The 'Good Job GW' thread

[Craig]

There's a lot of negativity thrown GWs way on the internet so let's have a thread to highlight what they deserve credit for and hope they continue doing.

 

For me it's the improvement they made to the model sprues for the space marine heroes. They made the contact points from the sprue to the model a lot smaller and tidier. This makes removing the model from the sprue and cleaning up the contact area a lot easier. Putting thick contact points in the middle of shoulder pads is a real bug bear for me. I know it's a small thing but I  really hope they carry this forward in to new releases.

[Doobles57]

A good job (but a frustration that that don't do elsewhere) is the way the Adeptus Titanicus kits are designed with magnetising in mind. The titans have recesses in the arm joints specifically for magnets so they can be easily swapped. It's great model design. 

We've seen a bit of it in the new plastic contemptor kit, but it'd be good to see it applied across the board with new releases.

[sairence]

I like playing in competitive events and I'm really happy with the balance process that is now in place. We know that something weird and broken can always slip through, but now we can be sure that it'll get adressed in some way within a reasonable time frame. We can always disagree on the details, but having the framework in place is great.

[Magos Takatus]

Great idea. I am happy that their miniature design is so frequently on point. While there are models that I dislike the overwhelming majority fall into a category where if I had enough time and money I would consider buying them even if it is an army I do not collect. Kits like the ungainly Space Marine Centurions are thankfully rare.

[Redcomet]

I have been building the new Demon Prince and it is fantastic. Parts go together with the joins being cleverly hidden by muscles or layered under other parts. 
 

Also the way the 30k land raider kits are engineered is really clever.

[Xenith]

Nice idea and definitely good to see some positivity!

 

For me, the new 30K kits have been a joy to make, even though they come with way more bits than similar older kits. Arms go in nicely, as do legs, minimal seams. Model design has come a long way since I started. I've not assembled the new DP modelm but if the chosen from the StD kit are anything like it (and never to be mentioned on B&C again) it'll be a joy.

 

This is something we've seen with primaris actually, that while there's one 'way' to make the models in the instructions, yo ucan actually freely swap arms and heads to make all kinds of dudes. 

 

Thinking about the level of community interaction GW now has, along with event (both running them and support), regular rules updates (for good or ill) and a churn of cool stuff, i honestly think that the hobby has never been in a better place - I'll admit I'm struggling to keep up with all the stuff I want to do in the hobby, but that's a sign that GW is hitting the right notes with me. 

 

Edit:

Also: Contrast paints. Without them, my dream of a Tyranid army would never have manifested as the damned things take so long to paint in the scheme I chose. Contrast has sped up so much of my painting it's ridiculous, allowing me to enjoy gaming with fully painted armies, unlike the half painted affairs of my youth. 

Edited November 16, 2022 by Xenith

[Gamiel]

I really love all the extra bits that comes with most kits. Making it so easy to make a personal force and gives you lots of different parts for kitbashing. 

 

That now a day many of the contact points are at places hidden by you puting something over that area.

 

 

[Grotsmasha]

It's a small thing, but the free model every month, I really appreciate getting single models from ranges I'd never or can't buy.

[Casual Heresy]

- Contrast paints: Really an excellent tool to have in one's arsenal.

- Made to Order: The prices are steep but I appreciate being able to periodically get old favourites and models I regret not buying in the past again. 

- Warhammer Crime: Some of the best work to come out of Black Library in quite sometime, but has also been a great avenue to showcase newer authors.

- Plastic Heresy!: Being able to get an affordable Spartan that my skills will let me build is a dream come true. Fingers crossed for the Typhon soon!

[Vassakov]

All of the new Heresy stuff has been an absolute joy - I've fully magnetised my Leviathan and Contemptor, and magnetised the turret mount for the Predator. In addition, the sponsons are swivel on-and-off, so building different versions of the weapons means you can swap between the Kratos, Predator and Sicaran easily (though you can still only build one set of sponsons per tank, and magnetising those is... well, it's not really worth the effort.)

 

Contrast paints in particular, but to be honest the paint range as a whole is miles better than it was and with the exception of the whites, I've found to be excellent.

 

The overall engagement with the community as well is great, and the determination to try and balance the game to a reasonable degree for competitive play. I've done about 5 tournaments on the UK scene in the last year and they've all been a lot of fun, with only really one game feeling like a non-game (My Sisters v Double C'tan Necrons.)

