Tariffs and Wargaming

[HerbertTarkel]

That sucks! Sorry to hear that.

Yeah - $1200 in parts… $300 bill. I couldn’t get them literally anywhere else, so you know, whatever. My bike is back from the shop next week. It’s going to be an awesome summer, now. 

[jambo1]

I order miniatures from Fife & Drum in the U.S. and Jim is always very reasonable with prices and postage so hopefully things will still be much the same.

[carlos marighela]

I avoid buying anything from the Estados Unidos due to the horrific postal costs. A 10% tariff would be near fucking meaningless when the postal costs are double or triple the price of the goods.

As it happens Australia has decided not to apply a 'reciprocal' tariff on US imports. We didn't apply one before either having a FTA with the US. The Orange Buffoon has used the rate of the Goods and Services Tax (VAT) which is applied to all goods, domestic and imported as the benchmark.

We did have a good laugh at the taxing of the Penguins. The Heard and McDonald Islands, listed separately on the naughty list, are actually Antarctic dependencies of Australia.

By the by, bottle of American 'Whiskey' [sic] going free to a good home. My wife stopped off in Dallas on her way home and picked up a bottle of Jack Daniels in the duty free. It's wasted on me,  I don't drink bourbon.

[HerbertTarkel]

Jack Daniel’s isn’t bourbon. Only Kentucky has bourbon, like Scotch, or champagne.  They just laid off 16% of the their workforce though (JD parent co.). Imagine that.

And Canada is the largest importer - to the tune of billions - of bourbon.

Sorry - WAS the largest importer. It’s ALL been pulled off the shelves, and, as it was by contract by consignment, returned to the US.

Oh, how the bourbon industry in Kentucky is crying. It’s … what they voted for.

“Thoughts and prayers”

ELBOWS UP 🇨🇦

[Mammoth miniatures]

The biggest issues for the wider industry will be the cost of Warhammer and games workshop products for American customers - all manufactured in the UK and shipped from the UK to the America distribution centre. Like them or not they make up a huge part of the wargaming eco system and often act as the foundation product for most tabletop games shops - without Warhammer most flgs make their money on magic the gathering.
And the cost for producers manufacturing in china now that all their components are liable for a huge rise in costs. Steve Jackson games have already put out a statement that boils down to "this is going to fuck us up royally" and I imagine many us based producers will be making similar statements soon.

[Storm Wolf]

I buy uk only these days for my wargaming bits and bobs, I used to buy from the states and EU but the silly postage killed that, unless its for a PDF or something non-physical.

If I could do that for other stuff I buy, I would, but as we make very little these days it would be nigh on impossible, very sad.

[carlos marighela]

Jack Daniel’s isn’t bourbon. Only Kentucky has bourbon, like Scotch, or champagne.  They just laid off 16% of the their workforce though (JD parent co.). Imagine that.

And Canada is the largest importer - to the tune of billions - of bourbon.

Sorry - WAS the largest importer. It’s ALL been pulled off the shelves, and, as it was by contract by consignment, returned to the US.

Oh, how the bourbon industry in Kentucky is crying. It’s … what they voted for.

“Thoughts and prayers”

ELBOWS UP 🇨🇦

Bugger! Is that what they call 'blowback'? Schadenfreude running deep here. FAaFO.

Oh well, whatever it is, it's not whisky, it's an abomination. I just wish she had bought me what I asked for: a bottle of cravinho and another of licor de jenipapo. Most other things I can get here anyway. Those two can only be found in one particular place on earth.

[HerbertTarkel]

The biggest issues for the wider industry will be the cost of Warhammer and games workshop products for American customers - all manufactured in the UK and shipped from the UK to the America distribution centre. Like them or not they make up a huge part of the wargaming eco system and often act as the foundation product for most tabletop games shops - without Warhammer most flgs make their money on magic the gathering.
And the cost for producers manufacturing in china now that all their components are liable for a huge rise in costs. Steve Jackson games have already put out a statement that boils down to "this is going to fuck us up royally" and I imagine many us based producers will be making similar statements soon.

This is a major concern for me.

GW is based out of Memphis for all of North America (they closed Canada at least 12? years ago?).

Right now, UPS ships their product to Canada. Wargaming has been exempt anywhere in the world to Canada.


But… now the new blanket tariffs to goods coming into the US… how will GW deal with that?!? I think their solution may well be isolate US,  ship to Canada from the UK, otherwise the price will be 25% HIGHER. Even GW must know that’s not palatable.

And as you said, Steve Jackson - screwed.
Catalyst Games (Battletech) - same.

What about D&D? Books are printed where? China most often. Screwed!

The implication of the tariffs are quite deep and will change supply chains.

[zemjw]

SJ Games email below

An Important Message From Our CEO Meredith Placko

On April 5th, a 54% tariff goes into effect on a wide range of goods imported from China. For those of us who create boardgames, this is not just a policy change. It's a seismic shift.

At Steve Jackson Games, we are actively assessing what this means for our products, our pricing, and our future plans. We do know that we can't absorb this kind of cost increase without raising prices. We've done our best over the past few years to shield players and retailers from the full brunt of rising freight costs and other increases, but this new tax changes the equation entirely.

