Games Workshop move to resin! There could be trouble ahead?
April 7, 2011 by warzan
So we heard last month that Games Workshop were planning a move to resin and in itself it’s not a particularly interesting story... hell Privateer Press have been rolling out resin for ages!
However, it’s when you dig deeper that things start to get interesting...
The technicalities of moving to resin
First up, let’s see what this means for GW. Resin is an obvious choice, but not one without a bucket-load of challenges. Companies have been producing resin minis for ages, but all are generally at the boutique end of the scale, as it’s a very manually intensive process. Games Workshop have invested heavily over the years in the production of metals and have the process nailed to a fine art, with state of the art automation and control (even the moulds are RFID tracked through the process to see where they are at any given time).
Metal gives you little to no wastage, as all miscasts are just put back into the process, the down side is that the tin and its alloys are a commodity that has a very unstable price point, that makes life hard for the accountants!
Resin, on the other hand, has the potential to create massive amounts of wastage. It typically uses softer moulds, which degrade quite rapidly (with particularly fine moulds getting perhaps only 20 – 30 uses!), it brings with it, health and safety issues too. With many resins being touted as carcinogenic (cancer causing).
Now it’s worth remembering, that GW own and operate one of the most successful resin cast businesses in the market, Forgeworld, so perhaps the growth and continued success in that area of the business has led to significant investment in the casting process, where the issues of automation, soft moulds, wastage, fragile casts and health and safety have all been addressed!
We cannot underestimate these challenges, resin moulds (especially multipart moulds) are a bugger to create and require perfect resin mixes and vacuum chambers, but even then, you may find that the stuff simply will not flow the way it’s supposed too. On a small scale this is manageable, but on the larger scale it’s a pretty daunting challenge.
So what’s the upshot for GW?
Why Bother!
Obviously the price point of resin is very stable, which makes life a lot easier for the accountants. Although we hear the price is really not that far from metal (unless they are getting amazing economy of scale).
The other benefit could be weight, resin models are significantly lighter than metal, which in theory may reduce shipping costs. However, if you consider that the packaging may be the most significant part of the shipping cost anyway and then take into account that the models are more fragile (and therefore may need more packaging) and you could be looking at things evening out there also.
Yet another benefit is in model quality, a good resin cast will have a very high resolution and enable the super-fine details of the models to shine, so we could start to see some incredible looking models come out of this whole process.
However, this leads me to the reason that many haven't considered... the 'perceived value' to the end customer of a resin model ... you see in general the cost difference in production between a resin model and a metal model are pretty negligible, but the grand experiment that they called Forgeworld, has demonstrated that the market is happy to pay more for this amazing medium called resin.
Could we be in store for a massive price hike? I wouldn't bet against it, that’s for sure.
Keeping Control
The other story that has been going on in the background for quite some time, is that the model range for independent stockists is being culled like it’s got mad cows disease! Line after line of product is being pulled from the independents and being placed on direct only orders (i.e. GW's Website only) some with basically no notice whatsoever.
Is this a sign that the models are being phased out and that resin is going to replace it... it certainly could be. However the interesting thing to watch is when the resin replacements are released, will they make their way back into the stock lists of the independents or will they only be sold from the GW website... think about what that might mean for you?
Like.... when was the last time GW had a sale...
Is this all speculation, certainly we don’t know for sure what the motives are, but there are enough rumblings in the industry to tell us to expect something. We can only hope the changes are for the better, and that what is a very cool move on the surface doesn’t have a nasty sting in the tail!
Your thoughts?
BoW Warren
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A guy I know why just bought up a local gaming store here in the UK can’t get half the stuff he wants from GW anymore, and his side business of stripping 2nd hand metal models for ebay would suddenl;y become a lot more awkward if everything is resin.
If most of everything going direct order with a big price hike actually happens if they shift to resin, I can see a fair few of the stores closing and GW becoming more of an internet business than a street level presence.
and i don’t know about you but i would say games workshops “street level presence” is a massive part of their business and some peoples reason for getting into the hobby and carrying on with it, so eliminating this presence would cause their sales to fall and the number of players to fall and may eventually lead to the game not existing as people haven’t got their local GW to go to for a game and in some places this is peoples only option
I’m really wary about the whole resin thing. Most people I’ve talked to know full well that resin dust is potentially cancer causing, and wouldn’t dream of letting their children play with anything made of the stuff. That combined with GW’s main demographic being 12 year old kids with little to no understanding of the safety precautions taken, plus what will probably be another price increase since, let’s face it, it is GW, will probably result in a massive loss of parents buying the product for their younger children.
