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.

Before I start, I should declare an interest... or rather a lack of interest. I've decided to move on from Games Workshop (sold all my GW stuff and started Flames of War). I'm not going to bore you with the reasons because this isn't a rage quit thread. However, thought I'd do one last Review of the Year thread in recognition of the fact that they still do some great miniatures (occasionally).

Great product/design decision
Odd release or curious design decision
God awful product/design decision

As always, these aren't supposed to be definitive view points, so please chip in with your own reviews

January - Vampire Counts

Black Knights - I absolutely loved this kit, not so fussed about the Hex Wraiths, but the Black Knights were a great reimagining of models that were getting a bit dated
Isabella Von Carstein's knickers. Why do we need to see these?
Coven Throne/Mortis Engine - For me, this marked the beginning of the end. As new units in the army book, they were fine, but design execution was a total mess

February - Lord of the Rings Army Books

The Army Books - These weren't bad and for the most part were a fairly logical re-organisation of the army lists. They were a bit light though
Not so much the release itself, but the lack of follow up. GW didn't seem very committed to this in the months that followed
The new LoTR miniatures - I love the Perry Brothers, but they phoned in these sculpts. Special mention to the Watcher in the Water. It didn't need doing and ruined the look of the creature.

March - Space Wolves and Tyranids

Lots of nice kits this month, but I'll give the nod to Tervigon which almost prompted me to collect a new Tyranid army
Ok, they looked pretty good in the end, but Space Marines riding giant wolves is still a dumb idea
I can't find much fault with this month's releases, but given the quality of the kits, why take so long to release them?

April - The Empire and New Paints

Empire Griffon - I prefer the IoB Griffon, but the Imperial version certainly looked the part and it was nice to have Karl Franz in plastic
New paints and new army release in the same month? GW didn't seem that committed to either IMHO
Luminark/Hurricanum - I actually didn't hate this kit (at least not as much as the Coven Throne), but it seemed a somewhat forced alternative use of the War Altar chasis

May - Necrons Wave 2

Tomb Spyder - I loathe the old model and while I wanted something a bit more dynamic, this was still a billion times better than its predecessor
A minor quibble, but the Necron special characters all look a bit samey to me
No complaints here, the entire Necron line has been very effectively redesigned

June - Fliers

Ork Bomma/Dakka Jet - Shame about the rules, but this was the pick of the flier kits for me
Why no free PDF for the rules? Ah, because everyone has to buy an iPad and pay for a download
Storm Talon - Not everyone hated it, but this was GW's next big misfire of the year. It looked too much like a toy instead of a Space Marine engine of war

July - Warhammer 40K 6th Edition

I liked the fact it's now very difficult to spring an assault on a unit without said unit getting least one turn to shoot at you (e.g. no assaulting from reserves, transports etc)...
...but this makes the game very difficult for close combat armies
I hate the tat they release with new editions these days (e.g. Servo Skull measuring tape) and I hate that people go for it

August - Daemons

Plague Bearers - In plastic at last, these characteristic sculpts were my 2nd favourite kit of the year (I bought a box and they were great fun to put together)
Soul Grinder is now a Fantasy unit? Uh. Huh.
The super seeker combine harvester looked rubbish

September - Dark Vengeance

Dark Angel characters - No great love for this set from me, but I liked the Librarian, Chaplain and Captain
Is it really so hard to release playable armies in a "starter box"? Battlefront managed it with Open Fire!
Cultists - Actually pretty good and nice to see in plastic at last, but duplicate sculpts was an irritation

October - Chaos Space Marines

Chaos Raptors - My 3rd favourite kit of the year, ok they weren't anything special, but they were an effective translation into plastic
Daemon Engines - Are we talking daemons or dinosaurs here?
Heldrake - Another toy and the 3rd major misfire of the year. A Jes Goodwin kit? Really?!

November - Warriors of Chaos and Imperial Defence Line

Imperial Defence Line - Yes, more Imperial scenery, but very cool Imperial scenery
Why are the riders of the Juggernauts and Seekers so static?
War Altar - Major design cock up of the year No. 4, the individual components looked great, but the final design was a mess and it didn't look like an altar belonging to any of the four gods.

December - The Hobbit

The dwarves in the starter set - The resemblance to the actors is pretty striking
This is really a (better looking) rehash of Mines of Moria. Why not do the Spider attack in Mirkwood for a bit of variety?
The Trolls - Not awful, but £50 for 3 models?! Is GW finally passing the willingness to pay threshold?

Someone with insight like yours leaving 40k..... Damn you!

Seriously though, Best of luck!

So which kit was your favourite?

- ... #1
- Plaguebeares #2
- Raptors #3

GW got a lot wrong this year, 40K is starting to feel like chinpokomon by mattel - stark contrast to the way it felt at the turn of the millennium when I first got involved

The only excitement I got in regards to 40k this year was through FFG and their line of RPG books. Sure I bought the 6th edition book and the starter, but aside from those, meeeeeh.

