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Looking at the ForgeWorld site, it seems the 'upgrade packs' with torsos, shoulders and heads are going LCTB, as well as Torso packs and shoulder packs. From what I can tell, the heads are staying.

The rational part of me assumes that the shoulders and torsos are disappearing due to flagging sales - it makes sense, in the past, I've usually relied on much cheaper brass etch or transfers for shoulder pads, bought a small number of torso upgrades for unit Sergeants (because otherwise you barely see them), but I've bought a reasonable number of headswaps - either for unit Sergeants or fully kitting out specialist units such as Iron Havocs.

The less rational part of me wants to run around screaming saying they're killing off Heresy, right after I bought a 2nd fairly sizeable army. I don't really know what to believe.

In either case, if you want some fancy Torso or Shoulder upgrades or any of FWs bundles, now's the time.

Not all shoulder pads either. Seems MKIV ones are safe. Presumably because those you get in plastic so they still sell. MKII seems to be the one affected most. Presumably with plastic MKIV and III MKII sales are pretty poor so maintaining upgrade kits for poorly selling items might not be viable(GW has been pruning down on kits they sell so why not FW?).

The big bummer(for me) are cataphractii ones :(

Was very sad to see this happen, it's particularly annoying as well as I need to get a couple more sets of raven guard heads and I would have like some of the space wolf torsos as well. What is slightly alarming is how new some of those kits are, the space wolf, thousand son and cataphractii upgrades are all roughly a year and a half old.

 Glasdir wrote:
Was very sad to see this happen, it's particularly annoying as well as I need to get a couple more sets of raven guard heads and I would have like some of the space wolf torsos as well. What is slightly alarming is how new some of those kits are, the space wolf, thousand son and cataphractii upgrades are all roughly a year and a half old.

Not really. Unlike plastic resin models recoup mould prices faster(and generally miniatures sell most of their lifespan sales in first few months anyway). Also maybe they didn't want to have "one or two legions have these, others don't" so if cataphractii parts weren't selling that well they went for all out rather than just drop least popular. Ditto for MK2 parts. If they don't sell as a whole easier to drop them all rather than keep maybe 1 legion if some legion sells unusually much MKII parts.

I'd assume torsos from the legion specifics and Mk2 shoulders are all going offline.

There could be a lot of reasons why this is happening. Why even try to speculate? Torso upgrades get covered up by arms and weapons, so they are very rarely even seen. Only on close combat style models or models with two weapons do you really see them. For my current project, Imperial Fists, I'm using the special torso's for my Templar Brethren as they have swords n' boards, so you can actually see the body of the model. I'll also use them on my sergeants or characters, but that's about it. For some Legions, this is a big deal. For others... not so much.

The loss of shoulder pads is a bit troubling. Maybe Forge World is getting ready to reprint decal sheets for everyone? That's an easy to make, store, print, etc. item that has to net them a huge profit margin per sheet, though typically, you won't need more than two for a Legion. The choice of items going LCtB seems erratic. There are some MK II, MK III, MK IV shoulders pads and torsos, Ultramarine Invictarii heads, and bizarrely, Cataphractii shoulder pads... FW announced that Lernaean terminators for the Alpha Legion were on the way, and looking at those images, they have unique Cataphractii shoulder pads... maybe FW is redesigning the arms of the Cataphractii termys (SPECULATION! OMG!) ? Not all the power armor shoulder pads are going away either. Imperial Fists are keeping at least two versions of theirs (MK IV and VI), while the Sons of Horus are losing one set of MK IV, but keeping their other set of MK IV.

Just overall bizarre in the choices that Forge World is moving to LCtB.

Maybe something happened to the molds and they are going for a cash grab while they work on new ones?

It’s so annoying how people blow off the torsos. It’s like a gag response now. I use them for all my characters and they don’t have a bolter across the chest.

Getting myself some of the Invictarii heads. No idea what I'll do with them as I'm pretty well set on Thousand Sons, but they could be useful if I do something Space Marines in 40k later down the line.

Sad to see those parts go :/ Really thinking about getting some of those DG torsos for my 40k Plague marines, but I actually have enough of them already. But with free shipping at 100p, the dread deal AND those last chance to buy it's probably the best time to order from FW in years, right?

 Primark G wrote:
It’s so annoying how people blow off the torsos. It’s like a gag response now. I use them for all my characters and they don’t have a bolter across the chest.

I've put in an order for the torsos for precisely that reason, character upgrades in the future.

Also did the same with the Alpha Cataphractii shoulders as well.

And now some weapon sets, as well as the entire mk2 range are last chance to buy.

On the upside, the weapon sets going missing are largely ones that are for Mk II Marines. Older pattern weapons, etc.

Seeker Bolters and Graviton Guns don't really have alternative sources though (Seeker Combi-weapons are fine though), I don't think, so grab them if you need them.

I'm a little butthurt by this one. On one hand, I've got 5x MkII Marines with Missile Launchers for a heavy support squad for my Space Wolves that I should probably grab some more Mk II Marines for before they disappear forever, or else my aesthetic is going to get messed with if I ever want to put them up to the full 10x unit (and I'd always planned to do the same with Lascannons too, for that matter). On the other, I literally just bought a Warhound Titan last week, and I resent the hell out of paying £5 in postage because I didn't see this coming. How frustrating.

Edit: Couldn't help it, my Heresy Space Wolves are my big catch-all miniature collection army, and the thought of having just 5 MkII Marines, in a measy little 160pts Heavy Support squad with Missile Launchers was eating me up inside. Broke down and got another 10 Heavy Support models, 5 Missile Launchers (for a 10-strong Missile Launchers squad) and 5 Lascannons (for a slightly more concentrated unit). The timing for this isn't ideal, but my legion armour makeup is a little better for it.

Well that's rubbish, I guess my pipe dream of fighting battles between Orks and Humans from the great crusade will never happen now

Hopefully GW are releasing a plastic kit which is why resin is being withdrawn?

They just added a lot of MK II stuff and weapons to the "Last Chance to Buy" list. This is getting a bit disconcerting...

Apparently they're redoing it all in plastic. But that's literally from a friend of a friend so take salt with it.

pm713 wrote:
Apparently they're redoing it all in plastic. But that's literally from a friend of a friend so take salt with it.

If they did that, wouldn't it make way more sense to say that, instead of unsettleling your customers?

Jorim wrote:

pm713 wrote:
Apparently they're redoing it all in plastic. But that's literally from a friend of a friend so take salt with it.

If they did that, wouldn't it make way more sense to say that, instead of unsettleling your customers?

This is GW. Making more sense is not a reason for them to do something.

Besides, like I said it's from a friend of a friend.

Jorim wrote:

pm713 wrote:
Apparently they're redoing it all in plastic. But that's literally from a friend of a friend so take salt with it.

If they did that, wouldn't it make way more sense to say that, instead of unsettleling your customers?

On some levels, yes. On the other hand, if panicked customers buy up all your old stock over the course of a weekend, that's not a bad result.

I just realized that the Salamanders heads did not go LCTB and got myself the big upgrade pack with 10 heads, torsi as well as shoulder pads. Ah well, at least I saved some money!