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It's probably pretty obvious that this is based on the thread about things that annoy you in game design and several times, it brushed on the mini side of things so I thought that it could be interesting to have a thread about that.

So, to start it off with a few things that I really dislike in the design (not counting quality control and the like because no one likes it when things are miscast or the like)

1) mould lines over faces and other fine detail are just the worst. They can be pretty hard to remove properly and I'm always terrified that I'll damage something in a way that always remains visible. This goes for any material but especially with metal it's a complete disaster.

2) Excessive detail is another thing. Sure, some people can do a lot with all those tiny little extra things but for people like me, who aren't the greatest painters, that's just way more effort and more things that will look bad once th figure is done.

3) That leads to my last one (for now) flimsy pieces. Sure, thin feathers or flowing magical bits can look really nice, but they inevitably break and then they're nearly impossible to get back on.

 Dolnikan wrote:
It's probably pretty obvious that this is based on the thread about things that annoy you in game design and several times, it brushed on the mini side of things so I thought that it could be interesting to have a thread about that.

So, to start it off with a few things that I really dislike in the design (not counting quality control and the like because no one likes it when things are miscast or the like)

1) mould lines over faces and other fine detail are just the worst. They can be pretty hard to remove properly and I'm always terrified that I'll damage something in a way that always remains visible. This goes for any material but especially with metal it's a complete disaster.

2) Excessive detail is another thing. Sure, some people can do a lot with all those tiny little extra things but for people like me, who aren't the greatest painters, that's just way more effort and more things that will look bad once th figure is done.

3) That leads to my last one (for now) flimsy pieces. Sure, thin feathers or flowing magical bits can look really nice, but they inevitably break and then they're nearly impossible to get back on.

I agree with all 3 but would add to the third one - I hate dynamic/too dynamic poses that are looking cool but also mean that there is a tiny/weak connection to the base which leads to easy breakable parts, very hard to fix.

I came here to say #1.

To add to the above: I faced it rarely, but it is really annoying if some parts like arms holding a gun have to be positioned ONE and only ONE certain way to look okayish or otherwise the forward hand looks completely out of place etc. but there is no little triangle or something to help with alignment. Maybe that just buggers me and I suck at dryfitting but I really don't like that.

I'm also sometimes pretty annoyed when the mini is distributed in a way that there are parts that are not really nice to paint when glued together because you can't reach everywhere, but when you paint them seperately and then glue them together the border between them is extremely visible. Was really visible when comparing the Skitarii Marshal cape (at leat I couldn't really paint the inside etc. after it was glued together and the two or rather three cape parts have very visible borders) with the Manipulus (where the borders between his "foot with a bit of cape", back und belly are nicely hidden in recesses of that cape, so painting them seperatly is absolutely no problem.

1 lots of tiny contact points. Especially if there are more than one on the bit.

2 no thought given to transportation when it's done. I.e. huge, lots of breakable joints, too many spikes to stick into foam etc.

3. Faces that are badly sculpted. FW often suffer from this, imo.

1. Channels in bad places. Please ensure they’re easily accessible with clippers, or not so thick using a hobby knife is at high risk of slippage

2. Wasted sprue space. Don’t put on greeblies and non-game equipment over pistols and that. Yes I mean you, Mk VI Command Sprue.

3. Needlessly fiddly designs. Not where it avoids undercuts and stuff. But think the original Leman Russ and Chimera tracks, where you had separate wheels and the links never quite aligned properly.

1.Tiny contact points which are supposed to be glued together (particularly on metal minis)

2.Wildly different scale between editions of the same faction (when I mix mk1 Trollbloods with mk3 ones they look like children and bodybuilders)

3. Yeah, the mold lines in all the wrong places.

The number one thing that drives me crazy is seeing a model that is afraid of the third dimension. The worst is a model clutching their weapon to their chest to keep it from breaking the 2D plane. The worst part of this is that is almost always results in models that don't work at all in rotation.

Models that are deliberately designed to be mono-pose or near to it. It's just as easy to allow for some range of motion, but when a model has a dozen components and still comes out just like the next one, no thanks!

1- Tactical rocks.

2- Big elaborate, showy models that look like they belong in a computer game, with swirling magical effects and flowing streamers everywhere.

3- Unrealistically scaled weapons. Six foot swords, guns that would take 4 super-humans to carry even with their tactical armoured exosuits...

