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Supposing that GW continues it's transition to finecast for the entire line of miniatures, how long do you think it will be before there is a critical mass of new GW players that are unfamiliar with metal figures?

Right now Metal is still a standard choice for most armies for some units, and it still has a certain cache for it's weight and cost, but that could change.

How long after GW metals are gone will one of them give you the "stink eye" or otherwise look askance at you for your old-fashioned-not-as-good-as-finecast metal figures?

My guess is that in about 5 years 40k, WHFB and LoTR will be completely finecast and plastic and most of the new crop of GW players will be looking at metal figures as the mark of old-timers or vets.

screw them... lol... they give my pewter carnifex the stink eye see what happens when 4 lbs of pewter hits them in the forehead.... relatively speaking of course since all I have is imperial guard... but my pewter sentinels could hurt.

Newbies must love doling out the dough. FineCast$$>Metal/Hybrid$$ Honestly I'm still leaning towards the metals for this game when I can get them. Mainly because I'm so used to working with metals over resin. Secondly it seems like there's much more cleanup for resin prior to painting. And finally because metals are a bit sturdier than resin - I don't want to spend good money and have a bit snap off that I can replace.

So for me, I'll hold back the stinkeye as long as I can. But to answer your question. I'm thinking 5-7 years and metal will be a thing of the past for GW.

I don't think they'll give them the "stink eye." They'll probably ask questions like "Why doesn't your Librarian have a malformed face?", "How did you get a model without bubbling?" and "Where do I get a model where both halves of the mold line up properly?"

I've been in this game 1 1/2 years and I'm already giving the metal figures the stink eye. I converted 1 metal figure for a grot commissar and I was done. It's bad enough to cut, stab and glue myself. I don't need to burn my fingers dealing with hot metal from drilling and cutting it to shape.

mrwhoop wrote:I don't need to burn my fingers dealing with hot metal from drilling and cutting it to shape.

Hot metal? You're not casting it.


Anyway, if you don't have models that have turned black in their high lead content you're all noobs to me.

Howard A Treesong wrote:

mrwhoop wrote:I don't need to burn my fingers dealing with hot metal from drilling and cutting it to shape.

Hot metal? You're not casting it.

He's talking about the tendency for metal figures to heat up quite a bit when you drill holes in them. A dremel provides enough friction and vibration on the metal mini to heat it up quite significantly.

Take a drill, electric dremel or any fast cutting tool and that metal will get hot.

*ah I was ed. And for the record I do have an old metal Chaplain that looks 2nd-3rd edition.

Why would you need to use more than a hand drill for little metal figures? More likely to damage the figure for the sake of saving a bit of time.

mrwhoop wrote:I've been in this game 1 1/2 years and I'm already giving the metal figures the stink eye. I converted 1 metal figure for a grot commissar and I was done. It's bad enough to cut, stab and glue myself. I don't need to burn my fingers dealing with hot metal from drilling and cutting it to shape.

May I recommend work gloves. It sounds like you may be a danger to yourself.

How long before gamers are unaware of metal's previous existence? Sooner than you might think. Wargaming, and the GW side of the hobby especially, seems to suffer from quite a high attrition or churn rate. Think of all those kids (and we all know of at least one) who eagerly bought a load of GW stuff then hastily shelved/sold it a couple of months later when they realised the effort involved.

The hobby is constantly being refreshed with newcomers who aren't aware of previous events (at least until they stumble upon Dakka ). Fortunately, there will always be one or two long-termers around to set them right (or at least, patronise them massively).

Would GW ban old metal figures from their stores? Probably not and it would probably be a bit of a PR disaster if they tried. That being said, not sure if anyone has tried taking an old Squat or Chaos Dwarf army into a GW store recently?

Also, yes, a hand drill.

filbert wrote:How long before gamers are unaware of metal's previous existence? Sooner than you might think. Wargaming, and the GW side of the hobby especially, seems to suffer from quite a high attrition or churn rate. Think of all those kids (and we all know of at least one) who eagerly bought a load of GW stuff then hastily shelved/sold it a couple of months later when they realised the effort involved.

The hobby is constantly being refreshed with newcomers who aren't aware of previous events (at least until they stumble upon Dakka ). Fortunately, there will always be one or two long-termers around to set them right (or at least, patronise them massively).

Yeah, look at the number of people who think White Dwarf is a quality magazine because they've never seen an issue from 10+ years ago.

A hand drill wouldn't cut this jacket off for the grot. I had to saw and carve the front half away to get the bits in.

Howard A Treesong wrote:Why would you need to use more than a hand drill for little metal figures? More likely to damage the figure for the sake of saving a bit of time.

Really? My dremel has been perfect for miniature work. Fast and easy. giggity

5+ years? Not likely. I would be surprised if GW wasn't exclusively Finecast/Plastic in a year or 2, and the "stink eye" will be around the same time (or shortly after).

