Gundam? Gundamn! Or: How I learned to stop Warhammering and love the Gunpla

 Following on from my last article on GW’s pricing, I actually had a hankering to get on with some painting. Though I might be somewhat disenfranchised with GW's wargames at large, the models are still great and that Underworlds Vampire set have been begging to have some paint slapped on them. 

Then I went and broke my hand. It was a fight with Nazis you see, ten, no TWENTY of them. 

Oh alright, the truth is I fell on the stairs and smashed my hand on the bannister, a nice big splintered diagonal break on my fifth metacarpal.  Six weeks to two months to heal

Yeaaaah, that's not meant to look like that. 

Bollocks, there goes any painting. Kinda hard to hold a model when your hand is in plaster. 

Thankfully I had a backup. 

A few weeks ago, I had (fortuitously) ordered a Gundam model. 

This one in fact: Foresight, or mere coincidence?

I’d always known about Gundam, in fact I'd got Lee one for Christmas a few years back as he was into making them. But I'd never given it much more thought than that, hardly requiring yet ANOTHER hobby. But, I finally checked out the series as Lee had been urging me to do for ages and found out i REALLY liked the Samaurai-esque design from that series. 

Well i say series, it was only the first of many. Gundam is an antiwar anime franchise that has been going for over 40 years now and has a LOT of entries across many timelines. In fact it’s the same age as me, having started in 1979. By watching the series and ordering my first kit I had entered into the world of Gunpla. 

My collection thus far: All from the original series. 

So: what is Gunpla? 

Put simply Gunpla is short for Gundam ‘Plastic Model’ they are kits of the many, MANY suits from the myriad series that, due to some spectacular engineering require no glue to assemble. Exclusively made by Bandai they come on sprues (known as runners in the hobby) of different colour plastics so that painting is not required to complete the model, though there are certainly many that do paint and customise their figures. 

So essentially, it’s a mech action figure that you assemble yourself. They have full articulation just like a normal action figure and come in various sizes depending on which ‘grade’ of figure you pick up (more on those in a second). 

The amazing technology that Bandai uses means that different colours and even different TYPES of plastic can be on the same sprue (sorry i don’t use runners, call it 27 years of habit). I was blown away by the rubbery plastic that was on one corner of the sprue that was flexible so the parts could be bent. Incredible. 

See those hoses top right? Softer than the rest of the Sprue, MIND. BLOWN

And that’s to say nothing of the engineering of the kits themselves. It's a real marvel how these things go together. The chest sections reminded me of the engineering in Lego, where you build it up in layers for a strong core. The instructions are excellent. Despite being in Japanese, I have never had an issue assembling one of these models. I have now built four and the High Grade models that I have been building normally take a couple hours each. A couple of very enjoyable hours that results in a really cool posable figure. I have a Real Grade Gundam that will be a more complex job, that one is being saved for now. 

So let’s go through those grades quickly. 

First Grade: These are generally remakes of the first kits that were released back in the 80's. They are dirt cheap and moulded all in one colour so I'm not sure they really count as true Gunpla. They usually need gluing together too. The first kit I built was actually one of these but I replaced it with a vastly  superior High Grade. I do have a Guntank that is FG that turned out ok. 

This was thankfully big enough to stay still and be airbrushed.  

Entry Grade: Like it sounds these are the most basic versions you can pick up aside from the 30MM (Thirty Minute Missions) that I don't really consider real Gunpla. Entry Grade have minimal colour separation, meaning that areas that would be different colours on more advanced kits will be one piece here, allowing for easier assembly. They are made of less parts than more advanced grades and though basic, can look surprisingly close to high grade models though they often have slightly reduced articulation.  

High Grade: This is your bread and butter kit, and the majority of the Gunpla that I own are High Grade (when i broke my hand I ordered a bundle of kits). Like the previous two they are 1/144 scale so they stand about 5” high. They will usually come with more colour separation and a small sticker sheet. On average I've found they take a couple of hours to assemble if you want to do a decent job. 

A HG Zaku. about £16

Real Grade: These were designed to be a step up from the High Grade while staying at the same scale. They tend to be designed as a core skeleton that you then bolt the armour on to, making for a much more accurate and authentic build. These kits also tend to come with the transfer sheets for detailing your Gundam, there are not as many of them available as they are a relatively new concept (2010) but I think that often they are the better choice if you have a few High Grades under your belt. 

RX 78 Mk II. Real Grade, real detail. Soon

Master Grade: This is where we start getting serious. Firstly they are bigger, 1/100 or roughly 7.5” tall. Secondly they are FAR more detailed with loads more parts to the assembly (the instruction manuals are books as opposed to leaflets. They also have room for LEDs and working pistons that move as you articulate the figure. A big advancement from the other kits, i might get one one day (maybe when i go to Japan later this year) but it's a much more intense investment. 

Perfect Grade: This is it. The best you can get. They are 1/60 so absolutely huge. Obscenely detailed and complicated with many hundreds of parts, you are looking at dozens and dozens of hours to assemble one. The articulation is beyond compare, with even the fingers being movable, the colour separation is perfect, and there are myriad moving panels and parts, you can even remove the pilot. They are invariably lit by LEDs and cost hundreds of pounds. A bit too much for me to take on I think, (I mean some pieces even need screwing together) but they are undeniably impressive. 

So that’s all the different Gundam (well, not all, as there are variants of each Grade, but most). So, assuming you are still reading, what’s involved?

