Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => General Wargames and Hobby Discussion => Topic started by: Kommando_J on 15 July 2017, 12:25:14 PM
-
I have noticed as of late a change in the sculpting style and general look of some of warlords WW2 range, most prominently in the new Australians (https://store.warlordgames.com/products/australian-independent-commando-squad) side by side these chaos tower over the chindit/other bolt action ranges and now I can see we are getting more of the same(similar poses make me think that the same dollies are being used throughout).
I'm wondering if this is a permanent change for warlord? A move away fro the separate heads and comic book style faces(warlord specifically point out how the independent section are based off old photos).
What does everyone else think? Good? Bad? Ugly?
Also is anyone else sick of warlords special edition models all being of a guy carrying another guy? I was hoping for a special edition Japanese mini for the new book.
-
Like the militia .
-
Scale creep ensures you only use their miniatures I suppose. Dollies have always been used to some extent. I believe Minifigs were one of the originators of that kind of 'roll them off the line' style which was why they were so prolific.
-
I personally think it's fine to have some variety in the sculpts. Not every range needs to match exactly in terms of style and proportions ( so long as they are all roughly "28mm.") As long as the miniatures are sculpted by hand this is inevitable, and I don't think you can expect such a huge catalog with multiple sculptors to be entirely uniform.
On the other hand, I think the Paul Hicks Chindits and Ghurkas are much better than these ;) YMMV
-
On the other hand, I think the Paul Hicks Chindits and Ghurkas are much better than these ;) YMMV
Yup.
I didn't like their gurning faces on the previous sculpts and I'm afraid I don't like the bizarre proportions and poses of these sculpts. They had a problem before with the weapons looking way too small (plastic weapons sprues sculpted true to scale, whereas the figures were sculpted with exaggerated extremities) and the SMG on these look too big to me (the Owen looks like a collection of plumbing pipes). What on earth are some of these guys doing with their rifles? They look like they're in a Mariachi band. The 'charging with gun in one hand, machete in another' doesn't work for me either. On reflection and a second viewing they're not awful, just slightly off and not likely to inspire my affection.
No, should've stuck with Hicks for the Bolt Action range. He gets it right every time.
-
My take on these is that they look fairly realistic but uninspiring. I thought the plastic Fallschirmjagers were an improvement particularly compared to the weird proportions of the Grenadiers box set but these are a bit 'meh' imho.
Some of them seem to have the giraffe look I associate with some ranges of 1/72 plastics.
-
I agree that some variation is good, I use the older paul hicks stuff with the bigger newer stuff, the problem is these new fellows look way too big to mix(also from what i've seen are fixed head despite being labelled otherwise), id almost expect them to be a different scale.
As an aside 32mm scale is the devils work.
-
From what was mentioned on the BA FB group is that this sculptor is know to go larger to fit in all the details he wants.
I do prefer larger/chunkier sculpts over thinner ones though (Artizan over Perry any day) but these do seem a tad large even for me.
-
I'm tonr, while I like a nice detailed sculpt...it comes with its drawbacks like flimsy barrels/bayonets etc. Chunky is good but I agree these might be too big(although ive only seen them next to Hicks smaller/earlier stuff).
-
In some ways, they do seem an improvement on their own efforts. The Hicks sculpts were for the most part very good but they've been progressively replaced and the Beano phase of sculpting was pretty off putting.
Compared to the Eureka ones these are still shite. The Owens are awful and the sculpts a bit mehh. The militia and the Papuans seem a bit better but I'll be waiting for the Eureka versions of the latter.
I w just thinking the other day that they are fast running out of subject matter. There are multiple plastic sets for all the major and commercially viable forces and metals that fill the gaps. I'm trying to think where they would go with the plastics. I can hardly see them making Hungarians, Bulgarians or Chinese. I doubt they'll do the desert as that seems to be the exclusive preserve of Perry. Bit of a dead end really and I doubt too many people will be running out to replace existing plastic sets with new ones, even if the tooling costs made it look viable.
-
Italians need a plastic kit, Chinese have actually become very popular, I could see a plastic kit being a big hit, personally id love to see a vickers light tank in plastic, or a flexible plastic kit for making partisans/civilians/militia.
