Give me clocks if late, but I didn't see this posted.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=0F78OSEk1bUThe short version of the video. He has a price list for GW from the 90s. To his surprise, the prices have risen below the rate of inflation, so in a way, 40k prices are better now than they were in the 90s. The exception is heroes, who used to be priced as a typical single model, but now demand a premium.
There's a lot of cope and excuses in the comments. Some valid. Like the models being mostly metal back then, or 2e being a lower model count game. It's interesting to see my memories of Warhammer being expensive back in the day was accurate, not just me being a broke teenager.
I remember casually looking at model prices 10 and 20 years ago and thinking that todays prices arent terrible in comparison. Glad its laid out like this.
Ill preface this by saying that my opinion of GW isnt negative. That may change, but they do a pretty good job at supporting their games (if only updates for armies werent so far out).
What IS a price increase thats unreasonable / above inflation / price gouging is:
- bundles giving less value. Combat patrol is a great example that the models included have a tendency to be outright worse (points/ability wise) and the % savings start to become less and less. Whilst the current Custodes box is godtier on value, the one before was EVEN better.
- standard points games going up to 2k, requiring more models. The game is hardly balanced at lower levels as a result of wider ranges therefore points played at go up, requiring more models and money. Combat Patrol helps this with preset armies relatively balanced against each other, GW should do more of this.
- wider range of models that become more and more required. Outside of Drukhari and maybe Votann, ranges are huge. Theres a model for every role, situation and counter. Often in person, monster and vehicle form. Sometimes theres even an overlap.
- leader/character models becoming more powerful and therefore required for every unit. You are not compelled to take a leader for every unit, but with their abilities and 2k points, you'd be silly not to.
- range refreshes that either fuck with existing models or outright legends them. If its only a base size change, this is less of an issue. But Firstborn wont be around much longer, invalidating collections decades old.
- lack of support / interest in legends. A good way to support those older models would be balancing points and legends only tournaments for fun, to encourage interest. But cant make money on that.
Tl;dr GW dont have a cost increase issue, so much as an army cost issue. Your models cost about the same, you just need a lot more for an army in more roles as a result of expanding ranges and army points.
