Alternative LotR figures

When Elrond gives you the facepalm you know things have gone off the rails!

Well the new The Hobbit releases from Games Workshop are to date, pretty hit and miss. The game somehow survived limping along with a diehard fan base long enough to secure the new license for the new Hobbit films and we got some new Army books and a good new rule set in the last 2 years.

The host of new models on the other hand and the starter set have been average to disappointing in my opinion. The killer sculpts of the Perry Brothers are sorely missed in conjunction with the inevitable lack of quality that is going to occur with going all plastic and what will, in the end be responsible for Games Workshop eventual demise if they dont change it, their Finecast line.

I'm not sure what exactly is going on in the GW studio these days and who is even doing the sculpting as I cannot find credits given like they used to be. I am well aware they are limited creatively by the imagery of the films that New Line is providing, but it all just seems kind of half assed...while some of the new sculpts of classic characters are indeed great, much of the stuff is not. The new dwarves are entirely unappealing and "undwarf"  like, No Azog figure, but some other guy we havent seen yet who kind of looks like him, wearing some armor straight out of Dune and then Blog looking like the main zombie from the "Cabin in the woods".Most disappointing are the new Men of Dale that I had such high hopes for, looking like an ostentatious line of Mongols or Huns instead of the tight Nordic looking men they should.

Again this falls back on what the hell happened with Jackson production team. That got everything right for the first three films imagery and vibe wise and everything seems so wrong with "The Hobbit" as far its inclusion of anything new. Everything from the dwarves, the Sci fi- ish look of Erebor to Laketown looking like its doubling as set in the Game of Thrones TV series..(Pentos or whatnot) I dont know what the hell is going on there, bit obviously this is trickling down to the Games Workshop line.

Adding insult to injury , all the best GW new models are done in flipping Finecast, other wise known as Failcast or Finecrap depending on your view point. Horribly overpriced resin thats often deformed, or miscast for 5 times the price of what could be a near flawless metal figure. Granted I am aware that finecast quality has improved but that doesnt change the price, the odds of still getting a bad one and do I really want to pay 20+ dollars for a single figure I have to worry about breaking, cleaning, blowing away indoors because its basically weightless...hell no. No sculpt is worth the grief of the worst idea Games Workshop ever had.

I'm painting a pretty grim picture, I love Lord of the Rings and collect all kinds of models...I have a great collection of Citadel figures from its best days in the mid 1980's. But fear not they're other great sculpts out there from other manufactures and they're metal!  I'd like to mention two I have been eyeing for awhile now. First up is Mithril Miniatures. I have known about these guys for a long long time and they've been around a long long time..I had always assumed they were out of scale with Games Workshops figure but with GW's scale creep leaving them all over the map...compare the plastic men of gondor box to the Rangers box if you want a laugh.  Scale Creep over the years at Mithril as well currently gives us alot of options

One of the many amazing Dioramas Mithril sells, this is collectors stuff and its not cheap, but unlike Games Workshop here it appears you do get what you pay for.

Mithril sculpts and imagery are pre movies so there is alot of fantastic sculpts in a very classic sense and certainly things that would go brilliantly with your GW models if you choose correctly.
Mithril has a huge line going back decades so you need to sort thru it all but I have found great stuff I am picking up I will show you soon. Figures are priced based on rarity or series over there,  classic standard figs are around $6.50 a piece...again much cheaper than a standard hero model at GW in Finecast is $15..Mithril Aniversary series figs are around $27...but for that you get a killer metal figure that, get this.. is delivered factory cleaned and primed...all for slighty more than rolling the dice on the Finecast crap shoot.  Mithril is a collectors line, I'm a collector, but most certainly we will see soon how they translate to gaming.

Men of Dale?? Not a chance  Attilla the Hun's elite guard...Sure!

 Second up is Tom Meier's Thunderbolt Mountain.  Tom is a legend in the miniature sculpting business a was founder at Ral Partha back in the day. I have admired his Athurian line in true 25mm scale for sometime, but just recently I caught wind of his 30mm line of Elves, Men and Goblins and was blown away. The Tolkien motif is strong in these figures . The immediately struck me as timed with the current re popularity of Middle Earth. To me these figures look like jumped right out of book as I envisioned them as a boy.  great prices too...I can by 10 crappy plastic Men of Dale from Games Workshop for $35 or 20 metal killer metal sculpts from Tom Meier for $50..its not even a contest.

Or Men of Dale?? Hell yes....