-
Not overly fond of these, they are ok but nowt to shout about
I am surprised they haven`t dipped into world war 1 in plastics, all the theatres, early and late war and bobs your uncle
-
Chinese have actually become very popular
I'd love a couple of plastic kits for the Chinese, 1 for Nationalists geared with German equipment and a 2nd kit for Generic Chinese suitable for Commies, non-trained Nationalists (Also Big Sword Squads) and Warlord.
Won't happen but I can dream, still as I have my Chinese army more or less done it's a tad late for me anyway hehe
-
Italians need a plastic kit, Chinese have actually become very popular, I could see a plastic kit being a big hit, personally id love to see a vickers light tank in plastic, or a flexible plastic kit for making partisans/civilians/militia.
Oh Yes!
-
I remember one person once asking for Romanians (or was it Norwegians?) and being directed towards Norwegians (or was it Romanians?) as decent proxies. I wonder how many of the other relatively minor Allied/Axis nations could be represented in plastic with sprue options to give national variety? I doubt that, for example, the Romanians on their own would justify a full set of plastics, but if you could represent half a dozen nationalities from a single box, surely that would be a good seller? I confess I don't know enough about the various uniforms to know if it was viable or not.
-
I remember one person once asking for Romanians (or was it Norwegians?) and being directed towards Norwegians (or was it Romanians?) as decent proxies. I wonder how many of the other relatively minor Allied/Axis nations could be represented in plastic with sprue options to give national variety? I doubt that, for example, the Romanians on their own would justify a full set of plastics, but if you could represent half a dozen nationalities from a single box, surely that would be a good seller? I confess I don't know enough about the various uniforms to know if it was viable or not.
The trouble with generic is that you would need so many options it wouldn't really be economic. For Romanians there's no need. There are now five companies making or about to make Romanians and four of them are far better than anything Warlord will ever produce. Hungarians are very distinctive.
I was left pondering why there are no early- mid war Germans in greatcoats.* So little love for Norway or the winter of 1941/42. I suspect Gorgon ill probably rectify this before too long.
* Save for the various static sentry figures out there.
-
I reckon Warlord ought to redo their terrible British and US Army plastic sets first. They have improved their stuff considerably since these kits first came out, and IMHO they could do with a reboot.
-
Just had an increasingly angry back and forth with the warlord mail...they may have lost a customer.
Have been checking on the order I made on 30th of June...which was held until operation gigant was released(no date given) and seeing that the order was marked has 'unfulfilled' decided to chance my arm and see if the address could be changed (I am out of the country for a minor emergency) to my great surprise they get back straight away...to tell me my parcel had been posted out days ago...at this stage I have fund that warlords mail has become uncommunicative and slow (something they promised would change once GoAT was released lol).
As part of the(otherwise civil/polite) reply I received possibly the most passive-aggressive paragraph in my life and am now considering cancelling the order and choosing a different main supplier.
Also post has gotten worse in that I am charge £5.00 for a bunch of minis stuffed badly into a small blister which is then set adrift in a sea of brown paper inside an unecessarily large cardboard box.
All in all lads...i'm pissed off >:(
-
That's a real shame.
I might grumble all I like about Warlord Games, but their service, particularly when it comes to mispacks, has been pretty good whenever I've used it. I'll have to be more careful in future...
-
I agree, when it comes to mispacks/mistakes they will send out an immediate replacement but they've became damn slow and I have seen that repeated by other, especially when it comes to queries/email.
As I said before I wish they'd stop this relentless expansion and just concentrate on the core products for a bit, I don't really care for a ww2 plane game that most people are buying for the limited edition bolt action minis lol, i've seen that tried before and I recall it flopped then too.
-
god those are awful miniatures. they must of been sculpted by a blind man with both eyes torn out.
almost as bad as the obvious racist metal Japanese who were just incredibly obviously stereotypical.
thankfully I do like the range of WWII plastics and still have no idea why people moan about so many of the range (yet when you ask they quickly change the subject and skirt around, so I assume these people are just morons)
I never ever ever order from Warlord. last time I did I forgot I actually ordered anything from them until it arrived a couple of months later...and I no longer really wanted it.
their customer service is also frightful and they get far too defensive if you dare criticize anything in even a rational polite way.
very poor company with no focus on any singular range. leaving everything feeling diluted and weak.
but thankfully plenty of places either stock or can order the stuff into stock. so I never have to touch them.
-
Depends what you ask them for or how you ask I suppose. Dealings I've had with them have been prompt and fruitful.
Tony.