 

Finally, I do have to give them credit for acknowledging that the supplemental rules bloat for Matched Play in campaign books was a mistake and that Arks of Omen will be new types of play and rules to support that, and narrative, rather than jamming Matched Play rules in. It's still a bit annoying that stuff is coming in White Dwarf, but given there's nothing particularly powerful I'm prepared to let it slide.

[Craig]

9 minutes ago, Casual Heresy said:

- Made to Order: The prices are steep but I appreciate being able to periodically get old favourites and models I regret not buying in the past again. 

The made to order issues of Inferno! were a great nostalgia trip but I think they have stopped them half way through now as there haven't been any in ages.

The made to order had some great models but I never indulged as I have not had good experience with finecast.

[sitnam]

I will echo sentiments about Contrast paints. Although they aren’t the end all of beginner level painting, the marketing was effective enough to get me back into painting after a 10-12 year hiatus and the results were enough to keep me around.

 

Warhammer Horror deserves big kudos for its quality and accessibility. My wife has read more WH then me at this point, despite no prior Warhammer knowledge which wasn’t me bombarding her with nonsense. My best friend also checked it out and was really impressed as an avid horror reader.

The last 3 years have seen some impressive efforts by BL in Xenos stories. Day of Ascension, Twice-Dead King, Infinite and Divine, Brutal Kunnin, and the Ghazghkull novel have all been great works imo. I hope that BL keeps pushing out these stories. The referenced Necron stories were so good it pushed me into a burgeoning Nihilakh army

 

[StraightSilver]

I had an issue with an order (my free Warhammer+ mini) which was caused by Royal Mail (so outside of GW control). Essentially it never arrived and got lost at the sorting office.

Admittedly GW are rubbish at responding to emails but when I phoned and spoke to a lovely lady at customer service it was sorted in minutes and a new model arrived the following day.

I know GW are very good at customer service so this isn't anything new, but I suppose it highlights that I have been ordering on a weekly basis via GW online and this is the first issue I've had in over 10 years and was resolved in minutes, hassle free.

Edited November 16, 2022 by StraightSilver

[Brother Christopher]

Their marketing appears to be extremely successful, resulting in continuous sales of overpriced miniatures to increasingly broader audiences in economically challenging times.

 

Getting a firmer grasp on their IP.

 

On a technical level, the quality of the models is quite amazing - with well defined details and crisp lines that are easy and satisfying to paint. Amazing progress. Usually the design/aesthetic is also pretty cool. The assembly experience not so much, though - the new kits often have too many parts and are split in weird ways.

 

More fun, dynamic, sometimes quirky poses for the 'regular infantry' models in the new ranges that compensate the increased difficulty to kitbash/convert models due to the way miniatures are designed (i.e. often designed to be assembled in one particular way).

 

Amazing product photos, especially the showcases (or "genre scenes") where many models are set up on a beautiful board, with a suitable background and the addition of cool lighting and, sometimes, other effects (like smoke). 

[Rik Lightstar]

For me it's mostly the items in the "Boxed Games" section of the website:

• Aeronautica Imperialis
• Adeptus Titanicus
• Kill Teams
• WarCry
• Warhammer Underworlds
• Blood Bowl
• Necromunda

They're all fantastic games.

They're all pretty accessible from a price perspective, far more so that 40k & AoS.

The model ranges are fantastic.

The crowd you tend to play at events are far more likely to be interested in having a fun game.

 

Rik

[Guest Triszin]

The new, large plastic kits have been actually fun to put together, no a chore.

[Craig]

Another thing I forgot is Warhammer World. Just Warhammer World in general. It's just a great day out. Even my wife enjoyed it. If you haven't been I highly recommend it.

[Captain Idaho]

Random stuff off the top of my head...:

 

• Customer service is excellent. Can't generally do enough for you and if they mess up something they'll fix it easily and in a friendly manner.

 

• The Kratos tank is brilliant, with all its options and easy of assembly. Added to this the whole plastic Heresy vehicles thing are truly phenomenal and taking us in a great new era.

 

• Specialist Games are fun, excellent value for time and provide something well supported for a change to the main game.

 

• Ok it's an incidental and somewhat subjective, but GW can have an entire pass this year even if they messed everythint, just for the classic Chaos Terminator with Warhammer TV. It's that good a model.

