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I'd wait. The single-frame plastic minis have been pretty amazing so far, so I'd wager the new sculpts will look pretty cool.

 RiTides wrote:
This is assuming kits that are Finecast go to "direct only", of course, as was rumored above.

If Finecast production is indeed stopped, can they sell Finecast models forever on mail order?
My speculation is that the change of the GW webstore in April will get rid of all metal and finecast models, making it impossible for almost all armies to buy legal compositions, while some armies may disappear competely (Sororitas, Inquisition) or almost (Eldar). Almost all HQ sections in all Codices and armybooks are invalidated, as almost all characters are gone.

Concerning plastic kits: Serpent is back in retail, but many others went to mail order only, like Basilisk, Catachans, Kroot.

I wouldn't paint the scenario as dark as Kroot is here as the rumor has FW picking up on the stuff that isn't transfered over. And unless we're getting a surprise release of Sisters next year, they aren't on the rumor schedule at the moment and GW is loath to remove full armies (and don't start about Black Templars, you still have a legal army you just have to play them under C:SM like you did in 3rd) so I see it as a possibility that they may go resin if this rumor holds true.

I'm not terribly excited about the switch to full plastic, but I agree that it was definitely in the pipeline when Finecast was released.

Sadly, I'd have to agree that GW's long term goal is to cater towards the younger gamers, Howard's spot on with the notion that plastic is the easiest material for children to work on, and they have most certainly made the moves towards toy company.

However, I will say that with all these things aside, I'll wait before I pass judgement. If it pushes sales (especially in the younger groups) and generates profit I'm game, Forgeworld and other 3rd party miniature groups still make great miniatures, and can make for great alternatives. While they are certainly neglecting the older crowd, if this ends up working for them in the long run then I'm all for it.

I'm happy to kiss large finecast kits goodbye.

I'm curious as to why commander farsight and the enforcer commander were released in finecase. These are recent models with original sculpts.

I'm just wondering if I should order a bunch now or wait until forgeworld takes over.

I would expect a PVC type casting to be launched very soon. Some photos are doing the rounds of an IG sergeant with power fist. Looks very much like the same sort of stuff the sedition wars minis are made of.
I actually had my money sitting on GW trying to emulate the Bones type material.

If GW move to a soft plastic like Bones, I'll stop buying from them. The stuff is too soft for thin items like weapons, and doesn't hold anywhere near the detail of HIPS, resin, or metal.

The only reason Bones models are worth a damn is the price. And we all know GW wouldn't ever sell things that cheap.

 Aerethan wrote:
If GW move to a soft plastic like Bones, I'll stop buying from them. The stuff is too soft for thin items like weapons, and doesn't hold anywhere near the detail of HIPS, resin, or metal.

The only reason Bones models are worth a damn is the price. And we all know GW wouldn't ever sell things that cheap.

And that pretty much says it all....

T

For the record though, Finecast is too soft for weapons and thin details as well. It just holds detail better than Bones.

Resin has a place. I would love it if all large kits became plastic. I'd buy three plastic Thunderfire Cannon tomorrow.

But single character models are still superior in resin. Paying £18 for a plastic character model with all the limitations of plastic is just ridiculous to me. Sure, that librarian was nice, but for the same price I can pick up a forgeworld model that makes it look like some sculpted the plastic one with their toes.

Bones has a definite place in the market, and not one that GW ever wants to fill, because it would have to be a company like Reaper. Bones is perfect for models that you have rather narrow uses for; too narrow to justify a hefty price tag.

Next dungeon crawl encounter calls for gnolls? Buy 10 gnolls at $4/model...$40 for a few encounters... Buy 10 gnolls at $20, $15? For a lot of people, that decision is easy to make.

Need a stone golem? Need a dracolich? Need a frost giant? At metal miniature prices you might just decide that your ettin model will work as a frost giant, or that your red dragon can stand in as a dracolich. At Bones prices those sorts of once off or occasional use purchases are far more attractive. The price point pushes much more of Reaper's range into impulse buy, checkout lane territory.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
I'd wait. The single-frame plastic minis have been pretty amazing so far, so I'd wager the new sculpts will look pretty cool.

I doubt they'll release new plastic kits until the army they belong to gets redone. If you bought something released in the last year or two, it could be a very long wait even with the accelerated schedule.

I actually quite like the bones material. Extremely resilient. Factoring in the price it's even better, but gw will absolutely not reduce price. If (as I suspect) they put out a PVC plastic type material (just like mantic etc) it'll be at the same or higher price point as finecast is now.

And it'll be Great News!

By the way, WGF releases single model sprues in HIPS for 12$ a pop (thinking of WWX here), with the same limitations as GW's. A few more bits? Sure. 18$ worth of bits, not likely, though.

Finecrap...errr....Failcast, I mean FINECAST was heralded as the second coming to miniature production since, well, miniatures were invented. They ignored us (players, stores) when we complained about quality issues, and instead released liquid greenstuff. When the complaints could no longer be ignored, GW admitted that with every new manufacturing process, there is a "break in" period as they learn how to work with this fantastic, new medium. The quality seemed to actually get worse as time wore on, and we suddenly got the "Citadel Clean Up Kit" to help fix all those nasty little issues with your Failcast...errr....Finecrap, I mean FINECAST. Obviously, in my un-expert opinion, the medium became untenable for GW to continue to use. Makes me wonder how many castings ended up on the floor instead of into production. Unlike metal, you can't just throw a bad Finecast model back into the pot. Finecast has actually two primary ingredients that are mixed together under temperature and pressure, and once set, that's it. Considering how cheap the base material is, it must have been a lot.