-
Speaking of Orders showing as 'unfulfilled' my last 2 are still showing as that yet I have both many weeks ago.
While bad custumor support is never a good thing and there should never be an excuse for it I do feel Warlord Support is rather good when I've needed it.
What I do wish Warlord would do though is stop making so many ''Minor'' game systems, while I did play Project Z and Terminator Gensys the lack of game support made me stop playing them quite early in buying them which was a shame. If they were as supported as a main system (Bolt Action, Gates, K'47 ect) then with reg releases/FAQ's/Articles I may still be playing them now.
-
"I was left pondering why there are no early- mid war Germans in greatcoats.* So little love for Norway or the winter of 1941/42."
Don't you know.....None of them had coats at all. :) :) :) :) :)
-
While I didnt want to name names of ranges...yes, the Japanese are horrid little caricatures and the German separate head stuff looks no better, the plastics are improving and perfect for filling out the bulk of an army (in fact a potential project for next year is warlord plastics and TAG Japanese metals).
As for my latest order? I kinda have lost interest...wit the sealion range being so spread out, a lot of my initial enthusiasm has dimmed waiting for rulebooks and minis to actually arrive, and while its not kosher to say...I could have very easily just waited to download operation gigant from a torrent...but I wanted to support it...which I now regret.
Chico, I agree, I didn't like the games and the plastics were very basic but the lack of support confirmed things for me...they gave away the rules for free and I haven't once bothered with them(no interest).
Project z is dead and genisys was too expensive on initial release...there was also no support and I recall a month or so ago they were trying to practically give away starter sets, the same will happen here, id bet solid money nce the bonus bolt action fight aces incentive is removed,...sales will drop out.
I get that Stallard and chums run things and thus decide what gets made but these days GW is starting to look like the company that listens(when i can cleary recall the reverse as early as last year).
-
I just bought into Test of honour. I like the rules but have a feeling it may not see much in the way of update after this year.
I've been saying for a couple of years now that warlord want to be games workshop from the early 2000's.By that i mean that they want to have a wide range of games, a big license that draws in players and a nice big period of growth.The issue is that they're making the same mistakes GW made.
They tried licenses that should have worked out well but didn't really know what to do with them,and they weren't really ready to put in the ground work like GW did when it got the LoTR license. terminator and doctor who aren't the lord of the rings but come on, it shouldn't be hard to sell people plastic terminator models.
They tried having specialist games but did so by buying other ranges but again didn't bother to build these into anything, Instead just sort of lazily floated some games out into the market to die on the shelf.(Day z never moved after it's release.Test of honour likewise sadly.I had to give our last two terminator boxes away because they were just moving from shelf to shelf.)
I think warlord cling too closely to the GW model of doing things , putting out releases with little in the way of external promotion and hoping their community will develop its own hype.(Even GW have realised that this is a bad way to do things now) The issue is that while they may be the next biggest company after GW, GW is a freakishly big thing given what it does.We all know warlord exist but people not actively into their games or ranges have no reason to check what they're doing and as such aren't going to be exposed to their games, where GW are so omnipresent that you can't really avoid seeing something about them on a forum or a blog somewhere.
And if you think ordering as a customer try ordering from them as a retailer...dear god, Getting one roman Scorpio put into a delivery took 2 months.
As to the sculpting quality, The massive variation seems to be less present in Antares and i wonder if that comes from their desire to make it into their 40k killer.Antares seems to be the golden child for them,with new plastic kits and releases fairly consistently. Perhaps their desire to be the next GW means they resent their historical focus and want to put more attention into their fantasy to try and court a different market ?
-
They can try all they want, the botched the first antares kickstarter and by the time they got things up and running with enough decent plastic kits...GW had turned it around completely and was stronger than ever almost.
The doctor who range...how did they fuck that up!? Seriously, do it in 28mm and they could have done all sorts of cross-promotional stuff with their historic ranges...instead they go for 32mm statuettes and plastic kits that don't fit with any other range.
They can try all they want, the sci fi market is mostly GW's and the fantasy market is pretty much dominated by GW and osprey.
Just imagine if they dropped antares and they put all that effort to a historical range...the ecw release could have been fantastic, sealion could have been the summer event, instead we get a confused melange of ww2, samurai, and GoA scenery(the collaboration with sarissa has been fruitful) at the very start of the campaign.
