Tis a Sad Day as MiniWarGaming Are Closing Their Store
March 22, 2013 by dracs
Well my friends it seems that we are reaching the end of an era as MiniWarGaming have announced that they will be closing down their store.
MiniWarGaming have put out a video announcing the sad news. According to the vid, there are many reasons behind the decision to close the store, with the new changes in Games Workshop policy towards online retailers being a major contributing factor in this as they have seriously restricted the products they can stock.
Now I hasten to add that MiniWarGaming will still be publishing their great hobby videos and will still be selling their Dark Potential products. It is just their store which is coming to a close.
It is really sad to see the combination of economic conditions and the changing attitudes and approaches of companies towards online retailers bring things to a stage when the there is little choice left but to close the store.
We at Beasts of War will definitely be keeping an eye out for any further announcements from MiniWarGaming and wish them luck with continuing to produce their videos and the sci-fi game Dark Potential.
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Maybe once and for all GW needs to feel for real that you guys don’t want them anymore. Personaly i only buy once half of a starter box from a friend and sell it in order to pay dreadball. Seriously, there are many other amazing games right now that have huge audience and even way better quality than gw minis ( no moldlines, bubbles and all that … )
They don’t deserve your money…
I feel your pain. I started playing tabletop war game in 1985, started with 40K and Fant. Loved them then and still have high respect for them now. But due to their constant price hikes and business practices I quit GW 6 years ago. Now don’t get me wrong, I loved the games and ALL the books, but Bill Gates is not my father and i’m rather poor. But thanks to quiting GW I found Mantic, Spatan, MERC’s and a ton of other GREAT games. And thank God I found BoW. (my brother’s from another mother). I am so sorry… Read more »
If GW continues this trend of price hikes and shutting down all possible competition, I foresee them being in a serious financial crisis by the end of the decade. I mean the Space Marine Battleforce went from £52 to £80 in the space of two years, and it’s even worse for anyone outside of England or Europe. People just won’t be able to afford it anymore.
I’m one of those but also there is no local store here and even before they didn’t allow online retailers to sell us ( except for GW website of course ). I’m really happy that i never painted a gw mini so far because i won’t miss them.
I’m putting all my money on Mantic ( Dreadball, Kings of War and waiting for the Warpath kickstarter ). Also I have my Cryx army and i’m waiting for the big juice Kingdom Death:Monster and Relic Knights ( yeah i have more than enough 😛 ).
GW ffs …
I’m sorry to hear that you guys are trowing the towel because of the 1000 pds Gorilla that is GW. Yes I’m very disappointed of GW with this low blow that instilled on all retailers around the world. I guess they forgot about the little stores that help GW be what it is now. I’m afraid of saying what I’m gonna do because I really love 40K and have spent over half my life playing the game. Yes since Rogue Trader….plus the investment I have applied to them!!!! we are talking about thousands and thousands of dollars not counting time… Read more »
as a previous customer of miniwarming on multiple occasions, and a big fan of their videos (as well as the ones by beasts of war) I am very sad to see them go, even more so now with the immanent release of the new tau codex and models. I love my friendly local gaming store, but they could never compete with online sales for price. it is a sad day indeed when the gw bullies say competition is bad for their business, lets take them out. its kinda like playing a win at all costs player, it really takes the… Read more »
“They don’t deserve your money…” Totally agree. Until there is a complete overhaul of the way they run the company they won’t get my cash, and even then they have already priced themselves out of my pocket. GW have no respect for their customers who are treated as cash cows. They have less regard for people like Matt above who promote and sell GW products. It is impossible to respect the board of managers who have ruined the company imho. I don’t care if they still make a profit, the company has sold its soul, so sod ’em. As you… Read more »
Is not sad really, we have a lot other things to choose and if GW goes bankrupt the better, they will sell the rights to the highest bidder and there many miniatures companies can get there to make each one a codex 😀 ( yeah crazy but please i want Kingdom Death’s Chaos Daemons and Marines; Eldar and Tau from SodaPop; DreamForge ImperialGuard and Spacemarines! And i’m sure you could think of many others! ). This will open companies to do something that we had already see in kickstarter with collaborations between KD , SodaPop and Studio Macvey. I know… Read more »
This is sad day indeed. There is another thing that GW dosen’t seem to realise and thats fact that not only there is lot of competition for them these days but also internet provides both way to people learn about those other games and buy them online when ever they local store dosen’t have those. With so much to choose from these days there is no reason to be stuck with GW even if they games were first introduction to this hobby. Then again some people are too deep in this to quit.