First Grade at the front (painted) the HG updgrade at the back. 

Well, thankfully, not much. This is what you'll need

A GOOD pair of clippers, the ones you use for Warhammer will most likely not 'cut it' (sorry). You will need clippers that give as fine and clean a cut as possible. I grabbed a pair of Japanese ones for 12 quid that seem to do the job just fine. The main reason for this is stress marks. If you use cheap clippers you will most likely end up with marks from the sheared plastic, if not at first then when they inevitably blunt. 

A SHARP knife. OK, the knife doesn’t matter too much but you need a sharp blade as you clean up the last bits of burr or ‘nubs’ as they are known in Gunpla. Once you have the plastic flush you can often even out the colour with a fingernail BUT…. 

So satisfying and simple to construct.

Polishing/sanding sticks. These are the best way to get the plastic back to the original colour, work down from a 600 to a 5000 grit and you’ll get a lovely smooth unblemished finish. 

Then OPTIONAL:

Gundam Markers, these are markers that are used to cover up marks and sometimes to line panels but honestly, if you are reading this you likely have a range of paints that will do the job just as well. When I have two working hands again I'll likely panel line with thinned down paints be they acrylic or oil. 

Come on now, that's not bad for a tenner. 

Honestly, if you have any experience with plastic miniature kits you’ll likely find Gundam a breeze. I have encountered no difficulties thus far and I have REALLY enjoyed it. 

But the BEST thing about Gundam? The price. 

My first kit, the classic RX 78 which was a high grade kit cost me £9.95 from Chaos Cards. That’s right, a tenner. Though this was the first kit i bought, it was not the first i assembled. But i WOULD say it's probably my favourite thus far. NO glue needed, no paint needed. Although you really should get the stuff I mentioned above which will cost a bit, you could get a cheap pair of clippers for a couple of quid and put that bad boy together there and then (after all there are people who inexplicably do NOT clean up their minis).  

Two hours work while watching TV. With one hand. 

That’s a lot cheaper than Warhammer. A LOT. And it results in a nice big poseable model. It’s frankly a bit of a bargain. 

Now, we do need to qualify this. Gundam kits are mass produced in China so they are very cheap to produce, but I would argue that they are AT LEAST as well engineered and designed as Citadel’s miniatures (if not better). A good chunk of what you pay with GW is the fact that it is produced in Britain.

And yes, Gundam can be pricey. HG Kits will be between £10 and £25. Real Grade, £25-£35 and Master Grade frequently £50 and above. Perfect Grade? Well over £100, sometimes as much as £200. But you are talking DOZENS of sprues. GW kits frequently hit £100 for three or four sprues. Honestly, Gundam seems much better bang for your buck, even with the above caveats. It’s also worth mentioning that they are even CHEAPER in Japan (man I'm gonna need a big suitcase). Yeah Bandai have been doing this a lot longer than GW but they also seem to do it a lot better. 

This is a Gouf. Some of the names are a bit weird. 

Anyway, I'm not going to be dropping GW. I’m too invested. 27 years in, I can't drop it just like that, even if I am leaning away from armies and more into skirmish games where I only have to paint half a dozen models rather than masses of models that will just be deleted en’masse. But Gunpla was a nice experiment, a nice distraction, and while there are hundreds to choose from, most are frankly a bit OTT for me looks wise as they start having wings and armour on top of armour so they look a bit toy like and lean away from the mechanical samurai look that i like. That said, there are a few more that i want (I’m currently watching Gundam ZZ) so I’m sure the six that i have accumulated over the last three weeks will be added to, after all, I'm still looking at another few weeks before i can use my left hand properly. 

Anyway, I'll shut up now, this has taken a while to write with one hand in plaster. I urge you to check out the world of Gunpla, whether you merely dip in a toe or jump right in. It’s fun, it’s easy and it’s cheap.

Gunpla? Qapla! 

A Grim Tapestry: Chapter II

Gaining access had been as easy as Yarlae had indicated. Scaling the wall with the aid of Markas’ hook and rope they soon found themselves atop the outer wall standing by the door that Yarlae had spied. Her keen eyes could make out another door on the opposite wall that was closer to the tower. Surprisingly there was no apparent access to the tower from the ground level, a barren courtyard littered with debris but no doors that could be seen, no way of gaining access to the manse proper. Only this door and its twin on the other side. With few other options and no apparent path they proceeded. The door was no match for Wulf’s warhammer, stoved in after a few mighty swings. Silence and darkness lay on the other side. It was growing darker outside too, the sun dipping behind the mountains. They stepped inside and Vasilya muttered an incantation. A sconce nearby sparked into flame from which Markas lit an oil soaked torch. 

The passageway ahead was empty save a few hangings and an empty weapons rack, presumably for defending the fort. For a fort it seemed to be, no mere domicile. A chill wind whistled past and the hanging banners fluttered even as the burning torch sputtered. Markas moved the torch in front of him, shielding it from the elements as they moved deeper inside Manse De Poulain. 

They proceeded down the corridor cautiously. Wulf and Markas at the fore, Yarlae and Vasilya behind. Presently they came to a staircase descending, it appeared that the path to the tower would be anything but straightforward. 