-
Reading between the lines and probably getting it wrong, my impression is that GoA is a vanity project, a "screw you!" to a former employer and so gets quite focused attention from one of the Warlords in particular; it will be a success come hell or high water (and possibly even at the expense of profit).
BA on the other hand is their bread and butter, which with the policy of buying out competing ranges (Bolt Action in the first place, BEF Miniatures, the FoA vehicle range etc.) and mass-marketing, means they don't have to be that particular about what they throw out. The plus here is that they do collaborate with other companies and their competitors are influenced too; the result is more choice for the discerning gamer and generally the bulk of the 'Must be Warlord' crowd are quite satisfied with what they get. No losers there really that I can see.
Ultimately it is a company run by wargamers, so that's never going to stay on track with any one single project for any length of time. That it has amongst its number former employers of GW from the turn of the Millenium, might account for the impression that history does indeed repeat itself.
;)
-
Not sure they bought out the opposition to remove competition, from what I remember previous owners decided it wasn`t for them and Warlord had the cash. Their first purchase being Bolt Action who already had the rules to start with however I do think they have a good model and as long as it brings in more gamers, produces ranges, kit etc that I might use for other systems, games I have no issue at all with them I can take or leave it. For Antares it scratches an itch that 40k hasn`t for many moons since the early 1990s so all kudos to them :)
If you look at licenses go no further than Mongoose, now their is a "rise and fall" with miniature wargaming to avoid as a model
-
Perhaps, but then the BEF Miniatures line never appeared in the Bolt Action range, they brought out their own instead. The original BA ranges also disappeared over time, quite quickly in the case of the Italians. Opinions may vary, but I think the old Paul Hicks BA sculpts were far better than their replacements. As the Warlord figures vary considerably across the range 'incompatibility' can't have been an issue surely?
-
''Reading between the lines and probably getting it wrong, my impression is that GoA is a vanity project, a "screw you!" to a former employer and so gets quite focused attention from one of the Warlords in particular; it will be a success come hell or high water (and possibly even at the expense of profit).''
100% agreed, Priestley is desperate to show he still is relevant.
I'm starting to see the aggressive buying out of other ranges as a con, they ruined the bef miniatures and didnt even release all of them, similar other ranges have been snapped up and butchered or have been packed into a crate for ''top men'' to take care of which has pissed off more than a few.
I get the ''must be warlord'' crowd (poor things were mostly ex-GW fans).
''The original BA ranges also disappeared over time, quite quickly in the case of the Italians. Opinions may vary, but I think the old Paul Hicks BA sculpts were far better than their replacements. As the Warlord figures vary considerably across the range 'incompatibility' can't have been an issue surely?''
A bullshit excuse considering the fact that they still sell Paul Hicks sculpts(and some of which are some of his earlier/cruder sculpts) like the guarding the chateau pack and the old British paratroops(now relabeled as Polish paratroops), and if they truly cared about compatibility they wouldn't have sculpted the new Aussies to a much larger scale than the old and still very ice Paul Hicks chindit sculpts.
I believe some of the bef minis appeared(mostly vehicles but some Belgians/early british) but the officer didn't and the range went from fixed to separate head.
-
Yep, I was chatting to Crouchie about his old ranges a while ago and they swapped heads out etc
-
If you look at licenses go no further than Mongoose, now their is a "rise and fall" with miniature wargaming to avoid as a model
I'm sure spartan are giving them a good run for their money on terms of completely ballsing everything up.
-
Anyone have links to these delightful scandals? The spartan one I remember but I never heard all the details of the Mongoose one, all I know is they somehow fucked up judge dredd.
-
Anyone have links to these delightful scandals? The spartan one I remember but I never heard all the details of the Mongoose one, all I know is they somehow fucked up judge dredd.
Spartan was nothing specific, They just can't keep interest in a game at the cost of good business sense.they also make the same mistake world made by choosing weird scales for things that would have otherwise been popular. (35mm for dystopian legions ,15mm for halo, massive relase gaps between games, releases without stock, products dropping out of production, several dead systems.relaunches and launches of new systems without announcement followed by months of no updating.)
-
I remember now, I recall the disappointment I felt for the bizarre scale for dystopian legions and the kickstarter shenanigans.
-
Has anyone noticed some stuff missing from the warlord store? The guy lizard command vehicle seems to have been up briefly, also I recall a winter soviet command previewed a few times two ears ago but now...gone.
