The LAF Games Workshop Discussion Thread

[Major_Gilbear]

There are two things that worry me about the new base sizes:

1. It implies that figure creep has now become so bad that they've had to increase the base size to stop it looking too silly
2. They're giving themselves more room for future scale creep

Yep, that occurred to me too.  

I'd prefer slightly smaller and less chunky deformed heroic-scaled sculpting myself though. The plastic Imperial Guard Astra Militarum in particular are a complete mess (with those plastic Catachans being so ugly they nearly make my eyes bleed every time I look at them).

Ah well, I have what I want from GW for the most part now, and I care less and less about their releases with each new unveiling.

[eilif]

Yep, that occurred to me too.  

I'd prefer slightly smaller and less chunky deformed heroic-scaled sculpting myself though. The plastic Imperial Guard Astra Militarum in particular are a complete mess (with those plastic Catachans being so ugly they nearly make my eyes bleed every time I look at them).

Ah well, I have what I want from GW for the most part now, and I care less and less about their releases with each new unveiling.

Oddly, I think larger marines are a step in the right direction for GW.   The first of the "new" plastic IG kits was the Catachans (1999-2000) they were ridiculously big, being as big-or-bigger than space marines and clocking in around 28mm. It could have been an aberration, but GW stuck with figures nearly that big for the following IG lines (Cadians, Vostroyans, Astra, etc). 

Now that a guardsman is firmly established as 28-29mm to the eye, and GW is getting around to making new space marine models, it makes sense to make the Space Marines much bigger. If an average human male is 5'9"-6' tall and is 28mm to the eye, then a 7-8 foot space marine should be 32-35mm.  This could be the start of GW models getting back to a proper size relationship between Space Marines and the rest of the 40k minis line.

Of course it's no mistake that it's also going to be a chance to put out alot of new kits with even higher price points, but that doesn't mean it doesn't make sense from a scale perspective.

[matthais-mouse]

Oddly, I think larger marines are a step in the right direction for GW.   The first of the "new" plastic IG kits was the Catachans (1999-2000) they were ridiculously big, being as big-or-bigger than space marines and clocking in around 28mm. It could have been an aberration, but GW stuck with figures nearly that big for the following IG lines (Cadians, Vostroyans, Astra, etc). 

Now that a guardsman is firmly established as 28-29mm to the eye, and GW is getting around to making new space marine models, it makes sense to make the Space Marines much bigger. If an average human male is 5'9"-6' tall and is 28mm to the eye, then a 7-8 foot space marine should be 32-35mm.  This could be the start of GW models getting back to a proper size relationship between Space Marines and the rest of the 40k minis line.

Of course it's no mistake that it's also going to be a chance to put out alot of new kits with even higher price points, but that doesn't mean it doesn't make sense from a scale perspective.

I have to agree, as a scale representation goes, those who wanted their marines to be a proper size were required to convert terminators, with a lot of putty and patience to get a marine of a proper height. A few good tutorials on teh net for it was helpful but I feel that most people would not bother.
But I also agree that they will put stupidly high prices on them and that would be the annoying part of this whole conversation so I shall cut my ramblings short.

[Major_Gilbear]

Oddly, I think larger marines are a step in the right direction for GW.   The first of the "new" plastic IG kits was the Catachans (1999-2000) they were ridiculously big, being as big-or-bigger than space marines and clocking in around 28mm. It could have been an aberration, but GW stuck with figures nearly that big for the following IG lines (Cadians, Vostroyans, Astra, etc). 

Now that a guardsman is firmly established as 28-29mm to the eye, and GW is getting around to making new space marine models, it makes sense to make the Space Marines much bigger. If an average human male is 5'9"-6' tall and is 28mm to the eye, then a 7-8 foot space marine should be 32-35mm.  This could be the start of GW models getting back to a proper size relationship between Space Marines and the rest of the 40k minis line.

Of course it's no mistake that it's also going to be a chance to put out alot of new kits with even higher price points, but that doesn't mean it doesn't make sense from a scale perspective.

Fair point, although I'd point out that there are lots more "recent" SM infantry kits than there are IG infantry kits, so it would make more sense to the revise the older kits first and use the opportunity to make the figures a little shorter and finer.

I doubt that will happen though.

And generally, I'm somewhat against the constant scale-creep too, but not because it invalidates older figures; because as models and bases keep getting bigger, fitting them onto the table in the quantities required by GW for their games gets harder. It also makes storing models harder if they keep getting bigger!

[eilif]

Fair point, although I'd point out that there are lots more "recent" SM infantry kits than there are IG infantry kits, so it would make more sense to the revise the older kits first and use the opportunity to make the figures a little shorter and finer.

Unfortunately, scale creep only goes in one direction and the Astra-whatever-IG figs that just came out make it pretty clear that 28mm to-the-eye and big-fists are here to stay.

And generally, I'm somewhat against the constant scale-creep too, but not because it invalidates older figures; because as models and bases keep getting bigger, fitting them onto the table in the quantities required by GW for their games gets harder. It also makes storing models harder if they keep getting bigger!

