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How do!

So Trish Carden has a post on FB, showing off dioramas and vignettes of yesteryear. And whilst we see the occasional example in Golden Demon, they seem to be a part of the hobby fallen by the wayside. Or at least, I’m not seeing them in my day to day internet browsing. Not that I’ve been specifically looking though.

Time was, before GW was the monolithic beasty we know today, White Dwarf would often feature such aspects of the hobby. Often scratchbuilt scenery, sometimes with heavily kitbashed models or simple reposes. But the end result was usually an evocative scene of mayhem, frozen for all time.

Have they all but faded as a part of the hobby, or is buggerlugs here just not looking in the right places?

I’ve attached the pics from Trish Carden’s post for your viewing delectation.

Something I was pointed to (International Women's Day edition) yesterday was this:
https://28-mag.com/ [May be NSFW]
It seems to be dioramas and conversions galore.

 Skinnereal wrote:
Something I was pointed to (International Women's Day edition) yesterday was this:
https://28-mag.com/ [May be NSFW]
It seems to be dioramas and conversions galore.

I've never seen this before and there's some amazing stuff in there. Thank you for passing it on!

Dioramas are aspirational, but they're also a pretty heavy timesink. For GW at least, the focus is on pushing the next release and quickly moving on to the next thing.

For the rest of us, I suspect it's just down to limited time and resources. If I had the time, and somewhere to actually keep them, I would be building dioramas all over the place.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'd been put off of them for years simply because of the ease that seemingly came to all of the dioramas I'd see posted online.

That's gone away now that I found out quite a few of them utilized entire teams of people in one go.

I guess part of the shift towards a fully prepackaged product line and competitive gaming.

First they came for the deodorant bottle grav tank, and I did not speak up for I was no scratch builder.

Then they came for the toothpick and styrofoam cacti, and I did not speak up for I was no crafter.

Then they came for the looted vehicles, and I did not speak up for I was no kitbasher.

Then they came for the multipose models, and I did not speak up for I was no converter.

Then they came for the points costs and wargear options, and there was no one left to speak up for me.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
I guess part of the shift towards a fully prepackaged product line and competitive gaming.

First they came for the deodorant bottle grav tank, and I did not speak up for I was no scratch builder.

Then they came for the toothpick and styrofoam cacti, and I did not speak up for I was no crafter.

Then they came for the looted vehicles, and I did not speak up for I was no kitbasher.

Then they came for the multipose models, and I did not speak up for I was no converter.

Then they came for the points costs and wargear options, and there was no one left to speak up for me.

Well said.

For GW at least dioramas have gone the way of scratch built terrain, there's no margin in them.

Shame that dioramas don't seem to be much of an official thing anymore.

The first diorama I ever saw was the Kai Monastery in the Magnamund Companion (the background book for the Lone Wolf gamebooks). I had no idea what or where these little models came from, or where you bought them, but I was absolutely entranced. It was like model trains, but with swords and fire spells!



There were a couple of others in that book--some ships as I recall.

Wait, my brother actually read those lone wolf books when he was younger, I never suspected there was an actual lore book behind this!

As for actual diaporamas, I've never really known them as a thing of the present making my entry by the time of 6th edition. But my first codices and books from 40k (and a bit of Battle) were older editions and the scenes depicted with the minis, the nice armies, the small commentaries under them, they just blew my mind and hooked me completely.

I wish they'd come back.

You can find some on the internet or stuff sometimes, but unfortunately, doing diaporamas myself, even though I'd like to, requires to much material and too much place to store them. I already struggle with but my tabletop terrain.

 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:
Wait, my brother actually read those lone wolf books when he was younger, I never suspected there was an actual lore book behind this!

It was a 'companion book' to the gamebooks, with a history of the planet Magnamund, info on the Giak (totally-not-goblin) language, a mini-gamebook adventure and even a tavern boardgame. Good stuff and worth tracking down.

That's getting off topic though. The dioramas I remember the most are the Mike McVey ones from the mid-90s, such as the Warhammer Quest and Lizardmen ones, and the Dark Angel chapel. Plus the various Golden Demon entries of course.