Descending the winding staircase they still encountered no resistance. No horrors launched themselves at the company, there was no apparent threat. Everything was still, even the wind had died down, though the torch still sputtered occasionally as though the very darkness was trying to smother the flame. Only their breathing belied any life at all. At the bottom of the stairs was an unlocked door to a room beyond which another short passage led to another set of descending steps. Wulf stopped, raising his hand in a fist out of habit. 

“This isn't right, he growled. If we go down again we will be under the fort. We shall turn back, retrace our steps. See if we can find another path to the tower”. There was no argument, there never was with Wulf. They turned around and retrod their path. However, at the door to the previous staircase a magical barrier fizzed and sparked. 

“I knew it”, Markas hissed. “A trap!”

He was not wrong, it was then that they struck. 

Over a dozen in number, they emerged from the shadows, ambushing the company from behind. Yet the quartet were not unprepared. They had been on guard since entering the Manse and whirled to meet the horrors head on. Their attackers were fast, blurs of cloth and flesh that struck at a blinding speed in the gloom. Markas fended one off with his torch scorching its flesh and setting its garb alight. It howled as it burned, becoming fully alight unnaturally quickly, ablaze like dry tinder. A flailing flaming figure that illuminated the rest of its brethren. 

They were abominations, patchwork monstrosities, deformed and mangled and grotesque. But for all that, they were horribly, identifiably, human. They were amalgamations of several individuals sewn and melded together into new monstrous forms by some unseen twisted architect. Yet they WERE human, men and women, and although their forms were monstrous their faces still carried a very obvious fear. They were scared of the fire. The wretch on the floor had stopped screaming and flailing. The flame was guttering, dying out and turning a mysterious violet as it waned. Soon the only light was again Markas' torch. Emboldened once more by the darkness the horrors attacked again. 

In the gloom the company fought for their lives. Markas loosed a trio of throwing knives, yet, although all struck true, none of his targets fell. Within moments they were on him and though he tried to strike them with the torch he was overwhelmed, the brand was struck from his hand and fell to the floor, still burning. He grappled with two of the constructs, managing to gain space enough to draw his short sword. 

Wulf bellowed as he swung his warhammer in wide irresistible arcs, caving in the head of one foe and crushing the chest of another. Though they fell, they rose once more, mangled face and concave torso closing in on the mighty warrior as he retreated, all the while still swinging his weapon. Though they looked human, they recovered from what would normally be mortal wounds, their ravaged forms continuing to attack. They could be slowed but only the most destructive of blows could stop them. He lashed out once more and fairly split the abomination in two such was the force of his strike. The creature spasmed on the floor, broken limbs trying to gain purchase and rise. These things did not bleed, he noticed. Instead their wounds drew forth a viscous tar-like ichor. 

Markas had gained the upper hand. For all his brutishness and lack of charm he was a formidable warrior and he hewed and chopped with his blade, striking limbs from bodies and cleaving his foes apart. More than once though, his blade would lodge in the torso of an enemy, the thick sludge preventing clean strikes. 

Yarlae also fared well, innate and honed fighting skills coming to the fore. Graceful compared to Markas’ direct approach she fended off foes with her gilded short bow even as she dispatched others with a curved elvish long dagger, it had belonged to her mother and she had lost count of the lives it had ended in her hands. The blade flashed and flickered in the gloom as she sliced and slashed, her half elven eyes affording her superior eyesight in the dark. Yet, for all her prowess and elan, the foes she struck down rose once more. The weapon unsuited to the brutal dismemberment that this enemy required. 

Vasilya desperately defended herself against no less than four of the patchwork horrors. Pressed into a corner, she had thrown up a kinetic barrier to protect herself but the strain on her face made it apparent that she had no power spare to mount any kind of attack. Thankfully Markas soon came to her aid, decapitating two of the foe with heavy swings before running the other two through and bisecting them. Wulf, having obliterated his opponents, moved over to assist Yarlae, crushing her opponents with mighty overhead swings. 

Presently all of the monstrosities were down, smashed or cut to pieces, hacked apart and torn asunder. Bodies and limbs lay all around. Markas picked up the sputtering torch, carefully coaxing the lambent flame back to life. 

“What the hell was that?” he scowled, holding the torch low and peering at the vanquished adversaries. He screwed his face up in distaste and spat on the piles of flesh. He tried to clear his sword of the sticky tar like ichor but it clung to the blade, stubbornly refusing to wipe clean. He used the torch to burn the residue off instead, grunting with satisfaction as the blade flared brightly with that strange violet hue. Whatever these horrors had in place of blood, it was highly combustible. 

“Monsters” Vasilya whispered, visibly shaken by the experience. “But they had human faces, were these… people?”

Wulf prodded one with his warhammer. “Maybe once, not now. Look, stitched, these things were made, not born” He turned, his face set. 

“They seemed to be afraid of fire. We should make more torches lest we encounter more. Their blood burns well enough, we’ll take their wrappings and soak them in it. Find staves for the torches. To it, now!” He barked at Yarlae and Markas. Without another word the half-elf and brigand set to their grim task. Wulf turned his attention to the young mage;

“Vasilya” She turned, a haunted look in her eyes.

“Can you do anything about this door? I’d just as soon not venture further into the depths.” She shut her eyes and held a hand to the door. Sweat beaded on her forehead. The seal on the door grew brighter and thrummed but after a moment she dropped her hand. 

“It is beyond me”, she replied, shakily. “Even were I at full power I suspect that these magicks would be too much for me to overcome. Whoever set these wards is mightier than me by far.” She shuddered as the effort took its toll. 

