The Future of Games Workshop
Part 12: Bugman or Feature
Eggstra, eggstra! Read all about it!
GW, I really have absolutely no time for this crap right now. You must be yoking. Y U DO THIS?
And since - as I will prove beyond a reasonable doubt - you had several chances to avoid anyone including yourself even to deal with this in the first place, I will not go over-easy on you.
This time you really got an egg on your face. The yoke is on you.
Disclaimer:
Disclaimer:
- I changed the title of our series from "The future of Games Days and Games Workshop" to "The Future of Games Workshop". That's because Games Days are - for the most part - dead. No future for you.
- What I write around here is not the end of the world. It just falls into the series of recent GW fails and is purely and entirely my personal opinion on the matter. Even if I think it's eggstremely unlikely, it is possible that GW used 3D-printed models of lower quality for the promo-miniatures used for images in publications and on their website. It is entirely possible that the final plastic models do not have these issues. And even if they did, every noob modeller will be able to fix these easily. It's just an unforced error and does not shed a good light on GW's quality control. And I eggseggerate. Call it Satire. If anything it amuses myself.
- If you were OK with Finecast, this article is not what you are looking for ;)
- This article conatins heavy use of British/Australian/US egg slang and very silly play on words! There are countless, obvious attempts of fishing for cheap laughs and chuckles in this text.
- [Revelations 21:42] Don't panic for The End is neigh! Thus the egg will be broken and the essence of the Heart of Gold shall be spilled. And the world will witness the true face of the easter egg. And its number always was and always will be eggseggtly 42.
- This article contains countless new easter eggs. These will never be explained. You either find them or you don't ;)
It's a trap: Obvious Easter Egg is obvious!
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| Did GW just lay another egg? |
I have to admit that I am getting a little paranoid when it comes to GW these days. If I wrote this article the way I wanted to, I would actually include some leaked pictures of the new Dwarf Copter that GW put on the cover of the next White Dwarf Weekly. I would even use full images from GW's released miniatures from their own website. I won't.
I even won't link to our friend's sites that show these pictures as I don't want them to get in trouble.
Why so paranoid? Well, at this point I know for fact that GW reads this blog. And I also know for fact that they don't like this little series one bit. I still would want to believe that GW would never hurt us hobbyists, but at this point I can't rule it out, either.
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| Legal Inquisitor Grumpty Wumpty |
Even though I am convinced that them shutting down a website for posting leaked pictures of any kind is a clear violation of the rules defined by the DMCA and would fall under 'fair use', the evil Legal Inquisition of GW has shut down sites they didn't like in the past and quite frankly, I have no time to risk this right now. It's not worth it.
We are too busy working on your Season 1.2 and 1.3 right now. And them taking us down would be a real time killer for us. Maybe we'll spring that trap when we have more time to show them what's what.
So, GW either a) is setting a trap for us (unlikely paranoia), b) has failed on quality control on several occasions (obvious), c) doesn't give a frak (yeah, d'oh) or d) all of the above.
Even dwarves can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs
Even dwarves can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs
For those of you who took the time to let us know that they don't enjoy our blablabla on the subject, I would recommend that you shall not pass this line. I know not everyone is interested in this. No worries, it's cool.
But almost 200.000 views in January and over a hundred comments and PMs alone prove that at least some of you might be mildly interested in or entertained by what we write here. We don't really think we are the 'third best blog' out there (Wamp Awards 2013) - but we believe we aren't the worst either ;)
And just because we are working on some of the best Miniature Painting instructional DVDs available on the market today (Painting Buddha has just won the Wamp 2013 'Best New Company' award by popular vote!), does not mean we have to limit ourselves to this eggstremely narrow area.
Luckily, our hobby is much larger than that.
Luckily, our hobby is much larger than that.
And we are not afraid to break some eggs in the process! After all, as we Germans say, "all one needs are some 'eggs'" (german: Eier, english: balls, spanish: cohones).
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall (of text), Humpty Dumpty had a great fall...
Finecast has silently died. Bloodbowl, Necromunda, Gothic and Inquisitor are long dead. The White Dwarf was burnt by its beard and out of the ashes emerged a Vision and some WD residue. Games Days are all but dead or at best mortally wounded.
Games Workshop clearly is not putting all of their eggs in one basket. They have been taking out all but two. A fantastic egg and a futuristic egg are still fresh and healthy.
Why? Because these two eggs contain the best mother-clucking quality plastic miniatures in the world. You hear me? THE WORLD!
Oh, rly?
Oh, rly?
QC/DC is not about eleggtricity. It's about couples joining.
I always believed that Quality Control and Damage Control are two of the mandatory core competencies of any successful manager. If you don't control these two areas, you won't get anything else done. Having said that, QC and DC are a little like the Hen-and-Egg-Problem.
What was there first? Quality Control or Damage Control? I personally think it was Damage Control. But what do I know. Plus, it matters not.
