The LAF Games Workshop Discussion Thread

[3 fingers]

Are those from the necromunda rerelease? 

[Mason]

I know it's daft to take opinions about a model personally, and I wish people would grow thicker skins, meself. But it gets fairly frustrating when people ridicule a thing without giving any reason for it.

I think this is one of the best dragons GW has produced in years. Not the best evar, but one of the best by GW. I agree that the armour doesn't look great, but underneath it is something sculpted by the guy who sculpted the plastic carnosaur - someone who knows what he's doing. I'm waiting to see the sprues, see how much of the armour is moulded on and what are separate pieces. I'm pretty sure those leg pieces can be left off, at least.

I am not knocking the sculpting, mate.
There may well be a really nice beastie underneath.
It just looks damn ridiculous in that armour.

To me it looks like a chap that has fallen asleep drunk and his mates have dressed it up in a ludicrous outfit to take pictures of him.
Look at that expression on his face.
He looks well miffed at what they have done to him.

[Hupp n at em]

I am not knocking the sculpting, mate.
There may well be a really nice beastie underneath.
It just looks damn ridiculous in that armour.

To me it looks like a chap that has fallen asleep drunk and his mates have dressed it up in a ludicrous outfit to take pictures of him.
Look at that expression on his face.
He looks well miffed at what they have done to him.

I'd add that those lizard cavalry give no impression of being able to move fast, or having much of a range of motion with their necks/heads.  They're too wide and boxy, it just looks awkward.

[Elbows]

My one general complaint about that whole army is that the lizardy dragon things look HUGELY muscular...and as mentioned, not lithe, fast or sleek.  Look at the heft of the main dragon - questionable its wings could even lift the darn thing!    I know it's pretty much necessary to match the bulk of the sigmarines, but it really does make them look rather...stupid.

Surely the armor on that dragon is removable.  If not, I think GW is stabbing themselves in the bum because a lot of folks would pick it up simply for being a dragon sculpt.

[Vladimir Raukov]

There's not much about the dragon that I like. It just doesn't look like a thing I'd want to paint.

[pixelgeek]

Surely the armor on that dragon is removable.  If not, I think GW is stabbing themselves in the bum because a lot of folks would pick it up simply for being a dragon sculpt.

I would suspect that it is not and it would not be the first time that GW screwed themselves out of sales like this. They could have sold a lot of medieval themed terrain sets if they had just made the skulls and gothic additions optional. Ditto with their 40K terrain.

[FramFramson]

http://gavthorpe.co.uk/2016/03/06/warbeast-authors-notes/

Some insight into Age of Sigmar from Gav Thorpe. Like most, I can't really say I agree with his rather enthusiastic take, but it's worth looking at just to read his replies to the comments.

[Gibby]

Interesting reading the comments. This one sums up my feelings about Age of Sigmar far more eloquently than I could:

We all know that a company like GW, bound by the expectations of shareholders, requires a constant flow of young-blood. It is only by acquiring a larger share of the adolescent demographic that GW can demonstrate growth in each financial report, and ensure continued investment.

However, the bigwigs seem to not understand how to win this elusive demographic. They seem to think that today’s kids want to be treated like kids, with patronisingly simple rules and stories filled with “Power level over 9000!” kinda stuff.

The reality is, no one wants to be treated like a kid, least of all kids. In fact, the higher the age requirement, the greater the appeal. Thus, a maturer take on a fantasy world, with complex human problems, political machinations, and a sense of historicity (like, say, ASOIAF), would be more marketable to today’s young. It would also be easier to envision oneself in such a world (because of its grounding in reality), and provide a neater context for tabletop battles.

As it stands, AoS seems a mess. As you mentioned, this may just be because it is nascent, but the fact remains, it doesn’t do the integral job of wanting me to know what happens next. So it doesn’t matter if the setting improves, because by then, no one will be reading.