 TBD wrote:
So which kit was your favourite?

- ... #1
- Plaguebeares #2
- Raptors #3

Sorry, was typing hurriedly. Black Knights were my favourite

The important thing to ask is will Charlie Brooker be doing a review of 2012?

 NoQuestionzAsked wrote:
Someone with insight like yours leaving 40k..... Damn you!

Seriously though, Best of luck!

You're too kind. Not sure my Warhammer insight was that valuable, I tended to focus more on modelling/painting than actually playing the game.

Anyway, I'll still be kicking around Dakka, just doing a bit less grumbling about GW

Hate to inform you that the Soul Grinder has always been a fantasy piece.

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
Hate to inform you that the Soul Grinder has always been a fantasy piece.

How so? I don't mind being wrong, but fairly certain it was moved into the Fantasy list via the free Daemons booklet that came with August's WD. I even owned Daemons of Chaos (the Fantasy army book) at one stage and don't recall the Soul Grinder being in it.

Note - Off to bed now, so please don't think I'm being rude when I don't reply to your counter argument

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
Hate to inform you that the Soul Grinder has always been a fantasy piece.

Actually the soul grinder only became a fantasy piece with the rules update that was in the recent WD.....

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
Hate to inform you that the Soul Grinder has always been a fantasy piece.

I love when people have this attitude. Especially when they're wrong.

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
Hate to inform you that the Soul Grinder has always been a fantasy piece.

Want to dig up the 7th edition Fantasy army book and let us know what page it's on?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Flashman wrote:
Coven Throne/Mortis Engine - For me, this marked the beginning of the end. As new units in the army book, they were fine, but design execution was a total mess

Have to disagree. The Coven Throne was my favorite model of the release. I think the spirit host could have been played down a little, but overall love the kit. Bonus points for giving you 3 differently posed Banshees and another Necromancer when you build it as a Coven Throne.

 scipio.au wrote:
The important thing to ask is will Charlie Brooker be doing a review of 2012?

Hopefully, I very much doubt that he will mention GW once though

I didn't even know that most of these kits were released, I think that says quite a lot about how much I pay attention to GW these days.

I actually like the coven throne model...

I wish it didn't cost so many points though.

Spiders in Mirkwood for a Starter Box. I like the idea but it has possibly worked out for GW that it wasn't chosen because following the decision to do three rather than two films, that segment is now in the middle film. I think LEGO may have been caught out by this as their Barrel Escape and Spider Battle sets are now marketed as Trilogy Previews. I assume they are still releasing them because there would be no way to get all of the Dwarves as Lego characters now if those sets were withheld until Dec 2013.

 -Loki- wrote:

Have to disagree. The Coven Throne was my favorite model of the release. I think the spirit host could have been played down a little, but overall love the kit. Bonus points for giving you 3 differently posed Banshees and another Necromancer when you build it as a Coven Throne.

Fair enough Loki. Vampires are one of my favourite armies and I wanted to like the Coven Throne, but the spirit host part of the model spoiled it for me. It looked like they'd stuck spare parts from the VC sprues onto lumps of green stuff sculpted to look like smoke. Anything above the spirit host section looked fine and yes, I liked the banshees too.

alphaecho wrote:
Spiders in Mirkwood for a Starter Box. I like the idea but it has possibly worked out for GW that it wasn't chosen because following the decision to do three rather than two films, that segment is now in the middle film. I think LEGO may have been caught out by this as their Barrel Escape and Spider Battle sets are now marketed as Trilogy Previews. I assume they are still releasing them because there would be no way to get all of the Dwarves as Lego characters now if those sets were withheld until Dec 2013.

Are the spiders not in the first film then? Where have you heard that? Narratively speaking, this film is going to be all over the place.

I'm not claiming I'm correct. My theory is based on the Lego catalogue I received. In that one, the Mirkwood Spiders and Barrel Escape are listed as Trilogy Preview sets whereas the Bilbo and Gollum, Goblin King and Warg sets are not. I considered that those sets were conceived by Lego when there were only two movies. If those two sets were withheld until actual movie tie-in you'd be four Dwarves short of the whole gang. Actually that is now my new way of saying someone is two sandwhiches short of a picnic!

With the amount of extra White Council, Unfinished Tales, kicking the Necromancer out of Mirkwood that maybe in the film....I assume we will find out after Dec 14.

Decent review, Flashman, but you missed out the re-launch of WD and the plastic sleeves

Agree with your view on the coven throne - a total mess. It looks like the end result of a kid combining an ice cream cone and a box of skeletons!!

 quickfuze wrote:

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
Hate to inform you that the Soul Grinder has always been a fantasy piece.

Actually the soul grinder only became a fantasy piece with the rules update that was in the recent WD.....

I guess 'always' doesn't mean what it used to!

Though it is always dangerous to make definitive statements on the Internet, where the Truth is always lurking around the corner...

