This was pointed out by me to an emailer. Recently Privateer Press has been working on releasing more and more Plastic kits, specifically multi-part plastic Warjack and Warbeast kits which allow multiple (generally three) potential models to be made from one purchase. You basically get one body and then the bits to make any of the options provided and with some nifty magnet use, you have an all in one purpose Warbeast/Warjack. This is a great step in the right direction as one of the major advantages Games Workshop has over any other model company is they produce excellent multi-part plastic kits. Regardless of the asthetics or detailing on the models, plastic is much easier to work with and coming with lots of little bits makes all of us happy. Closing that barrier down is good.
What's really interesting however is the price changes. The new Reckoner/Castigator/Sanctifier kit for Menoth is $35. The old metal Castiagtor was also $35 and the Reckoner was $38 (there was no Sanctifier model). Not only are we not seeing a price increase (something Games Workshop has always done with new kits even if they are a cheaper product or have less in them) but a price decrease. This is unheard of but has more to do with profit margins rather than raw price.
Now, Privateer Press has also started releasing new plastic units the first of which (as far as I know) are Exemplar Errants and Knights Exemplar from the Menoth range. Previously, the metal Errants cost $40 for six and $14 for blisters of two (so $68 for a full unit). Now? $35 for a full plastic unit, that's nearly half price. Knights Exemplar used to be $40 for a unit of six and are now also $35 for six (max squad size) so again, we're saving money but not nearly as much as on the Errants.
Back when we compared Games Workshop and Privateer Press one of the main things we looked at was price to get into the hobby - and they are really about the same if you want a full army. Privateer Press can be a bit cheaper on the lower end of the scale but if you want to play 50 point games you're going to be forking out nearly as much for a full 40k army - that's what happens with full metal armies. With Privateer Press moving more and more to plastic releases though (and putting multiple kits into one box), this cost could go way down, particularly if they keep actually lowering the cost and increasing the number of models you're getting.
So it looks like one company understands sustainable business and profit margins over just raking in as much cash as possible from as small a market as possible. The emailer informed me he sent a letter to Games Workshop here in Australia pointing out this information (he used the Errants example) as another reason why they no longer purchase Games Workshop products. If enough letters go in... ha, who are we kidding :P?
