"GW Players: happy with the switch to Finecast?" Topic

So, by now we've heard all about the revolution. We've seen the reviews, and pondered the pros and cons. Smiled at the extra detail, and frowned at the bubbles, etc, etc.

At this point then, if you are an active purchaser (for whatever reason), of GW miniatures, are you happy with the switch to resin?

1) No. I prefer metal.
2) Yes. It's a good move.
3) Yes. But with reservations (bubbles in particular)

There. Nice and simple.
Lets ignore the price issue for this one. :)

I like metal myself.

I buy GW used… prefer metal or their plastic… my reservations about resin is that it is not durable, is fragile… not sure how it holds up over time even without gaming wear and tear.

Not a purchaser but the comment I heard over and over all weekend at our con was, "Old molds, new casts, higher prices."

Despite your request, Silurian, it's really hard to ignore the price issue on this one. Cerberus0311's quote about sums it up.

However, struggling to set that aspect aside, I'm on a 3. My preference remains for lead models, but GW stopped making them a long time ago.

Not trying to be difficult, but I guess I would have to pick "none of the above". I like some of the metal, but the pinning of big pieces is something I dislike. I don't like resin in general (Forgeworld stuff such as the Tallarn Snipers shattered), and the new resin produt is soft I keep thinking is a temporary step until they can do all items in the normal, hard plastic.

I am guessing that some of the advantages for GW is less weight in shipping especially internally between stores, but I don't know how they pay for that within the company.

If I must pick, I'll go with number 3.

Erik

'soft' resin? Is it like that stuff Privateer is using? Does that mean bendy weapons like with crappy Clix figures?

1

I prefer hard plastic (Polystyrene) for rank and file and metal for characters.

I do not like Resin (from anybody) as it is relatively difficult to work and easily damaged.
Mick

I'm not happy with the swtich. In fact, I bought all the metal models I wanted (or want to collect) over the weekend because I don't want to buy them in resin.

Thankfully I only have a few plastic kits left to buy for my chaos army.

A solid 1 from me.

From what I've seen in the store, and the one that I've bought, I'd much rather have metal versions of them, purely from the casting quality.

I compared the casting to a Forge World model which I picked up at Salute, and the FW casting is miles ahead of the Finecast miniature. I've looked really hard, and I've only found one bubble in the FW one (and one less than half a mm at that) whereas the Finecast one is full of them.

If it wasn't for the huge captive market they have of Warhammer and 40k players, and my guess that most of their cash will be coming from the sales of plastic kits, this could end up like Rackham's change from the finely cast metal models (see what I did there?) to their pre-painted plastics.

Quality issues aside, if they can make this work, I'll look very forward to it. REsin is lighter, and much much easier to glue/assemble IMHO. I've been working with both materials for going on 25 years, and hands down I prefer resin as a material. Durability issues are valid, but with the thickness required for metal to flow in the original casts, I don't think it's going to be a bigger issue than plastic in general.

Note that I haven't actually bought one yet, but have worked with plenty of resin over the year. I'm actually holding off until its either a MUST buy (unlikely) or until quality improves…

Damon.

1, metal please
I don't use their plastics either
But I would say the target of the new models,teenagers, probably could give a monkeys butt about the bubbles and miscast.They only need them to play the game with and be WYSIWYG.
So heres 12000 2)s for you

1

DM

4) Reserve judgement until better knowledge of durability.

My preference is for metal always but will use almost any material if I want the figure but I need thing that can stand handling. Already some of GW plastics have parts too vulnerable to last long on the gaming table. I will wait until more feed back is available from use on the table.

x42

I'm reserving judgement as well until I try it for the former metal models. I prefer plastic over the other options.

1

3.

Actually,

4. Haven't seen the new resins yet but trying to be openminded.

I went to see what all the fuss was about yesterday in my local GW store. Im a decent painter and wanted to experiment a bit with this new material. One of the staff there spent a good 15-20 mins with me explaining all the pros of finecast. The models however seemed to have LOTS of flash – which he explained could be easily removed with my fingernail – I wouldnt need to have a sharp scalpel anymore. I didnt see any bubbles or miscasts in any of the figures I examined, however the level of flash I saw did concern me. The figures in the display cabinet, once clear of flash did seem to have excellent detail.

