GW Financial Myths dispelled Part I

This post comes from a conversation in BOLS where I read people raging or defending GW prices. The intent of the post is by no means to defend or attack a pricing policy, merely to explain it, as quite usually unsubstantiated claims are made.

All of GW's operating policy is easily verifiable, if you´ve got any interest in learning the truth read the post to the end, if you just want to troll, troll away :)

From Independent Audited Consolidated Income Statement, GW Financial Report 2014/2015, page 34

1. Revenue: 119,132 Million (That´s the gross amount of money that enters the company from selling their product)
2. Cost of sales also known as COGS: 36,988 Million (That´s the cost directly associated with selling their product, so what the miniature really costs GW to produce)

So it´s easy to verify the margin at which GW sells their average mini: 322%

That´s only part one though.

Aside from the costs directly associated with creating an item, there are indirect costs or overheads that need to be incurred in order to be able to deliver that mini to the public. Those costs include: salaries of salespeople, transport, websites, leases of stores and a huuuuge etc.

So add in Operating expenses of 67,207 million

The operating profit of GW is therefore 16,477 million for 119,132 million worth of sales.

That means that they actually have a 13,8% profit in each of their minis sold, which is quite average for the consumer goods industry.

And the last point: They can afford to return items with no problem because the actual production cost of the item is quite small, but the costs necessary to deliver it to you are high, so it´s better to ensure customer satisfaction and a repeated purchase from a business standpoint in a niche industry with high word of mouth component than to earn 10 cents on a dollar.

Biz 101: Never confuse margin with profit.

Grieux out.

New additions

A few updates:

Currently rebased my Wolf Lord to give him the option of having a Thunderwolf mount in 40k games:

Finished my Bjorn the Fell handed rendition:

And the first of the tanks of my Vlka Fenryka, only pending snow effects:

Much more to come soon as I think on how to make an adequate set up to take pictures!

How to use a Deredeo dreadnought in your Space Wolves army

Well so you've heard all the buzz about the great new Deredeo dreadnought. In case you haven't, here's the link: ForgeWorld Deredeo pattern dreadnought.

This walking artillery platform does pack some punch, as you can find out in the Experimental Rules released by forgeworld. Then again, if you've read it's experimental rules and you're reading this blog also, it is probable that you feel justifiably slighted by the following quote:

"A Deredeo Pattern Dreadnought is a Heavy Support choice in a Codex: Space Marines, Codex: Blood Angels or a Codex: Dark Angels detachment."

Basically, anybody on power armor not named Space Wolves can have access to this fun new toy.

Well, let me tell you how to bypass that caveat in this, otherwise, impressive kit.

Disclaimer: I am not a competitive player nor claim to be competent in playing. At this point of my return to the hobby I'm mostly involved with constructing my army and theorizing about possible lists. As I'm really not willing to play with unpainted miniatures, I have yet to field this army and any ideas that come from it!

Also, let me proclaim before anyone decides to rage on me that I'm well aware about the distrust the sky warriors of Fenris have towards MK IV pattern and earlier variant dreadnoughts, the fluffy justification from Forgeworld to explain the lack of walker options for us Space Wolf players.

I just fail to buy it. Whether it is a game balancing choice or simply due to the fact that Bjorn is modelled on a mk V Dreadnought and that's a retrofitted fluff justification as to why is he not interred in a contemptor pattern Dreadnought or a mk IV even.

Don't tell me that the a critically injured Long Fang, veteran of a hundred conflicts, old honor guard of his Jarl (before he had to retire from the wolf guard due to his advanced age) and, does not deserve to be exalted into an avatar of long range destruction.

Finally, I just fell in love with the model. Something about those massive Anvilus autocannons made me keep thinking about Gugnir, the legendary spear of Odin. I knew I'd have to convert it to my army. But how could I ensure I'd be able to field a model in which I would have invested loads of money, time and passion?

Here comes the punchline:

Add in a small allied detachment to your main Space Wolves primary detachment composed of:

• 65 points, HQ: Techmarine counts as Iron Priest
• 99 points, Troops: 4x scouts with sniper rifles and camo cloacks, 1x scout sergeant veteran with combi-melta and melta bombs count as wolf scouts and a wolf guard represented by the veteran sergeant
• 220 points, Heavy Support: Deredeo Dreadnought with Anvilus autocannon and Aiolos missile launcher

For 384 points you get a solid HQ choice that you can attach to any of your mechanized squads to add a power fist equivalent (servo arm) and the possibility to repair their vehicle plus a cheap objective secured unit coming from reserves to do some late game objective capture/contests. Add then in in your amazingly "wolfyfied" Deredeo dreadnought, which will pretty much make short work of air and land threats alike.

Feel free to also add in a Land Speeder Storm with a multi melta to have an additional ObSec unit / suicide tank destroyer.

Here's my take on how it would end looking:

Gugnir, spear of the all-father, captured while firing his weapon systems.


P.S.: That one in the back is the new amazing model of Bjorn the Fell-handed. Will post some pictures of him as soon as I'm done painting him. All that is left is some detail work so it should be quite soon!

To finish this post, if you're not a space wolf player and doubt if your space wolf opponent is using this list build out of fluffiness or to smash your face, just take a look at his Deredeo and only accept to play him if it's adequately converted (or if you like a challenge, this build plus 1250 points of thurderwolf cavalry can get pretty nasty).

And so the saga begins...

It all happened a long time ago, a grainy time of maleficarum and shadows, a time when legends were forged and from where dreams echoed towards this very same present.

Circa 20 years ago I opened with excitement my very first blister from Warhammer 40,000. It contained Ragnar Blackmane, quite a new product back then, and the moment I stared into the eyes of that fierce sky warrior, a part of my soul flew towards Fenris, where it has stayed ever since.

Admittedly, I did take a quite long hiatus that spanned for more than a decade, but the past year the hobby bug bit me once more in part due to the ascendance of the TV show Vikings, which made me remember all I loved about my Space Wolves.

And of course, it did start again with the young king.

This blog will cover my progress as a hobbyist, starting from a pile of fond memories towards the end goal which is a fully painted Vlka Fenryka army.

Without further ado, please let me introduce you my reworked version of Ragnar Blackmane, as when I came back to the hobby, and despite my love for the old sculpt, I strongly felt he needed an update.