Has anyone bought any WM straight from GW recently?

[Stormwind]

All the auctions I see online and all the paint logs I see seem to be people digging out Warmaster from when it was still in stores.

When I joined SGF, people said that the molds were falling apart and you could see that in the reduced quality of newer products if you bought direct.

I'd be really interested if people could prove or disprove that from personal experience or with photos - does anyone here have any WM they've bought direct from GW?  I'd like to know if it's more trouble than its worth, considering how bad my rhino chassis models were for Epic when I bought them last year.

[Jhaelrnya]

Yup! I buy almost all of mine direct from GW, with the exception of old stuff I get from friends. I recently bought a couple packs of Wolf Chariots (need the wolves for my Space Wolf Epic army), Manticores and bolt throwers for my Dark Elves and a few other odds and ends. I've had no complaints!

[Stormwind]

I recently bought a couple packs of Wolf Chariots (need the wolves for my Space Wolf Epic army)

I had to re read that sentence a few times cos of how awesome it is!  Any pics to share?

[calmacil]

Yes i bought all my 3k army of WM Dark Elves from GW, and 2 units of night goblins and 2 units of trolls.

Most of the castings were spot on, good as new. I know the guy that cast them up, he wasn't happy with me for ordering them hehe

Only problem i had were a few of the lances on the Cold One riders were bent over and weak. Some snapped in my hand as i tried to straighten them, and also some very minor mistcasts on Cold Ones as well. But not mould lines from burnt out moulds, it was things like the champions sword not formed, and a Cold Ones leg not fully formed. You can get all those from brand new moulds.

[Stormwind]

Yes i bought all my 3k army of WM Dark Elves from GW, and 2 units of night goblins and 2 units of trolls.

Most of the castings were spot on, good as new. I know the guy that cast them up, he wasn't happy with me for ordering them hehe

Only problem i had were a few of the lances on the Cold One riders were bent over and weak. Some snapped in my hand as i tried to straighten them, and also some very minor mistcasts on Cold Ones as well. But not mould lines from burnt out moulds, it was things like the champions sword not formed, and a Cold Ones leg not fully formed. You can get all those from brand new moulds.

I thought that GW's operation was so big - the chances of knowing the individual caster for an order would be very small! =-O

That's a shame - I'm having hell trying to mend broken HE spears and I know the feeling.  Tried fixing a swordmaster tip with green stuff and fingers crossed it's holding for now.  the only army I have my eye on to buy at full RRP are the skaven - which look beautiful.

[Jhaelrnya]

I recently bought a couple packs of Wolf Chariots (need the wolves for my Space Wolf Epic army)

I had to re read that sentence a few times cos of how awesome it is!  Any pics to share?

Not yet - still working on the conversion to turn them into Thunderwolf Cav. Although they are about the same size as Marines bikes, so they work well on my command stand already as Fenrisian Wolves. I'll post them when I get them painted.

[calmacil]

That's a shame - I'm having hell trying to mend broken HE spears and I know the feeling.  Tried fixing a swordmaster tip with green stuff and fingers crossed it's holding for now.

I didn't bother fixing any of my figures with greenstuff (too fiddly) I gave them back, they were great about it and recast the figures. I was very pleased with their service, that's probably the main advantage buying it from them.

[pw]

My recent purchases have all been fine (Ogres, Kislev Horse Archers). I also had a miscast Ogre (missing some of a limb but this wasn't the mould being old, just a lack of metal) which I returned for a properly formed one.

[jchaos79]

Araby stuff, dwarf stuff and orc n goblin staff bought directly to GW was Ok. A lot of thin flash but not loss of detail.

[pw]

On a related note, when the Knights Panther became available on the UK site (for about a month about a year or so ago) the two packs I bought were absolutely fine so those moulds weren't destroyed or damaged at that point (the figures were newly cast and came in the new white MO blister packs).

[Spectrar Ghost]

The Skaven I got a few months ago (Rat Swarms, Clanrats, Rat Ogres, and Jezzails) was just fine too.

Edit: Actually I had a Rat Ogre bust off at the ankles, but I don't think that was a mold problem, just a hazard of the scale. I can't remember if it happened in the blister or when I was seperating hte ROs from the strip.

[BlackEd]

So all this talk of bad molds is nonsense.

I bought some Empire Mortars, some cavalry for Vampire Counts, and Grave Guard for VC.  I'm getting ready to buy some new Lizardmen blisters.  (As soon as I sell the extra house.)

[Spectrar Ghost]

I don't know if 'nonsense' is the right term. Given what the turnover on WM must be, I bet there's a temptation to use the molds beyond their expected lifespan. Combined with the reports that WM figs are harder on the molds than other metal products due to the small and irregularly shaped cavities, I expect that at least a few people have gotten nasty casts. The good news is that the molds do have a finite lifespan, and that eventually the bad molds need to be replaced.

[David Wasilewski]

I've bought large (4K +) sized armies of both Araby and Skaven off GW direct in the last 3 years and have had no problems with the moulding. I've just ordered 24 packs of various Brettonian models direct off them and they should be arriving Friday/Saturday ish. I'll let you know if there's any problems.

I would have thought that if any moulds were going to go it would be the older and more popular ranges like High Elves and Empire. All the minis of those I've got were bought direct a looong time ago or from evil bay so I can't comment on those.

Personally, I'm just trying to stock up on everything I think I'll ever need so when the range does go pop I won't really care.
I'm very nearly there now......

Dave

[amnar]

I have used GW directly for Araby and Chaos, no real issues beyond a bit of flash.