Recently my regular Dark Eldar opponent wanted to purchase the Datacards for his shiny new Dark Eldar codex. Why wouldn’t he? They are great, really good value, especially if you don’t already have the objective cards. They come with all the Psychic cards or abilities for your army, in fact I highly recommend getting some if you don’t already have some yourself.
Except chances are you can’t. Games Workshop have decided that these are going to limited release and they seem to mean limited. If you don’t snag them in the first week or two you probably won’t get any… Unless you try eBay where some enterprising individuals are selling the £5 product for £10 or more plus shipping!
So the question is, with supply out stripping demand why aren’t they making more of these? I mean we all know they want to make money so it seems counter intuitive to create a thriving black market. I mean granted they have done this with Space Hulk, but whatever.
This brings me back to the Dark Eldar player, he ordered his from an Online store who for whatever reasons didn’t get enough to meet their orders. So he called our local Games Workshop and asked if they had some and they said “Yeah sure, come down at opening on Saturday (the release date for the product) and you will get some”. The Saturday arrived, he went into town specifically to pick some up knowing they are gonna sell out and be hard to get. He gets to Games Workshop where he is told that to buy some of the Data cards he will also need to purchase a Dark Eldar Codex. Which was not as discussed on the phone and was quite frankly outrageous! This was at the managers discretion it seemed.
So I posted my opponents story online and there was a lot of agreement that this was harsh until some independent retailers gave their two cents. This has apparently become quite common, especially in the smaller independent stores as Games Workshop don’t send as many units. They explained that they did this to make sure that only people who are going to use them, get them. Or it was a defense to stop people just coming in and buying them for eBay profit.
I get this, only wanting to sell to regulars or people who need them, but people don’t always have money to drop on entertainment. Especially in the same month as Space Hulk.
So this whole supply and demand for Datacards is worse than it seems! I also experienced this lately with starting my Orks. I wanted a set to use with my Orange Tide but they are so hard to find.
I understand that supporting these indefinitely would be bad for Games Workshop, if they make too many they end up stuck on the shelf. But what about a compromise? Small batches, repriting when needed.
It’s sad that a great little GW product is being abused like this.
Have you got a set? What do you think? And feel free to share similar experiences!
TL:DR Datacards are awesome but GW aren’t meeting demand and the black market eBay sellers are mean!
– ResinJunkie
resinjunkie 
It’s ridiculous. I don’t understand why they are making a game item limited. It’s pretty absurd…especially when you read the text in the codex that tells you to “replace” your standard objectives with your faction specific ones. (If your warlord is your faction).
Makes no sense, and it honestly boggles my mind. Are they going to make templates limited edition yet? Scatter dice?
Agree, this is a pretty dumb thing to make limited. They’re basically objective cards and something that you kinda need to play to game (or it makes it easier).
This does seem like madness. And as a new player it doesn’t feel great entering into the hobby and having things like this happen. GW are so backwards it would be funny if it wasn’t so annoying for so many people.
I really try and avoid subjects like this as its annoying and results in hobby depression! But I know at some point I am sure I will be forced to write something about the madness of GW.
I have to use my Orc cards for every other army becuase i don’t get the normal cards anywhere, that sucks.