Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

First up, this is not a price rant. The purported June price increase, while loathsome, don't really bother me because I get all my stuff from ebay or online retailers. Furthermore, I never buy anything more than one box a month for which my disposable income is (still just about) adequate.

And yet...

I'm not enthusiastic about anything GW has released over the last six months and I can't quite put my finger on why. I used to live for GW's new releases and now they just don't excite me anymore. After a bit of pondering I've come up with a few possible reasons and wonder whether they ring true with anyone else.

1. I've just turned 36 and maybe I'm just getting too old for plastic models. That said, I've really enjoyed putting together a box of Tactical Marines recently and I'm also loving the Land Speeder Storm kit (still under construction) I got for my birthday.

2. The public face of GW (namely White Dwarf and the Website) has become more souless than ever in the last six months. All content of interest has vanished from the website and just when you thought WD couldn't get any more boring, it rose to the challenge with aplomb with the last couple of issues the most boring ever published.

3. The big kits (which seem to be the focus of the monthly releases these days) are getting sillier and the quality of sculpt is fast declining. This trend seemed to start around Storm of Magic with some rushed monsters and has continued via the god awful Coven Throne through to the soon to be released clunky Stormtalon. I was reasonably impressed with the Empire Griffon but still didn't feel like I had to own it.

4. I've found that the blackout policy makes it hard to get excited about new releases. One minute you don't really know what's coming out and the next something is on the website next to a big fat click to buy button with a big fat price tag. It seems like I needed that month's advance warning to warm up to buying a product, particularly if it was going to be an expensive purchase. I find it no coincidence that the last army release I got genuinely enthusiastic about was Necrons which was leaked to the web a month or so before the release.

5. The big army releases don't seem particularly inventive anymore. The army books are rehashes of existing fluff and any new units tend to be a touch on the ridiculous side (see also my complaint about big kits). Again, Necrons were the exception to the rule and I thought this release was generally quite refreshing in terms of the codex and new models.

Those are my musings anyway. I don't think I'm going to quit GW as such because I still enjoy painting and modelling what I do buy, it's just that their current approach doesn't spark my interest anymore.

1. I'll have to say this isn't the issue. I know people about twice your age who still game every week, and dedicate lots of time and money to painting, modeling, and playing wargames.

2. I won't disagree. I actually used to check What's New Today daily, but now they just repost pictures from their Flickr pool which is nowhere near as compelling. I can find cool pictures of models here on Dakka.

3. This is personal taste really, but I won't disagree that the scope of these kits is kinda silly. I really like most of these huge kits and I'm curious when we'll get more for 40k.

4. I totally agree.

5, Personal taste again, but with a lot of armies there's already so much fluff and content there that they can only expand on so far. Necrons got reworked pretty much from the ground up, and some big new units were added to existing armies (Paladins for GK, Stormraven for BA) that seem a bit superfluous.

I think it's a pretty common opinion that GW's current route is leaving people cold. I personally wish they'd be far more transparent and customer focused, but there's not much we can do about it until sales suffer and they're forced to change, or Kirby spontaneously combusts.

Granted, their overall blackout release policy and attitude towards marketingand expected buyer habits is fairly appalling; but I think the quality of 40k codexes has been pretty decent, outside of the occasional extremes in the OP/UP scale and OTT fluff stories. I can only hope that they use the Necron release as a model for all future codex/army book releases - all units having models within 6 months or so of releasing the book (barring a SC or two), fairly balanced, etc...maybe a little less retconning of fluff though.

It isn't age.

I've gone crazy ape for 1/700 scale WW2 ship models recently.
Fun models are fun.

It's the other things, like the designs and lack of preview.

I agree with you on the weird marketing approach and its associated frustration.

However being older than you and being involved with GW since the mid ninties, I can't help but think your in a funk. Hopefully 6th ed cheers you up!

I'm right there with you Flashman-

I don't like being hit with one week notice to scrounge up funds. I'll buy the ork plane because it's a plane, but on such short notice, I don't want to buy a white dwarf just to figure out how to use it.

Yeah....I don't like this whole "Surprise! spend more money." It makes budgeting for gaming near impossible. I really don't want to open up a savings account just to be ready for possible GW releases that catch my eye.

As it stands now, I plan to spend ~$300 in June on non-GW stuff and now I have to mystery plan for whatever they might release. It's making me jaded and more than a little annoyed.