Also found this online (think its legit as the painting/sculpting style is consistent with the new stuff), it seems to be sold along with the other ECW stuff on foreign stores but is absent from the warlord site.
-
I think the New "Primaris" Chindits are the way forward ;)
-
Lol nice, these seem to be by the same fellow as I have the townsfolk pack and I have to see they are done to a bigger scale, also whoever is doing the new paint jobs needs to be fired lol.
-
Anyone have links to these delightful scandals? The spartan one I remember but I never heard all the details of the Mongoose one, all I know is they somehow fucked up judge dredd.
They had a great game in Starship troopers, lots of good plastic models and a nice ruleset, hat killed it for them (or seemed so at the time) was getting the light infantry made originally plastic then eventually metal but they missed the boat :(
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/666987.page
-
Mongoose cant hold a license due to a mixture of incompetence, poor advertising and kickstarter fuck uppery.
Starship Troopers became a pre-paint which kills games, B5 waned as a franchise, Trek they made shit models for, Dredd they fucked up the kickstarter had mixed sculpts and needed Warlord to do the heavy lifting practically from launch. Lets not forget their Rogue Trooper game which got successfully funded....and nothing happened.
Spartan have an angry fanbase, shit rules, odd scales and too many games to support. They also threw their first game under the bus to support Steampunk which made it obvious they'd do it again to chase the money. Also they somehow managed to mess up making a game out of the biggest videogame sci fi franchise of all time.
Terminator was a stupid mistake, Warlord somehow thinking that the 5th film in a tired sci-fi franchise would be the new LOTR. Add in iffy sculpts, slow restock and two factions killed the game before the terrible reveiws for Genysis came in.
Doctor Who was another easily preventable mistake. First of all make them Wargaming miniatures, none of this pseudo collector bullshit. Then release the fucking catds so people can use their miniatures dammit !
Day Z etc are just to make a quick buck off of Wargames Factory sprues.
-
I like Warlord's rule books and supplements, but the only miniatures from them that I'm truly enjoying are my Bolt Action metal US Airborne. I don't know who sculpted them but I love them, lots of character and detail, I'm making good progress painting them.
I always end up disappointed with Warlord plastics. I just bought a box of British Household Brigade Cavalry and I am not impressed at all. Nor do I like these new Australians. I think I shall but Artizan or Perry for any future WW2 forces.
-
Warlord is... peculiar. Some sculpts are half-decent and are not that bad to bulk up a force. And yet, the lack of detail make them a pain in the ass for the painter. I bought an Army Box -against my better judgement- for a Successors army. I am almost done with the first 24 pikemen unit, and while it hasn't been terrible it hasn't been an enjoyable experience either. To be honest I did paint them one miniature at a time, interpersing Footsore Late Romans, Aventine's EIR Auxilia (a side project where I am adapting Lion Rampant for skirmishes along the Roman frontiers during the high days of the Empire) and Iron Duke's Indian Mutiny (a joy to paint!).
But one of my problems with Warlord, especially with their WWII ranges, is the weirdness of the poses. Sometimes I don't know if they are representing soldiers or chorus line dancers in some Broadway production!
-
I remember now, I recall the disappointment I felt for the bizarre scale for dystopian legions and the kickstarter shenanigans.
I'll never understand the reasoning behind their choice of scale.
"We'll make them off-scale with every other manufacturer in existence. That way, we'll... we'll maximize sales and..."
At least I saved money for other stuff, though. :?
But I digress, sorry.
-
Day Z etc are just to make a quick buck off of Wargames Factory sprues.
This if why I'm glad that Test of Honour was written by two guys from outside of warlord and they basically bought it to go with their miniatures.
At the very least when warlord eventually pull support or forget that they make the game the creators will still be there to support the community or publish new rules themselves.
(I mean really warlord, It's a good game but no rulebook, no core card deck and none of the character figures outside of the infantry boxes,plus you can't buy the infantry and the multi bases seperate...Sodding hell, Do you want people to play the game or not?! )
-
Opinions may vary, but I think the old Paul Hicks BA sculpts were far better than their replacements.
This. Also, I think that the original BA range may possibly have been the best on the market.
-
True, although the man himself Paul Hicks seems to view them less fondly than us lol.
