It took 3 Years to make this Warhammer army & now I can't use it?
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My latest Age of Sigmar Stormcast army has taken 3 years to complete. Now it seems a lot of the miniatures in the army are getting retired from the game. In this video I talk about how I deal with this. This video is also a SHOWCASE of the Owlcast / Stormcast army.
If you like the Owlcast Roman shields you can download them for free here: www.myminifactory.com/object/...
These two playlists takes you to all my work with the Stormcast:
Ninja Rangers:
Owlcast: • The Owlcast Army
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#warhammer #ageofsigmar #stormcasteternals #52miniatures
The first step is to realize you are in an abusive relationship. The second step is to leave that relationship.
But the minis are so pretty!
@@52Miniatures I got off from GW 15 years ago because the lawyers of this fine company took down my hobby page (because I did own paintings of SpaceMarines and other stuff). Now I play other games with my GW miniatures. Games that are open to all sorts of minis and have better rules on top. I'm sure you could find a new game for your minis to play with.
@@52Miniatures- Keep the minis. Just play them with a non-GW ruleset! GW games are pretty rubbish anyway: much better systems out there!
Having realistic expectations after learning how GW operates as well as getting stuff because it looks cool regardless of rules helps.
@@52Miniatures So many minifigs to 3d print out there
GW continues to be the best advertising for One Page Rules I've ever seen
They honestly don't. OPR is boring as hell. OPR isn't going to bankrupt GW. They aren't even a blip on GWs radar.
@@fateweaver9844they are not trying to compete with GW. They are just offering a way for young kids and others access to wargaming. GW games are prohibitively expensive. And I would have never got into the hobby if I didn't find OPR. I have played enough videogames though to know EA when I see it. And GW is just another EA.
@@fateweaver9844 better than anything GW puts out.
@@flameknightdragon keep telling yourself that. I'm not a fan of current AoS but I don't fall asleep playing AoS like I did the ONE time I tried OPR. Seriously I'd rather suffer a hernia than play OPR
@@fateweaver9844 almost everyone else says the exact opposite from you though, since OPR has “I go, you go” unit activations - there is a lot less downtime Also OPR has several supplements that help you to add modular complexity if you want it
The most effective thing GW have managed to do is to convince everyone that when a new rule book comes out, the old one is effectively defunct. I'm not the biggest gamer, but I have a few friends I play games with, and generally speaking, we buy into a game and keep playing it until we're bored - regardless of what happens with new releases, and will often go back to play old rules that have since been updated. Tabletop games are not the equivalent of always online, automatically updated computer games, you can just choose to play older versions if you can find other people with the same mindset.
Those old rules are defunct, if you're playing in an official setting. But just hanging out in your basement with a friend, spending your weekend in glorious combat, those books are every bit as valid as the new ones.
@@WolfHreda Miniature aren't though.. you can play old miniature with new rules, just need people to understand it. I think the community should be united on this one. Discontinued miniature should be usable in tournaments instead of other of the same army.
By becoming influenced by narcissistic socioeconomic exploitation cultists in the form of Black Rock, Vanguard and the like... I suspect that they unleashed their once content community... The three year subscription program and you will own nothing and be happy is going to be turned upside down by creative people... They will own their intellectual property rights and copyrighted material but tabletop miniature gaming can break free from their controls and agendas. They have undermined their position and doubled down.
@@Strade8 Play the game you enjoy, with the edition you enjoy ,with friends who share your enthusiasm. and ignore the official tournaments, they're a pointless exercise in qw self-aggrandisement.
If you are playing amongst friends, you can do whatever you like, Kinda like magic the gathering they do the same thing, they remove/change rules cards decks and flat our remove entire series of cards away from the game, when they do that, it does not mean you can't use those cards anymore, but you cannot use them in ANY official game. Even if it is not a serious official game a ton of game shops that run small local games only want players who are playing the most recent series with the most recent set of rules which includes removal of cards rules or miniatures that have been ousted by the company from your deck/army. Especially when even the smallest of reward money or in store credit prizes are offered to the winners you can bet your life, they will only be doing what is currently official. This is also why I do not play 40k table top, I like to buy some of the miniatures paint them up and shelf them I LOVE to read the books and watch anything on the lore I have 2500 hours in TWW2 and 3 I love so much about Warhammer fantasy and Warhammer 40k but I refuse to toss so much time and money into a ever changing table top game when so much else of the hobby interest me far more, this is nothing new they have been doing this pretty much since the start lol.
In the old days GW showed you how to make a tank out of the plastic a stick of deodorant came in, now your banned from tournaments if you have 3d printed heads on your minis. It seems they have lost a bit of the magic, that made them so great in the beginning. Those dragons look great and should make an appearance in some DnD games!
Thank you, I'm very proud of the dragons.
The 3D printed heads are illegal, but I think the deodorant stick tank is still legal.
Yeah, thought about getting into this but I’ve seen stuff “dead” or “retired” which would be fine if it was digital content? Maaaybe? But physical and after you spend all that money, I’d rather just 3d print all the stuff and just have fun with friends.
GW has always been at least a little bit abusive, but the new GW is now both abusive and not fun anymore. I think I've still got that WD with the cardboard Baneblade in my collection!
Theyre against fun and affordability
There is something GW has never quite figured out, and it's called "Perceived Value." People don't buy Warhammer models, they invest in them. They're expensive in terms of both out-of-pocket cost, but also the cost of learning the rules, assembly and painting, and practice. When they pull a stunt like this, the Perceived Value of the Stormcast models drops like a stone, and people justifiably get upset. They feel like they just lost something of value - money, time, whatever. The investment is not as valuable.
From a consumer standpoint that is spot on.
Same goes for the lore and the settings
This is exactly how I felt when the completely changed kill team, all my time, money and work was worthless over night. I ended up selling them up and buying models I liked the look of until warcry got me hooked, I'll never sell that up like I did my kill team, I'll just continue to play the old rules.
Nice PFP. It used to scare me but now I can look at the poster.
So I feel that way, but I do wonder how much other people really do. I mean think about how big the average pile of shame is for many hobbyists. Often times bigger than will ever be fully painted. I think GW sadly, and successfully, markets towards impulse buying and I think it’s hard to say if this move will ultimately change their markets spending habits. I guess time will tell
You bring up a very important thought on GW products. I had a *very* serious drinking problem when I was in my early twenties (beyond self-destructive). A friend introduced me to an early Second Edition Warhammer 40K. I didn't stop drinking instantly, but I did slow down drastically. Eventually over about a year, I became a recovering alcoholic with a real love of building and painting miniatures. In the thirty years since, I have built and given away a dozen armies, sold a few, and used some for a substantial bits-box. I owe a great deal to the *hobby* but I do not feel I owe anything to Games Workshop. It is the hobby that changes lives, makes friendships that can last a lifetime, and creates memories as lasting as Mount Everest. Games Workshop and the hordes of hobbyists would be wise to remember this very simple fact.