You want to do a Battle of the Five Armies game you want your Goblins to look like this!

Cool Troll too.

In closing, I'm glad to see some new horizons opening up for potential LotR gaming.  I still want to run my huge Battle of the 5 Armies games at some point...now I can see finding the proper figures to do in the style it should, I will get my Laketown Army, just not from Games Workshop. With Games Workshop shuttling all its Battle Bunkers in the USA 2013 (sans memphis?)  and ties to tournament support will have sighed their last gasp. "GW only" model policy is going to be a thing of the past sooner than later in organized gaming, I for one am glad to see the hobby become "the hobby" without the brand ID being such a requirement.

Games Workshop- blowing up the Hobbit!

With less than 24 hours until biggest release of any Lord of the Rings materials since the last update of the source books, Is it really a surprise that Games Workshop is doing everything in their power to piss off and alienate the current die hard fans of the game.????

While there are certainly many of you who put up with Games Workshop shenanigans that only survive the free market due to their niche dominance and because of your love for their IP.  The diehard LotR fans dont have that obligation, as LotR is not their IP, we just love the models and put up with the rest of crap. I mean crap like zero event support or kicking all the hard working Indy TO's in nutz by completely blowing off this years U.S Throne of Skulls and of course the total employee apathy for the game ("too excited about 40K dude!!!") but I didn't really expect this one.

Last night over at the revamped Last Alliance, a fellow from Belgium got  his hands on the starter set and big rule book a bit early and let the cat the cat out of the bag, The mini manual in the starter set doesn't contain the stat profiles or point costs of the new models. The starter set scenario booklet contains the profiles but not the points. In short if you bought the starter set thinking you were getting the new rules. Think again laddie, its GW 2012!!!  you still have to buy the $85 USD big rule book if you want the full package, so the initial buy on the base new models in the US is $210 plus local tax!

Now some of you are saying, "hold on there John-boy" 40K and WFB starters never come with stat profiles you need to buy the army books!. Well sure!- except there is no army book, and while a $25 Unexpected Journey Sourcebook, would have been the right thing to do here, especially for veteran customers, instead you are now expected to buy the expensive big book, and the best part is they dont tell you that until you open the starter box! So if it wasn't for "whistleblowers" letting us know  in advance you are buying the starter set thinking you're getting something you are not. (Based on many years of the previous the LotR Releases that had included this info in both books)

Would knowing this in advance changed my pre orders?? I am not sure, it most certainly would have made me think about it, While I dont need the new profiles, I am not planning on playing any new lists any time soon. Since I don't care about the Dwarves..I wanted the starter set for the Goblins and Terrain and the Wizards...would the Big Book, a box of goblins and the Terrain, at $180 plus tax changed my mind?, No- the starter set is a rare good deal figure wise, although I do want to see all the new profiles, especially of the models I just freaking bought!!!!. so the Big Book is a must have for me eventually, too bad its shoved down my throat.

Now, I dont mind the change of the LotR release format to line up with the other games, that is expected. in a way. It's the "not telling anyone about it in advance" thing. That gets me. For the life of me I dont understand how they get away with treating us all like we are A) freaking idiots and/or B) where are filthy rich 12 year olds getting $500 a week allowance.  While B) is clearly GW's target customer, a little less of A) for the guys who have decades in the hobby might nice once in awhile.

The only reason I'm still around is they have an untouchable IP I love, that they shell out boatloads of cash to hold on to. Believe me the old PT Barnum addage "There is a sucker born every minute" has never been so true for all of us, that participate in the Games Workshop hobby. They suck, they suck rotten, stinking zombie ass, they truly do, and yet we keep on buying-

I'll be back next week, unboxing my gold plated toys for you...so stay tuned..

Killing me softly

Well the love affair had to end sometime, I saved you all my complaints about the Games Workshop total ripoff masked as  "painting improvements" by redoing there entire paint line. Adding some base or some white to the core color and repackaging and renaming it as a new color. while this is clear money grab aimed that those who dont know any better..did you really have to change all the paint names?  so now if I need some Bubonic Brown , I have to go find *Zamesi Desert* and add something to it, because its not exactly the same because as you added a shade to the full color step??
More colors doesnt make for a better Paint line, especially at almost 4 dollars an ounce. I personally was quite happy with the Foundation/ Core/ and Wash setup they had going..I remember them dialing back the amount of colors they offered not 2 years ago, and agreeing it was a good idea and now?. Regardless I have barely cracked mega paint set from last year that will last me quite sometime with my mix of Reaper and Vallejo paints I use. Just another thing from GW, I dont need to buy. Ok. -I just lied about saving you my complaints about the paints. Sorry.