What was there first? Quality Control or Damage Control? I personally think it was Damage Control. But what do I know. Plus, it matters not.
Damage Control: Don't worry and FAP
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| Problems? Don't Panic! Just act naturally! |
If you screw something up big time, natural instincts set in.
Like a duck rolling in an egg that fell from its nest, this is a so-called 'fixed action pattern' (FAP). So you can't blame people for fapping in case they mess something up - it's a healthy and natural reaction!
Even in severe cases, panic induced uncontrolled fapping can lead to immediately satisfying results that usually resolve the problem or at least release the stress connected with it.
Like a duck rolling in an egg that fell from its nest, this is a so-called 'fixed action pattern' (FAP). So you can't blame people for fapping in case they mess something up - it's a healthy and natural reaction!
Even in severe cases, panic induced uncontrolled fapping can lead to immediately satisfying results that usually resolve the problem or at least release the stress connected with it.
The real problem sets in when you find and look at a big problem and you don't do anything about it. You don't even feel the natural urge to fall back to fap.
Being unable to fap can be cause by many factors: Too much stress, cultural and/or organizational pressure and/or one never had or has lost all emotional connection to what one looks at: fapping becomes the last thing on this individual's mind.
Being unable to fap can be cause by many factors: Too much stress, cultural and/or organizational pressure and/or one never had or has lost all emotional connection to what one looks at: fapping becomes the last thing on this individual's mind.
And that is what may have happened at GW on several occasions when Quality Control failed not just once, twice, thrice but at least half a dozen times.
Bug, man, or Feature
Let's look at the quality control issue first: Both, on miniatures shown in GW's webshop as well as on images from official GW publications leaked on the internet, signs of 'stepping' caused by 3D scanning and/or printing can clearly be seen on some of the new models from the WHFB Dwarf release. Stepping causes the concentric rings that you can see on these partial screenshots:
Now we ask ourselves: "bug, man, or feature?" And we don't think it's a feature. If this is also visible on the released models, this is a clear sign of failed Quality Control. If it is only a problem on the demo models (because they were 3D printed or something), it's a sign of failed Damage Control.
What? Stepping? Here, suck an egg!
I am afraid I might be trying to teach my grandma to suck an egg, but let me briefly explain two ways of how stepping can occur:
I am afraid I might be trying to teach my grandma to suck an egg, but let me briefly explain two ways of how stepping can occur:
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| Speggtecular shape! Takes 4 1/2 minutes to assemble. |
Digitally designed models are made of triangular-shaped polygons aranged in 3D space. 3D-printers print these models layer by layer and thus translate 3D information into 2D layers. Depending on the resolution of the printer, more or less visible stepping can occur as a result of this.
When you build a model as a 3UP model (3x the intended scale) and then scan this into a 3D model, the same issues can occur (depending on the used scanner).
The stepping lines we can see on the dwarf are biiiig. Gigantic. The ones on the dwarf-copter are visible and still rather big.
All 3D models can have this issues. In most instances it doesn't even look weird and almost like a desired effect (because it's consistent throughout the whole model). Example: my most recent purchase, the most eggcelent Blazing Suns' tank by Spartan Games' Dystopian Wars "Legends" series show clear signs of 3D printing, just like my Gothic-replacement Fire Storm Sorylian Collective Armada. And it's usually no biggie as you know what to expect and it looks really good. And as a hobbyist, you know how to fix it if you don't like it or it is too visible.
The stepping lines we can see on the dwarf are biiiig. Gigantic. The ones on the dwarf-copter are visible and still rather big.
All 3D models can have this issues. In most instances it doesn't even look weird and almost like a desired effect (because it's consistent throughout the whole model). Example: my most recent purchase, the most eggcelent Blazing Suns' tank by Spartan Games' Dystopian Wars "Legends" series show clear signs of 3D printing, just like my Gothic-replacement Fire Storm Sorylian Collective Armada. And it's usually no biggie as you know what to expect and it looks really good. And as a hobbyist, you know how to fix it if you don't like it or it is too visible.
The thing is that GW's miniatures used to be smooth like an egg-shell. Making the best plastic miniatures in the world is the one standing undisputed achievement that GW has unlocked. And it seems unachieveable to anyone else. And for the most parts it still holds true.
It just seems that someone forgot some Quality Control on some areas of some miniatures somewhere. And that's a problem. It looks like a fingerprint in a sculpted mini. And is totally avoidable. It MUST be fixed for the future. If GW objectively loses the claim to the best miniature quality out there, they might as well kill the goose that lays their golden eggs... And who would be able to renovate the Golden Throne of the Emperor then? No-one! Eggsactly!
The dirty half dozen - step by step
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| Now that's an easter egg if I ever have seen one ;) |
Obviously GW can address these issues. They have in the past. If they weren't able to, all of their 3D models would look like contour lines on the Schiehallion. (hardest easter egg here, obscuring a whole universe of knowledge and understanding!)
