GW Scale creep?

[Yuggoth]

Hey folks

I re-arranged my display cabinet yesterday and came to notice how much bigger the newer models are in comparison to those from the 90th.
The current plastic HE-Lord is actually so much bigger than his older fellows that it begins to look odd. Also weapon and mount size has increased dramatically.
Looking at special characters, the difference is even more noticable. While I think that many modern sculpts are better proportioned, it has to stop somewere. I expecially dislike the sculpts which gain hights by ridiculously big accesorys like the helm on the HE dragon-rider or the trophys on the new skaven lord (squeek headtaker or something?). Speaking of Skaven: The new Skaven have vastly increased teeth which gives them a peculiar look that (to me) makes them less fearsome and more cartoony.
What is your view on the topic? Whats the cause for this? Is less more to you, or is it more simply more (and better) when it comes to wargaming figs?

Best regards,
Yuggoth

 

[Micha]

I can agree to you. The increase does not concern all models, but it is very noticeable in some. For example, recent space marine models (veterans, chracters) are almost a whole head larges then those of the 2nd 40k edition. Space Orks also have gotten much larger, this is very noticeable if you take the old necromunda orks. On the other hand, night and forst goblins in WHFB habe gotten smaller, and the new dwarfs are the same size but with much smaller faces, hands and feet.
Overall, I hardly care about the size itself, but I wish they wouldstick to one as models from different editions look different in one army (at least with the three armies I own, ocs&goblins, dwarfs and space marines).
Scaven teeth? Are you sure - I mean they are rats, shouldn´t they have big rodent teeth?

Micha

 

[Torn blue sky]

Noticed this recently with terminators too...

 

[Avelorn]

Well the Space Marine scale creep is a good thing, more accurate.

 

[Torn blue sky]

My thoughts exactly.

 

[generulpoleaxe]

It's the industry in general not just GW.
Look at foundries orgional perry sculpts and compare them to recent releases for the same armies, big difference in height.

part if it is down to being able to get better detail on a larger sculpt (easier to paint as well for people like me with turdtastic eye sight) and part of it is down to people not paying attention (fists bigger than freekin' heads for example!)

It's price creep that you have to watch out for, more sneeky than a pack of veloceraptors.

 

[Sand Rat]

It's the industry in general not just GW.
Look at foundries orgional perry sculpts and compare them to recent releases for the same armies, big difference in height.

part if it is down to being able to get better detail on a larger sculpt (easier to paint as well for people like me with turdtastic eye sight) and part of it is down to people not paying attention (fists bigger than freekin' heads for example!)

It's price creep that you have to watch out for, more sneeky than a pack of veloceraptors.

Have noticed the Orks, especially Nobs, are getting more along the size of 54mm figures. Price creep will happen General.

 

[ScottRadom]

Yeah most are getting a touch bigger I find. I just started going back through my mini collection in an attempt to organize my collection of unpainted mini's. I aborted that project when I realized it would take effort and had a beer and laid in the sun for an hour instead. But the mini's are defo getting bigger.

I think the good news as I see it is they are getting bigger and BETTER. The old stuff that was smaller I see for the most part was pretty uninspiring.

I've been enjoying painting the stuff from Red Box games. They're dwarfs are TINY! Challenging to paint then after working on bigger stuff for sure!

 

[nels0nmac]

If like me you have been collecting 40k stuff since it first came out you will have seen the size increase quite a lot.The metal Orks and the first plastic marines are really small compared to what you get now. The original terminator captain is now about the size of a normal marine captain these days.

That said I don't think it's such a bad thing as the level of detail on the newer figures has generally improved in line with the size. But I think they will need to "fix" the size soon before they creep to much and end up more like the 54mm figures that are available. That'll make gaming on a 4' x 4' table somewhat more problematic.

 

[Torn blue sky]

Although 54mm Marines would be proportunate to the current IG, for instance. Scaling is something that grates on everyone at least once I reckon.

 

[Ebonbuddha]

There were Orks for Necromunda?!??!

I remember someone pointed this out back in 2000. I think the size increase with the Space Orks and Space Marines heroes is a good thing. They are suppose to stand out. And Orks are suppose to be bigger.