Grats man. Best of luck on your journey!
It's a great feeling when a hobby can help kick a bad habit.
I can only say one thing. Bravo for stopping this poison.
For me building models has been a thing I grew up doing, but as GW got more expensive and provided less in each box, I've looked to move away from it. I've instead started buying more Airfix kits and having fun kitbashing. I started Star Wars Legion cos the prices whilst a bit cheaper than GW provide more plastic per kit at said price. (It'll cost me about £200 to finish my 40K army, or for that price I can buy an entire Star Wars Legion army.) As you've said, it's the hobby that we're devoted to, and GW is simply one part of it. We should never have to feel like we're caged to just that part or to be driven out of the hobby because of GW's bad practices.
Fully agree. Its the hobby that matters and not the company that supplies products for it. Everything can be replaced. There are so many good games and cool minis out there. Just not enough time to play them all and paint them all.
Felt like a bittersweet end to the project. Superb dragons!
I'm very happy about the dragons! Makes me think I should probably do something more fantasy than the Stormcast perhaps.
Yep, that's the reason why I stopped running the treadmill years ago. Having to renew half my army every year or so was getting old really fast. The great thing with this hobby is that, unless you are into official tournaments, all you need is a like-minded friend to continue playing whichever edition you want.
Orrrrr OnePageRules. Where everyone plays the same game, with whatever models they want. You dont have to support GW, you know..
@@ItsBoyRed Exactly. That's what I never understood. Why are people so fixated on these updates? Just ignore them and play however you want, problem solved.
Still play mordheim 🤷🏻♂️
even in official tournaments no one cares. Here in Germany you can still use the models as something else, no problem with that.
@@niklasulrich4725 You're lucky, it is far from being universal. I've seen tournaments where models that were too old/not the latest edition weren't accepted.
I don't blame you at all for feeling deflated. There are a lot of emotions and identity wrapped up in these little guys we spend so much time building. I still have high elves in my Cities of Sigmar force, I just use them as proxies for the mostly similar dark elves still in that range. If those get cut too, no problem, I'll just move to The Old World or another game. Cheers Alex, I look forward to your next great project no matter what it is.
Thanks YG! I'm thinking historicals right? I mean, Napoleon will always look like Napoleon. 😂
@@52Miniaturesunless he looks like Joaquin Phoenix 😂. If you like colour try Neapolitan Horse Guard Artillery 😮
Your local kings of war community wants you and will welcome you with open arms.
Have you met my friend Warhammer Fantasy Battles 6th edition? He may be a bit crusty, but he’s never going to change anything up on you. He also has just as low a model count as The Old World and some interesting mechanics like surrounding enemy units. Your high elves will be more than welcome there too.
@@52MiniaturesMaybe Turnip28? It's a fun spin to Historical minis.
I had the exact same thing happen with my Khorne Daemonkin army. I guess this is how everybody ends up collecting Space Marines. It's as inevitable as playing a stealth archer in Skyrim.
Funny enough even Space Marines aren't immune to it. I've been trying to build a Dark Angels army for a couple years and rules changes and/or models going to Legends has already burned me several times. I had thought slow-growing an evergreen faction would insulate me from the day-to-day fluctuations of the meta, but instead it just made it so right when I got up the nerve to commit to begin building a new unit, something would happen to discourage me again. I'm much happier to play and paint something like Infinity, where even factions that have been OOP for years are still supported by the game, or Kings of War, where you can paste any theme you want onto a set of army rules and a unit can be basically anything you want it to be as long as it's on the right sized base.
Dear loyal customer - we appreciate your support over the years, so now you can support us to a greater extent by purchasing another army to paint and customise.
Regards, -The Administratum
The funny thing is he bought the army from eBay. So he isn't a loyal customer, and he wasn't supporting Games Workshop. I can guess exactly how much sympathy Games Workshop has for people who buy used armies.
@@malificajones7674 GW is hiking their prices even further, and honestly......if the only way to financially realise an army is to get it from Ebay then the problem is still Games Workshop, not the end consumer. Even if you do buy used models, I would be very surprised if, at some juncture, a keen player wouldn't purchase from GW to some degree.
You've still got the rules, you've still got the figures. You can still play the game.
My army was themed around sacrosanct and now that whole army is dead going forward. I'm fed up a lot with GW corporate attitudes
The army isnt dead. You can play it AS Sacrosanct for AT LEAST three and a half years. And afterwards your Dudes with Melee Weapon and Shield (Sequitors) can just be different dudes with Melee Weapon and Shield (Liberators or Vindictors) for example.
Come play OPR, friend. You can use ALL your models, always.
the army is only "dead" if you want to play the latest iteration of the rules. No one is forcing you to switch versions, unless you want to play in tournaments (or have friends who do)
@@NotTheStinkyCheese As things go on it will be difficult to find players and rules for it. AoS was already tough enough to get games locally, so starting to sub-niche into different editions isn't really going to work
@@kapitanbeuteltier5889 What do you mean three and a half years? They said the models are officially being removed a year into the next edition.
Most aos players won't mind if you proxy a few of your units as long as you are transparant about it, with the exception of maybe certain tournaments. Armored guy with hammer can be like 6 different stormcasts, dont let GW tell you what you can and cannot play.
yeah, and he couldnt have played with 3d printed and heavly converted models at those tournaments anyway. gw arnt even trying to tell people what models they can use when playing, they just have too many redundant models to fit in the rules or their manufacturing schedule. people will be running old stormcast and firstborn marines as new stormcast and primaris 10 years from now and no one is really gonna care.
I think this comment should be pinned. The title of the video should be changed to "It took 3 years to paint an army that I can't use in certain tournaments." Honestly 90% of the problems people have with GW would disappear if they embraced that unofficial =/= unusable. My friends and I used to have this problem but once we realised none of us planned to go to official tournaments suddenly a lot of the model issues became non-issues.
@@Nero24200 true, but there is a certain amount of upset over the models no longer being in production. I don't use many of the models I own as the units they were, and the vast majority of them weren't "limited time," despite disappearing from the shop one day. Ask CSM players why they're mad about Ferrus Infernus dreadnoughts; it's not just because the rules disappeared. Still, this is much more warning than we've gotten in the past. Shame about all those Warcry and Underworlds models, though.
