The Rumour Thread

[Whitefang]

4 hours ago, novakai said:

so the next WD is going to be about Fyreslayers

Great that we get a reprieve from the last 2 being about Stormcast

Disappointing for me as I am hoping for a supplement about Anvils for so long time

[Joseph Mackay]

endless spells/prayers are starting to rub me the wrong way. with Fyreslayers and now Sylvaneth, armies that arguebly need more units, they make these awesome monsters but then make then stupid spells instead of actual units

[Overread]

30 minutes ago, Joseph Mackay said:

endless spells/prayers are starting to rub me the wrong way. with Fyreslayers and now Sylvaneth, armies that arguebly need more units, they make these awesome monsters but then make then stupid spells instead of actual units

Yes but you must realise that GW likely hasn't got the slots at their HQ factories to add more units. 

They've a choice - wait longer and add new unit and Battletomes in a year or two; or update the Battletome this year to a 2.0 compatible tome.

 

From GW and most gamers point of view 2.0 tomes are the best thing to do right now. Get all the armies on equal footing and roll out new models later. That's far better than waiting 2 maybe 3 years for a Tome which "might" come at some point and which leaves an army running around with a proper set of abilities, equipment, spells or even a full roster and battalions which work. 

Just ask anyone wanting to run Free Peoples. 

[gedrekt]

13 minutes ago, Overread said:

Yes but you must realise that GW likely hasn't got the slots at their HQ factories to add more units. 

The Endless Spells and terrain are outsourced, right?

[Joseph Mackay]

1 minute ago, gedrekt said:

The Endless Spells and terrain are outsourced, right?

yes it seems they are made in china along with the terrain

[Overread]

1 minute ago, gedrekt said:

The Endless Spells and terrain are outsourced, right?

Yep they are made in China. It's why terrain and Endless Spells are made of a slightly different plastic and to a different standard.

The standard is still very high, but its not as fine detailed as what GW can achieve in house. It's likely that the casting method is slightly different and also that the machines/moulds are not as high grade. So the investment cost is likely less and its within the manufacture tolerances for overseas factories to work easily with without a nightmare. Many Kickstarters have had huge problems with overseas factories who offer cheap casting, but who lack the quality control for fine high detail models. 

GW keeps all their models in house and are currently building a new factory on site so that in itself might well release more production capacity. However note that the moulds GW uses run into the hundreds of thousands of pounds. They are not cheap and even though GW has a healthy income they can't invest too heavily into moulds which are not selling on the market. Ergo it would be bad for them to overload themselves on so many moulds that their production chokes and their market can't keep up. So the additional factory space might not give us a real world boost in what we see in new models; but might well result in GW resolving their production shortfalls. They might even more some more models off "direct only" 

[gedrekt]

I think the 40k Sector Mechanicus terrain is really good, while the Wall of Martyrs terrain is pretty bad, and the Endless Spells are somewhere in between. (The Wall of Martyrs not being good might be more to do with the sculpt than the plastic and casting.)

More things coming out of direct order to being readily available would make me happy.

[Double Misfire]

herp derp

Spoiler

Full disclaimer:

I've never played Privateer Press stuff, but even I was struck by how much the new Chinese Sylvaneth thing looked like their not!Tyranids. A Warmachine playing friend pointed me in the direction of this mini

 

[JackStreicher]

1 hour ago, Double Misfire said:

herp derp

  Hide contents

Full disclaimer:

I've never played Privateer Press stuff, but even I was struck by how much the new Chinese Sylvaneth thing looked like their not!Tyranids. A Warmachine playing friend pointed me in the direction of this mini

 

Looks better than the new spite due to it having a dynamic pose instead of a 2D-Pose.

[RuneBrush]

10 hours ago, Scurfturf said:

Gamesworkshop has an entire team of staff that paints models and build scenery for their photo-shoots (not the Heavymetal team, but an internal, salaried team for Age of Sigmar specifically). They build props using non-GW products, so i wouldn't read into what you see in their photos.

GW have a number of different painting teams - I'm pretty sure they're structured as follows:

• 'Eavy Metal who paint most of the box art for regular miniatures and produce the colour schemes (they normally paint 3d prints of the models too)
• Army Painters who paint the vast majority of the armies you see in Battletomes and similar (they reverse engineer the 'Eavy Metal paint jobs and simplify the scheme down)
• Scenery Painters (such as Stuart Littler) who paint larger miniatures such as scenery (used both on box art and in books) - I believe these are part of...
• Warhammer World Studio who design and paint all of the terrain and dioramas you see in Warhammer World (including the boards and scenery you play on)
• Forge World Painters who paint all of the Specialist Games and Forge World miniatures

This also explains why things like Necromunda have such vastly different paint jobs to Age of Sigmar.

12 hours ago, RexHavoc said:

What I find odd about the new spell (which is superb) is that they have used static grass on the base. Which is odd as they dropped it from their stores not so long ago. Wonder if it will make a return.

