GW believes that too. That is why they undervalue your opinion.

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

And that's the funny thing. Many of us spend money on an army faster than we can paint it, build a backlog (some of which is probably kept hidden for plausible deniability ), paint, game, decide to change tactics, spend more money, start a new army, spend more money, get excited about another army, spend more money, generate more backlog, etc. Though we sometimes don't care to admit it, this was all part of the silent agreement we had with ourselves.

Then they start upping the price, and take themselves out of the range where many of us devotees can no longer be as active in the purchase cycle as we wish.

THIS is when they should care the most about our opinion, not just of their prices but the models, releases, game rules, event support, etc. It's far easier to keep customers than it is to make new ones, existing ones are more invested, and having existing happy customers is one of the best ways of GETTING new customers too. But I see no such outreach from GW, at least not in the states. You look at Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, and other such channels and you'll see follow-up messages, links to opinion surveys, requests for feedback, etc. GW could do so much, with almost no extra cost, to at least make sure the community is engaged and at least make us THINK they care about us and our oppinion.

I've only been a GW food source for about 5 years, and I know some have been here a longer, but I've only felt "engaged" by GW for about the first year or so of that. After that interest in us as a community has just faded and now...

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Wait ye the finish! The fight is not yours.
Beowulf

http://TacticsInMiniature.com

I have not bought any minis for months - too many other things going on. I have no preference in maaterials, though I favour lighter weight with no compromise on quality, if possible, so resins and plastics are perfectly acceptable - provided this is not used as yet another excuse for a price hike.

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Published ebooks:
Instrument of the Empire
A Note of Defiance
Phantom Ships, Ghost Flotilla
More to come!

I don't belvie in this removing of metal models really. It is just a rumor after all, we need proof to back it up

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A new power is rising

to be honest i try not to buy gw metal figures anyway, just get whatever looks good on ebay or at any boot sales etc most of the time so this shouldn't affect me to much
also theres no need to panic yet, the metal models that are leaving stock in my area seem to always be the ones that have a newer version or ones that are in plastic already so it isn't too bad

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kill, kill

Well it has been a month now since this rumour started, i think it might not be true, mainly because of the health & safety of dealing with resin models in a mass market (hazardous dust).
If it was true GW would of had to have made an announcement by now.

Lets hope.

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Harfoots-The first of the Hobbit people to cross over the Misty Mountains and enter Eriador.

Confirmed by sources in Nottingham GW, the old resin centrifuges will be back in use very soon.
This is the reason places like Maelstrom are short on metal stock and now say "while stocks lasts"

Miniwargaming also has a sever lack of metal miniatures available.

^Maybe this metal scare has pushed people quicker into buying their wishlist full of metal minis and that's why everything is becoming out of stock on these sites, lol.

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My Lotr backlog: 305/952[][][][][][][][][][]32% completed
Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA

I guessed that when I saw Maelstrom running low on all of them. The only worry in that case is that the products are being removed from the site entirely once they sell out, instead of the 'Order Now' option as usual.

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Feel free to check out my galleries and painting guides! www.freewebs.com/necromancer7

Yeah I'm concerned now. That is pretty unusual for Mealstrom to just completely remove items once they're sold out like that. Hmm... I guess I better make my move now to get the minis that I want.

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My Lotr backlog: 305/952[][][][][][][][][][]32% completed
Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA

My solution is not to want anything anymore. My backlog will keep me busy well into the 23rd century anyway.

-- Pasi

ha i told a king's lynn (uk) GW manager about this and was almost angry at the accusation ^^

All she said that GW is trying to move all stock from metal to plastics...

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Dave / Aurielia (game name)
Blog http://pippins-window.blogspot.com/
WoTR: Lothlorien Army. From the UK leeds; PM me for a game

I can understand the move to plastic for a gaming perspective and it is better for gamers, but how do collectors and primary hobbyists feel about this move?

I buy the miniatures for the miniatures, not for the game. The fact that I can later use them for gaming is just icing on the cake for me. I've always valued the metal miniatures more over the plastics, even my friends who aren't into the hobby always seem to be more impressed by the metal ones for whatever reason. So to those people who buy to collect and love to paint, are you satisfied with the move to plastic?

Rant...
Of course GW is a hobby/game system. Some people are in it purely for the hobby aspect of it, others for the gaming, and then you have the people in between that love both. SBG was the perfect game system to satisfy both the hobby and gaming aspect because it didn't require so much miniatures, and you don't really have to dedicate yourself to one force instead you can make purchases from across the board of the factions. WOTR system is murder on gamers' wallets who want to build an army. It's a game that requires a lot of models and to build a metal miniature formation of 3 companies + command (which you absolutely need for that formation to be fully functional in the game) cost $150+ US. I can see why from a gaming perspective people hate metal miniatures.

WOTR is a system made to purely to bring in the $$$. You take a look at the Battlehosts book it is a joke. If you're dedicated to a single army (which most likely you are due to the amount of models you need for a single force) this book is worthless because it only gives several pages of vital information while the other 60 pages are useless to you. God help the Dwarf player that has only 2 pages worth of content. And then you look at each individual battlehost, you see the minimum required models that GW is trying to shape your army with, it's still a hell of a lot of models!

So it's no wonder that people have a hard time keeping up with this game system and not just this one but the other big two as well. For WOTR to thrive something has to give, and unfotunately for me the collector, that means metal has to go because it's ridiculous to have a full metal army unless you're rich.

Finally the one thing that upsetted me the most was pricing metal blisters based off of significance. A blister of 3 core miniatures is $15, a two miniature command is $15 USD, a 3 miniature command is $25-$30, two metal heroes is $20-$25. The price of metal has nothing to do with these prices and it is ridiculous, but I dealt with it as a hobbyist anyways (mostly by waiting for fire/liquidation sales).

End of rant.

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My Lotr backlog: 305/952[][][][][][][][][][]32% completed
Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA

I
You will get plenty of opportunity for fire sales as more and more gamers throw up their hands and give up on GW
I have been buying more Reaper lately.

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

GW have stopped making metals enmass! Rest in peace White metal models

A few Indi store managers have said they are worried they won't get blisters back again as the last GW shift was the idea of "direct only"
My biggest grudge with GW is not the price because compared to other companies they are actually quite reasonable.
Its the direct only... I DONT DRIVE 30 MINS TO GO TO A STORE TO BE ASKED TO WAIT UP TO FIVE DAYS TO GET A MODEL!!!
Thank God I live near GW HQ so i can get it smelted there n then.

BUY BUY BUY!!!

And then they will disappoint their people.And then two stories can happen:
1They will sold fewer prodcuts because fewer people wouldbuy as many will abandon.
2 They will make them on plasticor somethign like a new "metal"

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I am a ranger of the north.

I still need some metal models i was going to buy some last month i still need some of the newer Ringwraiths but i only wanted the mounted ones dont no why GW had to bring out a foot and mounted blister.

Pricing of miniatures is based off of predicted sales.

Metal command models, heroes etc are priced higher because each individual customer will only buy 1 of each, thus sales is lower and it's harder to make profit.
Metal warriors are cheaper because each individual customer will often buy several, so it's easier to make profit.

As to the question of plastic V metal. Personally plastic is better in every aspect of the hobby. It has as much detail as metal now, it's easier to work with, easier to paint, doesn't damage as easily and is cheaper and nicer to game with.

That is only true because of GW price structure. If they were a normal price I might buy several to convert.The price structure is self limiting and poor management.
It really is a dead issue for me.GW used to make the best metal miniatures in the world. That has not been true for a while now. When they stop making metal they will no longer matter at all.

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"