So IF these stepping lines are visible on the final product, Quality Control has failed or was deliberately disabled (aka 'who gives a frak'). And on each subsequent step GC and DC failed.
So IF these stepping lines are visible on the final product, Quality Control has failed or was deliberately disabled (aka 'who gives a frak'). And on each subsequent step GC and DC failed.
- The scanned 3D files should have shown clear signs of stepping, even in the digital version. This should have been caught prior to creating the injection moulds (which, btw, cost a fortune to make!). Here is where Quality Control failed.
- When the injection moulds were designed (basically a sprued-up inside-out-version of the model), QC should have caught the same issue.
- After the mold had been created and used for the first time, QC should have caught the problem and activated Damage Control: Fix the problem and make a new mold (costing a low 6 digit stash'o'cash) or ignore/accept the quality problem in favor of saving cost.
- Whoever received the production model for painting should have used some sandpaper to get rid of those lines. Leaving these on for any reason is just bad taste. If you have a problem like this, there is no need to show it to the world... You're not Ed Snowden, you now.
- Whoever took the pictures of the painted models should have seen these issues. It's their job. Photoshop fixes this in 4.2 seconds.
- And finally who ever gives the final approval on any publication (WD, website) should have seen this and give it back to the guy in step 5, call the guy in step 4 a noob, ask who passed this crap in step 3 and why no-one in step 1 and 2 cared to fix it when it still was cheap and easy.
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| Leaked GW document on how to make pudding. |
I am not sure whether GW is currently suffering from over-egging the pudding, whether quality issues like described above are acceptable collateral in the waging War on Cost or whether everything is just a genuine slip-up that will resonate with the sound of thunder as The Kirby's angry voice will echoe through the forest of Sherwood.
And we may never know.
The production models might actually be fine and it's just a slight marketing blunder. No-one might actually care, grab a piece of 420 grade sand paper and fix the problem.
It's definitely something that one could be interested in and one might want to 'have a look' at to see if this is true. Be it someone at GW or someone like you.
What's with all the eggs?
I know, I know, this is kinda eggstreme, but like many of you, I have seen the leaked pictures of the dwarf-copter. The ones I didn't post here due to perfectly normal paranoia.
If you have not seen them yet, I will guarantee you that you will think of these famous 'flyers' the moment you do: Hasegawa Egg Planes
I immediately thought of these, and I got a message from TWO Bruddhas today, stating that they thought that GW was inspired by Hasegawa ;)
What's with all the eggs?
I know, I know, this is kinda eggstreme, but like many of you, I have seen the leaked pictures of the dwarf-copter. The ones I didn't post here due to perfectly normal paranoia.If you have not seen them yet, I will guarantee you that you will think of these famous 'flyers' the moment you do: Hasegawa Egg Planes
Also, I needed to reveal the unsolved mystery of the Elusive Easter Egg still ;)
I immediately thought of these, and I got a message from TWO Bruddhas today, stating that they thought that GW was inspired by Hasegawa ;)
Now this interests me greatly: What do YOU think?
I am really interested to hear your opinion on this. Do you think it's too early to write about something like this since we don't even know whether the problem exists in the production models?
In case this is a production issue, do you think this is a problem GW should even bother to address? Or are you fine with 3D-printed stuff, even if it shows stepping?
Do you think that GW should have edited the images to avoid communicating this 'problem'?
Do you even care - and if so, why not?
You know what to do: Please leave your comments in the section below. The comment section has become one of my favorite parts of our blog - it really helps us to get to know our audience better (that would be you!)
Special Eggstended Version: The elusive "Hoopy Holidays Easter Egg" revealed!
What started out as a nerdy joke turned out to be one of the hottest subject of our "21 days of Hoopy Holidays Adventskalender" giveaway: The unsolved mystery of the Easter Egg!
Half of the winners have already received their prizes, the rest is 'in the mail'. We hope you enjoy your prizes and would like to thank everyone again for participating in this fun little event. We put a few hundred (!) hours of work in those videos just because we loved doing them and implemented spontaneous ideas when they sounded like fun ;)
I think I received over a hundred messages and emails asking for hints or confirmation on 'am I close to a solution?' for the Easter Egg. Some people even thought my egg-shaped, bald head was the proverbial it. But it wasn't.
Two of you, our Bruddhas Luca and Florian got closest. Both asked me whether the flashing of the button is some sort of morse code. Florian even tried to decipher it and got "-.-.-...- = KRU". The answer he found did not make sense to him though. Then he thought it could be red and green (---.-. / ..-) which would be better but not much.
In fact the code is long-short-long-short-long-short. And it's not a morse code. It's binary.
