New Primaris Captain & Librarian Arrive For Warhammer 40,000
July 1, 2017 by brennon
The new Primaris characters have now been added into the mix as they appear for Warhammer 40,000 on the Games Workshop webstore.
Of course, we have the Primaris Space Marine Captain here but we have a bit of a surprise upon seeing the model in that it comes with some more options with an alternative way to assemble him.
While it makes little sense for him to not be wearing his helmet in battle I like that we're getting an alternative head and the optional arm. I do really like the power sword though and, with my ideas for Primaris Space Marines it would be more fitting I think.
Psychic Dominance
As well as the Captain we also have the Primaris Librarian who comes with a helmeted option as well if you desired to give him an added level of protection.
You can see the preview above that we'd already been given earlier in the week but the helmeted version looks awesome in the detail shots below.
The helmet in a way almost gives him even more of an evil and dominating visage I would say. I really do like the idea of a Librarian with a big Gandalf-esque beard actually so maybe if someone can sculpt something like that I'd go for that head option.
Will you be getting either of these new heroes?
"While it makes little sense for him to not be wearing his helmet in battle I like that we're getting an alternative head and the optional arm..."
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I love’em, but – pheww – these are expensive…
There are two possible reasons :
(1) GW appears to price units based on their rarity within the game (it’s not like you’re going to field a dozen librarians in a single army… )
(2) plastic sprues are expensive for low volume products like this
As such I can understand the price.
However I do think they should have chosen something other than the standard ‘pointing officer’ as a pose.
I do like that you can at least change the head and its direction.
As you say, the high price is most likely down to how much it costs to make plastic spurs in low volume but there’s a point where things start to get silly.
They’re selling some of the starter sets cheaper than these 2 models; in fact the gathering storm boxed sets aren’t much more expensive and they all come with 2 detailed characters and s big model as well.
Best to cross your fingers for a start collecting box and hope one of these guys appears.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a ‘getting started primaris’ box in the works.
They were pretty quiet about those newbie friendly starter sets for 8th edition too …
As such I expect GW to follow this pattern :
– announce the arrival of a new product
– release the initial product at a high price point that targets collectors & fan boys
– quietly release a cheaper/more affordable SKU for the rest of us
Agreed. I Don’t normally baulk at GW’s prices but these single character minis are getting daft.
I find them a bit too pricey myself.
I think I’ll wait for a standard primaris team and think of modifying one of them to look like a librarian *if* I want one in my army.
£22.50 is an increase of about £4 on some earlier clam pack characters. However they are also notably larger in size than previous clam pack characters. In terms of price they’re comparable to the Age of Sigmar Stormcast characters. Personally I have always found the clam pack characters to be worth the money. They’re usually great kits that assemble perfectly, have great detail and posing and are just a joy to paint. And that’s before they get onto a gaming table. The psyker is the kind of model I might buy to paint solely for the joy of painting or… Read more »
I couldnt find any reason to justify it, wish i could have though as they are good to have ingame
The justification is easy and it’s the only justification you ever need. You want one.
Its easy to see how GW can set prices like this though
Yeah, people keep paying it and 40k is still the most popular tabletop wargame in the world. So these products obviously represent value to an awful lot of people.
None of that means its wrong to question pricing
Well, it does kind of mean that although you don’t like the prices, the prices aren’t actually hindering the game and that maybe 40k isn’t the hobby for you. Maybe you would be happier with Mantic – although you get what you pay for and Mantic are cheaper for a reason.
40k is a hobby for people who cant use critical thinking while shopping, check
Right Fighters Anonymous called. They’ve revoked your day pass. 🙂
I’m not sure that’s entirely true. It’s for people who like 40k enough to pay the prices asked. Like pretty much every other hobby in the world. I am happy to pay GW prices for miniatures of that quality. Just like I am happy to pay Corvus belli’s prices. Conversely I don’t really like paying less money for cheaper, lower quality miniatures because I don’t enjoy painting them as much. I think very critically about the miniatures I buy and in so doing I come to a conclusion about what represents value. GW miniatures, and in this case specifically the… Read more »
I wasn’t talking about you @hatamoto . Your response got in there just ahead of mine. 🙂
@onlyonepinman : the amount of plastic definitely is another valid point for their cost and perceived value.
However price point aside I still find them rather boring to look at.
I kind of wished the librarian was doing something that made him look like he was doing something magical.
I don’t think the amount of plastic in each kit is a good measure of how much something is worth – not when you start looking at the RRP. The material costs for plastic are incredibly small, it’s the salaries of the artists and sculptors that costs the most; the design and development of each model.
