We are gathered here today to pay tribute to a fallen comrade… no, a fallen friend.

When I heard the news that Games Workshop were discontinuing their wildly popular Finecast material, I felt the icy cold stab of a dagger in my heart. We had been through a lot together, and so I deemed it necessary to honour my friend with this article.

When Finecast came along, it was a like a breath of fresh air. For too long we had been forced to deal with paint chips and difficult pinning procedures associated with metal miniatures. Finecast rode over the hill like a knight in shining armour, ready to provide us with a sturdy yet light material to cater to our wargaming needs.

When this heaven-forged resin descended onto the market, the world rejoiced as one. Never before had a new casting material been so widely accepted and adorned from the very start. Countless blogs praised the numerous innovations which we now take for granted.

FINECAST INNOVATIONS:

1) To allow these high quality models to fit snugly inside even smaller packs, thus cutting costs and ultimately saving the consumer money, Finecast was created with the brand new “Curved Casting” technology. All that was required to straighten the model was to place it in boiling water for a few seconds and then adjust to your desired position.

2) The unprecedented lightness of these miniatures was conjured by way of a revolutionary Swiss technique which involved the placement of dozens of tiny holes on the surface of the model. Not only did this reduce the weight due to the smaller amount of material, but the flow of air throughout the miniature allowed for drastically improved aerodynamics during play.

3) After being accused of moving away from the hobby aspect of wargaming, GW sought to put out the fires of discontent by producing a material that required some degree of sculpting ability. By leaving out chunks of the model with their “Easter Egg” process, they gently encouraged their customers to try their hand at re-sculpting the missing pieces, finally putting to bed any suggestion of them neglecting the modelling and converting side of wargaming.

4) Games Workshop have always been known for their outstanding safety record, and the development of Finecast was no exception. One of the many safety concerns they sought to address was that of WOS (Wargamer Overheating Syndrome), which is rumored to claim hundreds of lives every year. With this in mind, their unique resin was created with the “Canary” warning system. When exposed to temperatures that could prove harmful to wargamers, the Finecast material begins to break down and melt, providing a life-saving warning to its owner.

It was for these reasons that the public wholeheartedly accepted the inflated prices of Finecast miniatures, understanding that so much innovation packed into such a small package was surely worthy of their cash.

Sadly, after suffering a drop in profits, Games Workshop have been forced to cut out the more charitable elements of their production, including Finecast. They will now turn their attention to the more traditional plastic miniature lines, leaving behind what could’ve been the cornerstone of their already considerable legacy.

Finecast, we will never forget you. You will be forever in our hearts, and your dust will be forever in our lungs.

Farewell, my friend.

Images from Frontline Gamer, DakkaDakka, The Warhammer Forum and Games Workshop

FTN welcomes the Chilling Wargamers

Hey Everyone,

We have been introduced to lock heads with the mighty Following the Nerd and will be putting out reviews, battle reports and stuff all about wargaming.

The Chilling Wargamers started in January 2013 with an idea from myself to create a live weekly show to talk about everything wargaming . I teamed up with the Dutch man FearGFX as a co-host. From there we have people from all over the wargaming community to come on the show and talk about their chosen subject. We have Youtubers, Bloggers, Companies and just nice people joining us from our community. The show is hosted on Thursdays on the Chilling Wargamers YouTube channel.

Over the year we hired the chillers to come along and help us out over the shows. We have the comedy genius Andy2d6 bringing quick jokes and funny segments to the show. Carsten the Tighthead prop the weathering and history specialist. Moggy miniatures are the heros of the airbrush and painting skills. Death Bringa Cain from the 11th Legion a fellow blogger. Ryan from Roll Models brings his wargaming techniques to YouTube. We have Saper from the group Bastion that is the sneaky ninja that brings the new releases and rumours to the show. That is a list of the full time chillers, we have other people that contribute to the show when they have free time.

Hope to see you all on Thursday evenings. The times and links are always shown on our Facebook we look forward to seeing you all.

Peac,

Spud & The Chillers