This is very true.  I noticed this especially with my buddy's Terminator-heavy Dark Angel army.  The old metal and plastic models from my early gaming days were clearly too small, but the new ones are much, much bigger, are on 40mm bases and have enough dynamic posing and flyaway bits that they take 4-6 times as much storage space by volume.  It's kind of shocking how fast they fill up trays and storage bags.

[westwaller]

They 'old' metal Imperial Guard armies from the mid 90s seem about the right scale to put alongside the 'newer' Space Marines.

Or at least, they are a better fit.

[eilif]

They 'old' metal Imperial Guard armies from the mid 90s seem about the right scale to put alongside the 'newer' Space Marines.

Or at least, they are a better fit.

Yeah, they look pretty good scale wise.  Of course compare them to metal marines of the same era and you see that GW has been chasing it's tail regarding human-to-marine scale for a long time now.

[Cubs]

I really liked the old metal Imperial Guard Valhallans. I collected a few (and even painted some) before that particular hobby cul-de-sac withered like so many.

[eilif]

Some of the club are coming over to my place on Thursday to do an Apocalypse game using the Warpath 1.0 rules.  It won't be individually apocalyps'ed in that each player is only controlling around 2k in points plus a superheavy, but there will be 4 or 5 titans and superheavies on the 7x7 board.  I'll do a blog about it afterwards and post the rules we've invented for superheavies.

The point of all this is that in preparation for the game I'm quickly painting up a couple of Leman Russes that I've had in storage for a half a decade and it's made me realize that though I don't like the 40k rules anymore, I still have a definite soft spot for the models.  These ww1'esque Mark-Chibi tanks are just charming and fun to put together (even with the old-style track assemblies).  It's enjoyable digging through the bits bin and pulling out a few pieces to add a touch of individuality to each tank. It's kind of disappointing to realize that I'll likely never buy another new GW kit and really makes me want to tackle the last couple vehicles (two chimera and a Valk) and units (a couple of infantry squads and some characters) I've got sitting in boxes.

And then of course there's the 60 squats their 6 tanks and two artillery pieces I've got waiting...

[Major_Gilbear]

They 'old' metal Imperial Guard armies from the mid 90s seem about the right scale to put alongside the 'newer' Space Marines.

Or at least, they are a better fit.

The old metal IG are also better proportioned than the plastics that followed. I definitely loved those Perry sculpts, and was always miffed that GW only made an inexplicable selection of special and heavy weapons for each regiment.

That said, and despite the cost, *if* I ever did IG, I'd start with the old metals. Failing that, I'd use another manufacturer's parts to make some "modern" RT-style IG (which I also loved, but are pretty badly proportioned in my eyes).

Another thing that all the new stuff has made me realise very starkly is that it's almost impossible (financially) to have more than one army with all of the options. It used to be common for people to have 2-3 reasonably complete armies, but nowadays I just see "counts-as" Space Marines everywhere. Which, despite all the new multi-whatever kits GW do now, ironically results in more people's armies looking blandly the same than ever before. Hell, even I'm guilty of having Dark Angels that look like... Well, Dark Angels painted to the Codex. 

[Argonor]

Another thing that all the new stuff has made me realise very starkly is that it's almost impossible (financially) to have more than one army with all of the options. It used to be common for people to have 2-3 reasonably complete armies, but nowadays I just see "counts-as" Space Marines everywhere. Which, despite all the new multi-whatever kits GW do now, ironically results in more people's armies looking blandly the same than ever before. Hell, even I'm guilty of having Dark Angels that look like... Well, Dark Angels painted to the Codex. 

I think that is a deliberate policy. Keeping customers locked into the framework of a specific army makes sales projections easier.

[Mr Tough Guy]

How about this for a great deal 
http://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Champions-of-Erebor-Web-Bundle
14 shitecast models for only £118
or 3 for £25 and thorin and bilbo for £18 

[Tactalvanic]

If you look at some of the other bundles, such as the starter hobbit (limited edition box set of course), with paints etc.

Or the Island of blood bundle, they are actually just a tiny bit more (currently) expensive than buying the boxes of stuff separately...

its only pence at the moment but I am sure they can come up with a "one-click charge" for saving you from having to click the buy button more than once, and bump it up more..

Maybe they should do a similar product to

https://www.facebook.com/CardsAgainstHumanity

http://www.polygon.com/2014/12/1/7314775/cards-against-humanity-bullshit-box-of-poop-shit

It sold very well apparently..

If they can market failcast,  they can get in on this as well?

[Streetline]

Limited edition brown stuff?

ick.

[nic-e]

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Smaug

Web limited to 200, all sold out.

Now despite the £295 price tag, i think we can all say this is a magnificent effort on gw's part.there is no mention of smaug being game worthy, seems so far t be purely a collectors piece. also made of solid resin not finecast.

I think this one is also justified in being limited edition , since there is no way they could keep up with the orders of these before christmas and maintain quality, tho i expect it will be in stores soon.