In short, I think modern GW is what annoys me in miniatures 🤣

Human-scale models with arm connections that block them from being kit-bashed onto any other model's torso. Going through this now with the Navy Breachers kit

1) Monopose minatures and having repeat models and poses across the squad/army. (Chaos Cultist with a bionic arm waves hello) Which leads on to-
2) Models that are designed in such a way that converting them is a nightmare because the head is also part of the chest piece which is also the left arm kind of thing and a simple head swap needs a degree in sculpting.
3) Parts that need to be glued at the same time as another part. (Arms on a Deathmark, ribs on Zombie Dragon). The instructions dont say you actually need 3 hands for that stage.

And for a bonus one, kits that give no extra bitz at all.

1) Size Creep. Big models are harder to store, harder to use on the table, and harder to paint.
2) Models with small straps all over their bodies. I hate painting them, though Contrast helps, TBH.
3) Overly detailed terrain, especially if the same hyper detail repeats. Terrain should not outshine models, and I hate every third wall section having some incredibly detailed identical bas relief.

Agree with so much of the above comments.

I’ll add parts that fit together with inaccessible but viable seems. One recent bad case was the victrix honor guard. Flowing capes with lots of folds, but jigsawed parts going together that didn’t match. Had to be done before paint, as there would be no way to smooth the join after. And even trying to smooth them was murder. Not easy to do with knives and files.

1. I don't own the miniatures.

2. I cannot buy the miniatures.

3. I will not ever be able to buy the miniatures.

Juxtimon wrote:
1- Tactical rocks.

2- Big elaborate, showy models that look like they belong in a computer game, with swirling magical effects and flowing streamers everywhere.

3- Unrealistically scaled weapons. Six foot swords, guns that would take 4 super-humans to carry even with their tactical armoured exosuits...

In short, I think modern GW is what annoys me in miniatures 🤣

The tactical rock has a functional purpose: it creates a larger contact point between model and base. I prefer my TacRocks to be unobtrusive, not half the model like Kayvaan Shrike's "tactical" concrete firing port.

I'm with you on the flowing magical effects, especially when the effects are load-bearing (I'm looking at you, Celestant Prime).

Giant weapons are a result of having to make in-scale props that will have some semblance of rigidity and read as weapons from the players' point of view.

JamesY wrote:1 lots of tiny contact points. Especially if there are more than one on the bit.

Juxtimon wrote:

2- Big elaborate, showy models that look like they belong in a computer game, with swirling magical effects and flowing streamers everywhere.

3- Unrealistically scaled weapons. Six foot swords, guns that would take 4 super-humans to carry even with their tactical armoured exosuits...

^These. Display piece models, meant for the museum rather an army diorama or the tabletop and squatty marines. As to contact points I feel ya, I'm not sure which is worse plastic or lead. Probably lead.

Models with preset gribblies/gear/pouches. It was especially noticeable to me on the new Kasrkins, but one thing I like to do is glue all the bits wherever I want to customise my models up to a point even within the limitations of the kit, and that's an option that's taken away from me now. I do my best with swapping arms to try and do something a little different, but it's not ideal.

Warhammer used to bother me back when I was a D&D snob, in regards to weapon proportions. Later it was the stubby marines. Now I'm less troubled by this and instead notice the excess coming in with Indy artists putting out ridiculous proportions on everything from weapons to female hips and thighs.

1) Mould lines

2) Mould lines

3) Mould lines on Tyranids (six limbs each, aaargh)

When I was younger I didn't notice mould lines at all and was much happier. At some point I started to 'see' them and could no longer unsee them. I have painted minis from back then that I can't bear to look at now.

I was deeply impressed with the Adeptus Titanicus titans, which seem to have very few mould lines due to clever sprue design.

For some reason, though, cleaning mould lines off metal minis doesn't bother me nearly as much as removing mould lines on plastics. Using a file on metal is strangely therapeutic, whereas scraping plastic with a hobby knife is annoying.

1. Excessive detail for the sake of itself (useless frippery).
2. Scale inconsistency in the same range by one company.

Mould lines are a thing whenever more than a single sided gravity cast moulding is used. I'd prefer them not to be across faces (and most of the art of mould "cutting" is where to place that seam).

In today's world.....

1. Monopose/models that are joined together.

I like modifying and kitbashing models. Changing the chest, legs, arms, heads, gear....

The Stargrave/Frostgrave/Oathmark line of miniatures are very interchangeable, and I love it ( though I would like to be able to swap chest and leg pieces). That you can also use them with many of the Fireforge, Perry and Gripping Beast plastics is another big plus.

