32mm vs 28mm bloodbowl miniatures/pitches

[gallahbrains]

I was just browsing the "Show us Yer Teams" thread and it was really nice to see so many of the old miniatures. Personally I really prefer the old school, hand-sculpted 28mm miniatures than those gigantic plastic ones that are being peddled now.

However, I've also noticed that a lot of independent miniature manufacturers are falling in line behind Games Workshop and are now also making everything in 32mm. I think that's a big shame.

I've heard some people comment that they like them because they have "so much more detail" and are "easier to paint". I don't know about that. In my painting world, those two things are mutually exclusive. And just being "bigger" might make it easier to paint at a real beginner level without splashing paint all over the place, but it won't make it easier to paint to any decent standard. You could make them life-size and they wouldn't get any "easier to paint". Just bigger. Because the skill in miniature painting is much more knowing how and where to highlight/shade, how to use colours for effect, etc. rather than just "having a really steady hand that can paint tiny faces".

It's also a bit of a slap in the face from GW to all the people who kept BloodBowl alive after they abandoned it. "Okay we're going to take this over again ... and btw ... all your stuff that you kept and created keeping this game alive ... that is now obsolete". Or maybe not quite I guess, as smaller miniatures can still play on a bigger pitch against bigger opposition. But I imagine it would be off putting or even confusing when the scale of two different teams is off. And those beautiful home-made pitches and stadiums I've seen online are going to be hard to play on with 32mm models.

Not only that, but the game would now take up even more space. It took up too much space to being with!

None of these things are necessary. It's really annoying that they've gone with that big scale and that everyone else is falling in line behind them. At least it is to me, personally.

Sorry for the mini rant there. I don't play much live - actually I don't play much at all, I mainly just paint and collect the old school teams. So I don't get to hear other people's opinions on this much, and am curious if it's an issue in the community, or am I by myself on this?

[Fold]

The disparity in team sizes is not an issue at all. Manufacturers have been making larger scale teams long before GW got back into the game. People have also been kitbashing teams from modern GW warhammer plastics for ages, which also tend to be bigger than old school BB minis. So, model size discrepancy has been a thing for a long time, and if it was ever an annoyance I’m certainly used to it now.

I know the pitch size is a problem for some venues. I prefer the more expansive play area personally, I just wish that the pitch markings were easier to see!

[gallahbrains]

Yeah fair enough. I can only imagine, but I think a bigger pitch would be nicer to play on, if you have the space. But the models and model bases being bigger to match kind of negates that advantage some. Maybe the bigger pitch with the old scale models would be best?

As far as the size discrepancy goes ... I dunno. Maybe I'm just sensitive to these things but to me a human lineman from the newest range looks almost like an Ogre from 2nd edition.

[Regash]

Yeah, for some size matters!
I have no problem with differntly scaled teams on the same pitch as long as a team in itself is consistent.
I'd have no problem playing old GW halflings VS new GW Orcs.
But if they used an underscaled model for the teams troll, that would actually bother me, tbh.

[gallahbrains]

Funny you mention the old GW hobbits ... I'm just painting up a team right now. No doubt they're bound to be pulverized on the field.

But yeah, these guys can definitely make the transition to the 32mm scale. They were far too big for the old 28mm scale. They look more like chunky dwarves without beards.

[gallahbrains]

I heard a few people talking about how difficult the Orcs are to distinguish in with the new blood bowl models ... what about the humans?

I was just looking at the team I bought (out of curiosity, some time back) and I couldn't for the life of me pick out who are supposed to be the blitzers. In fact, I had a guess and realized I'd got it wrong! (it tells you who is who on the back of the pack). There is literally no difference in them!

I'm just not a fan of these models at all. I think the other teams all look pretty bad too. Over-stylized, over-armoured, not individual enough for their player-types, all the sculpts are trying to be way too "dynamic" and the models just way too large.

Damn I wish either GW just stuck with the 28mm models, or everyone else did and forced them to go back.

See if you can figure it out if you don't know...

