Will Game Workshop's Stock Issues Hurt The Old World? - Warhammer 

It's super odd that they announced this back in 2019 and didn't plan too much for the future. I'm loving the game but it sucks hearing that people can't get their stuff because of lack of stock. It does make me worry a bit about the future tbh

Pretty much a given that The Old World is GWs first "3d printer oriented" game

Why does GW think that going back to a fan favourite setting that became popular through one of the biggest rts game franchises on the market wouldn't be popular? It confuses me so much

GW knew this would be popular. The problem is they are trying to make too many models without the ability to produce them all at once. They need to expand their production, and they need to over haul their logistics and distribution.

I really hope the stock problems get sorted by the time my beloved High Elves come out. It's rough enough waiting and not actually knowing what all minis they'll be re-releasing.

The whole launch of Old World seems very half arsed to me . There are probably 100's of boxes of stuff sitting in warehouses just waiting for the hype machine to hit it's peak

The thing I noticed is that the E-Mail alerts don't seem to work. I had set alarms (or thought I did) for basically the whole Tomb King range, but I didn't get a single mail about stuff being available again. I am inclined to slightly disagree on the FOMO stuff. GW really only has a few really limited releases, mostly the store anniversary and other event models (and those have been a thing for ages, if we're being honest). A lot of new models are available first in limited boxes with older stuff, or as a pre-release box with new or reworked armies, but the only things you're missing out on is a discount on stuff (which is admittedly good if you're interested in the whole box). Other than that, you're loosing out on being one of the first to have the model that we know will be available regularly and on its own a few months later. That doesn't mean the low stock on basically everything when it comes out is acceptable or not a problem they have to solve (which they are working on), or that I like the way they release stuff, but it's not really FOMO if nothing is really limited. I feel the constant 'GW is doing FOMO' when it comes to these boxes is contributing to the scalper issue more than anything else (actually limited items notwithstanding), as that mindset probably drives a lot of people to buy at the scalper prices instead of waiting for the regular release.

I hadn't even noticed there was a restock, and I have the GW site set to warn me when a lot of what I wasn't able to get goes back on sale. I should count myself lucky I was able to get the the base set, books and some grail knights at all, but it's still massively frustrating, I don't want to resort to third party, but this is ridiculous.

My local store didn't have any old world stock yet either.

FOMO should be prohibited. Thankfully, Highland Miniatures make fantastic miniatures that are way better looking and priced fairly than GW ones.

Other Miniature Lines for WANTED OLD WORLD ARMY! Dogs of War - Wargods of Aegyptest, & Historic Minis Cathay - Wrath of Kings (Cool Minis or Not) Nippon. - Clan War (AEG) Pirate/ Marauder of Sea of Chaos & Claw - Black powder (Warlord) FrostGrave - (North Star Military Figs)

You want to know the worst part my friend? I pre-ordered one starter set of each, thinking we would never really get anything else and that the dwarves would get announced in many years. When I discovered the dwarves were in, I immediately wanted to cancel my pre-order. I called GW and got told it's not cancellable, that I have to wait to receive it only to return it for free and get reimbursed. These boxes could be sent to people who are still interested right now, but noooooo we have to do all of this nonsense because they can't handle a single warhouse correctly.

A lot of AoS models are compatible with ToW. Been able to build up a sizeable goblin and black orc force last month via 2nd hand and from 3 different stores in my area. There are also STLs that make movement trays that covert round bases to square. But I will admit it will take time to build this army, as there are some models sets that are completely out of stock everywhere. Might turn to 3D printing or other ranges for those models

My local store's manager has zero hype for ToW because he played skaven and nothing is coming out for them. I feel the same with dark elves and lizardmen. I'm only really bothered about the odd couple of minis to paint. I can buy them off ebay so with no new minis actually being made for the majority of the line there's not much point. Hopefully GW sorts out stock for what they are hyping and then sort out actual new minis.

I can't even get a copy of the rulebook, so I'll just have to make do with 6th edition. I don't think I'll be able to play this for quite some time.

Perhaps they shouldnt have given so many away to influencers 😂

I'm still waiting for my ordered tomb kings starting box. Order placed on 6th jan...

Don't forgot Australia, Japan and a few others dont get there launch and stock untill this weekend. We still don't even have the rule books.

