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 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Important pricing news

https://wargamesatlantic.com/blogs/news/wargames-atlantic-pricing-announcement-2022

Wargames Atlantic Pricing Announcement 2022
Hello Everyone,

My name is Karl Oliver-Kyriacou, and I am the Director of Sales at Wargames Atlantic.

As I’m sure everyone reading this is aware, the last 3 years have been particularly difficult for all markets and all companies.

With Covid 19 effecting every facet of life, to major trade relationships being amended overnight (Brexit), and a global cost of living crisis looming, precipitated largely by increased fuel costs globally.

It should come then as no surprise that almost every company in our little ecosystem has regrettably had a price increase in the last 12 months, and some have had to enact multiple.

Now if you keep up to date with us on our forum or social media, you will know we pride ourselves on our honesty, transparency and our commitment to you, our customers, who keep our plastic injection moulding machines working, and the lights on.

Wargames Atlantic is in a very fortunate position to not only own it’s own manufacturing process for our wonderfully detailed 28mm kits, but we also have a very RRP bust logistics hub which helps us service our customers wherever they are in the world.

Our warehouses in the UK, US and Australia allow us to move bulk product efficiently to a source market meaning that the cost of shipping product to you is as cheap and efficient as it can be.

Secondly, we are equally fortunate that we insisted on owning our plastic injection moulding process and machinery. This means that we do not have to negotiate with any middlemen, and ultimately we make the decisions on how much we should charge for our products or services.

Now, there is some unfortunate news that is regrettably out of our hands.

Globally the price of fuel has skyrocketed, which in this business means there has been an increase to the cost of raw materials (namely the plastic - which is up over 60% per pound!) Because of this, the production cost of a typical box has now increased by roughly $0.12.

After much consulting internally at Wargames Atlantic, we just didn’t feel right in passing this additional cost on to you, the valued consumer. So with that decision made, I am pleased to say that our ranges will remain the price you know and love for the foreseeable future.

Have a fantastic summer.

Kind regards

Karl Oliver-Kyriacou

I think given the good news we can forgive the incorrect use of "it's".

This time.

As well as the quite relevant information blurb stating that the cost of plastic in one of their kids has gone up $0.12.

Here's a mind-bender: if you know what the average War Games Atlantic box set looks like in terms of raw amount of plastic sprues, think about that compared to other manufacturers who have raised prices

 McDougall Designs wrote:

As well as the quite relevant information blurb stating that the cost of plastic in one of their kids has gone up $0.12.

Here's a mind-bender: if you know what the average War Games Atlantic box set looks like in terms of raw amount of plastic sprues, think about that compared to other manufacturers who have raised prices

I said during the last GW hike something like "Manufacturing costs doubled from 20 cents to 40 cents per box, so we're raising the price by 5 GBP", don't recally the exact numbers but seems I was in the right ballpark.

Also congrats to WGA for launching into a solid first place in the field of business snark.

Okay. Now they have to release those aliens soon. I was going to buy some other stuff but WGA just jumped in front of the line. If the aliens don’t grab me then those new British are probably going to be the ones

I was already warming up to Wargames Atlantic based on the quality of their kits, but bragging that you've been so smart with equipment purchases and distribution that you won't be raising your prices?

Not only will I not censor them for patting themselves on the back, I'll pat them on the back, too. May it bring them much success.

But a bit like Mantic, WGA still seems to me to be making some avoidable design mistakes. With just a little more thought to their designs, they could do even better.

Some of their kits, like the Einherjar, are basically perfect, hitting all of the big 3: Well priced, good quality, good design. Others, like Cannon Fodder, are bizarrely marred by a single design choice that renders a highly desirable kit into a putty-correcting chore. (I'm speaking here of the nonsensically huge zippers, which are cartoonishly large and don't match the box art's more realistic proportions.) I really like and want that kit, except for those eyesore zippers. A little bit of quality control could have caught that (was it an error?) and adjusted those before the molds were made.

Then there are the lizardmen, which are basically fine, but seem like a lost opportunity. The kit itself looks good fantasy-wise - I'd quibble that the toothless open mouths look a bit static and odd, but overall, good stuff. (They do get big bonus points from me for thinking to add chameleon heads on the sprues with eyes looking in different directions. That's the sort of intelligent, creative touch I love to see, which punches much higher than "bog standard but cheap."

