The LAF Games Workshop Discussion Thread

[Andrew May]

I would never have guessed that Mindstealer Sphiranx  is a warhammer model, but I do quite like it.

It really reminds me of Kingdom Death.

[AWu]

Damn, they previewed new Munda box for soon release.. I hoped to prolong this genormous drain on my resources closer to the xmass 

But I want this terrain badly!

[FramFramson]

Those Old Time Revival land raiders are quite hilarious to me. Silly as all get out... shamelessly, hopelessly, gloriously over the top, but that doesn't bother me in the least. The combination pipe organ and missile-launcher is especially ridiculous and I love it.

Who says only Orky stuff is allowed to be funny? 

More importantly, this is a sign of designers who are clearly having a lot of fun doing what they're doing, and (barring horrible rules or similar that makes a game outright unplayable) there are few qualities of a game that attract me more than signs that the designers are having entirely too much gleeful fun while making it.

[Charlie_]

These are a real surprise - in that they are keeping the old WFB aesthetic rather than replacing them with something new and ridiculous. Not too over the top, that old classic look re-done in more dynamic poses more suitable for a skirmish game.



And the knights are great too, some of them have very cool (and realistic) poses...

[Gibby]

I like those! As ever, the studio paintwork is extremely neat and crisp which gives the figures an almost cartoony aspect. I suspect that with a grittier painting style these will look perfect!

[Lost Egg]

Those Chaos Warriors would look great for HeroQuest.

[beefcake]

Wow, the skull to mini ratio is in favour of the minis!
I do like those and the heroquest call is a good one.

[TheMightyFlip]

the chaos warriors kind of remind me of the black knights from the Excalibur movie.

[Captain Blood]

I like those! As ever, the studio paintwork is extremely neat and crisp which gives the figures an almost cartoony aspect. I suspect that with a grittier painting style these will look perfect!

When I look at these GW images, all I can think is 'Photoshop'. I recognise there's a painting style and set of techniques that can create this kind of look, and I appreciate they probably employ tip-top painters to create their showpiece models. But this highly attentuated, hyper-sharp-edge-highlighting style just doesn't look real to me on these models. It's too consistent and clean across every single thing they put out. I would stake money that these images are heavily treated - if indeed much of the 'painting' itself isn't done with software and pixels rather than brushes and liquid paints. Accepting that serious GW-painters of the Golden Demon fraternity can achieve extraordinarily high end results, I'd be interested to see some of these showcase models in the flesh. I bet they don't look quite like this.

[blacksoilbill]

Those Old Time Revival land raiders are quite hilarious to me. Silly as all get out... shamelessly, hopelessly, gloriously over the top, but that doesn't bother me in the least. The combination pipe organ and missile-launcher is especially ridiculous and I love it.

I have to say, I love the pipe organ Rhino too. I'd love to de-missile it and make it a mobile pulpit for an imperial preacher. Ludicrously baroque, but for me that's what 40k is all about!

[jon_1066]

When I look at these GW images, all I can think is 'Photoshop'. I recognise there's a painting style and set of techniques that can create this kind of look, and I appreciate they probably employ tip-top painters to create their showpiece models. But this highly attentuated, hyper-sharp-edge-highlighting style just doesn't look real to me on these models. It's too consistent and clean across every single thing they put out. I would stake money that these images are heavily treated - if indeed much of the 'painting' itself isn't done with software and pixels rather than brushes and liquid paints. Accepting that serious GW-painters of the Golden Demon fraternity can achieve extraordinarily high end results, I'd be interested to see some of these showcase models in the flesh. I bet they don't look quite like this.

The image is obviously photo-shopped in the sense that each mini is photographed and then stitched together to create a whole but photo-shopping the mini paint jobs?  That's quite a stretch and quite an accusation to make.  I know GW has sunk low in many people's eyes over the years but ... wow, that is really lowering the bar for bad behavior.

[Captain Blood]

The image is obviously photo-shopped in the sense that each mini is photographed and then stitched together to create a whole but photo-shopping the mini paint jobs?  That's quite a stretch and quite an accusation to make.  I know GW has sunk low in many people's eyes over the years but ... wow, that is really lowering the bar for bad behavior.

Well I could absolutely be wrong, but to my eye the finish looks just too sharp and smooth to be handpainted plastic. I don't think it would be that surprising, would it? I don't even think it's bad behaviour. I doubt there's a production-based business on the face of the planet that doesn't retouch the brochure images of its products - from cars to toys.

[Gibby]

The edge highlights on the black armour are very very crisp. Photoshopped or not, it's not a style I like too much because it looks so artificial. I prefer more subtlety myself!

[Cubs]

I'd argue it's a painting style that fits the product, that needs to be super-crisp, formulaic and lacking nuance because -

- the models themselves are very very busy, so the paintjob needs to display the model and 'pop' the details,
- it presumably needs to done quickly so painters can churn out the releases to tight schedules,
- it needs to be a single style that all their painters can adopt as a consistent process and a uniform look.

I admire it for what it does and the skill of the painters to achieve such a dramatic finish, but aesthetically it's not a painting style that appeals to me.

As for photoshopping … well, it's a bit like plastic surgery isn't it? What level is acceptable and when does it become 'cheating'? Most of us who photograph our mins will tweak the colour and contrast and such, perhaps even remove bits of fluff and imperfections that the eye has missed.

[Andrew_McGuire]

I doubt there's a production-based business on the face of the planet that doesn't retouch the brochure images of its products - from cars to toys.

Playmates?