The new Empire models, what can I say? other than I hate them. The book cover looks an outtake from something you'd see in Malifaux. all he's missing is the clown makeup. I am see a couple of single figures I might like (if they aren't finecast)  but overall GW has taken this ostentatious, over the top, left turn with their art and modeling since 8th edition. Every single model is so overdone with totally unnecessary crap, over-armored or over embellished, with  graffti-like iconography, Its like a bad ren-fair on acid. I assume I am in the minority here because on our local forums, good folks I know are drooling over these, and I just dont get it. We couldn't even get a new Knight kit, we had to get Demi Gryph knights so they could be on 40 mm bases because every single WFB army now absolutely must have monstrous cavalry. I must also mention how much I am not into two headed griffons or Wizards wielding steam punk style laser guns? WTF?.  How I long for the days and look of early dark and spooky style 7th edition.

Warhammer has totally *jumped the shark* kids, and if you aren't realizing that its because you have so much invested in it, you cant accept that it now looks like tasteless, gaudy, uber-expensive crap and plays like it too, because every army is basically now the same.

I am going to rebuild a Human army that can double as historical or fantasy army out the excellent Perry Bros.  War of the Roses Plastics with select metal figures from various manufacturers. I'll hold on to some select GW figures but I am selling off the majority of my Empire army, Yep, you read that right I am selling if off and done. I dont even need to see the new rules. Hoping that next edition would be any better just isn't realistic. There are too many other good games out there. and what better time to sell off your multiple best appearance winning Warhammer army,  than when a new Army book comes out.?

I am still in Games Workshop hobby for the Lord of the Rings, but really wonder how long it can last. The last releases for LotR were overall, decent, but odds are not in my favor that it can continue. The company has made an obvious change in direction of whom there target customer is and its certainly not people like me.  I am hanging by my fingernails because I've met so many good folks in hobby I'd still like to game with, but Games Workshop seriously makes it hard.

Ahh , The Empire, how did I *use to* love thee?, let me count the ways.

Bummer.

Ebay, Screwing you, your hobby and more!

Ok Rant time, as gamer, modeler, collector or hobbyist we all use Ebay, I've been using Ebay since February 2000 I use it constantly in my professional life as well. I've been smelling something bad coming for awhile now when they raised their fees and started screwing with payment options. They have slowly but surely being trying to shoehorn everyone into one payment system they have 100% control of, so if you want to sell something, they are now your partner and you will be forced to pay out the ass for the privilege of listing your products with them.

I've also always viewed Paypal as a necessary evil- again you have the fees but it sure is convenient. Welp back in July when Ebay bought Paypal it went under alot of peoples radar, again another thing that should have been subject to Anti-Trust law becomes a mechanism to royally screw us the consumer. Not only are any payment options OTHER than Paypal or credit cards (who you know they got some kind of deal with) being banned as of the end of this month..Here is crazy part..You can't even ask a buyer to voluntarily pay the 3% Paypal fees for their purchases!!. if you do your auction get rejected and you're threatened with being banned. For years I have been selling expensive equipment on Ebay, I pay the ridiculous 8.75% fee to Ebay and I ask the buyer to pay the 3% Paypal fee if they CHOOSE to use Paypal for conveinence and getting quicker shipping otherwise..send me a check and wait for it to clear. Nope not anymore..as a seller you're either set up to take credit cards and pay their fees or pay Ebay as much as 15%.!! off the top depending on the auction , No checks, money orders or wire transfers, they want your money and damn sure figuring out how to get it. Now granted 15% isnt a big deal if your selling a few things a year that are relatively cheap...but if you sell toy soldiers for a living or expensive technical equipment like I do, 15% adds up real quick...Its the entire wholesaler discount -In fact with out the option to pass some these costs off to the buyer..this is going to put a whole lot of people out of business. Now that ebay has total control of the Payment systems..they will just start raising fees whats next 20% then 25%...this is no joke.