I’ve just signed up to their vault thingy to support them a bit, as with the BoW backstage, I think its important for the hobby (thats the wider hobby not the ‘GW Hobby’) that sites like this stay around , indeed, I’d point something out about the ‘leeches’ of the internet as GW seem to view them. There is more content on BoW and on miniwargamings youtube channel about starting out in 40k than there is on GWs own website. Its a family friendly site, so I wont say precisely what I think of Tom Kirby and his mates. But… Read more »
That sucks for MWG, it makes you think of all the other stores who don’t have such a great online presence and how they will be affected – but evidently GW doesn’t care for the kind of stores that helped to make it the success it is. GW knows it still has a relative monopoly on the industry, as most who get into fantasy/sci-fi wargaming do so through GW, either though a friend or they get interested through the games or BL books. How does GW expect to maintain the growth of its games when they are closing bigger stores… Read more »
It doesnt just effect GW though. If they can put online retailers out of buisiness then it hits other games companies that rely on these retailers too. Crafty way of nobbling the competition.
but then GW probably arn’t as devious as i am….
Once again, I am still wondering why no other gaming company is so hostile to stores selling their goodies on line at a discount. Never hear of Corvus or PP being apoplectic about Wayland or others.
Oh yeah, they are living on the same plane as their customers.
This is yet another indication of GW’s insularity and lack of understanding and/or caring about anything beyond the walls of the mighty Citadel.
ps What @Warspawned sed.
GW’s plan is a relatively simple one, kill all competition, drive the customers to their shops and their online shop, cut the retailer get 100% profit as the manufacturer. They do not care if the local shops will survive or if they will kill countries were they have no presence there, if they deemed the local population profitable they would have shops and if the local population wants to continue gaming, there is their online shop. Personally I am done with GW as a customer a few years now, but their actions affect the local game stores who are reluctant… Read more »
If that is the plan they cannot kill off the competition. It is to well set now.
Apart from which the competition is NOT mutually exclusive to GW.
Most systems are skirmish level.
I really enjoyed this from Adam. This will probably appear in the BoW listings but oh well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9rH2UAo8o4&feature=em-uploademail
That’s a reasonable stance, but holds in countries were the wargaming scene is diversified and there are plethora of wargame stores. I can see this happening in america and some European countries, but in other countries were wargaming is not widely established and stores are really few, these policies can be quite severe, I was reading on TGN painting frogs stance on the subject and it seems Brasil faces the same problems my country faces. Get in an environment were after Rackhams fiasco severely affecting them all LGS stocked GW (in effect everything non GW has to be ordered online),… Read more »
“I really hope local stores in my country can diversify and expand and not get killed by GW’s decisions.” I hope so too. It is tantamount to unfair trading practice imho to be doing what GW have done. Seriously denying the USA stores not to sell on-line? I cannot believe, as Adam said, that the nation that is supposedly so big on free trade allows this to happen. To choke stores in countries where the hobby is trying to get established is totally unforgivable. There are no excuses. I am sure that PP aspire to grow and make profits. Ditto… Read more »
In the US you’re free to sign just about any contract, even if it’s a stupid one. I’d like to point out that this agreement applies only to those retailers who get their product direct from GW. Thanks to a recent landmark supreme court decision upholding the right to first sale (in a copyright case completely unrelated to any of this), there is no way GW can stop someone from buying a ton of product from a US distributor and reselling it to Brazilians. The cost of such an operation is a lot higher now than it was before GW’s… Read more »
GW have every damn right to say “you can’t sell our product”. They make it. The package it. It’s theres. I mean Tescos homebrand can’t be sold in Asda. Free Trade is OWNING YOUR PROPERTY. And GW products are GW’s products, not anyone elses (until they are sold). They have every moral, and should have every legal right to do whatever they want to do when it comes to who and how their own property can be sold. It is no doubt the case that stopping third party online sellers can only damage GW’s profits in the long term, but… Read more »