Playing with the models wouldn’t be a problem. The issue with the dust only arises in the preparation and any conversion work, It is the sawing and sanding that creates the dust. I try to remember to wear a mask when sanding with the mini tool now any way, Even with plastics. There has been a lot of discussion on Dakka about the fragility of resin, but there are many different types of resin now available so I don’t believe this would be an issue. Mantic are using a hybrid plastic/resin which i think it is called restic. Someone else… Read more »
i totally agree with what hammerhelden is saying, not only is there massive health warnings with resin models but they are more brittle than plastic. Ive done a few resin kits and I have to be honest I’m not a huge fan of them, GW should stick to plastic I think, look at what they have turned out this year in plastic, grey knights (stunning) the new tomb kings next month (amazing) and the orks they recently did, GW stick to plastic you make good stuff with it.
i agree with loganzaraki and hammerhelden
Which one super glues better? I dispise having to glue metal. huge plastic pin right through from scull to base does it for me.
We have GW to thank for gaming as we know it. Without those street stores most current players simply wouldn’t have heard of it, as many of us from before mass internet sites would not have found the stores to go learn from. Maybe GW lost the will to live so are planning to bankrupt the company to regain individuals freedom. Where would this leave all of you players? D:
Is the resin methodology that PP and Mantic use the same as the ones used in Forgeworld
i’m not afraid of cancer. cancer can suck a big one. i’m on resin’s side. better quality, and less accidental bending is right up my alley. it’s the artistic side of the 40k hobby that keeps me coming back. i never would have painted my first canvas if i hadn’t painted a metal carnifex when i was 14, and that’s the truth. it really doesn’t matter what they charge. i understand that we want the game to be accessible to the kiddos, but this game isn’t really kiddo-friendly (another reason we keep coming back). 40k should be what kids want… Read more »
That’s the Beasts off War spirit!
Give me toy soldiers or give me death!!!
BoW Andy
And, ahem, capital letters? I want to see GW dropping prices. Nothing is scarier to a share holder than seeing higher profits but lower sales – it’s a downward spiral as people panic and hike prices only for sales to fall. I also want to see GW succeed. Hell, they’ve given me an entire world to play in every day. I don’t want the youngsters driven away or playing anything but what they want to. In fact, the more fellows getting in to the hobby the better. That will only happen when a parent doesn’t balk at spending two hours… Read more »
Also, pewter, tin and lead are actually just as poisonous. Heavy metals anyone ? So is epoxy (or other) putty, super glue (it’s cyanocrylate, for pete’s sake !) or any other glue that’s not PVA (and even that’s nasty)… The paints are somewhat toxic as well (although water based and not much… I mean, it’s crushed bugs and more heavy metals such as titanium (white) or cadmium (red)… And don’t get me started on the spray cans ! Let’s face it, pretty much any part of our hobby is at least a little toxic, and also quite polluting… Just like… Read more »
I totally agree. I get really annoyed at ppl constantly complaining about the prices. I think that if better models is the result of higher prices, then get on with it! This hobby really isn’t all that pricey compared to many others out there. Belive me, I’ve tried a few, and this is easily one of the cheapest. Quality always beat quantity when it comes to models!
Resin, eh?
Since FW came back into the fold, this doesn’t surprise me much. If we do see price hikes, I’m pretty sure players will be sticking to plastic.
As for the FW models, I love what they produce but never would pay the price. After all, they’re across the “world pond”….
One of my favorite aspects of the hobby is converting models. The brittleness of resin would make converting much more difficult, the increased expense of resin models means it’s far less feasible to buy a model just for it’s torso, and the saw work that goes into chopping arms/weapons/heads/etc will produce a lot of unhealthy resin dust.
Taken all together, it makes one of the most attractive parts of the hobby and makes it ridiculously unfeasible. GW, don’t do it!
I’m still not completely sold on plastic, so for me, resin is a step to far! That said, the value for money I get from Mantic and the Perry brothers wonderful plastic sculpts (LoTR and Historical) are chaining my opinion.
I just love metal mini’s, the detail, weight and the way that they take paint being the biggest attractions.
I’ve struggled painting resin in the past, perhaps I’m doing something wrong, it just feels different and a little bit wrong!
A requiem for the metal I guess.
Not impressed by their decision, I hope they go for really quality resin so it can withstand the troubles of wargaming.
I guess my last GW army will need quite a few resin models to fill up since I do not want plastic in my armies (vehicles are all right, in plastic, models, not so).
