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Thursday, December 08, 2016

Krak, Made to Order!

Hi, Everybody!

It's Brother.P, the brother of Mr. Pink!

This Holiday Season, GW is giving back in countless ways. Firstly, there is now a retailer in my city that stocks GW stuff, including the entire line of paints! Secondly, GW introduced 'Made to Order'. Giving folks the chance to relive the glory days of pewter models which helped us develop our upper body strength. (Note: pewter is the tin/silver metal originally used for casting GW models, well, after they stopped using lead)

I want to count down the top 10 models that I'd love to see get the 'Made to Order' treatment. To all the Dark Eldar, Tyranid and Genestealer Cult enthusiast; be warned, this is mostly a list of Imperial models.

"Oh, hello Officer. I was just admiring your shotgun, yes, I will move along"



10) I coveted this Adeptus Arbite (w/ shotgun) when I was ~ 11 years old. I bought a blister of Arbites with boltguns because they were marginally cheaper ($9 vs $12). They were the same pose, but the boltguns were hardly as impressive.

I love old miniatures that were cast as a single piece. Models that come in two or more pieces are always a pain to pin together. In the back of my mind there is a constant worry that at some point a piece will break off. There are quite a few of these 'one-piece' models that make an appearance on my top 10 list. They hold a special place in my heart because I foresee the children of our post-apocolyptic future playing with the models long after all the paint has worn off, and the model is still in one piece! Also, it's the kind of model you can give to a six year old kid to screw around with, then when the kid turns 13, you say: "Now you paint it!".










9) Chaos Squat. I love the pose of this model (if you ignore the backpack; it's all in one piece). Also, I though I should include at least one squat in this list for posterity.... but I'm not sure I know exactly what 'posterity' means...











8) Inquisitor Elvis. This model's hair looks a little bit like a "cool guy" hairstyle, but he's got a book! Inquisitors have a book as a wargear option! GW actually sells a very similar model with a helmet, and sword replacing the book, but this guys is super cool, look at that hair.










7) Plastic Gothic Ruins, technically, I think the Made to Order models are only old pewter models, but if GW is dusting off old moulds; they should be able to make a few of these. As scenery pieces go, they didn't do much to block line of sight, but they were still beautiful models. They're the perfect accoutrement for a diorama or a display base for your super sexy centrepiece model.










6) Necromunda Bulkheads. Everybody loves Necromunda Bulkheads. The cardboard terrain that they supported was a bit chintzey, and degraded over time, but afterwards the bulkhead pieces were perfect for building your own custom terrain with. Each bulkhead has a ladder built in, which is so handy in-game. I'd love to see GW providing more avenues for gamers to get cheap and customizable terrain on the table. I feel having a table loaded with terrain does wonders for drawing new people into the hobby.










5) Sternguard. REAL Sterguard. These guys don't wear dresses. A while back I combed ebay for a set of these Sternguard. The optic scopes on the top of the gun tend to get bent very easily, but other than that, these guys are fantastic models.













  

4) 3rd Edition Death Company. A common criticism of early Space Marine models, is that they are too short and their hands are too big. These guys pass both tests. They are such wonderful Death Company models. Right now I'm making a squad using the old pewter jump packs mixed with the new plastic death company arms, and they are truly impressive.

The death company model on the right is that it is the same pose as my Blood Angel Apothecary and they have just slightly different iconography.









3) These Space Marine Scout were released near the end of the 2nd edition. Jes Goodwin sculpted a huge assortment of these metal scouts, and (disregarding the heavy bolter) they were all one-piece models. The later edition scout models tried to reproduce Jes's design elements, but few did them justice... (faces... cough. cough.)

This shotgun scouts has an almost identical version carrying a boltgun. This model differs as it is loaded up with ammo and he's one of the rare scout models sporting the re-breather.

I'd gladly list each of the Jes Goodwin scouts here (I own and love them all) and if GW releases these guys as "Made to Order" I'd highly suggest picking up one, and only one. Painting these models is rather tiring despite how wonderfully they've been sculpted. With a model in Power Armour, you basically paint the whole thing one colour, and then paint the extra details. Scouts, on the other hand, have cloth pants, army boots, belts/webbing/holsters, weapons, a bare head and their armour. There is not one dominant feature to start with. All of these different element compound the challenge of painting the model... but I still love them. If I was ever in the movie 'Inception', my 'totem' would definitely be one of these pewter scouts.






