Horus Heresy Oh My

So GW is supposedly releasing a Horus Heresy boxed set in the Spring.  Contents look impressive with supposedly like 40 marines, 10 termis, and 2 dreads plus some leaders.  That gives it some additional model count over that Dark Vengeance Starter or the Black Reach Starter but certainly not twice the models and rumor has it that the price point is ~200 dollars compared to the 60 dollars that Black Reach started at.  It appears to come with some info about playing warhammer 30K but not fully eliminating the usefulness of the Forgeworld books.  First thing I noted is that I did not see anyone listing a standard rulebook in it, so I am not sure if it could be called a Starter Set maybe the 30K expansion if it does not come with the basic rules.

That matches the target audience perfect since this is pure GW style.  Selling less for more to the same people.  What are they selling here?  New verisons of the models I already own.  Who out there does not have 40 marines, 10 termis and 2 dreads?   I know I have 60+ tactical marines, 20+ terminators, and 2 dreads (used to have 3 but traded a Black Reach one).

But these compare to Forgeworld products, you say.  GW Plastics already compare pretty well with Forgeworld especially at the level where you are going to be painting 40 models.  I have not heard anyone complaining recently of a lack of detail in GW plastics.  Design decisions are a different matter., though.

Forgeworld differs from GW mainly in production scale.  When you tool for plastics you have to expect to sell a lot of them since that is what the production method is for.  That is why you see 30 dollar individual monopose plastic characters compared to 40 dollar 10 man tactical squad loaded with options.  People buy three or more time the tactical squads compared to the Captain.  Once the tooling is paid for the models are almost free to produce compared to their sale price.  Shipping the models costs more than producing them at that point.  Bringing the Horus Heresy models into the main line allows GW to mass produce them while still probably adding a premium to their price since they are "special".

Now this bundle might be like the some of the recent ones where they repackage the standard models into a box and offer some real savings but the key there is that you actually want all the models.  Based on their current pricing, 10 Horus Marines probably will be 45 dollars, 5 Horus Termis 55 dollars, and the Horus Dread like 55 dollars.  At those prices this might be a steal for 200 dollars with each side getting almost 200 dollars in components.  If you think GW plastics are worth that price.  That is always the kicker.  Can you say that a piece of plastic that costs 1 dollar to make is worth 50 dollars?  GW tries to and it has worked for them for years so why stop now.

This is pure collector level targeting.  I should not be throwing stones since I do have an Epic Space Marine Heresy Era Army but I had it literally before it was cool and have more than ridiculous number of Blood Bowl teams and Legos.  I have serious hoarder impulses but maybe that allows me to see this clearly.  Maybe 30K offers up loads of new gaming opportunities but I really doubt that since it the core it is the same game.  But if you want it, you will probably have to preorder it through GW site since it will no doubt be Limited and Exclusive.