I think the modern ways of finding those are tied in armies on parade and some GW display boards at Warhammer world I guess.

A lot of them are on instagram. As I don't engage with that platform I miss virtually all of them. GW doesn't show many, I assume due the concern about non stock models and showing people things that might encourage them to shop elsewhere.

If we assume GW as got a policy of showing only what they provide, then effectively diaporama require so much miscellaneous stuff that you probably won't buy from GW that might deter them, although on the other hand you'd still buy the minis which is their main product. Maybe we're taking it too far and they've got no one in their staff who'd actually bother?

People still make them, GW still features them in White Dwarf often, I don't see them as gone. Maybe they're just more professionally done nowadays.

Competition (GD or Army on Parade) entries usually also take forms of dioramas or vignettes, to make the model in the centre even more interesting.

And then, you have things like this:

 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:
If we assume GW as got a policy of showing only what they provide, then effectively diaporama require so much miscellaneous stuff that you probably won't buy from GW that might deter them, although on the other hand you'd still buy the minis which is their main product. Maybe we're taking it too far and they've got no one in their staff who'd actually bother?

GW stores definitely do. I remember speaking to a store owner (10 years ago or so) about doing a 3D space hulk table using Cities of Death walls and he could not. His table had to use the Hills of Skulls (or whatever they were called) as a base. So it's not just GW products only, it's GW products they are pushing this month only.

Sad. That's really part of the company somewhat losing it's "gang of nerds" feel and part of their creativity

I follow many Instagram hobbyists who do a lot of smaller dioramas, often for painting competitions or projects like the aforementioned 28-magazine. At least here in the Nordics it's still alive and well as a practice, if not exactly common among casual hobbyists. Plenty of historical conventions seem to include them too, even moreso on the scale modeling side.

As Cyel mentions, they are also pretty constantly displayed in White Dwarf. Dedicated dioramas that are immutable art pieces are certainly rarer than gaming models posed photogenically on nice terrain, sure, but those too are still very much narrative snippets made that way to tell a story.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:
If we assume GW as got a policy of showing only what they provide, then effectively diaporama require so much miscellaneous stuff that you probably won't buy from GW that might deter them, although on the other hand you'd still buy the minis which is their main product. Maybe we're taking it too far and they've got no one in their staff who'd actually bother?

GW stores definitely do. I remember speaking to a store owner (10 years ago or so) about doing a 3D space hulk table using Cities of Death walls and he could not. His table had to use the Hills of Skulls (or whatever they were called) as a base. So it's not just GW products only, it's GW products they are pushing this month only.

About a year? ago the local GW gave away all their old store terrain (with purchase, spend more get more). They were no longer selling the kits, so couldn’t have them on the demo/play tables. I understand from a sales perspective to sell everything someone could see. “Hey, that’s a cool ruin” should be answered with a box in their hand.

I do mourn the decline of kitbashing and creativity in the hobby. It still shows up from time to time, but is a pale shadow of its old self.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/03/24/golden-demon-2024-winners-revealed-at-adepticon/

A lot of dioramas/vignettes here, in almost every category. In particular the Fantasy/40K unit entries, but in general it feels like just entering models on their own gaming bases wasn't a dominating choice.

Cyel wrote:
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/03/24/golden-demon-2024-winners-revealed-at-adepticon/

A lot of dioramas/vignettes here, in almost every category. In particular the Fantasy/40K unit entries, but in general it feels like just entering models on their own gaming bases wasn't a dominating choice.

It often isn't, as larger and well-executed bases tend to tell a more memorable story through the miniature which stands out if technical skill is otherwise the same between various entries. Thus all the hubbub in 2022 when a simple skink figure won a Slayer Sword without a flashy base or unique conversions, which many in the audience felt odd compared to some of the bigger and less subtle entries. Speaking of involved conversions, the US competitions seem to be pretty light on those. There certainly are some among the winners, but I have a feeling they are often more prominent elsewhere.