Strap in for a spirited and lengthy update as there is more to talk about than usual this week. It was a bit of annoying week for me hobby-wise because I tried to solve a problem and created another in the process. If you have good memory, you might recall on previous display pieces, I’ve complained about how Lahmian Medium is glossy and will make the finish on a miniature glossy too if you use a lot of it. This is not generally a problem except when glazing because I use medium to thin the paint down a lot before applying it. A painting friend suggested that I add some AK Interactive Ultra Matte Varnish to the Lahmian Medium to solve this problem. I gave it a shot while trying to glaze the Stormcast’s cloak. Unfortunately, the early glazes came out looking milky which was annoying and a little alarming so I quickly ordered Vallejo’s Glaze Medium (which I’ve never tried) to try and finish the inside of the cloak. It took both the seller and USPS a while to actually deliver the medium, so I feel like I spent a lot of the week waiting around and not being able to work on what I wanted. In the end, I’ve finally managed to get the inside of the cloak done so I could glue it on to the miniature. I also worked on the chainmail, stonework, and the base itself so the miniature is starting to come together a bit more now. Here’s a look.
With the inside of the cloak done, a lot of what I have to work on next will be more interesting and fill out the scene more so hopefully that means plenty of exciting updates to come. I am also going to be using some new advanced techniques this week to try and push this project even further so I’m looking forward to that.
Since I had some downtime, I decided to plow through the last three doors for Hellboy. These three were the trickiest to paint and I actually had to ask for some advice from a friend on how to make them look decent. I’m glad to have these done and to be able to call the doors part of the game done as well.
With these done, I wanted to try and do some kind of cinematic picture using Hellboy and all of the doors. I don’t know that it looks as cool as I thought it would in my head, but here is what I came up with. With magic and supernatural strangeness in Hellboy, I think the picture is appropriate.
That’s it for me hobby-wise but Warhammer Fest happened this week which is a bit embarrassing since I proclaimed that it was happening last weekend. Either way, I think it can be fun to talk about what Games Workshop shows off at these events so I’m going to do just that. I’m biased towards looking at miniatures that could be display pieces or just fun to paint. Everything that follows is my opinion and its no sweat if you think I’m off base. I should also add that my thoughts are my own and not influenced by what the internet or social media thinks. Though I will note some strong feedback that I’ve seen for a couple of minis.
You might have heard that there is a new edition of 40k coming out and that means there is a big box coming out to celebrate. The box will feature Ultramarines (a faction that has an earned reputation for being popular with new players) and the Tyranids. I’m not the target audience of this box and I don’t play 40k, I just cherry pick miniatures that I would like to paint from the two Warhammers. At the same time, I painted up a decent amount of Ultramarines in high school when I was interested in 40k so I get their appeal and can’t fault anybody for liking them. Having said that, I included a picture of one of the better looking space marines because I don’t find the new sculpts to be that ground-breaking or interesting. Unless I’m mistaken, there was a Starter box featuring Ultramarines of a similar design (who were also paired against Tyranids) many years ago and while these are clearly updated and the quality is improved, I’m curious how excited people are for these. I say this because when GW launched a recent previous edition of 40k (8th or 9th, I think?) they used Necrons and Ultramarines and many of the miniatures in that box were fresh and exciting. There were several I thought about painting even if I never followed through on that. I’m not sure these will elicit the same reaction even if the Tyranid sculpts look pretty good.
So what would GW have in store for Middle Earth? Well, they certainly surprised everyone. The only thing they revealed is a new diorama. I don’t want to be negative but I want to be honest at the same time. I think they made a bit of a mistake with this one for a few reasons. MESBG fans are clamoring for some new releases. No matter how you feel about it, Rings of Power has come out and GW doesn’t seem to be getting involved in that. Its also been a little while since anything big was announced and I think many were hoping something good would come at Warhammer Fest. While there are undoubtedly people who collect and paint MESBG but don’t really play the game, I think most of the fanbase plays the game and predominantly plays points games and in tournaments. So this means, they were not eagerly anticipating a diorama that has little to no value to a gamer. On the flip side, I feel qualified enough that I can offer the perspective of a display painter and I’m sorry to say that this isn’t going to cut it. In fact, I don’t think any serious painters would buy this and enter it in Golden Demon, for example.
There’s a couple of issues here. One is that this diorama is completely plastic (or resin if Forge World makes it) and that takes away from the realism of it. You would be much better off scratch building this diorama and then using model railroad scenery products for the foliage. I’ve seen several people do that successfully and those dioramas look great. I also say that serious painters will probably avoid this because the sculpts themselves are not the best. The tree does not look particularly realistic or life-like. The Hobbit faces leave a bit to be desired as well. Merry and Frodo look old beyond their years for example.