£22.50 each lol
If the pricing structure for Primaris and/or 40k on general is going to be like this from now on I’ll just sell my Dark Imperium stuff and stay away from 40k.
It depends a lot on the size of the model and the rarity in game. Kharadron Overlords Aether Chemist is £15, smaller than Brokk Grungsson, Lord-Magnate of Barak-Nar and also potentially more numerous (an army can only ever have one Brokk but maybe two Aether Chemists depending on army size. So Brokk is more because they will sell less units for probably the same outlay in development costs. Marines field small armies, Primaris even more so. While an army may contain multiple psykers, the likelihood of two Primaris Psykers is small. Couple that with the larger size of the Primaris… Read more »
Love these minis, but the price is quite mad. I’ll at least pick up the Librarian from my local independent stockist to get a discount.
It is nice that they have a couple of options too.
They do look nice.
If forge world character models are cheaper than yours you are doing something wrong.
Forge World don’t have any Primaris character yet.
keyword : yet …
Then again … I somehow doubt they’d be cheaper than the GW variant.
I totally agree. I think FW Primaris Characters will weigh in above these.
From those two versions of Primaris Captain I like variant #1 more than variant #2 but both are rather good. I really like both head options for Primaris Librarian but if I get that one i will most likely use helmeted head.
WTF GW … buying both models in one go comes with a discount .. now please repeat until sorted.
lol
nice but pricy, as others have said.
Ouch…….well no need to think about getting these. Probably a better idea to try and convert a rank and file character instead. You can buy half a Dark Imperium box set for that!!!!!!!!!!!!
Blimey! It was all looking great until the price. I love the look of these but to pay over £20 for a single plastic figure, regardless of how good it looks makes no commercial sense. Either the sales strategy is wrong, or there are too many overheads in the manufacturing process because once you raise the price of your product to where the customer cannot see where the money has been spent, then people will simply not buy it. And this is coming from someone who has been loving the new direction of GW and also regularly buys from ForgeWorld,… Read more »
It kind of does make sense. Any product has an up front cost to design and develop, this is where most of the cost is incurred. Once models go into production they need to sell enough units to recoup the initial outlay. The costs if designing and developing these is probably comparable to the costs associated with designing and developing the regular Primaris Marines or Astra Militarum or most other similarly sized models. The difference is anyone buying an army of Space Marines will likely buy only one captain but several boxes of Marines. Therefore to make its development costs… Read more »
It doesnt make sense, just stop
No, it really does make sense. If two items cost the same to design, develop and manufacture but one item is likely to sell less then that item will also be priced more highly in order to recover the initial development and manufacture costs. Given most players are likely to buy just one of each of these because that’s all you’re allowed conpared to something like a squad of Primaris Marines that they might buy 3 or 4 of. That’s why the price of a single model here is almost as much as a full squad of Tactical Marines. If… Read more »
Gosh. Can you imagine how much other companies’ mini’s would cost if they had to pay all them design and manufacturing costs?
They would cost about the same as GW, which is funny because companies like Privateer Press and Corvus Belli charge very similar prices to Games Workshop. Go figure.
Nice try.
This kit cames with two heads.. and a transfer sheet. I guess that justifies the higher price.
I don’t buy the cost of manufacturing argument. If plastic is more expensive than resin then make it out of resin. I mean, if it’s good enough for Forgeworld..
Funny how the line between Forgeworld and GW is getting blurred. I remember when the Forgeworld stuff was a eye watering expensive but now the premium line is no longer premium priced. Makes you wonder if Forgeworld will soon disappear..
It’s not the cost of manufacturing, it’s the sales potential of the item. Manufacturing costs won’t be massively different from one kit to the next but the sales potential isn’t. Ignoring the price for a moment, if the game rules say you can only field one Captain, how many are you going to realistically want to buy? I would guess the answer is one. So if the items design and development costs are comparable to something like the Intercessor Squad (and they probably are) but the captain has an intrinsically lower sales potential how do you price the model such… Read more »
The sprues for librarian and captain do appear to be somewhat similar though.
As such the costs are probably a bit lower when compared to two distinct models …
GW only knows how much they’ve managed to save by doing that though.
I think they are distinct. In terms of CAD and parts reuse I can’t see much on the two models that is the same. The cloaks are different and the legs are posed differently
I have dark imperium and that’s worth the money but these are way over the top.
I already have a couple of librarians from dark vengeance and space Hulk so will use them instead.
Agree. The pricing on these guys is ludicrous.
