The LAF Games Workshop Discussion Thread

[Andrew Rae]

While early miniatures had a lot of options on a sprue, you never saw them "that" loaded.

6th ed characters: LINK They look pretty loaded if you ask me. Just look at the 6th ed. 'remake' (by a different sculptor, I assume) of Brian Nelson's 5th ed. sorceress!

Figures loaded with junk was pretty much GW's whole thing in this period. They were mad for it.

[Cubs]

I *THINK* they're just supposed to be melted candles, and someone decided to make them too big for the lantern because that would be easier to sculpt than something recessed? Looks naff, I agree.

Now look, everyone knows the best lantern is one with oversized candles (4, no less) that have somehow burned down enough to melt that much, despite being too big for the space, oozing out the open sides so the flames can get blown out immediately in any sort of wind. 

[westwaller]

[Now look, everyone knows the best lantern is one with oversized candles (4, no less) that have somehow burned down enough to melt that much, despite being too big for the space, oozing out the open sides so the flames can get blown out immediately in any sort of wind. ]

 
I can't understand the reason that GW stuff is so blocky and angular nowadays? The antlers for example should be more rounded if they are supposed to represent real antlers. Arguably getting the basics 'wrong' really doesn't help with the idea that this miniature represents a real thing. So I guess it becomes a toy (which it is of course) but ultimately rather than being a miniature representation of a believable fictional character, the thing just screams 'I'm a toy!' 
Looks quite nurgle like too...

[TWD]

candles (4, no less)

Handles for forks?

[Cubs]

Handles for forks?

 

[Daeothar]

I can't understand the reason that GW stuff is so blocky and angular nowadays? The antlers for example should be more rounded if they are supposed to represent real antlers. Arguably getting the basics 'wrong' really doesn't help with the idea that this miniature represents a real thing.

If I recall correctly, this started almost immediately when GW's design studio began sculpting digitaly. I remember having exactly the same thoughts when I fist saw the (then) new Night Goblins. But where it was really apparent was the Imperial Wizard kit. The flowing robes and scrolls all had this slightly angular look to them that made them look distinctly unrealistic. Not bad, but unrealistic.

I suppose it's a look all of its own now. It might have begun as a limitation of the medium or skills of the sculptor back then, but GW has stuck to it ever since.

And it's not as if this affects other studios too. Look at Malifaux or Infinity. They have made the same jump in technology, but show none of those angular features.

So it can only be a deliberate style choice of GW's...

[Mammoth miniatures]

If I recall correctly, this started almost immediately when GW's design studio began sculpting digitaly. I remember having exactly the same thoughts when I fist saw the (then) new Night Goblins. But where it was really apparent was the Imperial Wizard kit. The flowing robes and scrolls all had this slightly angular look to them that made them look distinctly unrealistic. Not bad, but unrealistic.

I suppose it's a look all of its own now. It might have begun as a limitation of the medium or skills of the sculptor back then, but GW has stuck to it ever since.

And it's not as if this affects other studios too. Look at Malifaux or Infinity. They have made the same jump in technology, but show none of those angular features.

So it can only be a deliberate style choice of GW's...

It's also just an unavoidable limit of plastic injection moulding - you need at least 3degrees of draft to ensure proper release and avoid a vacuum when ejecting the sprue - there are programs like fusion360 that will automatically break a sculpt apart and alter it for injection moulding. nowadays I'm sure GW have their own system for doing this with digital sculpts, but in the early days it would have been a case of reaching a compromise with the software at the expense of detail/weird moulding decisions. It's no different to the olden days when a plastic mini would have a noticeable "slope" where there was less detail, but now they can account for that in the actual sculpting rather than letting it be a consequence of the pantograph system.

Malifaux get around it by breaking their kits up into a large number of small parts, infinity use siocast which is a proprietary resin injected into a rubber mould.(basically a jewellers wax injection machine but bigger)

[Daeothar]

I still don't think it's a limitation of the moulding process though, but more a conscious choice in design.