I feel GW is taking a step back, and by doing so they lose my interest.

2. Models that are needlessly complex to assemble. I'm here to play wargames, not show off my building skills ( ironic when you read my first answer eh?)
Redemptor Dreadnaughts I am looking at you.

3. All the differing scales all over the place. I love the Victrix ranges, but they are about 2-3 mm taller then all the other historicals....Which is a good and bad thing. Humans should have some variety. It is a bad thing if you cannot mix in other models to make it look like there is variety.

I would also add integral bases (like Frostgrave etc. models have). I hate them, and will now not even bother with removing them but simply will not buy any models with them.

1: bits snapping off post painting. (happened with seraphon spears to me.. multiple times)
2: accidentially flopping your brush onto the mini while retracting your hand, painting detail.
3: eyes.

I like tactical rocks. And excessively detailed terrain...

3 things I dislike:

1. Where the join between 2 parties runs through detail on the model (such as a face, or a vent). Because of the way plastic moulds work, this means that the detail rarely lines up properly, and it's very hard to fix.

2. Unnecessarily spindly gun barrels, weapon shafts, and antennae - especially when they end in something larger, like a flash hider, silencer or banner. The result is something that will almost certainly bend or break at the first opportunity. GW in particular forgets that their models are for wargaming, not displaying in a glass case. Warlord has the same problem with the weapons on their 28mm WW2 infantry.

3. It's a similar issue, but I hate it when the attachment points for things like weapons and hatches are inadequate. This is something GW also continues to get wrong, although their Heresy vehicles are better in this regard.

My goodness! Nice to see Snord back.

Hard to disagree with most of these, but I’ll add/second:

1. Mould lines in highly detailed/inaccessible areas
2. Models that don’t easily allow for painting in separate components (I hate trying to paint a fully assembled minis, especially in the age of ‘dynamic’ mono poses
3. Tiny thin parts attached to the sprue with a honking great connection point. They always break during removal and cleaning the excess plastic off later is a thankless chore

1) Connections to the sprue that are so tight/close that it's really hard to actually get your side cutters in to snip them off. So much extra chance of actually damaging the component in your attempts to remove it from the sprue.
2) Teeny tiny pieces. The smaller a piece, the harder it is to keep hold of it to slice off sprue gates and scrape mould lines, and the more likely it is to ping out of my fingers and find some hitherto uncharted and unexplored corner of my hobby cave, never to be seen again.
3) In the modern GW monopose type kits, where there are really limited pairings of which set of arms go with which body. I don't mind the monopose bodies at all, you couldn't exactly do much with the old ball waist joints anyway. But it irritates me when something like the shoulder joints are just mildly different for each torso so that there's limited arms that will actually fit, unless you get a bit creative with your hobby knife or putty. I think the Battle Sisters kit is a top example. Fantastic kit overall, but things like, that one sister where she can have a heavy flamer, or she can have a bolter in a very distinctive 'walking forward and pointing' pose, which you probably don't want to repeat too many times. Anything besides that, it's time to start slicing and hacking.

As others have mentioned: GWs monopose development makes their models uninteresting. Good for my wallet since you only ever buy each kit once and then take a look at 3rd party models that often are cheaper.

As a Death Guard and Ork Player: Magic effects, vomit, fly swarms, dripping goo, lightning effects. They all make me scratch my head when I want to paint them and frankly never really look good.

And yeah, also mold lines, especially when running up and down some spikes, or even worse, along teeth.

 Shadow Walker wrote:
I would also add integral bases (like Frostgrave etc. models have). I hate them, and will now not even bother with removing them but simply will not buy any models with them.

I get where you're coming from, but I prefer integral bases over the alternative of having the soles of the model's feet as the only point of attachment to the base. I can't count how many times I've had to re-attach a model that has popped off it's base while in storage. That doesn't happen with a slotta-base or a puddle base, and I can always hide the join with putty.

I really dislike monopose figures, just like everyone else has said, I just feel it really stifles creativity and while there is always a knife and glue, some of the sculpts look very finicky.

The price for plastic minis is pretty high for what they are. I don't understand why some companies (like GW) don't slash their prices and get more sales. This is especially so with the single figures. I really like the Wurrgog minature, but $30 for a single normal sized 28mm mini is ridiculous.

I really wish there were more miniatures of women that were like actually realistic. I know the topic is probably a dead horse, but sculpters, please go outside and look at real women! We don't look like sex dolls! Also, the fact that the vast majority of women miniatures are heels is just so frustrating.