Earlier this year I sold a $4000 piece of business equipment on ebay and under these new policies it would have cost me $600!!! to sell it on Ebay..are you flipping kidding me! for $600 I expect a hell of alot more then what Ebay does which is essentially nothing. Sure they provide the mechanism but If you think the deserve more than 3% over $1000 for an auction that you have to list, maintain, manage, and answer questions yourself...you're crazy. I rather pay a yearly fee as a member and reasonable percentages based on sale totals, your seriously better over going to a broker for big ticket items..at least they do all the legwork for their 15%. I for one am sick of being raped by these and other Corporate assholes, I know there alot of Ebay boycotts out there and I am joining in but what other options do we have? Anyone have any bright ideas? I've been using Craigs Lists but since you're not committed to buy its alot harder to actually sell things plus you have to meet in person, etc.. This is freaking depressing.

2009 Golden Daemons SCAMMED

Nothing like a good rant to start out the week right, although I type this with as much sadness as disgust. While I know this kind of stuff goes on I hate that its at such a high profile. What we have here are a pair of complete assholes in operation at their finest. Apparently the winning Gold Golden Daemon entry in this years Fantasy category (not sure what specific category) Was not painted by the person who entered it as their own work. Not only that but this asshole walked away with three Golden Daemons all of which were painted by someone else but again represented as his work. The best is this shallow gem of a human being known as Marc Schmelze apparently either didn't clue the painter in that you need to show up and present your own work or the Painter was dumb enough not to care as they themselves exposed this scam on Cool Mini or Not by brazenly tagging the piece as this years Gold GD winner, then citing the painter by name and the guy who won as the collector. This is crazy ballsy and stupid. If you physically can't get your ass to Games Day, you cant win. End of Story. The rules are clear. Mr. Schmelze obviously orchestrated this scam whether or not the painter is culpable or some clueless dimwit is still unknown. GW knows whats going on here is correcting the error and re-assigning trophies to the proper winners and will of course enforce permanent bans on both these idiots.
Being that I was there this year and the fact that the Golden Daemons are the absolute highpoint of Games Day this pisses me off to no end..as a painter/ hobbyist..who strives to get something I might think is good enough to one day make the 1st cut..I know how much work goes into these events. For some fucking tool to come in and buy himself three trophies makes me want inflict some serious pain. So Mr Marc Schmelze please go fuck yourself..and Karol Rudyk...get your head out of your ass- too bad you blew it..you're obviously a great painter.

Original story courtesy of Dave Taylor Miniatures

GW’s 2009 tournament circuit- D.O.A.

Ok, this is my second rant this year so be forewarned, if you don’t want to read me gripe, piss and moan or are offended by crude language. Time to stop reading.

The best way for any business to piss off its customers is to let them build up expectations based on past performance and then change the end result of those expectations without informing the customer, all the while acting like nothing has changed. Doing so implies your customers are stupid, just as does trying to change the game after people have signed up to play . Both of these moves have killed countless a business as they violate the trust customers put in a business to do right by them. There are a shit load of current examples of this going on in our current economic environment, so you’d think any business not already in Chapter 11, would take heed. However recent events tell me Games Workshop never got the memo.

.

This concerns the newly posted 2009 Grand Tournament schedule from Games Workshop. I played in 4 tournaments in 2008 all them of were professionally run, Only one of them- The Chicago GT -was run by Games Workshop and despite the negative attitude of many veteran gamers have about the GT, I personally had been following Dave Taylor’s ( GW rep and organizer of the GW circuit events in 2008) blog and was really looking forward to the event. In the end I wasn’t disappointed , I thought it was a very well run event and I did indeed have a great time. That being the case I was really looking forward to this upcoming tournament season, most especially since I have little to no painting to do leading up to an event. and I anything I did do was purely from an elective standpoint.

About two weeks ago I read that Dave Taylor was no longer with GW, I was very surprised at this given the positive vibe created by the Chicago GT, and the great things I heard about both Las Vegas and Baltimore. I’ve heard speculation that GW was upset with the Chicago turnout, and while yes it was low. There were a bunch of external issues effecting the draw, including living down the crappy reputation that was last years shitty GT at Games Day, a new 40K Edition just coming out and let’s not forgot the price of gas being at an all time high- which made traveling to an already expensive event, more expensive. Despite this, the event was big success for those who attended and GW earned a lot of good will and word of mouth for the next year.

When I read Dave Taylor was gone I was disappointed, then when I saw the 2009 circuit schedule posted. I about threw up.

No official GW sponsored tourneys- 10 events all independently run and co-sponsored by GW. Last year was 11 events total so it leaves little room for more than one or two GW run events to be posted later on. The delivers the clear message that they are deciding where to host the few or one official event they do run.

