Games Workshop quietly changed their bitz ordering program on February 1st. It was quiet enough that I had to read it on a forum, despite being a partner store. No longer will customers be able to order various body parts and obscure modifications for their miniatures. The new 2008 catalog is probably 20% of the size of the 2007 monster tome. Availability of bits will be limited to bitz packs with this new catalog.
Each copy of the Citadel Catalog 2008 also includes a U.S. Price guide for the main range plus bitz packs, Specialist Games and Collectors Miniatures
This is part of their cost cutting program, which included axing Black Industries last week. We had some heads up that this program was on the potential chopping block, but BI was a big surprise. As a new partner store, we were just starting to get into Bitz ordering. It's not a hugely profitable line for even the biggest GW stores, probably an extra 1% of their store sales each year, but it's essentially free money, since everything is special ordered. You can read customer reactions on Tabletop Gaming News.
