Vox Cast: The Repository Thread

[Bryan Blaire]

Also, don't take my "find it interesting" as "personally agree with the thought processes behind it" - the two aren't mutually exclusive, but I will save my agreements and disagreements for other threads, nor am I going to re-argue historical stuff on this one.

[Klod]

Vox Cast with Duncan was very enjoyble, such a nice guy. And they also touched on a very important subject. Duncan mentioned how he was sort of scared off by the store manager when he was a kid, and this is what happened recently at my FLGS. I don't know the details, but essentially our store manager told someone that their model was painted like crap. He was fired soon after.

 

We got a new one, and we got really lucky with him.

[Bryan Blaire]

Two thin quotes!

 

 

Being more on the painting side than gaming right now (training new Scouts really does eat up time, but it is a lot of fun seeing them get their first servitor kill with that bolter), I enjoyed this whole thing and didn't realize that he actually didn't talk about any paint schemes until he was done and I went "Wait a minute, spill them secret beans, chappy!" :D He really does seem like a great guy, and the fact that he is dedicated to seeing fans happy is awesome.

[Marshal Rohr]

This was a great episode. Duncan adds so much to the hobby

[Panzer]

That episode went by in a flash. I barely noticed that it's been already an hour since I clicked on play.

[alfred_the_great]

He is such a nice bloke - we should all aim to be a bit more Duncan...

[Sandlemad]

Lovely chap, just so nice.

 

Interesting point he made about how in their kit bashes/conversion discussions they're not permitted to say 'you should get this box for this particular head' or whatever, that they have to aim for bits that one might reasonably expect a collector of a given army to have in their bits box. Which is just good sense really but that it's explicitly framed by the bosses as being 'commerciallly aware' was a bit of a surprise. GW not going for the absolute most cynical or price-blind approach, instead showing a slight degree of pragmatism and sensitivity towards, you know, how the hobby works. Maybe my expectations are too low though...

[MegaVolt87]

Lovely chap, just so nice.

 

Interesting point he made about how in their kit bashes/conversion discussions they're not permitted to say 'you should get this box for this particular head' or whatever, that they have to aim for bits that one might reasonably expect a collector of a given army to have in their bits box. Which is just good sense really but that it's explicitly framed by the bosses as being 'commerciallly aware' was a bit of a surprise. GW not going for the absolute most cynical or price-blind approach, instead showing a slight degree of pragmatism and sensitivity towards, you know, how the hobby works. Maybe my expectations are too low though...

Not at all, if it's a SM conversion they will only use SM bits because they want you buying SM at that point in time, nothing else. They let the community guests armies and comp entries showcase real kit bashing, scratch builds and sculpting.

[Marshal Loss]

Was anything mentioned about them changing the format of their painting videos? I miss the old "tip of the day" model over all this "battle-ready" classic/contrast stuff where 80% of the videos are aimed at complete beginners, often just replicating videos they already have

[Marshal Rohr]

He goes into detail about how they want to get the fundamentals of using the paints across in the videos and sprinkle in the occasional big kit and highly detailed video. They get the most views on the long form stuff and the most questions about the easy stuff. They do have set goals like show how to paint the stuff you’ll have the most of as a focus and then they try to get a big monster or kit in there for detail. Edited October 30, 2019 by Marshal Rohr

[alfred_the_great]

Lovely chap, just so nice.

 

Interesting point he made about how in their kit bashes/conversion discussions they're not permitted to say 'you should get this box for this particular head' or whatever, that they have to aim for bits that one might reasonably expect a collector of a given army to have in their bits box. Which is just good sense really but that it's explicitly framed by the bosses as being 'commerciallly aware' was a bit of a surprise. GW not going for the absolute most cynical or price-blind approach, instead showing a slight degree of pragmatism and sensitivity towards, you know, how the hobby works. Maybe my expectations are too low though...

Or perhaps they're good people trying to do the right thing by the hobby they've all been involved with since their early teens?

 

There is a remarkable undercurrent on this board that casts GW staff as outsiders, and not a part of this community.

 

Perhaps actually acknowledging they're normal people might be a start?

[Dosjetka]

I don't think anyone meant that GW staff aren't "normal people", it's just (unfortunately) easy to become overly cynical when faced with corporations.

[Sandlemad]

 

Lovely chap, just so nice.

 

Interesting point he made about how in their kit bashes/conversion discussions they're not permitted to say 'you should get this box for this particular head' or whatever, that they have to aim for bits that one might reasonably expect a collector of a given army to have in their bits box. Which is just good sense really but that it's explicitly framed by the bosses as being 'commerciallly aware' was a bit of a surprise. GW not going for the absolute most cynical or price-blind approach, instead showing a slight degree of pragmatism and sensitivity towards, you know, how the hobby works. Maybe my expectations are too low though...

Or perhaps they're good people trying to do the right thing by the hobby they've all been involved with since their early teens?

 

There is a remarkable undercurrent on this board that casts GW staff as outsiders, and not a part of this community.

 

Perhaps actually acknowledging they're normal people might be a start?

 

 

It's the fact that it was a top down rule from management that surprised me. I'm perfectly happy acknowledging Duncan and co as part of the community and genuinely decent normal people but GW as a corporate entity is manifestly and obviously beyond being "good people trying to do the right thing". As a corporation GW deserves any and all the cynicism they get.