OF COURSE IT'S BINARY. I said the answer was hidden in the button. it is very simple (what's simpler than 1 and 0, yes or no) and that the answer was actually 42.
The flashing on the "Don't Press this Button" button in fact spells "-.-.-." = 101010 = 42.
42. The Ultimate Answer. Of course!
No-one got the answer right, even though I felt that I had all but given away the blatantly obvious answer :D
All of us here at Painting Buddha had a lot of fun running the event and we are sure that we will do something like this again.
We spent a LOT of time and with that a small fortune in salaries on creating these videos. We did it because it was fun. And with your participation it was even more fun.
Every day Ben and Mati - even my mom - asked: "Did anyone find the Easter Egg yet?"
Alas, no-one ever did...
Eggcellent!
I am really interested to hear your opinion on this. Do you think it's too early to write about something like this since we don't even know whether the problem exists in the production models?
In case this is a production issue, do you think this is a problem GW should even bother to address? Or are you fine with 3D-printed stuff, even if it shows stepping?
Do you think that GW should have edited the images to avoid communicating this 'problem'?
Do you even care - and if so, why not?
You know what to do: Please leave your comments in the section below. The comment section has become one of my favorite parts of our blog - it really helps us to get to know our audience better (that would be you!)
By leaving a comment, you can WIN the award winning
Paintingbuddha Season 1.1 - "Target Identified" Budget Box
that waited in vain for someone to solve the
Easter Egg giveaway last year (see below).
6 DVDs, 2 miniatures, 2 of the worlds best painters at an incredible price of 42€.
42? Of course. You know it's the answer.
We will draw the winner NEXT MONDAY!
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7
Paintingbuddha Season 1.1 - "Target Identified" Budget Box
that waited in vain for someone to solve the
Easter Egg giveaway last year (see below).
6 DVDs, 2 miniatures, 2 of the worlds best painters at an incredible price of 42€.
42? Of course. You know it's the answer.
We will draw the winner NEXT MONDAY!
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7
Special Eggstended Version: The elusive "Hoopy Holidays Easter Egg" revealed!
 |
| As many suspected, the secret lies within the button! |
Half of the winners have already received their prizes, the rest is 'in the mail'. We hope you enjoy your prizes and would like to thank everyone again for participating in this fun little event. We put a few hundred (!) hours of work in those videos just because we loved doing them and implemented spontaneous ideas when they sounded like fun ;)
Two of you, our Bruddhas Luca and Florian got closest. Both asked me whether the flashing of the button is some sort of morse code. Florian even tried to decipher it and got "-.-.-...- = KRU". The answer he found did not make sense to him though. Then he thought it could be red and green (---.-. / ..-) which would be better but not much.
In fact the code is long-short-long-short-long-short. And it's not a morse code. It's binary.
 |
| Nope, this was not the easter egg, sorry! |
The flashing on the "Don't Press this Button" button in fact spells "-.-.-." = 101010 = 42.
42. The Ultimate Answer. Of course!
No-one got the answer right, even though I felt that I had all but given away the blatantly obvious answer :D
All of us here at Painting Buddha had a lot of fun running the event and we are sure that we will do something like this again.
We spent a LOT of time and with that a small fortune in salaries on creating these videos. We did it because it was fun. And with your participation it was even more fun.
Every day Ben and Mati - even my mom - asked: "Did anyone find the Easter Egg yet?"
Alas, no-one ever did...
Eggcellent!
SHARE & ENJOY
GW has you guys so paranoid that not only will you refuse to leak their images, you won't even leak your own PB news! ;)
ReplyDeletePsssst! The walls have EYES!
Delete"Do you think it's too early to write about something like this since we don't even know whether the problem exists in the production models?"
ReplyDeleteProbably too early. You may fund yourself with, wait for it, egg on your face if it doesn't exist in the production. It won't be long before we know.
"In case this is a production issue, do you think this is a problem GW should even bother to address? Or are you fine with 3D-printed stuff, even if it shows stepping?"
It depends on how the mini looks in the flesh, erm, plastic. If it doesn't stand out then I could live with it. If it does then they should address it.
"Do you think that GW should have edited the images to avoid communicating this 'problem'?"
If they're not representative of the production minis then they absolutely should have edited the images.
"Do you even care - and if so, why not?"
Ooh, I know this one, is it 24?
Wow !
ReplyDeletethey did use pre-production models direct from the printer before having the real miniatures available...
And ?
I read your articles with great interest but I really don't see the point with this one.
I don't see where the problem is, they always did that before, using "almost similar but not exactly the same as the final ones" metal miniatures to tease some new plastic miniatures, or using conversions to promote so new figures not yet ready to be released...
Yes the painter should have spent the necessary 4.2 seconds to file them or should have edited the picture before using it but I'm not sure that it made any differences to the targeted people...
Going from a monthly to weekly magazine has probably shorten the time available for the whole team to have something to publish, but who does really care ?
