What do we think about forge world?

[BobbieTheDamned]

I've had a few bits and bobs from forgeworld before and they are quite nicely sculpted. The casting quailty is so so, generally bubble free but some figures I've had the mould halves were pretty misaligned; luckily on those figures it was just a case of taking a needle file to them and it didn't notice, if it were something more solid it might not be the case. Resin is quite similar to plastic to work with, its a little more brittle and slightly easier to dril (ie pinning is really easy which is lucky because you will want to pin every joint).

 The books are massively expensive for what they are. They do however normally give you some nice drawings so if you want to scratchbuild things you've got a starting point.

I wouldn't say the FW mins are exactly unique, better looking than plastics by far though.

I'd advise against the new chaos marine upgrade packs as they are nice and crisp and really show up how bad and soft the detail is on the more recent plastic figures. The cadian upgrade packs are quite nice though, I'd be tempted to get some of them when I next do some guardsmen. The elysians are ok, not how I would have done them though.

[MarkRG]

I did buy the first book and yes it was a great book but it did tick me off about the price. On their web site the stuff looks cool i in tend to order some epic models after crimbo.

Going back a few years i bought the smaller codex sized books, they were a tenner then and little has changed from old to new. except the points cost and no crew escape hatches to stop your enemy getting full kill points. going back further with 2 edition battles book your crew could have carapace armour which i found good defending against my mates shock attack gun. I also miss that frag defender rounds, these were one shot defence screen against hand to hand combat.

Game on

[General Biakal]

some elysian stuff looks surprisingly non portable- the mortar for instance looks bigger than the normal IG one. having said that painted the right way they could look seriously slick. the knee pads and stuff are a bit naff 90's but the bull pup gats they all carry look mint. drop sentinel is coolio too. im wondering with all the talk of a plastic valk with the new IG codex could we see new plastic elysians? i know storm troopers are going to be plakky. infact at WHW they dont even seem to stock metal storms now.

[BobbieTheDamned]

General Biakal wrote

some elysian stuff looks surprisingly non portable- the mortar for instance looks bigger than the normal IG one.

yeah I agree a lot of the elysian gear looks way chunkier, the meltagun for example is pretty huge.

General Biakal wrote

im wondering with all the talk of a plastic valk with the new IG codex could we see new plastic elysians?

Plastic Storm troopers would be nice, plastic elysians I doubt. GW are more likely to do one of the older IG armies IMHO (Tallarns or Mordians or something like that).

General Biakal wrote

infact at WHW they dont even seem to stock metal storms now.

Are you talking about the 'proper' storm troopers or the kasrkin? I think Kasrkin are still on the standard shop inventory though they may have gone recently. The old metal proper storm troopers are not stocked and haven't been for a long time, you  could try and build a squad by getting the figures from mailorder but it will cost you a hell of a lot: £10 for 4 lasgun guys and then £12 for one of each special weapon (4 in total) I mean who the hell would want one of each special weapon?? oh and then £6 for a sergent.

GW is removing a lot of the metal blisters so the plastic kits have more display space apparently. I went into my local GW (Bath) to find that there were about 5 space marine blisters available, chaplains and librarians and the tyranic war vets and that was pretty much it, even the special characters like chaplain Cassius have been recalled apparently (so said the staffer). So you now pretty much have the boxes and thats it, craptastic.

[General Biakal]

word is plakky storm troopers and valks are a deffo. the good news is it might make the troopers more appealing in the new codex so you have an incentive to use them.

the Kaskrin where nowhere to be seen and didnt even have a slot to house them. missing also was the demolisher and the hellhound, both models with a recent price hike. maybe a three week break makes people forget they are paying an extra fiver more than they were last month?

[BobbieTheDamned]

General Biakal wrote

word is plakky storm troopers and valks are a deffo. the good news is it might make the troopers more appealing in the new codex so you have an incentive to use them.

They'll have to do somethind a bit drastic like give them the option for 4 special weapons or something like that or else they'll still be rubbish. The increased cost is not worth the armour save and weapon AP bonus they get, especially now as troops are so much more important than elites in 5th edition.

General Biakal wrote

the Kaskrin where nowhere to be seen and didnt even have a slot to house them. missing also was the demolisher and the hellhound, both models with a recent price hike. maybe a three week break makes people forget they are paying an extra fiver more than they were last month?

No I think GW is just slowly winding down its stores and trying to get more mail order business. Keeping the stores stocked with blisters that don't sell well isn't going to help them make a better profit and that's what GW is all about at the moment. I remember when you used to be able to go into WHW and hand them a mail order form with all sorts of odd and old bits and wait arround for a bit then have the bits handed too you, now that was service.

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Forge world do some nice stuff, but a lot of it strikes me as being marketed toward gamers with more money than modeling skill – I'm mainly talking about the Tanks here, which is for the most part what FW is about. The tank kits are great looking and I'm sure very useful to IG players, but it's nothing any reasonably experienced Hobbyist can't do with some spare parts and plasi-card. Let me put it this way – FW tanks are pre-made conversions with very little modeling skill needed to put them together. I'd rather take the time to do my own vehicle conversions that will be truly unique. Then we have a few vehicles that can't be made by modifying existing plastic ones, but then again GW are slowly bringing the most popular FW vehicles in plastic (Piranha, Baneblade, Drop Pod so far – I'm sure the Thunder Hawk and Battle Wagon will follow soon). The plastic versions despite being expensive are still cheaper than the Resin ones and for the most part look better.  

The terrain I view in a similar way, I don't want to fork out £85 on a Coaching Inn when I can make one my self for less than a quarter of the cost and besides my one would be unique.

