Are GW taking the P**s?

We in the Warhammer / 40K community are prone to rant at Games Workshop, and whilst I am not always a fan of the company, I often wonder if the complaints are justified.

I read another blog last night, about how GW are taking advantage of the gaming community, that their prices are exploitative and that they have priced the game out of our market. How they are greedy and unreasonable and are taking the piss.

Here is the post by Goresmack on Band of Nerds http://wp.me/14rmi

I’ve recently moved from the UK back to Australia, and given the retail premium (over and above the exchange rate) have been feeling the squeeze more than normal, but ithas got me thinking about the cost of the hobby, and led me to do some exploration of GW’s pricing policy.

So I went back through some of my old White Dwarfs.

My first issue ever was 177, in 1994, a great issue but one that has all of the product prices printed in UK pounds. For what it’s worth the boxed 40K set would have set you back  £34.99 my recollection was that it was an even $100.00 in Australian dollars, but I can’t be sure.

By issue 201 in September 1996 however we have White Dwarf publishing prices in AUS Dollars, and it makes some interesting reading.

The Boxed Game would have cost you $109.95, and an army codex $32.95. I have looked up the Australia inflation rates from 1996 to now, and allowing for compounding inflation that $109.95 would now come out at about $162.50. Games workshop charge us $150.00 for Black Reach, and if you compare the contents of Black Reach, to the 2nd edition box set, that strikes me as being much more for less.

The codex would now be worth $48.73 in todays money, which is almosr bang on the $48.00 they charge.

As an ork player I pulled out my well thumbed copy of White Dwarf 214 (october 97). This is the launch issue for Gorkamorka, a game I loathed but at least started to fill in the vehicle shaped gaps in my WAAAGH. A single Ork Bike would have cost me $22.95, which is