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Recently I have looked at a lot of the gw range and have found that the newer models have gone for far more detail than actual easy to build-ness. This makes it very difficult for begginers to develop their painting styles due to TOO MANY BLOODY DETAILS!!!
I bought the IoB set about the month after it came out and attempted to paint the lothern sea guard and some of the clanrats and found so many details that i couldn't keep track and ended up weeping myself to sleep (not literally, but i was very dissapointed that i couldn't handle everything on the actual figures). Since then I have not touched the models as I have missed so many details and I absolutely hate painting over already painted models. it just seems very silly that the model designers tink that it's possible for a noo like me to even atempt to paint all the details on those models. It now seems like a complete waste of money except for the rulebook whic i love.
Also with the new skaven miniatures such as the hellpit abomination, the warp lighning cannon and a lot of the dark eldar range there are far too things to paint in those miniatures and I find it very annoying and difficult to expand or even begin my army due to miniatures being too hard to make ad paint.
So I ask you all, do you think that games workshop miniatures are getting worse or better. If better, why? If worse, which minis?

Most of the newer modesl are absolutely lovely. As for painting the detail: everything in miniatures painting is a trick. Try practicing more with washes and drybrushing techniques perhaps.

I suppose so, but from a beginner's point of veiw, (such is mine) alot of the models are fairly difficult to paint. I admit I could improve on my painting so maybe if i just practice more then i might like them more. I guess I just prefer the older minis though

Painting a good miniature can be intimidating for all skill levels. I would recommend looking up tutorials here, on youtube, and the wider net for the specific models you're working on. You'd be amazed how some simple techniques can deliver impressive results even for first-time painters.

but what about all of thse stupid tiny little details that you never notice until once you've finished painting tat mini? that's just what anoys me.

Using a wash on top of your basecoat really brings out those details so that they are easier to see.

even if it's a dark basecoat?

Here's a good trick Ive developed that helps my painting style tremendously, and sounds like it could help you develop some confidence and work on your techniques.

Prime
Basecoat
Drybrush a Shade lighter of the base coat (I usually do this in three steps for a nice base highlight)
Wash with Sepia or Devlan Mud
Use foundations to pick out details and then begin highlighting shading etc.

Everyone gets frustrated, and you cant get better at anything unless you challenge yourself. Most things that are easy aren't usually worth doing.

k i'll give that a go. not too sure wat the result'll be

I found looking at a pic of a mini i have not painted before helps me plan what i need to paint and in what stage. Maybe that will help you

If you have a very dark basecoat, you can generally move straight to drybrushing and doing hard highlights -- a la Black Templars.

I do and don't agree with this topic. I find most of the detailed kits these days lovely - the Dark Eldar range, as a whole, is awesome. I really enjoyed the more recent Imperial Guard tanks and plastics. The new Skaven look damn nice too. I'm not a big fan of the Blood Angels range in general though. They're just a bit overdone for my taste, and blinged out to such a degree that they're not quite so recognizably Space Marines anymore. I also don't like the Storm Raven, but that's not because it's overdetailed; it just doesn't have an attractive silhouette.

In other words, I mostly like new GW minis.

I don't think it's only about newer models. For instance, I just finished priming this guy, and I'm extremely nervous about painting him because I want to do the fantastic model justice.

I think the newer sculpts are a bit more forgiving than the older stuff.

I do remember being daunted by the detail on a lot of the old metal RT 2nd ed metals and warhammer figures when I was younger.

It's not that I have improved that much, more that I am not so worried that my minis are not GD standard.

Models have always been fairly detailed, I know what you mean in respect of it seems like you'll never finish painting the model, but try not to fuss too much over details when you're painting an army. Just get the basecoat on, you can always come back to the details later.

There are very few newer models that I don't like. I think the flying chicken that's being released later this month might be one, and those minotaurs, but really, I think most of the stuff is great.

I've been painting minis for 30 years. I think that the mix between details and open space for painting work is good. Some models lend themselves more to freehand and some more to painting fiddly bits, but there's a good mix, and I think the sculptors do a good job of trying to work both types into the various ranges.