So you have a product that doesn’t really fit any audience particularly well and is a disappointment to the core MESBG fan. The last thing I will say is that GW didn’t do themselves any favors with the studio paint job either. I hate to be overly critical because I’m sure that someone did their best on this miniature but at the same time, I can only give my honest opinion of the paint job too. This diorama isn’t painted terribly but it could be done much, much better. The tree has no color variations (to help represent moss) and it looks more like a giant rock. The sculpt is the real problem but you could paint this in a way to help offset the deficiencies there. The Ringwraith could have used more contrast in between the edge highlights and the mount color choices are really off base. The horses are a much darker brown without much red in them. Take a look at this picture below to see what I mean.
Also, take a look at this statue and compare it. Yes, I know Weta’s statue is a much bigger sculpt but even with that, you can see where GW might have done better.
Hopefully nobody thinks I’m too harsh on this one because that is the last thing I want to do. Believe me, the scorched earth feedback I saw on social media was a lot harsher and was not especially pleasant to read.
In attempt to mix in some positive feedback, both of the Horus Heresy space marines that GW showed look really nice. I think they outclass what has been shown in the new Warhammer 40k box set I referenced above. Horus Heresy isn’t something that appeals to me generally so for me to want to paint something from it is a high compliment!
Keeping the positivity going, this guy looks awesome. Exactly what I’d like to see from The Old World. I would be okay without the dead Ork head but otherwise, this is beautiful and I’d love to have the opportunity to paint it one day.
The Tomb Kings are the one Warhammer Fantasy army that I always liked and never painted or collected back in the day so it warms my heart to see them coming back. I don’t LOVE this mini because it is really busy and has a lot of tiny metal pieces that will be a pain to paint without using metallic paints like GW’s studio team did. I hope there will be more Tomb Kings to come because I can’t say that I’d definitely paint this one. My heart says yes but my head says, this one won’t be as fun to paint or look as nice I want it to in the end.
And we go back to something that is a bit more negative and painful. I don’t know a ton about Warhammer lore for either AoS or 40k anymore but I find it kind of confusing and surprising that GW wants to release a human faction in AoS when the Stormcast Eternals are more human now than they’ve been in years. You can easily make a Stormcast army that has all human heads instead of masks now which you couldn’t do for years when AoS was new. So that is why the Cities of Sigmar faction is a tricky one. A human faction makes some sense but how is it going to be different (or better?) from The Empire as it was known in Warhammer Fantasy (which will obviously return as part of The Old World)? I’m concerned that the answer is that the Cities of Sigmar won’t be better based on these Knights’ design.
As much as I like the baroque design and the cool metal work on the horse’s armor, the sculptor goofed up on the proportions of the horse. The legs are too long, the body too big, and the head too small. My initial reaction when I saw these was, “It looks strange, doesn’t it?” I confirmed it with a painting friend and the backlash online has been much harsher. If GW could adjust the proportions on the miniatures, that would make these quite cool but I’m sure its too late now if they’ve already painted them up. I’m afraid these are minis that could have been awesome but instead are a bit goofy looking which is a shame.
And lastly we have this guy who I like in almost all regards. While I wish there were new “regular” dwarves in Age of Sigmar or The Old World, I have contemplated painting the Fyreslayers several times. This guy makes me want to do that again. My only concern is that his eyes look pretty strange on this mini and that could be a real problem for making it look nice. So I might pick up a different Fyreslayer but one of these days, I’ll give them a go!
That is just a few things that caught my eye. I fully admit that I omitted some big ones like the new War-boar and Nurgle Rider for Age of Sigmar which are for factions that I don’t like to paint so I didn’t mention them even though I think they might end up being the most popular and interesting releases of the bunch for many people. While I enjoy sharing my thoughts, I like to hear what everyone else thinks so please leave a comment below with what you liked and didn’t like at Warhammer Fest this year!
Kuribo's Painting 
That Stormcast is looking really good, the red and gold is fantastic. Its one of my favourite models from the Stormcast range and you’re really doing justice to it. Super job on the doors too.
Leviathan: I’ve got to say I’m excited about this one. Tyranids have never really grabbed me previously but these look good, they’re suitably strange and alien and I think I could be tempted to add a few to my collection. I get what you mean about the space marines but to me they’re spot on. I loved the terminators of yesteryear but they were always so small and out of scale with the wider range. The background describes them as hulking giants and yet the average guardsman made them look short. I’ve been dreaming of the day they would revisit them, whilst fearing that when they did they would radically redesign them so these were a huge relief to me. So although I agree that they’re not groundbreaking for me that’s actually a big part of the appeal.
Middle Earth: I couldn’t agree more with everything you’ve said. To me it’s just a terrible piece and I can only imagine how disappointed LotR fans must be. Literally everything about it is wrong. The scene that it shows is one of the key moments in the early part of the story, it gave me chills when I was a kid and the film captured it perfectly. Even now I can’t watch it without part of me expecting the wraith to reach out and grab them and the whole story to end then and there! Again though the Weta sculpture captures the key moment with the wraith reaching out for them, the GW version with the wraith still riding by lacks that sense of danger and drama.
You have to wonder who it’s marketed at? Surely the number of people who want to paint a diorama but lack the confidence to tackle something from scratch, are fans of LotR and can afford a huge chunk of Forge World resin (itself not really for beginners) must be tiny. If I’d come to this preview to see LotR I’d be pretty bummed out right now, Middle Earth fans deserved better.
