surly Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 First of, I really really love the current drawings of the books and M2E in general. They really fit the theme of Malifaux and are just brilliant work. I bought both the big rulebook and Crossroads mainly because I just enjoy browsing it and looking at all those cool graphics. Beside actually playing with my miniatures, the process of assembling, basing and painting them are just an as important part of the hobby for me. Therefore one thing that drew me into Malifaux where the awesome miniatures from M1E. Some really impressive sculpts and just as impressively painted. So as much as I love the beautiful drawings of the current plastic sculpts, I also find it a shame that there are no official painted modells around. Since Wave 3 is already on its way I guess I already know the answer, but will we ever get a chance seeing them painted? Don't get me wrong, when searching the internet you find a lot of lovely painted current plastics, but they're simply not official. Also, I'm not asking for nice or well painted miniatures, I'm asking for mouth dropping awesomeness that makes everything else look bad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirial Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Wyrd have stated in the past that, for various reasons, they don't want to show painted miniatures anymore. Will they change that stance in the future? Who knows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterDisaster Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 If I recall this was brought up a number of times a year or two ago and at the time Wyrd stated they don't want to rely on outside painters or commissions to be completed before they can show us their goodies so instead they go for the artwork and render route which as far as I'm concerned is fine. They aren't as big a company as PP or GW (yet) and so these things take time. There have already been various issues within or outside of Wyrd's control that have caused delays on releases which caused uproar in certain places of the community and I think adding to this isn't the way forward. It is always nice to see a studio painted model before you buy it but seeing as a good 90% of the models match their artwork exactly I don't think there is a massive need for Wyrd to get their models painted for pretty display pictures like GW or PP do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fetid Strumpet Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 This question comes up from time to time. If I remember Nathan's responses correctly the answer was, it isn't outside the realm of possibility, but there is no plans in the near or distant future to return to doing so. There was a very long list of good reasons, but the gist of it was, it was expensive, time consuming, occasionally caused delays in the release schedule, and often, no matter how talented the artist, they would get nothing but complaints about how the official paint job put people off buying the miniature. There are alot of good reasons to do it, and alot of good reasons not to, and if I'm remembering correctly, at least at the moment, Wyrd has just decided its better for their business not to have official paint jobs. If I remembered anything incorrectly I'm sure Wyrd will correct me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengt Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 They did have a mini painter position in one of their recent wanted adds. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirial Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 They did have a mini painter position in one of their recent wanted adds. Interesting... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterDisaster Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 They should just shackle Mako to a desk and get him to paint for hours at a time! His painting is awesome and features in the Chronicles a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Math Mathonwy Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 They aren't as big a company as PP or GW (yet) and so these things take time.Why compare to GW and PP and not to, e.g., Corvus Belli, which is prolly a far closer comparison? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surly Posted March 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Thanks for the clarification, didn't know there has been a discussion going on about this already. If I recall this was brought up a number of times a year or two ago and at the time Wyrd stated they don't want to rely on outside painters or commissions to be completed before they can show us their goodies so instead they go for the artwork and render route which as far as I'm concerned is fine. I guess nobody would mind if the painted miniatures show up after they have been on sale so the painting process doesn't mess up with the release date. Speaking for myself I'd gladly would even buy an artbook filled with painted miniatures long after they have been released Why compare to GW and PP and not to, e.g., Corvus Belli, which is prolly a far closer comparison? Jep, I'd say that comparison is way more accurate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterDisaster Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Why compare to GW and PP and not to, e.g., Corvus Belli, which is prolly a far closer comparison? Because GW and PP are the largest mainstream wargames manufacturers out there and were the first two companies that came to mind. I'd never even heard of Corvus Belli until a few months back, I was aware of the game Infinity but not who made it and I've been gaming for close to 20 years. GW and PP are more well known and are perfect examples of companies who pretty much exclusively advertise products using studio painted models. In my mind GW and PP were a better example than some obscure company I know little to nothing about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absolution Black Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 to be honest, the way they are doing it now is perfect for me. I don't necessarily like to see painted minis if I am deciding what to buy as I like to imagine my schemes on them, which is hard if it has already got a coat of paint on! Plus, using GW as an example, some of the paint jobs on their new releases put me off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zFiend Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 I actually like both. I like to see the painted ones but usually after that before I decide whether to get it myself I try to find a picture of an unpainted one so I can vision what I would do for the paint the scheme. But some of the painted ones really have scared me off as the miniature being very bad, when it was actually the paint job that I didn't like at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Math Mathonwy Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Because GW and PP are the largest mainstream wargames manufacturers out there and were the first two companies that came to mind. I'd never even heard of Corvus Belli until a few months back, I was aware of the game Infinity but not who made it and I've been gaming for close to 20 years. GW and PP are more well known and are perfect examples of companies who pretty much exclusively advertise products using studio painted models. In my mind GW and PP were a better example than some obscure company I know little to nothing about.If you posit that it's too expensive and that only GW and PP have the resources to do so and Wyrd, being a smaller fish, can't, then you should totally take into account the other, similar fish. That you haven't heard of whatever doesn't make your argument stronger, to be blunt. And Corvus Belli is far from being marginal. I could've taken Pulp City, Nemesis, Eden, or 1650 Capa y Espada as my examples if I wanted marginal but I took a well-known player in approximately the same bracket as Wyrd.The majority of other minis manufacturers that have a game show painted minis. Both bigger and smaller than Wyrd do this. Wyrd is the odd duck (though there are some others as well). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgraz Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Why compare to GW and PP and not to, e.g., Corvus Belli, which is prolly a far closer comparison? And holy crap that painting is fan-freaking-tastic. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guslado Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 I actually enjoy that the boxes and books only show art and renders of the miniatures as opposed to painted miniatures. Don't underestimate the amount of time that having a painted miniature would add on to the release process--all of the miniatures are still made over-seas, so they would first have to get completed sprues shipped to Wyrd headquarters, then a world class painter (who do not come cheap) would have to complete the miniatures, then photographs of the painted miniatures would have to be incorporated into the box designs. Ultimately having painted miniatures on the boxes and in the book would slow down production immensely and increase the cost to the consumer. It would also hinder what and when they could put out new releases--any hiccups along the way at any step would cause for more backups. That being said, while I don't think they should have painted minis on their boxes or in their books, it would be nice to see painted miniatures showcased in their display at Gen Con. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 And holy crap that painting is fan-freaking-tastic. That's what you get when you hire Angel Giraldez! This is all old familiar ground to some of us, but basically it comes down to costs in time, money and resources (as Nathan himself said, there's never enough of all of those). Wyrd chose to use their resources elsewhere, rather than in getting stuff painted. They could change their minds on that if circumstances alter, but once they go down the road of anything being painted it's almost inevitable that people will expect all the boxes to have the painted versions. That's then a huge resource sink with a lot of variation - what if your painter breaks his thumb? What if it goes missing in the post? What if the first photos look rubbish? What If they don't lay out on the box nicely? And so on... So I guess the answer is - maybe, if Wyrd decide their resources are best spent there. But for now, probably not likely. They're using those resources for other things, and I bet that decision wasn't taken lightly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalkingInBlack Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 The artwork can also be misleading, The Kin - Ophelia Box Set is a good example, the Young Lacroix are much bigger then in the artwork and much to big for the rest of the Lacroix, I am wondering why they didn't make them smaller and save some plastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarlett fever Posted March 27, 2015 Report Share Posted March 27, 2015 I've recently moved cities and gave demo games at a local club. Whilst doing this we had the 2 large format Malifaux books sitting on a table next to us. I saw three people at different times come over, pick up one of the books, flick the pages very quickly from beginning to end, put the book down and walk away (well I caught one of them before he did but you get the idea). I think all of them were looking for the mini art. We had a good table and a few painted crews but this doesn't really give any sense of the scope Malifaux covers. At all. I'm already hooked on this game so I'm used to looking at the renders and going, yes/no, I'm getting that. But for outsiders I think this is new and when you're trying to explain the beauty and wide range of miniature options it doesn't really matter what you say without pictures. Pictures of miniatures are usually the first capture point for a tabletop game, outside of word-of-mouth. What I'm getting at is a book, or even pamphlet, showing the miniatures painited would be a boon for those of us trying to attract new blood. So much so I've thought of putting something together myself (though of course I'd first ask permission before I used anything that came from online). Just one little book, a novella, a wee pamphletta, pretty please. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Math Mathonwy Posted March 27, 2015 Report Share Posted March 27, 2015 This is true and something I have also noticed.Good post! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zFiend Posted March 27, 2015 Report Share Posted March 27, 2015 I completely agree. There is a huge meta building around infinity around here. We are doing our best to build a malifaux meta but it's been a struggle really. All that is known of Malifaux minis are scale issues and thousands of pieces. This is not a good thing. Infinity has beautifully painted minis shown all around. We are fighting against issues but nothing to show how beautiful the minis are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r4st4f4n Posted March 27, 2015 Report Share Posted March 27, 2015 Time to post this, I guesshttp://wyrd-games.net/community/topic/107568-malifaux-it%C3%A6-gallery-on-flickr/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadowdragon Posted March 28, 2015 Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 I have to admit, the first thing I look at when getting into a new game is all the nice official paintjobs on the company in question's web site. I can't think of a single other miniature company that doesn't have a gallery of officially painted miniatures. Wyrd can do something like Reaper has done, include both unpainted and painted pictures of all the miniatures. That way people wont be simply turned off by paintjobs they happen to not like. I just don't think artwork and renders are nearly good enough. Malifaux miniatures are on the more expensive side, so I imagine more than a few potential customers want to see the actual miniatures they'll be shelling out a fair amount of money for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guslado Posted March 28, 2015 Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 Official painted miniatures cost time and money, both of which get passed on to the consumer. The official concept artwork in conjunction with the renders does more than enough for me to showcase the models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admiralvorkraft Posted March 31, 2015 Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 Not sure if this is news or not, but the War Bunny has an official paint-job... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zFiend Posted March 31, 2015 Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 Not sure if this is news or not, but the War Bunny has an official paint-job... I noticed that too and it was a lot nicer to actually see the model painted than just a render. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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