 

[Pretz]

I am a huge skaven fan and to me the new pops seem to look a little better to me, speaking of the teeth have you seen the old molds? they look buck-toothed,they look alot more realistic now than they ever have.As for the scale up it seems so, but for a good cause imo more models are being popped from plastic due mostly to the rise in the cost of tin and I think that the up'd scale is giving way to better detail in plastics.

 

[laurence]

I know. The GW minis just seem to keep growing and growing. I bought some 'epic' Space Marines back in the day, and man were they small. Then the next set of Marines I bought had grown significantly larger! To top it all off ~ I got a GW 'giant', and man it's big! At this rate we may have to start calling 'em largitures. -----> Hehe ~ there goes my rep power!

 

[noneedforaname]

There were Orks for Necromunda?!??!

probably means the gorka morka ones

 

[kxtrey]

Ya, I think he meant Gorka Morka Orks, They are tiny compared to what is produced today. But as mentioned and probably a dead point by now, The sculpts are so much better that I don't mind. I also agree with Pretz, it's gotta be down to better detail with plastic, as a reason for the upscale. Too bad resin would be so much more expensive the sculpts are so much more detailed when cast in resin.. stupid money...

 

[Dragonsreach]

Ya, I think he meant Gorka Morka Orks, They are tiny compared to what is produced today. But as mentioned and probably a dead point by now, The sculpts are so much better that I don't mind. I also agree with Pretz, it's gotta be down to better detail with plastic, as a reason for the upscale. Too bad resin would be so much more expensive the sculpts are so much more detailed when cast in resin.. stupid money...

You really mean: Too bad GW's Gross Profiteering is ruining the hobby by excessive prices.
If Warlord Games can produce a Superb miniature (Major Turnadust: British Army Chaplain) which equals GW quality for the price of £2.00 then its time to realise what a bunch of Money Vampires GW have become.

 

[noneedforaname]

How else could they pay for there coven of evil lawyers?

 

[Torn blue sky]

Hadn't we all realised what a bunch of money grubbing gits GW are by now Mike? =P
Any excuse for a GW bash though, roll out the band wagon, AAALL ABOARD! The seem to be keen on hiding behind the "Yes but you get lots of extra shit with the plastics" argument. True, but it probably doesn't all equate to a fraction of 15 quid odds now, does it? That's like buying a bottle of domestos at tesco and being asked for a couple of quid...and a fiver for the bottle.

 

[barticus001]

Hadn't we all realised what a bunch of money grubbing gits GW are by now Mike? =P

GW BASH! Back when I started playing Warhammer 40000 I rationalized a 50 dollar land raider plastic kit as paying for a one of a kind look to the model and the brand name. What kills me is the price GW is putting on primer and paint. $15 dollars for a can of primer is crazy. The primer is just primer! Not a unique sculpt! I switched to a $4.75 can brand on primer. The crazy thing was I didn’t mind paying $10 a can to support GW, but they drove me off! How much are they making on primer sold to me now? The paint is now at 3.70 a 0.4oz pot. This has given me the motivation to go to the art store and buy $1.99 2oz quality acrylic paint in a standard range of colors and mix to GW color samples. Don’t they see they are basically paying me not to use the products?

 

[Dedwrekka]

I think it's asymptomatic of the GW models looking less and less like bricks of lead with faces carved in them (Case in point, Space Hulk terminators old vs new). The models are more spread out, taller where they need to be, but better scaled in other areas. Case in point would be that Skeletons in warhammer fantasy actually scaled down to where they look like they could be like a normal human rather than a dead race of Andre the Giants, while Orks have gotten bigger and bigger as they years go one (as they're want to do).

You really mean: Too bad GW's Gross Profiteering is ruining the hobby by excessive prices.
If Warlord Games can produce a Superb miniature (Major Turnadust: British Army Chaplain) which equals GW quality for the price of £2.00 then its time to realise what a bunch of Money Vampires GW have become.

GW is a publicly traded company. Which means they have a whole different set of people they have to please, and who generally might not give two cents about the people playing the game. However, they do care that GW stock has kept a pretty stable stock market price since 2000.

However, yea, they make a lot of models which are extremely expensive when you add the scale of the game, rules, and models required together. Though their basic models cost about $3.73 per model (Space Marine tactical squad's numbers, less in the case of horde armies). They've always had the problem of a cost-per-points stategy with pricing, which seems to have kept one army from being cheaper to collect than another (there have been armies that exist outside of that though).