Oh, they know. Everyone in miniature business from UK knows about that. But this is the first time I heard that you don`t have to pay the internal fee if the cost is outside of the parcel.
At least itās reduced.
sorry, I just make them, no idea what shipping and taxes involves 
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Spread the word as if it were the Plague!
donāt spread the plague, thatās a terrible ideaā¦
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Too soon?
Not the terrible real life thing. I meant the DZ Plague that turns you into an enormous hulking beast with a bonus to charisma.
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For our tourney last Saturday Mantic sent us a price package and I had to pay UPS around 24ā¬. I did it āgladlyā because the goodies were worth more so it was only taking away some of the money that weād use to buy more prizes. And those prizes, which included more Mantic stuff, where bought locallly.
With how things are, Iām buying 0 hobby stuff outside the EU. If a local hobby shop carries your product, even at a higher price, Iāll buy it. Because Iāll know exactly how much Iām paying for it. I donāt like having to pay extra fees.
The big losers here are the small companies.
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First of all, Mantic remains a company. This remains that they have to deal with the shyte that all companies deal with and that their prices must cover their costs in order to stay in business.
And this is what worries me most. With the advent of the 3d printer, the profit Mantic can make on miniatures will decline sharply over the next few years. Last year, the prints I got from a 3d printer were distinctively sub-par, but these days the new (ā¬ 200-ish) printers can do quality not unlike manticās plastics. This means that, for the price of a sizeable army, I can get a 3d printer and print minis for cheap. (not free, but cheap). Buy a 3d printer with a group and the calculation becomes even more favourable for 3d printing.
As it is, 3d prints trump metals and plastics in quality, but not resin. (the new luggits, for example, are great) For me, plastics are easier to convert/work with than printed resin, so I prefer hard plastics over 3d prints for now, but only for the models that come in hardplastic and are fairly recent. That said, the difference in price, absence of shipping and easier availability (print tonight = have tomorrow) will make the choice go in favour of printing somewhere in the near future. Also, 3d printed models are not converted on the painting station but in the digital environment beforehand. I donāt like it that much, but this is probably due to my inexperience with the process and I have someone in my friend circle who can and likes to do so.
The advent of 3d print and subcequently the loss of market means that Mantic willhave to drastically change their business model and I hope they are up to it. I am pretty happy with the position Mantic takes in relation to the community and the game and I am pretty convinced that the game needs a company to develop the game and create new content. The question remains, how much are we willing to pay for said support how are we going to pay Mantic for such support. Currently, itās a markup in the miniatures (and also in the books), but with the loss of market for miniatures, Mantic will have to think up another way.
The developments in the market (both Brexit and 3d printing) wil make metal miniatures redundant quite soon and resin as soon as 3d printers increase in quality even further. (Which is a matter of years, not decades). Plastic miniatures will remain viable longer (due to lower production costs) but the question remains whether the volume of sold plastics is high enough to break even when all other models are only sold as 3d printable files.
Until that time, for most of us, Brexit is something we have to endure.
For those on the continent like me, thereās some webshops who learned to deal with Brexit.
https://www.ccgwinkel.nl/games/kings-of-war
is one such webshop located in the Netherlands. The owner is as dependant on Manticās pricing as all of us, but you wonāt have customs as they have been dealt with already.
Vince
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3D printing is cheap, compared to GW
Yet an Army Box + Mega Army Box makes a 2k KoW Army for less than the cheap printer without everything that comes with it
Yes 3D printing is a threat for some companies, but not for all (mostly GW because of their highly inflated prices) and will replace metal and some resin models but has not the possibility to replace HIPS for the years to come
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As a person with a 3D printer who can and has printed entire armies, and who also hates cleaning mold lines and GSing gaps on traditional minis, Iāll say that itās still really nice to be able to just go to a (web)store and buy minis I didnāt have to prep and print and reprint because something failed and clean and sand and so on.
Iāve very recently bought my first entirely Mantic army - all resin too! which I prefer - and itās a really good feel to have this big box of shiny KOW packaging. A much better pre-project feel than swabbing down my printer and organizing printing files that are hopefully supported correctly, guessing how much resin Iāll need, etc.
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At the moment, for me, printing looks too time consuming - a hobby in itself. I can see myself using a printing service in the near future, but a while off printing at home.
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3D printing is something all miniature companies will have to be aware of.
Brexit is a competitive disadvantage for GB companies.
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Iām a buy my minis kinda fellow. The 3d printing thing is a bit beyond me and sounds like a maintenance hassle. I feel like my hobby shouldnāt be a second job. Iām not really sure how the whole Brexit thing changes stuff for yall honestly. I live across the water the other way hehe.
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Weāre a long, loooong way from 3D printing threatening miniatures companies thankfully.
Theyāre great, and they work well for a few people, but theyāre nowhere near cost effective enough to go mainstream yet.
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As someone who knows quite little about 3D printing miniatures and who would probably never buy my own 3D printer, I wonder what the āexportā cost would be for Mantic to sell the required files to european hobby shops, who could then print and sell them in their country? Technology is probably a little way away for that but it could potentially bypass all the tax issues? For people like me, I would still rock up to the hobby shop (or buy online) as normal, the hobby shop does the āmanufactureā. Mantic make their money by basically selling the rights to the miniature designs.
Like I mentioned, maybe the technology isnāt there, and maybe the business model doesnāt work?
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This would only work in small scale or if you have many printers
Cost is less of a problem than time, if it takes 3 days to print an army, and you get 100 pre-orders, you already need 20 printers to get things done in a reasonable amount of time
Get a 1000 pre-orders and you need 200 printers (and people to run them)
A gaming Club with 4 printers can handle the demand of the Club, specially as people care less about the quality as it is made by friends
As soon as you have to make the amount a shop needs to fulfill spike orders there is no chance to replace HIPS or Resin
The best way to bypass Brexit Issues is to open a Warehouse on the continent
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(I did mention I donāt know much about it right? 
Iām in the UK so the extreme import costs arenāt an issue just now, but if the company loses business then obviously that effects everyone that enjoys their products!
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Yes, the solution for companies is to open offices/warehouses (and create jobs) inside the single market rather than in Great Britain. Iām guessing Manticās EU sales donāt justify the effort/expense for such an undertaking.
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Yet!
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Well here is the problemā¦ Plenty of peoplpe on here have said they wonāt be buying Mantic because of the import charges, so it becomes chicken and egg! Noone will buy unless costs go down but costs canāt go down without a warehouse in the EU, which will only happen if more people buyā¦
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