Im all for GW adding resin models to their range as long as it isnt swept out right across the board and only used for certain models, for example larger monsters, maybe some vehicles and some special characters. Im also keen on this change of direction if it means prices come down and GW starts to get real about offering value for money. An ideal scenario would be GW offering certain models and kits in resin and a very very small handful of kits in metal and producing their ‘rank and file’ models in plastics, with the whole process allowing… Read more »
Are they planning to move to resin for all their products or only metal models?
If its cheaper I wouldn’t complain!
It wont be cheaper what’s likely to happen is:
Metal becomes resin
A (from what we hear) Massive Price Hike will come in
You may only be able to buy direct so no discount.
What’s not to like 😉
So true…. so true…
And that’d be the final nail, methinks. The fact that indeps can discount by up to 20% and still make a profit implies GW are making impressive margins already. I don’t want to see them begging, but a little encouragement wouldn’t go amiss.
I recently bought the White Wolf Mage, the Ascension rulebook – 400 pages of gorgeousness. It was £20 off Amazon. The Tomb Kings book is £22.50, and 96 pages. I am starting to feel ripped off.
Now if they moved to resin to create a Master Class of figures that would be ok by me. Instead of buying multiple SM Chaplins to fit your army needs why not have a resin kit that comes with all the options. GW realeases codexs without looking at their current kits. Who here would like to have a Las/Plas for their Razorbacks??
Me! I’ve three of the older ones painted by my exuberant younger self and would dearly love to see a new model.
Its an interesting prospect.
Assuming they would use a form of resin/plastic mix to lessen the ‘elf and safety’ aspects, it could be beneficial.
Detail rendering is better with resin, so in my view, if the price goes up, I wouldnt say its not an issue, price rises always are, but if detail and sculpt quality goes up too, then I can certainly live with it.
Well I welcome the change it happens, but only for the metal models and if does not implied an automatic hike in price…
Resins this days are strong and definitively easier to work with than metal…if transforming minis is your thing!
I am somewhat mixed about this. On one side I like money, but on the other I love the quality a resin model can achieve. It is a tossup. However, I think SC are BLAH and try my hardest never to deploy one on the field, so I suppose it is something of a non-issue for me after all….. unless of course they decide that they want to do TWC in resin. Oh, that could hurt.
Hello, I am an asthmatic, Statistically Resin Dust can cause me to choke to death 37x easier than other people, if all models become resin – I wont be buying any as they will be a health risk. What I say is, GW, Stick to plastic or you’ll lose a lot of your market.
I know that feeling. I have to open the windows wide when I’m using plastic glue or else the fumes send me potty. Arguably the hobby’s dangerous – knives, clippers, plastics, solvents – making the materials dangerous would be no fun at all.
I hope they dont go pure direct sales. Waiting for a deal on ebay is the biggest way I and most players afford there ridiculous pricing. If they do, I wont stop buying at ebay. I will just have to wait till people sell there stuff.
I am really concerned by it… mainly for one simple fact majority of forgeworlds stuff that I have orderred has been slightly flawed. Certain bits warped or the casting has been too sparce and that has lead to things falling apart when trying to cut them off the unclean casts. I hope they continue the quality but right now and although its technically the same company… Forgeworld stuff can look nicer but the GW stuff currently is a lot more reliable. The forgeworld stuff seems to be a lot more fiddly and a pain to add to your items at… Read more »
Well I don’t think many resin models will be made that much in the future as GW seem to be heading more toward plastic for all their models except for the special ones that are small and specialised so I don’t see it being that much of an issue te things GW do with plastics now is better than what they used to do with metal years ago, also I remember when they used lead to make models that was more o a death trap than resin
The biggest casualty of a move to resin, without a doubt, would be the Specialist Games range. These basically live off of the benevolence of GW in continuing to produce such a large range of metals (seriously, if you combine all the metal models in the SG ranges they far outstrip the metals in any of the big 3 – and possibly all 3 together nowadays) The Inquisitor, Bloodbowl & Necromunda communities have been slowly shifting their buying onto more 3rd party models in recent years so are less likely to be badly harmed by such a move. Whereas the… Read more »
No resin!
Just another excuse to rise the prices again that’s what it is imo…
Plus it is harder to assemble than plastic…
Well if they only change the metal ones into resins, why not…
GW might finally fall flat on their face, and it could mean the end of them – the price message may actually get through.
Look at what has come out as of late, most are plastic cast and only a hand full are in metal. Im all for the resin cast for a few reasons. 1. If its a real health hazzard as mentioned above, the 2 things will happen. Perents will not want the kids play with them and more mature players will come out this as only them will take the steps to be safe to hadle resin the way is should be handled. 2. Resin is much better with detail than the heavy ore used in the metal at the moment.… Read more »
Time to say for ever good bye to GW.