This is such a strange take I never understood about warhammer in general. "most players wont mind if you proxy a few of your units." Yeah no shit. You are playing war with plastic soldiers. This shouldnt even be a discussion. If someone shows up with a 100% proxy army, made of paper, hand drawn, with crayons, I will absolutely play him. Why wouldnt I? What if he shows up with a 100% printed proxy army? How far up a single companies ass would I have to be to even think about demanding "official models"? It's completely insane.
One thing I learned as a Warhammer Fantasy Battle fan is: *Rules vanish, miniatures are eternals.* Warhammer Battle has been killed 10 years ago to grow on its graveyard Age Of Sigmar. But first miniatures I painted in my life 15 years ago as a child reached this year for the first time a battleground in the V8 of Warhammer Battle thanks to a on living community. Never sell your army, never repeint it, never break it. If you fell sad when you look at it, just put it safely in a box. One day they will give you joy again. For me this is not the end of the story of your Customized Stormcast army, this is just the last page of it's first book. The second one is waiting for you on the shelf for when you will be ready for it, and it will be great. With time the joy you had by imagining and crerating your army always overcome sadest sides.
I'd love to see you bring Battletech's Black Marauder to life. There aren't any psychic powers, interfering gods, or spooky magics in the setting. The story of the Black Marauder is one of those tavern tales you use to scare the hell out of rookies while a haunted veteran stares a thousand yards into the bottom of his glass.
The best part about Nurgle, everything is so bloated and rotted you can run it as anything.
Small green blob! Big green blob! Indeed! One of my proudest moments in Aos was smiting a great unclean one. I probably lost the game but I took that big blob down.
@@52Miniatures any who slay a daemon, are the true victors
And ironic for nurgle! To endure through inevitable changes, and remain the same. To surrender to inevitable cycles of decay and renewal.
I'm already converting Blight Lords into Death Guard. Pretty much only needs a few weapon swaps or a few bits.
Hello, Not with stormcast in my opinion. Since when they die they vanish and get recast. Would bd strangexto see a nurgle stormcast.
Warhammer fantasy Tomb kings army players: So you're new here.
Ha ha! Good one, thanks C
I still have my bretonnian, tomb kings and high elves armies. All three nuked
Fantasy players you mean, right? As well as Mordheim, Epic, Warmaster, Blood bowl (the old good blood bowl), Gorka Morka, Shadow War: Armaggedon, Battle Fleet, Space Hulk. A bit of LOTR. And we can talk about the Space Marines, Squats, etc
@@ekis3 Bretonnians and Tomb Kings are playable armies…
@photonfartsqueeze6694 not really when age of sigmar came out. Now with the "new" old world they are. So all he have to do is wait nine years to play his stormcasts again 😅
To hell with GW. They did a very similar thing to me some years back. I bought a start collecting Deathwatch box, some vehicles and a bunch of 30k boxes of marines and some additional conversions. I really love the 30k/HH patterns of space marine power armour and wanted to mix things up a bit and make every marine unique, since painting many marines in a uniform scheme and with same armours can get very tedious very quick. I intended to use these dudes both for normal games and for killteam; every marine was unique, had a unique backstory and a name. Lo and behold, not even a few months after I finished it, GW announced Primaris marines. Suddenly, my whole army of little dude marines was completely demode... To make things worse, the 30k marines are even smaller compared to other models, so my guys look miniscule compared to Primaris marines. Suffice to say, I haven't played since. I scratch the itch by making custom dnd minis for myself and some friends occasionally.
I wish more people would try miniature agnostic systems, like OnePageRules, were you can play with what you want as long as it vaguely ressemble what it's named after. In the end, stormcast are just knights, or holy warriors,... So just find a game where this kind of unit exist, and play with them. The true hard part, is getting people to get away from GW rulesets to try some other ones.
I'm so excited to see you expand outside of the GW bubble - From infinity, to Malifaux, to 3d print games and countless others. I can't wait to see what you do.
I have heard a lot of good things about Malifaux. Their miniatures look great and the setting seems realy nice.
I am definitely getting into Malifaux and i love everything about it.
Yes! So much this!
Got to give a thumbs up for Malifaux. Been playing it since the beginning of 2nd ed and its been a great ride. If you like a game with a lot of depth, and a great combination of flavor and rules, then its definitely worth looking into.
I'l add a vote to infinity, if for no other reason than to see the paint jobs Alex puts on the minis. There basically isnt an infinity community in my immediate area, but damn the models are gorgeous, so i buy a few every now and again
GW found an infinite money glitch!
The CFO quit and sold two-thirds of her shares, it seems. The Chief Financial Officer, person who manages the books. So, perhaps not so infinite.
Not a glitch. It’s a core feature. Keep updating the figures, keep updating the rules. The suckers will buy it all regardless.
@@ObsceneSuperMatt because gw is dying and amazon deal is tax-evading scum for amazon. But gw would not die. they just have to adapt.
After 40 years worth of collecting and many armies, I only engage this franchise in video and role-playing games as I can no longer abide GWs abuse of it's tabletop customer base. As you quite rightly said, there are many tabletop minatures games out there that are as enjoyable if not more than Warhammer whose relationship with their fan base is way healthier.
You've got a beautiful custom army; thanks for sharing for someone new around here. I really appreciate your attitudes and perspectives too.
Really enjoyed this, Alex. Never known someone to hold back so much rage.
I'm not angry, my eye twitching is a rare medical condition caused by staring at drying paint for to long.
@@52Miniatures I love that. I am now subbed because of that remark. Not because it is funny (it is) but because I need more redirection of rage in my life, by recognizing the absurdities and taking my agency back from it, instead of it directing me. You've proven to be a good example of restrained disgust, and I think its the best way to handle the disappointment in how the time you have invested has been treated by those you entrusted it with. By the way, you never did mention what the next big time investment was going to be. I know I will eventually find out now that I am subbed, but...
@@Colorcrayons Hah, well welcome to the channel. I'm not sure about the next big project. I'd like to try a few games, maybe do some "introduction" videos before embarking on a massive army project. I do really need to get armies for "A War Transformed" together though.
Great to hear this measured, and reasonable response to what I'm sure was quite a frustrating blow! The first thing that popped into my mind upon reading that article was your Owlcast. I will certainly continue to revisit the videos documenting that army whenever I need inspiration.