I'm more worried by the shape of the copter and the new size of the dwarfs that now stand almost 1 head over the older ones and are visually incompatible with the old range than by some printing lines on a pre-production miniature showed on a catalogue to tease the new range...
It's like watching your newly finished mini fall from the edge of your desk. GW seems to be unravelling in slow motion and at this point i don't think they even know what to do. That mini is falling and as they reach out to stop it they may actually hit it harder and do more damage than if they just let it fall, ya know? I hope they come out of this better for it. I really hope the line troops don't have to take the brunt of the executives out of touch mistakes. Mainly, I hope.
ReplyDeleteThanks for another very interesting read. I came a bit late to the whole "Future of GW" party, but I have thoroughly enjoyed reading through all these posts, even if the first ones are a year old now.
ReplyDeleteTo use your terminology, this looks like a simple case of "failed damage control" by GW, primarily by whichever member of the 'eavy Metal crew painted these up. I am sure that the painters are under a lot of time constraints to get models done, but letting something so obvious slip through the cracks, to me, says one of two things:
1. Someone has lost focus on their craft because of overwhelming deadline pressure, or
2. They simply don't care anymore
If these pictures are legit, they are further evidence of the simple fact that companies who rely on creative types to generate profits will destroy themselves once they put profits above art. If you chase money, then the thing that made you great to start with will only die.
Cheers. . .and keep these articles coming!
Thanks for catching up on all of the articles. I recently read them all again and was like 'wow - that guy writes too much' :D
DeleteThe pictures are definitely legit and I agree with you that profits > art is a problem. For GW the bigger one is profit > community, imo.
too early? no, never. If it has been seen, then it's fair to write about it.
ReplyDeleteshould GW address this ? maybe not this release (too late for that), but in the future definetly. Even if it only affects the models painted by the EM team.
edit the images? well if it's only the EM Model, then yes. If it affects the production run, then it could lead to problems. (See Rackham's PrePaintedPlastics, where the advertised image had little to do with the actual painjob)
do I even care? it's an even trickyer question.
On one side: yes, they helped introduce a lot of new people to the hobby and would be a shame to let that disappear
On the other side: not at all, haven't bought any minis from GW for like 2-3 years now. And in some parts of the world (for example: whole countries like Hungary) they are not even needed really anymore (Mostly Malifaux/Infinity/FoW/Epic is being played, with only a few old veterans playing 40K now and then. New players are encouraged to play these games, not GW's anymore)
For a painted model to show that is absolutely inexcusable. To try and say that photoshopping the picture is wrong is also a poorly thought out logical chain.
DeleteTo try and make any claim that these 'painted model' images shouldn't be altered leads you down the path where the only 'painted model' images have to be completely untouched and painted exactly as they are when they were clipped from the sprue.
I'm not a master painter, I'm not a master modeller. Right now the standard I'm hoping for is Tabletop Ready but I do clean gate marks & flash, I do repair damage & fill join gaps, all before I paint. I'm willing to bet we all do, each to our own level of what we think is acceptable.
GW publications aren't hobbyist blogs or fanzines, they feature professionally modeled & painted figures that in the past have been recognized as being the top of the industry standards. To publish something that is so far below that standard is a huge fail.
I never noticed these marks when I skimmed the rumours articles or viewed the reviews of the 'zines, but Paintingbuddha is bang on in his analysis of these 'epic fails'
I actually got a lot of messages from people who said that for example the Space Marines also had these issues - in production. I cannot confirm this myself, but I think it's ok to share this info.
DeleteI have these lines on my tactical squad legs(only the sides of the legs). As a later poster mentioned with the tyranids they disappear depending on the angle. I am not sure if the paint would completely cover them or not. They are not a deal breaker, but they are significant enough that I sanded them off the model I am painting as I paint for display and didn't want them to come back to haunt me.
DeleteI have seen this on at ;least one model in every release for 24 months. I figured they were finger prints due to their locations and the way they don't feature in 360 views but did on the stills on their website an in the White Dwarf.
ReplyDeleteThat's still my opinion as none of he plastic kits have had those markings on them but your point is one that hadn't occurred to me but at the same time in either case stepping or finger prints it's lazy presentation. It could be fixed before publication (especially prints as with Digital cameras there's no excuse not to retake an image)
I quite like the flying eggstravangza to be honest :)
ReplyDeleteI like the 'red' one a bit - would convert it into a Necron Speeder.
DeleteBut the green one looks like a flying Kinder Surprise Egg imo :D
So close. Not a win. I thought about binary, but I didn't say it. Well, that's how life goes. Thank you for sharing the answer.
ReplyDeleteI really, really liked our conversations and chats on this subject. You were the closest of all of them :D
DeleteI seriously worry about the sanity of the people in charge at GW lately...
ReplyDeleteI quite like the look of the copters themselves. I don't believe the stepping will be an issue on the production moulds.