What I don't get is the decision to give the lizardmen alternate gas masks and machine guns. I was genuinely thrown by these at first, before deciding they weren't going for sci-fi at all, but rather post-apocalypse, or maybe weird war. It still seems like an odd choice to me, though. I don't think lizard men are very present in the post-apocalypse genre. If they were going for sci-fi (which even with Starfinder's Vesk could still really use some good sci-fi lizardmen offerings,) I would have expected to see a couple of futuristic helmeted heads and a couple of hands holding laser weapons. The gas masks are low detail and the machine guns themselves are pretty basic looking, as if they didn't want to invest in a great original design for them. Which begs the question, if you don't want to invest in that design, why bother including them at all?

Don't get me wrong, it still looks like a solid kit. But with a few better choices, it could have been outstanding, and a must-buy for a sci-fi guy like myself.

I admit that I clearly have some different tastes than WGA's powers-that-be. I'm never going to be down for Deathfield's basic premise of historical European troops ripped from time being given futuristic weapons - I prefer my sci-fi troops to wear sci-fi armor and costume along with their sci-fi weaponry. That's too bad for my taste, but not a problem with the line itself and its fans, so that's the last time you'll see me gripe about it. Even so, I think in some cases just a little extra design thought and tweaking could turn some kits from good to great, from might buy to must buy. Seems worth the investment to me.

Having said all that, I'm very excited to see what they do with the newly announced bug alien kit, which is exactly the sort of non-humanoid sci-fi kit I am most interested in.

Lizardmen with AK46 1/2's and gasmasks =

those barely trusted colonial troops the imperial powers gave muskets to when they were issuing their own troops with Lee Enfield's (or equivalent) and Maxim machine guns

i think going too high tech with the weapons wouldn't have worked well with the loincloth and scales look. I want my advanced reptilian aliens in clothes (which can be heating units too if you have them being cold blooded)

Talking of WGA's space dorfs... how do they scale with other space dorfs? Compatible with oldhammer style squat-esque troops like those from Macrocosm, CP Models, and Hasslefree? Or a bit bigger and chunkier like the ones from Hardcore Miniatures?

I hadn’t been keeping up to date with WGA’s previews, amazed by how many kits their working on.
Raptor Cavalry, treemen, trolls, ancient Egyptians. All kits I’m definitely interested in.

Also would love a Kolbold kit.

The kits I’ve got so far have all been great, so as long as they keep the quality up they could have great success going forward. Any word on if they plan to do their own rules for any of the ranges?

The chameleon heads and assault rifles are nods to the Race from Harry Turtledove’s World War series, where aliens with Gulf War era weapons technology invade WW2 earth. The aliens are typically naked, using body paint to display their rank and profession, with the exception of the infantry who wear helmets and body armor of some type. I think they also wear gas masks at one point.

I’m very glad they included those options. Made me want to reread the (first of the) Turtledove books, which made me more interested in buying WW2 minis.

I almost look at the lizardmen guns (though they should have been better) as placeholders for whatever gun you want to put there instead.

I think they'd look great with kroot rifles and unless they changed the sprue I think every Kroot player has extras...

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
The chameleon heads and assault rifles are nods to the Race from Harry Turtledove’s World War series, where aliens with Gulf War era weapons technology invade WW2 earth. The aliens are typically naked, using body paint to display their rank and profession, with the exception of the infantry who wear helmets and body armor of some type. I think they also wear gas masks at one point.

I’m very glad they included those options. Made me want to reread the (first of the) Turtledove books, which made me more interested in buying WW2 minis.

All points in favor of the lizardmen's low-tech gear are well taken, and I'm particularly indebted to Bob for this explanation. I've never read Turtledove, and would have had no idea of this reference.

I'm just surprised no one has written in support of the cannon fodder's giant zippers yet, or explained that they are actually intended as a clever reference to a beloved sci fi property. I guess they're probably a reference to Bruno Bucciarati's Stand from Jojo's bizarre adventure, Sticky Fingers / Zipper man.

Ian, I'm going to confess that I haven't checked closely yet, and unfortunately I don't have any Hardcore miniatures to reference, but off the top of my head I think the Einherjar scale well with Mantic's recent hard plastic Forge Fathers (which are bigger than their older ones.) My guess is they'd be noticeably larger than those from Cp models / Hasslefree, but I'm ready to be corrected. Anyone else wants to weigh in?

 Ian Sturrock wrote:
Talking of WGA's space dorfs... how do they scale with other space dorfs? Compatible with oldhammer style squat-esque troops like those from Macrocosm, CP Models, and Hasslefree? Or a bit bigger and chunkier like the ones from Hardcore Miniatures?

They scale pretty close to Hasslefree Grymn from what I can tell.
I've assembled more than a few WGA Einherjar but the only Grymn I have is the kneeling woman with two pistols. So it's not as easy to judge.