The Old World: both of those look great, although I agree with your assessment of the Tomb King. However it’s starting to feel a bit like padding here, it’s been four years now (if I remember rightly) since they announced this project and I’m starting to wonder what’s taking them so long. It’s not like they had to create everything from the ground up, they already had a full range of models, eight previous versions of the rules and 30 years worth of backstory and concepts to call upon. So although I like these models on their own merits I’m starting to wish GW would stop mucking around and cut to the chase here.
Cities of Sigmar:
Yup, the tiny heads on the horses are just a bit wonky aren’t they? Shame really because otherwise these models are cracking. I love all the crazy designs on them and I’m very curious to see the rest of the range. I don’t agree that we don’t need a second human faction in AoS, the Cities of Sigmar are to the Imperial Guard what the Stormcasts are to Space Marines. We need a bunch of ordinary Joe’s to offset the superhuman champions. However I do wonder how they’re going to maintain three different fantasy settings, especially as there’s so much common ground between AoS and the Old World, and that they’ve not been able to find time for Middle Earth for years. Will the Old World be destined to go the same way as LotR, making do on nostalgia and a range of increasingly old models? If I like human models with that aesthetic why should I buy old Empire kits when I can get new, fancier Cities of Sigmar versions? What will make the AoS version of a faction stand apart from the Old World version?
I think one of the key things about the Cities of Sigmar currently is that it’s a union of different cultures and peoples, with various kinds of humans, elves and dwarves all working together. For the new version to really stand apart in the GW stable it should lean into that, but so far the only models we’ve seen have been Empire 2.0.
Anyway, that’s enough waffle from me (and we didn’t even talk about Warcry, the Inquisition or my plans to bring the big Orc boar into 40k…).
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I think a lot, if not all of the existing WHFB kits that have survived on into AoS will be discontinued in favour of newer kits, probably with an eye to them having dual use in TOW and AOS, much like almost all of the HH stuff has also gotten 40k rules. The “replacening” might take a year or three, but I feel that’s what’s coming for the remaining old WHFB kits…
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That makes a lot of sense to me. I can see why GW would want to do that. Especially with their focus on making AoS more patentable.
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Really glad to hear you like the Stormcast, mate! I will give it my best for you now that I know you really like the sculpt. I do too truthfully!
As far as Leviathan goes, I hear you on the terminators. For whatever reason, I haven’t thought terminators look cool for a long time which is a shame! The Tyranids definitely outclass the marines in sculpt quality in my book too. I still find myself wishing there were minis as cool as the last edition’s starter box though. I’m not the target audience for these things but there were multiple minis in that box I could have picked up on their own off eBay and enjoyed painting. I haven’t seen anything from Leviathan that tempts me. I don’t need anything tempting mind you, but it is a little surprising at the same time.
I can confirm that people are not pleased with the LOTR diorama in general. I think there’s going to be another wave of outrage for the reason you highlighted. If this is a Forge World piece and I think it is, the question is going to be: how high can the price go? How much of a market is there for this thing if it is $100 or $150 or even $200? It certainly isn’t going to be $50-60 where there might be more buyers. Its a shame because MESBG fans were excited for Warhammer Fest and this was the wrong product at the wrong time. I can’t believe they didn’t try to paint it better either. That might have helped but it seems like this was all hastily thrown together to me. It won’t convince fans that GW loves their space marines more than LOTR, that’s for sure!
I completely agree on The Old World. I hadn’t even thought about them rereleasing older figures and not doing mostly new sculpts either. It makes great business sense and I can’t figure out whether I’d like to paint anything old or not that gets rereleased. It might be hard to go back. It definitely is that way with the older LOTR sculpts kicking around. I hope we start to get more information soon. The wait has been really tough!
I wrote this article in a bit of a rush and I actually was trying to say what you said much better. Having Empire in The Old World, Stormcast, and Cities of Sigmar seems like it might be repetitive. Can you imagine someone who collects just those three armies? I’m sure it will happen but I think it is oversaturating the market potentially. Not that I know anything about business, because I don’t! I do want to see more of Cities of Sigmar and I hope there are some models that you and I like even more. I want to love the knights but they aren’t quite there in their current form. I’d like to see Cities of Sigmar have all of the traditional fantasy races too! There is obviously a hole in that regard in Warhammer right now and I’d love to see it addressed. The Old World could easily do this too but I won’t be satisfied until the problem is resolved! 🙂
There was tons more I didn’t touch upon that is worthy of attention. I hope you’ll get the Inquisition Kill Team and paint them up. I like them for gaming purposes a lot. They didn’t grab me for a display piece but I will be giving them a second look in short order to see if I can talk myself into it! 🙂
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on all this, mate. Its always a pleasure to see your thoughts on new releases!