Next I'm going to talk about resin upgrade kits – these have to be the best example of conversions for lazy people with lots of money – the worst offenders being the Spacemarine parts because, lets face it, FW put no effort into it – take a shoulder pad, sculpt a symbol onto it and cast it off a million times, repeat for each chapter and/or company. The same goes for the Rhino doors ect. I like to call these Fast-ForgeWorld pieces.

And finally we come to the big stuff, Greater Demons and Titans ect. Theses I see as purchases for people who just want to show off. Yes they are big, but thats where the appeal ends. Things like Titans and the Chaos War Mammoth are impractical for gaming on so many levels.
The points costs are astronomical, they take up a lot of room on the table, their size and weight makes them difficult to move during games and even more difficult to transport between games. Not to mention that once you've got them on the table they become bullet magnets that you will be taking back off the table with in a few turns (Titans, Tanks, and Greater Demons) or just terrain pieces with damage points and weapons that just sit there (Drop pods and Air Craft)

I look on FW stuff as a source of inspiration and then figure out to make things myself for cheaper.

For an example of why taking the effort to do some scratch building is much better than buying something FW have banged out compare Sean Patten's (the man behind Necromundacon) Thunderhawk to the rather inadequate FW one.


 ^ Forge Worlds Thunderhawk  


 ^ Scratch built Thunderhawk by Sean Patten

see more of Sean's awesomeness here:
http://ironhands.com/necro.htm

if you like the idea of resin terrain but don't want to pay FW's pretendios prices check out an awesome company called Grendel
 http://www.scotiagrendel.com/

if your looking for gigantic greater demons and other monsters become a Heretic!
http://www.heresyminiatures.com/

and if you like Titans, play Epic for fuck sake!

[MarkRG]

For a change Mort i'm in 100% agreement with you, but i still intend to buy some Epic.

Eddie troll slayer

Game on.

[precinctomega]

I've got no problem with FW's prices.  They charge what the market will stand - and why not?  And I have to say that it's all very well for time-rich students to claim the ability to produce tank conversions of a standard equal to that of Forgeworld.  For my part, though, I have neither the time nor - frankly - the ability to come anywhere close.

Yes, there are guys out there on Warseer and suchlike building their own Valkyries and Titans that are practically indistinguishable from FW products, but most normal humans don't have the patience, the time or the space.  I look at the hobby-filled basements of my American and Scandinavian colleagues in awe and envy, and compare them to the precious corner of my spare room that I must protect from my children (I'm yet to tell my wife that I found my 2yo playing with my razor saw... twice!).

My personal interest in FW isn't in the tanks and minis so much as it is in the scenery (as I'm always looking for ways to improve my club's scenery collection) and although I can buy much cheaper scenery (from Amera plastics, say, of which I have a shedload), there're few manufacturers making scenery as battlefield-ready and good-looking as Forgeworld.  30 minutes with a spray can of Roughcoat, a slap of emulsion and a few seconds hearty dry-brushing provides me with awesome, robust scenery at what I consider to be a pretty reasonable price.

R.

[MarkRG]

Hi mate im no rich student, i'm sad enough to work for aliving.

However i do agree with most of what your saying, i'm no king on conversions but i do enjoy converting. I have been collecting varous parts to try and make up a mordian buildings and possible some bunkers for 40k. iv serrounded my bunkers with out of date bandages dipped in pva glue and water, mostly water. Once set i'm going to under coat with some cheap paint. humbro 27 grey paint for main coating,  then i will decide later what to do. il be glad to hear on any advice in building cheap scienery.

Game on.

[precinctomega]

The aforementioned Amera plastics are outstandingly cheap and good value.  They're a little tricky to get the best out of and they do need fixing to a solid base.

When I moved on from a former life in HM Forces, I was given a presentation piece: a huge print of a painting of the Battle of Rourke's Drift, which SWMBO refused to allow me to hang in the house (too big for the traditional downstairs toilet), so I took it apart, rolled up the print and turned the backing into bases for ruined buildings.

Sentimental?  Moi?

The best thing about Amera's gothic ruins range is how well they adapt to 54mm skirmish games...

The best thing about being a civvie is not getting shot at...

R.

[Umboman]

Thanks for the Amera link.........I have bookmarked as they have a church F228 or Ruined Chapel perfect for my funeral diorama with '00' figures from Langley miniatures.
    Rourkes Drift.........When I was 17 in 1977 I nearly joined the regular Army & spent a weekend at The Royal Engineers base as a 'guest'-They took us to a small building which had a massive layout of the terrain & battle scene in miniatures-very,very,very impressive.I have trouble remembering much of anything else,but that picture has been etched into my brain.I love the 'Zulu' film,which has become a classic.In the early 80's the used to be a similar layout in Bath,as a tourist attraction,sadly it did not last long.
   Just proves that digging a bit deeper into these threads can reveal still active websites & unknown tips.

[Umboman]

"There's still gold in them,there hills" as they used to say in the old B&W western's.That ironhands.com is EXACTLY the sort of thing I was looking for,nearly fell off my chair.They may have changed the website title to Necromundicon or perhaps it was always that?I loved the plasma tower & many of the other constructions................at first I thought they were off the shelf because they were so good.
         BUT then I clicked on the 'construction' link & BINGO! Really IN DEPTH details,descriptions,photos so you can 'make' your own.At last I have found a use for my old VHS cassettes with damaged tapes,before I used to repair damaged tapes.The blokes a genius & very,very creative & not every modeller shares their 'secrets' so that others can learn.Its explained & photographed so well that I am 100% assured that his projects are 'doable',
    Not only does it save loads of money but it is more fun & rewarding scratch building,than kit building.