There was a green one, and a green one and a green one and a green one!

[Erik Setzer]

With the 360 view, I can get a better view for the Maw-Krusha. And yeah, it's just a fat Wyvern. A SERIOUSLY fat Wyvern. I'm kind of just neutral on it now. It's not really grabbing me, but it's not pushing me away either.

Still absolutely hate the cavalry's mounts. If I want a unit of those guys, I'll buy some Ogre cavalry and convert them (and it might end up being cheaper, too).

Otherwise, I like the overall look of things. The Orks themselves look fine, but different paint schemes would help in some areas (the Shaman was a seriously missed opportunity).

Don't like the price at all. Means I won't be getting any of these for a while, because for the price of just a handful of models, I can get a sizable army for another game that people are getting into (and would probably get played more than these guys, sadly).

The only complain I have on the models, other than the boar-things (and still not being able to figure out what is going on with the front of the MK's wings), is that the harsh edges are turning up more and more. Horns that have sharp edges instead of being round, heads that have harsh angles rather than being curved, all kinds of areas where it looks like they're going the route of least resistance with CAD and you can tell it'd be so much better if they were willing to put in the money to have hand-sculpted models. And then the painting team is compounding the problem by doing bright highlights on every edge, which not only looks bad (seriously, what happened to the 'Eavy Metal crew?), it also highlights where the current sculpting system has issues.

But maybe people won't noticed those things on the tabletop without having every edge painted five shades lighter than the color around them. And maybe I'm letting my perfectionist attitude from my job bleed through. (But these *are* supposed to be the "best" miniatures in the world, so these issues coming from shortcuts and cost-cutting measures should bother me, especially while they remain charging increasing prices with said claim attached.)

[Path Walker]

If you don't think the Shaman is an utterly amazing paint job, then, I don't know what to say, maybe you don't know much about painting?

Look at the insane texture work there, that's all in the painting. The Leather, the cloth, the wood on the staff, even the headpiece, all absolutely perfect.

Then look at the fire and how the embers are sparking up and into the smoke, its gorgeous, the use of colour is really . That's some utterly world class painting there.


Click for enbiggerment.

Go to the website and look at the 360 degree view, its a magnificent job.

CAD is not a less means of sculpting miniatures, its a different means of sculpting. It makes hard edges easier but that doesn't mean everything has a hard edge and that having them is lazy, to say so is blatantly untrue and shows a lack of understanding. The harder (not hard, and the way they're done is just as "difficult" to do right as softer curves) edges are an obvious stylistic choice they've been going at with most of the newer kits in WFB for years now, probably in preparation for AoS, where the aesthetic is less realistic.

I'm not sure you even know what you're complaining about at this stage, just firing off at nothing because you can't afford the models seemingly. You earlier said you hated them because the armour looked manufactured and not thrown together when it looks a lot more bashed up and improvised than the Black Orcs this range is based on. You then tried to claim that the Brutes were replacing the Orcs, which is nonsense. You have no knowledge of the system or the fluff of this game and yet still think you need to chip in with your silly little opinions, its just sad.

[Haighus]

Tbf, Erik wasn't saying the Shaman was painted badly, or that any of the painting was technically bad, more that he disagreed with the pallet used by the 'Eavy Metal team. They paint their chosen schemes well, but I agree that they are often overly bright and gaudy. It is the choice of colours, not how they are applied to the model that he is disagreeing with.

[AoS Noob]

I'm just still confused how they didn't release a normal orruk battletome, but that's the only one with a starter set? How do I know how to use the army if there's no rules for it? ... Is there a pattern to the release of battletomes I'm missing? Or is it just random? Im starting to think I'll just wait like 2 years until they get done releasing everything... Like half an army is old models that you don't even know if they'll still be supported once it's converted to AoS, and the other half is really expensive albeit cool looking models without all the rules to build the army... What's happening to goblins? What's happening to rock-lobbas and catapults... Etc etc

[grimmas]

The new faction are on the AoS app. all the stuff in them is being continued any old stuff that's being discontinued is under the Orcs and Goblins faction (legacy rules)

[AoS Noob]

Ohhhhhh I get it now... Haha I didn't even know you could select a certain faction in the app! Thanks! That makes a lot more sense!

[Erik Setzer]

Tbf, Erik wasn't saying the Shaman was painted badly, or that any of the painting was technically bad, more that he disagreed with the pallet used by the 'Eavy Metal team. They paint their chosen schemes well, but I agree that they are often overly bright and gaudy. It is the choice of colours, not how they are applied to the model that he is disagreeing with.

With the Shaman, my *one* issue with it is that they didn't paint the eyes and mouth to be "glowing" so it looks like it's ready to vomit energy. That'd work brilliantly with the way he seems to be convulsing, and the background of Orc Shamans (whatever you might call them these days).

With the other models, my issue is with the harsh edge highlighting. They use exceptionally lighter tones to draw thin highlights everywhere, and it can actually make a model look worse. I guess it's intended to show off the detail, but it gets distracting and isn't necessary. That's not a method you'd use if you were trying to win a painting contest or anything. The Infinity miniatures are a good example of how models should be painted. The old 'Eavy Metal team understood that. I'm not sure where this current direction's coming from, but it's very distracting. (The old local manager, who is a VERY good painter himself, had the same feeling, and was similarly turned off by the Bloodthirster originally because of how it had been painted.)

Now, if you want to talk Grand Alliance books... Yikes. The quality's kind of all over the place. It's certainly tabletop quality and I'd be fine using any of them in games, but the techniques vary too much in the same ranges (a product of having people with different ideas painting the models), you have some where the edge highlights are even worse than standard, and the occasional model where it looks like they forgot to shade and highlight properly. That's just being super-picky, though. It's probably better to show off tabletop quality models, and I doubt they could have done better considering it's very likely the majority of models pictured were painted in a very short time period (and that can sometimes produce less-than-ideal results, as I've personally seen).

- - - Updated - - -

I'm just still confused how they didn't release a normal orruk battletome, but that's the only one with a starter set? How do I know how to use the army if there's no rules for it? ... Is there a pattern to the release of battletomes I'm missing? Or is it just random? Im starting to think I'll just wait like 2 years until they get done releasing everything... Like half an army is old models that you don't even know if they'll still be supported once it's converted to AoS, and the other half is really expensive albeit cool looking models without all the rules to build the army... What's happening to goblins? What's happening to rock-lobbas and catapults... Etc etc

Grab the Grand Alliance: Destruction book. It'll have you covered on the Ironjaws rules and give you everything for the Orcs and Goblins that aren't being discontinued. Plus you get Ogre rules. And it's just $16.50, so very affordable. Next time I swing by the local store, I'll be grabbing a copy to complete my own GA collection.

Only thing you won't get are scenarios and maybe a couple of battalion warscrolls, but there should still be some in the book.

[AoS Noob]

Woah I didn't know that book existed either! Awesome! This is definitely somewhere to get started... Now I just gotta paint my little guys from my starter set then start getting some of these dudes to come in and randomly wreck face. HA!

[Erik Setzer]

It just came out yesterday, alongside the new models and the Ironjaws battletome.

[Mr Mystery]

Read Splitskull pass last night.

Orcs is still Orcs! And DED 'ARD!