[WrathOfTheLion]

For Made to Order, they've been really excellent recently specifying the material the miniature is. You can check the most recent one for Sigmar, and each model they declare this. I believe they did so with Tzeentch daemons as well, and this has made it really easy to make a decision on whether I want it.

 

Contrast paints are another great one. They're quite versatile to use. I think that they were generally first to the market there (as far as I'm aware) can't be overstated. That's a market success that they avoided some of the pitfalls to have a stable product, and managed to get there a couple years before everyone else in the paint market. Someone in their paint division did amazing both ensuring that it worked and had the support it needed, as well as having the initiative and catching the market somewhat flat footed.

 

Plastic 30k is great. The new plastic vehicles are so much better to build than the previous resin ones, and I've had a blast with it, especially compared to building all the resin tanks and all that I was doing in 1E HH.

Edited November 16, 2022 by WrathOfTheLion
added 30k segment

[Special Officer Doofy]

Might be a controversial one, but I'm glad they are now limiting wargear options to what comes in the box. It definately sucked at first, and this is coming from someone with about 40 plague marines who bought alot of extra bits and can't field them all anymore. But going forward, it prevents people from having to go bits shopping, proxying or buying a second kit to get a second special weapon for the first kit. Always thought that was a bit predatory, like if my 10 guys can take 2 of each special weapon why is there only 1 of each in the box type deal always bothered me. Better late than never I suppose, bite the bullet in 9th and get it over with and enjoy your new kits having all the wargear options in the box!

[gideon stargreave]

GW have really leaned into a lot of the things that made the red era so great. They have embraced specialist games with tonnes of expansions and new miniatures in a quantity far outstripping what we had during eg. Necromunda 1st ed
They have produced some incredible miniatures based on art from this era (notable a lot of MG stuff)
They actively encourage both competitive play and narrative scenarios
It even looks like Games Day is coming back in the form of Warhammer Fest next year (and incredibly, it costs less than in 1998)
The only thing really missing is a white dwarf that is a hobby magazine first, that essentially showcases a group of people's progress in the hobby

[Brother Captain Vakarian]

I have to second a lot of things people have said so far (contrast paints, the design of the sprues in the new plastic kits, and the increasing pose-ability and options to kit bash models in the newer ranges like the primaris marines are all great positives for GW lately). 
 

And to add two more:

 

- The general design aesthetic of the new (Indomitus and onwards) primaris marines. The more ornate, gothic feel of the marines in the Indomitus set got me back into 40K, and releases like the Bladeguard kit and the Black Templars kits since then have been superb. 
 

- Crusade. The fact that it’s narrative and optional means the extra cognitive load doesn’t have to be imposed on the main game if people don’t want it, but for those like me who have always enjoyed “growing your dudes” it’s been hands down the best rules development that GW has done lately. From the way secondary objectives become XP generation to the way each character and unit can become truly unique and meaningful, I just love the game mode and it has reinvigorated a love for the game between my primary gaming buddy and myself. 

[Pacific81]

Just repeat what @Rik Loghtstar said above really with the box games.

 

I think anyone knew to the hobby today won't appreciate how good things are now in terms of player choice, compared to the late 00s and early 10s. Back then it was 40k/WHFB-way or the highway. And those games weren't that easily accessible (I would say GW embracing social media, and the internet in general, is a massive step forward - again the only time you saw their presence back then was to issue a C&D!)

 

Sorry if this sounds a bit negative, but I'd point out that you can't have light without darkness, and the GW of 2022 is far, far better (from a fan/hobbyist perspective) than it was in 2010.

 

 

[Ahzek451]

Forge world over the course of the last few years seems to have gotten better with cleaner molds, and more professional packaging and part acountability. I recall ordering aplently over 10 years ago and the amount of miscasts, warped parts, missing parts was way worse then. 

Also, +1 for heresy in plastic. 

[Domhnall]

Another big up for the customer service. 

Had an issue with my renewal for WH+ (I upgraded 2 days early to get the annual sub, which their system didn't like), so I didn't get either of my free minis... After a couple of back and forth emails (it usually takes a couple days for reply, but that's not unusual), and eventually they sent me Azrakh as an order as they knew the account was continuous, and they are still fixing their system to avoid this for next year (I think others have been in the same boat).