The Wizard kit I mentioned has flowing cloth moulded in unnatural angles, perpendicular to the mould halves, so this is clearly not an artifact of the process itself. The antlers in the picture a few posts above also show this angularity.

It's a look, love it or leave it. I don't mind it myself, but it is a signature look.

...Malifaux get around it by breaking their kits up into a large number of small parts...

The keyword being large here; I think when you start breaking up minis to such a degree you have to glue on the individual fingers, things might have become slightly misguided...

...infinity use siocast...

They do? All of my Infinity models are still metal, and I know there was talk about Siocast a few years back, but I didn't know they had picked up the tech. How is the quality compared to their metals?

And I mentioned the above two companies as I knew that they had both switched from manual to digital sculpting somewhere along the line, without the angular curves that are on trial here

[westwaller]

Yeah i guess you have a point about the limitations of the medium and production process as mentioned by@mammoth miniatures, becoming the style- I'm used to cloaks and robes on miniatures being fairly angular as that's often how they are done and have been since I first had Heroquest for Christmas as a kid. However, on this new Knight pictured the sculpting of the robe doesn't 'read' well. What is causing the billowing on such a static figure? To make deep folds like that, the cloth would be fairly heavy so would the wind blow it about this much? On a cheaper figure I would perhaps accept it but with a mind on the probable price of this, I find it disappointing. Its a shame because I was quite interested to see what the new Old World releases would be like and if they'd differ much from the Sigmar style but it seems not.
Oh and didn't someone say above its actually a resin model?

[Luigi]

That old Bretonnian infantry kit had excellent trinkets from memory. A little dog, some odd bits of animal (snacks?), various weird symbolic items among the pouches and whatnot, and a really useful animal-tailed club.  Wish I had dozens more of those clubs.

I have a bunch of those, and I have no idea where I got them since I never once bought a Bretonnian kit.
If you want I can trade them to you for... idk? Shields? I'm always looking for shields. (or possibly some dwarf bits)

[Belligerentparrot]

If you want I can trade them to you

Thanks for the thought man, I'll send you a PM.

On a different note, I'm in two minds about these:


On the one hand, they're lovely sculpts (especially the tribute to the 54mm Inquisitor henchman). But on the other hand, so much of GW's current output is excellent for converting why not just make your own versions and have a lot more fun with it? Kind of a weird kit to put out, in the sense that it fills a niche a lot of people who seem to want inquisitorial warbands (the Inq28 crowd) would rather fill themselves. I guess they'll just see it as a useful addition to the bitz box.

Interestingly, given what we were discussing, the accompanying article mentions an intentional heavy load-out of gubbins for most of these minis, to help disguise the fact that several of these minis have a "twin" base sculpt.

[Luigi]

On the topic of additional bits/details.

I don't mind them when they're on the sprue, but I absolutely loathe them on the actual miniature.
And this has been an issue for at least 20 years. My plastic dwarfs (that came out at the tail end of 6th edition) have medals and pendants everywhere.
Nothing that can't be fixed with 5-10 minutes of sprue clippers and Xacto knife, but it's all useles flashy and gawdry details that adds nothing to models.

[Belligerentparrot]

Interesting that Chaos Daemons aren't going to be part of the new Old World Warhammer, beyond a few rules letting you use them if you want to.
(Also in that category: Dark Elves, Skaven, and a couple of others).

I'm surprised, given that the Chaos powers give WHFB fluff a lot of its distinct identity. But I can also see why they might have done so: Greater Daemons used to be so powerful you really needed a massive hero to go up against them. Take Greater Daemons out, and it might be easier to avoid HeroHammer silliness and give greater priority to units etc.

[Lost Egg]

I believe that the historic period they've picked is just before a great chaos invasion and the rise of Magnus the Pious so I assume daemons etc will feature a lot more in the future.

[Daeothar]

How about simply not statting up the really big stuff eh?

But I suppose they need the escalation room for future releases...