Good point about test of honour, only its creators can save it now as warlord has gone the osprey route and is churning out cheap games with minimal support, the purchase of wargames factory was a big shame as tbh they come across to me as some of the most flat/uninspiring minis ive ever seen.
''I'll never understand the reasoning behind their choice of scale.
"We'll make them off-scale with every other manufacturer in existence. That way, we'll... we'll maximize sales and..."''
Warlord has gone the same route with its doctor who range it seems, although the plastic ww2 stuff has gotten better as they have gone along, personally I think it must be the new sculptor/painter of the ECW/Aussie ranges, both look...not up to snuff to warlord normal standard, the aussies especially...the paintjobs are very basic.
-
True, although the man himself Paul Hicks seems to view them less fondly than us lol.
Good point about test of honour, only its creators can save it now as warlord has gone the osprey route and is churning out cheap games with minimal support, the purchase of wargames factory was a big shame as tbh they come across to me as some of the most flat/uninspiring minis ive ever seen.
''I'll never understand the reasoning behind their choice of scale.
"We'll make them off-scale with every other manufacturer in existence. That way, we'll... we'll maximize sales and..."''
Warlord has gone the same route with its doctor who range it seems, although the plastic ww2 stuff has gotten better as they have gone along, personally I think it must be the new sculptor/painter of the ECW/Aussie ranges, both look...not up to snuff to warlord normal standard, the aussies especially...the paintjobs are very basic.
The dr who range is bizarre.
"this character can travel through time and space, And we make miniatures from a whole host of different time periods that could cross into that setting... Let's make them the wrong scale! "
"we announced this game two years ago, lets give it its own website separate from our core site, and not update it"
"lets leave a huge gap between the release of the miniatures and the game, causing people to loose interest!"
"lets release two games with no cross compatibility"
Were they high?
The wargames factory sculpts do their job, they aren't goign to amaze but they can be made to have some nice poses. Warlords painting and posing isn't selling them tho. TBH I like wargames factory as a company once it was taken over, They sent me hundreds of pounds worth of free stuff to complete my final piece for college and they sent our gaming group a crate of miniatures for playtesting for 1/4 retail.
-
I think the comments about Antares here do (possibly) miss one subtle thing; although it is released/marketed/sold through Warlord, it's still a semi-outside joint venture (by "Dark Space Corp", co-owned by Priestly and Stallard). That might explain why it has proportionally more attention that some of Warlord's other games.
I also think that the #1 thing damaging sales for companies like Warlord (and Mantic...) are poor sculpts in weird sizes, closely followed at #2 by incomplete ranges and infrequent releases.
Every time I look through Warlord Games' catalogue, I find myself thinking "Hmm, if only they looked less derpy". The ex-Pro Gloria figures are a great example of a missed opportunity where the interest-generation and sculpting leg-work was all done for them, and where they even had a popular ruleset in place to support it already; how they could then make such a limited release of the originally-planned kit, and so long after they announced they'd bought the sculpts that a lot of interest had waned, is therefore truly baffling. There is a perfect example where I find myself looking at the original models, then at the released model pix, and sighing wishfully.
The Antares range is at least internally consistent because the number of sculptors working it is very limited (Wojtek does all the Boromites, Steve Saleh does all the Freeborn, and Russ Charles does everything else I think). Even then, whilst I understand that they are not to everyone's taste, I am very pleased that most factions now have a basic plastic kit, and that there are enough releases for each faction to give the games some variety.
In the end though, assuming that they continue as they are with sculpts/scales, I do think they would do better to pick say four or five games as "core games", and put the others into a "Specialist Games" style category. It would be clearer in terms of managing expectations, and I think it would help focus their sales better. I will probably continue to pick up occasional models here and there, but I don't think I'll be buying into any other of their games any time soon.
-
''I think the comments about Antares here do (possibly) miss one subtle thing; although it is released/marketed/sold through Warlord, it's still a semi-outside joint venture (by "Dark Space Corp", co-owned by Priestly and Stallard).''
Honestly had no clue...but not surprised.
''In the end though, assuming that they continue as they are with sculpts/scales, I do think they would do better to pick say four or five games as "core games", and put the others into a "Specialist Games" style category. It would be clearer in terms of managing expectations, and I think it would help focus their sales better. I will probably continue to pick up occasional models here and there, but I don't think I'll be buying into any other of their games any time soon.''
