Warhammer 40K’s next boxed set makes a statement with its $299 price tag

polygon.com:

Warhammer 40,000’s most exciting setting, the small unit skirmish game Necromunda, is getting a massive new boxed set. Independent retailers have confirmed to Polygon that Necromunda: Ash Wastes will retail for $299, and it goes up for pre-order online at the official Games Workshop website this weekend, where it’s expected to list at the same price. And yes, that’s an awful lot for a big box of unassembled plastic parts, a book, and some cardboard bits. It also represents a not-so-subtle change in the scale of the 40K hobby, and a show of force in the face of increased competition.

The original Necromunda system dates back to 1995, when it was introduced in the pages of White Dwarf magazine. In 2017, it was rebooted with a new ruleset and elaborate plastic miniatures. For example, a single 28-millimeter miniature could easily contain 12 or more tiny parts — including a wee little cigar the fraction of the size of a grain of rice that was a real pain to glue into place, thank you very much. That opened the door to modding and customization that the hobby had simply never seen before (outside of maybe the space ork armies, known for literally going to war in hacked-together hunks of trash built from the ground up from… well, trash).

Now out of print, 2017’sNecromunda: Underhive goes for about $175 on eBay. A later revision of the starter set, Necromunda: Hive War, sells for around the same price, while Necromunda: Dark Uprising is a bit more desirable and higher priced among collectors. All of these sets include a smattering of plastic scenery, rulers, markers, dice, and a manual.

So why does Ash Wastes cost almost twice as much? An early preview of the components, published on Monday, reveals exactly how much stuff is