Talk Fantasy Football

I came across this article about an interview with someone from GW about their finecast range and the future.

Two very relevant questions are below.

Q. So going forward this resin will replace white metal won’t it?

A. Yes that’s right. We do have a backlog of things like Battle Fleet Gothic and Blood Bowl with metal miniatures that we still manufacture, that we still make available, that are made in metal. A lot of times those things don’t come in packaging now. We still make them, because we think they are cool, but they might come in a baggie or a plain white box.

Q. Well then, is it safe to say that you are phasing those metal minis out?

A. Yeah, I think that Citadel Finecast is definitely the future of what we are doing with those special figures.

And a bit of conjecture on the part of the article’s author.
“Next, we find that metal is dead, dead, and even more dead: once GW sells through their backlog of metal everything will become Finecast or plastic. Specialist Games games look like they will be the last metal model standing, with the ranges more likely being discontinued after supply runs out.”

Full article is available Here

So that does seem to add credence to the opinion that many of us had that GW will slowly phase out the specialist range. As so many people dislike finecast, particularly the accompanying price hike this could be seen as good news in the short term as our models will stay metal for now.

Sadly, I certainly can’t see them bothering to upgrade the moulds when they start to wear out and there are already complaints about some of the old epic 40K models.

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Facebook Group showing all the teams I’ve done.
British or British based and playing FUMBBL? Then check out the White Isle Fringe the entryway to the WIL, FUMBBL’s largest UK league.

He really did say that they were fine with a less-than-perfect product didn't he?

"hey, we can't get this right, but we'll give you this stuff to fix our cock ups."

GW stop making BB minis. Not shocking news TBH. We all know they'd much ather we all just went away...despite the obvious popularity and money making potential of the game...

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I know a bear that you don't know. * ICEPELT IS MY HERO.
Master bleater. * Not in the clique.
Save the Crom. * Member of the "3 digit" club.

This is why, when FineCast was annouced, I blew loads of cash on getting the last three GW teams I needed to finish my collection. I've not bought anything from GW since - and don't intend to again either

This perfectly illustrates why I much prefer getting my players and teams secondhand.

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I think it's absolutely ridiculous to sell a product with known defects and expect the consumer to fix them his/herself. If I buy a coffee mug with a cracked handle I take it back and it's replaced, the store doesn't then try and sell me some filler to fix it with on my own time.

I really don't like the finecast, but the guy being interviewed didn't mention anything about the BB or Battlefleet ranges being discontinued and I think it's unfair to jump to that conclusion, infact they mention that finecast is probably the future for those ranges.

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No blades... no bows... leave your weapons here.

Undercity Razorclaws
(Skaven)
W/D/L - 9/3/6
TD's - 31

The biggest surprise for me on this thread is the the awesome signature of SetzerGabbz.

Very well done Sir.

It is indeed deeply awesome. I am flattered.

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HERALD OF TRUTH
Heff...Keeping the Dwarf (and lego) hate alive
If you cannot stall out for an 8 turn drive to score with dwarves then really you need to go and play canasta with your dad...if you can find him.

I aim to please.

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I'm just waiting for GW to start making figs from papier maché to save money. Well, either that or their customers can order picks of their models and cast them themselves. Now there's a business idea that would save them money. Seeing how Granny is greedier than Uncle Scrooge even these moves would probably generate a price raise.

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Death to the high elves. Dark Elves prevail!!!

Well a lot of people are getting pretty excited about 3D printers and how they would impact the miniature market in the future.

At the moment you either need seriously expensive equipment to get good results but the home printers are getting better and cheaper all the time. Just compare the 2D printers we were stuck with 25 years ago compared to what we have now.

I have already seen someone create a rather crude version of a marine dreadnought using a 3D printer. So to recreate that all you would need is the file and then you could make as many as you wanted. That could mean bead things for GW and any other model producer out there as they could have the same issues with models as film and music companies have. So it would all depend how they react to it. I suspect GW would go down the C&D letter route rather than embracing the new technology.

Even if you don’t have the ability to create models from scratch you can use 3D scanners to copy existing objects and change their size. Heck you could probably scan your own face and you fave BB model and combine the 2.

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Facebook Group showing all the teams I’ve done.
British or British based and playing FUMBBL? Then check out the White Isle Fringe the entryway to the WIL, FUMBBL’s largest UK league.

I've been watching 3D printing very carefully.

Currently .... if with the really good equipment you just cannot get detail at 28mm scale. However I'm sure that will change in the future.

It is one of the reason that a lot of Impact!'s resources over the last 2 years have gone into producing our own line of games because I'm not sure that the miniatures market will be around as many years as I have until I want to retire. At least at this point ... game manufacturing is something the machines don't do .... .... yet.

Tom

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Impact! - Fantasy Football miniatures and supplies designed by gamers for gamers

Tom
Perhaps you will be the one I buy the file from, like pdf rules.

I just looked up 3D printing because I wasn't overly familiar with the technology and I'm not sure it's going to devastate the miniatures market that much, should the technology be perfected to the point where detail on a 25mm model can be attained.

I appreciate that people would be able to scan and copy a model dragon for example and have the printer print a replica. But the thing is I can make a mould of that dragon and recast it myself already quite easily. If you're talking about the number of recasts shooting up, I'm sure there will be some of it going on to a certain degree but if the price of printer INK is anything to go by, how much will the resin (or whatever it is these 3D printers use) set you back? Would it be worth it?

If anything, miniature producers could use this technology in order to make the casting process simpler. I'm sure GW already have a certain amount of CAM and CAD (Computer Aided Manufacter/Design) although I'll admit I don't know about their production processes, it just seems like the scale they're on that would be the case.

What it may do is prompt GW for instance to change the way they operate in terms of making individual components and models available again, rather than having to buy sets even if you only want a particular head or something.

It will quite possibly change the business, but I don't think it will be the death of it.

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No blades... no bows... leave your weapons here.

Undercity Razorclaws
(Skaven)
W/D/L - 9/3/6
TD's - 31

It has okay results at about double the scale that BB is in.

At 45mm you can do this:

$10.11 in white plastic
$48.14 in stainless steel

Tom

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Impact! - Fantasy Football miniatures and supplies designed by gamers for gamers

What it does is allow anyone who is a talented CAD artist to create figures without needing to know how to sculpt. Big difference between digital vs bronze wire and green stuff.

It will mean that forum groups can have a talented person create the file and then in many cases he'll pass it around to his friends and then they can use it to make their own miniatures.

For example .. this KickStarter which almost reach 1 Million $ was to work on creating an affordable 3D printer that could be in every house hold like your current paper printer.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/printrbot/printrbot-your-first-3d-printer?ref=live
At $500 ... if was on the right path.

I'm NOT predicting the end of how miniatures are done ... however ... I like paying my mortgage so I pay very close attention to this technology and what it is offering.

One (you might say 2) of the products Impact! currently offers in our store are actually 3D Printed (can you guess which it is?)

Tom

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Impact! - Fantasy Football miniatures and supplies designed by gamers for gamers