“So be it,” muttered Wulf. “Deeper then, into the trap.”

A Grim Tapestry: Chapter I

“Careful you fool” Yarlae hissed. She took a step back from the precipice from which she had very nearly just tumbled, trying not to show the panic that was coursing through her. Far below, wicked, jagged rocks jutted out from the river Tryn’s cold dark waters, a fall would mean certain death. 

Thankfully that had not been her fate, her elven born agility and poise saving her. She shot Markas a look of pure venom, masking the flush of fear. In her mind she felt like she was actually falling. Were her tremors borne of terror or anger? Likely both, she realised. 

For his part Markas shot her a half apologetic look and a shrug. Markas Weiss was a boorish man of few words which suited her just fine. The man was a dullard anyway and they were here for money not conversation. 

The company consisted of her, Markas, a mercurial old warrior who had only ever been known as Wulf and at the rear of the group, Vasilya, a young quiet mage dressed in flowing robes that were entirely impractical for their current endeavour. 

And that endeavour was treasure. Responding to a tip from one of Wulf’s many dubious associates, they now found themselves in North Arbora traversing the gully that lead to the Manse de Poulian. The manse was now long abandoned and decrepit but if their source was  to be believed, it was also the resting place of a hidden sizable cache of valuables, the ill gotten gains of a band of brigands who’s despicable deeds had finally caught up with them in a very terminal way. She only hoped that the information was worth the price they had paid, their last two leads had been less than lucrative. 

****

“It was Burgetts lots base you see” the scrawny individual who had only identified himself as ‘Red’ had explained, between swigs of Golden Best. Of course anything served in the Tattered Fox was far from the best of anything but it did taste slightly better than the urine it so strongly resembled. That night the inn was full of heady aromas and bawdy banter, all the better to conduct clandestine conversations. The attendees of this impromptu meeting were well used to tuning out the background activities of the Tattered Fox and Wulf bade ‘Red’ continue with a curt gesture. 

“Yep, Burgetts lot” the informant continued, his reddish mop hung lank and filthy round his temples, framing what seemed to be a permanent scowl. Every now and then his head jerked involuntarily, doubtless the mark of some substance abuse. The tic sent drops of sweat flying with every motion and Yarlae surreptitiously covered her drink with her hand. 

“They had quite the stash from what I understand, ‘course that lot committed many a misdeed over the years as you well know”, he shot a knowing look at Wulf and drained his pint. Wulf grunted noncommittally and gestured for a serving wench to bring another round. 

“And then of course they were bought low at Halgen’s Hill, the whole sorry lot of them, and all that loot has been just waiting there, at their hideout. Hidden away I've no doubt but I imagine it’s well worth a look at any rate. Just so happens I have the key to the tower where it’s held, taken off Burgett’s very corpse no less! Yours for the right price, if you’re interested that is'', he added, with a sly look. He spasmed again, thankfully before accepting his drink from the maid. He took a long draught from the stein, spilling ale down his front as he jerked uncontrollably once again. He wiped the foam from his lips with the back of his hand and waited expectantly. 

Markas stopped picking his teeth with a dirk, planting the blade point down in the dark oak table before sneering unpleasantly. 

“An’ why you not gone after this great prize yourself eh?” his rasping voice low and spiteful. “Seems just too good to be true, lest you trying to trick us? Eh?” He jerked the dirk from the table top, waving it accusingly. 

Red lowered his half empty stein to the table and raised his hands placatingly. He was missing half his ring finger on his left hand Yarlae noticed. No doubt there was some grim story to be told there, she idly mused. 

“Do I look like an adventurer, friend?” he retorted. “I’m not like to go off into the mountains on my own, treasure or no treasure. I’m no warrior, as you can plainly see, I'd not last a minute in a fight. No, no I'm not capable of this task, you mark my words, but you lot…” He lowered his hands, reaching for his drink again. “Besides” he added, with a sideways glance, “I only came into possession of the key and the location of the hideout recently didn’t I?”

Something about the way that he said ‘possession’ jolted Yarlae from her half-reverie. A warrior he most certainly was not but she could imagine him quite capable of a cowardly murder, skulking in the shadows. For her part she believed the man's tale, Wulf wasn’t the kind of man you deceived, not unless you had a death wish. 

Negotiations had been made, more alcohol quaffed and coin parted with. The unkempt informant had stuffed his gains into a torn and stained jerkin before slinking off into the night, a wretch returning to his natural habitat. 

Now Wulf stood, his face impassive, the key hanging from his belt, his warhammer slung over one shoulder. A two handed weapon, Wulf swung it with a disciplined, practised, ease such that Yarlae suspected him to be a Knight of the Realm. Still, they didn't talk of such things. They didn't really talk at all, strictly business, always. 

It had taken a week to reach Blackvale. The nearest town to Manse De Poulain, Blackvale was nearly desolate, not uncommon in Arbora where predation from ghouls and worse could ravage populations. The people who were still there were sullen, drawn, but they had been able to provide some accommodation and supplies. When pressed about the nearby Manse they had only said it was a place of horrors. Monsters dwelled within, they said. No one went near the place. Yarlae had been glad to leave the bleak location, though the road ahead was no less inhospitable. Rising above the dark forests of Arbora, their winding path took them into the hills. Through treacherous crags and climbs they had journeyed and now the more dangerous terrain lay behind them. There was now but a short ascent before them to the manse above. They would be there soon. 

