Restocked Models Now Have BOTH Round and Square Bases

[polybius437]

I noticed on GW online shop that models that were recently out of stock but are now in stock (Skaven Arch-Warlock for instance) have BOTH round and square bases listed in the descriptions.  Why are they doing this - is it because of Warhammer Old World?

"This set contains one metal Arch-Warlock in six parts and is supplied with 1x 32mm round base and 1x 20mm square base."

[jamie.white]

more likely they have millions of square bases to get rid of . A lot of models have come with with both for sometime now . 

[zilberfrid]

My Greatswords also received both squares and rounds, a year and a half ago. Maybe it's just the text that has been updated?

[polybius437]

Ok thank you guys.  Maybe I just didn't notice it before & was surprised when I saw it.  I thought maybe I was missing something since I thought that all square bases had been purged from the game.

[Popisdead]

1 hour ago, polybius437 said:

  Why are they doing this - is it because of Warhammer Old World?

No, it is a possibility Old World won't be 30 mm but 10 or 15 mm.  And if it is 30 mm, it is looking like it will be a FW resin based model range (a la Hobbit) and use  25mm as a minimum not 20.  For those who don't remember getting models to rank up was a nightmare and stupid.  GW is moving towards larger models not smaller.  The reason LotR went smaller was they were shipping metal and making smaller models made them more money as it used less raw material and cost less to ship.

1 hour ago, jamie.white said:

more likely they have millions of square bases to get rid of . A lot of models have come with with both for sometime now . 

This is most likely the reason. 

[Doko]

I bougth 10 hammerers just 2 months ago and it only had oval bases,not squares

[Gaz Taylor]

2 hours ago, polybius437 said:

I noticed on GW online shop that models that were recently out of stock but are now in stock (Skaven Arch-Warlock for instance) have BOTH round and square bases listed in the descriptions.  Why are they doing this - is it because of Warhammer Old World?

"This set contains one metal Arch-Warlock in six parts and is supplied with 1x 32mm round base and 1x 20mm square base."

I imagine it’s because it’s a plastic kit that has a square base on the frame as the model came out during WFB. Round base is to let you use it in AOS. I don’t think there is any secrets or anything

[NinthMusketeer]

Arch Warlock is metal, it's even in the quote!

[Joseph Mackay]

4 hours ago, Popisdead said:

No, it is a possibility Old World won't be 30 mm but 10 or 15 mm.  And if it is 30 mm, it is looking like it will be a FW resin based model range (a la Hobbit) and use  25mm as a minimum not 20.  For those who don't remember getting models to rank up was a nightmare and stupid.  GW is moving towards larger models not smaller.  The reason LotR went smaller was they were shipping metal and making smaller models made them more money as it used less raw material and cost less to ship.

This is most likely the reason. 

The other reason for lotr being smaller was a contractual obligation to make the models incompatible with Warhammer 

[Kaleb Daark]

48 minutes ago, Joseph Mackay said:

The other reason for lotr being smaller was a contractual obligation to make the models incompatible with Warhammer 

In part yes but also because by then gw was already at a heroic scale, whereas the other party wanted a more realistic 25mm scale, so it worked for everyone in a roundabout way for all the reasons listed above.

[Gaz Taylor]

4 hours ago, NinthMusketeer said:

Arch Warlock is metal, it's even in the quote!

I could swear it’s plastic! Just had a look and yeah metal. No idea then 🤣

[acr0ssth3p0nd]

50 minutes ago, Joseph Mackay said:

The other reason for lotr being smaller was a contractual obligation to make the models incompatible with Warhammer 

That's hilarious, considering that I'm thinking of picking up that box of 20 Mirkwood Rangers to use as Sisters of the Thorn.

[Joseph Mackay]

1 hour ago, acr0ssth3p0nd said:

That's hilarious, considering that I'm thinking of picking up that box of 20 Mirkwood Rangers to use as Sisters of the Thorn.

Gonna get a lot of hate for this, but I think a lot of the lotr designs make similar Warhammer models look really bad 😂

pre Cities Of Sigmar, I’d take any of the lotr dwarfs over the Warhammer Warriors, Rangers etc. the High Elves/Galadrian are much better looking and Mirkwood puts Wood Elves/Wanderers to shame

[Twisted Firaun]

Begun, The Old World has.

[Random]

17 hours ago, jamie.white said:

more likely they have millions of square bases to get rid of . A lot of models have come with with both for sometime now . 

This. Especially given the scope of The Old World being a HH style spin-off which's estimated sales are (probably) way behind the main games, they'd never be able to get rid of all those bases with only ToW sales.

[NinthMusketeer]

I think it makes no sense for GW to change the scale or style for the WHOW. It would invalidate old guard who still have fantasy armies and royally ****** them off, considering this seems to be a project catering to such fans that would be counterproductive. Not to mention starting things off on a bad note, the negative feedback would not be good for a new side-game.

But more importantly, by maintaining the scale they can have kits do doubly duty in both games. Every WHOW release also becomes an AoS release, and the number of players willing to buy that product grows massively. It is also a huge part of the line they could simply rebox with squares instead of needing entirely new kits for.