ReplyDeleteLet us wait and see.
ReplyDeleteGW always finds way to disapoint us in ways that we never expected.
Oh gawd, so many egg puns... it's like listening to Dwellers Below all over again.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind fixing the mould lines & other minor flaws before painting but I'm not interested in trying to sand away the scan lines while trying to avoid removing the other surrounding details (which can be tricky on parts with a border or other raised details near the lines).
ReplyDelete& If they're not going to fix the flaws on the production models they better not be photoshopping them out!!
This remembers me on the release of finecast, when GW posted a picture of their brand new material on their homepage, and some days later it was deleted after several people spotted a molding mistake on the promo pic.
ReplyDeleteBut before we decide if this problem with the new dwarfs is just a single mistake or if GW’s quality management has a big problem, we should better wait for some live pics of the final products.
Thanks for your hard work. as al;ways great to read you!!
ReplyDeleteSince GW outsources their plastic minis to china, but most likely sculpts them at home, how do you paint the mini, so that it can appear on the box art before it is actually shipped from china? The easiest solution is to just 3D print it at home in England somewhere, and then paint the 3D print instead of an actual plastic mini that was made thousands of miles away, take pictures of it, and send the photos off to china to be included on the box art.
ReplyDeleteI think all GW did was switch to a cheaper 3D print quality. 3D printing can be quite expensive, and we all know how much GW likes to cut costs.
Any serious source ? The main plastic production (except starter boxes) is being made in England by GW themselves...
DeleteI don't think GW has this outsourced to China (anymore). Their production sits in Nottingham. As far as I know even the promo-paintjobs have been insourced again.
DeleteNo source at all. I just assumed they made it in China due to the constant leaks of their new minis from the factory before GW even announces them. Perhaps that's a reason they moved production back to England as you said.
DeleteBut if they do make them in England, why 3D print them at all? Perhaps so they can release new minis quicker by not waiting for the molds to be made? I don't know. I'm just speculating in this post.
no worries Bruddhas....GW painted the 3 ups as mostly do to have early pics....and thos are 3 D Printed....im sure there will be no steppingon the final Models ;)
ReplyDeleteAlthough I find this a little hard to believe myself I really like the idea. Because that would mean that there is a giant, painted 3UP Army of Dwarves, Tyrannids and Space Marines somewhere.
DeleteI MUST SEE THAT :D
there are several minis i saw on my Studio visit painted as 3 ups....mostly Characters...
DeleteSorry, but your blog has now officially degraded from a source of generally insightful analysis on GW's business practices to one where the standing order is to ridicule or pillory Games Workshop. I'm not certain, but I can almost hear the the rubbing of hands and the cackling glee as you write each post, almost as if you WANT the worst-case scenario to occur. Yes, yes, you may SAY you don't want this to be the case, but it rings about as true as someone who says "I'm not racist, my best friend is (insert ethnic group here)."
ReplyDelete-- And so what if they use 3-D models for photography? Maybe the finished models weren't ready yet. The only way this should matter to Joe or Jane Wargamer is if the actual, for-sale models don't resemble the painted examples, or if the quality is less, etc. Unless, that is, one is just looking for something to complain about...
Hey, thanks for your feedback.
DeleteI guarantee you that I do not cackle with glee when I write these. If you don't believe me, ask Ben or Mati. I (still) love GW. Maybe I just love the memory of what it once was, I am not sure.
I also thank you for letting me know that you don't like this kind of article. Believe me, right now we are so busy that not having to write an article like this (took me around 4 hours to write!) would be something I would have prefered. It was actually Ben who pointed the 'stepping' out to me (on the Ironbreaker) and I asked: You think we need to write something on that? And he said: "I think we should".
What I WANT from Games Workshop is not to go down. That would be horrible for the future of our hobby (not necessarily for ourselves). I want them to come to their senses. Things are going downhill from what I can see and fixing the important issues would be simple and almost free of cost...
If anything, GW's management makes me very sad.
But again, I appreciate your feedback and even if you are the first person to voice your concern on the quality of what we do on this Blog, to me THAT is a warning sign. At least something to be very aware of. And THAT is where I think my state of mind differs from that of Games Workshop.
I hope this comes across as intended ;)
Thanks again for this entertaining WALL-OF-TEXT ^^
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I have not seen the pics showing the stepping lines and I won't go for it. If I like a miniature, I usually buy it. If there is a quality problem I usually try to fix it (FAP-FAP-FAP ^^).
If I cannot fix it, I try to contact the company hoping to get the damaged mini replaced...
By the way, that is, what I like about smaller miniature companies. They work for the hobby by there hearts. The support is - in the most cases - always kind and constructive. AND they often do not refuse tu replace damaged items...
I will take it as it is...I will still have an eye for single GW-models. But the majority of my funds will go to smaller companies, where I still can feel the emotion and passion for our beloved hobby.