I appreciate it MT
as someone who collects World Eaters and started building them with 2 melee loadouts only to GW then making it illegal, I didn't know where to continue. Then after a while I decided to build 2 different armies, but with similar color scheme, world eaters and red corsairs. my plan was to build them as versatile as possible, so I can use both armies even if they were originally from different legions/warbands, basically as proxies but their color scheme being so similar, nobody wouldn't notice. I kept doing it a while, stripping my berserkers and adding bolt pistols for them so I wouldn't have to buy another set and start all over again, I was a returning hobbyist at this point and didn't know where to go with my armies. long story short, I bought 3D printer, because fuck GW and fuck them changing rules every 5 minutes before I could even prime my new miniatures. couldn't be happier nowadays, even started making Iron Warriors kill team just for shits and giggles.
Well said and thank you for your content! Both, your artistic approach as well as perspective on the hobby are really inspiring.
Much appreciated!
Moments like this reminds me why I only paint minis. They might not be playable anymore but they're still small pieces of art with a story to them that we were here for to watch and follow along for. But I think the worst part is that 3 years to hear 300+ Euroes aren't playable anymore is such short notice... Man... GW is such a mess right now... Either way, whatever project you'll pick up next Alex, it'll be great to watch. GW or not : )
Well, to be fair...GW makes terrible games. There are tons of brilliant games out there, just don't play GW ones. GW does good lore, good models, etc...but their actual rules are hot garbage (and often just derivative of their old work or other better games).
@@oskar6661 I disagree when it comes to Underworlds....just that that is the most under the radar game
I'm very much in your camp. The Warhammer rules are terrible, I'd say unplayable except at conventions I see a lot of people playing them. (But then I used to play DBA competetively so, as a recovering masochist, I can hardly throw stones.) I have a lot of WH40K Nurgle, mainly Death Guard. I'll never play them but I love painting them (not such a fan of building them though).
Thank Aleria!
The incredible art you've made remains.
Thank you Michael!
That's why I just collect cool looking models with no expectations towards supported rule sets. I'll use minis from any company and I'm building my own world/game
Cheers Alex. thanks for sharing this bittersweet end to a wonderful army, looking forward to what comes next
Thank you Mr Boom!
Bring them over to Anthems of War! Miniature agnostic fantasy skirmish game with narrative elements. You can literally stat up any mini you have with the rules
Never heard of it! Will have to check out, thank you
@@52Miniatures Luke's APS did a read for it on his final video. You'll love it
I love the scheme and painting that you've come to in this army, and while I'm sorry that a lot of these models will be rotated out, you have still inspired me to try Sigmar for some painting projects. Thanks for the video, it was a blast to watch :)
Thanks W, I appreciate it.
and with that move they lost 5% of their entire customer base... and they lost 20% of potential new customers.
No one is going to bat an eye if you use the minis you like as proxies. My group does that almost every game. It works great as long as the base size is the same and the model makes sense.
Great tip here: go to one-page rules. Less complex and you can use any of your models. It’s a game changer (pun intended).
OPR can't hold a candle to AoS. It's designed as a replacement for 40k, and it only does that because 40k is awful.
OPR is far more advanced than any shitty GW game ever. No bloat - lots of nuance with Comp rules and best of all : activations. Gw doesn’t make games they make combo simulators based on purchasing habits.
@@skullz291 I am sorry, but I believe you are thoroughly mistaken. OPR has published fantasy game systems similar to AoS. They even have a fantasy rule set for rank and flank games like Warhammer (The Old Word). And the rules can be modulated if you buy the full rules set for... 5 Euros?! OPR rules can be every bit as complex if you wish, as AoS.
@@skullz291 Well to each their own. As the game changes and improves I hope you give it another try. I'd be happy to play you on TTS
SAGA is decent too
I like your way of handling the situation - you seem a bit heartbroken, but not defeated or overly angry. As somebody who mainly paints without any real ambition of playing, the whole thing isn't as bad. My stormcasts are sitting (still mainly grey) in their shelve and enjoy the view upon my hobby desk. As they will in the future. I'm really excited to see what you will do next. I would love to see your spin on goblins, but I'm up for the journey where ever it will take us.
Thanks Bea! 🙏
I look forward to seeing what new stories you invest your time into.
I am a complete noob in the universe of Warhammer 40K and I am almost completely finished with my first ever Black Templar Combat Patrol. There is so much that I can relate to you with money , time, effort ,learning,reading about rules and lore and then creating your Stormcast Armored Ninja Army. As I am currently painting my Patrol , each miniature becomes an individual character to have a role. That being said; each miniature has YOUR ARTWORK within it . Suggestion: Please look for a wall mounted display case with specific lighting options and protective clear acrylic or glass that can open so that you can hold them every once in awhile or even change the visual angles from time to time. Put YOUR ARTWORK on display for yourself, Honor your hardworking hobby technique. Live Long and Prosper 🖖🏻
Heart breaking! At least you know what there is in the greater wargaming world, look forward to your next project and great to meet at Salute.
Thanks Alex! great to meet you too.
I am constantly saddened that people allow GW to "remove" models from private peoples armies like this. GW has no power over your games, they just have suggestions. The guys I have seen enjoying the game the most, (and not having to go through the rulebook constantly) were guys playing several rule books back, playing with models that are probably deprecated, knowing the rules because they haven't been changed constantly. The only place it matters is for the few people that travel for GW tournaments that require the latest rule set. YOU don't have to allow anything you don;t like. You don't have to let them nerf your guys if you don't want too, and you don't have to wait for it either. just have friends that like the game as you like it and play on, and take their suggestions and say yes or no.
Exactly so :) Thanks!
Finally. Someone talking sense. This whole video is just whinge bait
@@52Miniatures So why are you whining about it?
Unfortunately, in a lot of places it DOES matter. Here in the US for example, a lot of gaming communities are focused around local independent game stores rather than game clubs. At most such stores, the default is to play whatever the newest edition is because that’s the most popular way to play. If you have a group of likeminded friends or a small club where everyone agrees to stick to an older edition that won’t see updates anymore, that’s great. Realistically though that’s just not how it works in a lot of places.
@@52Miniatures I hope what is happening gets out to as many people as possible through this video. Championing alternative rule sets and the idea that GW just suggests "rules" and "model retirement dates" is a worthy endeavour should you choose to expand on it later. So no RIP to your army, may it live forever.
"The current business model just does not suite my style of hobbying - not unless you love me back."
The models look great and I appreciate your insight. Resigned, is such a great word for the dramatic changes.
Well ill do you one better, my entire stormcast army was discontinued....all of it. Every last one. My entire 2k list painted has now left me 100s of ££ down. All to release more models for a range that didnt need them. Shocking from GW
the ultimate answer is really simple: make your own toys, make your own rules with your own friend group, ignore corporations and "balance", pass your toys down and teach your next generation.