So now GW switches back to plastic. How much you want to bet it'll still be the exact same model/molds, and prices will go up again? The only reason I can see why they just didn't go all plastic in the first place was profit margin. Finecast was probably pushed to them as requiring no resculpts or changes to the master molds, just some retooling of the machines, incredibly cheap raw materials, and reduced shipping costs (weighs less then metal, eh?).

Am I being too harsh here? Heck yeah! GW used the exact same models and just converted them to this crappy medium and raised prices, while the cost of materials and labor went down. Good bye and good riddance to Fincrap...errrr...Failcast, I mean FINECAST!

 Tamwulf wrote:
So now GW switches back to plastic.

As already said, they don't switch back to plastic (switching back would be metal anyway), but discontinue heroes, characters and any low run models with only a very few exceptions that make it into plastic.

My prediction is they will continue a trend that has been coming up in fantasy: put the character in question into a unit box set. Karl Franz on Griffon? He's in the elector count on griffon box. Can make that WE hag queen in the cauldron box. How hard would it be to include plastic bitz to create a special character. We already have Titus bits in the SG/VV new boxes too. Is that the future?

Doesn't make since though. Much of the models in the HQ and heavy slots are or were finecast. Forge world isn't easy for everyone to get. So unless. They plan on carrying forge world in store's its almost impossible to complete some armies.

 wowsmash wrote:
Doesn't make since though. Much of the models in the HQ and heavy slots are or were finecast. Forge world isn't easy for everyone to get. So unless. They plan on carrying forge world in store's its almost impossible to complete some armies.

However, there was also a rumor floating around that sometime next year, Forgeworld's website will be rolled into the main GW website. That would coincide neatly with FW taking over making the special characters.

So after reading all 6 pages of this thread, all I can gather is that I need to buy one of each of every single characters models cause they're all being scrapped or shifted to Forgeworld (well the unpopular ones anyway) and we're going back to metal. Is this correct?

If the rumours are true

1) all finecast will be dropped by GW

2) all the current finecast models will be moved over to forgeworld where they may continue to be made (though whether in metal or forgeworld resin who knows)

the is probably also means that the rules for anything that foregeworld choose not to re-make will dissapear from future codex/supplements

(as happened with the Adapta Sororitas codex where at least one character was dropped right at the last minute where the model became unavailable)

so there's probably not much point in picking up the finecast (unless you really like the model) as the rules will either disappear or you'll shortly be able to get the mini in a better material

Plastic clam resculpts?

Not sure why they would need to be re-sculpted. Didn't Wyrd pioneer the way to use the same pewter/resin moulds for making high quality plastic minis?

I for one am looking forward to this as my 60+ hour painted to display level Belial's sword shriveled and then broke off last night -WTH!

GW, give us plastic characters (that don't cost more than finecrap) ASAP!

Not sure how I feel about this
I think we all agree that overall finecast was a mess. The quality was just not up to scratch and when im paying such a premium for miniatures from GW I expect the best. On the other hand some of the new plastic clam packs are mega expensive... 18 quid for a librarian is a little over the top and im not sure that is a good thing for the hobby.
But the good folks at GW arent idiots and if/when a complete switch to plastics happens I expect it will be done properly. Fin cast will have been a learning experience for them and with hindsight it was a super ambitious move, producing high quality plastics is something they are very good at and they will only get better.
Bring on the resculpts!

 455_PWR wrote:
Plastic clam resculpts?

Not sure why they would need to be re-sculpted. Didn't Wyrd pioneer the way to use the same pewter/resin moulds for making high quality plastic minis?

No Wyrd is resculpting everything digitally for the new plastics made for them by WGF

(you can in theory laser scan physical minis but you then need to do a whole lot of reworking to make them work for plastic by removing undercuts etc)

Hooray for $30 clam pack characters!

 SickSix wrote:
Hooray for $30 clam pack characters!

I don't know about this. If you look at the two Dark Elf clam pack characters(one of whom is actually a named character!), they're both $20.

 Kanluwen wrote:

 SickSix wrote:
Hooray for $30 clam pack characters!

I don't know about this. If you look at the two Dark Elf clam pack characters(one of whom is actually a named character!), they're both $20.

Well I play Space Marines. Both the toilet papered chaplain and the knock-off sicarius are $30. I imagine the new version of the Termi chaplain will be $50.

 SickSix wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

 SickSix wrote:
Hooray for $30 clam pack characters!

I don't know about this. If you look at the two Dark Elf clam pack characters(one of whom is actually a named character!), they're both $20.

Well I play Space Marines. Both the toilet papered chaplain and the knock-off sicarius are $30. I imagine the new version of the Termi chaplain will be $50.

Yeah and that's puzzling when you consider that the Fireblade and Farseer both were $20 as well. I think the $30 for the Marine stuff was a testing mark and it definitely failed.

How do we know it failed?

Personally, I hated the stuff and welcome its demise.