Simplest explanation is that the endless spell was painted anything from 6 to 18 months ago.  GW also keeps stocks of old products so that they can replicate schemes and similar - plus would imagine they will still have the contacts to purchase extra supplies for themselves if they need to.

[Ivo]

4 hours ago, JackStreicher said:

Looks better than the new spite due to it having a dynamic pose instead of a 2D-Pose.

Its likely due to packaging constraints. 3 spells in a box with limited sprue space.

[Overread]

The GW Forgeworld painting team also appears to have the most variety in terms of skill. Most of the other teams are internally fairly similar in their skill output - ergo the Evy Metal and army painting teams mostly achieve similar results. FW appears to have at least one painter who is distinctly sub-par when compared to many of the others. You can often see it very clearly when some of their new models come out and the fist thing people latch onto is "oh gods that looks bad" in painting but looks great in the bare resin 

[Forrix]

14 hours ago, Overread said:

Yes but you must realise that GW likely hasn't got the slots at their HQ factories to add more units. 

The thing is though that the Molten Infernoth model is good enough they could have made it a unit. It doesn't need a new model or different plastic material or whatever. It only needs a warscroll. It might be a little lame to just have it be one mono-pose miniature but its what Khorne players have for the Korgorath.

[RuneBrush]

5 hours ago, Overread said:

The GW Forgeworld painting team also appears to have the most variety in terms of skill. Most of the other teams are internally fairly similar in their skill output - ergo the Evy Metal and army painting teams mostly achieve similar results. FW appears to have at least one painter who is distinctly sub-par when compared to many of the others. You can often see it very clearly when some of their new models come out and the fist thing people latch onto is "oh gods that looks bad" in painting but looks great in the bare resin 

I can explain that one 😉  Last year the FW painting team lost a couple of painters and gained a couple of new ones from other parts of the company - so they're more "apprentice" painters which is why some of the paint jobs don't look up to the same standard as others.  They're learning quickly and a lot of those paint jobs look a million times better in the flesh than in a photo too

[sorokyl]

 

 

1

15 hours ago, Overread said:

Yes but you must realise that GW likely hasn't got the slots at their HQ factories to add more units. 

 

 

 

 

 

3

1 hour ago, Forrix said:

The thing is though that the Molten Infernoth model is good enough they could have made it a unit. It doesn't need a new model or different plastic material or whatever. It only needs a warscroll. It might be a little lame to just have it be one mono-pose miniature but its what Khorne players have for the Korgorath.

You are not getting it... Sure the digital sculptors can make more models. Can always hire more sculptors too. Sure can write rules too.  But playable unit models, ALL playable unit models, are produced by GW directly.  They will not sacrifice the quality by outsourcing it.  That is a line they have drawn.  And each one of those takes some production capacity. And they simply do not have the capacity, and can not instantly create more capacity. It's entirely possible the Molten Infernoth was designed to be a unit, but GW decided to make it an endless spell because they do not have bandwidth for it as a new unit, but can outsource all the endless spells they need to. 

This is why most armies are only getting endless spells and terrain this year, even if the designers could have made new models for these factions(maybe they already have!) The ops team can not produce them.  

[Minis by Night]

Regarding the new Contrast painting stuff, Kirioth on YouTube has some sources saying that it's a new range of paint that dry dark in the recess and light on the edges, like Hexwraith Flame and Nighthaunt Gloom. So sort of a thick ink. I think it would make a lot of sense(more sense than a branded airbrush), and since I *LOVE* Hexwraith Flame, I'm pretty excited! These paints are amazing with an airbrush.

 

[Overread]

A paint that does highlights AND shading in one go? Yeah I can see that being a huge revolution for getting a lot of models painted up to decent tabletop standard!

[Thiagoma]

Humm the preview seminar is in 3:30 hours or am i wrong?

It is 6:30 aus and over there it is saturday already, right?

[ManlyMuppet88]

It’s 3:20am here in Aus now but I doubt they are doing a preview at 6:30 in the morning, it’ll probably be 6:30pm.

Edit: just checked Warhammer Community and the preview is after the tournament - you’ve got 15 hours to go. 

Edited May 3, 2019 by ManlyMuppet88

[Thiagoma]

7 minutes ago, ManlyMuppet88 said:

It’s 3:20am here in Aus now but I doubt they are doing a preview at 6:30 in the morning, it’ll probably be 6:30pm.

Edit: just checked Warhammer Community and the preview is after the tournament - you’ve got 15 hours to go. 

Oh, in my country we measure hours from 00:00 to 23:59, that is why i got confused. Thanks!

[Forrix]

1 hour ago, sorokyl said:

 

You are not getting it... Sure the digital sculptors can make more models. Can always hire more sculptors too. Sure can write rules too.  But playable unit models, ALL playable unit models, are produced by GW directly.  They will not sacrifice the quality by outsourcing it.  That is a line they have drawn.  And each one of those takes some production capacity. And they simply do not have the capacity, and can not instantly create more capacity. It's entirely possible the Molten Infernoth was designed to be a unit, but GW decided to make it an endless spell because they do not have bandwidth for it as a new unit, but can outsource all the endless spells they need to. 