Yes. Ive already resigned. Im tired of their bullsh*t games with customers

I see mostly old world people putting AoS ranges on square bases.

Back in the 90's and early 00's, I don't remember FOMO ever being an issue. If you wanted it, it was available. The issue back then was if you had enough money to buy what you wanted. :)

I honestly believe they hate money. Oh and the shiny button "alert me when available" on their web site does not work at all.

Over the past couple days I noticed something interesting: checking the site early in the morning saw references being restocked without warning (despite me asking for them on a number of references). Managed to snag grail pilgrims, a damsel and BSB (foot/horse) for Bretonnia. Anyone trying to fill the collection should check every morning, just in case.

In my local Warhammer store they didn't get any of the new base adaptors or the Tomb Kings information book but the local games store did.

The fact they've not even released anything for most factions and for the two at launch where are the knights on foot, where are even the peasant archers or infantry - even with the stock issues this launch has been awful

It’s not only tOW stuff that’s out of stock. Most if not all of the easily proxable AoS stuff is being scooped up as well. Dwarves for cities of Sigmar, treespirits from sylvaneth, even beastmen. The impact tOW has had is immense and undeniable. The only problem is if GW will want to listen, as the game is not main studio and we know there’s quite a lot of internal politicking going on against tOW at the moment

My biggest worry is that scalpers will be buying up the more models as soon as they come out and that would hinder people in buying the models they want. Let's hope they can deal with it soon.

They need to sell STLs of their products. It's only a matter of time.

I think this is their sale model now. Its a ‘just in time’ production chain that avoids stocking up on product that they are not sure that they will able to sell.

For me it's a combined issue of stock and price. Lets just ignore the issue of stock, you discussed it at length in your video and I agree with what you said. The stock issue has me, for the first time, looking at other sellers. I can jump on Etsy, or any number of other places, and get models that look just as good, if not better, for 1/4 - 1/2 the price. And I can actually buy those right now, not some indeterminate time in the future. I don't know what metric they were going to judge the game's success by but I'm sure hoping it wasn't model sales. If so, they have absolutely set the game up for failure.

its not just local stores, i ordered from GW direct on day of pre orders going live and my order has yet to be dispatched even post this restock

I am looking to get into the game with the orcs & goblins but I can’t because nothing is available to buy except for a few resin & metal kits available for pre order.

Not even just The Old World. Loads of 40k stuff. I have 5 orders made between Nov and Now, none have been posted yet.

The stock problems only ever seem to get worse with every release. The Old World launch was, quite frankly, disastrous. I'm expecting a short window where stuff is back available when the second wave drops. Initial demand far exceeded GWs expectations, which I get, they basically revived an old IP off the back of successful video games, so they probably didn't have much confidence in the project. And if they manage it like HH 2.0, the game will flounder around but never hit its mark due to mismanagement. At least, with a thriving community, it also won't die. I I was on the fence about bretonnia, but for now I pivoted to getting a Kings of War army started. I'll probably only get into Old World once things settle down a bit and I don't have to constantly worry about stuff being out of stock. And if that doesn't happen, there's a ton of good rank and flank games out there.

Not surprised. GW main target was to sell out the rest of fb models that were collecting dust in the warehouse. They could have issued print on demand tho

When it comes to the bret army box the second wave wasn't big enough to even fulfill the preorders of the first wave let alone have any remain for the gamestores. I preordered The Bret army box along with their dice set and the movement trays on the day the pre-orders opened only to be told I had to wait for the second wave. And when the second wave came in I got the dice and movement trays but not the army box. I have to wait for the third wave for that.

I got some stuff from the Made to Order campaign that just ended today and those are arriving already tomorrow so go figure! Mind you, I made that order a few minutes after they came up, I ordered more a few days later and haven’t heard anything about them so will probably be a long wait for them. But hey, those were 90s models I've wanted for over 25 years so I don't mind waiting even 6 months!

Gotta get ready for that price hike before restocking 😂. Same old same old.