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Great looking progress on the Stormcast Jeff, it’s really starting to take shape now, and hopefully this week will be more enjoyable than last week waiting for paint toarrive (is it as bad as watching paint dry ? LOL)
As for the new GW models, I haven’t seen much that made me rethink the way I’m heading with my GW armies, but everyone’s tastes are different, the one thing I will say is that the Tyranid under the foot of the marine looks like it was sculpted with bubblegum as Azazael would say, and seriously lacks definition and does not look anatomically correct, if your going to add a sculpted piece, then make it worthwhile.
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Haha, I’d rather watch paint dry because at least you’ve made some progress when its done! This week is going slowly in some ways but I’m working on something that I’ll be curious to get your opinion on.
That is an excellent point on the Tyranid head. It could be better than looking like a deflated balloon. The funny thing about GW is sometimes they release stuff that you absolutely love and you’re overwhelmed by the amount of it and some times they release stuff that you are totally disinterested in. I would say I’m in the middle of those two generally and that’s where I land here. Some good, some bad, and one or two headscratchers!
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Nice progress! If I may add something to the medium discussion I believe GWs contrast medium is quite matte so that might work for you as well. I’ve never tried it with regular paints though so bears testing.
I think the door shot looks very cool, very hellboy! I can see him scratching his head while dragging on his cigar.
As for the GW reveals, I like some and are nonplussed by others. I don’t worry too much about it, if they do something I like them great, if not then it’s not for me and I don’t sweat it!
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Thanks for the kind words as always, Nic!
That’s very interesting on Contrast Medium. It sounds like something worth testing. Since I said what I said, I’ve switched back to Lahmian Medium and its been behaving thus far. Vallejo’s Glaze Medium is tricky because if you put too much of it into paint, it starts to ruin the paint color (by turning it white). Having to use water and medium is a bit of a headache so I’m kind of back to the drawing board on this issue! I think it will take experimentation and trying some different products to solve it.
I don’t get too worked up with their previews either truthfully. I hope to see something I love but I have a ton of display pieces already planned out so I definitely don’t need more. Now if GW came out with a bunch of new Skaven sculpts, I’m sure you’d be chittering (or however Skaven talk!) with delight and excitement! 😀
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Glad to hear you’re making progress with the Stormcast and I really like the Hellboy pic! 🙂 I must admit I quite like those GW minis, the diorama included, but I don’t tend to view fantasy and sci-fi minis with a particularly critical eye – if I like them, I like them!
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I’m glad to hear you like the Hellboy pic as well, John! It was fun to take, if nothing else. I’m glad to hear you like everything shown off and there’s no shame at all in not having a critical eye. My Dad is that way and I envy him on how he can seemingly enjoy anything he watches or spends time with! 🙂 I’m the opposite way of course and could even be called a bit picky in matters of art!
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Oh, I can be picky, Jeff, believe me! The tricky bit is choosing not to be! 🙂
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That means you’re either a smarter or more self-disciplined man than me. I’d like to think that’s really saying something too 😉
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Not being a Warhammer fan, I’ll have to stick to the painting portion of your GINORMOUS post! ;D First off, just WOW on that Stormcast metal armor. I’m guessing you got some better lighting when you took the pic, but it looks really good. Well, except the missing head and hands, haha! But phenom work there. I also really like how you did the Portcullis. Having painted those not long ago myself, it’s interesting to see the differences. You’ve got more of a ‘rust layer’ going over most of the metal, where mine was spottily done (literally). I like the color of your stone better too, though I think my camera might have turned mine lighter in the pictures. Anyways, really nice work and looking forward to seeing your Stormcast finished up! 🙂
Oh, and no tips on the medium here. I used to use FlowAid like crazy, but I tend to just use water nowadays. I really should experiment some more with other stuff, but too busy as of late. When you said the ‘early glazes turned out milky’, was that when you were applying it or after it dried? I know some mediums have a very milky opaque look (like Scale75 Dispel Magic), but usually dry clear.
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Thanks, Brian! If you can believe it, the lighting is the same as last time. I think my camera is a bit inconsistent in how it takes pictures unfortunately. I will have to hope that it takes high quality pictures at the end of all this.
I’m glad you like the doors as well. I just based it in a dark brown (Dryad Bark) and drybrushed over that to give it a dingy look. I was glad that it worked out because I was improvising to some degree.
The first glazes I applied dried milky which was especially bad since it was in the dark parts of the cape and was extremely noticeable. I’ve been messing around a little bit with Vallejo’s Glaze Medium and I find it to be disappointing. It needs to be used in conjunction with water which is tedious. If you use too much Glaze Medium, the paint color looks like you’ve added white to it. It also seems to take as long to get a glaze on the wet palette ready as Lahmian Medium, if not longer. I even tried using pure water to glaze which I did a long time ago and my goodness, its impossible to control the paint that way, even with a good brush. I will not likely try that again anytime soon. I’m going to have to try out some other mediums to see if I can find something that I like. Lahmian Medium is still my favorite, even with the gloss issue because its pretty easy to use and it won’t affect your paint colors in the slightest.
