Hornby buys 25% of Warlord Games for £1.25m

[Colonel Kilgore]

This is an interesting development - Hornby takes 25% of Warlord Games for £1.25m with an option on the remainder. For which Hornby itself is taking out a loan:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/hornby-to-buy-25-of-warlord-games-for-gbp1-25-mln-has-option-to-buy-rest-5555d0e1

https://toyworldmag.co.uk/hornby-acquires-minority-interest-in-warlord-games/

This obviously values Warlord Games at £5 million, which on the face of it maybe sounds a little low, given its global presence and market share and all the investment in sculpts and tooling?

What do folks think of this - good / bad / indifferent for the industry? Did Warlord need the cash? What will they do with it? What are Hornby's longer-term plans? Interesting times!

Simon

[Smiley Miley 66]

Well Hornby/Airfix/Corgi/Scaletrix do seem to have the Hobby in mind looking at the programs on TV. So this could be a good thing ? Hopefully!
Miles

[martin goddard]

Warlord's products are ideally packaged for selling in shops. Good packaging, good visuals and a good range.
Good luck to them.
It might get miniature wargaming out to more  people?

martin

[Moggy]

Maybe Hornby will rationalise the pricing structure Warlord use. Products are far too expensive for a starter in the hobby.  Or they will include a train-set for each period.

Derek

[Colonel Kilgore]

Warlord's products are ideally packaged for selling in shops. Good packaging, good visuals and a good range.
Good luck to them.
It might get miniature wargaming out to more  people?

martin

Good points, but the new Hornby TT120 range is only available directly from Hornby, I believe...

So I guess it's a question of "watch this space"!

Simon

[steve_holmes_11]

I believe Warlord have room for improvement on the project management and product management areas.
The products are generally high quality, but release schedules and availability are very confused.

I look forward to the new parent company assisting in this respect.

[Jimmy James]

Warlord seem to have bought out quite a few other firms in the fairly recent. I'm wondering if that's not left them a bit overstretched, having bitten off more than they can quite manage - the valuation seems a bit low to me and it's making me wonder if Warlord aren't in a bit of bother.

...unless the intention is for Hornby to get their hands onto the Skytrex model railway lines?

Jimmy

[Colonel Kilgore]

...unless the intention is for Hornby to get their hands onto the Skytrex model railway lines?

Jimmy

Good point Jimmy - I like this hypothesising!

Simon

[Leman (Andy)]

Honestly, at this stage of the game, I just don't care.

[Bankinista]

Willl this effect me/other members of the group? I guess that Peter Pig may be very slightly effected but that there will be no effect on the rest of us at all. i.e. so what?

Bankinista

[martin goddard]

Just to speculate.
If warlord products are in more shops then maybe there will be new miniatures wargamers?
Those gamers might go on to try 15mm battles etc?

All hopeful stuff


martin

[sukhe_bator (Neil)]

There is a possibility that the likes of Warlord being around and more mainstream historical ranges than GW and may help the hobby much like the old Airfix 1:72nd plastics got so many of my generation interested in wargaming in the 70s as an adjunct to the WW2 plastic kits.
In much the same way the PP AK47 range revived my interest in 1:100 C20 models and vehicles...

Neil

[John Watson]

The value of Warlord may depend on the amount of debt they have taken on to get where they are today.
John

[Colonel Kilgore]

A very good point, John. Which may explain why they needed a cash injection in the first place...

Simon

[Sean Clark]

Interesting whether they needed the cash or it's the retirement fund for John Stallard and Paul Sawyer.

Listened to a podcast the other day with GW insiders that said they were close to going under in 2016...Contrast paint in 2019 rescued them 😳