Some Legion Shoulder Pads "No Longer Available"

[m_r_parker]

I was just on the FW site, because I'm getting an itch to do a 30k Dark Angel force, and some of the shoulder pad sets are listed as Sold Out and No Longer Available. From what I can see:

• Dark Angel MkIV
• Iron Warriors MkIV
• Emperors Children MkIII

I haven't drilled down into what's "missing" from the site - these are the ones that still have pages but can't be purchased. 

Has anyone noticed this before? Anyone got any insider info (mould issues, for instance) or news from an event? I might email to see what was up, because DA MkIV pads were on my shopping list.

[Gederas]

I was just on the FW site, because I'm getting an itch to do a 30k Dark Angel force, and some of the shoulder pad sets are listed as Sold Out and No Longer Available. From what I can see:

• Dark Angel MkIV
• Iron Warriors MkIV
• Emperors Children MkIII

I haven't drilled down into what's "missing" from the site - these are the ones that still have pages but can't be purchased. 

Has anyone noticed this before? Anyone got any insider info (mould issues, for instance) or news from an event? I might email to see what was up, because DA MkIV pads were on my shopping list.

If it doesn't get a LCTB and suddenly is "No Longer Available", it's the mould being broken.

[The Ironic Warrior]

From what I've heard it's a broken mould but cannot confirm - keep your eyes open for them coming back into stock is my advice!

[Marshal Rohr]

My Leviathan had an inch long piece of silicon in it, so I’m wondering if the Leviathan might become scarce for the next few months.

[Marshal Loss]

DA Mark IV have been gone for a bit over a month now. Hopefully they plan to bring them back. The cynic in me though notes that these are patterns not typically associated with those Legions and it might be an intentional cut by FW due to lack of sales. Time will tell

[Gederas]

Okay, so. I just checked only the Dark Angels Mark IV pads are No Longer available?

 

Iron Warriors Mark IV are still available on my end over here (US site)

[The Sorcerer Rasofiel]

I sent an email about the Emperor's Children MK3 shoulder pads and was told that it was discontinued and would probably not come back.

[m_r_parker]

I sent an email about the Emperor's Children MK3 shoulder pads and was told that it was discontinued and would probably not come back.

 

Seriously?!?!

 

I decided to hold off on my email, thinking it was all a temporary issue. I think now I need to check this for myself. Especially seeing as Dark Angels haven't had their full release yet.

[Marshal Rohr]

They could at least bring back the transfers then :(

[The Sorcerer Rasofiel]

 

I sent an email about the Emperor's Children MK3 shoulder pads and was told that it was discontinued and would probably not come back.

 

Seriously?!?!

 

I decided to hold off on my email, thinking it was all a temporary issue. I think now I need to check this for myself. Especially seeing as Dark Angels haven't had their full release yet.

 

This is the answer I got:

 

Hi There,

 

Thanks for getting in touch regarding Emperors Children MkIII shoulder pads

 

I am sorry to say this has been removed from the web store and discontinued from the Forge World product range.

 

For now, we have no information on them returning to the range but what we do know is that it is very rare that once an item has been discontinued that it will be brought back into our range at least in its original form as we once knew it.

 

I will forward on another tally for the product you are wanting

 

Thank you again and sorry for any inconvenience

[sarabando]

they also axed all the big fantasy monsters :(

[Joe]

Oh for the love of it.

 

I've worked in marketing within the industry. Five minutes. That's all it takes to whip up an email or a social media post explaining that "product x and y are going out of stock, and now is your last chance to buy them!" This is just staggering laziness on FWs part.

 

It really shouldn't come as a surprise that people turn to re-casters when they show themselves to be more reliable than the source.

[No Foes Remain]

I sometimes wonder why FW really bother, as othes have said it takes only a few minutes to send an email to let people know. Whats worse is that its just gone, not even Last Chance to Buy, but they are still pumping out pointless LotR characters.

[Marshal Loss]

It's almost certainly not laziness, it's FW trying to minimize/avoid the online hate they get whenever another LCTB wave is released. Very disrespectful to their customers either way, particularly in a game that requires as much investment as 30k does.

 

I'd probably consider stocking up on the pattern not particularly associated with your Legion just in case they decide to do it to others. Never know.

 

They could at least bring back the transfers then

 

I cancelled an entire EC project because they never brought that sheet back :(

[Brother Tholath]

It's just going to push more people to Shapeways for stuff. I strongly considered going there for some IF stuff, but went FW because they are known. But just cutting products, is going to just drive people away

[infyrana]

Whilst there is a lot of wonderful variety on Shapeways, I can't help but find a lot of it rather expensive.  But I do agree at the overall view that removing such products from their store helps to cement peoples decisions to use other sites whatever they may be.  I never used the last chance to buy timeframes, but I appreciate that at least it gave some people an option, as would an email or update to their website in clear view etc.

