £15, then £18. Everyone who I play with are happy paying the £25 for the hardbacks. They feel amazing, look good and are an essential part of the hobby.

As for suggesting I don't know how to look after a book, you don't know me, likewise I don't know you. I don't make insults towards you or judge you based on one comment on here, so please show me the same courtesy. I know perfectly well how to look after a book, but the fact of the matter is the bindings on the old books simply couldn't take weekly war gaming.

THE \/ince

[Dranthar]

GW stuff is 'expensive' mostly because the folks writing these rules, making these models, are real people living in a developed country with bills of their own to pay.

Very true, but GW should really be saving on costs by moving their operation to a 3rd world country with lower wages and less stringent labor laws.

Like the US...

Seriously though, as someone living in Australia the cost of the army books seem pretty excessive. I like the bump in quality (lets face it - it was needed when you compare it to other wargames companies), but if it wasn't so expensive, I would have rebought my O&G and VC army books without hesitation, despite not having played in almost 2 years.

[TheDungen]

In a growing competition agaisnt digital games (computer games video games) gamesworkshop either lose sales or fear losing sales (other, sorry of the expression, toy companies such as lego ect have experienced this decline massivly, even if gw isnt in such a decline currently, not saying they're not just that i dont know, they have no way of knowing if they will be next year) and as such the increase their prices, this is not a matter of greed, its a matter of survival. very little if any of the money will ever end up with the shareholders a companies profit is a buffert agaisnt future unexpected expsenses and bad times.

[shelfunit.]

Why are the army books so expensive? Simple answer is because people still buy them and will keep buying them, for some regardless of how much they cost. The one and only way GW will reduce the prices of the books (and any of their other products for that matter) is if they experience a sudden, massive drop off of sales - not the 5-10% annual drop their figures have been showing for the last few years, but a noticable slump that overrides their annual price hike by a fair margin.

[Askari]

I quite like the new hardback books, they look far more professional and are just nice to have, the prices aren't too much, especially if you're buying non-direct. I got my new Empire army book for £20, when Codex: Tau back when that was released what 10 years ago cost me about £12 if I remember right, £8 more for a hardback book after 10 years of inflation sounds pretty good actually.

[Mentat Bashar]

Bindings that fell off? What did you DO to your books? Seriously though, I have to poetically express that I agree to a degree - the books are getting more expensive while still having basically the same content and size. Although as Malorian said, they DO look more professional, and I no longer need to weigh them down with a rock to keep them open on a certain page.

But it must be said, with Warhammer my thinking has always been "well, the hobby is expensive, but once you commit their worth pays back in multiples", meaning that once you start playing, the money you've spent pays back in hours having lots of good relaxed painting sessions or hearty, godless fun with your mates moving those plastic buggers around. BUT. That equation seems (to me at least) be at risk now when new editions pop up more often and whoops! Your book must be traded in for a newer, more expensive book ("But oh look at all the PRETTY PICTURES!!").

[jedideinos]

Looking at the book trade in general, £25 compared to £20 doesn't seem too bad. Down the local Waterstones, it's around the £18 mark for a hardback, and around £8 for a paperback: the hardback is more than double the paperback.
I quite like the new hardbacks. Will I be buying a copy of each? No. I used to, then realised the cost. If 40K goes the same way, then I'll stop buying every Codex as well.

[Lord Solar Plexus]

I'm not getting all the irony.
Everything in the Western Hemisphere is 'overcosted' for crist's sake.

Don't be ridiculous, DaemonReign. First of all, how did you find out? Honestly, what's the criterion? Certainly not a comparison with other similar products when everything is overcosted a priori. Secondly, it's not true. Bread, butter, food and drink, clothes, cars, films, computers and games, internet and phone, books and a visit to the zoo are all reasonably priced and affordable even on a small budget where I live. And, as it happens, I live in the Western Hemisphere.

Thirdly, if you were indeed right, that doesn't sound like a good reason for consumers to be happy about it. What is there not to get about that?

Do you people purchase gasoline or fly around on Discs of Tzeentch? Haters gonna hate.

Platitude alert! Propagandists gonna propagate...and with all due respect but to demand to stfu and just accept everything the offering side on the market says and does or be called a hater is very close to blatant, biased, unsubtle propaganda.

You may have noticed that people aren't particularly glad about the increase in fuel and energy prices either. Perhaps you are different. Perhaps you prefer rising prices, the steeper the better, no matter prices, everyone can just become a millionaire? Either way, how in the world does the price of gasoline justify the price or price increase of a book? Does printing in China and shipping them here add cost? I don't think so.

If I cannot afford to purchase little plastic army men this month, then I don't. But I also don't complain about it.

I wonder who made you our role model. And I wonder why asking a question has to be met with the strongest terms possible.

[theshoveller]

Tell me again how the books are getting bigger. Outside of the 6th edition books and the O&G book, the hardcovers are on the short end of army books.

Which we can translate as, "ignoring the evidence that doesn't support my argument"...

By your own numbers, the hardcovers are pretty much bang in the middle point between the longer mid-period 7th edition books and the much shorter 6th edition ones. The late period 7th books are 96 pages. The O&G book is the second longest book still in print.

[T10]

Edit: Posted in wrong thread.

Relevant Content: Army books are great!

-T10

[Paladin21]

I think some of the binding things people are debating might have to do with where you live. Here in the southern US, the softcover bindings melt in the summer...literally. If the local game store ordered copies in July/August we could pull them out of the delivery boxes, hold the book up, and all the pages would fall out. Same thing if you left it in your car on accident or something like that.