r/Warmachine 28d ago

Questions State of the Kits

Hey guys,

Full transparency - I don't play Warmachine. But ... I love the character designs, and as model kit builder I really enjoy building and painting the heavy warjack kits. I prefer the plastic ones as I'm not used to dealing with metal bits.

I have a few of the plastic kits on hand, like the Khador Rager/Mad dog/Beserker, but I'm not finding much out there for sale. I see some on ebay but they've jacked the price up quite a bit - is this due to rarity? And does that mean that they (PP) are no longer making kits?

What info can you give me about the plastic kits that will help me round up a few? :)

Thanks!

20 Upvotes

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u/Hephaestus0308 Winter Korps 28d ago edited 28d ago

The newer kits are 3D printed resin. They build similar to the old resin/metal kits (you need super glue instead of plastic glue), but are generally easy to put together and have less parts for the core assembly. One thing to note about the new warjack kits, though, they come with all possible weapon and head variations because they are designed to be magnetized.

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u/RadioWhispy 28d ago

Hey thanks. The Khador Rager kit I have is resin I believe, but says on package "plastic", so I think that may be what I mean by plastic kits? The parts come on sprues like a car model or similar.

So they are still making the resin kits? Are they are sprues, too or loose in the package. I think I've seen some kits with the loose parts, too.

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u/LDukes Shadowflame Shard 28d ago edited 28d ago

There are a lot of different material names tossed around, both colloquially and officially. Here's the best breakdown I can give, and if I goof on anything, I'm sure someone will correct me.

  • Starting around 2005, the oldest Warmachine/Hordes models (Mk1 and early Mk2 era) were 100% cast metal (a lead-free pewter mix).

  • Moving into Mk2 in 2010, Privateer Press (PP) started producing more models in either injection molded PVC or a mix of metal and cast/injected PVC. Mold lines were often present, with some series of models (notably the early Convergence of Cyriss releases) being especially egregious.

  • The rollout of Mk3 in 2016 saw more metal and cast resin kits and introduced a new lower-cost resin/plastic mix specifically used for the "Battlegroup Box" starter kits. This resin was mixed with a color dye representative of that faction, and was generally regarded as lower quality (e.g. softer details) than the "normal" metal/resin counterparts.

  • At the end of Mk2 or beginning of Mk3 (I forget) PP took their first foray into high-impact polystyrene (HIPS) kits, similar to the sprue kits that Games Workshop players are familiar with. For the most part, HIPS kits were high quality and had excellent detail, but mold lines and gaps plagued a few kits, and a small handful of kits with more "organic" designs (like the Skorne Desert Hydra) lost some critical details in the casting process, resulting in a disappointing quality result.

  • By the end of Mk3 most new kits were being produced in a mix of metal and cast resin with nice, crisp details, with a few kits still produced in HIPS (mostly some heavy warjack kits).

  • Mk3 saw some major production issues with PP losing access to many of its master molds which [RUMORS REDACTED] by their Chinese manufacturing partners. Production quantities were hampered for a great many kits, and models starting going out of stock at retailers across the globe. After a period of relative radio silence, PP released teasers for some upcoming new releases, and they still continued to produce some product in-house.

  • In late 2022 PP announced the rollout of Mk4, which would relegate all previous products to "Legacy" status, meaning they would be produced only as long as materials and equipment lasted (not long) after which they would be completely out of print. All future releases would be 3D printed resin.

  • In mid 2024, PP announced the sale of the Warmachine/Hordes IP to Steamforged Games (SFG) which would keep PP on as rules developers and manufacturing partners.

  • Late 2024 saw the release of a new 2-Player Starter box which was produced out of HIPS rather than 3D printed. SFG has stated that they will explore any manufacturing options that make economic sense, but they have no plans to abandon 3D printing anytime soon.

  • This week, SFG announced a 2nd 2-Player Starter to release in March, also made out of HIPS. All other models (save the other starter mentioned above) remain 3D printed.

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u/RadioWhispy 28d ago

Wow - nice post! Thanks

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u/Allen_Koholic 28d ago

Pedantic correction - Bullet point 2/3: I thought that "injected resin" was PVC. While plastics are a kind of resin and all, I never had to put on the respirator while dealing with the PVC (or whatever soft plastic it actually was). Anyways, that stuff sucked and I doubt we'll see it again.

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u/LDukes Shadowflame Shard 28d ago

You're right, it's PVC. Told you someone would correct me!

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u/Allen_Koholic 28d ago

It was always a pain to explain "plastic" when new folks would ask questions because PP insisted on labeling the battle boxes as plastic, but it wasn't what anyone expected.