Here's hoping 6th sucks so I can quit or GW relaxes it's blackout policy and actually builds excitement about their products.

Flashman wrote:
I'm not enthusiastic about anything GW has released over the last six months and I can't quite put my finger on why. I used to live for GW's new releases and now they just don't excite me anymore. After a bit of pondering I've come up with a few possible reasons and wonder whether they ring true with anyone else.
1. I've just turned 36 and maybe I'm just getting too old for plastic models. That said, I've really enjoyed putting together a box of Tactical Marines recently and I'm also loving the Land Speeder Storm kit (still under construction) I got for my birthday.
2. The public face of GW (namely White Dwarf and the Website) has become more souless than ever in the last six months. All content of interest has vanished from the website and just when you thought WD couldn't get any more boring, it rose to the challenge with aplomb with the last couple of issues the most boring ever published.
3. The big kits (which seem to be the focus of the monthly releases these days) are getting sillier and the quality of sculpt is fast declining. This trend seemed to start around Storm of Magic with some rushed monsters and has continued via the god awful Coven Throne through to the soon to be released clunky Stormtalon. I was reasonably impressed with the Empire Griffon but still didn't feel like I had to own it.
4. I've found that the blackout policy makes it hard to get excited about new releases. One minute you don't really know what's coming out and the next something is on the website next to a big fat click to buy button with a big fat price tag. It seems like I needed that month's advance warning to warm up to buying a product, particularly if it was going to be an expensive purchase. I find it no coincidence that the last army release I got genuinely enthusiastic about was Necrons which was leaked to the web a month or so before the release.
5. The big army releases don't seem particularly inventive anymore. The army books are rehashes of existing fluff and any new units tend to be a touch on the ridiculous side (see also my complaint about big kits). Again, Necrons were the exception to the rule and I thought this release was generally quite refreshing in terms of the codex and new models.
Those are my musings anyway. I don't think I'm going to quit GW as such because I still enjoy painting and modelling what I do buy, it's just that their current approach doesn't spark my interest anymore.

I'm in exactly the same boat unfortunately. Rather than being a single thing, I've found it to be a combination.

I also can't shake the thought that at least previously, concerning a lot of the new larger plastic models, you can no longer even go with the pretence that they are not toys because, well, that's exactly what they look like!

I think it perhaps started with the plastic daemon prince, but a lot of other releases have followed suit; The Storm Raven and some of the plastic monsters being just some of them, it's as though they have taken the 'heroic scale' element, of overblown guns, hands/claws and swords and made them even bigger so that they overwhelm the model.

I think if the intent with the new WFB was to make it even more fantastical then they have succeeded, although it's definitely not my cup of tea.

Yeah I was like this a few months ago after the VC release.

I excitedly got the army book and a box of the rather nice black knights but the saw the aforementioned coven throne and just sort of lost interest after that. My 8th Ed book remains in its cellophane.

A lot if the 40k releases since then have been finecast rehashes, so we have literally seen it all before.

Been loving my new FW stuff though?

When I just restarted the hobby Whats new today was cool. I remember they did ones about special missions and how to make them.
But now its nothing but pics.
No humor anymore.
I still care about new releases but the ones lately dont appeal to me.
I only caarre about codexes but for 40k the last ones where 'crons nearly 3/4s of a year ago.

I was checking WNT occasionally, but with the poor attempt they made with the recent marine FC release I've given up on it entirely. Their usual advertisement to content ratio they seemed to have was completely turned around. I know they have to plug it, but something like 20 ads straight of without a simple introduction followed by maybe a line or two before they spam even more advertisements and really it becomes a question of "If they don't care, why should I?".

These even more boring WDs are not even worth recycling now as I fear they will contaminate whatever unfortunate product ends up being formed with the mindless droll contained within them.
Then when I look at the Daemon Prince, I do not see a fearsome centerpiece model.

I see a red clown with one of the cheesiest grins I've seen. "You mad Imperium? You mad? You mad!"

For the same price you can get Be'Lakor from the Warriors of Chaos collectors section.

Somehow I feel this old model will even outlive the new Daemon Prince. Even with the skull spam.

/Rant? Kind of rare, but it may be.

I remember starting the hobby when GW didn't really have a website.
White Dwarf has been largely devoid of interesting content since they stopped doing Chapter Approved articles.
I find the new sculpts are generally a vast improvement over pre-existing ones.
Redundancy in codexes is nothing new. They are simply new rules for old factions.