Owning property is nothing to do with free trade. Sure GW can do want they want with their products. (Still doesn’t give them the right to behave like jerks.) Your analogy doesn’t hold up Poosh. Tesco don’t manufacture their brand goods. they also stock other brands of horse meat, and they don’t supply corner shops afaik, certainly not with Tesco brands. Trying to behave as a monopoly is not trading freely. Putting restrictions on the ability to order and sell goods is not trading freely. Any which way I look at it GW are trying to exert pressure on people… Read more »
I’m not sure how to characterize the wargaming scene in the US, but I don’t think I would call it widely established. The numbers tend to throw things off because the nation is so large. Yes, the gaming market is huge here in terms of raw numbers, but it’s still a very tiny proportion of the overall population, and there are large (very large, like hundreds of thousands of square miles) parts of the country where there are no gaming stores at all. I really can’t explain why GW isn’t the same behemoth here as they are in other places.… Read more »
Miniwargaming “evangelized” PP products very heavily. In fact they actually bothered to do a nice “how to play” series of videos.
MWG also started their own game, which is where most of their business effort is going these days. He even said in the video, that GW’s decision was just the last straw for an already low-margin business that was on the edge (their margins are lower than retailers who sell at full MSRP). MWG diversified their interests just in time. I hope their game does well for them.
Free Trade is having the right to trade your product as you see fit. It would be a f*cked up world if people came along and told you what you can and can’t do with your own product. Owning property – property rights – is absolutely the foundation of free trade. Free Trade is NOT me coming into your home with a gun (the law) and telling you what to do with your own property – products. Actual free trade, not stealing from someone or demanding someone do what you want them to do with the product of their own… Read more »
“Term free trade Definition: The absence of trade barriers, or restrictions on foreign trade. Based on the notion of comparative advantage, unrestricted trade is generally beneficial to a trading country. However, while consumers benefit through a greater selection of products and lower prices, producers in a country are on the receiving end of lower prices and stiffer competition. In that producers tend to have more political clout than consumers, completely, unhindered free trade is seldom seen in the real world. Numerous trade restrictions such as tariffs, non tariff barriers, and quotas are usually the rule of the day (also the… Read more »
Yes those restrictions listed, chibi, are GOVERNMENT / STATE restrictions – not the producer. Producers are free to impose their own restrictions as they see fit: even to their own detriment.
“I should have also said that the other option is for GW to just not allow anyone else to sell their products at all.”
That has been their agenda for a long time.
And it’s akin to shooting themselves in the head. Their mistake to make.
Very good point. I’m just getting back into the hobby. Use to play warhammer 40k. So what have I’ve been playing this time around…..Dust Tactics, X-Wing and Mercs.
Looks like I have one of my main topics for the weekender…
Indeed you have, will be quite interesting to hear about it.
Also may be worth pointing out they tested the restriction of tables in america mere months before implementing it in the UK… makes me worry
Technically, I think GW has already restricted sales for online retailers within Europe, as if you look at Wayland games, it very specifically states that they cannot send GW products to countries outside of Europe, so we might be safe, thanks to EU regulations.
that would be nice and i know we have an anti monopolies commision and such… (extreme example time) thatcher still ignored most those laws and got round them…somehow
Now I am going to say something that may not be very popular even for people that are now refusing (yet again) to purchase GW products. Please see it as a positive political message to sort themselves out, rarther than a hate campaign. Beasts of War, please stop all reviews, whats in the box, painting tutorials, tactical advice on games associated to ANY GW product until this mess is sorted out. It is my belief that you are just stregnthening their position in the market which will result in more flexing of the GW muscle and may result in more… Read more »
I certainly hope that if one group decides that, as you said, ‘enough is enough’ and takes a stance, especially one with as many contacts and as big as audience as BOW seems to have, we might finally be able to make GW listen and change, rather than just holding their fingers in their ears and going ‘la la la’, like they did by shutting their Facebook page down.