[Fassbinder75]

I used to swear by the old lead, I have almost all the 2nd Edition miniatures. Metal's advantages are durability, heft and that they can be stripped of paint more or less indefinitely.

Plastic beats metal on detail, conversion, assembly, paint adherence and they don't chip or break as easily when they're dropped (mass). GW's manufacturing techniques are far more advanced than they were back in the late 80's. There's such a huge range of bits that you can kit bash pretty much anything. It's far harder to do this with metal.

I like the scale generally as well, some of the european sculptors had been moving towards it even before GW rebooted the game. The positionals I'll take your point on, I don't really like the Human team either. I'm more bothered by the count of positionals for both sides due to the sprue design.

But since you don't even really play - isn't this just confected outrage mixed with nostalgia?

[Regash]

I heard a few people talking about how difficult the Orcs are to distinguish in with the new blood bowl models ... what about the humans?

I wholeheartdly and 100 % agree. The new models are very hard to distinguish, not only humans and orcs. (Aside from the troll being the ugliest miniature ever!)

But the thing is, I actually like the fact that they are bigger (That, at least, suits the orcs very well!) and more detailed which, I think, is not an accomplishment of size but new technologies in designing and casting miniatures.

I used to swear by the old lead, I have almost all the 2nd Edition miniatures. Metal's advantages are durability, heft and that they can be stripped of paint more or less indefinitely.
Plastic beats metal on detail, conversion, assembly, paint adherence and they don't chip or break as easily when they're dropped (mass). GW's manufacturing techniques are far more advanced than they were back in the late 80's. There's such a huge range of bits that you can kit bash pretty much anything. It's far harder to do this with metal.

First of all, kitbashing and conversion is the reason why I always prefered plastic. Is there anything better than meeting an opponent with completely self buildt minis, where the team is a work of art and imagination rather than the one-of-a-million from the pack, which only differ in colors and painting style and skills?

Btw, I made very good experiences stripping plastic miniatures by using pure alcohol to soak them in and remove paint with an old toothbrush. Sure, just dropping them in acetone and watch the paint dissolve is by far more convenient, but I never really minded the bit of elbow grease you had to invest for all the benefits of plastic minis.
And, at least in Germany, pure alcohol can be bought incredibly cheap in large amounts (about 12 € per 5 litre iirc) as two different types of alcohol are sold over here: Alcohol that is supposed to be drunk, which is expensive and alcohol that is supposed to be used for cleaning and has a chemical in it, that makes it taste nauseating.

But, back to topic, the most uncomfortable part of the so called scale creep by GW is the actual bigger pitch which needs more table space.
And, tbh, everything GW releases for our favorite sport seems to be changed for the sake of changes and sales, not to improve the game. (My opinion!)

[jmw23]

Interesting discussion. Scale is a big deal to me when playing most mini games. For some reason I don’t care as much about scale in Blood Bowl. Maybe it’s because BB is really more of a board game than a minis game compete with terrain? In any case, get used to this. GW did it with Blood Bowl. They did it with Epic. Necromunda. 40K’s enlarged marines are no coincidence. It’s a calculated strategy to obsolete old models and prevent loss of sales to used models on eBay.

[Regash]

It’s a calculated strategy to obsolete old models and prevent loss of sales to used models on eBay.

Interestimg question:
Would GW then get even bigger minis in a while or return to 28 mm scale to do this trick again?
If doing the first, how long before we all play lifesized Blood Bowl in real stadiums?

[Skitters]

Well they've teamed up with Bandai for the 7" space marine action figure...

[PercyTheTroll]

Since getting back into tabletop in 2016 I've collected a mix of 2nd edition minis and the new plastics and stuff from other manufacturers. I have had 1 scale problem in all that time when I realised my 2nd ed ogre was the same height as a human lineman. I put everything on 30mm bases so I can fit the old board as well as the new.

As soon as people were frequently using 3rd party stuff there were scale variations but, as it doesn't affect the game it doesn't matter. I'd say quality of a paint job is going to be a more obvious variation between teams than scale.