Encouragement to scratch-build terrain
Games Workshop have always operated as part of the famous ‘Australia tax’ where items become strangely expensive when exported to Australia, even though there’s no import taxes for them to be subject to.
This makes items around 40% more expensive than in the UK, though the actual amount can vary from item to item. Exchange rate movements also make this more varied. Games Workshop tend to charge the price in pounds multiplied by around 2.8 to 3. So an item that would be 10 pounds will cost $30, and so on. Currently a pound is worth $1.90.
This modifier tends to be less annoying on cheaper items where the percentage doesn’t translate to a greatly increased price. But on the more expensive items it gets absurd. Such as the recently announced terrain bundle for Necromunda.
This set isn’t cheap in any currency, but the 170 pounds it would cost currently equates to $323, making this a mark up of $152.
170 multiplied by 2.8 comes to 476, in case you were wondering.
As I get towards the end of painting my collection of models, terrain building is something that is appealing as an answer to the ‘what’s next’ question. Bundles with mark ups like this just make that choice easier. Between YouTube channels showcasing scratch building projects and 3D printing being able to produce multiples of the same park for doors, window frames, or decorative and scenic items, scratchbuilding has never looked more tempting.
Scent of a Gamer 
Of course these things are personal but scratch building as well as being infinitely cheaper is so much more rewarding and satisfying. The way you look at inanimate objects and how you might use them in a modelling sense changes your view of the world!
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Agreed, and I always enjoy watching your projects come together!
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I’ve been getting stuff for several years via a UK source (that I obviously can’t share) for double the pound prices in AU$. Other than that, I don’t really buy their stuff. I’ll occasionally pick up something locally like a paint or something that doesn’t suffer the ridiculous markups. The future is likely made from bottles of resin, though…
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I’m confident I will be able to get annoyed at the mark up on resin in the future!
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Yep scratch building is a hell of a lot cheaper and fun! 3D prints supplied locally are pretty good bang for your buck too though.
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I think this is the way I will be going. I have been leaning towards terrain projects once I finished my models, and I am not planning to buy any GW kits, at least not at those prices.
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I find the “email a UK friend” option works best for GW stuff, not that I buy much of it these days.
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Crazy how an individual can send us items at prices lower than GW can manage sending much larger volumes
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The crazy thing is, I’m in Scotland (that is to say, right next door to England and part of the same state) and for large parts of the country there are big price hikes on products being sent from England – and many companies won’t send things at all (maybe they think bandits on the road will attack or wildlings will swarm down out of the hills and carry them off). GW, to give them credit, don’t do this but plenty of others do. So from that point of view it doesn’t surprise me that stuff sent all the way around the globe gets hit with a mark-up (not saying it doesn’t suck, because it certainly does, just that it doesn’t surprise me). On the other hand, when we think about the environmental and geo-political impacts of global shipping, maybe we should all be looking to produce things a bit closer to home. I’ve often thought that GW’s pride in producing all their stuff in Nottingham might be a little misplaced and setting up manufacturing hubs on a few other continents (including Australia) might be a wise move on their part. As for scratch-building I think it’s a great idea, and given the state of economies everywhere something I think we’re going to be seeing a lot more of as GW kits get priced out of the reach of the average hobbyist regardless of where they live.
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Price rises from England to Scotland is crazy! I think GW prices have created a huge opportunity for other companies to enter the market, from 3D printers to minutes based board games and more.
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While I’ve heard of the “tax”, seeing exactly how it breaks down really boggles my mind. I don’t think such a thing exists for their products in the US which is wild because England is a good distance from us when you think about it and I can attest that shipping to the US from England has gone up a ton in recent years too. I hope one day they’ll wise up and treat Oz and New Zealand a bit better!
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It would be nice, there was a time a bit over a decade ago where UK sellers could ship stuff here for more or less the UK price. GW changed their terms and stopped them from doing that, which only resulted in my stopping playing their games or buying from them for about 6 years. It’s why I have so many unpainted odds and ends of the Middle Earth range as I just stopped playing and started doing other things, leaving my models where they were.
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That makes sense and I would do the same if the prices increased like that. Those Brits should treat their former colonists a bit better, I must say! 😀
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It is great to see that we all have a second hobby – GW bashing! Don’t ya luv it! I think they are doing an excellent job of relieving international stress by allowing us all to concentrate on them! Well done GW boyz!
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usually I operate on a live-and-let-live system with GW. If they do something I like, great. If not, there’s plenty of other companies out there. Every so often though…
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Ye gods, a GW product becomes 40% MORE expensive? The mind boggles 😱😱
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