And I suppose I’d best change my avatar if that is the case =P
tut tut /waggles finger. 😛 hehe
This is just my personal answer, and in no way does it reflect any sort of opinion Beasts of War may express (as if there was any “official stance” in these matters…lol)…
I’ve said it before, oh, about a hundred gazillion times :
People, vote with your wallets !
Romain is right, the only language they understand is the bottom line. I happen to think the releases from Chaos Space Marines onwards for both fantasy and 40K have made it very easy to look at other miniatures. The general stylistic direction has really been , to my eyes, very poor recently. In fact, the dark angels deathwing knights box is perhaps the only release in the last 4 or 5 months I have thought was worth any money at all, and that wasnt worth the money they were asking for it as it turned out. And its not just… Read more »
I couldn’t agree more. The people on BoW are intelligent, articulate people who are more than capable of making their own minds whether or not to denounce a product or company; I believe one of the strengths of BoW is their impartiality and to carry out a GW boycott would harm both; something that needs to be avoided.
On another note, I must say I was impressed with Matthews comments; he was well composed and gave a great breakdown to the whole issue. If GW was smart, They would get him on board and discuss the issues!! (Ain’t going to happen)
Hear that guys, we’re articumalate!
GW what? I seem to have forgotten that name 😉
And start with something simple. Say a Month Without GW. Don’t even call it that, it’s negativistic. Call it “A Month of Alternatives”. Do a month of capsule reviews of lesser known systems in a digest format, with basic info like start-up cost, representative size of armies, links to previous mentions on BoW. Let people vote on the most interesting systems and then do Live Rounds/Battle Report /Painting Tutorial features for them. It may even let you guys (BoW) try out stuff you have not before.
Would love to have a week of hell dorado. Seems a big system that never gets much love. 🙁 The Carnevale week was awesome and got me very interest in that. In fact every week review always gets the juices flowing (except MERCS is still ruined with the OCD card useage, hehe).
I would suggest that instead of new GW products, just feature the old products, like looking a rogue trader and supplements, old OOP miniatures. This would still provide coverage of GW but give them NO new sales, and not promote the current range. I think this would really irritate them. It would be a nice Journey through the history of the Hobby too, like the old article from White Dwarf putting Space Orcs in a Paranoia scenario, or the old Road Wars game, etc… etc… A good way to encourage “playing in the gaps”
Even though he keeps his cool notice what may be a little slip of Matt’s when he admits GW are basically trying to take him out. All that free advertising Mini Wargaming gave GW. In fairness to GW, third party sellers, online, get their GW stock for, well, not peanuts but pretty damn little. The third party then resells often with a discount (the logic being buy from US not the original retailer, GW directly). That’s the piggy-backing. Miniwargaming’s 10% discount means they are taking a bigger cut then, say, Wayland Games in the UK who do a 20% discount… Read more »
GW could easily solve the problem s I said elsewhere. Not that it will happen but, if they just stick to manufacturing, sell to stores without stupid rules and let the stores do the selling.
They get their knickers in a twist by selling to companies that then become GW’s retailing competitors.
As we know, GW don’t like competition. I guess the other approach is to just say we will have exclusive rights to selling our goods. Saves messing about the traders and alienating people.
Oh how i wish Forge World had no affiliation to GW, so that i could avoid all temptation to buy off such a horrible company.
As for miniwargaming, will the videos they are giving away with the free membership be available to members if i joined at a later date, dont start my new job til june, and would rather wait til then see
find it mildly amusing all the products in the background of this video are warmahordes stuff 😉
If anything, this new policy change has given me the gumption to start up a BattleTech league and invite the 40k players. Everyone loves BattleTech!