[Random]

40 minutes ago, NinthMusketeer said:

It would invalidate old guard who still have fantasy armies and royally ****** them off,

More than killing the setting? I think GW knows very well that they reached the bottom of that well already.

I'm not so sure its aimed at the WFB old guard either. To some degree, sure, but a lot of them/us would rather want the world back as it was, rather than paying to play a prequel to it, which may end up quite differently aesthetically and game wise. And GW knows it.  There's a reason why it's marketed as a "Prequel to Age of Sigmar", rather than "another way to relive the glorious days of Warhammer Fantasy".

[The Red King]

On 2/24/2021 at 9:53 AM, jamie.white said:

more likely they have millions of square bases to get rid of . A lot of models have come with with both for sometime now . 

Makes me wonder what can be done with all these... maybe some oversized tile flooring? Might make nice mosaic tiles. Might have to fill the ridges a little.

[Bosskelot]

Where did this idea that TOW might be 15mm even come from anyway?

[zilberfrid]

5 hours ago, Random said:

More than killing the setting? I think GW knows very well that they reached the bottom of that well already.

I'm not so sure its aimed at the WFB old guard either. To some degree, sure, but a lot of them/us would rather want the world back as it was, rather than paying to play a prequel to it, which may end up quite differently aesthetically and game wise. And GW knows it.  There's a reason why it's marketed as a "Prequel to Age of Sigmar", rather than "another way to relive the glorious days of Warhammer Fantasy".

I think a big target is the Warhammer Total War crowd, but having a bit of buy in from old players will surely help it getting traction among that group

[Hashut]

2 hours ago, Bosskelot said:

Where did this idea that TOW might be 15mm even come from anyway?

Wishful thinking- I prefer Warmaster to WHFB in almost every way so I’d love a change, but there’s no way the new game won’t be 28/32mm. 

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

14 hours ago, Bosskelot said:

Where did this idea that TOW might be 15mm even come from anyway?

It's all speculation at this point, but GW has not confirmed anything about the scale of TOW.

Basically, it's a decision point that could go either way. If they keep the models for TOW in scale with AoS, there is potential for cross over between the two games. This might result in more AoS players buying TOW models, but people who already have square-based Warhammer Fantasy armies might not feel the need to buy new models if they can just use their old stuff.

If they go to a smaller scale, this would obviously prevent proxying AoS models or reusing Fantasy models. They could also make the battles larger while still staying accessible (100 models at 15mm scale take a lot less effort to get ready than at 28mm). If they are hoping to capture the Total War crowd, maybe that would make sense? Hard to say, though.

I think it's more probable that TOW will be 28mm, like AoS. But we can really only speculate right now, and there are reasons that could justify the game going either way.

---

Back to the topic, though:

There are a few models in the GW catalogue that still come with square bases and, as far as I can tell, always have. I am not sure what the logic is for which units do or don't get them, though. All my Steam Tanks came with chariot bases. So maybe it's mail order only models that were originally from Fantasy?

[RuneBrush]

On 2/25/2021 at 12:39 PM, NinthMusketeer said:

But more importantly, by maintaining the scale they can have kits do doubly duty in both games. Every WHOW release also becomes an AoS release, and the number of players willing to buy that product grows massively. It is also a huge part of the line they could simply rebox with squares instead of needing entirely new kits for.

We're unlikely to see this happen.  It's been confirmed that the main AoS studio don't have any knowledge on what's being done in The Old World, so the likelihood of having joint releases is super low.

4 hours ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

If they go to a smaller scale, this would obviously prevent proxying AoS models or reusing Fantasy models. They could also make the battles larger while still staying accessible (100 models at 15mm scale take a lot less effort to get ready than at 28mm). If they are hoping to capture the Total War crowd, maybe that would make sense? Hard to say, though.

Humbly going to disagree with this one.  With the right rule set the actual scale of your miniatures is secondary.  You could very easily run a system which is 10mm and 25mm - one uses cm for measuring and the other uses inches.

[NinthMusketeer]

They don't have to have knowledge--they just have to make a warscroll for it.

Also out of curiosity, where was that confirmation? Whatever interaction that came from could have some interesting hints.

Edited February 26, 2021 by NinthMusketeer

[Popisdead]

On 2/24/2021 at 2:06 PM, Joseph Mackay said:

The other reason for lotr being smaller was a contractual obligation to make the models incompatible with Warhammer 

I have never heard that except hearsay from customers and red shirts (we all know their deal).  

It *could* be true but it wasn't what Rick Priestly said in an interview.  Given he's not at the company any longer I would be surprised he commented on making the models smaller for more profit but to avoid models being used in both games?  

To me it rings close to "oh the molds are destroyed" and then suddenly the range comes back out again years later (or becomes Build-to-Order).

 Red Shirts are notoriously fed lines to regurgitate.  Started when the company shifted from selling models in 1997 based on weight and instead on "well you only need one so pay more for this cullexis assassin even though it weighs less".

But whatever,.. doesn't matter, I used models from both ranges for Fantasy.  The plastic Great Eagles from,.. Hobbit? LotR? (you got 2 for $50) were used in a lot of WE/HE armies in 8th ed.

But maybe,.. I do recall hearing that a lot so you are correct.

Edited March 2, 2021 by Popisdead