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I totally believe it, because I know for a fact that photography is ruled by Chaos magic and not science! With the Chaos Lords doing anything in their power to make your minis look as bad as possible! 😜
Yea, I was going to ask what you undercoated with. I used black, but dark brown is a great choice! Dryad Bark is a great GW paint. I know Reaper has an equivalent too, I just have to figure out which one.
Oh no, those first glazes sound pretty bad. But it looks like you were able to salvage it at least. I also had medium I used once that turned my red into more of a pink, so I know what you mean. I’ve mainly glazed with Vallejo, AK, and Reaper, but I always use water. So I’m not sure what the best solution is for Citadel. Hopefully you find something!
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That’s the truth on the chaos gods and cameras! 🙂
Generally, AK Interactive Ultra Matte Varnish helps dull down glossy parts of a mini so that has been a lifesaver. With that said, I’d love to find a medium that works like Citadel’s but isn’t overly glossy and doesn’t require much water to be used. I’ll have to experiment more in the future until I find something that fits the bill. If I do find anything, you can be sure I’ll mention it here on the site too!
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Do you brush on the AK Ultra Matte Varnish? I should check to see if they have a Satin varnish. I sometimes have to add a bit of gloss after the airbrush varnish. A brush of Ardcoat seems to work fine, and I don’t remember having problems with it ever. But I imagine AK’s varnish is priced better per bottle.
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I do brush it on. The texture of Ultra Matte is odd because its so thin that it almost seems like pure water! I would think that makes it good for airbrushing but I’ve never tried. I brush on all my varnishes after I destroyed about 3-4 airbrushes a few years ago…
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A great post and I agree with on all of your points. I am really surprised and disappointed by the Middle Earth reveal bring only that diorama. While I am not a 40k player I do like the new Tyranid designs… I am tempted to try some with the coconut crab paint scheme I have seen others do. They would make nice beasties for my various non-40k games.
As always your painting impresses me and I look forward to you continuing painting adventures.
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Thanks for giving it a read! I think GW accidentally got LOTR fans excited for more than a diorama and that is a big reason why people are mad. The quality of the diorama is subjective but I think people had high expectations and felt let down by the announcement of something that isn’t all that usable in the game.
The new Tyranids do look great and while I never have been into Aliens, I actually painted some of them when I was in high school because my logic at the time was I could paint the Tyranids quickly and easily and make them look better than a space marine. I think some of that thinking might still apply to them as a faction which I could see being appealing to you too.
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What drew my focus was how well you did the sword scabbard. The leather lacing on the sword, the worn look, well done!
All the flak that GW is getting for the LOTR reveal is well deserved, my main concern is that when it doesn’t do well in sales GW will take that as rational to do even less for that part of their business.
There isn’t any part of that diorama that appeals to me, wrong color for the horse, the faces on the hobbits and the poor sculpting on the tree. A wasted opportunity for us few LOTR fans in my opinion. Certainly won’t grow the community.
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The scabbard was a bit of a pain to get right so I’m glad to hear you like the final result. I know what you mean on concern about LOTR’s health. Not only did they mismanage this situation by making people think that this would be a much bigger deal than it was, but the diorama they showed off is not as appealing as it should be.
One of the things I’m realizing is that a good chunk of their player base is moving on from their minis and using 3D printed ones. Me personally, I haven’t seen many of these miniatures that I like but I think the majority of players want new sculpts and they’re going out and finding them. GW needs to invest in the game and release new “troop” models for the game or it will wither away. I don’t think GW is wrong to not release Rings of Power miniatures but they do have to invest in the game because a lot of people feel, rightfully or wrongfully, that if you aren’t supporting a game fully, then I won’t play it.
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Every release by GW or Forgeworld in the LOTR realm is met by cries of I’ll get a 3D printer and do it cheaper – yet the releases are still bought. While 3D prints are usually more dynamic, they aren’t that cheap and usually individuals vs troops. GW hasn’t released any new troop sets since the Hobbit, at some point I would hope that will change.
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You’re probably right that not as many people are buying the 3D prints as it sounds like. I’m in one LOTRSBG Facebook group that is very vocal about 3D printing and its easy to let that bias skew your thinking, I’m afraid. I think the biggest gripe people have right now is the lack of new troops in MESBG. Everyone likes the new plastic and resin characters but the troop sculpts are really old and they show their age. Almost every GW game gets new troop models too so it is baffling why they won’t do any for MESBG…
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Great work on the stormcast so far and the finished of doors are looking good for Hellboy.
I was not very hyped for the GW reveal and the reveal for me sounds similar to how you found it, some bits look ok, other bits just don’t really make sense, I don’t know why but I half feel GW have lost their way a bit recently, I think other gaming companies are really start to creep up on their heels at present.
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Thanks, mate! You described my feelings well. Maybe that is a byproduct of how much stuff they’re making these days. I can’t really say but I do think the market is wide open and there is seemingly a game or niche for everyone nowadays.
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The Stormcast looks great so far – I don’t recognise the figure, though – which one is it? As far as medium pains go, consider it a worthwhile learning experience and now you also have a new medium to use. Since I do most of my purchases online, I’ll tend to add things like mediums and whatnot to my cart so adding a couple of them that I haven’t tried to a paint/product order doesn’t cost much more and adds to the stuff I have onhand to trial and use. It’s how I found things like the Vallejo Glaze Medium and the AK Varnishes, so it works for me!