All OK so far. But at this point Im going to break the rule about ignoring price… I saw a figure I thought I would like (Broodlord – I was going to use it for D&D) – Price £15.50. I stopped and thought about it. £15.50 GBP for a single normal figure. OK GW would probably argue its a 'leader' type (even though its a troop choice) – however that is way beyond my price point. Im an IT professional, earn a decent wage, dont have kids etc so I have the spare cash. However theres no way Im going to spend £15.00 GBP on a single figure. Im not going to find out how lovely it is to paint or how durable the material is.

What I am going to do is spend my money with other game companies that provide nice figures – even if they are 'old hat' metal! Hopefully without GWs demand for tin alloy the market price will fall – to the benefit of other mini manufacturers!

Apparently due to high demand customers are only allowed to purchase 3 Finecast models from GW. (But then they have to get a mortgage anyway!)

1) No. I prefer metal.

I saw some "in the flesh" for the first time today. The staff at my local GW had some assembled on display. The funny thing was that even though they had clearly picked out good examples, the Abaddon was still missing his chin due to a bubble.

I also noticed some 'scabbiness' on some of the details of the ones I looked at, both on display and in packaging. I don't mean the copious amounts of flat flash – I always trim mold lines, doesn't bother me if they extend a lot further from the model than normal. I mean that some parts of the models have the same kind of crusty protrusions you might see on a metal model cast from a worn out mold.

This just adds to my feeling that the only finecast models to get may be those newly sculpted and molded for this medium…

They need to come up with a way to improve productivity. I am assuming there is more hand work here than with metal? GW seems to set the standard with pricing and does not seem to be worried about price elasticity ($10 marketing term :-) The problem is that I don't think they have gauged the world-wide economy well at all. This combined with the fact that Ebay has made obtaining older figures MUCH easier, makes you wonder who is minding the store.

Frankly, even the metal pricing was quite out of hand in my opinion. I think the pricing of plastics has been fair for the most part. I expect to pay a premium for better figures, no doubt about it but there becomes a point of no return for me.

There is a reason that Epic 40K on Ebay has risen in value. Supply and demand coupled with price elasticity. No doubt about it that the newer Epic stuff is great but the trade off with last generation sculpts is not as great as with first generation.

I have never played 40K or Warhammer for that matter but I used to buy the figures for collecting and the fact that I loved the style of the sculpts and bought into the creativity behind the Warhammer Universe. I have been a MUCH bigger fan of what are now Specialist games. There are very few Specialist games that I have not bought into and played over the years.

Does anyone know if this will effect the Specialist Game segment?

1

No one has mentioned the weight. I find the weight of a metal mini more pleasing than that of a plastic.

Oddly this was the argument put to me by my father when I was playing 40K. He did not like the weight of the plastics. Once I moved over to historical miniatures I saw his point. What's better than a movement stand stuffed with 28mm metal minis?

I dont buy GW stuff anymore but this finecast has a tinge of "New Coke" to it. The last figures I did purchase were the LOTR felllowship of the Ring box and the minis were crisply detailed. Very nice.

If you can trim the flash with a fingernail wouldn't that imply you can scratch the detail off the mini with a fingernail as well?
Resin seems fine for big 'garage kits' that sit on the shelf… not so much for itty bitty things that are meant to be played with.

Please include a selection for 'I don't currently play any GW games.'

1) I prefer metal, ESPECIALLY one piece castings.

1) Hoping that this flops and they go back to metal. I refuse to buy their resin models.

"1) Hoping that this flops and they go back to metal. I refuse to buy their resin models."

Agreed

No one has mentioned the weight. I find the weight of a metal mini more pleasing than that of a plastic.

By contrast one of our group who has MS and is wheelchair bound prefers plastics due to the lack of weight.

4 – Wrong Resin,Wrong Price.

There are good resins, I have a bunch from McVey, Black Scorpion, Cool Mini or Not, and others. Either GW's resin is really bad or they are failing at QC.

Perhaps instead of Finecast, they should contact the OFM and switch to Comcast.

Going to wait and see for a while and see if it turns out to be ok or if there's endless moaning from people who have actually bought into the new resin stuff due to bubbles, fragility, etc etc

I prefer metal miniatures. I hope I continue to have a choice in the matter.