Same, I find the odd great sculpt but their is no point in investing in a non-'core' game as support could be non-existent, I think things took a turn around the time of GoAT release, they stopped doing custom orders...which they had promised to but never brought back.
I've also noticed despite their best efforts a downturn in decent online articles, they had some before but I think they realised that since they had stopped the bits service...a warlord staffer talking about all the bits he used(and got for free) for a conversion article might not work as its far more expensive to buy full kits.
I wrote in a few times with article idea but never heard back :?
-
I wrote in a few times with article idea but never heard back :?
An old complaint. They need an office manager, because communication response is patchy. It's not that nobody wants to help, it's just that it doesn't seem to be anyone's responsibility to decide who takes ownership of incoming coms.
As an example Paul Sawyer once asked me why I hadn't painted anything for Warlord. I replied that I had contacted them for just that when they were asking for painters, then he (Paul himself) had promised to get back to me. I had reminded him a week or so later and he apologised and promised to get back to me. Then a few months later I reminded him again that he'd promised to get back to me ... and he apologised profusely and promised to get back to me. Then nothing and I gave up. He gave an embarrassed 'urm' in reply at the time and ... never got back to me.
Efficient office managers are highly under-rated in companies where poor memories and loose business practice are hurting the operation.
-
Its a bother as the original reply in my case made it sound like they were definitely interested(it helped my writing was centred around using specific warlord products).
You are right about a manager, i've messaged them trying to sort things out only to get messaged back a few days late by someone different.
-
I must say, gonna sound like a fogey here but...not like this whole scale creep to 32mm going on at the moment, fallout, walking dead, doctor who, necromunda, age of sigmar etc...is this how 25mm folk felt when 28mm and heroic scale showed up?
-
...is this how 25mm folk felt when 28mm and heroic scale showed up?
Yes. I remember buying my 'Citadel fighter' for 30p back in the 80's and then not being able to use him a few years later because he looked like a Gnome!
-
...Oh God...it has begun!
-
Just saw online that the new Aussie units are 32mm pretty much(as its what the sculptor is used to) somebody put them u[ next to a more recent mini and he was sill massive.
-
Don't like their australians - the recent plastic stuff they did is much better.
I'm still waiting for an italian infantry plastic kit - at least a generic kit with multiple head options for bersaglieri ,alpini and arditi.
I always prefer quality over quantity. Victrix take a lot of time to release something, but the quality is superb. Warlord many times is taking the opposite route, quantity over quality - something a wargamer appreciates but a modeller does not.
-
Just saw online that the new Aussie units are 32mm pretty much(as its what the sculptor is used to) somebody put them u[ next to a more recent mini and he was sill massive.
Australia is nation of big, burly chaps*. Once upon a time it even produced rugby players.
*Just as well if you are toting an Owen gun the size of a drainpipe. :D
-
I just saw a couple of blisters in one of our local retailers. They look bloody massive, 32mm to the eye would be my guess.
-
I received the Papuans recently and they are tall figures but strangely flat, I think the compression on the rubber moulds is too great. They are also meant to represent KNIL Guerillas as well which IMHO makes them way too tall as KNIL "natives" would be shorter or more of the stature of Javanese and Balinese.
-
I just saw a couple of blisters in one of our local retailers. They look bloody massive, 32mm to the eye would be my guess.
They're from the new range of primaris Australians. The ultimate form of Australian.
Just imagine, An ss officer Sat at his desk in berlin. He thinks he's alone and then from the corner of the room he hears "g'day mate"....
The last thing he sees is a 9 foot tall ausie, Cork hat and Bowie knife drawn, bounding towards him with the mighty leaps of the fearsome kangaroo.
Outside sirens flair as the sound of waltzing matilda rises in the distance. Cans of fosters fall from the sky and buildings crumble.
No one can stop the primaris Australians.
-
Primaris Australians! Love it!
-
Those ecw(with the new sculpt) is now out, its by a new sculptor and slightly more expensive.
Here are the new townsfolk that came out earlier, similar odd paint scheme(come back Armand!) and large build, \as you can see of slightly bigger height but much chunkier proportions from the two other warlord minis there
-
I really hope the new brigands and bandits for test of honour aren't too huge.The wargames factory plastics are very slight and i'd really like to not have my samurai heroes be outsized by an unarmoured man in a wicker hat.
-
Love the ECW Townsfolk! Probably go well with the Renegade
-
A real possibility, they are fuller miniatures more in line with artizan/renegade aesthetic than the earlier ecw stuff.
