Yep guys, there's actually a good reason they are releasing these in a tournament pack, so potentially lots of people can check them. Wait to see what happens in person. Personally - I like working with metal and it is unlikely that this new plastic will become my new favourite material, but it might as well turn out to be better than siocast. Also, the mold lines on that image are not much of an issue if they are easy to remove. We've seen such lines on metal. Heck I just cleaned such lines on Zoe. The major issues are those that a file cannot fix, like the way siocast sometimes mangles up the hexagonal patterns.
One doesn't need to wait to see minis made out of PVC to not be surprised with the fact that they have issues and clean up like minis made out of PVC. It's not rocket science, please keep up. :D The dominant customer feedback has so far been "do everything in metal, stop experimenting with substandard materials", the quality of non-metal minis is drastically lower than the metal ones and the "best possible" turned out to be "worse minis for same amount or more money". Truly, a great development :D
I’ve never been satisfied with PVC models from a quality perspective. I picked up some Battletech mechs recently, and I find cleaning them to be very frustrating. Once people get the ITS 14 packs in a month or two, we’ll have a very good sense of what the quality is like.
@Koni I would also appreciate some specificity regarding the exact type of polymer that is being used. My own reading of the supplier website is that they supply products in resin or PVC, but I don't see any mention of a mixture between the two. There are a number of PVC alloys in the market, but these are all thermoplastic compounds, while most "resins" people are familiar with are thermoset. If you can clarify whether these new models are manufactured with low pressure or high pressure molding that would help clarify a little. On a personal note, I try to avoid purchasing products containing PVC, due to the health effects and hazards related to manufacturing vinyl chloride precursors - see the recent train fire in Ohio.
The tournament pack doesn't reach everybody. I think a better trial balloon would be a cheap HVT that everyone can add to their mail orders - no loss if it's not great, and HVTs are always useful if it is. Perhaps throw in a painting competition to ensure everyone paints them up and post their paintjobs too.
To be honest... I never understood that 'metal fetish' from many Infinity players. I love my old metal Wood Elves and Infinity miniatures too, but I wouldn't mind if they would be plastic. I truly believe that CB will try to deliver the best product possible to its customers. And I would really appreciate good plastic miniatures as long as I can strip the color by using sterilium without harming the miniature. That is all I want.
Sinocast is not the worst Material I can handle it. "Plastic Resin" aka PVC is junk, I really hate this material. PVC Minis are good for Board Games but never vor a Miniature game. Oh never leave a PVC Mini in your car on a summer day in Spain
I welcome plastic and resin models. Metal is too prone to chipping. But thankfully, CB seem to go the diversity route.... There will be metal/resin and plastic. Everyone will be happy ;-)
You miss the Point there are no Plastic nor Resin miniatures. Hips or Resin would be great. Maybe Hips Terrain in the Future (that would be a Kickstarter I can spend a lot) There will be so call Plastic Resin (one material) aka Restic aka PVC aka the most hated material in tabletop by far (even Finecast was better than PVC)
For me it's very simple - I can be slow and precise when working with metal miniatures. It will not get damaged by the wrong glue or a single hand slip. Can be easily reglued or stripped if need be. Will not get damaged by summer heat. Plastics are not so forgiving. I do not claim that I will never buy plastic, but so far siocast hasn't really convinced me. And I expected myself to be convinced in several months. This said - I'd never want a metal stoorworm. That thing will be able to kill someone. The limit of metal is somewhere around Maggie. I'd love to see CB produce bigger centerpiece models like the TAG raid beasts in high quality plastic and leave everything TAG-sized or less metal. Whether this is profitable market-wise - I don't know. Just my 2 cents on how I'd be most happy to spend my money on CB products.
I have minis made in this material from Eldfall Chronicles kickstarter. They are A LOT better than siocast. Really easy to work with. Mold lines cleanig is really fast, you can just scrape it with hobby knife, maybe a little sanding. Its not crappy boardgame stuff...
Locally, we actually stopped buying the ITS packs as they stopped delivering the contents for the price and we've never bought the special editions at all. In my experience it's mostly private persons who want some specific mini are the ones buying them. I've never played other wargames, but metal minis that I can actually feel in my hand were one of the main reasons I've picked up Infinity. I bought Vostok and was disappointed, with weight, with quality and the way diamond files were messing the whole thing up. Metal takes all these things well, and I'm not sure if I the thermoplastics price (Marut is half the price of Szally for example) was worth the tradeoff. I agree that we should get the material in hand first, but I haven't seen anything getting close to what CB's metal has to offer. Also all the plastic minis cannot handle my hobby knife skills. I can accidentally cut to deep into the material when cutting off a mold line and metal minis do not allow that. They are just easier to work with for me when I use mostly clippers and files.
I am not missing the point...You are missing my point, and that is fair enough. CB is diversifying their sourced material for casting. Call it however you want, they have plastic, and resin like material. Siocast behaved more like a resin, a soft one, and Aristeia is plastic. The new plastic material seems like a great addition. They aren't going polystyrene, they have never communicated that they would. Cost? maybe... I do not know. My point was, that they are providing a wide range a material. Currently the majority remains metal for Infinity, with a few models in Siocast and some upcoming plastic ones. I think it is great. I have always advocate for a more accessible medium. I wish more younger/new players could join the hobby. Metal can be daunting. I can take the example of my son. He loves the Infinity models.... but the metal is a big no no for him. So he falls back on Warhammer, and other plastic (hips or not) games. Embrace the change, don't fight it ;-)
After the fiasco with my morat tag i'll take anything else... would pay extra to keep them metal.... but anything that wont instantly frature will be apreciated...
@Shyvax: First Aristea is PVC not Plastic. Yes PVC is an synthetic material but in the Tabletop Hobby Plastic solitary means HIPS so PP and PE materials. So for there are no plastic miniatures from CB so far. And HIPS on a Quality Level like Tacom oder Meng is a great material. But the tooling for the harded steel mould is very expensiv so only GW use this on large Scale (making it completly in house). As Corvus Belli have an estimate Income Lower than 20Mio € / Year GW is more than 10 Times bigger. PVC uses brass moulds this by far cheaper and the tooling is quite inexpensive. It comes with a lot down sites and I really hope they never go the PVC way. For some Single Minis or Board Games that I never try to paint or so I can go for it but if the range witches to PVC they should do a longer talk with warma players ...
I like the idea of trying out new material in like ITS packs, doesnt commit to a general release and allows materials to be evaluated by loyal players.
Archon Studio's does AMA's on Youtube, and the guy is pretty open about all sorts of topics related to minis and their making. He was discussing the hazards of PVC in one episode, and basically the reason China does it cheapest is simply due to not having to worry about the envionmental protections required in USA/ EU. It also seems like CB is mostly a production/design house, and outsourcing too much of the production leads to issues. The advantage of Siocast was that they were still doing their stuff. Having this other product that is made in China means we might never get an accurate production schedule again...
Yeah, getting hold of models for star wars legion was a pita for this very reason, waiting on print runs to be done and then make their way from the other side of the planet in a slow boat. Not ideal.