Right, there is no divine rule not to do so.
Thank you for showing some beautiful paint jobs in groups of three. They alone, help me plan paint schemes for my small sci fi crews. Majority subtle/ real world colour schemes with stunning feature colour highlights. I've seen many of your videos but that small clip has been very helpful. I am sorry about your Owlcast army that you love. It has been a great pleasure to become infected by the love of painting through them.
I appreciate it H, thank you and great to hear
This video is super well done. Really good lighting, nice editing, and you can see that there was a lot of work involved. Very nice.
Thank you S 🙏 I appreciate it
You could still use all these guys for an epic frostgrave campaign! That’s how I’m handling a lot of the issues.
Player: ''It must have taken me hundreds, no, thousands of hours to make this army!'' GW: ''Hey look! I made a new model range. It only took me like, 10 seconds. 11 tops.''
Every time i think im about to jump into a GW game, i see something that just repels me away. God i love battletech.
3 years cycle ends and a GW army turns into a pumpkin :/ Great models and a lot of inspirational content though!
Have you heard about One Page Rules? your whole army is playable there.
OPR does not support AoF pretty much at all. And anyone that has AoS models is playing AoS. All games of OPR I've played with people not on TTS have been GDF.
@@skullz291 the OPR option is Age of Fantasy. You are just a gw symp. Keep an open mind and stop hating. If gw wanted to keep people in AOS they would let us play with our toys. yet here we are.
@@alexklunder4374The only one simping here is you. I play games that don't suck, which is why I don't play 40k and I don't play AoF. And I know you don't either because no one in my local scene plays it. Even GDF is rarely played. Unless you want to spend all day on TTS, there is no serious way to play OPR with anyone.
@@alexklunder4374Hahaha You sound ridiculous.
@@skullz291 My entire Club of roughly ~200 ppl changed to OPR in both scifi and fantasy for both army and Skirmisher. Just depends where ur at I suppsoe
OPR is the answer and the future of our hobby
A serious question about air brushing. Does the room not get moist or foggy with paint? Does it just fall onto the cardboard mat you like the one you have placed? I would like to air brush in my room but my pc and 3d printers are also in it. I don’t mind making a airbrush box with fans sucking it past a filter but if that’s not really necessary I would like to be lazy lol
It honestly depends on how much and how large pieces you airbrush. Priming and painting large things will dust down your room. Some careful stuff, like what I did on the base (apart from the priming step) does not dust much.
@nilsirrah, I have always used my airbrush in the room with my computer, I got a clear plastic sheet I throw over the monitors and I put a piece of cardboard over the top vent on the pc (with some little feet made from blu tack) so paint dust doesn’t fall in. Airbrush spray basically turns to dust about 1m from the nozzle, so there’s no additional humidity created. Just get a mask, I don’t care what anyone says about acrylics being food safe don’t breathe that shit in, ever. It does leave a slightly sweet smell in the air (the aerosolized paint medium) for about 30m-60m after.
Chronic Eosinophilic Pneumonia is a, rare, disease associated with air brush painting. Inhaling aerosolised acrylic paint is not healthy: two thin coats of paint on the inside of your lungs is not good for them. Wear a mask and use a painting booth that extracts outside the room. I use one with the hose going out a window.
I'm in the same boat too! 2300 pts of sacrosancts, and only 500pts of other STC stuff. But I'm fine with this, for 2 reasons. 1: They'll be officially legal with updated rules for 1,5 year longer, they aren't getting retired right away with 4.0, a year after. 2: It's our hobby, our miniatures, our community, and we tend to do small house rules as it is already! and just like you do, we tend to convert and make our armies uniqe anyway! So as you said, you can use any of the stormcast beeing cut as something looking and beeing a similar role without anyone in the community bashing an eye :) Examples: Sequitors, they were already pretty much Liberators with some robes, so Liberators they'll be for me! Most heroes will just play as some hero thats avaible, sacrosanct wizard, will just play as a Thunderstrike armour wizard. My Protectors will most likely be those new Elite models getting released. The old shooty boys will just play as one of the new shooty boys. Basically, it's disheartening when models that aren't even that OLD gets retired already, but among my 11 warhammer armies for AoS/40k (Or ToW) almost every army is using old miniatures not sold anymore, often with an updated sculpt avaible, but I like the old models still, and most of my armies are heavily converted! My stormcast army is an Bretonian themed army, with all bretonian helmets, symbols redone and so on, so I often had to clear up what they were anyway. I'm from Stockholm myself, and know the AoS community here and in most countries are very open minded and love personalised armies, and woulnd't want you to stop using your lovely models :) One again, You are justified in feeling bummed out about this, but just to let you know you can still use your miniatures :)
They have rules support for all of 4th edition, its just tournament support that ends next summer.
@@James-xb7qc Aye, you'r right.
I have played GW 40k since 2nd edition and pretty much all my armies have been ‘retired’ but they have also come back in some form or another. I switched to OPR for the SF games and Mantic Kings of War for the Fantasy games. As you say there are more than one set of rules out there. I wouldn’t say this was a sad ending….you have finished an army of beautifully painted miniatures…that is something more to be proud of! Don’t know why everyone thinks this is GW getting out of control, they’ve been doing this since they started back in the late ‘70’s, I still don’t agree with their business model but there is always the next generation of gamers who will jump on the GW bandwagon and keep them going. Thank you for the vid, always great to see a vid from you about the hobby 🙂
I was just thinking that army would look great multi-based for Kings of War
I bought into the Stormcasts when I started my AOS army because I assumed they wouldn’t kill the Ultramarines of AOS. How wrong I was.
Those dragons are probably my favorite of what I've seen you paint over the years. I learned so much from that original video. I hope you find a fun use of them in your at home games or somewhere else. They deserve to be seen and used
The dragons are great! And definitely not removed from the game :)
I feel your frustration! I still remember walking into a GW store shortly after the release of AOS to look a the models and in a chat with the manager I mentioned that if feels like there is no place for my Bretonnians in AOS and the manger pointed to the Stormcast and said, "Here's your Bretonnians" I've never set foot in another GW store since. I wasnt angry they removed Bretonnians, I was a little frustrated they removed WH Fantasy, but we could still play that game as we had rulebooks and supplements. It was how little they gave a care about the years I had invested into the models and army. This sparked a big change in the way I treated GW, same as you. I still play Warcry with my kids, the rampant edition change doesnt effect us as we still play Warcry 1st ed rules. If we ever get into larger scale games I would grab one page rules though. I also play Blood Bowl at the FLGS, BB is remarkably static vs other GW titles. I hope you keep up the army sized projects from time to time, they make for good viewing. Just find a game or IP that gets the creative juices flowing. Dragons look lovely, the wings are perfect. Lets hope someone makes a 1st Law World wargame!
