There appears to be an issue with the amount of Tidewalls that were sold, and stock seems to have been taken from that going out to stores. A big shortage? It looks like it. This is the latest rumor sets on what is going on with the Tau Tidewall, and its apparent huge popularity.
via anonymous sources on Faeit 212
I thought you might be interested to know that GW has messed up and sold more
Tidewall Rampart kits than they actually have. I received the following
from my FLGS after placing an online pre-order:
We are getting in touch about the Tau Empire Tidewall that you recently
purchased with us. I am really very sorry but Games Workshop have just
informed us that this item was a Limited Availability Item and that they
have run out of stock, having sold out on their own website and used the
Retailers allocation up. They have been in touch to let us know it was
their Web Trade team’s mistake and we are working with them on an option to
send you the components that make up the contents of the Tidewall boxed set
as separate boxes. The detail of this has to be worked out yet with Games
Workshop as these items are not yet available separately and may have cost
implications. If you ordered any other Tau New Release items we will send
those as soon as we get them and will hold your order open until we can
find a solution for the Tidewall. In the mean time we will place your
order on hold and as soon as we have more information we will be in touch.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Thought you readers might like to know. It seems that people who've
purchased direct from GW are safe but everyone else isn't!