Games Workshop Make Games For Kids.

[Mr Mystery]

There has been a massive upsurge in quality since they went with the plastic push.

But you have to look at what came before the Red Era.....man there were some truly shonky sculpts!

[YorkNecromancer]

True. But there were some lovely ones too. The old plastic scouts, the original Tyranid warrior, the RTB01 kit, Commissar Yarrick, the Devastator boxed set with the shoulder mounted heavy bolters, anything by Jes Goodwin...

[Erik Setzer]

Hmm. I actually like a lot of that older stuff. And the bright colors made for interesting looking armies. Too many armies now end up looking dingy and dirty and drab and, well, boring. I get that it's easier to paint, but man, it's depressing.

The old models were good for their time. And while I loved some of the stuff like the RTB01 Marines, they weren't really that detailed or anything. I'd still gladly use them, but objectively newer stuff was better (not counting the 2nd edition boxed set squads). Funny thing is, a lot of people like to pretend these kind of models never existed or something, because they don't want to consider that a company getting into producing miniatures might not throw out awesome museum pieces with their first efforts... see Mantic, for example.

I also have to stick up for Morley a bit here. There's a tale that goes around that he was told to make the Nagash model look something like how it ended up, and he exaggerated it for effect. But the funny thing about the model is, if you replace the head, it looks good. A decent paint job won't entirely salvage the head, but could still make it look decent. I showed my old Nagash to some people, and they couldn't understand the hate for it, and these were people who've only known modern GW sculpts. Necromunda had a lot of good stuff, the only models I can remember not liking were the plastic Goliath models. Other Goliath models weren't bad, and the other gangs - Orlocks, Van Saars, Redemptionists, Ratskins, etc. - looked pretty good. I have some old Necromunda models I'm using in my Rogue Trader army, they easily match anything being put out right now.

And speaking of stuff being put out right now... We have a whole new faction with over the top shiny armor, with shoulder pads to try to make Warmachine or World of Warcraft jealous, with some having literal wings of light, halos all over the place, and hands as big as their heads. We have Chaos guys dual-wielding weapons that have chain weapons attached to them. We have a guy carrying an axe too big for him to use. We have "flyers" that are boxed with engines and pointless "wings" attached to them. Blood Angels have nipple armor everywhere. We have Space Wolves riding literal wolves, and a hover-chariot pulled on the ground by wolves (think about that for a moment). There are examples of silly, pointless, over-the-top stuff in the range still. We're playing with toy soldiers in fantasy settings, you have to expect some crazy stuff. That doesn't mean it's bad.

[grimmas]

Red guns and no Landraiders. That should be enough on it own to condemn the red period

The games were still fun though

Oh let's not forget the fetish Goliath models, really really stupid

[Path Walker]

Goliath models look silly now but in the context they were great, they were directly referencing a vision of post apocalyptic gangs that was very much in style when Confrontation and later Necromunda were being fleshed out. The plastics were shoddy but all the plastics of the era were, especially when trying to make humans.

At the time, the models of the "Red Period" was very popular, there were lots of red models because almost all bases and tables were green, so to stand out in photos, red was the go to colour. The Eavy Metal team at the time was rightly seen as containing some of the best and most innovative model painters in the world.

The models were seen as some of the best in the hobby, especially the metal models.

Morley wasn't to everyones taste but he gets lumped in with that Nagash model too often as if it represents his entire career, he did a lot of great work in his time, the 3rd edition Blood Bowl miniatures, which I am sure he did most of, were great, for example.

Its hard to look back on pop culture from 20-30 years ago and judge it fairly because today's tastes and technology change so much

[Gotthammer]

Also the red period gave us the Escher gang, Vyper Jetbikes, Bjorn & Furioso dreads, the original skaven Doomwheel, Screaming Bell, Rat Ogres, Warhammer Quest, and the mass of IG vehicles that are still kicking today.

[YorkNecromancer]

Goliath models look silly now but in the context they were great, they were directly referencing a vision of post apocalyptic gangs that was very much in style when Confrontation and later Necromunda were being fleshed out.

True.

That said, they did get a little Tom of Finland after a bit, especially when you had the absurd muscles of the Catachan guardsmen at the same time. I know it's all to do with the macho source materials they're drawing from, but there was a definite Hard Gay aesthetic to quite a few of the models back then.

Morley wasn't to everyones taste but he gets lumped in with that Nagash model too often as if it represents his entire career, he did a lot of great work in his time, the 3rd edition Blood Bowl miniatures, which I am sure he did most of, were great, for example.

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say they were great. They were definitely his best work, and there are some really lovely models there (most of the Undead models, quite a few of the Orks, almost all the humans)... But they're still goofy as hell. And the quality was very erratic. Even given the times, the Elf miniatures in particular were just horrible.

Also the red period gave us the Escher gang, Vyper Jetbikes, Bjorn & Furioso dreads, the original skaven Doomwheel, Screaming Bell, Rat Ogres, Warhammer Quest, and the mass of IG vehicles that are still kicking today.

As I say, the Jes Goodwin stuff is universally brilliant, even by modern standards. Skaven were very much his baby, as were the Eschers, the Eldar, and the dreadnoughts. Not sure who designed the old Leman Russ, but that was an undeniably lovely kit. I was very disappointed when I discovered they'd dropped the old gothic-style searchlight and rectangular box HK missile.

[grimmas]

Nope the plastic goliaths were crap for the time as well in fact most of the plastic single miniatures of the period were worse than their predecessors. The High Elves from the 4th Ed WFB were pretty good though, monopose but nicely done. The red period only stretched for the first half of 2nd Ed 40K/4th Ed WFB a lot of the good stuff that's been mentioned was actually post the period in question. Still plenty of good metal minis during it though.

Still I don't think the sculpting was the problem. Or really all the red it was just a symptom of an attempt to make the Games appealable to an audience that was just a little too young and it lost something in the process. It got it back though but I distinctly remember thinking things were just a little bit too young in GW stores for bit.

[Erik Setzer]

The metal Guardsmen regiments were pretty awesome. The plastic Cadians look nice, but I loved the variety and the detail was great on those models. There's a lot of older models I'd gladly pull out and run alongside modern models, both in 40K and WFB.

[CoffeeGrunt]

Hmm. I actually like a lot of that older stuff. And the bright colors made for interesting looking armies. Too many armies now end up looking dingy and dirty and drab and, well, boring. I get that it's easier to paint, but man, it's depressing.

I'd say the opposite. I could crank out bright, shiny tanks in a day, piece of cake. Making them look dusty, drab and beaten up extends that to a week, and I wouldn't have them any other way. I don't see how painted a drab scheme is any easier than painting in nothing but bright colours...

Though on the note of Necromunda, I have a few of the dudes with long trenchcoats and specs, and man those guys look excellent.