New Year, New Army... Necrons!

It's the time of the year when all of the various gaming companies are hoping you'll pick up something new rather than moving on to another hobby or company. Games Workshop is, of course, no exception with their New Year, New Army story where many of the employees from their studio highlight what their plans and projects are for the new year. In my own New Year's post, I indicated that one of my projects for the this year would be necrons, but honestly it is an army I've had a love/hate relationship with for years. In this first "new army" article, I'll go through the army's history, why I haven't done an army until now, my first mostly completed warrior, and where I'm hoping to go from here.

First painted Indomitus Necron - we'll call him "Bob"

Indomitus Made to Order - GW Gets it Right!

After all of the insanity this weekend with the Indomitus box selling out in minutes we've finally gotten a response from Games Workshop, and quite frankly it is the best possible outcome and some of the best customer service I've ever seen from GW. If you go back to my article from yesterday, I'd indicated:

"Given the slim to possible negative margin on the set, I find it unlikely that Games Workshop will end up making more of them - though if they do it would be a really favorable gesture on their part in an effort to improve relations with their customers."

Today on Warhammer Community, there is an announcement revealing that Indomitus will now be "made to order." I can honestly say I'm glad I was wrong in my pessimistic view of their making more sets, but I'll certainly stand by the second half of that statement as the goodwill on web already seems to be spreading.

The Perils of a Loss Leader Strategy - More Things I Think I Think About Indomitus

It is still radio silence from Games Workshop on the fiasco that was yesterday's Indomitus launch, though the speculation and posturing on social media obviously continues unabated. Comments seem to fall into a few distinct camps, but there is the prevailing concept that Games Workshop made a huge amount of money yesterday with Indomitus selling out in minutes. While no doubt they had a banner sales day, in order for a company like Games Workshop to make money, they have to bring in more revenue than they spend on producing and marketing their product.  Based on their typical pricing model, I find it hard to believe that the new box is a real profit machine on its own. In fact, I firmly believe Indomitus was designed as a "loss leader" to bring new players into the stores, and from this perspective it likely failed miserably.

What I Think I Think About the Indomitus Fiasco

Wargaming can be an expensive hobby. I wrote an article on this a couple of years ago examining the cost of several different gaming systems, and suffice it to say Warhammer products frequently occupy the upper regions of that cost band. While Games Workshop can continue to charge a premium for their products because they own the IP, there are an increasing number of entities trying to create miniatures suitable for 40K and Age of Sigmar. The rise (and slow improvements in quality) of 3D printing is another avenue many seem to be exploring. The problem is that you can't use these at any official Games Workshop event. As a successful company, GW seems to be trying to combat this trend by at least offering entry level sets at a discount - providing substantial value for the dollar and then charging prices with higher margins for the more specialist and advanced units. The new mega-boxed set for 9th Edition was to follow this strategy - a box with the new rulebook, 61 exclusive easy to build miniatures, and a host of other goodies for the (relatively) low price of $199. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, in this case, just about everything...