Games Workshop and "The Dark Side" your view?

NGC. Most guys in this forum are dedicated real world tread heads, therefore you may get more response to this from the Sci-Fi forum.

My son builds warhammer 40K, and for me, they cost a lot more than I would be willing to pay for something with as few parts as they do. Whether that is just here in Australia, I don't know.

Here in Manila (Philippines) as well, I find the prices quite high for such small figures, much more than most of the new Tamiya kits.

hey ngc7293`, I used to be into warhammer quite a bit myself. As petbat said, try the sci-fi forum for this, it's much more in tune with this stuff. I myself completely and wholeheartedly agree with petbat, the things are just way to damn pricey for what they offer in terms of modelling. Far too expensive. It's part of the reason I quit that hobby

I think ngc is posting here because he wants to see how the 40k vehicle kits stack up against historical models.

They are ultimately wargaming pieces, so they don't have the same delicate detailing that the best static display models have, because they are being literally manhandled by the gamers possibly every weekend or even multiple times a week. Add to this the fact that the average 40k gamer is a teenager and you've got a strong need to keep the model sturdy.

All this means that the 40k kits are a lot blockier and thicker in appearance than actual vehicles. Another influence is the cartoony nature of the imagery in 40k and the vehicles really look worlds apart.

That said, for what they are I think the 40k vehicles are fun build-ups and attractive kits. The molding and detialing have also gotten much, much better. The kits often come these days with a large sprue of optional vehicle add-ons and the crewed vehicles (things not possessed by daemons or anything ) come with basic but fairly attractive interiors.

So if you can get past the fact that the design sensibility of many of the vehicles is dubious at best, modelling the 40k tanks and walkers can be quite fun.

It is true, however, that they are outrageously expensive. This is mostly due to what the market can bear -- the average consumer of this stuff is not paying for it himself, he's getting mom and dad to pay for it. So the payor is not the user, and doesn't have a good feel for what a reasonable price is. Mom and dad hear that young Timmy wants this tank thing and it costs $50. They may roll their eyes, but what they don't know is that a bigger and much more elaborate Tamiya vehicle can be gotten for the same price -- or even cheaper.

It's like restaurants that get most of their consumers on expense accounts. Naturally they charge more that restaturants in which the consumer is also the payor.

To be fair, it's also true that the 40k gamer gets more out of his kit than the average modeler -- he uses it as a gaming piece. So it's more of an investment. Of course, it's up for grabs whether the modeler gets less out of looking at his build-ups than the gamer does using them in games every week.

Thanks Larry, that is exactly what I was looking for. I am not a "historic" builder. I don't have any background in tanks, nor do I have any relatives that used them.

A lot of posts here are from people who are around tanks to varying degrees.

It never occured to me that the reason for the blocky form of the models had to do with rough handling by the gamers. So it makes sense.

And yet, I have read about people adding realism to their fantasy tanks. You would think that a model meant to be handled a lot would not have a all the realism extras.

In any case, I got the guist of the situation. Even in the SciFi forum, the GW models are not well received

Warhammer is cool stuff but thy're so stinkin' expensive

I'll Vote yes if u r thinking about but heasitating on buying one to build, although it has been suchhhhh a long time, I do think they are very good kits. I found them to b quite ez but fun at the same time. and for all u scifiers, if u get a few basalisk assult guns and some catchen jungle fighters, U can make an awsome Diorama of futuristic stuff, I am going to be trying that sometime with in the next year... however here, the avrage 40k tank that i c on the internet or in a store occasionally runs about average of 60$. alittle expensive but hey i was talking to my friend today, and he said over time he has dedicated alot of money... more than i ever would care to... and his army is impressive both in size and paint job. but again if u want to try a tank model, I say get jsut one and put ur heart into it.

I've bought some recently. I think their one quality is that they are quick to build. After that is up to you on how to paint them or detail them. Since I am not into the game I have gotten them just to build

I'm into Sci Fi, and there are not that many models in the stores these days that are not Japanese Robots. But then, how many sci fi shows are out there that involve tanks of some kind or another.