Looks like Forge World prices. I mean dang. That stuff ain't cheap.

Isn't resin dust hazardous? Back when I was building gundam models people always talked about needing to use respirators and things when they were sanding.

I've always avoided resin models because of that, the fact that they are so expensive makes that easy.

Although I suppose if you can remove all the flashing with a knife you might not have to worry about dust.

My feeling on the matter can be summed up with 'meh'.

Another price increase following a move to a less expensive material. (Because, hey! it's Monday, let's increase our prices again!)

Other problems come because their marketing department has only a passing acquaintance with the truth (they see the truth, then pass it by):

Claims of 'the biggest hobby development in years', despite other companies doing this for years, including one of their own subsidiaries! Forge World, Ultraforge, Studio McVey, Black Scorpion, heck, even Mantic... they might have some claim to innovation. GW? Nah. It only makes sense if you translate 'hobby' as 'GW'.

Claims of greater detail, despite using the same molds as for the metals. (Using resin does not magically add detail. They need to make new molds in order to get that finer detail. They haven't.)

Palming off a stock photo of their painted Chaos champion as the new resin, even though they have used that same photo for over a year.

My suggestion? Just take the news release as 'We are switching to resin, because tin is getting too expensive. We are taking this opportunity to ram another price increase down your throats. Happy gaming!'

I am not saying that the resin is bad, with tin prices continuing to soar it is becoming unavoidable. Resin used to be more expensive than tin, but while resin has not gotten any cheaper the price of tin has skyrocketed. It is a different material, with different properties. It is lighter, but much more fragile, breaking instead of bending, but is easy to repair.

But I do want to introduce GW's marketing to my good friend Mr. Board With A Nail In. Ethics, guys, you need some.

I am not going to claim that 'I will never buy a GW mini again!' But I will say that my only purchases from them in the last five years has been plastics. And for the last two years only the big starter box for the newest edition of Warhammer and a box of Daemonettes for a conversion job.

By contrast, I have purchased several hundred dollars of Mantic. (Mmmmm, zombies.....)

*******

And an aside - breathing Resin dust is bad, even when the material is noncarcinogenic. Fine enough to get lodged in the aviola of the lungs, then sit there for a decade or two - when working with resin using a roto tool wear a filter mask.

This isn't really a complaint, just a sensible precaution. I do the same when working with Ultraforge models or the Black Scorpion giant. You don't want to breath in talcum powder either.

*******

The Auld Grump

I never thought I would come to GW's defence, but resin is harder on the molds than pewter. Molds are expensive, and having to replace them more often makes for a higher price of the final product. I agree the prices are too high, I'm just sayin'...

I am wondering how long before they market a breathing mask modelled like Space Marine breather.


Lord Abaddon of Wormwood

I *almost* got into Warhammer fantasy some time ago because of a friend, but the price was a huge turnoff for me. I think they need to watch their pricing as not to turn off potential players.

Hmmm, going by a it seems that they have some QC issues. Bubbles, incomplete filling, pieces warped when they were removed from the mold....

Better than a resin Golem Mk I that I got from Grendel though - that was impossibly bad.

The Auld Grump

The models I want and have seen are far better then there old counterparts as to the price...... Gw are killing them self's but when you shop at forgeworld, you get used to it.

I should, perhaps, mention that my complaints are about GW, not the use of resin.

Mostly marketing and quality control.

Resin has come a very long way, and the actual material that they use, if I am correct, is top notch. The problem is that resin works best for large models, not standard character models.

The Auld Grump

Watching the Beasts of (Hopefully this will lead to an archive, if not now then eventually.)
...
...
...
Damned near bust a gut laughing. When they got to the Gandalf melting in direct sunlight.... Oh dear gods and fuzzy spiders! It didn't help that one of them was kind of a GW apologist. (So, tell me, looking at the metal model, is there any real improvement for the resin? Any? *mumble*no*mumble*.)

