Comments on: Infinity price increases announced

By: evernevermore (John)

evernevermore (John) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:50:17 +0000

Anyone have any ideas on how a company could reduce the cost of miniatures?

a 50 cent jump in individual models is decent, much better then when GW went with a 2 dollar price jump - I’d rather prices creep up then shoot up

By: Osbad

Osbad — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:30:14 +0000

At around 7% over 2 years this works at or about the European rate of inflation, so seems totally reasonable. Costs everywhere are rising. I’ve just come back from a work conference (I’m a Finance Director) and the big topics of discussion were spiralling costs of production and the “credit crunch”. We’ll all have to tighten our belts I think.

Frankly I’d much rather have this transparent “accross the board at X%” price rise which everyone can follow than the sort of sneaky tactics of rereleasing boxed sets with a lower price but a MUCH lower model count and often chucking in a switch from metal to plastic that certain other manufacturers indulge in!

And as I’m getting the Infinity rule book for my birthday in a few months’ time, I’m not too put off as you only need a handful of miniatures to play the game as far as I can see. What seems more offputting to me is the amount terrain I’m going to have to create before I play a proper game - but that’s a different story….

By: grimbergen

grimbergen — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:32:54 +0000

Wiki, of course!! I didn’t realize white metal was a term used outside of the miniatures industry. Thanks for the link.

By: v22TTC

v22TTC — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:50:34 +0000

There is no lead in Infinity minis, by the way - very strict laws in Spain about this, apparently.

By: Brant

Brant — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:01:29 +0000

Damn. Infinity was already too expensive for me, a price increase is just going to make it worse. It’s too bad too, the miniatures and the game in general are awesome.

By: Psychotic Storm

Psychotic Storm — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:08:10 +0000

well after two years and only around 50 cents per model, its not that bad.
it is well within reasonable.

By: yslaire

yslaire — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:47:23 +0000

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_metal

Well Lead has also increased but I guess there’s not a lot of lead in white metal minis designed to play with, they’re kinda “toys”… I’m pretty sure lead is banned in this case.

Most of the price come from things you mentionned (labor, design and so on) that’s why minis price increase don’t follow the same trend as tin price (luckilly).

As for the labor. When they have not relocated their plants in low cost labour countries salaries are assumed at least to follow the inflation curve (2-3% each year).

By: grimbergen

grimbergen — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:25:09 +0000

Scary how much tin prices have increased. I’m assuming this is price per ounce. Is this the main ingredient in the white metal that they use? Or does it differ per caster? My guess is that most 28mm minis are less than 1/4oz, and if they use other cheaper metals it comes out to anywhere from less than a dollar to $2 per mini?

I’m also curious how much of the price of a mini is from the metal/ingredient cost vs. labor/design/admin/marketing (well, I’m sure there’s not much cost in marketing that is spent).

By: Zac

Zac — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:48:22 +0000

I can’t imagine that figures and games from Europe are affordable to Americans at the moment with the decrease in the dollar compared to the Pound and the Euro.

By: penn42

penn42 — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:14:48 +0000

We are going to have to stop carrying the line, or at least take it off re-order. It finally jumped the shark in terms of price. It’s a huge bummer, but the game is hard enough to get any real traction with, and this isn’t helping. Oddly, rather than just metal, I would have to assume the Euro is playing a big part in this too. We certainly dont have the currency going in our favor currently….

By: Zac

Zac — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:45:18 +0000

Wow, well before this gets to far. My intent was purely comical…

This is why sarcasm almost never works on the web. It depends too much on inflection and other cues that don’t come across well when written

Its why we use those annoying smilies :-)

By: JetBlack

JetBlack — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:41:47 +0000

Wow, well before this gets to far. My intent was purely comical, with sort of a sad but true feel to it. Thought I achieved that by making a ridiculous connection between the war in Iraq with the price increase of miniatures. I apologize for anyone who may have misunderstood.

By: nanite

nanite — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:35:14 +0000

They’re worth it, but already over $10 a figure from the FLSG.

I can only aford so many imported, high quality minis, so it’s down to Infinity, Bob’s Scrunts, and Dark Realm.

By: yslaire

yslaire — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:25:10 +0000

have a look at this :

http://www.infomine.com/Investment/HistoricalCharts/ShowCharts.asp?c=Tin

By: yslaire

yslaire — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:22:27 +0000

Sincerely one price increase in more than two years is pretty correct compared with other practices elsewhere… Moreover their minis are of the high quality kind I’m not bothered to pay for quality.

Metal prices did really rise. The only matter of complaint is that you ill never see a price decrease even in the case of a metal prizes drop… :oP

Primary materials are raryfying ; unfortunately that’s the way life goes… Sure our consumption and production habits won’t help ;o)