Is Finecast Officially dead now.

TheSilentRanger · **Joined:** Sat Jan 04, 2014 9:33 pm **Posts:** 6

Just recently looking on the GW website at the new warhammer dwarves (I'm not to keen), there were no finecast miniatures available. This is including the two character models also, here is the link to check yourself.
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/armySubUnitCatsLarge.jsp?catId=cat440004a&rootCatGameStyle=wh

Who knows?

JamesR · **Posted:** Wed Feb 05, 2014 7:33 pm

This actually has been the pattern for a bit but Hobbit minis have still had finecast.

However your title is correct, finecast is dead. I shot it with Dorth's BAZ-OOKA! :rofl:

Dr Grant · **Joined:** Fri Aug 03, 2012 1:50 pm **Posts:** 1339

As JamesR says, the pattern for Fantasy and 40K has been no Finecast for a while. The DOS releases are definitely the anomaly in the release schedule. Supposedly this is because they know SBG doesn't sell as well as the other 2 systems and apparently Finecast moulds are cheaper to make than plastic ones so it's easier to recoup their costs. I don't know that for sure, it's just what others have said. Personally, (for everything except the spiders and the Laketown Guard) I think it;s a good thing, the DOS Hobbit characters have been fantastic, Alfred, Beorn, Thrian the Broken, The Master and Thranduil are all absolutely gorgeous sculpts with wonderful detail and IMO, are all vastly better than the Tauriel sculpt (not to mention less expensive!) so I'm all for Hobbit Finecast characters.

Lord Hurin · **Posted:** Wed Feb 05, 2014 10:57 pm

I certainly hope so! "Fine"cast troops were a pain to deal with, and too expensive to boot. I had great hopes of a large Gundabad Blackshield component in my Moria army, then they went to FC and I was done with it. 8 metal and 8 "Fine"cast is it for me now unless I find some at a great discount.

VandalCabbage · **Joined:** Sun Jan 19, 2014 1:12 pm **Posts:** 286

Though I'd hate for finecast troops to be the norm from now on (and think it unlikely) because of the expense, I don't get all the fuss about it's supposed defects. My sole finecast model, a dwarf captain of Erebor, is totally fine and very detailed.
Not that I would mind a move to plastic for heroes, I just simply don't care either way TBH. They are all priced the same anyway....

JamesR · **Posted:** Thu Feb 06, 2014 7:58 pm

There's been very few problems with Hobbit Range fine-cast. Pre-Hobbit was very very poor quality.

Coenus Scaldingus · **Joined:** Sat Aug 17, 2013 9:14 am **Posts:** 1121

Still, only a quarter of the Thranduils I've seen so far had a complete nose...

Songfist · **Posted:** Fri Feb 07, 2014 9:55 am

JamesR wrote:

There's been very few problems with Hobbit Range fine-cast. Pre-Hobbit was very very poor quality.

5 out of the 6 items I purchased were less than perfect castings. GW was very good about replacing them, but some of the replacements were not much better. I may be picky about them, but when I look at how much I am paying for a tiny piece of resin, I sort of expect perfection.

captainquark · **Posted:** Fri Feb 07, 2014 11:32 am

Songfist wrote:

JamesR wrote:

There's been very few problems with Hobbit Range fine-cast. Pre-Hobbit was very very poor quality.

5 out of the 6 items I purchased were less than perfect castings. GW was very good about replacing them, but some of the replacements were not much better. I may be picky about them, but when I look at how much I am paying for a tiny piece of resin, I sort of expect perfection.

I purchased my first finecast model (Khamul the Easterling) a couple of weeks ago in store. Looking at it in store, I didn't see anything wrong with it, but when I got home, I looked at it again, and even without opening the clampack, I noticed a miscast.

It was a case of, I could have fixed it with a bit of sculpting (half the sword handle was missing), but for the money I paid, I shouldn't have to, so I contacted them and they have sent a replacement (Which is late :-X

). We'll see if the replacement is better :roll:

sarge · **Posted:** Fri Feb 07, 2014 11:33 am

I've made up the plastic Legolas an Turiel and thought they were great. I'm not the biggest fan of finecast and personally would not be sad to see it go. Ans as has been said I don't think there is a massive difference in price these days.

belgiumfire · **Posted:** Mon Mar 03, 2014 1:05 pm

Not sure to post this here but as it is relevant to finecast and the future of Lotr/hobbit sbg

http://natfka.blogspot.be/2014/03/forge ... ecast.html

Sithious · **Posted:** Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:11 pm

We cannot put the nail in the Finecast Coffin until they stop producing and selling them. For now they are still making and selling them as far as we know (January almost entire range release being finecast). I still have not received my Laketown stuff, order is being processed because the items are sold out.