[The Ironic Warrior]

I am happy I decided to use MK4 Iron Warriors emblems for shoulder pads from shapeway a few months ago. I shall continue to do so given this update...

[Gederas]

I just checked on the site:

It's the Night Lords/Word Bearers/Thousand Sons Mark III and Dark Angels Mark IV on the US site.

 

Iron Warriors Mark IV and Emperor's Children Mark III are fine according to my checking

[First_Among_Brothers]

When they got rid of the legion-specific torsos I had a momentary fear that this was wave one of getting rid of shoulder pads and heads eventually. Thankfully, that turned out not to be the case, but it’s still very much a possibility given how many people don’t bother to get legion-specific upgrades—when they look at their sales figures, the upgrade sets must lag significantly behind kits that are not legion-specific. This is a business-level problem that goes back to the whole thing with TSR and its campaign settings, if anyone here remembers that story: AD&D had split its products into Planescape, Dark Sun, Forgotten Realms, etc., and when the game was acquired by Wizards of the Coast, the new company deemed that this split was a problem for sales. Person 1 buys stuff from campaign settings A and B, person 2 buys stuff from campaign settings C and D, etc. For 3rd edition D&D, WotC found they made more money when all of their customers were buying the same products. I bet Forgeworld is aware that, given the nature of 30k being mostly legions, they have kits they can release that nearly all players will want to buy, whereas legion-specific stuff is going to get less play. Even within legion specific stuff, there are things like special terminators that are “worth it” to many players bc they have unique abilities in terms of rules, whereas shoulder pads, heads, and torsos only make a difference in terms of storyline/ appearance.

 

I’m not saying I support these kinds of moves—I still have a stack of unopened Sons of Horus torsos from back in the day and will be stocking up on heads (they’re currently “temporarily out of stock”) when I get the chance—but it looks to me like this is a calculated move to cut products that are only bought my small segments of their fan base and move those customers towards buying things (like the new tanks) that make a difference in terms of the rules and can be used by any of the legions.

[m_r_parker]

I just checked on the site:

 

It's the Night Lords/Word Bearers/Thousand Sons Mark III and Dark Angels Mark IV on the US site.

 

Iron Warriors Mark IV and Emperor's Children Mark III are fine according to my checking

 

That's a disturbing trend if so, because the UK site is only showing the three I mentioned above as being NLA, and nothing on those other you mentioned as potential LCTB. 

I'll give them a call tomorrow and see what they can tell me. I tried this afternoon - but when I rang there was a recorded message saying everyone from Customer Services was in a meeting and would be back later, and I don't have time now to follow this up. It was a weird message as 1) I had rang the FW CS number and the voicemail specifically said GW CS (I always thought they were separate for some reason) and 2) why would they need all of their CS team in a meeting at the same time, why can't they stagger half and half so their phone lines are still manned?

[Marshal Rohr]

 

I just checked on the site:

 

It's the Night Lords/Word Bearers/Thousand Sons Mark III and Dark Angels Mark IV on the US site.

 

Iron Warriors Mark IV and Emperor's Children Mark III are fine according to my checking

 

That's a disturbing trend if so, because the UK site is only showing the three I mentioned above as being NLA, and nothing on those other you mentioned as potential LCTB. 

I'll give them a call tomorrow and see what they can tell me. I tried this afternoon - but when I rang there was a recorded message saying everyone from Customer Services was in a meeting and would be back later, and I don't have time now to follow this up. It was a weird message as 1) I had rang the FW CS number and the voicemail specifically said GW CS (I always thought they were separate for some reason) and 2) why would they need all of their CS team in a meeting at the same time, why can't they stagger half and half so their phone lines are still manned?

 

 

Because the team is smaller than 5 people, more than likely.

[Gederas]

Update: Iron Warriors Mark IV shoulders are now completely gone from the site, not even a "No Longer Available" entry on the website.

Edited January 18, 2020 by Gederas

[ProsperoStands]

Just remember boys and girls.

When FW goes OOP, plenty of people online are ready to fill that need.

[m_r_parker]

Update: Iron Warriors Mark IV shoulders are now completely gone from the site, not even a "No Longer Available" entry on the website.

Yep, Emperors Children MkIII and Dark Angels MkIV have also dropped off the site too...

[battle captain corpus]

It feels to me that they’re doing a lot of consolidation either shoulder pads. I’m certain that I’m about a years time all that will be available will be the mk3 & MK4 versions in some way.

 

Let’s not forget that GW do produce 4 of the Legions shoulder pads in plastic. Whilst not specifically for HH marks of armour they do work very well!

 

BCC