Tariffs and Wargaming

[v_lazy_dragon]

As another Canadian resident (alas  still 9 months to citizenship ), I typically buy from the UK/Europe as the costs from the US have always been high. Come to that, shipping from the UK is typically only a couple of $s more than shipping across Canada (and less than the Sentry Boxes flat C$35 rate *facepalm*)

I had planned a Brigade Games order to finish off my 3 Musketeers stuff, but that's on indefinite hold until tariffs and 51st state crap are over. I would say it will rule out Firelock games, but truth be told they always ran too expensive even before this!

Given that white metal mostly comes from the far east, I am guessing that US figure manufacturers are going to have to hike prices too... even if the moulds are spun in the US

[AKULA]

After a week of staring at tariff data at work, i wander onto LAF for a change of subject matter and what do i find  

The other factor to take into account is currency ...we are likely to see some interesting movements in exchange rates, which may (or may not) cancel out some of these tariffs, depending upon whether market makers believe these tariffs are going to be shortlived, or a feature of the next 4 years.

If you want an insight into what is the motivation behind this week's goings on, have a read of Peter Navarro's "Death by China"... he is someone that has the ear of the new Administration.

Personally speaking US tariff policy wont affect my purchase of wargames goodies, but then again i dont buy a lot from the States anyway.

[HerbertTarkel]

As another Canadian resident (alas  still 9 months to citizenship ), I typically buy from the UK/Europe as the costs from the US have always been high. Come to that, shipping from the UK is typically only a couple of $s more than shipping across Canada (and less than the Sentry Boxes flat C$35 rate *facepalm*)

I had planned a Brigade Games order to finish off my 3 Musketeers stuff, but that's on indefinite hold until tariffs and 51st state crap are over. I would say it will rule out Firelock games, but truth be told they always ran too expensive even before this!

Given that white metal mostly comes from the far east, I am guessing that US figure manufacturers are going to have to hike prices too... even if the moulds are spun in the US

I could buy from Sentry Box and ship it to you for less… 

There’s a lot of other shops to go to, and most offer discounts. The Box collects points - not sure if that’s online as well. In person sales, they do add up and make it work out ok.

I use about four online Canadian shops for stuff. What brands do you hunt for?

Good luck on your citizenship, eh, fellow hoser! 🇨🇦👍🤣

[Mr. White]

Thanks, all, for keeping it fairly civil so far at 3 pages deep.

For myself, I tend to order a lot from Northstar and Footsore with the occasional order from smaller boutique suppliers like Bac Ninh or Oathsworn. I'm in the US (Texas) so I've usually waited to place larger orders so the shipping made sense. I wonder now if I'll need to go to Badger Games to pick up a few odds and ends from the likes of the Oathmark or Baron's War lines. I'm not sure if they'll continue to carry those at the current price. I don't really wanna panic buy, but the thought is there.

I've also been waiting for some Gale Force 9 "Battlefield in a Box" terrain items to come back into production. Those seem to happen in steady waves. I believe they were made in Asia, but I could be wrong, so who knows if they're coming back. I'm not looking forward to making terrain. That part of the hobby never appealed, sadly.

Reaper is up the road in Dallas, but I've spent a lifetime buying Citadel paints that buying the colors I need at the FLGS is like being on autopilot. I might have to work at finding paint alternatives now. I believe the latest Epic Scale Fantasy armies from Wargames Atlantic are made in the US, but I don't know if their other lines are.

Either way, I do have a decent queue of models to paint already so if I can kick the spending habit, I should be good for the next four years. I over bought on my last Burrows and Badgers order, which may now turn out to be a happy accident. If the hobby as a whole becomes to expensive (which it's been close to already) I have a huge bag of 1/72 Dark Alliance/Red Box plastic models I bought up a few years ago. Maybe I end up in 1/72 land...

[YPU]

We are absolutely going to see big shifts in industries closely related to our hobby. The boardgame industry is in panic mode currently, especially a number of big names which have kickstarters going or funded but not fulfilled yet. Even in digital gaming, Nintendo cancelled the option to pre-order their new console (the switch 2) in the US due to tariffs. While I haven't seen anything specific about it, I imagine the same is going to apply to a big chunk of the toy industry at large, so any toy car or boat or spaceship you've used for wargaming or scenery in the past? yeah...

Interestingly I know that Lego has a manufacturing plant inside the US (lego nerds complain that the printing quality is noticeably lower from this source) but besides them I imagine any brand big or small is going to have problems.

So we are going to see some tectonic shifts in the industries our hobby overlaps with for sure. And not just in the US or related to US manufactured stuff, the flow of goods is going to shift massively and that will have ramifications all round, just hard to say how exactly.


