Tariffs, "Elbows Up", Doubling Down, and More!

A message from Hudson Adams, Founder of Wargames Atlantic

There are some BIG changes underway here at Wargames Atlantic. Some are in response to geopolitics and others are a natural metamorphosis as we’ve grown from a one-man band to a globe-spanning, out-of-control, madness-inducing plastic (and game) machine!

First, let’s talk about the Trump tariffs:

A lot of the noise around Trump’s tariffs is in regards to China - which thankfully has almost zero effect on us because we've manufactured our plastic in the United States since 2021 and print all our packaging in the UK. But the larger picture is much more complex and wide ranging.

Trump’s tariffs (and reciprocal tariffs) have been levied against many other countries besides China - probably including the one you live in! This has changed calculations for companies that sell product anywhere outside the US.  

On top of this uncertainty, the large amount of ill will that has been generated against the US has also been affecting us - for example many of our customers in Canada and the EU are boycotting American made products.

Unfortunately this ongoing chaos - and no definitive picture of what comes next - has forced our hand to respond to protect our business. 

Starting from this week all Wargames Atlantic hard plastic products that are sold outside the United States will be manufactured in the UK while everything sold within the United States will continue to be made here (and if any of you are collectors of odd wargames paraphernalia, there will soon be versions of Wargames Atlantic boxes where some have “Made in the UK” and others have “Made in the USA” on them- Collect Them All™)

The great irony in all this is that Trump’s tariffs have forced us to move a large portion of our manufacturing OUT of the USA. Hopefully as we continue to grow, the US-based volume will match and eventually exceed our current production levels here.  

Going forward, new molds will be run in the UK first and then shipped to the US for injection. We’ve been incredibly happy with our new UK injection partner and production is running very smoothly there. Boxes will continue to be printed in the UK and the ones that say “Made in the USA” will be shipped to us here to pack out as the American-made plastic comes off the presses. Shipments will be by express couriers so time in transit is under a week from the UK to the US.

My hope is to run enough initial production in the UK that the mold won’t need to go back and forth that much, but there will be a learning curve as we dial in our projections. (Dialing in projections is becoming increasingly difficult as the business grows and demand is higher than we’ve ever experienced! A good problem to have!) 

Release dates will still be “global” in that we will stick to our existing schedule: announcement on Friday #1, pre-order on Friday #2, shipping out from our US and UK warehouses on Friday #4. So no matter where you are in the world your pre-orders will start to ship out 2 weeks after the pre-order date. We intend to build more time into the schedule pre-pre-order to make sure everything is set and in place well before the products are on sale (the Barons’ War launch was a good reminder that this will make everything run MUCH smoother!)

Minutemen and Grenadiers of the 5th Regiment of Foot Meet on the Battle Road! Painted by Stephan Huber

Those of you who have been paying close attention have probably noticed we slowed things down a little bit to get UK manufacturing in place. The next new sets that will be on pre-order are the new Age of Reason Minutemen and Grenadiers. We will have more news on them next week! And then we’ll turn the plastic taps back on to full and start releasing a lot more sets!

This whole situation has added more moving parts to how we do things, but luckily we were able to move very fast, get molds tested, plastic bought, coloring agent sourced, new carton sizes to match UK standard pallets, etc. etc. etc. so that we could get UK manufacturing up and running very quickly. Thanks for your patience through this additional kerfluffle and thanks for supporting us! But hey, how cool is it that we make plastic on two continents now?!

Things to look forward to: 

• Quar Tractors and new Quar factions

• Civilians/Survivors (two boxes), Operators, Agents, and more for Shattered Union

• Loads of new 10mm Classic Fantasy Battles sets

• Grand Battle Scale Azincourt armies

• Dark Ages Army Builder and Late Romans in Squamata for Decline and Fall

• Lots of new bases

• Our first Victorian Science Fiction set - the start of a long term project!

• 2300AD 28mm sets

• And some major additions for Death Fields including The Damned! 

Thanks again!

Hudson and the whole crew here at Wargames Atlantic