Then

The first and most obvious change was that of the models. Back when I was first playing, there were two main types – plastic and metal.

The plastic models from back in the day were basic but serviceable. They were a light grey colour, fairly sparsely packed onto the sprue, with fairly noticeable mold lines that needed to be worked on pretty aggressively to get looking decent. They could sometimes be a little bit finicky to put together, and at times the mold itself was not the best – little bits of “void” filled with plastic that weren't really any part of the model itself, so you needed to work out how to properly paint them.

Then there were the metal models. These were an... interesting... experience to say the least. Poor quality sculpts, excessive flash. Sometimes the mold wasn't completely filled, so there were just crap bits that you just needed to work out what to do with (mmm green stuff). They also really heavy and sometimes unbalanced. Which could mean if you weren't expecting the weight differential between the plastic and metal models, you could knock them over (occasionally off the table!)

The metal models were mostly small blisters of 1-2 models, but there were also full unit boxes made entirely of metal, too – I believe the Space Marines Terminator squad boxes were still metal when I started playing.

Most “character” models at the time were metal – though toward the end of my time collecting a few plastic kits started to come out with lots of different wargear, weapons and even armour/head choices – a Space Marine Captain kit was one of the first of this design I believe – perhaps early 4th edition?

There was also Forgeworld – resin, high quality models which specialised in exotic, high points models like Titans and custom/exclusive Space Marine chapters and Guard regiments and the like.

Now

First thing I noticed opening up my Necrons Combat Patrol box was that the plastic is a much darker grey than I remember the old plastic being. My understanding is that somewhere around the early 2010s Games Workshop completely changed the composition of their plastic which has apparently allowed much more detail in the sculpts – seems like that's very much the case having a look through the sprues. The Necron Overlord model in particular is absolutely gorgeous.

Metal models are entirely gone (to my knowledge). Almost all models, from troop choices all the way through to unique models like the Primarchs and the like are supplied as multi-part plastic kits with plenty of extra parts and options, allowing players to fairly easily customise their army.

Forgeworld is gone, having been long absorbed back into the Warhammer brand. The models are still largely there – being branded mostly as 15+ models that ship exclusively from the UK (whereas most other models are available from the local warehouse or store where one exists). But the range is considerably smaller than it used to be – for example the Elysian Drop Troop Imperial Guard regiment has been out of print for many years, as have many of the customisation kits.

The composition of some of the kits seems to have changed – with some being “snap fit”-type models that don't strictly require glue to assemble – but I'm not sure if this is on a case-by-case basis for different kits or if it's a gradual conversion occurring as new Codices/kits are released.

The sprues themselves seem to be a bit more densely packed than previously – not sure if this is a cost-cutting measure or something else. I was surprised to see that a 10 model Necron Warrior squad used only a single sprue, even with different head and weapon options!

The paints are a little different as well. I believe in the early 2010s (or maybe late 2000s) Games Workshop changed its paint supplier and over time has greatly expanded the paint range with different types for different use cases. I think previously there was just paint (and maybe there were also separate washes?) but now there's Base, Contrast, Layer, Shade, Dry and more, each with different uses.

I'm really excited by the Technical paints in particular – they look like they give really cool options for nice bases – whereas previously unless you wanted to do a significant amount of work you pretty much just needed to go with PVA glue and old-school modelling flock.

Next Steps!

Next I'll talk about getting myself set up for the hobby, choosing supplies, tools and talk about how the use of these tools has changed over time as well!

So in I walked, and was greeted by the staff there. As opposed to how many Warhammer stores run today (one employee, outside of major shopping malls in a lot of cases), GW stores of the 2000s had a number of employees and were even sometimes in major shopping centre chains. I digress a little, but the more plentiful employees meant there was almost always someone on hand to help out the clueless tween who'd just turned up. For some reason, I decided that I'd paint a Warhammer Fantasy Battle (rip) model – an Orc, but learnt to play 40k instead. It was way back in 3rd edition at the time, so my introductory game was Space Marines vs Dark Eldar (now Drukhari).

As with many children coming into 40k, I was drawn to the Marines, and most of my early years playing the game involved Marines – first with a homebrew, white and red chapter I called the “White Tyrants” (hmm... thinking back now, that wasn't the most ideal name for a chapter I could have thought of. After working on the Tyrants for a while, I realised that white is really hard to paint well when you have absolutely zero artistic talent. So I scoured the internet, White Dwarf and just about every other resource I could get my hands on until I found my next chapter: the Dark Angels.

The Dark Angels had something cool and mysterious about them. The Deathwing paint scheme is also super cool (and slightly easier to paint compared to white). And I kicked on with them for a good few years, building up an army that probably topped out at about 2,500 points in size. But over the years other interests caught my attention, I struggled finding people my age and play with, and I stopped playing, painting and collecting. I always maintained interest in the hobby and the universe, and I even had another few attempts at starting up again (notably with Astra Militarum and T'au armies) but I never really got anywhere with those attempts.

Over the last couple of years in particular I've been really considering giving the hobby a red hot go again. By chance, I was hanging with some friends of friends about a month ago when I overheard them talking about building their armies. I had no idea I even knew anyone who collected, and the knowledge that there were a few people fairly close by that did (including one that had fairly recently started) gave me that little push to get started at the hobby again.

So I embarked on the new journey in earnest. But all my old paints and models were long gone, I hadn't played in 5 or 6 editions, and I didn't even know what army I wanted to collect. The Games Workshop landscape has changed markedly over the 10+ years since I played. So I had a bit of exploring and learning to do.