In the longer run, and staying optimistic, this may boost the rise of localized to order or small batch manufacturing. We already have a rapidly growing cottage industry with 3d printers globally, and print on demand books/magazines/playing cards aren't new either, but with the cost of import/export becoming prohibitive there could be more of a market for companies specializing in this kind of board/card/miniature game manufacturing. Plenty of things that could end up bad about that, but it might not be a bad thing for our hobby. If some sort of manufacturing hub network like that does take root, it would open options for a middle sized game company that we don't really have right now. Wargaming and miniature manufacturers are either entirely boutique one person or family businesses, or much much larger established companies who can only persist by being fully commercial minded about their products. Miniatures and wargames are a poor rate on investment for companies and retailers alike in general. You need to stock a wide range of models for the game to be "supported" enough for local interest to flourish, taking up huge chunks of shelf space and distribution storage. Compared to say a collectable card game? you can pack an entire new release of magic cards in the same box that would hold 3-4 starter sets of 40k!
Bankrolling that product, distribution and inspiring stores to actually stock your product is such an investment that your more or less forced to become that big bad corporation if you want to make it work. And thats a huge step to make from two guys sculpting and casting in their garage. The only real middle ground we have currently have been crowdfunding, kickstarter especially. Getting so many pre-orders in up front that you can produce and ship to customers directly, maybe have a bit of stock extra to sell and then you won't produce anything until you launch the next campaign which will offer your older work as add ons sure, but its a very start stop jerky way to keep your game alive!
That's looking at it optimistically though, I don't think its impossible, but I'm not going to bet on it becoming a viable alternative, not before we see a bunch of crap consequences from this policy first.

[YPU]

I've also been waiting for some Gale Force 9 "Battlefield in a Box" terrain items to come back into production. Those seem to happen in steady waves. I believe they were made in Asia, but I could be wrong, so who knows if they're coming back. I'm not looking forward to making terrain. That part of the hobby never appealed, sadly.

That's a good question! Sadly I binned the boxes so I can't see if it says anything on there, but I got some of the hextech 6mm sci-fi buildings a bit ago and going by the manufacturing methods its uses it doesn't scream china production to me. The masters were clearly 3d printed and given minor adjustments by hand. And the heavy resin casting their scenery uses isn't a made in china staple either I think? The weight alone would make shipping it over costly.
Now if that means its US produced or comes from another country with a cheaper production industry I really don't know.

[HerbertTarkel]

I have Hex Tech as well, but can’t say where it was made.

Incidentally, GW makes terrain in China still. Latest stuff I ordered I was surprised to see that. So that’s likely to change.

GW books are printed all over the place - I am sure one or two even in Canada. So it can be done.

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

That's a good question! Sadly I binned the boxes so I can't see if it says anything on there, but I got some of the hextech 6mm sci-fi buildings a bit ago and going by the manufacturing methods its uses it doesn't scream china production to me. The masters were clearly 3d printed and given minor adjustments by hand. And the heavy resin casting their scenery uses isn't a made in china staple either I think? The weight alone would make shipping it over costly.
Now if that means its US produced or comes from another country with a cheaper production industry I really don't know.

When it’s cheaper to ship in whole cargos of steel, and to truck bottled water thousands of miles, ya gotta know that it isn’t weight that stops such.

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

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 🇨🇦

I wanted to stock up on Canadian Whisky in a reverse boycott but i think it’s now too late. i don’t want to pay the tax as it were, such that the administration thinks this tariff business was a good idea.

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

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.

I guess this will mean i finally get to the unpainted mountain and back under control for lack of new purchases to distract me from what i already have on hand.

[zemjw]

I've also been waiting for some Gale Force 9 "Battlefield in a Box" terrain items to come back into production. Those seem to happen in steady waves. I believe they were made in Asia, but I could be wrong, so who knows if they're coming back. I'm not looking forward to making terrain. That part of the hobby never appealed, sadly.

The GF9 Galactic Warzones: Desert Buildings box I have says "Designed in New Zealand, Made in Malaysia" if that's any help

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

Made in Malaysia, Thailand, or Vietnam doesn’t rule out a Chinese owner of the factory. 

[HerbertTarkel]

Made in Malaysia, Thailand, or Vietnam doesn’t rule out a Chinese owner of the factory.

True.

Off topic a bit, but Apple is getting burnt on this as they moved factories from China to Vietnam for Air Pods and MacBook (some models). 46% tariff.

Nintendo Switch 2 was supposed to be out this month - price just went up by 50%, pre-launch delayed.

It’s the worst economic policy since … the tariffs of another GOP, the Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930.

Is America Great again? There is just so much winning in this. 6 TRILLION cut from the stock market in 3 days. Only the oligarchs love this as they can buy at massive discounts.

Do not pass Go and enjoy the Roaring Twenties, go straight to Great Depression.

[HerbertTarkel]

I wanted to stock up on Canadian Whisky in a reverse boycott but i think it’s now too late. i don’t want to pay the tax as it were, such that the administration thinks this tariff business was a good idea.

It will always be there! I actually stopped drinking … 

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

I will save my all whisky buying for when i am back in the UK.  I tend to drink craft beer when i am in the States.  I suspect my days of shuttling back and forth are going to come to an end soon.