Hey everybody! Adam, from TFG Radio, here for another frolicking week of 40K fun time.
I play a lot of wargames, if you don’t know that already. I have played, still play, or want to play, a lot of Games Workshop’s games. I even still try to play some of their old out of production games or earlier editions *cough* 2nd Edition Epic Space Marine*cough* . I also play a lot of historical games. I have armies for De Bellis Antiquiatis, Hail Cesar, Bolt Action, Cruel Seas, Song of Ice and Fire, Black Powder and a Napoleonic Prussian army for all the hundreds of Napoleonic rulesets. I am in the process of building a Soviet Flames of War army along with a 1918 German force for Blood & Valor. This is in addition to the Sister of Battle army I am currently building for Adepticon. Putting together Games Workshop models does really spoil you when you work on other company’s models. This week I’ll look at a few model lines and the issues that I had, and probably still have, with them.
Historical Models
I know this actually covers a lot of companies but in general most historical models are still done in metal. I know that companies like Warlord, Battlefront and Vitirix have plastic kits, and they are very good, but there are still plenty of companies out there that still produce models in metal. Even the plastic sprues just feel “different”. I know that is due to Games Workshop’s proprietary formula for the plastic, but some company’s sprues leave a lot of wasted space on their sprues and it can be jarring. Even if I don’t use all the gubbins that Games Workshop provides, it feels out of place when you see a sprue without any extras.
Infinity
Since playing 8th edition it’s hard for me to look at the rules for this game. If you want a game with more crunch in your rules you may want to give this one a look. Their models also look really nice. I’ve always had a love affair with robots and this game could easily scratch that itch. There are a couple issues that I have with the game, besides the rules. First off, the models are all metal. There are no plastic models in the range. I have previously written about my distaste for metal models since working on them in my younger days and his does not help. Add in the fact that many of the models have very small contact points, and that they are closer to a true 25mm scale, and you get a strong “nope” from me.
Warmachine/Warcaster
Where to begin? I have tried to play this game 4 different time over the course of its 3 editions. Their models are ok at best in terms of building them. I actually rage quite one time because of how bad their Skorne models were when I was trying to build them. They were metal models and had very large gaps after putting them together. The switch to resin was a bit better but they are still mono-pose, boring and mediocre designs. They do have a good-looking model once in a while but nothing really to get excited about. Their recent announcement of their new “Warmachine in space” game just reinforced the blandness of their models as their new jacks look like rejected Infinity models.
That’s all for this week, I hope you enjoyed the read. Let me know your thoughts, and what you think of non GW kits, in the comments section.Don’t forget to visit our Facebook, Twitch, and Patreon pages to stay up to date on what we’re up to and when episodes drop!
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Any experience with Malifaux models?
The 3e modules are a breeze and most of the 2 modules are great as well just small contact points on them
I loved the look but had issues putting them together when they first came out. Havent tried recent sculpts
Let’s not forget the gripe about the metal Warmachine models (some of the PVC are worse with moldlines), we had the same gripe with some of the GW models… I remember them well, ever tried to build a larger model like the all metal ‘modern’ dread (not the RT one)? Some of the models were worse (one should look at some of the blogs that document assembling the metal Thunderhawk)…
I love the designs of the Infinity models, but them being all metal is also a point against them for me. Pure the assembly with the tiny metal parts gives me nightmares… Buying these secondhand, assembled would be great. Or even paying someone else to build them would be an option…
I thing PP and CB have missed a huge opportunity to release all their resculpts in model kit plastic (although a few PP kits were).
What a whiney post.
Moaning about the gaps on sprues on historical figures, when even with those gaps the models are like an eighth of the price of GW figures! Who cares about gaps on sprues if the figures are nice, incredibly cheap and for great game systems? Why is this a problem?
Gappy metal and resin? Have you tried assembling anything from Forgeworld?
Lol, I have but that’s a niche market unless chasing the meta. Even then it’s usually their bigger models. Never had issues with historical, metal or plastic. The PP metals were hirrible
Back thirty years ago, Napoleonic models were metal but realistic casts compared to the bland W40K Space Marines that were multi-pose but really that only meant you could attach a different two handed gun!. The metal thunderhawk was bad … but so were most large models made anywhere in the world. I’ve only ever seen the thunderhawk in a cabinet. It was a true modellers project involving drilling, pining, sanding, filing et al; rather than the easy-to-build models that many wanted at the time.Now GW have improved so much and are the company that most modelling companies are judged against.