Hi Alex, I know exactly how you're feeling at the moment. Yesterday a similar thing happened in Warhammer 40k. GW had released some amazing looking rules that were coming in the new books for Orks, that specifically made Grots (the little 40k goblins) and their fun little machines actually relatively competitive and wacky. As a player that has a very custom Grot army with a stupid amount of time and effort put into it you can imagine how excited I was. However, yesterday it was revealed that more than half of my entire army is being moved to legends and therefore essentially being dropped from the game and forgotten. I have now got literally no motivation to continue with my army now and really don't know what to do about it. Thank you for the video.
Grots are the best thing in 40k! I'm sorry to hear about this.
I don’t understand this. Surely you can continue playing them with a slightly tweaked form of the rules? Is someone actively there to police your game? Someone going to arrest you for using a supposedly “non-supported” army?
@@sirrathersplendid4825 People saying this are simply unhelpful. I know this. I enjoy all aspects of the hobby, including playing some small local tournaments. Even the fun, small local tournaments play matched play, which don't support Legends units. None of my Grot things will get updates in the future as they're Legends. I will still be happy to play with my close friends in casual, as I always do. As someone who likes playing matched play in local tournaments I am forced to not use any of these models. Therefore people shouting 'Just use them anyway, screw matched play!' are just unhelpful.
@@XilejaffacakE- OK, so you like tournaments. Fair enough. Then it’s a problem…. But I wonder what percentage of Warhammer gamers play tournaments?
@@sirrathersplendid4825 I'm not sure massive amounts of players go to tournaments, even the small fun local ones, but the 'usual' way people play Warhammer is matched. I cannot answer WHY that is the norm and a huge amount of players play it that way but that's just how it is. It's mainly because GW try to obviously balance their game but they do not account for any Legends units in their balancing. So that puts a sour taste in people's mouths if suddenly my Legends units were somehow horrendously overpowered. I'd feel really bad and wouldn't want to use my models if suddenly my Grot Tanks became really overpowered, as I wouldn't want to be seen as just trying to win at any cost.
Very well stated. Condolences on the loss, but congratulations on the perceptive and mature response.
Thank you Aa!
When GW first brought out Warhammer and 40K (mid-80s?) a lot of my friends dived in. I didn't because I could see there would be an eternal arms race where GW just keep inventing new over the top units. What I never expected they would do, and for a long time they didn't, was to make models they'd previously sold obsolete. Wow. I'll stick to historical.
I was really about to start an age of sigmar army when they decided this. No army is safe to spend my money on.
The game has 23 armies bro. They only squatted one. Stormcast has over 100 warscrolls. Everyone agrees there's way too many.
@@skullz291 and a faction of orks and several newer Stormcast and some of the war cry units
Don't despair, the realms of One Page Rules would welcome your armies to join them for the greater glory that is gaming agnosticism.
Your presentation has gotten so much better over the years. Great work mate
Glad you think so!
Love your models, my friend. Very well done with all of those! Sounds like you should just keep on playing with that army with all in your local community. I'm sure that most players will be happy to play with you even though your army is now "retired"
Thank you M!
They're retiring a lot of different Stormcast kits, but most of them will likely just be rolled into 1 new kit instead of the currently multiple different yet quite similar kits Honestly it's not much too worry about, it just means various different rules are rolled into 1, as well their physical kits. In the end, probably a sales thing where some kits sell less than others and they just throw them into 1 pot
this
Similar to how all primaris weapon options have been made into separate kits while the chaos marines have all their weapons on one spru.
I suspect you're right, but the problem is we don't know for sure. And if this is what's happening, then GW is shooting itself in the foot by not telling us.
also this
@@tamsinm name 2 things that absolutely do not go together I'll start; GW and clear communication
Adam Savage has a TED talk about trying to recreate a maltese falcon prop and all the steps, versions, improvements, and logistics of it, how different methods of casting adds and removes dinensions, etc. At the end he talks about the things he could do that would make it perfect and closes with the remark "but that has never been what this was all about". I think Ive taken a very similar approach in the hobby, where getting an army, painting it to the standards, picking schemes, improving skills and revisiting pieces and stripping and starting from scratch. All the things to make it absolutely perfect to out on the table and play, but really, to quote Savage, "thats not what it has ever really been about". GW can take away the most limiting and personally least fun aspect of your army, but cant take away what you spent almost all your time with the army doing. I wouldnt know you if all you did was play your army, but showing the real core of the hobby with it and making excellent videos on making it, youve inspired myself and others for all sorts of different things in the hobby, and that cant be taken away. Basically, rules are a great first step to get people into the hobby, but fast become the least important part of it.
Thank you G 🙏
Very eloquently and sincerely put on all accounts. Thank you for saying the things a lot of us in the hobby are feeling.
You can always fall back on your secret Bonesplittaz army.....oh wait.
This is why OnePageRules gets lots of love from my groups: No issues using any miniatures you want! Scratches all the itches for some good quick wargaming with friends without the rules bloat, slow gameplay, meta armies, etc...The perfect game for people with a life to live and only spare time for wargames
happened to my Warhammer Empire army, they destroyed the whole world. and now the wokesters are in at games workshop and are killing 40K it can only get worse. im sorry dude
"Woke"...
Those owl shields you made are really cool! And your videos are great! Keep up the good work!
Thanks! They are available as free stl downloads (link down in the description)
going from 8th into 9th 40k my vanguard detachment of imperial soup (i was on a budget and my friend implied that if i went with a baneblade regiment as i intended they wouldn't play with me) was trimmed down into just being another terminator unit which didn't work at all anyway i remember i didn't even finish building it, i felt pretty depressed for a bit because I just wasted a bunch of time and money and paint on it I think for a long time I only liked the hobby because I didn't have the chance to play it, and then having done several matches of it I quickly learned I really just enjoy it in the form of video games, I guess I'm really just relieved I didn''t spend a lot of money on it before recognizing this
I'm sorry for your loss... A lot of time and money goes into making these armies and it's a gut punch when they are removed from the rules. This happened to my CSM at the start of 10th edition when all the Forgeworld stuff went to legends.
Play 9th.
@@TrueMiz By myself? Everyone is the scene where I live plays 10th.