The coven throne, hurricanum, war altar, and chaos warshrine are all just way too busy and complicated.
I mean, each part of each one is nice enough, but when each one is assembled fully they're just sort of... awful.

I liked new csm models, including Drake. Agree Stormtalon looks pretty ordinary.

 lokilokust wrote:
The coven throne, hurricanum, war altar, and chaos warshrine are all just way too busy and complicated.
I mean, each part of each one is nice enough, but when each one is assembled fully they're just sort of... awful.

You mean you don't like things on things with things to paint? I actually agree, it's frustrating for me to paint a whole bunch or meaningless things that are sinply there to make a model look dynamic. Sometimes it works, other times it's like trying to watch a Michael Bay movie with a magnifying glass and understand what's going on. I like detail, just not at the cost of making it cool silly.

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
Hate to inform you that the Soul Grinder has always been a fantasy piece.

Hate to inform you that you made an ass of yourself, again.

 The Foot wrote:

 lokilokust wrote:
The coven throne, hurricanum, war altar, and chaos warshrine are all just way too busy and complicated.
I mean, each part of each one is nice enough, but when each one is assembled fully they're just sort of... awful.

You mean you don't like things on things with things to paint? I actually agree, it's frustrating for me to paint a whole bunch or meaningless things that are sinply there to make a model look dynamic. Sometimes it works, other times it's like trying to watch a Michael Bay movie with a magnifying glass and understand what's going on. I like detail, just not at the cost of making it cool silly.

Pretty much.
They all would have been absolutely wonderful kits if they had just been a little simpler and with the bells, whistles, and ghosts as extras and not integral to the structure of the kits.

The "bells and whistles" are necessary to justify the huge cost of models.

This is roughly my one year anniversary of WH40K. I used to dump absurd amounts of money into my car and all it does is get me into trouble, so I figured I needed a hobby to keep me grounded. Played SM for 360, bought AoBR, and sold my GIJoe collection.

I love building, painting, and playing. And for the most part I enjoy GW's sculpts, even for armies I dont collect. I own and enjoy my Storm Talon. I love the books, I love the imagery, I love WH40K as a whole.

However as a business, GW makes no sense to me. They are sitting on a goldmine of potential, but they are quite happy to stay in their tiny dark hobby cave. You look at other franchises out there that span genres with HALF the depth of Warhammer and really have to scratch your head. Im talking a reliable video game license and merch to get the brand name out there and generate sales. But why bother, right?

The favortism shown to certain armies is bizarre. One could mention this Mat Ward guy here. The fact armies can basically be handed free wins without earning a thing is absolutely absurd in my eyes. Meanwhile, paying customers with outdated armies get to sit there with their collective thumbs up their ass while the popular kids get spoonfed.

Dont get me started on prereleases, advertisement, and advance product notice. I understand the "impulse buy" tactic, but Ive been in sales/marketing most of my life and lets face it......its stupid.



In summary, GW is an assbackwards company. I love the product, hate the management. If this post has touched you in an inappropriate way I would like to wholeheartedly apologize in advance.

 d3m01iti0n wrote:
This is roughly my one year anniversary of WH40K. I used to dump absurd amounts of money into my car and all it does is get me into trouble, so I figured I needed a hobby to keep me grounded. Played SM for 360, bought AoBR, and sold my GIJoe collection.

I love building, painting, and playing. And for the most part I enjoy GW's sculpts, even for armies I dont collect. I own and enjoy my Storm Talon. I love the books, I love the imagery, I love WH40K as a whole.

However as a business, GW makes no sense to me. They are sitting on a goldmine of potential, but they are quite happy to stay in their tiny dark hobby cave. You look at other franchises out there that span genres with HALF the depth of Warhammer and really have to scratch your head. Im talking a reliable video game license and merch to get the brand name out there and generate sales. But why bother, right?

The favortism shown to certain armies is bizarre. One could mention this Mat Ward guy here. The fact armies can basically be handed free wins without earning a thing is absolutely absurd in my eyes. Meanwhile, paying customers with outdated armies get to sit there with their collective thumbs up their ass while the popular kids get spoonfed.

Dont get me started on prereleases, advertisement, and advance product notice. I understand the "impulse buy" tactic, but Ive been in sales/marketing most of my life and lets face it......its stupid.



In summary, GW is an assbackwards company. I love the product, hate the management. If this post has touched you in an inappropriate way I would like to wholeheartedly apologize in advance.

Agree with what you say about Imperials. Chaos, and all its diverse legions gets crammed into one book, but the Imperials get Blood Angels, Black Templars (waste of space) etc etc
This has been a bone a bone of contention of mine for years.

Agreed as well. I've never understood why they are not willing to branch out much.

The helldrake was a Jes Goodwin kit? mm, that's not going to go down well on his report card... It might have been cool if its ass and tail hadn't be chopped off an replaced with jet exausts.

Very meek and unimpressive year, overall. A whole lot of crappy fantasy releases, and a whole lot of other nonsense that doesn't appeal to me in any way. There's always next year!