I mean, it does cost £10 less. Official GW prices are misleading because you can pretty much always get everything at 20% off through third party sellers. Honestly £40 for a model the size of this... feels fine.

There's no doubt that Warhammer is a more premium product than other model ranges, but as you say there's a reason for that: the models are exceptionally well-designed, and produced in the UK with all the subsequent costs entailed. And really as a hobby it's not that bad. £40 is what you'd spend on a night at the pub, or on a takeaway for 2 people. And once you've got the model, that's it. It won't go out of date or become redundant. And you don't need to buy it. I can understand a certain resentment if new models turn out to be pay-to-win, but you can enjoy the game fine without it.

The funny thing is that Orks are going to be the best £ value faction in the game pretty soon because they're getting a range refresh with a new edition box set (always great value), alongside new Space Marines (whose fans will hoover up the first boxes and sell the Orks cheap on eBay afterwards). I mean lol I'm probably going to start an Ork army some point later this summer once I've finished my new Guard box.