I think they are about equal so far with metals as far as poor casts. Metals take a lot of file and clean up work while finecast if not miscast is ready to go easy. Prices fall in line very well. in 2001, 24 plastics cost 250% of the cost of 3 metal warriors. Now 24 plastics cost 384% more than 3 finecast warriors. So I think as a value finecast is not too bad. l think plastics are very much improved so people are very picky about clam packs.

at the moment, as Hobbit and LOTR SBG only has a few more years left, it is not overly important which direction they take for that short time, as long as they get everything released in time to allow us to buy it before they stop selling (assume the last year will be no releases, maybe a farewell hurrah book).

Little_Odo · **Posted:** Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:15 am

I did a bit of thinking about all of this over the last few days and came to the following conclusion(s) - please bear in mind this is just me daydreaming and NOT based on any rumours...

I think GW will continue to run down their metal stocks and keep producing finecast figures until their licence expires in 2017. They will then, IMHO, do one of three things...

1) Completely stop production of everything and call it a day on the whole SBG thing

2) Not renew the licence and then stop production of everything except their own IP within the LotR and The Hobbit ranges (e.g. Wood Elves, Dwarf Rangers, Khandish, Castellans etc.). They will then rename the SBG (without the Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit tag), which will have quite a large selection of troops to choose from from the offing - a good selection of plastics for Elf, Dwarf and men armies, as well as finecast monsters just for starters, to which they can add more of their own ideas.

3) Renew the licence until they get their investment back and also to stop someone else from jumping onto it and maybe doing better than they did (reintroducing metals?) and thus profiting nicely from it.

Either of the latter ones would suit us fine as we still get support for our hobby in the way of figures still being produced and maybe a few books/supplements every once in a while.

As I said and want to reiterate - these are just my thoughts not based on any rumours

samoht · **Posted:** Sun Mar 09, 2014 11:29 am

It ain't dead.

JamesR · **Posted:** Sun Mar 09, 2014 11:50 am

@Little Odo - how do you figure any of that save the first? GW's made back their investments from the LOTR range and probably (based off their own statements) the Hobbit too so there's no need to continue for that to occur. GW's done with Metals, it's too expensive for their bottom line to produce them, and so they're phased out of all their systems. And if the past few years have shown anything they are consolidating all their focus into their top 2 systems.

Will they launch a new game after LOTR and they're prepping for it? Maybe, we will certainly see soon enough.
BUT fine-cast is certainly not dead yet, and it looks like it will exist for a while still with the Forge World branch

aelfwine · **Joined:** Sat Aug 22, 2009 12:23 am **Posts:** 508

If I were a betting sort, I would say we'll see...

The end of the LOTR/Hobbit range in late 2016, early 2017. It could even be earlier, with a final release at Christmas 2015. We don't know what the license termination terms are, but it could involve pulping old sourcebooks and destroying old moulds (common terms, and have been used by MEE before). It's this rather final set of terms that might see GW just offering some smaller amount of money to keep selling the range until all demand finally dwindles, but...probably not. If they want to squeeze every last sale, they'll tell us a good few months in advance that there's a deadline coming up, so buy stuff now.

Beyond that, I'd imagine the bones of SBG might have a longer life.

For example, the potential use, as noted before, of the odder looking older SBG sculpts all in the service of...

A Warhammer Strategy Battle Game

The game will probably not be precisely the SBG we know, but something that works in a similar fashion, with individual characters, probably of a slightly different scale than WH, but with that same sense of movement as SBG. They could probably sell a lot of, uh, classic, sculpts with the game, and thus answer one of the key criticisms of Warhammer (needs too many figures to work, so many, that strategy gets forgotten), and keep selling WH stuff.

As mentioned elsewhere, a lot of the "look" of classic WH40k is based on licensed figures from other properties that GW developed when other licensing agreements were cancelled (such as Stormbringer characters), so there's a precedent.

Reasonable assumption, I suspect.

Is Finecast Officially dead now.

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