The Warhammer world has been destroyed, and now the plot consists of various groups of nebulous figures floating around in spheres, in a universe that no longer has any structure or rules. Everyone we might have cared about is dead or acting completely out of character (or both, because death doesn’t even seem to matter any more). Implausibility is heaped upon implausibility, and attributed to “magic”. Thus, the grounding in a tangible world, with tangible politics and tangible human conflicts, has gone, and in its place is a strange fusion of sales brochure and cartoon surrealism. Even the names for things have been changed into self-parodies. (How the hell do you pronounce Aelves? What’s the difference between a Skullblood Berserker and a Bloodskull Berserker? Why is there no “i” in Fyreslayers? Are they trying to promote teamwork?).

I’m not being negative for negativity’s sake. I actually want to like the new lore. I want to be able to immerse myself in this new world as I did the previous one. And truthfully, honestly, genuinely, I cannot find anything positive about the new setting as it stands (which I concede may say more about me).

[Argonor]

"For example, the Stormcast Eternals. Even when I had been working in the Design Studio the idea of being able to translate the appeal of Space Marines into the fantasy setting had been something of an ambition, if not a specific objective. (Ironic considering Space Marines were partly created to capture some of the appeal that Chaos Warriors had in Warhammer Fantasy Battles at that time!)"

I think this might settle any disputes as to which aestethics were aimed for...   

[beefcake]

So essentially the sigmarines are based on Chaos warriors.

[Argonor]

So essentially the sigmarines are based on Chaos warriors.

Yeah, big, burly, blood lusting humans with huge shoulder pads and a menacing pose. Seems to fit the bill.

[eilif]

So essentially the sigmarines are based on Chaos warriors.

If only that were the case.  The Chaos warriors (even the newer incarnations) are an order of magnitude less ridiculous than Sigmarines.  If they were based on Chaos Warriors they might be tolerable.

Unfortunately it's pretty clear that Sigmarines are based on Space Marines and all the ridiculousness that smashing them (and their bulky powered armor) into a fantasy setting entails.

[affun]

"For example, the Stormcast Eternals. Even when I had been working in the Design Studio the idea of being able to translate the appeal of Space Marines into the fantasy setting had been something of an ambition, if not a specific objective. (Ironic considering Space Marines were partly created to capture some of the appeal that Chaos Warriors had in Warhammer Fantasy Battles at that time!)"

I think this might settle any disputes as to which aesthetics were aimed for...   

I find this really saying of how clueless the design studio actually is. Translating Space Marines into a fantasy setting should start with looking at the mythological and cultural origins of where the trope space marine actually comes from.
As I see it; space marines are sci-fi knights or samurai. Warriors dedicated to their trade, to the exclusion of all else. Born and bred for battle. Why then, are the sigmarines based on space marines. and not instead the original source of the trope.
Admittedly they have somewhat greek ques in their design, which could be argued harkens back to old Spartan ideas, though Id argue that the over-all look is more roman, which again makes sense when you consider the popular cultural view on the roman war machine.

Honestly, I can just think of so many so much more interesting design avenues than what they went with, but then again I can also clearly see the logic of their design choices. The difference between the two being that I am not impressed by the stylistic choice, but rather find it crude and obvious.

***

Of course, in writing this, I have become part of the gripe-machine.I guess I just wanted to try and put words to how baffling I find the stormcasts. The latest cavalry is truly heinous to me, yet I see people lapping it up and praising them as cool. Too each their on taste, and if people find you in them, then more power to them. Its just that I do not see it. The design-aesthetic is so completely alien to all that I like that my only reaction can be rejection.

[Argonor]

The design-aesthetic is so completely alien to all that I like that my only reaction can be rejection.

I guess, you're too young to remember Masters of the Universe, then..?   

The Stormcast very profoundly Draw on the same greek/roman inspiration that was used for some of the elite Blood Angels. Some of the designs are more or less just exaggerated versions of the same sculpts.

[affun]

I guess, you're too young to remember Masters of the Universe, then..?   

The Stormcast very profoundly Draw on the same greek/roman inspiration that was used for some of the elite Blood Angels. Some of the designs are more or less just exaggerated versions of the same sculpts.

True true.
It's just that they also take themselves so damn serious!

Sidenote: I am too young to remember it, but MotU will always have a place in my heart