Chapterhouse Studios Open for Business

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Jon

The Chapterhouse Studios web site has reopened. From the products available for sale, it appears the original court judgement is being upheld. For example the Dark Elf and power glove are still not available.

Chapter house Dark Eldar – No longer available.

The good news is many of their other products are still there. If it wasn’t for the withdrawal of the court appeals you would be forgiven for thinking Chapterhouse Studios paid their fine and have just started trading again. What has changed on the Chapterhouse site is the use of Games Workshop trademarks. Phrases such as “compatible with” and “designed for” Space Marines are still being used. This legal cases outcome has certainly opened the way for other companies to make products for Warhammer and to use the Games Workshop trademarks in the marketing of their products.

Chapterhouse Necron defence line. http://chapterhousestudios.com

In related news Games Workshop appear to have forced some of the Chinese remoulding business to stop advertising on some of the better know auction and shopping sites. I would imagine these remoulding business are having a much worse impact on Games Workshop’s bottom line than Chapterhouse Studios were. If someone wants a landraider they have to buy it from Games Workshop or get a remould. They can’t buy it from Chapterhouse Studios. It appears Games Workshop have learnt some important lessons from the Chapterhouse Law Suit and are now bring them to bear on those who are clearly breaking Trademark Law rather then those who might be. The question remains of wether Games Workshop are able to close down the Chinese counterfeiters faster than new ones open.

We probably all know the problem with counterfeiters, they can produce inferior versions of a product and do cost the intellectual property owner money, this can result in fewer new products and jobs at Games Workshop. The benefit of counterfeiter is they open up products to those who might not otherwise be able to afford them. They also force the intellectual property owner to consider their pricing strategy at bit more closely. Given the current barrier to entry in the 40k hobby, could this be a good thing?

All in all this may have been a good day for 40k. And to paraphrase the outgoing CEO, if you ignore the numbers it’s been a good day for Games Workshop.

Golden Demon 2014 – Horus Lucpel and Ferrus Manus

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Ben Jackson

Here are the Horus Heresy entries in the Monstrous Creature category of Golden Demon 2014 at Warhammer Fest. Horus managed to get himself into just about every category in Golden Demon. Monstrous Creature makes the most sense to me. The shading on both of these models is absolutely beautiful. It’s a shame the photo of Horus doesn’t quite have good enough focus for a close up.

HORUS THE WARMASTER PRIMARCH OF THE SONS OF HORUS

FERRUS MANUS PRIMARCH OF THE IRON HANDS Golden Demon 2014 by El Woods Half God Stuadios

FERRUS MANUS PRIMARCH OF THE IRON HANDS Golden Demon 2014

BUST – FERRUS MANUS PRIMARCH OF THE IRON HANDS

Is 40k Really Too Expensive?

Posted on November 20, 2014 by Jon

A couple of years back Ben wrote an article looking at how much it costs to collect a number of the armies in the 40k universe. Given Games Workshops recent changes in pricing strategy you might wonder how the cost of the armies have changed. I was recently looking through an old rouge trader era White Dwarf, which is always a recipe for a trip down nostalgia lane and a sure way to be shocked at the change in the prices. How does £60 for a 2000 point Space Wolves army sound? What would be your guess at the price of a 2000 point force today, £300, £400?
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Well the 1st thing you have to bear in mind is the points values were completely different in rogue trader and this army also contained 3 special characters. The rest of the army comprises a single Grey Hunter, Blood Claw, Long Fang pack along with four Wolf Guard in Terminator armour. It hardly sound like 2000 pints by today’s standards does it? So out of interest I’ve added up the points for this army using Gareth’s 7th edition Space Wolves codex, the points cost comes in at just over 1400 points (if you only take the available upgrades, e.g. one power fist for the blood claws). I’ve also totalled this up using the 5th edition codex. It comes in at about the same amount. Including all the power fists and cost the hand flamers as flamers add another 100 points to the total. So this is about 1500 points of space wolves.

So what would the purchase price now be?

Ragnar Blackmain £12 (Rouge Trader price £5)
Njal Storm Caller £12 (Rouge Trader price £5)
Ulrik the Slayer £12 (Rouge Trader price £5)

Grey Hunter Pack £23 (Rouge Trader price £12.99)
Blood Claw Pack £23 (Rouge Trader price £12.99)
Long Fang Pack £22.50 (Rouge Trader price £9.99)
Wolf Guard Terminators £28 (Rouge Trader price £11.96)

Total Price
£132.50 (Rouge Trader price £62.90)

The battle report in question is from 1993 over 21 years ago. So in 20 years Games Workshops prices have gone up by over 100 percent. I don’t know about you but I was a bit surprised it wasn’t more than that. If I had managed to invest £62 in a 8%pa investment bond over the last 20 year the investment would now be worth £280.

The current Global economic climate makes Games Workshops prices look totally unreasonable, but it appears the truth is the core model range hasn’t gone up that much.

Golden Demon 2014 Monstrous Creature – Tyranids

Image | Posted on November 19, 2014 by Jon

I didn’t come across many Tyranid entry’s in Golden Demon 2014. Probably due to the limited number of categories they can be entered in. There were two present in the Monstrous Creature section and a handful more between Diorama and Duel. I wouldn’t really say there was one stand out entry, for a best bug in show award.

Forge World Tyranid Malthrope