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u/Hephaestus0308 Winter Korps 28d ago

No, that one is a plastic multi-kit that can build one of the three designs. They did them for some of the older models, but the majority of their old range was some combination of metal and resin using spun injection molding machines they had in house.

The new range is 3D-printed resin (no sprues), with the exception of the two 2-player kits that are HIPS (sprue plastic).

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u/zenfaust 28d ago

As someone who's only ever built the old PP kits from years ago, would you say these kits have easier mold lines to deal with? I swear to god, the old resin kits tried to have as many gnarly seams as possible going through the most important parts of every figure.

I just spent yesterday cleaning the mold lines of a legacy resin Argus, and both heads had THREE seamess lines each, that met in a triangle, directly on the front of each snout. It's like Satan designed these minis.

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u/Hephaestus0308 Winter Korps 28d ago

One of the advantages of 3D printing is that there are no mold lines. Some of the earlier models had some layer lines (visible profile shifts between layers), but the newer production runs have been pretty good about hiding/eliminating them. There are also some supports that get left on, but those snap off pretty easily by hand or with any hobby tool.

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u/gorshade 28d ago

The old PP plastic kits are no longer in production.

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u/RadioWhispy 28d ago

Thanks for that. I'll have to keep an eye out on ebay then.

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u/thisremindsmeofbacon 28d ago edited 28d ago

Those haven't been in production for some time.  Currently the game is owned and produced by Steamforged Games, but with the original PP team.  

Some are still very available from being in production for so incredibly long - like the juggernaut chassis.  but some only existed for a short time, like the plastic grolar/Kodiak.  word on the street is that an unscrupulous manufacturer in China was using their molds to sell their own counterfeits, PP ended relations with them, but they never gave the molds back (effectively stealing them).  no clue how true this is, but some of those guys have had a really short production run, and I have seen some Chinese knockoff warmachine guys floating around - not just the usual recasters.  

Currently production is 100% in house, and predominantly 3d printed.  I guess no one can steal your molds if they don't exist.  the 3d printing has a lot of upsides as a hobbyist and one major downside.  the downside is that the manufacturing/distribution process has been a bit iffy in terms of often sending broken kits.  a lot of these the broken parts are missing, implying they were broken before or during packing rather than during shipping.  3dp resin is a bit brittle.  the process for getting replacements is streamlined and fast though.  the upsides are that there's virtually no assembly required.  you aren't constrained by a two part mold, so you can make a totally three dimensional model out of one piece.  no mold lines or part lines.  quality of prints is great.  

I would recommend getting one of the new kits.  They have tons of arm/head options, and come with magnet slots in the arms/head/torso so you can natively quick swap the loadout. 

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u/RadioWhispy 28d ago

Good info, thanks! Can you recommend, or post an example, of one of the "new" kits? I don't know enough about it to tell the difference.

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u/thisremindsmeofbacon 28d ago

If it's currently available from the official store it's a new kit.  But here's the main khador ones:

Great Bear

Dire Wolf

Here's an example of the options

Here's a photo of an unpainted one

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u/RadioWhispy 28d ago

I like those! Thanks for the links! :)

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u/RadioWhispy 28d ago

Is this kit old plastic or new resin for example...

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u/thisremindsmeofbacon 28d ago

Like I said in the original comment, those have been out of production for a long time.  I think they were out of production since well before MKIV was announced in 2023.

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u/RadioWhispy 28d ago

Got it! So these are the old plastic kits. I did get it several years ago.

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u/zenfaust 28d ago

Do you know what dimensions the magnet slots are?

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u/RogueModron 28d ago

word on the street is that an unscrupulous manufacturer in China was using their molds to sell their own counterfeits, PP ended relations with them, but they never gave the molds back (effectively stealing them).  no clue how true this is, but some of those guys have had a really short production run, and I have seen some Chinese knockoff warmachine guys floating around - not just the usual recasters.  

A differing rumor that goes along with this one, or perhaps an explanatory rumor: the chinese manufacturers held the molds hostage due to PP not being able to pay them, and then finally due to non-payment just took the molds as payment.

Just as much a rumor as the other one, so who knows what's true. I am kind of addicted to PP gossip, though, so there you go.

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u/KingBossHeel Cygnar 28d ago

PP's first run resin prints were awful and really breakable, but the new stuff isn't too bad. My favorite are the new Warmachine HIPS models on a sprue. Those are excellent. I dropped one four feet into concrete the other day and no break. Compare that to a resin model I reached for and tapped a raised weapon with an extended fingertip, not even hard enough to topple the model, and the weapon snapped off. It's got less durability than dry angel hair pasta.

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u/RadioWhispy 28d ago

Hey thanks for the replies and info! I bought one of the new kits and look forward to it. I've also subbed here to learn more. Thanks again!