Warlord discontinuing 2000ad range

[Rick]

I hadn't realised that Hornby PLC was involved - they bought out Airfix in 2006, Corgi in 2008 and, now, 25% of Warlord with an option to buy a majority share in the future.
This, actually, may have had an impact on Warlord concentrating on a few core games and expanding it's international footprint - sales of the heavily franchised Dr.Who and 2000AD ranges would never have brought in the profits (even if sales hadn't fluctuated) of their other games.
I don't think it's got a lot to do with Bolt Action sales - Warlord has been expanding its markets so sales have remained fairly consistent, even accounting for the GW practice of re-releasing the books for a new version! I think it's to do with creating a global Warlord Games brand, getting known globally for those games and building their market share in other countries rather than just the UK. They're following the Games Workshop model - GW used to produce dozens of smaller, spinoff wargames and boardgames but discarded most of them to concentrate the GW brand on WHFB/WH40K.

[Rick]

Bolt Action still generates over 50% of Warlords sales whilst the franchise games (2000AD, Dr.Who) together generated less than 5%.

[Mammoth miniatures]

I hadn't realised that Hornby PLC was involved - they bought out Airfix in 2006, Corgi in 2008 and, now, 25% of Warlord with an option to buy a majority share in the future.
This, actually, may have had an impact on Warlord concentrating on a few core games and expanding it's international footprint - sales of the heavily franchised Dr.Who and 2000AD ranges would never have brought in the profits (even if sales hadn't fluctuated) of their other games.
I don't think it's got a lot to do with Bolt Action sales - Warlord has been expanding its markets so sales have remained fairly consistent, even accounting for the GW practice of re-releasing the books for a new version! I think it's to do with creating a global Warlord Games brand, getting known globally for those games and building their market share in other countries rather than just the UK. They're following the Games Workshop model - GW used to produce dozens of smaller, spinoff wargames and boardgames but discarded most of them to concentrate the GW brand on WHFB/WH40K.

I believe the games workshop model was to expand out with boxed games that brought people into the main titles (necromunda gets people into 40k, mordheim gets people into warhammer etc) and then when things took a downturn they were able to shed those titles to ensure their survival by focusing all their energy on the main systems.

I believe hornby are in some financial trouble (and have been for a while) and under the guidance of Mike ashley have been buying up other hobby companies as a means of offloading some of their debt.

[Rick]

GW are in a position where all their games are IP protected, Warlord can only protect the IP of its rulebooks and Konflict 47 which does alter things slightly. Necromunda and Mordheim really worked the other way around - generally it was WHFB and 40K players expanding into a different setting more than it ever was an entry point for the big games.
Yes Hornby have problems, yes they've been looking at other companies, not to offload debt but to diversify and decrease their financial problems. Linking Airfix and Blood Red Skies or Bolt Action is a good move for 2 fairly strong brands, bringing more to Warlords stable.

[Pacific]

Bolt Action still generates over 50% of Warlords sales whilst the franchise games (2000AD, Dr.Who) together generated less than 5%.

That is interesting to know! I am sure their Epic ranges are probably doing quite well as well, was quite a lot of buzz around the releases (I myself have probably funded a fair bit of that haha  )

[Rick]

From what I've read, it's the bulk trade sales that's driving Warlord's profits - not the individual direct sales quite so much. Currently Warlord is trying to increase the trade sales across Europe and the US, which should, in turn, establish their games at the local retailers there.