40K: GW Crafts A Game for Every Budget
With their newly unveiled starter sets, GW is casting a wide Warhammer 40,000 net for gamers of every budget.
Dark Imperium kicked off 8th Edition with a bang. $160, got you two decent armies (53 all new minis), and entirely new unknown faction (Primaris), and a full hardcover rulebook. Nicely done GW. All of the hardcore fanatics ran out and bought it. The game stands up proudly to previous big boxed starters from GW for their mainline games. Still though, $160 might be a bit of a stretch for newcomers, or those who are just “testing the waters” of this whole tabletop wargaming thing. In the past GW has a hard time snagging these customers who were easily steered into the cheaper starter sets of competing games by eager FLGS staff looking for a sale. But no more.
The two Starter sets below reflect a 3-tiered approach to potential customers by GW. Now they offer a midrange and budget offering for the more casual players. While we don’t know exact prices, it’s not too difficult to make an educated guess. Take a good look at the just released Age of Sigmar Thunder and Blood starter set and the Know No Fear set.
Hmmm, that looks mighty similar in contents to Know No Fear. Thunder & Blood is $80. I would pencil that in for Know No Fear and see how far off we are.
Moving on, we see the teensy First Strike boxed set with it’s tiny handful of minis. This is the type of product designed for giving as a gift, or almost as an impulse buy. Again, we have no prices, but it looks really similar to the $33 Storm of Sigmar set. The First Strike box looks to have all new minis and some more accessories like the mat, but I’d be shocked if it’s too much above $50.
We’ll get more details in the next week, but overall it’s looking like for the first time, may ever – it’s a good time to get into 40K no matter your budget.
~What’s your take on GW’s 3-tiered Starter Set strategy?
