Poor decision?

GW got me. They got me to pay 50 bucks for a new Dark Angels codex.  It was not a difficult decision because I won a 50 dollar credit at a LGS for Best Painted at a tournament. So I just picked up the codex.

But here is the error of their ways.

In 2006 when I got into 40k, codex books were 20 bucks.  Actually I picked up the Blood Angels one for 15.00.

Shortly after they jumped to 22 or some such. I grumbled when the little store from which I was buying my stuff put new price sticker over the old one.  But I understand, inflation. Whatever.

20, 22 or 25 though, it didn't matter. I still bought the books.  All of them. I owned every codex from 4th edition which was the game I started playing. It changed about a year after I got into it. At the low to mid 20s, the books were affordable and allowed me to buy them all.

But then GW started creeping up.


The Space Marine codex turned into a huge all encompassing book. I didn't gripe though, it was a good book, about twice the size of it's predecessor. I don't remember it's cost. It didn't matter though because it was still a value for the price.




Then GW started getting froggy.

Codex Blood Angels came out and forgive me if I am wrong, was about 33 bucks.  Woah! A 33% increase? But I had to have it.  I snatched it off the shelf.

Wait what?  How could the price of a book go from 20 dollars to 33 in just a couple years? The same book... That's not right!

Sadly, I could not afford to buy the other books any more.  I got the new Space Wolves book,

but for the cost of the SW and BA books, I should have been able to, and would have, bought the Tyranid and Ork books.

I didn't.





 (I know the release dates of these books are a big jumbled and the prices are approximates. I don't remember the order and exact prices. The point I am illustrating is that I bought the Eldar, Imperial Guard, Demon Hunters, Space Marine, Ork, Tyranid, Space Wolves and other books all for about 20 bucks a piece.)

You see GW, you got the same amount of money out of me. But I got less value. Does that work?

I can't imagine for long.

As prices started rising, I started having to pick and choose which ones I bought.

Welcome to 2012.  Six years later. We have seen a 150% increase in price.

The era of the 50 dollar codex has begun.





From 18, to 33, to 50!

I think I made my point.

I just paid 50 bucks for Codex: Dark Angels.

I will not be buying Codex: Chaos Space Marines. Or Codex: Chaos Demons or even The Tau. When if the books were 25 bucks a piece, or even 30, I would have.

I would have happily scooped up every book they released at a reasonable price. However now in the era of the 50.00 Codex, I have to pick and choose.

I bought Dark Angels, and will buy Eldar and Blood Angels. But that is it!

For 150 bucks, I should be able to buy most of them. GW, you would have gotten my money any way.

The worst part is my 50.00 book was already out of date the week it was released, forcing the use of a downloadable PDF to make it valid.

Don't even get me started on a 75.00 land speeder.  I defended them when they released a 65.00 Storm Raven, it was a huge and well done model. (Though it is now 82.50, a 33% price increase in the two years since it's release... )

That is like raising a pot of paint from 2.50 to 4.00.  Ridiculous... oh wait...

Jawaballs