jdripley Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 The 3 pack vs 9 pack is a long dead argument folks. I the three pack too. When Reaper first introduced the army pack, they did MUCH better sales with the 9 pack vs the 3 pack. Reaper is a business first and foremost, and they need to do what works best from them financially or they just won't be around to make minis for us period. I think the Boneyard being down hurts the most. However IIRC, contacting Reaper directly about ordering the alternate sculpts remains a viable option. The above quote is from the WL 2 starter pack thread. Qwyk hits the reason why Reaper went to the 9 packs, despite an apparently small group of people who prefer the three. Yes, you can call Reaper and Darryl (the man with the phone) will gladly take your money to send you just the exact sculpts you want. So, if you want, say, 5, and you want one of each of the 3 sculpts (for the ones that have 3, some have 2), but there's one in particular you're not QUITE as fond of, so you want the last two to be the others, you can even do that. And here is how you get around the problem if you don't want to buy a 9 pack, or even if you are making a diorama with a rockette line of warlord models that are all frozen in the same pose. My only issue is this: Where is the local game shop in the equation? I order my minis from the local shop even though he doesn't regularly stock reaper stuff. I shoot him an email and give him the product code and the next week he gives me an email saying that it's there, and I have my mini and the local shop has its business. However, the distributors do not carry the single poses as you would buy them if you call up Reaper and say "I want these three specific ones out of an army pack." Too many SKU's for it to be worth the headache and stock space issues. So my question in this thread - mostly pointed at Reaper but at anybody who is in the know, really - is there a way for a local shop to contact Reaper, or send a message back through the distributor to Reaper - to the effect that I can ask my local shop owner for specific models, as I would if I called Reaper directly, and he can get the models in with all the same business perks? I know he can call up Reaper himself, purchase the mini, pay shipping, and then mark it all up so he makes some money on it, and give me a five dollar mini for $15. I'm asking if there is a way for people to make a special order through the local shop such that they sell you a $5 mini for $5 and still make their usual profit margin? I want to buy what I want to buy, but I also believe in supporting the local shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergeant_Crunch Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 Reaper has a business-to-business program for the LGS in your life to order directly from them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herzogbrian Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 Reaper has a business-to-business program for the LGS in your life to order directly from them. True, but most distributors give incentives in the form of price and shipping breaks based on the $ amounts the FLGS spends with them. So doing a special one-off (or few-off a year) order direct to Reaper just real isn't in the cards. Unless you do a TON of business with your FLGS and they place the order in the name of customer satisfaction (cause they aren't gonna make enough money off the order to really make it worth their time otherwise) I just don't see it happening. Most will tell you that you are better off trying to get it yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumble_B Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 I know it's not exactly what you wrote about, but the title of the thread brought me in here. I personally like and would purchase the 3 packs more than I would/do the 9 packs just because of the money. I can justify walking out of my local hobby store spending 12-15 bucks on a pack of 3 minis whenever I want. Dropping 40 on a 9 pack is harder for me to sneak past the lady of the house. Just my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshuaslater Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 The trick is getting the lady of the house into the game, then it will be easier. I'll buy the models either way. When they sold in 3 packs, I ended up buying 3 of them anyway, and when I wanted specific Broken Fodder, I just went to the Boneyard. I don't know if the FLGS is really set up for what are ostensibly Boneyard orders. Can't wait 'til the yard comes back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewen Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 I have always and will continue to favor the 3 packs over 8-10 packs. I love the 3 packs. 3 packs allow you to purchase 2-3 types of solders at the cost of a 8-10 pack, which helps diversify your army without breaking the bank. It is easier to expand (if you like a particular soldier model you can buy 3 more or if you want to purchase another soldier you don't own it is a bit easier on the pocket book). I avoided some of the newer factions because I did not want to buy 8-10 packs. When I wanted to add a new faction to my collection, I strongly favored older factions because I could buy the 3 packs for grunts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgtriplec Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 I have always and will continue to favor the 3 packs over 8-10 packs. I love the 3 packs. 3 packs allow you to purchase 2-3 types of solders at the cost of a 8-10 pack, which helps diversify your army without breaking the bank. It is easier to expand (if you like a particular soldier model you can buy 3 more or if you want to purchase another soldier you don't own it is a bit easier on the pocket book). I avoided some of the newer factions because I did not want to buy 8-10 packs. When I wanted to add a new faction to my collection, I strongly favored older factions because I could buy the 3 packs for grunts. I liked the three packs much better because it is hard to put troops of 9 adepts out. I play several armies- when I actually play, which is not often- but my primary army is dwarfs and part of their strength is Trencher... or was can't say for the new rules, but with the regular troop capacity its hard to fit a leader and halberds and get more than five of six maidens. Also with models like piercers or mancatchers, or daughters, or valkyries or berserkers you don't really want 9 in a 1000 point game. Granted nine gnomes, or fodder or skellies or zombies or goblins or orcs are great but 9 adepts just means a lot of extras. I guess if the 9 packs had an incentive it would be different. When they were originally announced the thread said the move was to make them cheaper for us, but that savings part never happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qwyksilver Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 I guess if the 9 packs had an incentive it would be different. When they were originally announced the thread said the move was to make them cheaper for us, but that savings part never happened. When they first came out, there wasn't a huge savings, about $0.25 per army pack, not individual model, if that. As the prices of models increased with the price of tin, etc, the individual model prices increased, but the army pack prices did not rise as sharply. Currently: The single purchase model is priced on average at $4.99 The 9 pack is $39.99 That comes out to a savings of approx. $0.55 per model if you purchase the army pack. For some of the army packs, like the Reptus, which cost $6.99 for a single model, the army pack of 7 gives you a savings of $1.28 per model if you purchase the army pack. I sort of see that as a pretty good financial incentive. You're basically getting a model for free when you buy the army pack based on what you would pay for the single items, on average. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Landt Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Just an FYI, there are no Adepts in the new rules - all soldiers are just soldiers. That will make the 9-packs more valuable, as every soldier can be put into multiple troops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgtriplec Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Just an FYI, there are no Adepts in the new rules - all soldiers are just soldiers. That will make the 9-packs more valuable, as every soldier can be put into multiple troops. That helps . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.