-
Primaris Australians! Love it!
The next grooup build? :D
-
I have seen that warlord are repackaging their chindits, oddly enough they are no longer labelled as separate head(the range was a mix of separate and fixed with lys of fixed marked as separate).
Fired off an email and Rich Dando clarified the ones in pic one are single casting, annoyingly though despite it being around 1ish he ended with ''have a great weekend'' and when I emailed him an hour later with another query no answers for the rest of the day...must have gone home early lol.
-
Friday is PoetS day. Piss-off early, tomorrow is Saturday.
-
Just saw from warlord they have switched over their chindit range form separate to fixed head -
(http://www.warlordgames.com/new-chindits-forces/)
This is a trend I can get behind lol
-
To say nothing of the "interesting" poses some of their Norman horses have...
-
To be fair that's a range they acquired. some of the sculpts look very nice, some look very odd, one in particular has a very oddly proportioned head...
-
I just looked at the saxon horses...
they look like they ran the grand national and weren't quite lucky enough to make it off the track.
Maybe warlord should sell a little curtain and a man with a shotgun who can "humanely treat" then in-between game turns.
-
Talked to warlord on facebook, apparently plans are afoot to start switching over the old separate head ranges into fixed, no plans for the order but i'd reckon they'll start off with the old waffen ss they are now re-releasing.
-
Just checked the warlord website...not much in the way of deals tbh, a couple of bundles to go with the various re-released historicon miniatures, cheaper than buying individually...but then, that's not difficult when the historicon mini is £10 on its won lol.
Most of the good deals they talked about are physical store only it seems.
-
The Warlord forum has been down for a while :?
-
I'm annoyed at how they botched this (articles don't work either) but more annoyed that all the best deals they spent the last month hyping up didn't materialise or are physical store purchase only.
I also find it ridiculous tha they didnt bother to re-release the pc dogberry mini from games day a few years ago, would have been perfect for sealion.
Also the SS may be getting the fixed head treatment, the new artillery pieces use minis from the FOO pack with different heads(and noticeably the fiexed symbol is absent).
-
If the forum was back up you could express your grievances on there.
-
I doubt they'd listen :( I'm hoping for some better deals tomorrow. I recall something about a half-price waterloo boxed set but that seems to have not materialised.
-
My current gripe is that they refuse to relese a rulebook for test of honour! releasing expansions to the rules that you can only get in new box sets is fine if you can afford to buy them all.
Plus at the moment if you want to start the game you need to core box, but a separate rulebook and starter deck would really expand the player base.
-
I very much like elegant figures ( AB in 20mm , Bill Gaskins hybrids in 30mm etc )
The warlord Ww2 I've seen have been shocking .
Cartoon like with he men proportions , the ugliest faces and many super action poses .
Not my cup of tea but this I understand would appeal to fantasy/SF cross over market .
-
Is all not well with Warlord?
I have had several items on "direct order" from Warlord through my local gaming shop for 3 months now. The guy in the shop had been to Warlord HQ and was encouraging customers to put orders in. I thought why not? did it to save the postage and to help out the store guy. I got the first couple in less than a week but was told there would be a slight delay because the rest needed casting up special. Fair enough. But now 3 months later it's got embarrassing all round. The shop guy has been onto them many times to no avail.
They (Warlord) seem to be completely disorganised.
-
Warlord's old issue was that no-one ever seemed to take ownership of an email/complaint/order. You got bounced around with everyone (apparently) trying to sort the issue for you, but actually there seemed to be no set joined-up patterns of process in place. It all seemed to rest on the memory of the person who was passing a message on, to someone else who has to remember to pass it on to someone else, who has to remember to sort it out. This was a good 5 years ago and it would be a shame to think they're still making the same mistakes.
I always said they need a dedicated office manager who allocates issues to individuals and follows them up to make sure they've been resolved expediently. It all seems way too laid back and slapdash sometimes. It's not that problems happen a lot, it's more that when they happen, no-one seems capable of fixing them swiftly and competently.
-
Indeed, I sent an idea for an article days and days ago, youd think a simple yes or no reply to my query would be easy to type it.
Also since the online reshuffle lots of articles seem to be gone, on a slightly cheerier note the soviet winter command the previewed in 2015 are out! The arsenal miniatures stuff shouldn't be too far off lol.