While that’s unbelievable to me in itself , its not by far the biggest pisser of the whole thing, as I spent time reading over the details of these Indy GT’s I was shocked to realize that there is no painting requirement for 7 of the 10 2009 circuit events!!! What the bloody hell is this??,

Holding major tournaments without a painting requirement is inexcusable. It amounts to nothing less than the wholesale rape of the hobby, to think that GW would sponsor this shit makes my skin crawl. Having 2 Indy GT’s with no painting requirement in this years circuit was bad enough but to bump it up to 7 for 2009!!, Seriously- it’s a kick in the balls for those of us who work hard to create good stuff and try to inspire other people to do likewise.

I know a bunch of guys that work for GW these days and one thing I know that gets pounded into their heads is how to relate with people in away to create long term hobbyists. Sponsoring bullshit tournaments ( and YES, I don’t care how “cool” the people running these events are, if they allow unpainted models in their tourney, the event shouldn't be considered for the circuit) is directly contradictory to this as well as counterproductive to health of the hobby and the business.

I know of course GW’s main goal is to sell as much plastic as possible and painting requirements exclude people who “might” buy more models, but isn’t that why they started Ard’ Boyz tourneys?? so power gamer doodz can bust out a new 3K of unpainted models every time a new army gets released . GW’s gets the big sales and these guys get their own tournament scene, right?. I do expect GW to support all its customers, including ones that don’t paint or hobby but opening up the normal /traditional circuit as a free or all, is not the way to do it. There is plenty of room for well organized tourneys without a painting requirements..I just expect the full experience at these bigger events, and dumbing down the painting just kills it for me.

I don’t quite yet get exactly what’s going on with this but this isn’t good, it does not bode well for future expectations of a tournament circuit. Does anyone whose spent years working on painting and converting their armies want to pay good money to enter a tournament just to get paired up with some guy, who glued his models together the week before and who can’t wait to drop grey plastic/ bare metal on the table and abuse the newest army book at your expense.?? Does GW think that’s ‘fun”?. Do they think its going to fly as soon as people start to notice?, do they think that no one is going to care?

The hobby and the games are irreparably tied and while you can argue for the health of the hobby sans game, you can’t argue the contrary as the rules just aren’t “that" good. The best thing about GW and its games are the people it turns into long term hobbyists and the big tourneys are the excuse for all these people to get together and bring their awesome creations to one location and throw down. To piss all over that 25 year legacy with this “models do not need to be painted, but must be fully assembled” bullshit is an outrage. Don’t poison the well for the people who give a shit about the hobby because times are tough and you don't think you can sell enough tickets.

I’d love to hear from the GW genius who decided that “Tourneys were not well enough attended to our liking so lets shit-can our own events and go support a bunch of indies with no painting requirements and see how it goes” Are you fucking kidding me? Way to take a hot steaming crap all over that brand loyalty you work so hard to build.

The old saying goes "When going gets tough, the tough get going" but what I am hearing is "When going gets tough, bend over and take it in the rear". Hey guys! how about trying to "fix" the problem before flushing your entire tourney schedule totally down the drain.??. Dave Taylor “was” fixing the problem as far as I could tell.

Then again I don’t know, maybe I am way off base and he was fired for damn good reason, maybe he’s a fucking serial killer, I don’t know the guy, I just know what I saw. I saw the bullshit that was Games Day/GT 2007 and I saw the difference this year. What I see here is GW cutting its own legs out from under them. The way I see it- the 2009 tourney scene just exploded on launch.

I won’t bother getting into all the inconsistencies between events with things like the lack of composition scoring, You can’t call it a “tournament circuit” without some kind of uniform standard, and right now the only standard I see is trying age old alchemical trick of trying to turn lead into gold…or what we Americans have gleefully rephrased into “You can’t polish a turd”- I guess on the bright side -I can cancel any plans I had to road trip to some other events this year. At least I have Adepticon.

More on the table debacle.

This is a rant and the first one I've posted I believe so if you dont want listen to me bitch, stop reading now. Like most of you guys I visit various other forums for both WFB and 40K and things I am reading from both 40K and Fantasy players about the new "Realms of Battle" table from GW are really crossing the line. Now I learned a long time ago arguing with anonymous people on the internet is total waste of time, so I don't bother to respond to anyone I don't personally know or have the opportunity to get to know. You have much better chance of getting your point across or reaching a compromise in person, so there is no point getting all worked up over the idiocy of some nameless person from across the void. I've met numerous people over the years who where complete assholes over the internet and who turned out to be A-OK in real life. My point here is I am not condemning the folks I am going to point out in moment to be assholes. It just what they are saying makes them sound like an "Asshole". there is a big difference.