I may get the librarian as I can swap the head with my hooded Dark Angels one so it’ll add some flavour to my Blades of Vengeance but I don’t really see the need of getting the captain, especially as I already have one from Dark Imperium. I might have considered getting both if the price was better but it is definitely too much for me.
Now’s the right time for GW to pop up and say the price was just a larf, actually it’s half the price AND you get a bonus primaris marine if you buy both of’em.
That would still make it, well, some expensive plastic minis, but at least we’d be out of funny farm territory.
That psyker is amazing. I have never liked Marines but there’s the odd model coming out with the new Primaris stuff that I just want to buy for the sake of painting.
Im starting to see how it makes sense now
If you have something to say about me or my opinions, say it.
You just seem to repeat the same thing over and over in hopes it will somehow make the prices seem reasonable, but i could be wrong.
Whether a price is “reasonable” is entirely dependant on how much you value an item. I’m not trying to say it’s reasonable, only why it makes sense within GW’s pricing structure and why that pricing structure exists. Whether you think those prices represent value to you personally is entirely subjective
Exactly, its subjective .. and i wasnt aware we were discussing how it made sense within GWs pricing structure
In this particular thread of replies it’s very hard to understand what you’re discussing. I made a comment expressing an appreciation of one of the miniatures to which you responded with a vague statement about it all making sense. You still haven’t really clarified what exactly makes sense, you’re kind of leaving me to guess at what you mean
I guess so 🙂 call it a challenge!
So here’s a question. Lots of people saying that these are far too expensive and their price tag is ridiculous (if you live in Australia you might be right because that price really doesn’t compare with the UK at all). So what is that assessment based on? What is it about these models that you think makes them unworthy of their price?
I think 2 models of “standard size” or a little above being in line with the price you would pay for most companies “starter sets” and basically 3 models at this price are equal to the price you can pick Dark Imperium up for. Yes they are super detailed BUT they are gaming pieces and unless you are a display level painter they are going to look like gaming pieces. I have 4 mantic jet bikes on the desk in front of me, they look great, highly detailed and cost me $21.95AU. 3 Eldar jetbikes, comparable in sculpt and size… Read more »
https://www.mightyape.com.au/product/enforcer-jetbikes/25912369
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-AU/Eldar-Windriders
You were making a good point until you mentioned Mantic.
I know what you mean about Mantic however to give them credit some of the new Warpath vehicles are of decidedly higher quality than previous offerings in terms of materials (or at least it seemed that way at Salute when they had a couple on display). But I have generally found Mantic to be a very mixed bag, sometimes they’re alright, sometimes they’re terrible. For me, even though Mantic are cheaper they don’t always represent value – if the quality isn’t there then they can be hard work to assemble and paint and they cease to be enjoyable. When that… Read more »
These 2 models cost the same as the Eldar gathering storm box; you can get Start: collecting boxes for just a little more and those contain one character and one large model in addition to a unit.
To me the prices seem a little inconsistent with GWs own range; comparing these characters with those in the new Primaris vs Death guard starter sets again seems really odd.
Outside of starter sets and start collecting boxes, the price of these two models is exactly in line with the rest of the range. The start collecting boxes represent good value however they are generally comprised of older kits, that have already long since paid for their development costs in terms of sales. The starter boxes, like Dark Imperium, contain a lot of models for what seems like a vastly reduced cost however not only are they very carefully balanced in terms of what you get in the box but in most cases they are almost guaranteed high sales volumes,… Read more »
Just because the costs are “in line” with GW’s previous character minis, it doesn’t make them “reasonably” priced. They are insanely expensive.
Why were early clampack characters (Lord of Plagues, Cairn Wraith, Tomb Banshee, necromancer, Empire Engineer, Saurus Oldblood, Wight King, Chaos Sorcerer etc) £9 each, yet the newer man-sized minis (Aether Chemists etc) are £18? The reasons for high pricing are no different, the prices however are doubled. Anything up to about £15 is ok for a foot-character mini IMO. Any more is just too much.
I’ve said elsewhere – what is reasonable us entirely subjective. I can only say that the price sits well within an established policy, doesn’t represent a price increase and that the policy makes sense. In terms of cost you can find similar sized miniatures in several other ranges that cost around the same price. Whether you think it’s reasonable is entirely down to the individual. And what I am really asking is what is it about the miniature that makes you think it’s not a reasonable price. I am asking what criteria are you using to assess value, or lack… Read more »
The criteria I use to assess value is: Do I think the price is reasonable? My answer on most of GW’s clampack character minis is: No. I am just not getting enough in terms of plastic and/or assembly/painting enjoyment for my money.
