Games Workshop continues to confuse me with their limited editions. Their latest, the limited version of the Dark Vengeance starter box featuring a unique “only-in-the-limited-edition”, steam-powered Chaplain, sold out in a wink. Or was it? New rumours seem to point to the limited edition being artificially withdrawn, despite stocks not having cleared. Can this be true?
My Quest for the Elusive Limited Edition Chaplain
Let’s start at the beginning. Like most people in the hobby, I was following the leaks and rumours about GW’s latest starter box for the 6th Edition of Warhammer 40K, Dark Vengeance. GW produced two versions of Dark Vengeance. One unlimited version that will (presumably) be available until it is replaced by 7th Edition, and a limited edition. The limited edition includes one extra miniature; the Dark Angels Chaplain seen below.
Like most GW releases, Dark Vengeance became available on a weekend. Alas, it was a weekend when I was away doing family things. For a change, 40K just wasn’t foremost on my mind. I didn’t bother to check developments by the minute during the weekend of the release. Limited or not limited, Monday would have to do for me.
So the first thing I did when I got home was to visit Wayland Games, certain that I would find a nice little discount on Dark Vengeance there. To my disappointment, the limited edition of Dark Vengeance had already sold out there on the Monday after the release! Ok, this is no Dreadfleet, I told myself. Limited stuff for 40K sells fast, especially when it is wearing power armour.
But I wasn’t ready to give up just yet. I head over the Triple Helix Wargames, another good and trusted place to stock up on my miniatures. No luck. They also sold out. Here is what they said on their website.
Dear All! As of 12.00 Monday 3rd September we have SOLD OUT of the Dark Vengeance: Limited Edition Boxed Set. We cannot guarantee after this time that we will be able to fulfil any orders placed on the website for the Dark Vengeance: Limited Edition Boxed Set. Games Workshop have indicated that from Monday 3rd September only the Dark Vengeance Standard Edition Boxed Set should be advertised for sale.
That is an odd statement, isn’t it? They allegedly “SOLD OUT”. Good for them. Bad for me. But if that is the case, why are there instructions from GW that “only the Dark Vengeance Standard Edition Boxed Set should be advertised for sale”? Wouldn’t that be the logical thing to do once the limited version sold out?
Anyhow. Perhaps GW is cutting e-tailers out to keep the choicest deals for themselves, at least this is what I thought. Reluctantly I click GW’s online store. Already I wonder if that Chaplain is truly worth the difference between a ~20% discounted regular Box of Dark Vengance and the up-priced, limited version without discount straight from GW. One expensive miniature there. I assume I may have put in an order with them right than and there. Yet, even on GW’s own site, the limited edition is no longer available.
I briefly check on Ebay, only find me worst fears confirmed. That Chaplain is already being hawked away for US$ 20,- and more (which is about the difference between a discounted regular and a full-price limited box).
Well played GW, were my last thoughts on the matter on Monday. One popular Chaplain you made there, but not for me. I guess I can just manage live without that miniature after all.
The Shell Case Rumour on Vengeance Withheld
I really didn’t think about Dark Vengeance again this week. If I was going for the regular box, I may as well buy it in a month or two.
Today, however, Phil at the Shell Case broke some rumours that a hitch in the delivery of the regular Dark Vengeance box may, perhaps, be a purposeful ploy to get people to buy more of the limited edition boxes. Here is what Phil wrote:
Sources within the Games Workshop revealed to me yesterday (and since been all but confirmed by Bell of Lost Souls) that the standard edition of Dark Vengeance will be delayed.
There’s some speculation about why but my source tells me that it’s a combination of the Limited Edition box not being as limited as was originally implied and the sales of said box not being as strong because customers are holding off for the cheaper box.
As it were, Phil’s post put me on the scent of Firestorm Games, which (as I am writing this) are still stocking the limited edition of Dark Vengeance. Lucky them.
But could this be true? There were rumours about the “lacklusters”, limited DreadFleet box being recalled and destroyed. However, that was after several months of (at times ludicrous) efforts to hawk DreadFleet away on the pretext of its strictly limited availability.
Why would GW purposefully delay the delivery of the regular version of Dark Vengeance? Especially when the unlimited version is now unavailable on their own website? How would that boost sales of the unlimited version of Dark Vengeance?
Perhaps their store? UK Gamesday? Not much else that I can come up with.
How Limited Is the Limited Edition?
Somehow, somewhere, I feel that GW is not yet getting the hang of their “limited” releases.
They surely were stocking too much DreadFleet to make the “limited” pitch a credible one. But only two days of Dark Vengeance Limited Edition? Was that the intention? Or were even the people at GW (!) surprised by the popularity of skull-faced, grimdark Space Marines?
Or is the limited edition of Dark Vengeance not so painfully limited after all? It is not unlikely that GW has perhaps reserved a few more of them for the UK Gamesday in B’ham at the end of the month. I presume their stores still stock a few.
The “Shell Case theory” of an artificially limited supply of regular Dark Vengeance boxes sits oddly with fact that the limited version can no longer be bought off GW’s website. Is GW willing to hobble even its own online sales to get people to run to the store?
Sounds dangerously close to being tin-foil-hat territory, but who knows?
Let me hear what you think?
Has GW itself underestimated the popularity of Space Marines?
Has GW stocked too few limited Dark Vengeance to avoid another DreadFleet shelf warmer?
Or is GW playing some arcane game to boost sales of the limited edition in their stores?
I’d love to read your opinion on this in the comments below!
Z.
About Zweischneid
