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A Strange Release from Games Workshop
June 13, 2014 by warzan
Today Games Workshop unleashed the Warhammer 40,000 Librarium upon an unsuspecting fan base.
Bound in a beautiful slip case it contains the Rule Book and 9 codexes.
They say...
This collection of 10 hardback books gathers together the rich history of and game rules for nine factions along with a copy of Warhammer 40,000: The Rules. Each book is beautifully-bound in the artwork and iconography of the faction it represents.
Presented in a slipcase this Webstore Exclusive collection contains Warhammer 40,000: The Rules and nine Codexes in a convenient small format, including:
Codex: Space Marines, Codex: Chaos Daemons, Codex: Dark Angels, Codex: Eldar, Codex: Astra Militarum, Codex: Imperial Knights, Codex: Tau Empire, Codex: Tyranids , Codex: Chaos Space Marines and Codex: Eldar.
OK its a beautiful product, no doubt... the small format aspect is very interesting indeed... but I cannot work out what the point is!?!?!?
1) It's not complete (is it actually a collection?)
2) What is 'collectible' about this
3) Why not make it a bit bigger to fit the rest of the books? (when they release of course)
4) Are GW taking a leaf out of Hollywood's book (You know where we bought the Harry Potter box set with movies 1-3, then 1-4, then 1-5 then finally 1-7 - ohh and I almost forgot we bought it all again on bluray 😉 )
I look at it, and I want it, especially when you consider 6 codex cost me the guts of £180 recently this looks like a 'bargain' (I use the term under advisement by the way), but how much cooler would this have been at Christmas if they had managed to sell it as a complete works! (Unlikely I know, but at the rate they released books last year not impossible)
What say you?
UPDATE: So this is a small format print edition... now that is interesting for a whole different reason! - mmmmm wonder if/when we will see these on general release eh?
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I didn’t know Jackie Chan played 40K! 😀
If his army is half as badass as he is . . .
He is a long time Imperial Guard Astra Militarum player!
Plays Cata-chans 😉
Oh that was soooo bad. But I guess you are a Dad, so Dad-jokes are OK….
and to be honest I laughed.
Oh god that’s so bad.
I still laughed though.
yeah, I laughed; a few moment’s later after my dumb brain got the joke. I swear I need a cerebral upgrade. lolz
If I give this a -1 karma for that awful pun, do I lose my backstage? 😛 🙂
yup and I hunt you down 😉
Ouch! Lovely.
I thought Adolf Hitler made some interesting observations concerning the recent changes at GW on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fc36Is_6yZw
Sorry if you have already seen it. I thought it was hilarious.
LOL
I thought he worked for us over at FOW FTW??? I don’t know I like the idea of the books being small. But they could have made it better like.
Why now goodies and badies make it that simple choas et all in one box and guard eta all in another even that would!d be better then the jumbled together not even finished thing here
Oops, the youtube clip above contains strong language and adult themes. Parental guidance required.
I like the idea of it, I have the new special edition rulebook and the unique style books are very very nice, book cover effects are great, definitely the best they have done, but………all the codex’s have not been released yet, so not really sure why they have done this.
I don’t understand why you would release a collectable edition that is 2 thirds done. I certainly would’ve thought about it if it was a complete set
Me too, its incompleteness irks me lol
But I like where they are going with it 🙂
Its cool, but id rather put the money towards another titan…
Now if single books in smaller format were available… I’m sure there is a queue waiting. Most comments from gamers when they released the Trinity were: cool, but can I get it in small format and just the rules?
I agree, the fact that it is not even got space for any future Codices, it makes it a very strange proposition. Oh and why do GW insist on using the word Codexes when it is not grammatically correct.
OK I do like the small format idea, but doubt we will ever see these on general individual sale, but we can hope.
Maybe this is boxed set 1 and there WILL be boxed set 2 when the other 5 Codices do arrive in hardback and maybe the can do one for all the supplements too.
It’s only grammatically incorrect when you’re communicating in Latin. When a noun crosses into English then the both the plural form in either English or the original language are both grammatically correct. If they weren’t then wouldn’t buy a codex from GW, you would buy a codicem.
*then both the plural form…
” If they weren’t then wouldn’t buy a codex from GW, you would buy a codicem.”
I beg to differ. Especially if it included the Ork book,
It would definitely be co-dices 😛
And codices too. The accusative plural is the same as the nominative plural. That could be the most boring sentence ever published on BoW lol
I fell asleep half way through the sentence, so I reckon that puts in in strong contention for the award! 😛
But to be fair I was always the same in English classes at school.
Why not include Orks people say?
I say “why not include Orks, and release this a fortnight before the standalone Ork book”
That would put some wallets under pressure….
I think the main point of this product is that it is another product, moh and it has a large price tag to boot.
