Those of you who collect Games Workshop models are probably all too aware about the recent fanfare surrounding their switch to Finecast. Games Workshop are chopping out their metal range and replacing it with a new resin that isn't a health risk and captures even more detail. Hurray! No more pinning! No more hacking for weeks on end against metal! No more chipped minis! Oh wait is that a price rise I smell? Oh well you can't win 'em all.
No matter what you think about the politics of it all the end result remains the same. Games Workshop have switched their range and the price is going up. Essentially the words "deal with it" have never felt so apt. In fairness on the Finecast front I haven't actually seen a mini in the flesh yet so my judgement is well and truly reserved. I'm intending to buy the new Liche Priest model (below) when I can muster the pennies to use as my Hierophant as I need a second caster model and the old Liche Priest on foot looks kinda goofy imo. I'll still use the old model but it will simply become my level 2.
There has been a fair bit of hate about this model on the Tomb King community ranging from suggesting he looks more like a vampire to more extreme comments saying he looks like he really needs to go take a piss. Frankly if I'd been asleep in a Tomb for a thousand years I think I'd need to go pee as well. Despite the hate I think its a cracking model and I'm looking forward to getting it. It will certainly be my first "finecast" model when I can finally afford it.
While talking about affording things here is another picture to look at:
Those of you in the know will recognise this as the latest intelligence handbook for the North African campaign for Flames of War. This can only mean one thing...I'm digging out the British 8th Army.
A little enthusiasm from watching "The World At War" while painting my Tomb Kings (which I still need to post!) and Sircyn getting re motivated to play led me to grabbing the book at a nice discount from Amazon. While I waited for it to arrive I reacquainted myself with the Flames of War rules and got pretty excited to see the new army list. When I finally got my hands on North Africa it was a bit of a mixed reaction however.
On the one hand the new book is gorgeous. Its hardback and is much better to look at. In addition the layout of the lists is nothing short of intuitive and far easier to use the the "Afrika" book which was its predecessor. The Italians have also been massively changed for the better which will no doubt please Sircyn who fields the plucky little Romans. On the negative? Sweeping changes have come in for the British which makes my army list unworkable. It should be a positive since the British now have access to MUCH more choice than before (now properly stretching their options across the entire commonwealth) but since I already have a British 8th Army Motor Company this choice doesn't affect me in the short term one jot other than to hinder me. My lorries and carriers have been wiped from the list which means I need to find no fewer than 14 transports.
I was mentioning the recent GW price rise and how some people have reacted to it. My reaction is to effectively stop buying so much stuff. Not out of some form of protest but simply because I can longer sustain spending on this plastic crack any more as I have to achieve everything else I need in my life. I have plenty of Games Workshop models still awaiting building as well as revamping to see me through for a few years so this isn't a problem. With the enthusiasm to start Flames of War again I figured since I already had an army it would be ready for me to build or repair and hit the field without spending a penny! Alas this is not the case...
So as I've been engaging in ever more ambitious and new projects lately here is another to add to my list. I'm going to experiment with my own resin casting! I will make my own truck (obviously it wouldn't be legal to use Battlefront minis for this purpose) and then I will cast it into resin. If this is successful it shouldn't be too difficult to knock out a few more clones and there we have it! Truth be told this is not a money saving endeavour as it will cost me more to make the trucks than it would have to just buy them. Why bother then? Well partly for the challenge but also because who says I'm going to stop at trucks? I worked out if I extend my approach into creating lots of models for different things I can effective build a few more companies for my Brits at very low cost to myself. It needn't stop there either as obviously once I go back into Warhammer 40k or Fantasy there is an option to create my own scratch builds but this time duplicate them in resin. This is thus an experiment and investment in my own models future. Fingers crossed it all goes well!
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