I got the Sepulchral Stalkers box that I bought last year today. Mainly since I'm going to use them as K'Daai Fireborn. Also, I hate that scalpers do this

I ordered both Bretonnian and TK boxes and my FLGS had to call me to ask which one i prefer because they had so many orders and so little stock they had to ration them. They did their best to make sure everyone gets the one they prefer. Told them i don't care which one and that i don't mind waiting so that someone else can take a pick, so i got the TK eventually. I still don't know when my Bretonnians will be arriving and god knows how many people didn't get any at all.

Games Workshop need to start selling official .stl files for 3D printing, they would never go out of stock. They could include them in the Warhammer+ subscription service. Other companies like Mantic have begun doing this as well as selling their physical plastic models, it's time for Games Workshop to enter the 21st Century and start embracing these new technologies as well. Hell, they should do this to not only to help with stock issues, but to also prepare for what is coming in the future. If Games Workshop doesn't officially enter into the 3D printing space now, then it will potentially be a lot more difficult for them to compete with AI in the not too distant future when AI will be able to generate pretty much perfect copies of Games Workshop miniatures for people to 3D print.

I think the comparison to Dominion is probably important. Those hung around on shelves for ages. I wonder if they used that for their projections - would feel intuitive (though obviously wrong in practice). They do have fundamental capacity issues after all, so it’s an opportunity cost when they make too much. I think folk like yourselves could do great work with some content on how to build an Old World army from stuff that’s available. I’ve managed to assemble a pretty diverse Orcs and Goblins army from scratch with remaining Fantasy kits, AoS and a bit of eBay.

I managed to get my tomb Kings box this weekend.

The problem is getting to big. I found out forces of fantasy has a uncertain restock date here, and I preordered it day1. For Legiones Imperialis local store didn't receive any preorders for the great slaughter, and this seems to be happening with nearly all preorders.

I am sure part of them keeping stock low creates inflated demand and thus allows them to increase the price, but as you mentioned many people are not going to wait, they will not play or they will purchase from a 3rd party creator who is making NEW models for 1/2 the price. Most people are not playing in official competitive games so using Games Workshop products is not required

I've been waiting for a copy of the most recent killteam box I pre-ordered from element games and its getting to the point that I'm wanting to cancel my order

I've also embargoed you from purchasing any Orc & Goblin sets when they get released.

While I was watching I thought "where is the problem, just use stuff from others or 3D printed" and then you said it yourself. For example, Oathmark & Frostgrave have a really good value for money ratio.

Sure it sucks, but what can you do? Sometimes this just happens. Patience is important, I guess. So I'll wait, personally, until I see if they've redone the High Elf Spears. If they do? Then I'll order some from my local store and get em whenever they do. I've seen some good 3d printable models that people I know have gotten.

If they can keep up the production, then it should be a good thing instead. It's okay to create scarcity as long as it doesn't get to that point that pisses off the customers.

I still cant get things I want, including the core box. I had to save up for it and missed the window. I wanted the troll hag and she was gone. :(

Heresy's stock problems where/are hilariously bad but that's because GW will release a required product then axe it in three months for ....reasons. I would like to get the rulebooks in my store

Well duh..In my community everyone I know is 3d printing their armies.....and people aren't going to go back to paying 20x. We'll buy rules sure, and maybe the odd iconic model. But there's no incentive to buy GW models.... many fine 3d sculpts are available, in many cases superior to GW. You can buy a set of STLs covering the entire model lineup for an army for $100-$150 in most cases, and $150 in resin will print about 5000 points worth of models. If I can get a 5000 point army for $300.... why would I buy GW models at 20x the price? GW is completely out of touch with reality and unable to perform basic business functions like understanding demand, planning, and executing production of plastic injection molded parts. They are in for a rude awakening to find out they are not in a vertical market any more, and can't keep on being jerks...

I’ve had to turn to highland miniatures and reptilian overlords because I didn’t have much of an empire army already. Didn’t want to but my friends started tomb kings and Brets and I don’t want to wait up to another year to play

Well I hope they add the few factions that haven't been out yet like bear cav keslive or however it's spelled. Well I have an army with spiders gobos and stuff some black orcs so I guess I just play with my models from like 13 years ago for now.

What I'm wondering is if there's any chance of a real restock on Dark Elves. I know they're technically AOS, but they're really Old World now. OTOH I hate that most of them have shield emblems sculpted on, so maybe I should just look for prints. Not sure if the shields are thick enough to survive shaving the emblems off.