Every single one of the minis they picked up for review is being returned to the store for defects. Every single one. That goes beyond poor QC into downright terrible.

It also sounds like GW is asking their reps to slander other resin companies. Not cool GW, not cool at all. They are telling reps to inform customers that everyone else's resins cause cancer - most of the new run of resins are carcinogenic before hardening. Once the reaction is finished they become neutral. I suspect that GW's formula works exactly the same way.

Watch the video, if it gets archived,it's funny.

The Auld Grump, and Mantic isn't doing a Sci Fi game.
Honest.
Really.
That wasn't a half track, it was dwarf cavalry.
Yeah, that's the ticket, dwarf cavalry....

Here's the Melting Gandalf, from :

You can see the metal rod that he used to reinforce the legs has melted through the mini. And this was British sunlight, not Greece or Texas.

And apparently a GW store window display did the same thing....

At this point I am going to have to say WAIT FOR A WHILE IF YOU PLAN TO GET FINECAST! Hopefully they will address the raft of problems, but right now.... Not good, not good at all.

Great gods, above and below....

The Auld Grump

At a guess they did not plan enough (if any) lead time. They went straight from announcement to production, with no time to learn the properties and techniques for the material. This lack of preparation is inexcusable.

Modern resins can do very well. I have resins from Mantic, McVey, OtherWorld (this actually an old style rein, but appropriate for the material - a giant slug, with gross detail. And I do mean gross...), Black Scorpion, Soda Pop, and Ultraforge - with no returns. I have some old style resins from Grendel, and one was actually worse than what I am hearing about GW. (Trust me, it was bad, all but two pieces were miscast or damaged. After that I am done with Grendel.)

One of the things that gets mentioned, repeatedly, in the interview with the folks from Mantic is that when they switched units from metal to resin they doubled the number of miniatures per box. GW, instead, had a price increase.... Mantic, at this point, is going out of its way to make me happy.

The Auld Grump

Isn't £14.50 like $22 USD? Yeah, that would be WAY more than I would pay for any normal figure. Maybe a big dragon or something. But NOT a normal sized unit. Certainly not for one I have to build and paint.

Rackham prepaints for me.

Yeah, their prices are things of madness and delirium....

At the not so local game store there were two factions of very angry GW customers - those that were angry with the price increase, and those angry that so very many miniatures are unavailable until they are converted to resin.... GW switching to a less expensive material at the same time as a price increase may have been mere coincidence, but it was terrible timing. (Not the first time for GW, either - they had an increase in price for Ork buggies at the same time they switched to plastics.)

Me, I just don't buy GW these days, though I do like the Tomb Guard mounted on giant metal cobras.

I kind of hope that Reaper switches to resin, and does a better job of it than GW has. Mantic is showing that it can be done....

The Auld Grump

Because of this most recent round of price increases a not so local game store is trying out Mantic to see if they sell.

They really don't care much about 'official' GW minis anyway, so are willing to allow the use of other companies minis already.

They are also asking me to run a demo of a 'large battle' using the KoW rules. We will see if it actually happens.

The Auld Grump, heh, I wonder if they would allow One Monk standees....

Reaper is now dabbling their toes in the resin vat.

Unfortunately the first release was a limited edition of this year's Reaper Con Sophie, and was long gone when I went to order it. (Expensive, but with a pistol case.)

I will be keeping a weather eye open for other Reaper resins.

The Auld Grump

Oh dear oh dear... I remember when people thought that Rackham (the good old metal stuff - not the modern crap) was too expensive. Don't get me wrong now... resin is brilliant when in proper use, but it does have its limitations. Especially not suffering daylight is bad, bad, bad.

But, in my opinion, GW hasn't done too many good decisions for the last decade or so. I think that the last GW mini I purchased was about 3 years ago - a gray knight that I haven't painted yet. It was metal though and I appreciate it even more for it.

As a sidenote, too much detail isn't always exactly good. Sometime you can achieve brilliant results with LESS detail. Spyglass minis are a prime example.