Lets have more articles about the models rather than the rules or army list.
This article seems like click-bait, tbh. There isn’t much actual content, just strawmen to beat up on. I like GW models and I play their games, but this just seems like AMIRITE?
For example:
“Even the plastic sprues just feel “different”. I know that is due to Games Workshop’s proprietary formula for the plastic, but some company’s sprues leave a lot of wasted space on their sprues and it can be jarring. Even if I don’t use all the gubbins that Games Workshop provides, it feels out of place when you see a sprue without any extras.”
Many Perry and Warlord Games plastic models come with extra stuff, but really you don’t need them – the equipment is sculpted to the model. The ’empty space’ is why historical plastics cost $1 or less per dude and not $5-10 like GW.
” There are a couple issues that I have with the game, besides the rules. First off, the models are all metal. There are no plastic models in the range. I have previously written about my distaste for metal models since working on them in my younger days and his does not help. Add in the fact that many of the models have very small contact points, and that they are closer to a true 25mm scale, and you get a strong “nope” from me.”
Many smaller companies obviously can’t just smash out plastic sprues easily like GW can, and this totally ignores the fact that in this game you usually don’t need more than one or two of the same model, so metal makes more sense. Metals can also be posed more than the current wave of mono-pose plastic GW minis.
The models are definitely 28mm, and getting closer to 30 or 32mm now.
“Where to begin? I have tried to play this game 4 different time over the course of its 3 editions. Their models are ok at best in terms of building them. I actually rage quite one time because of how bad their Skorne models were when I was trying to build them. They were metal models and had very large gaps after putting them together. The switch to resin was a bit better but they are still mono-pose, boring and mediocre designs. They do have a good-looking model once in a while but nothing really to get excited about. Their recent announcement of their new “Warmachine in space” game just reinforced the blandness of their models as their new jacks look like rejected Infinity models.”
Most of the Warmachine line is plastic or resin now and have been for some years, warbeasts are not mono-pose, and GW plastics are now mono-pose too. ‘boring and mediocre’ is obviously objective and many people don’t feel that way.
You have no idea if it’s ‘warmachine in space’ as they haven’t released many details of the actual rules.
This kind of garbage, while i’m sure drives clicks for your webstore, really doesn’t make Frontline look good. Do better.
That’s a lot of words so I didn’t read it all. The article is an editorial about whatever I want, dont takenit too seriously
What an absolute load of shallow, subjective rubbish. all this article did is reveal you’re just a shill for GW products. Pathetic.
Your analysis of infinity was laughable, the models are objectively stunning, and a lot of people still prefer metal to plastic, for starters the models actually last, and hold their value. A gripe about scale? What kind of wargamer are you???? And on what leg will GW stand on in any argument about scale when they’ve systematically used scale creep to screw their own customers?? Infinity is also far more of an in depth skirmish game, that’s infinitely better balanced than any GW system.
Lol, I wish I was a shill then I could stiff for free.
I agree the infinity models are nice but being all metal puts me off.
Infinity is getting easier rules for codeone. Metal is my thing though as I have a 40k metal ork army using kommandos and meganobs from recent sculpts. You guys should cover the new infinity, there is soo much on 40k already and it would be nice to see a company which isnt a massive company in the spotlight (helping a smaller business grow etc).PP was terrible and put me off forever.
The warmachine models are a pain to assemble, and the older one are really ugly, but the artistic direction is so much better than GW that’s it’s not even funny. Now, they are decent in molding but nothing exceptional. It’s just that they use it to build actually cool models. It’s similar to a lot of smaller company on that (including Raging Heroes, who don’t sell a game but have a decent range of models) : few match the technical expertise of GW, but most have better art directions, and that make all the difference in the world.
It’s not helped by how horrible the posing for recent GW models are, and how they prioritise being gaudy over being beautiful. Seriously ; sure, GW is extremely good technically, but how come the new Banshee phoenix lord came out with that ridiculous pose ? Same question for its dark eldar counterpart.
See im an oddity, i LOVE metal. its not that bad to work with and if you use proper primer it never chips.
How much did GW pay you to write this one lol
Nothing, unfortunately, otherwise I would be writing more than just once a week
Infinity is getting easier rules for codeone. Metal is my thing though as I have a 40k metal ork army using kommandos and meganobs from recent sculpts. You guys should cover the new infinity, there is soo much on 40k already and it would be nice to see a company which isnt a massive company in the spotlight (helping a smaller business grow etc).PP was terrible and put me off forever.