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Yesterday I was constructing my Bloodcrushers and I spent ten minutes looking at those plastic sprues trying to find a single piece what I needed. In the end it was not marked, it wasn't a first time when I found errors in documentation or numbering of sprues elements. Yet, this is not most frustrating part. Why the hell GW randomly categorizes their parts? I end up spending so much time trying to find proper element, especially when lighting in my room sucks and I can't just see them plainly, it is really really frustrating. Also, why you randomly decide that elements which you need to assemble for your next part is sometimes placed together, sometimes not?! It is one of those things which you do if you are really dumb or really evil. Just go like this: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 on your sprues and in your documentation you can place those numbers however you like. See? Instant improvement, please consider being less evil or stupid with your new figures dear GW.

I also found Bloodcrushers to be really good models. I'm often disappointed by details or/and scale of a model, but those bad boys were quite nicely detailed and up for my taste. Also, those Bloodcrushers were easy to assemble and it wasn't a design fiasco like some of GW models are. I had such an annoying time with some of them where even by following instructions it is not clear what is this detail and how it fits. I really hate how GW loves their fragile, small connections with individual parts or how they randomly decide to mold one model in a way which would be problematic to glue while another model is molded to come in a way which is a lot easier to glue.

Extra elements that I found in this kit like heads, face armor, spikes made me to wonder. If GW wants to charge premium for their products, why they can't try to sell a premium product? I mean, most costs are involved in making a mould. These are set, plan in ahead costs. Why they can't just give us more than we ask for in terms of customization. More symbols, more heads, arms. Bake entire conversion and weapon packs into those models. I guess that we will buy those models regardless, but I do think that it would be a great way for GW to maintain their prices and offer their customers better, more premium product for a less net loss than it would be for them to simply lower prices. Now they have monopoly, but I do not think that it is smart to have a public image of company who routinely rips their customer off. 3D printing is coming. Third hand producers are starting to make warhammer miniatures in all, but name who are no less worse than what GW produces. Competition is increasing, economic situation is going for the worse. I do believe that making their kits larger by including customizability and options while maintaining price is a better option for them and us. Does anyone agree with me? What do you think about it.

I don't know what to tell you, but even at the height of my liking the Warhammer hobby, I found GWS to be pretty lackluster in terms of the business of actually making plastic models on sprues. I haven't bought a kit from them in a few years now so I can't speak to if they have improved... but I doubt it.

Are they still selling the one Ork kit (Lootas, iirc) that includes a KMB, Rokkit Launcha, and Big Shoota as weapon options for the Mek, but only have the left arm in the box to build the KMB?

A lot of the issues with labelling are probably caused by software. As I understand it, the tools now used for producing sprues use algorithms to determine the most efficient arrangement of pieces on sprues. That means you often end up with weird situations with all but one piece in one place and the last bit on the opposite side of the sprue because some computer program has decided it's 0.1% more efficient to do so.

Having recently built Shadowspear and the Sisters Army Box, both boxes were logically laid out with parts with the same models located in proximity to each other. Every part was also numbered, so navigating the sprues was pretty easy.

The other kit I did recently was the multi-pose Eliminators, which was likewise pretty easy and had enough spare bits that I could convert some EZ-Build Reivers into a second squad with just some basic greenstuff and cutting. Still have another full set of rifles and a bunch of purity seals, heads and other bits from it too.

 Ernestas wrote:
especially when lighting in my room sucks and I can't just see them plainly, it is really really frustrating.

Mate, if you're trying to build them in the dark I don't know what to tell you. There's not a lot GW can do about that...

In my experience, most newer models are a lot better than older models. When you compare a Death Guard model or one of the new ork buggies to plastic sets like helbrute or rhinos, there are leagues between them in technology.

Except the scrapjet, feth that model.

Gw's sprue design has become far more complex over the years. They've clearly taken it to a whole other level with 3D design of their sprue because the parts are jumbled up together rather than laid out in rank and file segments. This means you get WAY more parts per sprue already than in the past - old sprues were quite sparse whilst a modern sprue is far more dense.

That said I honestly have never had a problem finding bits. Most parts are quite easily identified for what they are and the numbers are normally fairly clear. Plus because a lot of the models use the same construction, once you've built one and got an idea for it you can keep going. I've started building some Ossiarch Stalkers and once you've built one or two you realise that all the parts are laid out in sections and they are all build from the same components.

Then again I started model building years ago with airfix ships which have LOADS more bits to them. So finding bits for warhammer models has always been easy (even assembly for the vast majority is pretty straight forward).


I do agree about fine contact points, I think this is a product of 3D design where you don't have to sculpt the model, which can allow for easier fine contact point construction in the design phase. There's a few models I've got (Khinerai) where the design is really fantastic as they fly without any flight peg, but at the same time they have a really really thin tail holding them up.


I also agree with others, if you can't see clearly to identify parts and the numbers on the parts then you REALLY need better lighting as that sounds very dark. In such lighting you'd not even see mould lines all that clearly either. Get yourself a nice bright desk light. Heck I bought one of those really cheap ebay "light and magnifier" arms. The magnifier is rather too low grade to use, but the nice big ring light I use all the time now.

There was a shift about fifteen years ago where they started numbering parts at all (there weren't many plastic kits before then and not many still in production but the Lizardmen Stegadon still comes with un-numbered parts), but sequential numbering has only really started to come in the last five years or so. I don't have an exhaustive or encyclopedic knowledge of what kits are sequentially numbered and what aren't but the Daemons release was definitely a case of non-sequential parts with a lot of weird nonstandardized joints.

I have a single light in my room. Yes, lighting is a problem and yes, I'm planning on getting some additional stuff. Though, getting items takes times as I have to budget them for a month. In due time I do with what I have and I can't see numbers from afar, I need to look at them from closer and look from proper angle to properly identify what number it is.

I do not know, maybe I got older models or my own was with some errors, but I swear that I made triple sure, there was number missing on plastic bit which I needed. I generally follow instructions to a letter and I found an error or two where instruction was pointing me to incorrect numbers. It is not hard to locate what you need, but I do by the numbers. Part 53, 52, 47, 48 goes in this step. So I find those parts and then connect them. Not always those parts are located in a logical fashion next to each other. Numbering itself is messed up. I want to navigate by the numbers from 1 to 60. Yet, on their plastic sprues these numbers are thrown around more or less randomly. This makes a pain to initially assemble them when you have largest sprues full of similar or identical parts.

Software might optimize how it is best to place parts on a sprue, but you still can number them in logical fashion from bottom left to upper right in ascending fashion. This way you could create better assembly guide where you do not need to keep glancing over plastic sprues in trying to locate where the damn part is this time.

Btw: I love extra stuff in those kits and I would love seeing them expanded in the future giving you more unique ways to make your model if GW doesn't want to make model more dynamic via better joints.