After watching some pretty amazing auction prices for various Epic models on eBay over the last few months, I got to wondering exactly why is it that GW doesn't move to capitalize on this market?  

Quite a few of the OOP Epic models easily go for hefty sums many times more than the original retail price.  Assuming GW has not destroyed the molds for their older models, it seems like they could just do limited or at-need production runs and make some money.

Things like Tyranid basic infantry & Chaos war engines would be a no-brainer.  Heck, if they really wanted to make a fast buck, a sprue of nothing but Chaos Androids would probably be a hot item.  

Is this too simple a solution or is there some other mitigating factor that prevents limited releases for Epic?

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WAAARGH!!
The Lost & the Dipped

One can't understand the capitalistic economic's mind.
Chillier than a Dominatrix ordering of underlings, drones.
More lifeless than the C'tan on a get togheteher party.
Making Abaddon a mere child in crossing others.

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It would be nice to get lightspeed,
so far we can only reach slight speed.- Erik M
092b85658e746a91d343e53509d357744e56f641

GW have been approached about this at a high level several times. They're just not interested.

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Epic: Hive Development Thread

Perhaps if they were dangled over a bath filled with flesh eating Piranha then they would be more attentive. Has this been tried?

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My head is full of War...

[img]http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk120/Warhead40k/Tyranid%20Swarm/DSC02262.jpg[/img]

Part of the issue is that a lot of the old molds were thrown out/destroyed, *ALONG* with many of the old *masters*... so there's nothing to make new molds from in a lot of cases.

All in the name of clearing some shelf space in a warehouse.

Additionally, from a cost/benefit analysis, the time spent casting up those OOP items would *still* make more money just making more Space Marine sprues for 40k... that's how small EPIC (and all of Specialist Games) are compared *just* to 40k Space Marines on the balance sheet.

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

I think, from various discussions, that there is also an issue of support. GW could release the Epic Tyranid sprue, but it would be out of date. Also, the next question from players would be 'where are the metal Carnifexes... and Hive Tyrants... and Haruspex, etc'.

Then, there would be the people who missed the run, and would want a repeat of the sprues.

Then there would be the issue of not supporting a complete line, and the entire effort - while returning a relatively small return financially compared to 40K Marines - would not build to anything more permanent for GW or result in linked sales (players buying Epic Tyranid sprues which leads them to buy other items as well).

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Quite right, so from an economic standpoint the right decision would be to drop 40k and go full in for Epic, right?  

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It would be nice to get lightspeed,
so far we can only reach slight speed.- Erik M
092b85658e746a91d343e53509d357744e56f641

Erik! That's it, genius...i KNEW there was a way we could do it! http://www.tacticalwargames.net/forums/ ... ct=SC;c=24

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All Hail Erik saviour of Epic!

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My head is full of War...

[img]http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk120/Warhead40k/Tyranid%20Swarm/DSC02262.jpg[/img]

Ive been asking myself this question many times in the last months... Im on ebay, looking for epic stuff. I always compare what I find to the GW store prices, but Ive yet to go with them, as ebay is always cheaper, and more importantly, have the minis I want.

It is interesting that they scrapped the "new" eldar titan, and brought the classic back though. But in that case the old model was just so clearly superior, no one could argue otherwise...

It is obvious that GW:s OOP minis, pirate recasts or second hand items, in some cases must be serious competition for their own products. If one can buy better looking original citadel minis at a fraction of the cost of the new ugly ones, why would anyone buy anything from them? Apparently it doesnt hurt them enough yet... Who knows what will happen in the future?

In some cases I suspect there are other reasons though. The classic Great Gargant is clearly waaaaaaaaaaaaaay cooler than the new ones, but Im sure it did use massive amounts of pewter, and might not be feasible to produce now with much higher metal prices. Too bad, cause it was one of citadels all time best!

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"We are the sword of fire with which the Traitors shall be cut down."

Pewter cost isn't that high... Not compared to the rest of it.
The older Great Gargant weigh in at... 255 grams.
Tin comes in at... £6'530. Per tonne. Ie £6.530 per kilo and £0.007 per gram.

So the tin part of that old Great Gragant is a whopping... £1.78.
Let's say £1.80 with the added molybden.

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It would be nice to get lightspeed,
so far we can only reach slight speed.- Erik M
092b85658e746a91d343e53509d357744e56f641

Hehe, well that is scary when you think about it... I guess a company like GW has their greatest costs in employing all their artists, marketing and other people. Erik is probably right in that the materials are a minor thing seen from the viewpoint of the whole business.  

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"We are the sword of fire with which the Traitors shall be cut down."

It is a shame that GW did not do more to get a profit from Epic in particular  and SG in general. Some of their dedicisions made no sense, not from a gaming perspective but from economic perspective.

However that is now water under the bridge and unfortunately I cant see GW changing their mind.  Epic is just too small economically for them to change their mind. Which means that Chaos Warmachines and plastic Tyranids wil; just become rarer and more expensive on ebay.

So we have to hope more 6mm manufacturers are able to make alternative models for similar ranges. I am thinking of the Skyth (sp??) and similar figures.

Cheers

James

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The biggest problem is probably chaos. GW has put a very distinct mark on that genre. Not at all as the good'ol AD&D's look into the soul of us all (and condemning most to N/N!).

(Strange, the spell-checker didn't object to AD&D...)

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It would be nice to get lightspeed,
so far we can only reach slight speed.- Erik M
092b85658e746a91d343e53509d357744e56f641

Well this conversation raises it's ugly head again ... I wish it could be changed ... But G/W is no longer supporting Epic ... Because ... Now don't be shocked ...  it does not make $$$ for them.    eBay prices are one off deals ...  Understand, yes a Tyranid sprue for example goes for a pretty good price on eBay.  But to make it profitable for G/W, they'd have to sell 1000s of them. Possibly at a similiar price !  And that ain't gonna happen. I have 2 business degrees and a minor in economics + have run a business in the past with over 800 clients at it's high point.  But you don't have to be Don Trump or one of my former Business Profs to see that G/W's Epic is not a big seller. My recommnedation is as before, to use proxies from DRM, E/W, etc. ...  I know, I know some guys want the G/W goods ...  But that is a very long, long, shot ...      < terminate devil's advocate mode ... >

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