Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K: GW’s Minis Have Come a Long Way – But..
Goatboy here and I have something to say about Games Workshop’s new fancy miniatures. I’ve built enough of them to know.
If you’ve read my Grey Knight article you know I am building some old Strike squads and let me tell you – it is a trip to think how far we have come with these plastic little models. I remember the old days of clipping out a ton of legs, arms, guns, backpacks, and whatever nonsense on the sprue – throwing them all together and bashing my way to a unit or two. Sure we have a little bit of leeway in new kits – but I kinda miss this ability to start with a horror show of disembodied arms and coming out with something unique.
It’s something I miss and while you do have some leeway with shoulder pads, some weapons, and heads the body-to-leg match-up has really gone the way of the dodo. I remember not giving a crap about the instructions and just winging it with my knowledge of how it should look. Now I need to keep those little booklets, match up the numbers, and hope I don’t lose some dumb little spike that helps fit the arm brace armor (looking at you Be’Lakor).
Easy-to-Build
I have said so in the past but I really like snap-fit models. They are easy, lets you build a ton of them, and gives you a feeling of accomplishment. Some of these new kits get so strangely complicated that you wonder who in the heck decided to cut the model this way. Do I want everything to be snap-fit? I mean maybe parts of the model with a ton more “arm options” to create unique things.
Of course, I can rebuild things, update with Greenstuff, and convert to my heart’s content but that shouldn’t be something I do for my troops. Characters and unique vehicles should be fun and different but when it is Ork #40 I kinda wish they just went together more easily with just me swapping arms to make sure not all of my Orks look like they are made up of a unit of twins.
Back In My Day
I miss those old days of a big boxed set where we can make our own true hero. Remember that old Chaos Terminator Chaos Lord/Sorcerer Lord kit? Sure the legs are kinda locked but we had a sprue of options and little things to make our bad guy a true ultimate jerk of the 40k universe. I wish we had more of that because I don’t want to see the table full of the same jerk over and over.
It is the same with Vehicles. I don’t know how many times I have to sit there and figure out why this part needs to be 4 different bits that glue together and create something the model needs. I am all for trying to create some realism in the model – with a framework/chassis to make it kinda work – but if we can’t see it make it simple. Heck – everything should have a guiding lock to make sure things fit! How many times have you hoped it slotted in and as soon as you finish you found a gap? So many things could just be a simple block of plastic and make things slot in correctly. I built enough of those floating Marine tanks and the “treads” showing up as separate pieces just doesn’t work.
Can You Help a Modeller Out?
I like this hobby and I don’t hate building models. The conversion aspects are what bring me back to this hobby and building armies. I just wish some of the bulk building aspects of the hobby were easier to knock out instead of trying to spend a night twirling a sprue around as you follow the numbers around. I don’t need the puzzle I just want a cool-looking model when I am done.
A good start, more like this, please!
While I have my soapbox please add all the weapons in a box that the unit can take. If there are not enough options to build it – then the unit shouldn’t have it. Make it easy for a new player to buy a box, build it out, and it can work correctly on the tabletop. Age of Sigmar has done a good job of it lately and I think 40k could fit into that shell a bit more.
Alright that is enough for me today – hope everyone is staying safe, building models, and dreaming of rolling a ton of 6’s.