Here are the numbers: A product we might have manufactured in China for $3.00 last year could now cost $4.62 before we even ship it across the ocean. Add freight, warehousing, fulfillment, and distribution margins, and that once-$25 game quickly becomes a $40 product. That's not a luxury upcharge; it's survival math.

Some people ask, "Why not manufacture in the U.S.?" I wish we could. But the infrastructure to support full-scale boardgame production – specialty dice making, die-cutting, custom plastic and wood components – doesn't meaningfully exist here yet. I've gotten quotes. I've talked to factories. Even when the willingness is there, the equipment, labor, and timelines simply aren't.

We aren't the only company facing this challenge. The entire board game industry is having very difficult conversations right now. For some, this might mean simplifying products or delaying launches. For others, it might mean walking away from titles that are no longer economically viable. And, for what I fear will be too many, it means closing down entirely.

Tariffs, when part of a long-term strategy to bolster domestic manufacturing, can be an effective tool. But that only works when there's a plan to build up the industries needed to take over production. There is no national plan in place to support manufacturing for the types of products we make. This isn't about steel and semiconductors. This is about paper goods, chipboard, wood tokens, plastic trays, and color-matched ink. These new tariffs are imposing huge costs without providing alternatives, and it's going to cost American consumers more at every level of the supply chain.

We want to be transparent with our community. This is real: Prices are going up. We're still determining how much and where.

If you're frustrated, you're not alone. We are too. And if you want to help, write to your elected officials. You can find your representative and senators' contact information at house.gov and senate.gov. Ask them how these new policies help American creators and small businesses. Because right now, it feels like they don't.

We'll keep making games. But we'll be honest when the road gets harder, because we know you care about where your games come from – and about the people who make them.

As for PDFs, places like drivethru don't even seem to charge vat, so I'm hoping the tariffs will be skipped as well.

Like others, I stopped ordering from the US years ago when postage rates became stupid, although Wargames Atlantic could be a concern. Still, I have enough figures to keep me busy for a few decades.

I guess we'll see how it plays out...

[modelwarrior]

As mentioned above I think the end of cheap printing in China is going to make start up projects especially expensive. I wonder if Kickstarter projects will see a price hike ?

[Mammoth miniatures]

This is a major concern for me.

GW is based out of Memphis for all of North America (they closed Canada at least 12? years ago?).

Right now, UPS ships their product to Canada. Wargaming has been exempt anywhere in the world to Canada.


But… now the new blanket tariffs to goods coming into the US… how will GW deal with that?!? I think their solution may well be isolate US,  ship to Canada from the UK, otherwise the price will be 25% HIGHER. Even GW must know that’s not palatable.

And as you said, Steve Jackson - screwed.
Catalyst Games (Battletech) - same.

What about D&D? Books are printed where? China most often. Screwed!

The implication of the tariffs are quite deep and will change supply chains.

Oh yeah, the ramifications are long term. The idea that this will magically make companies switch to domestic production is laughable - of the domestic production capacity existed, it'd be used. What there is isn't financially viable at current consumer price expectations - so either the price goes up because of tarrifs, or the price goes up because of increased production cost/relocation.
It goes both ways as well - magic the gathering cards are printed in the us.if they become more expensive to import them they'll be forced to pass that cost on to players worldwide, Which means players will eventually move towards less expensive domestically produced
Games either out of choice, or simply through a lack of availablity as retailers drop US products. As I said above MtG is the lifeblood of most independent game shops - of you're not running Friday night magic and doing release events you're pretty much wholly reliant on Warhammer to make the majority of your income - so flgs on both sides of the Atlantic should really be looking to get their affairs in order asap.

One company that might benefit is privateer press - they may see a return to the glory days of being the American Warhammer competitor, although I think warmahordes has very much gone off the boil.

[carlos marighela]

The bit that really makes me laugh is all those red baseball caps are made in...... China.

[Mammoth miniatures]

The bit that really makes me laugh is all those red baseball caps are made in...... China.

I believe it's pronounced CHAYYNAH.
But yes this is either a severe case of "we didn't know all our stuff was made elsewhere" or "we are bankrupting an empire in order to buy up the ruins". Either way it's certainly going to keep economics professors busy for the next decade.

[Sakuragi Miniatures]

I had read that de minimis has actually been cut, completely, by the US. Maybe it got rescinded - it’s freaking hard to keep up.

Canada has similar rules, but … not now. Everything is getting tariffed from the US to Canada.

I made the horrible mistake of ordering motorcycle parts I could only get from the US, and despite the CBSA website stating “whole motorcycles”, my parts were hit with 25% tariff. That was awesome.

Miniatures … I wouldn’t order anything now. Or anything else, now. At least from the US.

I read the DLC website explanations a few times, the wording is kind of wonky. Only China has no minimum de minimis, Mexico and Canada are potentially going to get that too, but other than that it's still $800 for all other countries. At the top, where it talks about China makes it sound like everyone but in the bullet points it says that the de minimis still stands. Hope that helps.

[Storm Wolf]

The yanks are trying to kickstart a manufacturing economy that is already virtually dead!

Look at the mess that was Detroit.

They are not far behind us in the UK as a post industrial economy, sadly they should have tried this in the 70's but not now.