The zippers were commented on at length when WGA released the renders. They insisted it would not be an issue, and that renders never look exactly like the finished product. They chose not to change them n. Now the Cannon Fodder are what they are, and their zippers are dealbreakers for some.

Hopefully they’ll take criticisms on renders more seriously next time, before moving into tooling.

They didn't bother me at first, and I was considering a batch of fodder to do up as starport crew but the more I looked at the figures, the more I hated the huge zippers. They'd be big on a bulky GW figure. On a WGA human they're ridiculous.

I'm sure I'll purchase WGA figures at some point- especially after their brilliant troll of other companies price hikes- but the next time I need more crew it's back to North Star.

 KidCthulhu wrote:

 Ian Sturrock wrote:
Talking of WGA's space dorfs... how do they scale with other space dorfs? Compatible with oldhammer style squat-esque troops like those from Macrocosm, CP Models, and Hasslefree? Or a bit bigger and chunkier like the ones from Hardcore Miniatures?

They scale pretty close to Hasslefree Grymn from what I can tell.
I've assembled more than a few WGA Einherjar but the only Grymn I have is the kneeling woman with two pistols. So it's not as easy to judge.

If anyone wants to send me an Einerjar, I'll take pictures with Squats, Forgefathers, and a couple other brands of space and non space dwarves.

Farm animals that don’t snap legs off when you remove them from the sprues will be a welcome addition

I thought the zippers were too big on the renders,

on the actual figures they're not anywhere near as bad, but still a bit bigger than i prefer

I complained about the zippers also.

 Eilif wrote:
They didn't bother me at first, and I was considering a batch of fodder to do up as starport crew but the more I looked at the figures, the more I hated the huge zippers. They'd be big on a bulky GW figure. On a WGA human they're ridiculous.

I'm sure I'll purchase WGA figures at some point- especially after their brilliant troll of other companies price hikes- but the next time I need more crew it's back to North Star.

 KidCthulhu wrote:

 Ian Sturrock wrote:
Talking of WGA's space dorfs... how do they scale with other space dorfs? Compatible with oldhammer style squat-esque troops like those from Macrocosm, CP Models, and Hasslefree? Or a bit bigger and chunkier like the ones from Hardcore Miniatures?

They scale pretty close to Hasslefree Grymn from what I can tell.
I've assembled more than a few WGA Einherjar but the only Grymn I have is the kneeling woman with two pistols. So it's not as easy to judge.

If anyone wants to send me an Einerjar, I'll take pictures with Squats, Forgefathers, and a couple other brands of space and non space dwarves.

I sell single einherjar sprues, if you wanted to pick up one for that scale shot at an inexpensive price.

US based small business, too.

Thanks for the Einherjar help, folks. Sounds like I should pick up a box at some point.

Yeah you should, it's on of my favourite kits. Now I'm eagerly awaiting for the Command Box, so I can buy another regular box and bash the two together

 McDougall Designs wrote:

 Eilif wrote:


If anyone wants to send me an Einerjar, I'll take pictures with Squats, Forgefathers, and a couple other brands of space and non space dwarves.

I sell single einherjar sprues, if you wanted to pick up one for that scale shot at an inexpensive price.

US based small business, too.

Couldn't resist! A bunch of WGA sprues from various sets are on their way now. Will do at least a couple of blog posts with reviews, measurements and scale shots/comparisons.

I love the zippers, it's also so minor I don't really care.

Yeah, I mean its subjective of course, but in hand I dont think they look bad. The Female ones appear to be the same size too. But I dont think they look bad close up and from a table top distance look fine (to me).

It's like 3 inches wide to scale tho.

True. The actual zipper end being the worse part.

Maybe they just use these on their clothes.

I'm probably going to buy a sprue or two of the cannon fodder at some point. I love the theme, and while I can't bring myself to unsee the zipper issue, on closer inspection it doesn't look like fixing it would really be that much work. I think a simple strip of putty over the zipper with maybe an incised line or two would sort it for me.

If anyone with the figs could comment on whether the zippers are very deep detail or can be scraped off, I'd appreciate it. Now I almost wish I'd added a sprue of them to my order. Almost

Unfortunately for civies and crew applications you don't usually have a rifle across the chest to help obscure the zipper.

Anyone else think the teaser in this Friday's email is finally Landsknecht Ogres?

unless it's a cunning trick and they're Landsknecht trolls.....

(and good to see they'll have shooty options too)

Yeah, those Ogres are looking nice. I know some question why they are being made, but I am debating on either 3 or 5 boxes...