To Hell With Sprues

So I got Shawdows of Brimstone for free (points from prior purchases)! It looks awesome actually, even though originally the theme didn't appeal to me once that box was open I was totally on board.

Unfortunately it comes with the mini's still in their sprues, several of the models are four or more pieces, one even reaching 14 pieces (and doesn't fit back in the damned box once it's done). Someone dropped the ball on this one.

I'm almost done, I hated every minute of it. I can't stand this part of the hobby and I also hate how delicate and brittle the plastic feels. This game would be better with slightly worse mini's that don't need assembly.

But at the same time I also bought Survive: Space Attack and was irritated for a totally different reason. The hexes all came pre-punched for me and already organized in the box. That's great for later on but despite my dislike of models and spures I don't actually mind punching some tokens while I peruse the rule book. I was genuinely irritated that I couldn't punch my hexes. But I suppose with all the different sizes it does make sense. I don't even know how that would work.

I guess the point is that I'm insufferable and can never be happy. Boo me.

Earlier this week I took a look at that new GW boardgame coming down the pipe and thought about how much I'd like to play it. Then I thought about those sprues, my hatred for that process, how angry I was at Space Hulk, Dreadfleet and now Shadows of Brimstone. No. I won't be buying GW's new game unless I can get it second hand already assembled. Fuck sprues.

Who wants some white whine, JJ is serving it up!

Seriously though, I am with you. Fuck a bunch of sprues. Not doing it anymore. It is actually keeping me disinterested in the 40k game. I'm gluing only two things together for this hobby- jack and shit.

Punch boards, yeah, I kinda want to do that too.

If I never, ever, ever punch another die cut punchboard piece, I will have lived a good life. FUCK THAT.

I'd rather cut sprues and build models all day long. I love the modeling part of the hobby.

SuperflyTNT wrote: If I never, ever, ever punch another die cut punchboard piece, I will have lived a good life. FUCK THAT.

I'd rather cut sprues and build models all day long. I love the modeling part of the hobby.

Well, you will not have a good life then I guess, because I suspect you will punch more cardboard before your days are done.

But here's the difference Pete.

Punching cardboard: 10-15 minutes and I can watch a movie or read rules at the same time.
Assembling models: hours and hours and nothing else can be done without losing something in the process.

But I've seen your work, you clearly do love assembling models. GW is the game company for you.

Well, I like assembling models, but once I'd already had 50ish Space Marines. I had to stop two full years before assembling another...

The SoB sprues are pretty nasty to work with, not fun like GW ones. You can fit the harbinger in the box (I am guessing you have Swamps) if you don't glue the wings on. Half of my SoB stuff is unpainted/unassembled, as I got so far as getting green stuff to fill all the egregious gaps and lost interest. I just use proxies right now.

I'm not a fan of the whole sprue / assembly process. I don't mind painting. I'm doing okay with assembling Deadzone (although I have no desire to touch the 5 sprues consisting entirely of zombies), but there are some models that I literally can't figure out. There is no guidance and often you can't even find a matching picture of the model. No labels, nothing. So I am left with a couple of models with no arms, a tiny bag of arms and heads, etc.

A game that would have plastic sprues probably isn't my thing anyway so I haven't encountered any of that but my gang refers to cardboard punch boards as sprues for fun. Let me tell you a recent story about those.

I backed Migration on KS. It's not a bad game, but it is 100% clear that this guy always made the "precious work of art" decision over the "actually functional" decision. (I'm sure it steams him crimson to know his beautiful bespoke box has a friggin obvious typo on it.) As a result, once the game is punched, it doesn't fit in the box anymore, even if you remove the insert. So this twee little book-looking box is bulging and has a rubber band around it to keep it shut, instead of the clever magnet.

What the creator has suggested, for serious, is, after you play the game, return the cardboard bits to the frames for storage. That way it will fit again.

How about that, Pete? You could get a game designed to be punched out each time you play it.

I think we've found the game for Frohike's Secret Santa, Dave!

JEM wrote: The SoB sprues are pretty nasty

At first I thought you were talking about Sisters of Battle.

Columbob wrote:

JEM wrote: The SoB sprues are pretty nasty

At first I thought you were talking about Sisters of Battle.

I believe for SoB it's blisters...

Sprues don't bother me THAT much. Now, painting on the other hand... my god, I think it's been at least 15 years since the last time i picked up a brush. Never again. All the miniatures in the world should be born prepainted as far as i'm concerned.

Another hobby of mine is building plastic models, so when things come on sprues it makes me happy. I wish the Arcadia Quest stuff came on sprues so it would have been easier to prime and paint the larger figs.

This

It's all true. All of it.