Thank you so much to ALL those "smaller companies" again!
Best regards,
Skyle
I have to say that I have absolutely no quarrels with GW's support either. The stores and even HQ will happily help you if anything with your purchase is wrong. That is definitely an area that GW has truly improved on in the past.
DeleteKinda funny that I didn't ever write that in the articles. I guess it is something that I consider 'mandatory standard'. You would only notice the service guys, if their quality of support went down.
So here's to you service doods and doodettes at GW: Cheers!
I noticed this moiré pattern on some Tyranid releases as well (can't find them now). It is usually only visible from certain angles while from others it completely disappears. So I guess the "steps" have to be tiny. Perhaps hardly visible save for these photos.
ReplyDeleteYou know, now you have to buy those models when they come out and check them out for the benefit of truth and justice. :-D
Well, I bought an AoW model online and was quite disappointed by the quality - they are showing master models on their site... Call me naive, but I was more disappointed then than by this heinous GW crime.
Thanks for the good read anyway!
You might be on to something here, since especially the metal paint on even the tiniest steps would create strong highlights when photographed with flash.
DeleteI have to agree with some of the folks here. Yes the pics look like they screwed up and quality control and damage control went on a field trip instead of doing there job. Some intern probably green lit it ;) I REALLY loved your series and i am still enjoying the eggcellent jokes! But this post eggtually went a little over the top. - Apart from the fact that the leaked gyrocopter looks hideous :P . Keep your post coming but I think its better to keep it focused on the actual problem. I enjoyed the eggsplanation about 3D printing though!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your feedback rwklangaesthetikprojekt (what a name!)
DeleteI promise that I will refleggt on that!
haha, yea the name comes with my (almost dead) blog. I do have a real name though and if you check the paintingbuddah facebook page and look for the guy who posted the newspaper article that made it into nr. 11 of your series almost know who i am. (whohoo more easter eggs) Eggtually ( it never gets old, does it?) i am really impressed that you and your team take the time to go through all the stuff people are posting here. Keep the yolk coming! I am having a blast!
DeleteSomebody clucked up... :p
ReplyDeleteStill think it is a bit too early to comment on this. If they are indeed just a problem with the production models it might not have been caught due to time stretches due to the new schedule of the White dwarf weekly and all the changes happening. Time will tell I guess
ReplyDeleteI really like these articles. GW has fallen so far!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think you jumped the shark with this one. Overall, your articles are great but this is just a weird rant based on some images from WD. We need to see if there is actually any issue with the kits before claiming failure with quality control.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, the craziness with the reconstituted WD is enough to fuel at least a few more posts. Take a look at this interesting article in New York Times from back in December:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/28/business/media/loyal-subscribers-keep-hobby-magazines-afloat.html
The gist of it is hobby magazines have been doing very well despite the downturn in magazine sales overall. Because of their niche content. Yet GW does the inverse, produces two magazines full of content that can be gotten anywhere on the web. As your earlier posts show, they are not void of all business sense - so what the heck is the strategy here?
Oooh, I jumped the shark! Like da Fons! :D But I tried not to make it look like a rant more informative and entertaining ;)
DeleteI feel that it would be so easy for GW to re-activate their awesome community-power, but as you indicate - I can't see the strategy either.
Your argument for the reconstituted WD falls flat as they will not let you subscribe to it. they expect you to go to the store every week to pick it up. This is going to be a huge disaster for them, mark my words.
DeleteAnd as for the monthly visions mag that you can subscribe to, it's just a picture book with no articles. I highly doubt many people will be interested.
Nice try GW.
Frari - that was exactly my point, I am not arguing the reconstituted WD is like other successful hobby magazines, it is the exact opposite. There is little to nothing of merit in WD and Warhammer: Visions.
DeleteClearly, they are saving the good stuff (fluff, rules) for dataslates in the hopes we gobble those up. That's a mistake though - I am happy to pay for an annual subscription to learn interesting things about armies I don't play/paint. I am not going to pay for one-off dataslates for those armies, however. The dataslates are fine but they should be in addition to a magazine with good content, not in replacement thereof.
Its like the opposite problem with cable TV - there I don't want to pay to browse, I just want to pay to get the one or two channels that have my interest. With GW, I am happy to pay to browse a monthly magazine as long as the content is worthwhile.
Thanks everyone for their feedback! I really appreciate it!
ReplyDeleteI think it is a Big problem that they don't fix it in post editing of the picture but a seriously huge problem If they don't spot it before it reach the customers. Worst of all would be If they spot it and don't fix it that is the biggest problem of all. But this is an If it is a problem in the finnished product.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a potentially huge problem for GW, mostly for their magazine, here's why:
ReplyDeleteWithout any evidence to the contrary, it's reasonable to assume that this stepping is a result of a pre production model. Even if it's not, we still end up with the same situation: the editors at the magazine let these images reach the public. That is a big problem for the company at large, but an even bigger one for the newly formatted publication.
