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Post edited for clarity and segregation of my speculation from fact.

Fact:

GW are advertising for a Resin / Metal Production Manager (above cell managers - an overall casting production boss from the looks of the post).

Speculation:

So it appears [to me] that Citadel Eavy-Metal-Cast(tm)* is on the way. No point in specifically recruiting a mid-level manager specifically for metal production if you're going to phase it out. No point in having a metal production specialisation if you're not going to market it.

Not sure what I think about this. It's probably going to involve a hike in prices again, and a direct contradiction of the bull they spouted at Finecast's launch. Hopefully the investors will have a short memory on that one.

Note: I don't expect 'new' metal production runs in the immediate future, but rather a milking of the existing masters and rebranding.

This said, given the massive backlash Finecast caused, I would think they'll be looking at moving to pressure casting methods for low-volume, 'premium' product, and metal for higher volume where quality casts must be ensured and material can be recovered from failures.


*: Or something equally trite. Going on them shutting down the 'EM facebook group I think the use of 'Eavy Metal as a production trademark is likely.

Well didn't they just recall all the old metal a while back from their stores, probably going to melt them down and recast them. Since the finecast fiasco is over maybe they will bring metal back DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND(tm). Of course the price hike is always eminent.

Link to job posting?

http://careers.games-workshop.com/2014/07/04/resin-and-metal-production-manager-nottingham-uk/

Looking forward to FineMetal

Yeah, I'm not seeing from the job posting where you are getting the jump to 'Metal is back!!!' GW has metal production still and needs someone to oversee it until it is phased out.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, can we get 'FineMetal', etc out of our system now?

Do they? I was under the impression that remaining stock was being sold, but no new production runs had been done in some considerable time now.

winterdyne wrote:
Do they? I was under the impression that remaining stock was being sold, but no new production runs had been done in some considerable time now.

I don't think we have any knowledge either way on that. They still sell tons of metal.

I'm guessing the economics just didn't support plastic special characters. After the failure of finecast GW only really has resin or white metal pewter to choose from. It's gotta suck for whatever GW employee used to have the job working with metal, to probably be let go and be forced to move on and see the job pop back up years later.

I bet a nickel, Winterdyne, that you will not see new Metal in the next year.

Guess we watch and see then. I do stand by my original assumptions though. As for selling tons of metal, where?

winterdyne wrote:
Guess we watch and see then. I do stand by my original assumptions though. As for selling tons of metal, where?

https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Agames-workshop+metal&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a&channel=sb#channel=sb&q=site:games-workshop.com+%22metal+miniature%22&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&safe=off

Results for "metal miniature". Some are no doubt no longer available, but plenty are still there.

edit: site:games-workshop.com "detailed metal"
also gets a lot more results.

 Theophony wrote:
Well didn't they just recall all the old metal a while back from their stores, probably going to melt them down and recast them. Since the finecast fiasco is over maybe they will bring metal back DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND(tm). Of course the price hike is always eminent.

Considering their plastics are costed the same as metal these days.

It's probably keeping on top of the metals that do exist, especially the more popular ones (sisters for example).
It doesn't mean new metal

 pretre wrote:
I bet a nickel, Winterdyne, that you will not see new Metal in the next year.

Oh, I seriously doubt they'll actually do new metals. Just rebrand the existing ones and milk whatever masters they have for as long as possible. However, I do expect them to push metals out to stores / indies.

winterdyne wrote:
Oh, I seriously doubt they'll actually do new metals.

Might want to update the OP then.

Funny it specifically states "fantasy miniatures" everywhere.

I suggested long ago that they would end up releasing metal miniatures again, but now exclusively through their site with some fancy name and a hefty price tag for this wonderous arcane material. Because we're all supposed to forget that metal was cheaper than finecast in the first place.

winterdyne wrote:
Do they? I was under the impression that remaining stock was being sold, but no new production runs had been done in some considerable time now.

Yep. All the Waywatchers I got two weeks ago were metal.

I don't think they'll be going back to metal miniatures, nor do I hope it.

They're aiming to make everything plastic, I recall?

 Howard A Treesong wrote:
I suggested long ago that they would end up releasing metal miniatures again, but now exclusively through their site with some fancy name and a hefty price tag for this wonderous arcane material. Because we're all supposed to forget that metal was cheaper than finecast in the first place.

Probably labelled as a "Collector's Range" with "limited" runs of metal miniatures.

We had Collector's Range previously...

Yeah, where previously there was 'Collector's Range' put 'Eavy Metal' and you pretty much have what I think they're gonna do.


Edit: No stock of waywatchers, and no mention of material on the UK site.

Probably nothing more than a staff replacement, although part of me hopes that they would have the audacity to launch a new, higher-priced metal range and call the material 'ceramite', wonderous for its ability to hold sculpt detail without the need for liquid green stuff

winterdyne wrote:
Yeah, where previously there was 'Collector's Range' put 'Eavy Metal' and you pretty much have what I think they're gonna do.


Edit: No stock of waywatchers, and no mention of material on the UK site.

They're metal. That's why they and a lot of the Wood Elf heroes are constantly going in/out of stock.

We'll see on Wednesday if they've gotten that fixed though as I have a Waywatcher Lord coming in and if he's resin then that debunks it.

 thenoobbomb wrote:
I don't think they'll be going back to metal miniatures, nor do I hope it.

They're aiming to make everything plastic, I recall?

I may be alone here, but if GW sre going to continue to want £18 for single pose hero minis on 25 mm bases, I'd prefer them to be metal and maybe have some real quality rather than the plastics.

 Kanluwen wrote:

winterdyne wrote:
Yeah, where previously there was 'Collector's Range' put 'Eavy Metal' and you pretty much have what I think they're gonna do.


Edit: No stock of waywatchers, and no mention of material on the UK site.

They're metal. That's why they and a lot of the Wood Elf heroes are constantly going in/out of stock.

We'll see on Wednesday if they've gotten that fixed though as I have a Waywatcher Lord coming in and if he's resin then that debunks it.

I doubt he'd be resin; to spin cast resin to any decent quality you need a design and part breakdown that works for it. However, if he comes on blocks (pressure cast, forgeworld style) then that opens up new avenues. I had heard rumours they were going to go in that direction, but I've seen no direct evidence that they have yet.

>> Be GW
>> Have high priced metal miniatures
>> Switch to Resin to save on cost
>> Raise prices to consumer
>> Switch back to metal
>> Raise prices to consumer

I'm okay with metal, but it seems kind of silly for them to go back to it. Especially since their plastics cost the same/more than the metals used to. What, would they price hike again for metals citing the increased cost from plastic to metal, despite the fact when it went the reverse (or to Finecast) they didn't pass the cost savings onto the customer?

I wouldn't doubt them doing that though. Change characters to metal, raise the price, claim it's because metal is more expensive.

They aren't going back to metal... sigh.