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PieInTheSky wrote:
I'm thinking of getting into WH40K. There's a big thread in the 40K Discussion form ("Is it worth it?") where we discussed this and in the end I think I'd prefer to actually start with an older edition, not 9th edition.

In that vein, I'd also like to be able to use the older 28mm scale models with 25mm bases. Not the gigantic new ones.

I tried to find some on eBay but wasnt quite sure what to search for. I got mostly results from 9e.

While I'm here ... is there any good place I can get the various templates used for the game? I guess eBay as well, but can you print out and make your own?

It depends entirely on what army you're looking for, but generally a good place to start is with your army codex. A brief google should be able to tell you which edition had which cover(the cover art for the codexes often changes between editions). Between say, 3rd to 6th edition, a lot of armies were stuck with one codex for multiple editions. Orks for example had their 4th edition codex all the way until the 7th ed one was released.

From there, using the codex, you'll be able to put together an army for a certain points value, and then cross-reference which units you'll need. A good many of these will still be current and available from the Games Workshop website or your online discounter of choice. GW should also sell packs of 25mm bases(and a lot of other companies do too).

You can also go to ebay and do a search, for example "OOP space marine" and see what comes up. You'll see a lot of listings for minis that are now out of print and no longer available. Some of these will be loose bits, others may still be NIB(new in blister/box). Anything NIB tends to command a bit of a premium unless you get really lucky, because it means you generally don't have to mess around trying to repair, strip, repaint, etc etc.

As far as "the gigantic new ones", I assume you're talking about Primaris marines. Some newer releases from GW have gone up a bit in scale, but at the same time keep in mind that you're playing a miniature wargame and a lot of things are necessarily a bit abstracted and that "true" 28mm scale is very hard to judge.

The packaging for each edition or couple of editions also changes, so sometimes you'll be able to tell what edition an older box of minis is from by the package design. Again, keep in mind that many, many of the miniatures currently available from GW are still perfectly usable in older editions and in fact the very same kit. Going back to orks - the current ork boyz box is still the same miniature that was released about 20 years ago, except that ork boyz now come in boxes of 10 - many editions ago they were in boxes of 16.

PieInTheSky wrote:

It's not a case of misjudging 28mm scale, they're intentionally much bigger. A couple of years ago GW scaled everything up to 32mm scale. If you put one of the new miniatures next to an older one, the new ones look like ogres. They're enormous! Which is really silly when you're playing a wargame where table space is at a premium because it scales up the entire game. They did the same with bloodbowl, and of course all the pitches had to get bigger too to accomodate the larger bases.

I suspect there were multiple reasonings behind this, first, they use more paint, second, it obsoletes all the older 28mm armies and third they can pretend they are "easier to paint", which is patently not true. They're harder to paint as they contain more fiddly detail and take longer due to their size.

In any case, as you maybe able to tell, I really dislike that move by GW and don't want to support it. So I'd rather player 5th edition or whatever and use old school miniatures, if I can find them.

Ok, so they're a little big bigger. I've given you lots of advice on finding older miniatures, what's the problem? If you want to play 5th edition with a bunch of space marines on 25mm bases, go browse the GW space marine range and buy any of the existing marine kits that have been around for longer than 6 years(and this is a LOT of them, btw). The same principle applies to any of the other factions that existed back then.

Making miniatures bigger does not "obsolete all the older 28mm armies", especially since GW still produces dozens of kits that are least 10 years old if not even older. If Games Workshop were to suddenly recall all existing miniatures from store shelves everywhere, and then bring out hundreds of new kits at a bigger scale to replace them, THEN maybe you'd have a point.

As for the argument that bigger minis waste more paint(intentionally)... I don't know what to tell you. Thin down your paints? I have a core of maybe 2-4 specific colors that I go through more quickly than the rest. Most of my paint collection lasts literally years before I need to buy more. I can begrudge GW $5 for a new pot of Leadbelcher every three years.

Crispy78 wrote:
Isn't the bigger Marneus Calgar in the picture above after he's gone through the Primaris process, so is intentionally bigger?

Yes. It also looks like he's on a 40mm base.

@OP - base size has a tendency to be all over the place, depending on army/unit. Space marines now do come with 32mm bases as standard, but that said - there are a lot of places to get the old 25mm bases. Games Workshop even sells a 100-pack of 25mm bases:

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/100-x-25mm-base

I think Kromlech and Warlord Games both sell bases as well, it's just a matter of getting a lot for your minis.

Each unit's entry on the GW site should tell you what bases it comes with, and again if you prefer an older edition and want all your minis on 25mm, that's totally cool.

The Cadian kit for Imperial Guard is still the same kit from 15(?) however many years ago. If size of the miniatures themselves is your big issue, you really need to get an older codex for each army that you'd like to build and cross-reference the unit entries in that codex with the product listing on the GW site. I'm not an expert on every faction by any means, but I can tell you that ork boyz, Cadians, and Eldar Guardians at least are all very, very old kits. The basic Space Marine tactical squad got redone a while back - five years ago maybe? - so that the bolters are now attached to the fist instead of separate. I can't say if that came with a minor size increase or not.

EDIT: just saw your comment about the model's feet hanging off the edge of the 25mm bases. I can tell you for sure that with ork boyz this is definitely an issue. And that's a 20 year old kit.

IMO, 32mm bases are pretty awesome, and almost everything looks better on a bigger base. I always found 25mm awkward for certain things.