Warhammer 40,000: Leviathan maker turns players towards limited hobby stock after online orders sell out
Games Workshop: 1. Scalpers: 0. Players: also 0.
If you were hoping to pick up the big box of Warhammer 40,000 miniatures introducing the wargame’s brand new 10th edition rules, you better check a local hobby shop soon. Games Workshop sold out of online pre-orders within hours in the US and other regions, and the publisher isn’t offering much recourse.
Warhammer 40k: Leviathan contains 72 Space Marine and Tyranid miniatures and cost $250 when purchased from the publisher’s website, or at least it would if you could still order one. First spotted by Polygon, the sold out stock on Game Workshop’s website happened regardless of the publisher’s admitted preparation for a queue worthy of the emperor himself.
Past launches of big, expensive boxes have been plagued by scalpers, which prompted Games Workshop to implement a new queueing system and per-customer limit that they said in a community blog post would “ensure that as many Warhammer fans as possible” were offered the chance to purchase Leviathan.
According to Twitter comments from June 10th, this meant Warhammer 40k’s 10th Edition flagship sold out in hours instead of minutes in the US, with European and Australian regions close behind the following day. Despite vocal complaints about false scarcity from fans online, Games Workshop has uttered nary a peep about the situation or when hopeful players can hope to see additional boxes stocked for pre-order.
The only option left for those wanting to snag the updated Terminators, as indicated by a June 11th tweet from Games Workshop, is to check physical Warhammer stores or other local hobby shops in their area. This isn’t a guaranteed strategy, as the publisher has historically prioritised their own businesses in favour of independent brick & mortars, and even then hard limited the number of boxes floating around in the wild.
As Polygon further points out, this isn’t the only solution. Games Workshop made the landmark decision to produce-to-order Warhammer 40k 9th Edition’s big box, Indomitus in order to meet the massive demand. No information on any plans has yet arrived from the publisher, so if you don’t have Leviathan in your hands already, time may be running out.
Dicebreaker reached out to Games Workshop for comment but did not hear back by time of publication.