“Take point” Wulf said to Yarlae, with the natural authority that had made him de facto leader of the company and once again belied his probable military background. Much about him fit that assumption Yarlae realised, from his neat grey beard to the immaculate condition of his armour and weapon. She moved swiftly to the head of the group, shooting Markas a dirty look as she passed. She received a nasty sneer in return though she didn’t see it. Unslinging her bow, she adopted a low crouch and drew an arrow. 

“Use those half elven eyes of yours” Wulf instructed. “Scout ahead, thirty feet, we’ll follow. Come back once you have checked the path ahead and the gate.” He held up a hand, signalling those behind him. The brigand and mage drew to a halt. Vasilya looked around nervously whilst Markas took the opportunity to scrape filth from his boots with his blade, proceeding to wipe the blade clean on his trousers. 

Yarlae moved off quickly, even crouched; she moved almost as fast as her normal gait; there was a smoothness and elegance to her motion, a boon of her mongrel heritage, as were her preternatural senses. She was the company’s scout, seeing dangers and foes long before her cohorts. She had never known her father. He had been absent at her birth and ever since. Her mother had refused to speak of him, and the look on her face, the rare occasion that Yarlae might broach the subject combined with the scars that marked her, suggested that her conception had been far from a loving affair. Yarlae soon learned to stop asking. 

Her mother was taken from her on her 13th Birthday. A simple black fletched arrow through her throat, a simple and swift death that went unnoticed and unremarked. Yarlae had been on her own ever since and had ever since been doing whatever she needed to survive, no matter how unpleasant. 

She caught herself again. She had a tendency to drift, often at inopportune times.  Sometimes she even fancied she could see things that hadn’t happened yet, Though she couldn’t do it on command. It came unbidden, uncalled, premonitions through daydreams. They didn’t always come true, but often she would find her mind slipping, imagining future events that would then sometimes come to pass. Always minor, and often dismissable as coincidence. Was it just a personality trait? Or another mark of her mixed blood? Either way, it irritated her, almost as much as her ears, too misshapen to be human yet lacking the natural elegance and point of the fey folk.

Still, those ears had their advantages and she strained them now to hear any activity ahead as she neared the outer walls of the Manse. Nothing. Her acute vision also betrayed no presence. Stayed for a moment, scanning the building, picking out points of interest and checking for any sounds or movement, but there was only silence. Happy enough that she was alone she carried out a quick but thorough close inspection of the gate and wall, noting a possible point of ingress. She looked back behind her, true to his word Wulf and the remainder of the company were about thirty feet behind. They would be hidden to most but Yarlae picked them out with little difficulty. She made her way back down the slope, rejoining them;

“Nothing, '' she confirmed. “It’s quiet as the grave up there. The main gate is barred but there is a small door higher up above the wall that we should be able to reach with that.” she pointed at the coiled rope at Markas’s waist. The main tower seems to be at the back of the complex, I couldn't see if it was easily reachable from outside. I imagine we’ll be able to determine that from the top of the wall.”

Wulf nodded. “Let's get to it then”. 

What Price Victory?

Conclave posts, like buses eh? Nothing for ages and then two at once! As I alluded to last time round, after having my say on the state of the rules I'm going to talk about the models today. And the PRICE of those models. Run for cover!

It's going to be a balanced and reasoned piece though (honest) with arguments both for and against the pricing strategy (although there are some examples that are just too egregious to defend). Remember, above all this is just writing practice for me, trying to get back into the habit after much time in the wilderness. I might even finish Cultwar one day (still doing better than George RR Martin is on WOW) 

So, the main argument, the main point of contention: Warhammer/Games Workshop is too expensive. Now this IS a relative point. After all if you are wealthy (which I most certainly am NOT) then it may well be a cost that you can more easily dismiss. A more relevant question I believe would be, Is GW good value?: So that, by and large, is what I am going to discuss, as I said, with points for and against. 

1: The Pricing Strategy. 

We all know that not all sprues are equal. A teeny character sprue can cost the same as a whole unit of ten models. This is because Games Workshop, when calculating pricing, factors in the amount that will be sold. Put basically, you will likely only have one of a character in an army whereas you may have multiples of a given unit a character might be tied to a subfaction. Therefore in order to make back production costs (which include design and tooling and materials and packaging) they charge more for the models that they will sell less of. Seems logical, but then there are exceptions that just don't seem to make sense. 

Flayed Ones: £32.50 for ONE SPRUE of five monopose models: Putting aside for one second the HORRIBLE design of these models (forever labelled Fiddly Ones), the price is scandalous. It seems to be the standard these days, after all units of 5 of the new Aspect Warriors are the same price, but at least they are multiple sprues with options. 5 Flayed Ones is completely pointless. Useless, nothing but cannon fodder. The unit size is 5 to 20. 20 would be pretty effective in a game. Shame they would cost £130! Absolutely scandalous and unforgivable, this is some of the worst value I can think of when it comes to GW. 

£35 AND they suck to make. Double insult

OK, deep breath, I promised this wouldn't be ranty and it would be balanced. Let's have a 'For' 

2: Bang for your Buck. 

The sprues are JAM packed compared to days of yore. The old Cadian Sprue, (still available) has gaps you can fit your fingers through (though the sprue is rubbish as a knuckle duster). By comparison the engineering and tooling that GW uses these days is such that sprues are jam packed with so much on them that it can actually have the adverse effect of finding individual pieces quite difficult! So it could be argued that the new kits, which contain many more parts, actually represent a comparable value even after considering the increased price. Of course there are a couple of caveats. 

