NovemberIX

True, the AoBR and the Combi-Grav Captains are pretty much the same pose. Broadly a copy paste job, though at least the details are different. Which in a way brings me to my point, one of the things I'm disappointed by is the the skull knees and the beakie helms, in the old release both details were different between the two models they were on each. In the new they're just copy and paste jobs, and the beakie helm has already been confused for a Raven Guard one I can understand standardization, but these aren't line troops, they're supposed to be these otherworldly one off guys.

At the risk of sounding like a hypocrite in two different threads, on the one hand I think that the design and scaling of the LoTD base armor and some of the details are good, especially compared to the aesthetics of primaris, but the truth is they fall far short of the older Resin/Metal models. There's that old standby of they lack soul, but it's deeper than that. You can see the short cuts, the mirrored posing, the repetition of elements. Still though, it's leagues better than the most recent terminator chaplain, that thing is such a dud compared to the old ones. I admit to preferring painted/embossed/engraved flames of the old kit to the new 3d "real" flames, but like I said in the other thread, I do see it as a plus for tabletop readability, and a trade of character as opposed to a loss.

Off the top of my head I'm glad LoTD getting made, they compare well to the old Finecast/metal minis Armor itself looks good, if they just would have done that from the get go.... Helmets are nice though I woulda liked a few more variations I do prefer the painted flames look over the 3d ones, but I get it, and it works better from a distinct unit shape on the table perspective I am cautiously optimistic about future Firstborn units.

Glue is for weaklings, Blu-tack holds all.

The homogeneity of marines, every army looks the same, all using the same few kits, with the same loadouts, and in the same few poses. No one does a DIY anymore because the game has no soul for it. I don't even need to get into how 11th plays, because for all it's faults, I'd rather play 5th, Ward and all.

Ya know, I've had them so long I don't fully remember, it was between 11 and 14 years ago? I think the last dice run was back in 2020, but I know I didn't order then.

There's only one faction worth repping and that's the B&C That said, I do mostly use my blue and yellow B&C dice in game, the admech dice is mostly for wounds and all the rest are for moral support

It's been a while since I've been in a GW that had people in it, so I start to wonder, who is GW's target market now? I don't think it's little timmy or tammy or their parents anymore, and far as I can tell it's not the old grodnards who are the one's complaining most about how prices used to be. I mean I know people are buying all this stuff, GW wouldn't have record profits otherwise. I just wonder what their target demographic is and how they plan on keeping it, because yeah these price rises are regular and inevitable but no one likes it (except for the shareholders).

I kinda feel at this point like Antarius has said, some of us are starting to take extreme sides (though his highlighting technique may be the most extreme of all). I've said it before, AI/LLM doesn't have a place for creating discussion or as part of hobby challenges, but that's the line for me. If you want to use an AI to give you a color palette as opposed to web searching for one I don't think that's a morally or creatively bankrupt act, it's just using a tool. But if you turn around and try to generate a post, IA, or article that's what crosses the line. More to the point, even if you start something from AI and iterate from there, that's the creative process that's worth talking about as long as the final product is made by human hands. I do think there can be use cases for image generation (separate of all the issues that entails) in the case of trying something far outside of your skill set. By trade I do automotive graphics, and my general art skills are serviceable but very specialized toward what I do for work. So when I wanted Rococo style portraits for my Index Quistoris I had two real options, either commission someone or go to an image generator. In an ideal world I would commission someone and time and money wouldn't be an issue, but this is the real world, and both would have prevented that. Thus did I generate the portraits? I'll admit I tried, but I didn't like the initial results so I instead decided one of these days I'll just 3d print some bodies and appropriate heads and moved on. Had they worked there might have been a few extra images in my Index, but nothing that would be the centerpiece of what I was working on. So am I pro-AI? NOPE. Again, I think there should be a complete moratorium on LLM generated content on this forum simply from the fact that we're a place for discussion and we already have a problem with some folks posting just to see their post number go up without adding anything substantial to the conversation, letting folks just generate a post, or an index is a quick way to kill any interest in interaction.