@@jameshennessy1507 Find better freinds lmfao
Abusing people with decimators was very cheap move so you shouldn't complain. One player tried do it to me, but my terminators with honor the prince ruined his army.
@@TrueMiz Nah, I want to play 10th edition , the current edition of the game, and so does everyone else in the city I live in. It would be sweet if I could still use my awesome looking FW models.
# 1 - Just proxy # 2 - Play OPR Age of Fantasy
I have a full 2k point army of Stormcasta that are useless after next year, so I feel you.
And in one swift move, gw has made fantasy as a market a bad investment
I appreciate your positive spin on this, but the rules that make those units no longer usable should not stop you. If you arent playing in a GW store or a tournament, just use them and proxy them for other units? No one at a casual game or non-GW tournament is going to give you a hard time about it. You probably couldnt use this army at many official GW tournaments anyway since it includes 3D printed bits. I want to validate a lot of folks who are, rightly so, feeling burned by this announcement, but these minis are far from being useless.
Yes indeed! In the end it's just the round bases that matter if we really come down to it. Or square... if you're into that kind of weird stuff.. 🙃
@@52Miniatures Glad you caught this comment - the 3D printed bits already "invalidating" your army is a great point that I missed in mine. I'm firmly in the camp not just of "your toy soldiers, play with them how you see fit" but also "don't let the game ruin the play." It's just rolling dice and moving little guys around. Why make it more complicated than it needs to be? Like, I'm sure there are countless "better" rulesets for wargaming out there, and I know for sure there are companies who treat their players better (it's hard for a company to treat them worse, this kind of crap being a prime example) but life is just too damn short for me to be trying them out, picking out one to stick with, learning the rules to the point that I'm not in my own way in trying to play them, all before even trying to find other people who are interested in doing the same. All that time spent is time NOT spent actually playing the game. I started with Warhammer. The people I play with play Warhammer. So that's what I play. And that's what I'll continue to play, baggage or not.
@@52MiniaturesI am a round base kinda person, but I am not here to "base-shame" the old world folks
Your entire army would be gladly received on a One Page Rules table!
or as proxy models on any gw table that would have allowed heavily kitbashed and 3d printed models like these before the rules changes anyway. so nothing has really changed.
@@necaacen but why? game workshop never do a proper job of balancing the games, the newest thing is always the strongest, what was strong at the start of an edition becomes amongst the weakest near the end of it
@@Ghorda9 i dont think its possible to do what you are suggesting a proper job of balancing actually is. the newest isnt always strongest, but the newest is the most likely to be unbalanced. its impossible to fully predict the meta and its always necessary to shfit the meta or the game becomes stale. what at first appears strong can sometimes just be waiting for someone to work out a counter, a counter may be there but no one ever works it out. its not about whats in the rules its about what the community has worked out from the rules which is always going to be outside of their control to some extent and will always be shifting, and competitive people mostly want it to shift otherwise the game becomes stale. when you make a game you have units that do certain things. when you have 5 units that all basically do the same function its totally redundant, one of them is going to do that function slightly better than the others and that makes the other 4 noob traps that just feel bad. there is no need within the rules to have this many models in stormcast, it makes it hard to balance or builds in complete redundancy and 'bad' models to have this many and they are finding it impossible to keep all their ranges in stock with their current production and warhousing capabilities. so why? why cut them? because it makes sense from a game and a production angle to cut these out of the range, its basically essential moving forward to cut them. they cant just keep adding stuff forever to every game. things come and go. if you want them to just stop making new models and systems then they die as a company and you are just left with your old models playing an old unsupported game cause the company went dead. if they do keep making models then stuff eventually has to be discontinued to make room for new stuff in which case you are left with your old models that can still be played in the old unsupported game that you still own and can play, or you can proxy your old models in the new supported game. there is no version of this where gw is a viable company that continues to produce the new models it needs to stay in business forever and never discontinues or removes models from the ranges. it really is that simple and i dont rly get why people are upset about it. if you play competitive warhammer at ultra competitive tournaments that never allow proxy or customised models then you need the game to be streamlined like this. if you dont then you just proxy your old models in your games and nothing significant changes.
@@necaacen there is no justification for making expensive rule books obsolete halfway through an edition and there is no justification for releasing an unfinished product at the start of the edition, especially when you already have nine editions of mistakes behind you and an army of playtesters.
@@Ghorda9 what does that have to do with them discontinuing these stormcast models?
You make such excellent points; I feel the same way. I've stopped my feverish approach to painting GW models in an attempt to have fully painted armies ready for the tabletop - its just not worth the effort given the constant changes and exclusions. This is an inevitable situation for many factions / armies in the range.
I truly get how you feel, sicne the same thing happened to me with the Warcry warbands for Slaves to Darkness. I started collecting them for a future Chaos army (and many games of Warcry), and when they retired the models from the range it kind of hit me hard. But as many others in the comments, and even you, have said, what we made remains still, and all the learning and experience and joy we got from building, painting, modifying and even storytellign we put behind our projects is the great reward we earn. Honestly, it's a bittersweet feeling, but at the very least nobody can take away your personal fun. Cheers to you, and hope to see your next project soon!!!
What a wonderful opportunity to turn them into a One Page Rules list.
They're thinning out the model range a bit - its not like they're deleting an entire game system and invalidating every army people have painted. Like they did with Warhammer Fantasy Battle (and Epic, and all the 'specialist games').
But they brought Fantasy back just in time for when everyone had rebased their armies to round bases! 😂
Excellent video. FYI, your three year journey inspired me to paint up what has grown to be an army of "Dame" Stormcasts and much more; and introduced me to many new painting skills and a whole new paint range. And I am in the process of kitbashing all the leftover male bodies into 40k characters. It was a great three year journey. I dont play full Warhammer so they get used for other things, like Stargrave (again, thank you!). Thanks for all the inspiration Alex!!
Thanks 🙏 I’m glad to hear it. It’s great hear every time someone tells be they’ve been inspired 💜
Great vid, it's nice to hear the thoughts of someone with a reasonable attitude
I appreciate that!
I have around 10 000 points of Stormcast. All professionally painted. With this rules change I ended up losing around 60% of my army. So I was slightly lannoyed. Days later I've realized that I now have an awesome display piece for my home. I also have felt a release from GW and any excitement for 4th edition. But at the same time I've gained infinite excitement at other projects and hobbies. So it goes I guess
Go play other games. They exist - and, bonus - they're all significantly better than GW's games.
@@oskar6661- Exactly. I just can’t fathom why people play GW’s feeble games. Is it just out of ignorance? Or perhaps they’ve never seen the alternatives. So much better stuff out there, and it’s not just a little better.
