What?
As the big dog in board wargaming printing , has GMT reached a reprint refresh rate that means no ‘popular’ game will really be out of print ever again?

Over the past few years I have noticed recently out of print titles such as Twilight Struggle, Empire of the Sun, Combat Commander and many others drop off of once higher second hand prices.

There are notable exceptions. As of today SPQR is a mildly hot title in the second hand market.

So too right now are the Musket & Pike series seeing big spikes for used and punched copies of all the OOP titles from the series. I was wary of buying into the hype despite truly wanting the series. So unless I could acquire each of the titles for less than retail it was not going to make it into my playing collection.

Luckily I scored the 4 OOP titles for a total of $130, for me a more than fair price.  Similarly I did a trade with a value of about $200 for all of the Combat Commander titles, I am more than wary of the 2nd hand market continuing to erode for these titles also.

 

Much of this is impression is anecdotal, but recent sales on CSW and the Facebook Wargamer marketplace and even Ebay are seeing lower prices or in some cases no sale at all.

Despite the reprint being some way off even the venerable EFS system of 6 titles has dropped in recent times.  I chose to let my set go at a fair price and await a reprinting and repair of that series.

Faced with paying above retail + shipping or waiting a few extra months for say Empire of the Sun most gamers are electing to await the reprint.

Some games that I thought five years ago would never see reprints are now in the hopper and ready to go to print in 2014! [see my GMT newsletter update]

This is great for all of us, but it changes the math I do when looking at what one is prepared to pay 2nd hand for a GMT title.

When you look at historical sales data it amazes me sometimes to see what folks will pay for a game that is punched, with box splits etc in order to have it “now” versus waiting a few short months.

Look at EotS!

 

Early in the year several sales went over $95.  Now sub $50 is more likely.

No drama either way but the demand for second hand must now compete regularly with P500 buyer as GMT ramps up production cycles to be much shorter between reprints.

Will collectors and arbitrageurs focus on MMP, defunct companies such as SPI and AH and West End titles?

What are you seeing in the second hand market place?