This is why most armies are only getting endless spells and terrain this year, even if the designers could have made new models for these factions(maybe they already have!) The ops team can not produce them.  

.... I'm not really sure how to respond to this... I understand that all playable unit models have been produced in the UK and the Endless Spells and terrain are made in China. I'm saying that the model, as in the finished, manufactured model I have physically in front of me, is good enough to be a unit regardless of where it was physically made. That GW won't allow anything not manufactured in the UK to be a unit is them holding themselves back unnecessarily.

[RexHavoc]

The paint sounds like it will be a good tool for painting, I just hope that its an additional range rather then replacing what we have now. The range we have now is pretty damn good but I've been expecting a paint overhaul for sometime now. It's been a while and they do love to ditch their paint ranges, especially since half the range currently have names for IP they have all but ditched in this side of the hobby. 

A new range now would probably have me move to another brand full time, as most paints last me a long, long time but I'm bored of having to buy replacements that don't really match any more. I was less bothered about it years ago, but as my painting output is radically different now, espcailly with the sort of games I play now, another big change will spoil some of the enjoyment I get from it. I'd probably moved to vallejo full time.

A handful of new colours like the recent thick ghosts inks would be cool though. I admit to buy the paints and not having found a use for them use, but they do look great and I'm bound to end up with a project I'll use them on at some point.

[Lowki]

1 hour ago, Minis by Night said:

Regarding the new Contrast painting stuff, Kirioth on YouTube has some sources saying that it's a new range of paint that dry dark in the recess and light on the edges, like Hexwraith Flame and Nighthaunt Gloom. So sort of a thick ink. I think it would make a lot of sense(more sense than a branded airbrush), and since I *LOVE* Hexwraith Flame, I'm pretty excited! These paints are amazing with an airbrush.

 

Time will tell of course, but to me this seems to make a lot of sense. It fits the hints they gave so far. It speeds up painting an army, it is about contrast, and you could call it revolutionary to some extent (at least it is something new.) I find it more likely than i.e. a branded airbrush or any of the other theories going around.  It is easy to imagine how they further explore the possibilities after Nighaunt gloom and hexwraith flame, which, I think, were a success and a great addition.

[Overread]

36 minutes ago, Forrix said:

.... I'm not really sure how to respond to this... I understand that all playable unit models have been produced in the UK and the Endless Spells and terrain are made in China. I'm saying that the model, as in the finished, manufactured model I have physically in front of me, is good enough to be a unit regardless of where it was physically made. That GW won't allow anything not manufactured in the UK to be a unit is them holding themselves back unnecessarily.

Yes and no. 

I think on the first count they've people with jobs in the UK who have held them for years, if GW started making high quality plastics abroad chances are those staff would get rather annoyed. Furthermore GW's already building their own factory in the UK; if they then went and hired factories overseas that would invalidate that whole investment. 

I think GW has strict codes to keep production in the UK as much as they possibly can. It also gives them advantages too as they are in complete control over production. If something goes wrong they can deal with it at the source. Overseas factories can be a nightmare as some might not report errors until they come out; others might have issues with deadlines and communication etc.... Some kickstarter companies have been burned hard by this and miniature wargamers are VERY picky customers who expect a high quality product.

 

 

Sure GW could save a huge fortune if they shifted to overseas production, but I just don't think they want to. Spells and some other elements and all the printed material sure that makes sense; but their models are a UK product through and through to them. I think we'd only see them move models abroad on three counts

1) Massive management shakeup

2) If they opened a secondary factory abroad to help with logistical demands. Likely it would be their own factory rather than hiring another. 

3) If they hit extremely bad times and are forced to sell up their UK factory and site. 

[ManlyMuppet88]

15 minutes ago, Forrix said:

.... I'm not really sure how to respond to this... I understand that all playable unit models have been produced in the UK and the Endless Spells and terrain are made in China. I'm saying that the model, as in the finished, manufactured model I have physically in front of me, is good enough to be a unit regardless of where it was physically made. That GW won't allow anything not manufactured in the UK to be a unit is them holding themselves back unnecessarily.

I agree the models look good but we’re talking a very slippery slope here. If GW starts to compromise on their quality on more models they will end up compromising on all models and people will lose interest and certainly will not be prepared to pay GW’s premium prices. I personally like their insistence on keeping as much as possible “in house” from a consumer perspective.

However, I highly doubt that GW are choosing to do these models as endless spells because they can’t produce them themselves - they bring out new models every month. It seems more likely to me that they are being told to do endless spells because they have proven to sell well and they are prioritising this over producing something else. Can’t blame them from a business perspective but I’d rather see the investment in time and money designing and producing three lower quality models of endless spells put into designing and producing one higher quality unit for the army. 

All of this is completely based on my personal disinterest in endless spells at all though, so I can’t really expect GW to make business decisions based on my feelings.