They have 4 unsold copies at my local

I think they lost a GOLDEN opportunity to sell a lot, because when all the other armies arrive, (since they released all the rules at the start of the release) everyone is just so eager to play that most people will have 3d printed the armies when all the other armies are available.

Its been a full year waiting on rhe fellwater trolls to be in stock again, at least in the US. Im glad i got a few of rhe made to order brettonias placed as i get rhe feeling waitinf rhe 180 days is fonna be equivalent to a restock of the new resin characters

They've been bad at estimating demand for their products for 10 years now, but with the growth of their market, supply chain issues and lack of production capacity it is rapidly hitting a breaking point. Their limited edition FEC box is still on-sale everywhere, despite the actual FEC release now being up for preorder (element games has got shelves of it still, my relatively small LGS has got 3 copies of it not moving anywhere). Multiple Marine boxes from the past 2-3 years, intended to be limited time/stock things, remained unsold and left sitting on shelves while new KT boxes have had like, tiny production runs with some LGS's not even receiving any stock. They critically overproduce Dominion to such an extent that stores post pictures of their staff building forts out of unsold stock on social media, meanwhile the two most unpopular armies in Warhammer Fantasy can't even stay on-sale for 15 minutes before becoming unavailable again. GW do slightly better market research than they used to, but it's still really bad. They fundamentally do not understand their product, who buys it and why.

Just look at the skaven range 75% of skaven things are out of stock

The biggest thing that'll kill The Old World is availability. Only 2 factions and having to wait months (at least) for you faction is meh. Everything out of stock = people waiting again. Everything thats in stock = online only/made to order = people waiting again. Very few people are going to be able to actually sink their teeth in to The Old World, including myself.

can you image what orcs and tribes are going be like with stock levels

The stock was up for several hours. Basically the way to get it is to subsribe for email notification and react.

I like your nuanced takes. No hate but criticism if needed. 👍

I wouldn't be worried about it. It is a problem and it's something that GW need to work on but the problem is production not being able to keep up with demand. They make the best out of that by doing the FOMO releases but they quite literally cannot keep up with the demand. The rumor is that they were supposed to release some of the core boxes and the knights of the realm on foot already but they've been using their production capacity to make what they already have on the store non-stop because they can't keep it stocked. In fact, I'd argue that a large part of The Old World's current draw is the mystique of a games system that people haven't played or seen played for the better part of a decade and even then when it was played it wasn't played often. That's not to say that I think it'll help build additional hype, but that I don't think it'll be a problem for the long term health of the game. If anything I think this will wake them up to just how important ramping their production immediately is. If what they expected to be the smallest release of the year ends up selling out immediately and non-stop for weeks on non-limited items it's not a FOMO release anymore it's just GW not understanding how much product they could have sold and leaving a significant amount of money on the table.

As someone who has never played Warhammer Fantasy, and would be coming into it from Warhammer total war. Initially I was hyped for the Old World, but I am getting tired of constantly visiting the online shop and seeing out of stock on almost every item. I've not had a chance to buy anything - models or books. From what I can see, GW don't believe in this range and I am frankly losing interest and will probably just stick to Total War and in order to get my Warhammer fix, I need to hope that CA pull their fingers out of their arses and sort that game out. If anything, it's probably a good thing I am losing interest because in the long term I will be saving a LOT of money. I predict Old world will be like Pharoah, dead on release. Yes, they might be selling/sold out but if there are people like me who are new and losing interest, we won't bother getting into it later. GW need to capitalise on the hype train and they are doing a bad job. Like CA, GW need to seriously reshuffle their executives who don't have good foresight and end up making poor decisions.

Self embargo to let us have our toys...you should be made GW CO! ❤

They literally released two new game systems back to back.... no wonder they cant keep up!

Still can't even get the rule books. Glad it's doing well but even the more Old World compatible AoS stuff is in short supply locally. Just wanted a small box of Skeleton warriors for a nephews birthday but nada. If they've broke ground on a new US factory that's good news.

ive been buying slaves of darkness minis for chaos but after seeing week after week more and more things become out of stock ive turned to 3rd party 3d printed minis that imo look better than gamesworkshop stuff and sometimes 70% cheaper. I was willing to pay more for gamesworkshop stuff but if they arent there or the minis are horrible then ill go elsewhere and tournaments be damned

I'm really struggling to get AoS minis in the US. So much is always out of stock. Wouldn't even consider trying to collect an old world army given how poor they are at stocking models for AoS which have been out for years.