Also, I used to collect all the books whether I had the army or not. Since everything went hardback, I have one, which I got free. So perhaps its an attempt to reduce the cost of mass collecting the books again? Personally I would prefer softback again tbh. Why does a book you transport about need the added weight? And if it is redone in a few years you dont need the extra protection. My guess would be it creates a higher profit margin and people are prepared to pay it. Ofc a lot of people only buy the ones they need now rather than collecting, which really sucks the fun out of their systems tbh. A lot of fun can be had at home making up lists etc. Ssome people at my club are planning on getting it and splitting the costs between peolpe as well as getting a gaming club ruleset so people dont need a copy each.
Considering they still haven’t sold all the fancy special edition of the main rulebook, weeks AFTER release I don’t see this working. Small formats are better suited for actual gamers, while this price tag is aimed at collectors. Who’s really gonna take a book out of this set and go gaming with it where it’s likely to get banged/bent/spilled on/dropped/thrown at an opponent?
If you dont have the latest rules and the latest codex releases then its worth it. For me i’ve got the rules, ive got three of the codex so its not really worth it for me.
its a good direction, be even better if at a later date you could pick and choose what codex go in it lol… i wish
On another note what do people make of the revamped shokk attack gun for orks now a complete plastic sprue?
I don’t think there’s any mystery as to why GW have done this. It’s to sell the same product twice and the second time round the profit margin is greater. It’s the same reason comic book companies release graphic novels. There’s no nothing wrong with it, it’s just business.
Christ, my sentences are all over the place. *There’s nothing wrong with it..
To me not a product of much appeal. The print stuff of GW tends to loose its worth once new editions release. Limited or normal print runs matters not.
All in all, it again is a try to push the balance sheet into a more positive direction, not a crime per se, but I would prefer products that actually ARE appealing.
How about pure army list books for factions that exclude all fluff and hobby parts but include all rules and lists data sheets and sub codices ?
I want them to make all core rules and all armylists free.
If you have to pick, which ruleset will you be most likely to buy? (all are about for same price for me.) at around $450CAD
1. the Limited Edition 40K rulebook?
2. the small format Rulebook + 9 codex?
3. Horus Hersay Book 1 – 3?
I don’t have the money actually and would be very reluctant to spend 450$ worth of planned obsolescence. :o))
GW must really need every penny it can get before the end of the financial year, wonder what their financial report is going to be like this time? last one wasmt so good for investors
Oh these are special codexes, they have a red mark on there back. And a handy book case to put in my bigger book case..
I can see the benefits to it. I think this product would be aimed more at collectors.
Plus a £220 price tag is not to bad when you think about it logically. Say you are new to the game, you need a codex and a rule book. Say Space Marines. There’s a £90-100 price tag right away.
The new player then reads the rule book, ok I like the allies idea, I’ll need Imperial Knights and Militarum. Another £60-£80.
Theres up to £180 right away.
£220 price tag on a set of books where you get all you need and you could always eBay the others for around £15-£20 I recon. So if you look at it like that, it’s not really a bad collection.
£22 for a mini codex?
I think I am getting the hang of @redben‘s exegesis above ^^
If I have it right, the correct term for a mini-codex is a cod.
Which just so happens to be another word for a jest or jape.
Am I the only one thinking this is a damned rip off? Collection, bah! Humbug! Only a scant few of the included army books are up to date (designed with 7th in mind), the others you might as well don’t give a toss about.
I just see this as a push to sell more stuff.
The old saying ‘You can not polish a t*rd’ holds true.
BUT this does not stop GW rolling them in different coloured glitter, and expecting people to spend more money on them!
And some people will still justify GW plc corporate incompetence/greed, by buying them.
I hope GW plc make the necessary changes to turn it round very soon…
They’re just milking their fan base. They’re not offering anything of real value here, they’re just slapping a “Collector’s Edition” sticker on a box of books (size notwithstanding) and hoping that a certain core cadre will buy it. It’s the same strategy that compels them to release expensive special edition copies of the rules with plastic slipcases and “limited edition” dice and truly ugly and useless tape measures. Someone will buy it—probably the same group of someones who buy the special edition rules. GW will squeeze some profit out of this product with minor reinvestment in the books themselves (it’s not like they’re formatted differently, they’re just shrunk down like all mini rulebooks), and that will be a win for them. It’s a low-cost, high-margin product that they can sell just enough of to make worth their while.
That’s it.
GW’s stock price took a plunge … they are selling EVERYTHING that is NOT BOLTED DOWN at this point…. clearly that is the answer to why 7th edition was released fully 2 years before they originally intended to release it and the steady stream of over priced, overy hyped, stuff they’ve been dumping has just been a desperate attempt to show a “healthy” increase in sales for the quarter so they can get the analysts “upbeat” about them again. Period. GW also has the most abused, most willing to take it in the behind fanbase of any game on the market. How and why people continue to pay the obscene prices for a product that really (at least here in the US) no one plays anymore … just makes no sense to me at all. I really begins to defy the laws of economics …
I have my mini codex right here.
