The Warhammer Age of Sigmar plows on with more of Sigmar's forces - this time the Paladins! It's an interesting choice by games Workshop to have spent the last weeks concentrating entirely on one force, and particularly since they look so similar. You'd wonder whether a staggered release with good guys one week, then bad guys the next and so on, would keep the buzz alive a little more. The initial buzz about Age of Sigmar seems to be fading somewhat with the initial run on product in the stores now slowing down and less and less of the tables at stores have people painting them. The relaunch was a brilliant idea, but has it been handled well? I'm personally sick of gold on the cover! This week also sees the introduction of two brilliant looking pieces of terrain, the Sylvaneth turn up and we if The End Times wasn't enough for you, we look at the Undead! + + More After The Jump + + |
As a form of heavy weapon, on of the Retributors can also be armed with the Starsoul Mace (above bottom right), which with the silly star in the middle looks like a prop from Charmed if you ask me!
The poses on these guys, though obviously the same base as the Retributors, just don't look that dynamic which is a bit of a shame. You'd think swinging axes would be a go!
There's also a novel in the pre-orders this week - The Realmgate Wars: War Storm. Realmgate Wars is such a cool name - it really should be used more!
For beginners only
There's also two short articles of interest in the back - one on the wargear of the Stromcasts and another on the ruins of the old civilisation. Just a bit of fluff bumpf!
Verdict
Armies on Parade shows potential and the Paladins info is short, but the product shots are very good.
This isn't an amazing issue, in fact it's a tad boring frankyl!
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I received some feedback last week through the Beardy Hammer Facebook that maybe my editorial comments should be here at the end rather than accompanying the miniatures - so lets give that a go...
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH THE PRICING?
Now, while I think that Paladins are really nice miniatures and I'd love to own them... I won't.
Why? Because, again, in Australia this kit is $98!
To put it into perspective that's around $70 US - $12 above US retail.
I've spoken before about my concern for the current Age of Sigmar pricing, and if these guys were the $86 as the Stormcast kit, then that would be a bit more palatable especially for the amount of bits you get - but for Games Workshop to go even higher for 5 miniatures, that's insane.
At this pricing, these miniatures are $20 each in Australia which converts to $14 each if the US were being charged the same amount. Would you pay that?
Even worse, in New Zealand this set is $116 - that is an outrage!! The boxed game was only $200 and you get 2 armies, 4 characters and a partridge in a pear tree!.
Games Workshop is only providing an even bigger market for recasters!
They are their own worst enemy...
On the complete other side of the coin and Games Workshop have really added value here - the Sylvaneth boxed set retails in Australia for $360 - that's $90 less than if you bought the miniatures separately!
Now that is value! So it's like they are giving with one hand and taking away with the other.
I will definitely be looking at boxed sets in future, because the current geographic pricing structure is nuts!
I think over the past few weeks I've expressed my frustration at these new prices enough, so I'm going to leave it now, but seriously. Does anyone else see the weirdness?