During all of the steps before the model(s) were placed in the "finished" magazine, the problem could have been fixed without reaching the eyes of the public at large. If it was a case of pre production minis that were not treated properly by studio painters, they could have easily taken them to the offending employee with a stern "do it again, right this time". They could have of course as mentioned earlier gone the Photoshop route as well, point is: they had options at that point.
But once we see the problem, their options are severely limited. Now, they have a magazine that has seen a MAJOR formatting change, to the point of basically being a new publication altogether that has dropped the ball. The first quarter is going to be critical for the new magazine(s) as it's trying to prove it's worth compared to a fully digital product. This isn't the way to ensure it's prolonged eggsistence.
And even if these are leaked early pictures before the appropriate steps were taken by the editor(s), it's still a problem. As it helps bolster that opposition to the continued publication of the printed magazine, it turns into a handy "See, we're still getting leaked and this time it makes us look utterly incompetent!"
There's another possibility. It might be a problem with the creation of the mold itself. Modern molds are machined from CAD files by robots, so it might be that somebody screwed up the granularity setting. Or that they purposefully turned it down to save machining time.
ReplyDeleteGuess we'll see when the actual models hit the stores, but it would be unlike GW to screw up their plastics like this. It's their last real point of corporate pride.
I thought about this too - but if it were a resolution issue on the mold-makers, we would see these steps everywhere, I think. I would expect the same if it were a 3D-Printed model (why would you only see these steps on one particular part?).
DeleteI will have a close look as soon as these minis come out.
Goddam it, GW, you messed up eggain!
ReplyDeleteAnyone took a first hand look onto the new minis and checked them for stepping today ?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the articles. While I enjoy reading, I am saddened.
ReplyDeleteI feel that GW and I were best mates once. In the 90's. I had a White Dwarf subscription that I signed up for at the first Australian Games Day. I would travel by train an hour in each direction to get to my GW store. We could go there, hang out. Talk ideas about conversions, scenarios. Play Necromunda, Gorkamorka, or have a good-old-fashioned 40K squad-bash. Then I got distracted from the hobby, and when I came back ten years later, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. My old friend, what have you done?
He has turned on his friends, he starts fights with our new friends, he sees no fault in any mistake he makes, but blames all his problems on those around him, those who just want to help. If GW was a person, we might call on a psychologist, or stage an intervention. He has become drunk on money, is delusional and paranoid. This is how I feel for GW, and I think you do to Zaphod. Why you care so much to write these articles. Todays post was more like a rumour "Did you hear what GW did the other day? It's like he doesn't even care any more..." but only time will tell. I doubt this error will make it to production. I don't care about 3d printed, if it can retain the previous quality. But I do care for GW overall. We were mates once. Maybe we can be again.
I guess that's eggsactly the reason why I write these articles. To be mates again with GW :)
DeleteStill no 1st hand impressions ? Cmon guys 50+ posts GW bash and no verification ???
ReplyDeleteI wanted to head to our local GW this weekend, but (like on the previous 10-15 weekends) I have been too busy going there. Maybe someone else can check on the production models?
DeleteBut those lines add character!
ReplyDeleteAnyway seeing a company's display artists not clean up such flaws does make you want to facepalm. Of coarse that isn't even considering everyone else who saw it as well (who you mentioned).
As a miniature collector I don't think this should bother me as much as it should, but I'm not a GW player so I'm also not paying the higher prices for such items.
Also I think the Dwarves contracted Dr Eggman to design their new copter... come on GW designers your better than this!
Zaphod - these lines have nothing to do with 3d printing. They are lines left by the tool passes on the mold by the CNC machine. I've seen them on the new Space marines, so its not new with the dwarfs. Machining time for the molds is one of the largest expenses in the mold making process. By cutting down on the number of passes you can reduce the machining time, and therefore make more molds with the same equipment. Overall this would allow GW to make more molds with the same equipment, which would explain how they are pumping out more kits.
ReplyDeleteHi guys I need to share this as this was a big disappointment for me. Back here in Czech the publisher of translations from Black Library to CZ lost rights for translations. So a 10 years of translating and publishing Black Library books to my small country language is at the end.
ReplyDeleteI heard that same it is in Poland, Italy and another country.
So I wrote an email to Black Library, they told me that the reason is better class for their IP, but they have no interest in close time publish anything in Czech.
This was one of the worst news for me in 2014. I am really sad what is becoming from Games Workshop.. It makes me cry..
It's faaaaakin saaaaaad...
ReplyDeleteIt really looks like the ones who command the ship do not care about hobby... I supose it will not change untill somebody realizes that GW could not be driven like McDonald's or Coca- Cola...
Thanks for sharing it..
ReplyDeleteCommercial printing China