I think the dynamics of the newer models is amazing. They're doing a great job capturing movement lately.

I like them, the amount of small details if fantastic

out of curiosity, where is that ork from, I can't find him on the GW site

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/armySubUnitCats.jsp?catId=cat1490653&rootCatGameStyle=


Hes in the Collectors section under orks.

Try using a foundation paint as your base coat and then a wash.
On my Iron Warriors i dont even use a base coat.
And remember models can be stripped both metal and plastic.

29 - 1 in the poll so far... looks like it's just you

MAybe they could make crappier looking minis? with fewer details, maybe that would be worth a price cut or something ike that?

I love them, DE aren't hard to paint by the way, you just have to get the colors of the skin right.

Yes, it is just you.

More details is easier to paint. One of the hardest things to paint well is featureless areas.

Washes, ink, drybrushing, most weathering techniques - all of these things use the detail present in the miniature to work.

Renbags wrote:but what about all of thse stupid tiny little details that you never notice until once you've finished painting tat mini? that's just what anoys me.

It's always worth taking a good look at a mini before you paint it. For units of models, it's worth looking at all of them and deciding which bits are going to be picked out in contrasting colours and which aren't (you want to be uniform in this for most armies)

No, it's not just you. And it's not just an issue for beginner painters. I've been painting for decades, and the busy-ness of GW models continues to irk me simply as an aesthetic choice.

It's not just an issue of making the model difficult to paint. In many cases, it's just bad design. Take WFB for instance. In that setting, most armies would fight their wars using baggage trains and camps that hold most of their gear, so the soldiers would only have to carry the things they think are essential into battle. But most GW minis look like the figure is trying to carry an entire cabinet's worth of trinkets into battle. Take Malagor, the Dark Omen for example. He's absolutely covered in skulls and trinkets. He's even got a skeleton torso on the end of his staff for no reason at all. He would be over the top for a even a real infantry soldier, but consider that he flies- under his own power. If I had giant wings sprouting from my back and the ability to fly all over the battlefield, I can tell you I would not carry an extra 50 kilos of doo-dads just to try and impress people.

40K is even worse. Take a look at just about any space marine (especially the characters) and they're absolutely covered in little trinkets tacked on to their armor. As "Yahtzee" Croshaw says of Darksiders: "You know when you play World of Warcraft you pick up a pair of boots here and some shoulder armour there, constantly switching out every piece for more effective ones until the end of it your outfit is so mismatched you look like you put on a magnetic leotard and fell into a saucepan cupboard? Well that's the look War has going on. Who the thinks this looks cool, besides the gelatinous creatures who like Warhammer 40K?" And he's right.

The problem is that many tiny details, when painted cleanly, are impressive- on their own. When you're a little too deep into painting minutia and overly focused on things like painting contest evaluations or whatnot then those little details are excellent ways to prove your painting ability- but by having so many details to focus on the model looses any overall focus of its own. You end up with guys like Vulkan He'stan that are so festooned with bits that I honestly can't even tell what they're about without spending several minutes examining the figure in high-resolution photographs, and that only works if the figure has a flawless paint job.

Here's a trick to tell if a figure is too busy. Look at the figure for only a couple seconds, and then close your eyes and try to picture what that figure looks like. If all you can remember in your mind's eye is a basic pose, it's too busy!

Though that said, I think every miniature in the Island of Blood box is the bee's knees, with just the right amount of detail for what they should be. High Elves are giant fops after all, and it's appropriate that they over-accessorize for battle.

Yay! people that agree with me! hooray and huzzah!
I get what your on about with the IoB models but I just think the Ellyrian Reavers look to spindly and the lothern sea guard just look silly, festooned with seaweed and fish heads. I suppose that's just my opinion though so i'll just shut up now

40K is a skirmish game that GW want you to play like a mass battle game, in order to sell more figures.

Elaborately detailed figures are appropriate for skirmish games because you don't have a lot of them, and they aren't a big chore to paint.

Copplestone Castings are a good example of models with a nice clean design that paints up easily but still has some nice detail.