3+ years from design to production?

[Sgt.Rob]

can any one confirm this? Christian Hardy, the designer of the abhorant from the tooth and claw set joined the design team 3.5 years ago but his FIRST model is just going to ship this week?

[apologist]

I can believe that. While I suspect there's no practical reason GW couldn't get things from design into production more swiftly, having a long lead time on products with a long life (i.e. they'll be selling the same sprues for upwards of ten years) makes sense. Less rushing means fewer opportunities for things to go wrong; and in any case they seem to have plenty of designs and ideas; so the sheer scale of releases can cause a model to be delayed while GW builds up some stuff to come out with it. Just looking at the dates on the sprues can sometimes reveal that 'new' sprues were designed/manufactured a year or two back.

 

For any model, there's more than 'just' designing the model and casting it, too. In addition to the idea generation, design checks, approvals, tweaks and production test-runs (to make sure it casts correctly/sprue is optimised), the sales team will have to work out a release date that fits with everything else, there'll be some back-and-forth with the rules writers, the marketing team will gear up etc.; and then time will have to be found in the production plant. Boxes/packaging have to be designed and produced, and warehousing space found. The packaging in particular is something that can potentially slow things up, as it's likely to be printed outside of the UK, and will have to be approved, shipped and so forth. Finally, the model needs to be shipped from GW HQ across the world to receive a simultaneous release date; to say nothing of retail instruction, point-of-sale manufacture (posters, shelf runners), and working out which models are being phased out of storefronts to make space. Time will also have to be built into the schedule to take potential problems into account.

 

For something like the Aberrant, there's also the novelty value/exclusivity to be considered. As a new and exciting model for an emerging army, it's being used to help push a larger box set. All of the considerations above have to be multiplied for every element of the box.

[Rik Lightstar]

I think there's a mixture and while SOME products may take this long to work on, there will be other things that they decided to do that will be much quicker.

 

Keep in mind that that model may well have been initially intended for Deathwatch: Overkill (which came out early 2016) or the previous (7th ed) Genestealer Cult release, but was left out for some reason and now is the next appropriate release window for it.

 

Rik

[Kastor Krieg]

Production != sale / shipment. They could've just as well been made and warehoused for a year, waiting in queue.

 

In general, sounds about right.

[Lucien Eilam]

Two years used to be cited as the average from concept to retail, and I'm not sure even someone as super-talented as Christian sits down on their first day with the Citadel team to work on a miniature that will necessarily see production. There must be a period of training and adjustment to adapt each sculptor’s process and style to be consistent with GW’s standards.

[Robbienw]

They do hold back stuff sometimes though beyond when it is ready for production or release.

 

Like the plastic terminator librarian that came out in 2015 for example.  It was actually done in 2013, it even has 2013 on the sprue, but they decided to hold him back from the august 2013 marine releases for some reason.

[sarabando]

at salute a few years ago i was speaking to the sculptor for Warlord games and he told me that the thing that takes the longest was getting the boxes done, art designed or photos take, correct sizing etc and a mini could sit finished for a year easily waiting for this.