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It is the best feeling when you finish an impressive looking model and can't wait to try it out on the battlefield. What usually happens to me is that this new model gets blown sky high on the first turn of the game and the i am very dissapointed as i feel all that time painting and modeling the new model feels like a waste. This i call "the new model" syndrome, as usually the latest addition to your army just fails completelly, or is destroyed before you can even use it. The latest insident this has happened to me was yesterday, when i finally got to use my freshly painted bloodthirster. I had him in cover and it was nightfighting. Well needless to say i failed all those easy 3+ cover saves and it went down on turn 1. Before the thirster, my soul grinder was the new model on the block and didn't survive turn1 in three games straight yesterday it didn't get a scratch on it for some lucky reason! My opponent suffered the same faith with his new flyer that didnt hit anything the whole game and was destroyed. Anyone else suffer from the new model syndtome? I would like to hear your experiences.

You will probably find out it's due to an inordinate amount of firepower being directed at it.

Most people take great glee in concentrating firepower on an opponents newly finished favorite unit.

 -Loki- wrote:
You will probably find out it's due to an inordinate amount of firepower being directed at it.

Most people take great glee in concentrating firepower on an opponents newly finished favorite unit.

even those that play me for the first time and have no idea that i'm using something for the first time? For my bloodthirster it was obvious. He was my warlord, so my enemy wanted to score first blood and slay on the first turn. It went down not because of unusuall amount of focus fire, but rather that my dice seem to allways fail me when i'm using a model for the first time. Same was with my nurgle soul grinder. My opponent shot one of his anti armor weapon at it and got a pen. Then i gloated that it had a 2+ cover and rolled a 1 ofc. Then it blew up with a solid 6 result. instant karma?

Ya know, when I opened this thread I thought it would be about 'Must Have New Shiny Thing Syndrome'!

But, FWTW, I agree with you. Every single time I finish a new unit, my friends expend a great amount of time and energy in trying to blow it all to hell...

I call this IRL VP's. They just be jealous of your stuff, so they try to destroy it. I always enjoy when my opponent spends an inordinate amount of time admiring my models which he killed last turn as I move my models about and such.

Sounds about right.

I finished converting a Hellbrute into a giant mutated Ork and ran it as a Deffdredd. It didnt even get to move since my opponent infiltrated some snipers and got lucky Rending shots on it destroying it.

Ratfink....lol

I remember spending two weeks sorting out a Forgeworld Hierodule for my first Apoc game. Got it all painted up just in time for the game, only for it to be killed on the very first turn before I could even move it.

Got my own back on the guy who shot it though - killed his shiny new Warp Hunter and Wraithseer before they did anything in a later game we played

I've had a similar issue with a Tyrannofex. Except beint a T6 W6 MC it gets shot at but survives a while. The only problem i've had is in 4 games its only ever hit 1 thing on 1 turn and did absolutely nothing. Building some Zoanthropes to replace it. Will save the Tyrannofex for apocalypse.

Yeah always happens. I remember taking both a new Librarian Dread and a new Death Company Dread in the same battle. DC Dread died second turn without doing any damage and the Libby managed to kill a single Bezerker before he was taken out.

I dread to think what's going to happen to my shiny Riptide when it finally takes the field.

I do suffer from this usually with new models. I find this is caused by a few things.
If you play with regular players, they tend to also suffer from "ooh, new shiny", and focus it down because they are unfamiliar with how you will play it.
If you are playing with strangers, it's usually because this new thing you added to your army was likely picked to fill a role or hole in your army, and as such probably stands out as one of your main abilities to fulfill that role.
Lastly, it also tends to be the case that its new to you, so you don't have the experience playing that. I remember fielding my TFC for the first time, man, I did some strange things getting used to how to play that. "Man, 60" range, I can just park it over here and watch it's 4 blast templates evaporate anything it sees".. nope!

First time I used my lovingly converted Stormtalon, it did not manage to kill a single Necron, got shot down, and fell on my own terminators killing three...

Yeah that seems to be the problem with painting something to look awesome. When I bought the new Forgefiend and Helldrake for my Nightlords CSM army, I spent a ton of time on them to make them look truly amazing and match my army. Even spent extra time basing them to make them match the other models basing and then some. Making the one Forgefiend stomping on a Blood Angel ect.

First game I played was only 1850 but of course I really wanted to use my new models that I had spent so much time painting. So I put them in my list instead of more troops that I should have taken. Forgefiend, Helldrake, Warptalons, and a Dark Apostle. Because hey theyre new they should do great right?

The Forgefiend went down turn 1 before he could fire a shot. The Helldrake came out perfectly on turn 2 and then managed to get blown out of the sky by the Aegis Defense Line Lascannon my IG opponent had. Skyfire and Interceptor curse you! To make it even better the Helldrake managed to crunch my new Warptalons and nearly wipe the small squad. Two were left alive after that.

So yes I completely understand the whole new model syndrome.

Nothing draws fire like fresh paint.

That said, often when fielding the new stuff, you don't have a firm grasp of all the little tricks to get the most out of them. Your new flyer might get shot down a few times before you learn to adjust terrain or block LOS/take out AA fire. There is a difference between "adding" and "integrating" new units into your army.

And as Zteknon pointed out, if you add too much new stuff at once, you might be cutting into the core of what your army needs to function.

And last, but certainly not least, is your opponent just being a tool.

I've had this happen to me quite a few times (most recent being a poor Tyranid Prime I had just finished assembling/painting - has yet to have a game where it does something useful), though one big aversion was my Tyrannofex. After getting it assembled I had a match against my brother's Eldar and it blew up his freshly painted Falcon with its first round of shooting. Needless to say, it quickly earned its paint-job thanks to that!

Well if its Brand new shiny that hasn't really seen any play (say from a brand spanking new release), do you want to be the first one it gets tested on?

Kill it with fire!

1) New model means you're probably unsure how to use it and thus it's more likely to fail.
2) A regular opponent sees your new beefy unit and decides to shoot everything at the scary tank/mc/character.
3) Confirmation bias (strange how my newly painted squad of grey hunters never fails, but my Land Raider will be blown up on turn one).

it happened to my whole necron army yesterday...
(mind you, it was their first battle)

It happens all the time with me.
I fielded my new Deathwing Knights
Took 7 Wounds in the 1st Volley
I rolled 6 "1s"

Recently In a small Combat Patrol game I fielded my newly painted Destroyer.

Suffice to say, in 3 different games only in one did he survive until turn 2.

I think there is two stages of the new model syndrome:

"the Owner"
A player that have a new model and is desperate to put this model into action and try it out in the field.

"the Enemy"
On the other side of the table you see a new model, either new in the game, or a new model from your friend and you are terrified by the unknown potensial and try to wipe it out.

And then you have sub catagories in these, someone that rely and build their entire army depended on the new thing, or they just bring it to test it, against a enemy that might just kill it for the heck of it, or are scared of it.