^Agree with your first two points RoG. On the third I see what you mean, but for me personally and I expect there are others like me, I've built my backlog on liquidation sales and on products that were going out of stock (only time I would pay full retail price besides the ones I really really want). Many here build their backlogs through second hand miniatures, e-bay and such. We also used to have discount independent online stores that made things more bearable to purchase, but GW has put a halt to that for international vending. And with todays prices now, I'd speculate that people's backlogs aren't increasing steadily as they once have unless they've found a good deal to avoid full retail prices.

Also what's funny about GW ditching the pricey metal for resin is that their new finecast models cost way more than ever before! And why so? I heard it's something about having to do with replacing metal molds and such and the cost of conversion, plus you get finer detail with finecast, YAY! This all justifies the price hikes.

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My Lotr backlog: 305/952[][][][][][][][][][]32% completed
Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA

I don't have a backlog (unless you count those 5 haradrim I don't need to paint) because I haven't been in the hobby that long. Tin and most every metal is skyrocketing in price due to scarcity caused by a lack of the metal itself or because China is buying it all up. Once they fix the (many) problems with FC, it'll be a product worth buying. I personally haven't had enough problems with it to not like the product, it's just too expensive to fit my budget right now.

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"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

I suspect that FC prices are going to stay stable for quite awhile, whereas metal prices would probably surpass FC by alot in the next couple of years.

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"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

I was in a GW last Saturday for the 40K 25th birthday and of course they had that limited space marine model in finecast. Interestingly, the 10 or so copies I saw had no miscasts or air bubbles or anything at all. I've seen a couple of the limited finecast white dwarf models too and they seem pretty perfect.
Which means that they can produce top quality finecast if they want to- I'd guess it's something to do with numbers and it being easier to have consistant quality with a low run. The general lines we see in stores are being mass produced and that's what's probably causing the problems.
Not that it's an excuse or anything. GW should be building up stock of a particular finecast model for months in advance of release so they can ensure we get a good one straight away.

Well even if they fix their quality control problem, which would help, the pricing is too much. So I hope these miscasts complaints stop by time The Hobbit roles around, otherwise it will make it difficult for people to keep on ordering products through online stores. So it's good news Lorizael that you're seeing no flaws by now.

And another thing about backlog as Draugluin mentioned, it gets accumulated over time. I have 800 minis plus Warhammer because I've been collecting since 2004 about. It's amazing how much you can purchase when keeping a proper budget, and finding out deals and liquidation sales and local second hand sales, plus independent store discounts which unfortunately one of my indies is just closing down now, 30% off of GW products though. King's Champion here I come. Still sad though. This has nothing to do with being priced out by GW though. GW's present prices mean that I'll rarely buy new at full retail to add to my collection. Smaug might be the only one I'll buy full retail, but with a 550+ backlog I should really wait for a sale.
...Then again it's Smaug...

The thing about waiting for a sale is that you'll never know if it's going to happen in finding that particular model, but it is inevitable that retail prices will rise the longer you wait.

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My Lotr backlog: 305/952[][][][][][][][][][]32% completed
Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the initial Finecast releases had appalling quality control (every Great Beast deformed, over half of retail deliveries broken, etc.). This naturally did GW a great deal of harm in terms of trust and sales, but lately there have been very few complaints and quality is seen to match or exceed metals and plastic seemingly across the board.

It's no excuse but teething problems seem to have been the reason for the bad publicity of Finecast and GW are starting to lose their edge in terms of finest quality on the market. That said, their edge has been the backgrounds and intellectual property for some time now, rather than the miniatures or rules.

I have not noticed that anyone has stopped complaining about fine cast.I think we are about to see a rash of customer service complaints as well.I still do not have my replacement beast. I have stopped buying from GW, so have many here. That may be the answer to why there are fewer complaints.

I have not seen any evidence of that.

I have vented enough. I think it is time to move on. I have formed an opinion. So have most of you. Let us try to go back to something constructive.
Use a dust mask and seal your miniatures carefully.

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

Very interesting adjusted long term tin chart, thanks. You started youre comparision (10 years) with an all time low, but i guess thats coincidence. However the chart relativizes youre statement. Further, and more important, someone has to calculate how much of the costs for a miniature is related to the tin materials used (of course this is weight related). My calculation says its really a low amount even with the high prices we see at the moment. So the price impact of rising tin prices is a joke compared to the price raises we seen with fincecast. Thus, your statement is much less convincing than it is on first sight. However feel free to present your calculation (my math sucks ).

If GW wants to make a new model (the Knight of the White Tower say), they need to pay someone to design the thing, someone to make a mold, someone to cast finished models from the mold, and someone to ship the bits all over the place. Who knows how much of their cost is in each step? Perhaps making the mold is the lion's share of the cost, maybe shipping is, I'd be very surprised if it was the sculptor.

I'll readily admit it's a guess that rising tin prices are a big deal for GW, I may be wrong. What else would motivate the change? The resin holds detail a little better, but it has all sorts of quality problems the metal models didn't. It seems an odd switch if tin isn't a significant cost that could be avoided.

One quibble I have about looking at the very high tin prices in the further past is that back in the day GW didn't use the same materials they use now. Minis from the bad old days were mostly lead because it was cheap, easy to work with, and hadn't be banned from consumer products yet. I couldn't say when GW abandoned lead, but my memory of growing up in the 80's is full of lead minis when the really high tin prices were going on.

Well, what I did was taking the current tin price for a ton of tin, the typical weight of a miniature, and then i calculated the tin price for one miniature (I know its not 100% tin, i just assumed this for the calculation). Compared to the current prices raises with finecast the tin price for a miniature seems really low. Of course I don't know the margin, the license costs and so on. But the impact of the tin price can only be relativly small.



Of course I don't know. When youre doing business any cost factor you can avoid you should avoid, so I admit even a cost factor which is relativly small could motivate enough. However in this case they have underestimated the issues finecast causes, otherwise I cannot understand the decision at all.



Yes I know. Lead is much much cheaper than tin.