Why I stopped working on my GW armies, 40k Space marines and Necrons, and now I play a different game from a different company, Conquest last Argument of Kings. The game is almost like a living organism that is constantly being updated, along side the lore, and the models I would say are second only to GW.
Designed by a guy who used to work for GW in the "golden years" (i.e. the 1990's, shortly before GW went corporate and all the nonsense began).
@@oskar6661 Wait What?
This is a voice I could listen to while building model kits on the weekends
1.) Yes you can use it. No GW model that has ever been in print is "illegal" for use, even in GW sanctioned tournaments. 2.) As long as you are consistent to avoid confusing anyone, they 100% allow "counts-as" for models with a similar footprint and base size.
Welcome to the team! I built a glorious grey knight army lead by an inquisitor and his henchmen. A full infantry Army with only two Dreadnoughts as mechanization. When I had everything together, the new codex arrived. I bought it, stoked what would be delivered: Removal of inquisition, Psyfel Dreads became useless and terminators lost their most important skill of my list. Still have the minis, but never touched a GW product since then.
What? I had Grey Knights back in 2nd edition but gave it up when they ceased to be exclusively terminators. Glad I didn’t pour more money and time into them.
One Page rules my friends. Take your retired models to the promised land
Green fields! (littered with corpses and all that)
Your passion is contagious, your painting skill is phenomenal. Your peace and acceptance of the situation, I wish I had. I'm relatively new to the hobby, just started with the 10th edition of 40k and immediately fell in love hard. I've been collecting, building, painting and playing as much as I can for months. I decided to expand into AoS, got a whole bunch of Stormcast and 2 days later they announced they were cutting the entire Beastmen faction, half the Skaven, half the Stormcast and I knew GW was a bad investment. Thankfully it was soon enough after my purchase that I was still able to return it all ~$600 of Stormcast, but between cutting whole armies of products they are still selling and retconning armies like Custodes for Amazonbucks I am certainly feeling deflated about my love for the hobby. You're attitude is admirable and you're taking it way better than I am haha.
I appreciate it thank you
I really appreciate your content. I'm glad to have a creator of your caliber speak up publicly where some of us lesser people in the hobby don't have the voice to. Can you imagine my shock, as someone with multiple copies of nearly every Stormcast model ever made? Your humorous and informative video has made my day. I'm given solace remembering that I'll have enough models to paint into my older years. Especially having picked up the Soulbound pen-and-paper RPG, in which I plan on giving my models a new life within many stories, for years to come. Cheers.
I’m glad you saw it this way. I’m getting a lot of comments about folk tired of creators complaining about these things. But I didn’t feel like I made a very “complaining” video.
The community is so insufferable. My dude you completely converted minis, you already are proxying them for pre-existing data sheets...just do it for new data sheets. Do you people just enjoy bitching so much that refuse to consider simple solutions for simple problems?
This is a pretty insufferable comment my dude. Be the change you want to see.
You'll have to watch the video and rate my bitching from 1 to 10
Thanks Brandon, I agree with you, but this is what happens when the clickbait button is dialled in a bit more than usual.
This is exactly what I'm thinking. And the one thing GW gets wrong - you *should* be converting and proxying as much as you want. They will never be able to provide the variety to purchase that which you can provide yourself with some creativity.
That black Barbour fleece is gorgeous 👊🏻
I went through the same thing with my High Elven Warhammer army. By the time I got my 72 figures painted I was told "You can't use those." I had a 12 piece unit of the original Dragon Princes from way back. Those figures came with armored barded horses. I had them in Rifle Green armor with ancient bronze highlights, all black horses with the armor. Then GW came out with the "new" Dragon Princes...who were mounted on the generic new horses. No barding. Horses identical to those on the Silver Helms. The rules that once said Dragon Princes were Heavy Cavalry but could move at medium Cavalry speeds...suddenly those rules didn't apply because my unit clearly had Heavy Armor on the horses. So they got my money...and they got my time. And then they said "You have to come back and buy the "New" Dragon Princes." I was ... depressed. And then the fellow gamers in my game club (which dates back to the mid 1970's) said ... "Ignore that. You can't use them in GW sponsored battles but I can't use my elves from a different manufacturer." So we use their rules and we play with our armies and we have fun with OUR POSSESSIONS. A couple of GW purists walked away...but came back later because we had grown old together and they didn't want to spend time in GW stores playing with teenagers...by that time we were pushing into our 40's. GW makes awesome figures (for which you pay awesome prices) but once you buy them, you can mix and match however you want and take new rules or old rules or mish-mashed rules and have fun with your friends. And if GW turns up their noses...I'll still buy figures if they look good...but I'm purchasing items, not enlisting in the Warhammer Army. We do just fine.
Hey! Guess what...I just looked at the current Dragon Prince heavy cav and somewhere in the last decade (or two) they brought back the heavy barding on the mounts! Decent looking figures. Shame I sold my army off after I turned 70 and moved to Florida. And the eyes, bad back and loss of dexterity make painting painful now. But they do look pretty. (Still like my Dark Green and Ancient Bronze over the Blue/White palette but been hooked on green since I got out of the Marines.)
The first red flag about Games Workshop was a long way back, when I used to read White Dwarf magazine. A readers letters asked why there was now so much Warhammer stuff in it, and why was all the other stuff being dropped. It was a fair point, as the magazine used to cover a lot of games...Runequest, Traveller, Call of Cthulu RPG to name a few... but that content was being replaced in favour of Games Workshop games. The letter asked 'since when was this the Games Workshop house magazine?' The answer was really telling; they said it had _always_ been the Games Workshop house magazine, although they might, now and again, include some other things, almost like they were doing a favour. This just wasn't true, as anyone who had read the magazine for a while knew; I wondered why they'd even bother printing the letter, if they were going to blatantly lie to answer it...but the term 'gaslighting' wasn't a familiar one to me at the time. Skip a few years, and their Blood Bowl Companion featured a new rule about cheerleaders...owning the _official_ cheerleader miniatures gave you an advantage in the game, and if they were painted in your team colours you got another advantage...but _only_ if you used Citadel paints. it's been quite sad, over the years, watching them rise to dominance in the genre using the simple strategy of taking the piss.
The best way to counter your models becoming obsolete is to choose decide with your friends or local gaming group on a specific version of the game that you stick to. Otherwise you will end up into an endless arms race as rules are updated in favor of specific armies as the codexes/army books don't get updated at the same time. I found that people in my gaming group are very susceptible to this. Sticking to one set of rules also keeps your current models from becoming obsolete.