 

Any dictat about not pushing for a particular "buy this box for this single bit" like this could only come from pragmatism and a concern about the negative effects of pushing the boat too far, i.e. being seen as too nakedly money-grubbing. I was surprised that they even had this concern but I guess that's nu-GW.

[alfred_the_great]

Interesting that the current VoxCast is about the Sisters of Battle, yet nary a word on here.

[Bryan Blaire]

Episode 26 is up - Max Faleij on the Adeptus Sororitas (painting them)!

 

 

Haven't finished watching it yet, so don't have any comments.

[Sandlemad]

Good interview, a lot to mull over at the intersection of army design, paintjob design and bakground.

 

Some interesting thoughts there on how the SoB orders are younger than bodies like the astartes chapters and their history is 'cleaner' (i.e. they're all descended from the same six orders only a few thousand years ago, they're tied to the two broad remits) so while their particular iconographic choices have background rationales, they're less diverse and clouded by the weight of history. They're still hidebound but with a more religious, less militaristic structure and set of conventions that can change for appropriately religious reasons, e.g. the order of our martyred lady changing their livery. I liked the example of a marine not necessarily knowing why a particular bit of 10k-old heraldry is used, just that it's tradition, while the SoB can more reliably trace this back.

Interesting amount of focus on Celsestians there too. Cool to hear that effort was put into how to distinguish them from regular battle sisters, though uncharitably I suppose you could say that this is compensating for the only real difference on the miniatures coming from that fleur-de-lys head crest. I actually quite like that approach and if it forced some good thinking about symbology by the 'eavy metal crew, great, but it was noticeable.

The 'eavy metal concept work about the spectrum of pristineness was also fun. The sisters are all untouched by battle damage, they're all perfectly clean, their tanks are maybe a little grubby where appropriate but still more lavishly maintained than marine equivalents. The repentia are then fairly beaten about and with different levels of damage but still healthy. Then you get to the penitent engines and arcoflagellants who look properly grimy and half-dead. It's a nice through-line for the Ecclesiarchy's feel.

[alfred_the_great]

He also notes the entire range "has been released". I sense that he means the entire range has been designed, painted and written about in the codex.

[Kenzaburo]

That would at least be in line with how the developement department of my employer tends to look at things. All code is written, we are able to unleash it on testers is what they mean by "ready for release". For me as a marketing guy, that phrase means something absolutely different. :D

[BitsHammer]

It's noy impossible for us to see more in a later update (like a campaign book), but as of that recording (which all we know was made some time in the past and then trimmed/edited for later release) there isn't any kits that aren't in the book.

[alfred_the_great]

Has everyone just got bored of these?

 

Personally I'm still enjoying them, learning new things, and it's nice listening to positivity about the hobby.

 

Thoughts?

[Marshal Rohr]

Paul’s interview was great, but something about the last interview was off putting. The guy being interviewed didn’t seem excited to be there.

[Kenzaburo]

I've noticed that too with some of the interviewees, some are just not comfortable with the format, others are a bit lacklustre in their conversational skills or excitement. In those cases you can feel Wade trying to get more information out of the guys and when he starts to ask suggestive questions - "But was that really all the work you did for the Blood Angels or did you have another stint working on them?". 

 

This can be quite challenging for an interviewer, I still think, Wade manages to do a good to great job with it. I'd like it though, if he would start to stray from the current formula a bit, maybe. We've heard about Space Crusade and HeroQuest as the universal starting point for many of the current studio guys. How about getting some of them reminiscing about that? Why did it work? What did they like about it? What's their current approach? Something like that, maybe...

[Felix Antipodes]

To be fair, the guy has only been with the company for 18 months or so and seemed puzzled by the spotlight being on him. Not every GW employee is going to be a media natural like Wade, Peachy or Duncan.

[Kenzaburo]

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't bashing on the guy. I completely understand that some will interviewees might struggle with the format. It's only natural. I was just saying that at times you can notice it. Overall, I'm impressed with how likeable a lot of the guys seem, sometimes surprised even. 

 

Now here's a polarising thought: I wish we could hear from Matt Ward on there - I know he's no longer with the company, so there. But he was so maligned on the internet, in a completely over the top way, that I have that gut feeling that an interview might have helped there. 

 

Considering the whole Ward drama, I'm somewhat surprised that so many of the designers are willing to put themselves front and center in these interviews. Ward got so much flak, got turned into a horrible kind of warhammer meme, I never felt comfortable with that. Especially after I had talked to some guys from the design studio and it turned out, that quite a lot of them were aware what fans were saying on forums and facebook. The corporate communications worked different back then, which allowed these fanboy myths to gain traction, that some of the designers were basically out to troll certain fanbases and whatnot. 

 

That's probably one of the biggest achievements of the overall marketing in recent years: Clearly showing how much heart there is in the design studio, how much love many of them have for the hobby overall. Sure, it's all with a bit of marketing sugarcoating. But still...

[Felix Antipodes]

That's a great idea IMHO. In fact, I'd love to see them interview some of the others from times past as well like Andy Chambers, Rick Priestley, etc. I don't think it will mollify the Ward haters though. Too much time has past to weaken that concrete. lol