The TOW release is baffling to me. Looks like a lot of money being left on the table.

I think this is going to make 3D prints even more palatable to people.

I’m still waiting for my britonian box and map and other stuff it’s ridiculous

These stock issues are pretty common in 40k too, at least in the US. This definitely isn't just an old world thing. Still definitely an issue GW needs to fix though.

I managed to snag a bretonnia box the other day finally, it arrives tomorrow (sorry daemonettes you'll have to wait). Im thinking im gonna do a bastonne color scheme for them.. the bretonnians... not the lol nvm.

They need to open more places to produce these, and they need to do it overseas. I get so excited when I see 35, and then I’m like oh… I’m on the British setting, click US and it goes to 90

Imagine when they finally get to releasing grand cathay and kislev stuff... it's going to sell out immediately

I'm sad dice and caeds and the map will not be restock soo far..... I sad about the map mostly

While I'm waiting for the restock, I will finish up my clone army. Besides the Starter box, what are considered essential for a Bretonnian army? I want to budget for this and have a good idea and how much it'll all cost.

I was in the hype I wanted to buy the books but I can't. Sometime the hype will passed and I will no more want the books

Probably the supply chain issues that still exist across the world. They don't report on it anymore because of the optics but it is still there. That is my most generous opinion. The other side is that it skeezy marketing FOMO nonsense.

Only if they are unable to manage the issues within the first quarter, ideally within a month. Not sure to extent however

I play White Scars, we don't have Dreadnoughts! 😜

I don't think having excess demand will hurt GW's incentive to support TOW, quite the opposite in fact. The danger would be that people don't engage with it because of the supply issues, but then again Warhammer Fantasy players have gone this long without support, I'm sure they can last another six months or whatever for the stock issues to be ironed out.

I definitely noticed that I can’t find any old world stuff in any of the hobby shops near me

Ordered bretonnian box just after release, shop ordered from still waiting on a restock and *may* have it back in stock by 20th February. Tried to give my money to gw but not possible, just ordered a load of 3d printed, better models and cheaper and most importantly, available 🤷‍♂️

GW love leaving money on the table by making a FOMO business model. It’ll be supported by the printing industry

I'm part of a big community in italy and I can say that there's not much problem here: everyone is so exited that the player are close to the AOS and 40k numbers. Most played fantasy and new players just go for alternatives if the don't find anything. Expecially after all these raising prices. But I don't thing this will especially hurt tow, the interest is there and will keep grow and buy anytime they can. GW fans are drug addicted.

I cant even get started with beastmen. It's a joke

Can someone tell me why GW's shareholders doesn't get furious that a company, whose primary revenue stream is selling miniatures, can't manage to produce and stock enough of said miniatures to sell them. It is mindboggling that the management of any retail business can keep inventory out of stock for months and still keep their jobs.

Forget models. I need to rebase and you can’t even get those. It’s all third party now to start working

GW have no clue how much interest there is in their old IP. If I didnt know better, I'd consider them geniuses for blowing up their beloved ip ... but still being too stupid to realize what they have.

When the next wave of Old World armies arrive the Tomb Kings and Bretonnians will be more readily available.

Legions Imperialis has been defacto sold out on launch 2 months ago. And still No decent restock.... None zip, nada

I mean my LGS has already utterly abandoned and spat on the Old World for AoS, so things aren't seeming great. There's loads of enthusiasm about it but I just don't see it from LGS in Canada.

Right now it's only playable for people who still have their WHFB stuff, use third party miniatures or buy for too much money WHFB models - don't get why gw is doing that

I shouldn't have to go to ebay to get a rulebook.

I'm now in the market for a Tomb Kings starter, 8 skeleton archers and a Mortiary Priest... and the books for Ravening Hordes, Forces of Fantasy, the Arcane Journal for Tomb Kings and when they drop the High Elves. Been having a blast painting up my 3 (second hand) Chariots and the paint scheme has actually gotten me super hyped to make a full army of them now.