More Thoughts on the Games Workshop Embargo

The next tournament on the horizon is the Horned Rat Gobbo which will take place in three weeks time. At the moment 26 people have signed up which means that it will rival the recent Runefang in size.


This ‘break” gives me a little more hobbytime and over the past week I have put together some of the new Vampire Counts models ready for undercoating. Four new characters – Wraith, Banshee, Necromancer, Wight King – Terrorgheist, Mortis Engine and 8 Crypt Horrors have been made so far with 4 Vargheists, 10 Black Knights and 5 Hexwraiths to go. I’ve also got 90 Mantic zombies en route. This will take the army to well over 4000 points and give me all the 8th Edition options. This will be my main painting project this winter.

I also have 8 Necropolis Knights for the Tomb Kings to paint.

Convoy of Blockade Breaking Ships Carrying Undead Kits Sets Sail For NZ

The upswing in buying of GW product is purely a function of dealing with a reliable offshore source where the cost including shipping is approximately 55% NZ RRP. Ironically this is cheaper than I was buying my kits from Maelstrom Games and Wayland Games prior to the GW-imposed Rest of the World embargo [and the service is faster too].

Not that the locals are missing out. Thanks to Tim from Tronhammer, I splashed out for the new Empire Book at Mark One in Hamilton and on Monday I picked up 25 of the new paints from the local Games Workshop Hobby Centre.

All this is a longwinded way of saying that I’m still curious just how good the ROW embargo is for Games Workshop. None of the Vampire or Tomb King purchases would have happened without access to product at a similar price to the rest of the world. And without those purchases I wouldn’t have need those new Games Workshop paints. In the end Games Workshop has sold more because I was able to circumvent their blockade. The extent of my spend for the first three months would have been the new Vampire Counts and Empire books plus the Vampire Magic Cards. Instead the company has sold 10x that.

I can’t help thinking Games Workshop plc is better off as a result.