Doors look pretty good as well. If you want a suggestion on making them look even better you could consider adding an uneven glaze to the lower stone areas. Literally thin some appropriate brown and dab it on roughly, dab some of it of with a tissue and you’ll have an uneven, natural looking finish to represent the dust and dirt close to the ground – it depends on what sort of look you’tre going for, of course!
I like all of the new models from Leviathan that I’ve seen. GW are going through and changing the proportions of things a bit, the new Termies have smaller helmets, which I’m not convinced makes total sense from a anatomy perspective, but Terminators have always had (pretty severe) anatomical proportion issues, so whatevs on that.
I disagree on a lot of what you said about the LotR Diorama, though. Not on the model itself. I see what they were trying for with the model, and it’s what I’d call …fine. Though certainly disappointing on that all the players getting – I guess the thing is that more than everything in the six films has been done now, and RoP is an entirely new (and I’d guess expensive) media licence – much more than GW is willing to invest on a second-tier part of an IP licence that they only maintain so nobody else can get hold of it.
My disagreement is on the other stuff.
I don’t know that you can correctly say that the majority of players play MESBG using points and tournaments. Those players are the most visible, sure – but there are a huge number of people everywhere who only play in their homes with a few friends. We keep seeing this statistic come up in everything from MTG to Warhammer, so I doubt that SBG is different to the more popular games, especially with a more casual-friendly and mainstream reach given the IP compared to something like 40k. (Ask people at work if they’ve heard of LotR vs 40k).
I also think that you’re leaning too hard into the “painting competition” mentality. A lot of people just like to paint a little diorama to the best of their ability and put it on the shelf, or give it to their mum, or their dad who likes LotR, or whatever. Look at the circle of people on these blogs – we have a pretty good cross-section across out blogs.
Would someone like IRO buy it to paint for a local painting competition? I could not see that happening. Could I see IRO buying it because, while it’s not a perfect rendition of the scene, it’s good enough, and he can paint it and enjoy it? Yeah, I could definitely see that.
Competition painting and painting for instagram, etc are again a very small proportion of the market. Again, very visible, but a small proportion.
On the actual dio’s painting, I also think you’re being way too harsh, and I’d also doubt that whoever painted it did the very best that they can. It’s a marketing shot done on a work timeframe. It needs to be good, but it’s not something you can compare to someone painting in their own time for a competition. Also, to be fair, you wold know the size of those ME hobbit heads and how different a blown-up photo can look! 🙂
Anyway, got to head to work now – I’ll take a look at the rest of the post later! 🙂
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This Stormcast model is called the Knight-Judicator. I assume its relatively new though I might be wrong on that. I don’t follow Warhammer releases that closely or I haven’t been for the last year or two, in particular. In regards to the medium, I am trying to be better about experimenting so I agree with what you’re saying! Though I don’t know how much progress I’m making because I’ve already gone back to Lahmian Medium which has been behaving ever since I said it wasn’t on here…
I think your ideas for the doors is a great one. They do look pretty pristine. Some mossy green shading on the stones also wouldn’t go amiss! The Hellboy miniatures are the only thing I paint currently where I aim for speed but now you’ve got me thinking I should slow down! 🙂
You’re right to question my use of the term tournament players. I have been part of several LOTR/MESBG FB groups on Facebook and was more closely associated with the scene in Chicago in the past than I am now but in every place I’ve seen, the largest and most vocal crowd seem to enter in tournaments. I don’t think that means that they’re all super serious competitive players but that is a big part of their hobby. It also doesn’t doesn’t mean they don’t play for fun on the side and its unfair of me to call them tournament players. I don’t know what the best label would be for them. I guess points match players is what I would use because it seems to me that the vast majority of people do not play the game narratively (there are definitely people who dabble in it but most do not make it their sole focus) for a variety of reasons that are not worth getting into.
Having said that, I think there is a group of people that will like the diorama and have no qualms about it. I can tell you, they are not expressing it much online or at least on social media because very few people said anything nice about the diorama last weekend. Obviously the people yelling online are the loudest and most passionate fans but I’m sure their opinions do influence others for better and worse. While the opinions I expressed were common online, I think GW did not manage expectations well. People thought that GW would show off something more “substantial” than a diorama. They’re starved for new releases and as far as I can tell, GW didn’t indicate that they were only going to show off one thing that is not appealing to gamers specifically.
The one thing that Wudu brought up that neither you nor I have speculated on is the price. If this diorama is made by FW as we suspect, it is going to cost a lot of money and that will put off people as well. What I was trying to convey is that I think this diorama was unveiled in the wrong way and at the wrong time. If they painted it better, I think the reception would have been better too. Truthfully, if they had just teased this out of the blue on their website, the reaction would have been much, much better. It is a shame because I think people might come around on the diorama (depending on the price once again), especially if some nicely painted versions start circulating online. And yes, those Hobbit faces are not easy to paint at all. It is no shame to have difficulties with them. I don’t feel that painting hobbits is something that I’m especially good at myself.