Eh, people go through phases. I'm pretty much over 40K at the moment, more into steampunk stuff so it's Dystopian Wars and Warmachine for me for the next little while. Then it might be off to Bloodbowl, or Confrontation or Battle Fleet Gothic. Everyone burns out of a particular system after a while.

It's certainly not the lack of quality of the models. I think the Vampires Coven thingy is one of the best models they've put out in a while, and the Stormtalon looks amazing!

I agree, Quality isnt an issue. Even if looks aren't great you can tell models have work put into the design.

For me, the foundation is not there. I'd been waiting since the first rumours of the Witch Hunters codex for plastic Sisters of Battle. That's ten years, during which GW still hasn't made a rank and file unit for me to build a collection around. No plastic Witch Elves, no plastic Diaznettes, no plastic female IG...

Well most of them at least.



To each his own though, I don't doubt there are at least a few that enjoy the good old Pumbagor as he trudges through the Empire lines to try and find his buddy Timon.

Same here, Ork plane looks cool (but I think a converted Stuka or ME262 WOULD LOOK COOLER).

I have no idea. The Necrons are gorgeous, and the new aircraft are awesome.

The new savage Ork war boss is the best model ANY company has made in the past 5 years.

Razorgor is salvageable- admittedly, only by a massively awesome converter... (pic from Adepticon best painted winner in one of the fantasy events):



To the OP, I agree... their recent releases have left me cold, and the reasons folks are posting in this thread make sense. I think KK said it best:

Kilkrazy wrote:It isn't age.

I've gone crazy ape for 1/700 scale WW2 ship models recently.
Fun models are fun.

It's the other things, like the designs and lack of preview.

I bought my first WD since 2nd edition and only because I had traded a box of Tactical marines and a blister I got as a present for a Predator instead and had about 10 bucks left over. It was one gigantic ad with some teach little Timmy how to paint articles and BUY NEWCRONS every second page. I knew I should of got a pot of paint instead.

I have to say the lack of any kind of lead up to product release does nothing to interest me in anything GW poops out these days. I'd agree that the last thing that I was interested in were the necrons and that was only because they were leaked online early.

A lot of their new kits have been seriously lacking detail and are almost parodies of themselves.

I used to get really excited about all the GWS new releases, even the stuff I wouldn't buy. That isn't really the case anymore. The Ork flyers are a perfect case in point - I love Orky stuff and should be going nuts over them, but I find them very uninspired instead. The big push into re-releasing stuff into Finecast certainly isn't getting me excited either.

Even the new Necron flyers, while they are adequate, truthfully I think I like the proxies people had been making out of the Cylon Raiders better.

Your point about age is an individual thing. When I was 25 I was convinced I was well and good over playing with models. Then I turned 30 and got back into miniatures gaming

I have found that multiple systems is a good thing for keeping interest up, especially in the painting and modelling department.

You can count me in the same camp - GW has left me cold to their minis for a while now, which is why I'm slowly getting rid of pretty much everything to start something different. I don't think it's age, for me it's a combination of GW's public relations (i.e none) as well as the toy-like nature of their uber-heroic scale compared to many minis I've been seeing from other manufacturers - there's simply better looking models out there and the new flyers just bring in a big full stop for me - they really do look like toys were it not for the plastic kit medium, I could easily see them in cheaper, shinier pre-coloured plastic in a toy shop.

I know the mini-wargaming world is all about toy soldiers, but something about GW just screams more 'toy' than miniature - does that make sense

Despite this I guess it's as much the company coming across as being a grade-A tool, along with my change in aesthetic tastes since buying some Dark Sword and Reaper minis - who's quality is better than theirs and who's models cost less. There's numerous other things which will propably engage rant mode, so I won't go there

The problem I've found with the new releases is simply GW's paintjob on them.

I've seen a few of the more cartoony models GW released (like the Thundertusk and other big Fantasy models) with more natural paintjobs that looks quite excellent.

Flashman wrote:
1. I've just turned 36 and maybe I'm just getting too old for plastic models. That said, I've really enjoyed putting together a box of Tactical Marines recently and I'm also loving the Land Speeder Storm kit (still under construction) I got for my birthday.

Clearly you are not too old. You just need to find your hobby happy place again.

