"Do Warhammer Fantasy and 40K figures become “obsolete”?" Topic

Meaning, are they ineligible to be used in "officially sanctioned" 40k, Sigmar, WFB etc tournament games, or in pickup games in GW stores?
Figures and models from competitive manufacturers can of course be "banned" from such.

There is of course the "whatever consenting adults do in the privacy of their own homes" disclaimer.

There is a nitwit out there, who I have Stifled, who has called me a liar on this topic, but like I've said, he's Stifled.

Meaning, are they ineligible to be used in "officially sanctioned" 40k, Sigmar, WFB etc tournament games, or in pickup games in GW stores?
Figures and models from competitive manufacturers can of course be "banned" from such.

There is of course the "whatever consenting adults do in the privacy of their own homes" disclaimer.

There is a nitwit out there, who I have Stifled, who has called me a liar on this topic, but like I've said, he's Stifled.

If you are talking for tournament use, yes they have. When whenever they do a new codex or army book there is a chance that models can be moved to Legacy/Legends when their rules are dropped from the newest book.

The last big drop was I saw was for GW's Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game. There was over a hundred models moved to Legends status. GW did provide a pdf of model profiles, but they cannot be used in GW official competitive games.

Since I don't play competitively this doesn't bother me except that they also stopped producing the models. That I do find annoying since I have been playing/collecting for 25 years.

A nitwit, indeed.

I'm not a GW player but I know it's part of their sales model to "retire" figures. If they don't appear on the army lists, you can't use them in tournaments – but obviously can, between consenting adults in social games.

I have, at times, voluntarily "retired" historical figures because they were, well, old & ugly & there were better, newer replacements available so I can't get on a High Horse & criticise GW & fans for doing the same.

Be careful when you check out armies for sale at a flea market.
I have seen more than one army dumped at a show when a new tournament list of armies is revealed.

My Swamp Horde army has three units of skink archers because I could buy them for $1.00 USD for a bag of 15 or 20. I was told that this was because skink archers were no longer part of the reptilian? army. On the bright side, I was not constrained as to paint scheme, so, well there are three species of skinks in Colorado (where I live), and I painted one unit like each species. One thing I don't understand is that in the years that passed between buying the skinks at auction, finally getting them painted, then wondering what I should do with the excess skink archers, they seem to have become valuable again, because I had no problem selling them at auction.
I still wonder if there are really British or European skinks in the GW shade of blue.

Grelber

I'm reminded of a cartoon. A newer space marine is pointing at a downtrodden beakie and saying " You can't play anymore…you're too old ! " <lol>

My fantasy armies are mainly figures from the earliest days, I don't do competition skirmishes, but large battles using a different rule system,

Tally Ho!

There's also "peer pressure" obscolescence – some of the GW figures from 25+ years ago look pretty cartoony compared to the modern versions.

Units can move to "Legends" which are not generally permitted in matched play. They receive no rules or balance updates

The figures could be proxies but that would be hard. You might be able to claim your scouts on bikes are outriders but you'd be holding your manhood cheap the whole event.

Don't play GW and I've never had a figure go "legendary".

BTW my orcs remain evil creatures with no hope of redemption.

I've never heard the term "legends" before, as it applies to miniatures.
The Hinchliffe AWI figures I painted back in the 80s are still going strong. 🤷

Way back, I had heard that …"legacy" figures from earlier editions were perfectly fine. Back when craftsmen made land speeders from deodorant suppliers for use in Rogue Trader.
Bank when Kev Adams made Orcs and Goblins for just about every manufacturer. Darn nice ones they were, too. I had dozens from Heartbreaker. Flea market, so doubly deficient. 😄

Back on point, it seems that early WFB or 40K figures are now considered heretical, or schismatic. Ironically, it's similar to early Christian beliefs, that were not quite set in stone. I used to take delight in "studying heresies". You could have been beaten, or worse, for getting your Creeds mixed up.
So, the GW obsession with religious orthodoxy, and Bad Latin, has historical precedent. 😄
I had Orcs, Goblins, Renaissance Poles… excuse me, Kislevites and HYW English. Errr… Bretonnia.
Do any of those still exist?
I abandoned GW gaming when I saw how gleefully they embraced Fascist ideology regarding The Empire.