I think you have a valid point, but I am gonna slightly disagree with you as well. We're discussing about using LLMs as part of posts on this forum, not weather or not your use of it is valid. My opinion in your use case is that is exactly what some of us don't want to see on the forum. I'll be the first to admit I am a crap writer, but I've also participated in two Iron Gauntlets where some of the challenges include writing a 3500 hundred word index article, another 3500 word piece of fiction, and writing and illustrating a battle report. If someone came in and used LLM in that challenge, are they really participating? I'd argue not, and it's use would fundamentally cheapen the challenge. This forum is here for us to show our works, and offloading that work to a computer is sort of antithetical to that. I won't argue if you want to use it in your blog or personal DIY thread, but as I said before, it's uses should be only as a technical tool, not a creative partner.

While I do believe AI/LLMs can be a tool of some use, I do believe there should be an outright moratorium on using it on the forum outside of minor use cases (e.g. changing the background of a photo). As stated, we are here to engage in discourse and to display our creative endeavours, AI/LLMs cheapen that by removing the effort it takes to be a good member of the forum.

It's one of those things where I see ways GW could monetize home 3d printing but wouldn't until they're forced to. I'm sure if we breakdown their profits, the majority comes from the high margin plastic. They're not gonna want to cut off their nose no matter how much it could improve end user experience. But, If they get forced into it, I can see it being a very vertically integrated siloed experience. You'd probably rent some sort of limited proprietary format STL license that can only be used with an online membership supported GW Slicer that will only send to a GW printer (available in Single Character sized, Vehicle sized, and Center Piece sized) that uses GW resin. If there are somehow downloadable STL's, they will probably only come pre-supported so you can't digital kitbash. Then in about 3 weeks someone will come up with a converter and the cat'll be outta the bag. If they do decide to do something customer-centric, I could see something more like a video game character builder where you have a choice of parts and poses to build out your custom characters and send that to a program that'll convert it to a 3d STL model. Maybe use a sales model that sells individual parts and pieces for unlock and use so you can mix and match to your hearts content for both game legal, and display only models.

One of the best things about a DIY force is that you're not really bound to any specific codex or construct unless you want to be. I've played my guys as Imperial Fists, Firehawks, Raven Guard, and Iron Hands, but I'm more of a collector so I've got a wide variety of units just because. If there is two pieces of advice I would give someone starting a new DIY it's that you don't have to tie yourself down to a primarch just yet, and not everything has to be justified. It's 40K, we've forgotten more than we'll ever learn. My opinion is that finding out what your thing/theme is, then you can back trace their history and inception if it's important for their story. Speaking of stories, the Liber is the subforum to have a look at, Brother Tyler has a pinned post about DIY resources including templates and guides. Further, the Liber is the home to Index Astartes articles (about our DIY creations) and the occasional Iron Gauntlet challenge (a difficult year long challenge center around creating a DIY force).

Castaferrum Dreadnoughts, big stompy boxes of death, but the real fun part was the modularity. If there was a marine weapon system, then it could be fitted to a dreadnought, classics like Melta, Lascanons, and Missiles along with all the rest of the Mortis options, and then there were the melee options, Seismic Hammers, Siege Drills, chainfist, multiple-Power Fists and Claws. And then there were the accessories. Want HK missles? Stick em on. Frag launchers go! Magna Grapple to grab onto enemy units, yesssss. Plus the varieties of armour plates, all the options that venerable and furioso kits had, the Ironclad with it's frag launcher options, and of course the ever-green look of the Casket. Then there's the Chaplain Dread and the old MkIV kits. For me, nothing else quite had the appeal of a Castaferrum.

Unfortunate news, his style was iconic, and 40K wouldn't be what it is today without his contributions. It is a loss of great magnitude.