Not So Finecast

I've been viewing the recent Games Workshop price increases with my usual disbelief. I'll still pay these prices because I love their miniatures and their games are the best in my opinion, but even I'm starting to get a bit annoyed. Along with the price raise, we also had this whole concept of metal miniatures going away and being replaced with resin. As Tenacious D would say, "You can't kill the metal. The metal will live on." Looks like that isn't the case and these new resin figs will reign supreme. Not sure how I feel about all this.

When the rumors started flying, I was thinking that Games Workshop was going to use all of the same molds from their metal miniatures and just sell these new miniatures like Forge World direct on their website. This would cut out discount shops like TheWarStore and others and increase their bottom line. Since the announcement on Monday, I've been kinda meh about this.

The idea of getting lighter miniatures was cool as I honestly hate working with metal, but there are other issues of working with resin. I know a lot of people love Forge World and can't get enough of their kits, but I hate working with that stuff more than metal and every time I buy something from them it's not only overpriced, but the casts are terrible. The concept of boiling miniatures and sawing through 2 inches of flash is just ridiculous to me.

Over on Dakka Dakka, Legion4500 got one of the new Finecast miniatures and has been posting a review on it. You can read his review here. All of the pictures I have here are taken from Legion4500's post. First off we have new packaging. I'm really digging this. Nice full color pic of the model on the front and the back is clear so you can see what you are getting. The miniatures come on sprues which means Games Workshop made entirely new molds. Also, this will be sold through distribution so you'll still be able to get them at your favorite local game store (FLGS). Mabybe GW isn't so bad afterall...

Then we get a look at one of the miniatures and it looks pretty good. I know they claim the detail is sharper, but I don't see much of a difference from the metal miniature. Resin can capture finer details, but I don't have a habit of looking at my miniatures with a microscope so this doesn't intrigue me too much. 

Then we move on to the material itself. From what Legion said, "The material is wierd feeling, it does not feel or smell like resin - its more on the plastic end. it is EXTREMELY SOFT - cuts with a new hobby knife easier then a hot knife thru butter. There are some heavy sprue gates but due to the softness of the material its easy to remove and clean up. Sanding is semi easy - I recommend fine grit or you will cut right thru the figures details in no time. The metal burs and stuff that plague the metal figures don't exist here. Sanding leaves less mess then a plastic figure. Almost no dust." Sounds intriguing. Maybe I will have to pick one of these up.

Lastly, we come to the casting and it looks like the same Forge World shenanigans. Pieces are bent or entirely missing and there are a lot of air bubbles that are marring the surface. The proof is in the pudding and all my hopes for this line are pretty much gone. Maybe this is just the first batch and the quality will improve over time, but I'm not holding my breath.

What do you guys think? Is Finecast worth it or not? Is this the next big thing in miniatures or is this another crazy scheme by GW to make more money? Leave your comments and let me know what you think. And don't forget to check out Legion's full review with more pics over at Dakka Dakka.

I was recently commissioned to do 4 gaming tables for the game store Adventure Games in Dickson City, PA. I plan on having a tutorial up in the near future. Also, Adventure Games is running a 1,850 point 40K tournament next weekend and I hear Jawaballs is planning on attending. I won't be playing in the tournament, but I plan on being there to see it all go down. Maybe I'll post some pics.

Till next time,

–The Harrower