I have a lot of 40k and AoS armies and don’t think twice about dropping this kind of money on a weekly basis on miniatures but when I can get a Leman Russ tank, a unit of 10-20 guys for AoS or another Primaris Marine on foot, I’ll go with the tank or the unit every time.
Exactly this
Let’s look at these links to 2 recent releases. One is expensive but IMO reasonably priced, the other is just silly. See if you can spot which is which.
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Gathering-Storm-Triumvirate-of-the-Imperium
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Space-Marine-Primaris-Heroes-2017
Reasonable is the subjective part. What makes it reasonable or unreasonable. It seems from your answer that the only criteria you have is the physical amount of plastic. That’s totally fine if that’s your measure of whether a model is worth it and if it is I can see why there would be a lot of items in GWs range that are unreasonably priced. I also accept that when you compare them to the Triumvirate boxes they seem expensive, however I suspect the those triumvirate boxes had very high sales predictions, especially the Roboute Guilliman one. High sales means it… Read more »
Comparing the Kharadron Overlords to other (older) Dwarf character models and they come in at £2 more expensive. They also look slightly bulkier and are slightly more complex kits.
To me it’s the rather boring pose of the models.
They lack that little bit extra that says : “I am a *beeping* Psyker … stand down you filthy Heretics”
This one is more like “would you kindly disintegrate, please … ”
I guess the poses of the characters by Corvus Belli (Infinity) and others have spoilt me.
And yeah … the prices for those models are in a similar range.
So the model itself is unappealing to you. I get that. Whether I actually like a model is the first question I ask when deciding whether something is worth the money. In this I personally quite like the psyker but can take or leave the captain. But I am also not really a big fan of Marines (I do like some of the more ornate ones like the Space Hulk Terminators)
It’s all about perceived value.
A pretty model that uses metal is easier to justify, because the weight makes it feel valuable.
An “ugly” one that is made out of plastic has two strikes against it at this price range as the material is considered to be ‘cheap’.
Pose that plastic model like it just had spinal surgery and you have a winner. For another laugh place 3 of them next to the dark imperium box for a real assault on the perceived value centre. Then have forge world double that single character price. If in doubt wether you are being ripped off or not, just understand its pricing policy and everything will feel alot better.
I start with whether I like the miniature, then whether it is something I would like to paint and/or convert and possibly ask what would I use it for to decide whether I like it and want it. Then I look at the price to see whether I can afford it. I generally don’t factor in the material that it’s made of because it’s kind of misleading. It’s easy to think that a big, satisfyingly heavy lump of metal is worth more than its plastic counterpart because it’s metal but it actually costs much more to make the moulds for… Read more »
If the pricing here is surprising, then you’ve not been paying attention – seems pretty standard for a recent GW hero. Not defending the price, and the models are pretty much the same as a regular SM commander, with all the cloaks and bling covering up the Mark X armour, but it’s just not a massive surprise with the pricing.
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Stormcast-Eternals-Lord-Celestant
I’d suggest doing a decent conversion job on a regular Primaris Storm Marine, keeping the lines cleaner and saving your cash if, like me, you think the models don’t merit their value.
Yeah, that’s what I have been saying. The price falls very much in line with existing pricing policies. I think the difference is that until now, there were no models of comparable scale to the Stormcast Eternals so the 40k prices always came in slightly lower. When they start releasing Aeldari and Astra Militarum character models I wouldn’t expect them to weigh in at £22.5, just like the Kharadron Overlords don’t
Just because the price isn’t a surprise, doesn’t make it acceptable. My Stormcast army doesn’t have a Lord Celestant on foot (or any other clampack dudes except a Knight-Heraldor) for that very reason. Drop them all to MSRP of £15 or less and I’d buy one of each. Equally release a boxed set of 4/5 Stormcast characters similar to Gorechosen or the WHQ character packs and I’d snap it up in a heartbeat. All of the Kharadron Overlords characters are a little on the expensive side too. Again, drop each by £3-5 and they’re at least in the realms of… Read more »
The non-named characters from the Kharadron range are £15.
I know. £3ish more expensive than they should be IMO.
45 quid for two models when the Triumvirate costs 50??? The production cost argument only goes that far (2 models vs 5 with a massive one included), the rarity argument also goes that far (how many Triumvirates will YOU field in your army? *wink *wink). Also… why sell them in a bundle if there is not a single benefit to said bundle? Makes no sense whatsoever. Games Workshop learned a lot in the last couple of months. Consistent pricing and especially pricing that can be easily explained (as a customer I am allowed to expect transparency in pricing – my… Read more »