It’s called Adobe Reader and a printer.
I like the smaller size books and I would be tempted to buy this, so I legitimaly have all the books I might use available to me. But I still don’t like the price tag. And it does seem odd to release an incomplete bundle.
I can see the appeal of the smaller codex’s for transport purposes but personally I prefer having something reasonably large (even if it is just to hit my opponent with it).
I think that would be an attractive offer to newbies. If they don’t know anything about the game or news or future releases then they would be very happy!
I bought the Munitorum box for 7th edition. The A5 hardcover is a beautiful thing to behold, and easily readable (even with my 51 year old eyes).
I think the motivation for his release was twofold, as Warren suggested. It’s a cash grab before the EOFY. From here, GW will likely follow the movie studio home video business model, where they will encourage us to ‘double (triple/quadruple…) dip’ to get the entire set of codexes (codices?) by re-releasing the A5 format books in new sets.
I really like the A5 format, and the price break here (Aussie retail $400 / 10 books = $40 per book) is actually very reasonable for hardcovers. That is, assuming the content is identical to their larger counterparts.
The deal breaker is the collectible factor.
It’s not a complete set, that’s point one.
So much of the material from the 6th edition codex publications has been rendered obsolete by the FAQs for 7th edition, so gamers will probably not go for it if they own some, or all of the larger format books. In fact for gamers, the digital editions that are updated with new FAQ information are not far off the per book price for this set, and would probably be a more practical purchase option, point two.
Collectors are not likely to buy, unless they just like owning everything that comes out of the GW presses. GW books no longer hold their value like they used to on the secondary market, unless it’s something really sweet and very limited, point three.
So, that leaves me wondering if GW actually considered a target audience for this, or it’s really just a shot in the dark in the hopes of raising revenue.
I still have a suspicion that the fast release rate for 6th was driven by the decision to release 7th – they had to get the existing 6th edition stuff on the shelves before 7th made them, at least partially, obsolete …. speaking of which have they said anything about dropping the life span of games to 2 years instead of 4 or 5 at all?
Geez, nice Black Templar artwork on a collection of codices. Too bad they don’t have a codex anymore. I have to admit, all this stuff will look real spiffy on the obsolete pile a few years from now.
I agree Kane. The machine-gun release rate of books seems to indicate that GW have cut their lead times on 40k projects and are getting new product out faster to fall in with the accelerated 7th edition release.
As with all business decisions, no mention of the change in rotation between 40k and Fantasy has been mentioned by GW. The release of 7th edition took the 40k worldwide community pretty much unanimously by surprise. Not only was it at least 2 years early, based on previous releases, but it was at least a couple of months ahead of the normal release time of the year. Warren speculated that this was to capitalise on the release before EOFY, and I think he’s right on that score too.
Something else to note is that specific scenery items that are given coverage , photos and data sheets in the 7th ed rulebook are either ‘no longer available’ or not even shown on the GW websites. I’m talking specifically about the Battlescape and Crashed Aquila Lander.
Also the mission objective dice set (one of the three new sets released with 6th edition) is also no longer available. I may not be entirely au fait with the new strategic objective rules, but I believe that dice/marker set could still be used?
It all just smacks of disorganisation brought on by a hasty release schedule. At least that’s how I see it, YMMV…
At £220 for the set I think they are pricing themselves out of the market. If I had that much to spend on GW stuff a set of little books that I probably already have most of in large format would not be high on my list!
Stil not fast enough, they could have put out a hardback copy of the digital version of sisters of battle, now they have 2 of those still being legal (WD version and Digital).
And they should stop listening to Mr Ward who has some issues with his older sister, they might actually put out some plastic Sister kit out ala GW summer gift suprise SGS (yeah had to add gift for obvious reasons)
I hate how they say “small format” but never say what size that actually means!! Are we talking the same size as the starter set rulebooks? or somewhere halfway between that and the regular codex size?
I believe ‘small format’ is GW speak for A5. That’s the same size as the starter set rule books and ‘The Rules’ book in the Munitorum Box.
It’s one of the things I find particularly offensive about the GW and BL websites; deliberate ambiguity. Have you noticed how no printed material offered for sale on either website has a page count? I think they are the only company in the world to offer books without that simple courtesy. Same goes for BL audio books and audio dramas, no running time, or at best, an approximation.
It smacks very much of “Stuff the customers, they’ll buy it no matter how small or thin or short it is!” I remember when the 6th edition starter box was released and a companion story in HARDCOVER! I thought to myself “Wow, they pulled out all the stops for the backstory this time!” As entertaining as it is, it runs 125 pages. That’s barely outgrown being a short story and only just made it into novella territory. It packed a whopping novel sized price tag though.