Flashman wrote:
2. The public face of GW (namely White Dwarf and the Website) has become more souless than ever in the last six months. All content of interest has vanished from the website and just when you thought WD couldn't get any more boring, it rose to the challenge with aplomb with the last couple of issues the most boring ever published.

This is a real feat. I am still wondering how a soulless company becomes even more soulless.

Flashman wrote:
3. The big kits (which seem to be the focus of the monthly releases these days) are getting sillier and the quality of sculpt is fast declining. This trend seemed to start around Storm of Magic with some rushed monsters and has continued via the god awful Coven Throne through to the soon to be released clunky Stormtalon. I was reasonably impressed with the Empire Griffon but still didn't feel like I had to own it.

I am on the fence about the big kits. I think that some of them are great. For example, I liked the Coven Throne. However, some are bad such as the Manticore with the flaming hair. The thing that I have the biggest problem with is that they are large and totally impractical to transport. Thus, they may be great to put in a display cabinet, but are terrible to transport to a game.

Flashman wrote:
4. I've found that the blackout policy makes it hard to get excited about new releases. One minute you don't really know what's coming out and the next something is on the website next to a big fat click to buy button with a big fat price tag. It seems like I needed that month's advance warning to warm up to buying a product, particularly if it was going to be an expensive purchase. I find it no coincidence that the last army release I got genuinely enthusiastic about was Necrons which was leaked to the web a month or so before the release.

GW really needs to change its policy on publicity. I was barely aware of the Empire and Vampire releases.

Flashman wrote:
5. The big army releases don't seem particularly inventive anymore. The army books are rehashes of existing fluff and any new units tend to be a touch on the ridiculous side (see also my complaint about big kits). Again, Necrons were the exception to the rule and I thought this release was generally quite refreshing in terms of the codex and new models.

GW has a difficult balancing act in this regard. They already have lots of armies to support and so are unlikely to create more armies. Their new units are not going to be totally different, as an Infinity miniature is in comparison to a 40k one. I think that they have done an OK job in making new units. Look at the Triarch Stalker, or the Celestial Huricanum.

Isnt the whole black out policy just to prove to the tolken family that they (GW) can keep their mouths shut,
what with the hobbit film/table top release and all that jazz

I don't think this is age problem either - or if it is, it is perhaps because of GW making ridiculous models that appeal only to kids (which is really problem number 3).

For example the flyers - how is it possible that the Ork(!!!) flyer looks less ridiculous than the SM one? The night scythe missing a closed cockpit is quite silly as well... Large part of the new releases are still well atmospheric and "grimdark" (eg. canopteks, dark eldars), but there are still more and more silly models and concepts, such as the new SM flyers or fenrisian wolves. I've found that GW-approved paintjobs don't do their models justice, either.

And thats just the siliness. Its nigh impossible to build army on a budget, thanks to the combination of blackout policy, random price hikes and codex changes, and indeed theres not much to be excited about - each month you have no idea what new models might come out, and whether they may be actually be even useful to you. That leaves cold pretty much anyone.

Still, as you mentioned, you enjoyed building the Storm kit and tacticals. I say go for the models you like and ignore the new bling and corporate politics.

crazyrossboy wrote:Isnt the whole black out policy just to prove to the tolken family that they (GW) can keep their mouths shut,
what with the hobbit film/table top release and all that jazz

One suggestion is that it was New Line who were less than impressed at GW releasing models (or pictures of models) from the LOTR films before the films had been released and "giving away" some of the monsters/visuals/etc, so they have really clamped down on things to get/keep the Hobbit game rights.

All interesting views

As ergotoxin suggests, my approach now is to pretty much ignore the new stuff and hunt down the kits I like at reasonable price.

The "Am I too old?" thing pops into my head fairly frequently of late. I only have one friend who's into wargaming and he plays with the armies that I model and paint, so gaming fatigue is an issue. Maybe 6th edition will shake things up a bit

ergotoxin wrote:Large part of the new releases are still well atmospheric and "grimdark" (eg. canopteks, dark eldars), but there are still more and more silly models and concepts, such as the new SM flyers or fenrisian wolves. I've found that GW-approved paintjobs don't do their models justice, either.

Out of interest, what's so silly about the Fenrisian Wolves? As far as I'm aware, they've been in the background since the 2nd ed Space Wolves book, and the original Leman Russ that was released came with two of them, Freki and Geri.