There seems to be two schools of thought about the GW table that are really getting under my skin and both are complete bullshit. Number one is the table "sucks" (ok, your opinion) and that you can build something similar for as little as $40.00. Number two is far worse and I am paraphasing here but the gist of the point is that "if" you buy this table its because you are a "lazy hobbyist" and are not somehow participating in the hobby by buying this product over building your own. The second and much more offensive of these "ideas" being put out there is what prompted today's editorial over at Bell of Lost Souls.

First of all I don't care where you live or how cheap building materials are you can't build a 6" X 4" modular table that is crosswise re-configureable for $40...a sheet of 3/4 plywood is twenty something dollars and 1/2" and 3/4" foam is about $10 a sheet and you'd need several. That is forty bucks for the base materials right there. Sure you can use OSB or some other bullshit but it wont be as sturdy and its not the same. Not mention you need to own tools to do it at a minimum a good circular saw and some clamps and your hobby tools. All the stuff that costs money that you don't need to buy the table. Not to mention the paint, glue and flock and all the little extras that make it nice and most of all time. You know how long its going to take me to finish the new GW table start to finish? 6 hours. 1 hour each section. You know how I know that? because I've built several of the GW modular hills and its that same thing..maybe I put an extra hour in at the end for fine detailing. IF I get it on a saturday..I'll be using it on a sunday. Ok now I am one the fortunate people that has the tools and skills and the space to build my own and I know how long that would take me as well. 2 hours to go buy the stuff, 2 hours to cut it up and glue up the basics, couple more hours to sculpt the foam hills, then onto painting, flock and finishing...I guarantee it would take me month of sundays to get the thing done and I work pretty fast when it comes to terrain. So lets stop the complete bullshit, you can't build anything close to similar for $40 in an afternoon, for the simple reason you need more than $40 in tools to even begin with...IF you think you can even do it for $40 of materials, please do- send me some pics with evidence of the time it took we'll compare it to my finished in afternoon Realms of Battle table, if yours is better, I will post photos of it here and bow to you as a modeling god. I won't hold my breath waiting.

On to the next stupid thing.."buying this makes you a lazy hobbyist", the simple answer to that
is "go fuck yourself" I've built tons of shit from scratch and three full highly detailed tables..my work speaks for itself am I a "lazy hobbyist" because I want this thing? No, I want because it is cool. Not to mention its modular and portable. The gist of the BoLS editorial shouldn't of been "Please don't judge each others dedication to the hobby", it should have been "go fuck yourself" for suggesting such a stupid thing. Marginalizing all the people who don't have the time, or space or the storage capacity for to build there own was really really below the belt.

The bottom line on the table is this..No one is justifying the price increase, everyone thinks the price sucks. (However I only recently noticed the nifty carrying case coming with it, what's that worth? and that's included in the price.) Begruding the people that want this as merely GW fanbois or lazy hobbyist is pathetic. Either you like it or don't, if you do- buy it- if you don't- dont. end of story.

How much you want to bet the haters will be glad to play on someone elses finished table when presented the chance? To all the guys out crying about it not being finished for that price or you could buy two new armies for that price, blah blah. get with program, if you need pre finished terrain go buy some its way more expensive than you think and personally I'd rather have more terrain than a new army, but thats just me. ok, so ENOUGH ABOUT THE TABLE ALREADY, thank you.
/end rant.

10/29- Thanks for the feedback on this. I received some private emails too and while looking around I came across two threads of people trying to create modular tables, the first one is direct attempt to recreate the GW board at the $40 price Unfortunately this fellow is going about it all the wrong way. Using cheap materials may create an initial nice looking product but this thing will fall apart and be damaged in no time. I know from my own experience foam core surfaces are just not durable with regular play..things like big hills are a disaster after just a few games of use not to mention repairs looks like hell. I saw the GW table close up last night and that thing looks nigh indestructible..the insane amount of cross bracing on the bottoms will likely even prevent the warping I've heard about if you leave GW plastics in the trunk of you car during the summer (nods to Bill). I also found a guy making a modular table the right way and its obviously much more time and cost intensive Again costs of tools and time to purchase materials aren't figured in either...but here you go FYI

The Wrong Way

The Right Way