Ultimately, I don’t think we’ll know whether this diorama is a success sales wise or not so we’re probably wasting our time even having this intellectual debate but that’s alright. Its fun to talk about it and I appreciate your opinion on the diorama! 😀
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Cool. Turns out that I do have that model. Somewhere. Yes, I had to check my list. I use Lahmian as my go-to medium, but have a bunch of other things I’m always happy to experiment with, especially on stuff like these D&D figures I’ve been painting!
The tourney players are almost always the most visible/loud players in any miniatures community, but that doesn’t mean that they’re the majority.
There are a hell of a lot of players that just play in their homes with friends or maybe in stores with a local group or whatever. I’ve seen/read/watched many instances of the same situation across different internet media, but here’s something more concrete from a much large gamer base that has a much more accessible tournament/competitive structure.
https://mtgrocks.com/magic-the-gathering-head-designer-less-than-10-of-mtg-players-have-ever-played-in-a-sanctioned-tournament/
I think people are caring way too much about the diorama. I’m not even defending it personally, I simply don’t care about it or the painting, both of which are fine and good enough for purpose. I don’t care about the price either, to be honest.
To be rather blunt, I think MESBG fans are fooling themselves if they think GW cares about the game beyond keeping it on life support and the IP holders happy enough. They’re just keeping the licence occupied so CMoN or AMG don’t get the licence.
Actually, moreso Embracer doesn’t bring it back home, especially as they now own Asmodee/AMG.
Or perhaps now that Embracer now owns both the LotR licence and Asmodee/AMG, the GW licence is on it’s final renewal and it’s just ticking down the clock until we get Atomic Mass Games’ Middle-Earth Shatter-Crisis in a few years. Actually, now that I’ve thought of and typed that, I think that’s what I’m most likely to go with…
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Very cool, mate! I wouldn’t have guessed that you own this mini but I’ll be looking forward to seeing you paint it 🙂
I do strongly agree that tournament players are the loudest. If I’m being honest, its hard to keep up with them when it comes to the MESBG communities on social media. Granted, I wasn’t an active participant in conversations but every time an FAQ comes out, they overreact to changes and make a lot of insular jokes that casual people like myself don’t really understand. It isn’t meant to be unwelcoming but it sort of comes off that way all the same. That’s neither here nor there though!
Funnily enough, I haven’t seen any complaints about the diorama since the announcement so that reinforces my view that the diorama could have been better received if it was unveiled in a different way. I think people’s expectations were too high.
Which leads me to agree with you on everything else you’re saying! 🙂 I don’t see GW making a big investment in MESBG ever again. I think their current model of keeping the old sculpts in production and making some new models from time-to-time is what the rest of the game’s lifespan looks like. Many fans believed that Rings of Power would get tons of people into the game and I haven’t seen any evidence of that (though it is hard to judge honestly). GW has definitely done their homework and know what is going to be financially successful and fits their company’s capabilities and that is why they’re doing what they’re doing. If they thought all new sculpts across the range would make them tons of money, they would do it in a heartbeat. It will be interesting to see what happens with the license in the coming years. I think a new game by someone else could do really well if its done well but that is no guarantee at the same time.
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I mean, we know that a lot of people complain on the internet as almost a recreational thing, and people have been enjoying complaining about GW as a recreational activity since at least the 1990s’ as I can attest to from several people in my old gaming group, so I’d actually say that the lack of ongoing complaints about the dio probably represents that the noise was equal parts disappointment and having something to enjoy complaining about. Which has now had its expiry date pass.
Rings of Power would have had to be embraced by the fanbase for it to trigger an upswing in MESBG interest, along with a lot of new product to be excited by. It seems that neither of those things happened with the show being …divisive in portrayals and rewrites of Tolkien, with a recaption even colder than the Hobbit Trilogy got – alongside no actual new figures (because a separate licence) aside from some terrain and a couple of re-released Osgilliath-era heroes in plastic.
I figure 3d prints and the existing slabs of rulebooks have us set for new figures beyond the fact that GW have already released (and discontinued) pretty much everything. The fact that GW didn’t pick up on a RoP licence tells us all we need to know, I think.
I look forward to our future AMG ME Skirmish game!
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That is true about recreational complaining! Personally, I was skeptical that Rings of Power would lead to a resurgence in MESBG or be a good bet for licensing before I saw the show and nothing has changed my mind since then. The plot and action in the show isn’t on a big enough scale and because it is in a wildly different time period, it doesn’t fit in with LOTR or The Hobbit well at all. There is so much material in the LOTR and Hobbit licenses as it is, that a new game could come out and be set on releases for a decade or more, I reckon!