I love BattleTech! I would happily join a Battletech campaign. Especially if those involved were willing to stage a long-term planetary conflict, where players are split into teams, each player gets a company they have to run through the campaign (repair, salvage, medics, resupply rules all apply), companies not controlled by the players are represented with a game of Battleforce to determine the overall disposition of the conflict each week, and individual skirmishes from that game that DO involve the players’ companies are played out as Battletech scenarios between those players. Do that with your grimdark 40k grimdarkness! I dare… Read more »
Just finishing up Campaign Paradiso for infinity actually. We had a blast running the persistent campaign from that book. The scenarios focus on playing the objectives instead of killing your opponent, so it’s a really brilliant paradigm shift. In the past 2 years I’ve also run Mordheim and Necomunda leagues with tons of special scenarios. We started precisely because we weren’t happy with GW rules and prices. Maybe it’s just my group, but we’ve actually found that a persistent campaign is much more fun than a “one off” game. Also, lots of people who had fallen away from GW came… Read more »
Your group might be interested in this (sorry if I’ve pitched it to you before – I just think the Chap deserves some mention for the effort he put into it); http://gangsofnuork.lordblackfang.net/
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I’ve never seen it before. Will definitely give it a close look. 🙂
If one is sick of how another does business, hit them where it hurts, “The Wallet”. Warmachine, Mantic, Spartan, and the rest the gaming company’s out there should write GW thank you letters for sending other running their way. A shame really, love the games and model but they just priced their way out of the market. At least around here. But it’s ok, if GW is chocolate icecream, you should give strawberry and vanilla a try, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm good.
sigh
its clear why rick priestley jumped ship the corporate fecks have take over completely and are running the hobby in to the ground at the same time tying milk every drop of cash before the company dies
Not only Rick. Andy was one of the first and I have just fallen profoundly in love with his work on Dust. Alessio doing very exciting work on Loka for Mantic, run by Ronnie, who’s also doing amazing work with Jake and Mike. All of these experienced people are former GW and a lot of the current WHF and 40K is building on the foundations done by them. Of course there is a ton of new and old talent currently at GW doing fantastic work. But when so Manu star players are leaving your team (pun intended), that tends to… Read more »
“Not only Rick. Andy was one of the first and I have just fallen profoundly in love with his work on Dust. Alessio doing very exciting work on Loka for Mantic, run by Ronnie, who’s also doing amazing work with Jake and Mike.”
And Jake is also doing amazing work over at Bryan’s place. Check out God of Battles from Wargames Foundry 🙂
Ps: sorry for the obvious spelling errors. Damn auto spelling. :-). *so many star players*
The fellow is being far too nice. GW are doing this to control the market and because their numbers say that people going into stores spend more. Stores also don’t tend to discount as much, so higher margins. My local GW is – even on a ‘veterans night’ is full of 16 year old kids. I’m 35. I simply don’t want to spend my evenings with shouty teenagers. We game drinking beer or whiskey. It’s our ‘lads night in’. I also work full time and my weekends are spent doing housework, walking the dog and being with the other half.… Read more »
“The fellow is being far too nice.”
Well, he is Canadian.
GW will be around in ten years. There is a nearly endless supply of teenagers. GW will eventually have to grow some stones and get back on facebook and other social media channels to connect with many of those teenagers, but they’ll never run out of teenagers.
GW……Boooooo.
I second Roamans comment, vote with your wallets people. Money is the only thing GW respects. Its just so sickening to see them ripping kids off year in and year out. Can someone tell me how the hell the parents are affording these prices?
Its a shame, but I would encourage other independants to support and promote other companies – GW is the elephant in the room, but I think it needs to find the old elephant graveyard. I have no issue with a company needing to make money, I have an issue with sharp practices, monopolistic practice and a sad disrespect for the customer base. As for the GW statement stores are key for hobby interaction – I agree but that from a company that has said if your not a begineer your not welcome to come paint in store or game in… Read more »
All good things must come to an end… sad day indeed 🙁