2) I love scouts and snipers, and these old Tau Pathfinders bring the two elements together. They were the first Tau models that showed up in the White Dwarf... and they told you absolutely nothing about the Tau (except that tau have 4 fingers and hoofs). But they are dynamic, and they are lot less tiring to paint than the Space Marine scouts. I love that some of the pathfinder models are really low to the ground, because these guys need cover, or a gentle breeze will wipe them from the table. Also with pewter models, being low to the ground means they won't be knocked over so easily.

Be aware: pewter models fall over easily. Furthermore their weight means it is likely they will chip when they fall over. I now put weights in all my bases, and I really should apply a matt coat to seal them.











1) NUMBER ONE!!! The Battle for Macragge Pilot. This guy is great (despite having crashed an Aquilla Lander). You had to buy a starter box just to get him (and his aforementioned jet). He has no use in-game, but just look at him. What's not to like? His little lunch box, his weird bolt pistol, his lack of a neck. Like almost every model on my Top 10 list, at one point this pilot was in my collection, and like most things I cherished; my brother, Mr. Pink gave it away. I'll forgive him just this once because he gave it to his German buddy Hydra. The guy had crossed the ocean to attend what may have been the last Games Day in Canada (and made off with a Golden Demon or two). Hydra also painted this pilot model for our display board, so it would have been a dick move to hold onto it.






Well Everybody, that's it! That's my top ten list of amazing old models. It's funny, but if any of these guys ever became "Made to Order" I wouldn't buy them. I've already bought most of them off of ebay.

What I like about this "Made to Order" campaign, is that you don't have to through a back-ally dealer to get ahold of excellent old models. Hopeful this means lower prices too. (I honestly have nothing against ebay sellers, the shipping cost are what I truly hate)  Furthermore if you're buying freshly cast models, it means you don't have to go through the pains of stripping some of the most questionable, indelible paints you will ever encounter.

Let me know what you think. Also please encourage Mr. Pink to share some of his favourite old models, and make your own Top 10. A bunch of the images I used come from an amazing website. It's a great catalog of a lot of models I never knew existed!








Honourable mention: the Warrior Acolyte.  In the forty first millennium, most models are armed to the teeth, but this guy just brings a notepad! You know the mechanicum installed the largest pair of brass ball on this servitor.
He.   Don't.   Give.   A.    F  LI  C  K.

9 comments:

  1. If I never had to paint another metal model, I would be happy. While I love some of the classics, holding them is a test of wrist strength.
    What I find odd is that they are only limited runs. With the 6 week wait you would think they would wait until they had enough orders, cast them all up and put the mold away for 6 more weeks.

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  2. Really? Pewter is putting a strain on your wrist? I've got a pewter dreadnought that I'm painting, right now, and it's no problem for me. And my right wrist is slimmer than Calista Flockhart's. Frankly, I'm not used to highly detailed plastic models. Once painted, they feel too light to me.

    I love painting my models with a cork stuck to the bottom. I cut the cork to fit inside the base, stick a little 'Silly Putty' on the top on the cork and it stick to the model when I take a break from painting the cork handle comes off without a fuss.

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    1. Perhaps it's because the last metal model I painted was the Carnasaur, between the weight and the spiky bits, it was painful to hold.
      As a player, I love metal models more, always seemed they played better

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    2. ohhh... the Carnasaur would have been a beast to paint. Large pewter mechanical models went together pretty well, but the beasts were too organic for pewter. They needed a ton of work to hide gaps where two pieces came together. I am thankful that I have one metal dread... once it's done I hope it'll outperform its plastic brothers.

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  3. All solid picks! Myself I'd like to see the return of some of the old Noise Marine models (either the 2nd edition ones with the speaker backpacks and crab claw powerfists or the really old one-piece guitar marine, inspired directly by the D-Rok song. Or both.) and the really cool metal Terminator Chaos Lord.

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    1. Oh my god! I was going to put a noise marine in the Top 10, but I couldn't find a decent picture of a pewter model. I loved the Noise Marines with the speaker, I like the freaky skull head. Not necessarily the most slaanesh thing, but very metal none the less. Unfortunately these old model do end up having overly large hands.

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  4. I'd also like to see those plastic Gothic Ruins rerun sometime. Such simple pieces, but they have a ton of versatility depending on how you arrange them. I've seen so many interesting things done with identical pieces at different shops and clubs.

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    Replies
    1. Do you see anyone using them effectively as terrain?

      How do you feel about the plastic jungle trees that were released at the same time?

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  5. O, I wish...
    http://solegends.com/citdragon/thedragon/index.htm

    I saw it once in a FLGS and to my mind it was wonderful.
    Have seen it on ebay once or twice, but the price...

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