As long as companies continue to produce metal miniatures of a higher quality than Games Workshop, there will be no "stink eye".

Also, you can't tell the difference between a metal and a plesin GW miniature with the older sculpts without picking up the model.

I hope never, I like the metal figures, they have wieght, I always think that models are to light

in jurrasic park words

dino movie wrote:Donald Gennaro: [Tim pops up wearing a pair of night vision goggles] Hey, where'd you find that?
Tim: In a box under my seat.
Donald Gennaro: Are they heavy?
Tim: Yeah.
Donald Gennaro: Then they're expensive, put 'em back.

filbert wrote:
Would GW ban old metal figures from their stores?

I can see them doing this, especially once they've transferred everything to Finecost. If they're able to restrict people from playing Specialist Games in GW stores, they why not push away metal models when the HHHobbyists can buy perfectly good plesin figures?

Uh they wouldn't ban any of their figures. You can still use the horrible rogue trader stuff despite it being a crime against good taste

I've been playing since I was 13 and I look forward to the day when metal is something of the past!

Rogue Trader stuff isn't horrible.

Howard A Treesong wrote:Rogue Trader stuff isn't horrible.

"Horrible" is a subjective qualifier. I think a lot of the minis from that era suffer as they were often single-piece castings so they have a very 'flat' look to them.

Not all... Just some.

Eilif wrote:Supposing that GW continues it's transition to finecast for the entire line of miniatures, how long do you think it will be before there is a critical mass of new GW players that are unfamiliar with metal figures?

Right now Metal is still a standard choice for most armies for some units, and it still has a certain cache for it's weight and cost, but that could change.

How long after GW metals are gone will one of them give you the "stink eye" or otherwise look askance at you for your old-fashioned-not-as-good-as-finecast metal figures?

My guess is that in about 5 years 40k, WHFB and LoTR will be completely finecast and plastic and most of the new crop of GW players will be looking at metal figures as the mark of old-timers or vets.

1. If they are painted how would they know regardless?
2. Why on earth would I care what "their" opinion is? I have difficulties accepting this whole people have a right to exist thing, much less what their opinions are.

Balance wrote:

Howard A Treesong wrote:Rogue Trader stuff isn't horrible.

"Horrible" is a subjective qualifier. I think a lot of the minis from that era suffer as they were often single-piece castings so they have a very 'flat' look to them. Not all... Just some.

It's worth pointing out that alot of us like the look of early GW and other lines of that era. I know I do, and I've got the spacelords and shockforce figs to prove it!

Frazzled wrote: If they are painted how would they know regardless?

That's a very good point.

However given the amount of unpainted lead and plastic on the table at most stores around here (from gamers of all ages) I don't think they'll have trouble spotting some metal even before the newbies violate game edicit and pick up your metal minis without asking.

It's absurdly unlikely that models would ever get 'banned' because they're of an older material.

People are free to use old models all they want. The only problem arises when you try using models such as the Eldar Avatar that's he height of a Farseer and the Tyranid Carnifex that's the height of a Warrior.

Kirasu wrote:Uh they wouldn't ban any of their figures. You can still use the horrible rogue trader stuff despite it being a crime against good taste

I've been playing since I was 13 and I look forward to the day when metal is something of the past!

Ummm, yes they did. They tried that in the past. If there where newer versions of models out you had to have the new ones to play in the store. I had a RT-era guard army (plastics) and I was told that I couldn't play them in the store as they where not sold anymore. If I wanted to play I had to get the 'new' guard metals.... sighs, I can see them doing this again with metal/finecast.

Then again, this is GW, a company that used to make awsome models then make rules for them until Alan Merritt decided that you had to have a codex entry to get a new model..... then they decided they where screwing themselves and reversed that decision after 10 years or so.

SO, what have we learned? That GW is like the CIA/Mi-6/JTF-2 one hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing. Or if it does it doesn't care.

FabricatorGeneralMike wrote:
Ummm, yes they did. They tried that in the past. If there where newer versions of models out you had to have the new ones to play in the store. I had a RT-era guard army (plastics) and I was told that I couldn't play them in the store as they where not sold anymore. If I wanted to play I had to get the 'new' guard metals.... sighs, I can see them doing this again with metal/finecast.

I have to wonder if this kind of behavior is enforced (if not created) on a regional if not store-specific behavior. I know beating up GW is a Dakkadakka past time, but this kind of thing sounds more like an individual manager going power-mad more than a company policy.

OTOH, if it was a store with the layout where there's a front table or tables near the window and more tables in the back, I wouldn't be too offended if the front tables were given to people with new shinies.

Took no time whatsoever. I had a trade working on getting rid of some DE.

Guy gave me the snobbery when I informed him that the new sculpt incubi were metal and not finecast.

I've ignored his inquiries since then.

Personally I prefer the older models. Both the metal and the plastic ones.

First person to stink eye my metal Sob's gets the chaos dreadsock in the jimmies.