: It's just alternate loadouts, unless you magnetise you won't use them all

: This problem is just exacerbated when you buy multiples, it's cost saving by GW but you aren't really reaping the benefits. 

Spot the Difference

Still, it's worth mentioning. To balance this out a bit the new stuff is also way more detailed and well engineered than the old kits with way less mould lines. 

3: Price rises on OLD Kits. 

Whilst new kits costing more and having way more parts or detail is one thing. Something that is far more difficult to accept is price rises on old kits. Some of them, through various price 'adjustments' and content cuts (halving the amount of models whilst implementing a modest price cut of 20% or so - Dire Avengers, we are looking at you) are far worse value than when they were first released and are pretty damn ropey prospects now. A few examples. 

12 Khorne Berzerkers. £32.50 Pretty Sure these released at £20 for TWENTY

10 Catachan Jungle Fighters for £21.50. Again I think these were £20 for 20. 

and these models, yeah, they haven't aged well...

Of course the Emperor still loves you, just maybe a bit less than the newer models is all. 

Now the thing about plastics is they ARE expensive in the terms of tooling and engineering, so the upfront costs are high, but the actual material costs are CHEAP when compared to the metal of old days. This is one of the reasons that the cost is calculated on how ubiquitous the unit is as I have detailed above. The model needs to make back the cost of the tool. 

But these old models made back their cost AGES ago. The material cost is pennies so these are the price raises that I find particularly difficult to justify. No more bangs. Just more bucks. For example, Land Raiders are £65 now. That kit is over twenty years old. It was a landmark kit for its time and still holds up but costs nearly double the cost it was at release. (I am aware that the options have been rolled in though). 

Or consider the Stompa. That's not held up as well in my opinion and now costs £80. It's exactly the same kit that was released at £50. Nothing added, the box might have changed but that's it. 

OK another 'For', admittedly with caveats.

4: Production costs have increased.

Now this IS undeniable, EVERYTHING has gone up. Shipping, material, production, resources and utilities, EVERYTHING has increased in cost. However, GW recently reported record profits and in their financial reports we can see exactly what their costs are. It is also worth noting that on top of the recent price rise that they attributed to additional costs, they also raised prices at the beginning of the pandemic, indeed some of the same products were raised in both for a double whammy. More recently, Blood Bowl, one of the more attractive options price wise, endured an increase of 20%.  This at a time when cost of living increases are at a record high! 

Of course one of the problems there is that Games Workshop is a publicly traded company and above all has an obligation to its shareholders not its customers. Profits must be maintained (and it should be noted that GW's profit mark up is around 35% which most companies could only dream of), dividends paid. 

While we are talking about production costs let's go back in time a bit. Let's talk about Finecast. 

Metal was quite an expensive and laborious medium to make models out of. Both the base material (originally lead based and then moving to a tin alloy) and the moulds (though a fraction of the cost of plastic moulds) and shipping, metal being rather heavy to transport. 

So in an effort to cut costs (and it should be noted that this was stated in the accompanying articles about Finecast) they made the move to resin. Many other manufacturers already used resin, either mass production or boutique companies so we had an idea what to expect. 

The resulting product was so poor that 'Failcast' became the accepted term. Horrific quality control and casting resulted in models with defects, bubbles and mould release on the racks. It was so bad that GW bought out Liquid Greenstuff (another terrible product) so that the customers could fix the product. However, it still melted in the heat. It was an abomination and frankly an insult to hobbyists. Finecast is a better product these days but man, it was rough back in the day. I detested working with it. 

So crap, it became a meme. 

The biggest problem though? Despite GW extolling how it was being done so it would be cheaper, all the models went UP in price. The only savings being made were by GW (though to be honest this is debatable due to the return rate, likely the reason why they eventually just told the customers to fix it themselves.) 

Never forget Finecast. 

Elsewhere with resin we have Forgeworld, better quality than Finecast, though FW certainly have their own quality control problems - especially with larger kits. For example, the Manta. A couple of VERY large Youtube channels ordered a Tau Manta in a contest with each other, sort of a race to see who could get it built first. When they showed off these very expensive kits they both had broken or warped parts, certainly not the showcase for the product you would think that GW would want. You would think they would be more aware. 'Hey guys this is going to be seen on the internet by a few hundred thousand people, let's make sure there are ZERO problems with it so it looks as good as possible'. These kits are NOT cheap, they should be more or less flawless. Yes, they are advanced kits, not for beginner hobbyists but you shouldn't have to fix things or resculpt details. (I still have flashbacks to trying to assemble a Sicaran tank) 

So yes, cheaper production costs, much more expensive models. Ho hum. Let's try to end with one more positive shall we? 

For the record: Warcradle, for my money, has the very best resin for wargaming models. Crazy crisp and holds great detail. Shame they are shifting to plastic too. 

5: Plastic is the superior medium and is worth the extra money. 

Let's face it, hard plastic is easier to work with. It's easier to cut, to convert, to modify. I still maintain that it doesn't QUITE hold the detail that resin and metal does but it is close. I actually think this is one of the reasons behind the increased scale of newer models. It's easier to detail the kits when they are a bit bigger. 