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Continuing the post, I do like all of the three FW models. Sadly, I’m just not interested in more FW resin. I have enough unpainted that at this stage I’d generally prefer 3d printed resin to FW prices. If they were HIPS I’d be down, but as it stands…
I really do like those Not-Empire cavalry, though as you point out, there’s one tiny but glaring issue – and that’s the Horse heads, which are glaringly tiny! I wonder if that’s a weird attempt to “Orruk” or “Aelf” the concept of horses? I think Wudugast has it down that these are the Imperial Guard to the Stormcast’s Space Marines, and to add to that, base-Human factions are always reeeealy popular in these games. I guess because a lot of people can identify with Humans. (weirdos?)
The Slayer is again.. mostly fine. I think the weird flames(?) coming out of his hammers are a bigger problem than his eyes – I think the eyes’ issues are a combination of very lape skin with stark eyeliner and no eyebrows. A slightly darker skin tone, some painted-in eyebrows and I think his head would still be ridiculous, but otherwise fine.
I haven’t really checked out the previews outside Leviathan, your post and seeing the very big boar, so I’ll save any further comments for the future sometime! 🙂
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I hear you on not wanting to fiddle with FW resin. It is kind of a pain and the quality control is inconsistent too. I will always take the cheaper GW plastic when I can get it.
I like the Imperial Guard comparison to Cities of Sigmar. That is a good one. It is really a shame on those horse heads. The minis look great beyond that. It looks to me as if you might have to do some freehand on them too which is well-suited to your skills! 🙂
I think I’d have to buy the Slayer and give it a go to see how I get on with it, truthfully. I agree with your assessment that some parts of the paint job could easily be improved and that may be all that is necessary.
There is plenty I didn’t discuss, mostly because they’re box sets or squads and I don’t have the time to tackle something like that and I have too many gaming projects as it is. There certainly could be other stuff that tickles your fancy!
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Yeah, I’ve got enough FW resin here that I haven’t touched that I feel no need to get more of it. Which is a shame since I really do like a lot of those new HH Marine hero designs, but hey…
I do wonder how much of the space on those horses is left for freehand or decals. GW does like to fill every bit of available space on their models with detail these days!
Yeah, I think the layer could do with some darker or even just more tanned skin and some painted-on eyebrows and he’d also be …fine. I’m sure I’ll find more stuff that I like and end up buying in some form or another. Whether I get to actually paint it all is an entirely different matter…
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Agreed on all points. I’m reluctant to add to my backlog much so I have to be really picky about what I take on, especially since I’m a slow painter unlike yourself. GW makes such a huge range of minis these days that there’s bound to be plenty you like as well.
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Lol. I had no idea there was a Warhammer Fest. I’m tempted to google it.
Fine progress on your own model but it can be frustrating to have to change materials from what one is used to using.
And the doors picture was kinda cool in a I have too many choices kind of way. 😀
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Yeah, its held in England so probably not something you or I would attend, I’d imagine. Its basically a GW ran convention for you guessed it…. Warhammer. I’m glad you like the Hellboy picture too. It never happened in the comics but it feels like it could have so I’m happy/proud with that anyway.
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I’m absolutely loving your work on that Stormcast Eternal. Whatever sorcery you’re using with mediums (media?) on the cloak has paid off, it’s so smooth that you could eat it on toast.
I like those doors too, simple though they are. Hellboy looks like he’ll have quite a job squeezing through the smaller ones though!
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Thanks, mate! More than skill, the cape is an exercise in patience and applying really thin layers of paint over and over 🙂
You’re exactly right on Hellboy and the size of some of the doors. It looks like a tight fit for him! 😀
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Coming along nicely and the cloak is looking superb. How did you find the Vallejo glaze medium?
Not into GW stuff (though it’d like to be😉) but I’m not keen on the LotR diorama, it looks too staged, wooden and lifeless. Weta’s statue is so much better in all those respects.
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Cheers, me ol’ mucker! I don’t like Vallejo’s Glaze Medium because you have to use a combination of it and water. That and if you use too much, it adds a white color to whatever paints you’re using which is not acceptable to me anyway. I use Citadel’s medium with little to no water and get great results, other than glossy surfaces when done. I’d like to try some other mediums in the future to see if they solve the gloss issue. I’ll report back if I find such a product.
Its great to hear your thoughts on the diorama and there’s always room for one more when it comes to GW. I still think you should get something (anything really) you like from them and take some time and paint it up!
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I’ve never had that problem with Vallejo’s glaze. I rarely mix it with water though. I do, however, use it with airbrush paints quite a lot, don’t know if that makes a difference🤔
I really want to get into a GW game, maybe Warhammer 40k, Sigmar, or something along those lines, but it’s the thought of more minis to paint… and the cost!!!
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I would think so anyway. Airbrush paints should be extra thin out of the bottle compared to regular paint. When I glaze, I’m thinning the paint A LOT as well. It might be 10 parts glaze to one part water or something like that. You definitely can’t use glaze medium in that way or at least I can’t see it.
I know you’d benefit from painting the minis, they’re top-notch as you already know. Their games (besides the board games) are not solo friendly but they are played by many people so you’d have to think you could find some opponents pretty easily. I understand what you mean on the cost and time. GW minis take longer than other gaming minis if you’re trying to make them look good so that has to be taken into consideration too!
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