It is probably fair to say that GW makes the best plastic figures in the business. They invested a lot of money into the technology and it shows, I have already covered how much better the kits are compared to the ones produced ten years or so ago. With plastic you can kitbash to your heart's content (though it could be argued that it's not quite as easy as it was a few years ago due to the way that the current plastic trend is monopose kits in favour of dynamic poses but limiting where you can make cuts. The below kitbash was achieved with Aggressor body, and lots of bits from terminator kits. And some Admech bits from eBay, oh and an eviscerator from an Assault Intercessor.

An epic Gravis Captain kitbash by my mate Dan Cross 

So let's have a look at plastic. model for model, they are probably more or less on a par with other companies (you might not want to admit it but it's true) 

Malifaux: Core box,  6-10 plastic models, £40

Warmachine: 10 Plastic Obstructors £39

Elder Scrolls: 8 Plastic Barrow Delve models £28

Wild West Exodus 10 Plastic Minutemen £20

Kings of War 15 Plastic Elves £22.50

Now, those kits are not all created equal but it gives us an idea. For contrast a box of 10 Intercessors which includes loads of options and extras is £36.00. So we can safely say that GW is at the higher end of the scale, but not the most expensive. Of course the difference is that for something like Malifaux that box represents your entire force, maybe you might buy another to add certain bits but it is a skirmish game, played with a dozen models or so. In comparison, those Intercessors are but a fraction of a large army, and likely the cheapest. Still, it goes to show that GW is not THAT much more expensive for the most part, that is if you are happy fielding nothing but Intercessors. Heavy Intercessors are £40 for 5. 

Half the models, more money. Bargain!

One last point: 

6: I get hundreds of hours of enjoyment for my money

This is another relative one. It depends on how you hobby. Therefore you may get more value out of something than someone else. 

Say for example you ONLY paint. You just like painting Citadel miniatures. Well, honestly you may well look at the cost of, let's say £60 for the new Avatar and assess it as merely a painting project. If it takes you ten hours to paint it, that's £6 an hour. Some expert painters might take four times that or more to paint, therefore bringing that cost per hour down significantly. A gamer on the other hand might just slap paint on it to field it but then might get the hours back in gaming. It's all relative. I mean you pay £15 to go see a movie a couple of hours long. BUT at the end of the day, it's just a plastic model. A painter may well be better served by getting a resin bust or boutique miniature to paint. They will invariably be cheaper. In the same way, if you just want to game you can use cheap proxies, it might not bother you and it's hardly an issue if you are not playing in a GW store or tournament. 

And of course this is where things like manipulative marketing (forced scarcity and FOMO) and sales strategies can lay waste to and render chaos unto the most details of discussions about pricing. 

Before I go, let’s address the elephant in the room. Recasts and 3D printing. 

Both of these are obviously far cheaper than buying official GW, but they are also inferior (not terrible by any means but not as good as the real McCoy). Recasts are generally identifiable and of poorer quality than official products (though as I have said FW have issues of quality themselves). 

Same for 3D printing, the cost is minimal (it can be ridiculously cheap compared to GWs products.) but again, i’ve yet to see one that was quite as good as a Citadel miniature . Maybe you just want to get an army on a table and wont care because it’s seen as a whole from three foot away, in that case it may well work for you to have a fully 3D printed army, but I don’t think the quality is there yet. It may well be in future years and GW will likely be looking over their shoulder (almost certainly the point of them diversifying the ‘Brand’ over recent years.) but it’s a consideration for the future, for now Citadel miniatures (though not all of them) are still the benchmark. To be fair though, I imagine most 3D prints would beat those Catachans.

So that’s what I think, but what do YOU think? Sound off below!

-AL

We need to talk about Warhammer 40,000

It’s been a long time since I wrote anything for this blog. Hell, it’s been a long time since I wrote anything at ALL. So consider this an exercise, a chance to stretch my literary muscles, though not in prose, a chance to get some words down and some thoughts. Even should no body bother to read it, it's decent practice, right?

Firstly before we get into this examination of the game in its current state, let me apologise briefly for the title. I DETEST phrases like ‘we need to talk about’ or ‘This has happened and we are here for it’ reeking as they do of millennial righteousness, but genuinely i feel this is the right title for the article, 40K needs to be talked about, and I’ve decided to say my piece. 

A little background. I first got into 40k 27 years ago in 2nd Edition. Since then i have played every edition apart from 5th. I’ve seen the major transitions in the rule set and seen the game evolve and change over the years. I have to say, although the core ruleset is strong at the moment, the game is in its worst state in years, perhaps a decade. 

My first ever codex... aah those were the days

I reiterate, the core ruleset is FINE. I would make a few tweaks (I am a longtime advocate of alternate activations) here and there, but otherwise I think the base of the game is in a good state. I like the way it is scored (though i think secondaries should be randomised and secret). I think morale should play a bigger part in the game, there needs to be some kind of penalty to falling out of combat for sure and i think there are too many strategems but otherwise i think its pretty good for the kind of game GW is aiming for. The main problems come with the way they have proceeded since then. We are talking of course about the Codexes and Codex Creep. About bloating and basing an entire sales model around Meta Chasers and endless supplements or Wargaming DLC as i like to call it. 

I think it was 8th edition that heralded the shit of GWs attention to the hardcore competitive scene. I can’t be one hundred percent sure as i’m not part of that playerbase myself being much more inclined to a nice narrative casual game, but certainly the arrival of the Primaris seemed to coincide with an emphasis on acknowledging and indeed, embracing the meta. Since then it has been rinse and repeat, release codex, sell overpowered models, nerf said models (I still chuckle at the memory of all the Feirros plus 3 x Replusor Executioners castles that were unceremoniously nullified shortly after they became such a staple sight in every game.) This is a sales tactic that has endured since and only grown more egregious over the years with successive Warhammer Community articles extolling the potency of whatever the new hotness is, hyping up the meta chasers into a wallet emptying frenzy. 

If you ever did this you are a total prick and I hate you. 

And something else that has become a repetitive release rhetoric is editions. How many times now are we to hear, This is the last edition, the best edition, the definitive edition? The core rules are ever more streamlined as they try to make 40k a fast flowing competitive game rather than the narrative battle game of yore, yet the army rules are growing more and more impenetrable and convoluted not to mention horrendously worded in an attempt to completely mitigate rules lawyering. 

Youtube stalwart Winters refused to even review the Genestealer Cult codex so frustrated was he with the rules. (vid below) That’s not a great advertisement for the health of the game considering that he BUILT his channel on codex reviews (though I greatly enjoy his battle reports). Nowadays every unit has multiple special rules, many of which are variations of rules from other Codices. The great thing about universal special rules was, they were UNIVERSAL, now not only do you have to know all the special rules for your own army, you need to have an INTIMATE understanding of all the special rules (and strategems) of your foes (Sun Tzu’s Art of War would suggest this is a good idea anyway) you can't just get away with a surface knowledge. Everything just seems to require so much damn effort now. Maybe I'm just getting old. 

I’m not alone though, I was talking with a fellow veteran hobbyist a while back and we were discussing how we tend to lean towards skirmish games these days. Games like Killteam, Warcry or Underworlds are so much easier to arrange, get to the table and play (though they have their own DLC sure enough). 40k with its plethora of different rules (i still don’t know all the different terrain rules), updates, FAQs, errata, points revisions and auxiliary supplements, (which can splinter the rules for a given army over up to half a dozen books) not to mention the crusade books and mission supplements mean that 40k is FAR from a bring and battle game these days. Indeed it’s practically a military operation just to arrange and conduct a game. There will be those who say, ‘well just play open play then’ but i don't want to play ‘do anything you want-hammer’ i want to play WARHAMMER, a nice friendly fun game of Warhammer 40,000 without it being a massive pain in the arse. (The recent Tempest card pack helps with this but is little more than a patch)

Could be worse, I could be a Chaos Space Marine player. 

Which brings us to the next point, aside from codexes being needlessly complicated, codex creep makes everything insanely unbalanced to the point where early codicies like Necrons honestly don't even feel like they are from this edition. Current books have loads of damage reduction rules and things that ignore invuln saves, in fact they are practically obligatory in modern army books, something else that is getting REALLY old. On top of that you have so many stratagems that are meant to add tactics to the game but really don't do anything of the sort, being that the vast majority of them are copies of other faction Stratagems. Some are completely ubiquitous (i don't think I EVER saw an Astartes based game where Transhuman Physiology wasn’t used) and it’s all just designed for unit eradication, maximum carnage on both sides, mutually assured destruction. Space Marines got two wounds and even though they could have made it happen with one sentence in an FAQ, GW deigned not to grant the Traitors the same luxury.  Even now in the wake of Adepticon, they are marvelling over the fact that Legionaries WILL get 2 wounds. Who cares? You could have done that MONTHS ago. It makes little difference as most weapons are damage 2 or 3 now anyway right?

REJOICE peons as GW sees fit to FINALLY address your faction. 

And thus shifts the meta once more. 

So where are we now? Do we wait till tenth edition for GW to yet again fix the game, with promises that THIS time it is definitive, THIS time they have learned their lessons and delivered an edition that will not be a bloated broken ruin in the space of 18 months? Presumably they are already playtesting 10th. Might I suggest that they actually listen to the playtesters? Same goes with Codexes. Here's a thought, if the gaming community is breaking your book within two weeks of it coming out, leading to you having to make changes to fix it two weeks later, then you DIDN'T playtest it properly. It’s ok, it’s only £30 £32.50 for a codex that is practically out of date as soon as it's released. They should make the rules section out of that paper they use in sticker albums, then you can stick the inevitable patches and balance errata straight into the book. Don’t even get me started on Seasons.

Warahmmer Seasons: Because the one thing you definitely need is more books to bring to the table. 

This shit never happened in 2nd edition you know, that was REALLY stable. But then this isn't the same game. You know how many entries were in the second edition Tyranid codex? A dozen. It’s three times that many now. Second edition was far from perfect but it was a very characterful game, where truly crazy stuff would happen, a far cry from the delete-fest that we have now. I find myself watching second edition battle reports most often these days and find them incredibly enjoyable, the people playing them seem to have more fun too. Codex creep wasn’t a massive issue, there was only one supplement needed to play the full game, Dark Millenium (there were cool campaign boxes with cardboard scenery but they were JUST campaigns, no hidden special rules for armies to make them viable).  A simpler time, maybe a better time? Or is it just rose tinted nostalgia? 

Anyway, that’s about it from me for now. Next article (whenever it might be, i’m going to take a look at pricing. Hopefully it will be less of a rant than this, in any event it should be more balanced than 40k is at the moment. 

-AL