My friends second Army was Tau (4/5th edition). He magnetized each "hard point" on the crisis suits and every single weapon. Sometimes he would make lists by passing his suits over the gun pile and going with whatever stuck lol
@@dragontek2112 oops all crisis is simply the best way to play. Be farsight enclaves so you can oops 4 suit commanders with an additional detachment :)
I'm actually building a Tau army now. And eventhough the firewarriors and stealthsuits have fixed weapons, I'm considering to use magnets on the Ghostkeel. I guess that would be a good idea then? Anyone experience with this?
The best part of magnetizing for me is future-proofing. An example: the upgrade points for my plague marines have changed numerous times since the book came out, and I have been able to play the optimal loadout through each buff and nerf they have received.
I used to think the same. I magnetized the entirety of my Grey Knights army (all melee and range weapons for every model), 20 vanguard veterans, 10 sternguard veterans (with all the different types of combi-weapons), 20 death company marines, 30 sanguinary guards (among a host of other things)... Guess where all that pharaonic work as gone in 10th edition....
@@carolineturingds so now you can make your grey knights look cooler. TBH I am only magnetising what I know I would swap play. If I will later need it I will later magnetise it. Not all in one go.
I don’t think magnetizing miniatures is a scam, I think buying a bunch of the same miniature to build different load-outs is a scam. As a new Tau player the only thing I’m magnetizing is all my battle-suits, and my hammerhead gunships.
Solution: Magnetize stuff with crazy wargear options, but only actually assemble and paint the ones you immediately intend to use. That way you CAN change them out later if you want to, but don't have to expend all the effort for those "what if" scenarios.
Yes exactly! As an newbie painter I find that it makes it so much easier to batch paint without the arms on. It also relieves the anxiety of putting the wrong gun on for me because I can get the other guns off the sprues to swap out later.
Ive always thought about magnetizing bigger models but never ended up doing it. I'm that player that goes "this is what the model does" and I just glue it together the way I think it looks coolest.
I only got into painting miniatures for wanting to paint some dungeons and dragons minis, and started to collect the Warhammer stuff to paint on the side because they seem fun to paint, so I might have a bias in not feeling the need to magnetize weapons, but I do think it is helpful to magnetize based, I like taking one of the metal tins from like the Girl Scouts cookies or playing cards and letting the bases stick to the sides of the tin and that way they don’t really move around during travel, I only really use them for dungeons and dragons xD
I used to do static scale models of planes and cars and I got some warhammer models to try something new.... I'm not 200 bucks in with a 1000 point black templar army lol. I only plan to magnetize the dreadnought, no way id magnetize the space marines.
I'll tell you from experience that magnetizing bases is generally a whole lot easier and quicker than magnetizing weapon options. And yeah, if you're using it for transport and/or storage, there's definitely value there. My process for bases is generally - Mix up a ball of plumbers epoxy putty. Squish into the bottom of the base. Squish base down on top of magnet on a flat surface. Done. Quick and perfectly flat. Bothering with standardizing polarity is completely optional here. If the base isn't hollow, you might have to drill into it but this is more of an edge case here. Arm options though? You have to drill a hole for a magnet on the body *and* on the arm. They have to be aligned as perfectly as you can manage. Getting the polarities right is mandatory and prizing out a magnet that you accidentally glued in backwards is a nightmare. The magnets need to be set perfectly flush or they will cause problems. To top it off, arms are one of the easier things to do. What if you're needing to magnetize hands and weapons? They're a lot worse. The real problem here is that GW pushed the whole 'all models in play must be wysiwyg' to sell dumb kids more models and it *really* stuck hard in a good portion of the gaming community. Truth is that it's absolutely unnecessary but it's not going to go away any time soon.
I've got a ton of Tau Crisis suits. I've magnetized every single weapon/support item. Tossed em in a small tackle box that stays with the army. They're one of the few things I see as "worth" magnetizing.
I mean I paid for those upgrades and just putting them in a bits bag for a rainy day and making me buy more models seems like a bigger "Scam" to me. I also spent 13 hours to hhalf complete my first 15mm scale tank so...
Magnets definitely have drawbacks, but I like them, even though I wish there was a better solution that had the same effect. I spend 4+ hours painting one model, so it's worth it to just magnetize rather than painting 6 more marines that could take 1-2 weeks to paint. I also just like the concept of swappable armaments, and it's an interesting thing to have in my collection that you can't just buy from a game shop.
One thing you can do is superglue the weapons on with just a small dab. This will allow you to break the weapons off if you want to change them. It's more permanent than magnets, but good enough if you're only wanting to swap once every 6 months when the rules change.
@Kirothe Avenger That's a good alternative for sure, I hadn't thought of that. Something I learned recently that you might already know, is that freezing super glue weakens the bond, but the strength returns when they warm up. It's not useful for on-the-fly arm switching, but it is nice to have a way to separate pieces without feeling like you're going to break anything pulling it apart lol
Jay: "For me these games are little bit more roleplaying and less competetive" Also Jay: "Right now I have the perfect loadout for these guys - it is all about the plasma, so I want as much plasma as I can get" Competetive player in a nutshell😀
I play for the fluff I can write for my warband, the only thing is I actually want them to win from time to time so the fluff isn't just them getting absolutely stomped
Tbf plasma guns are actually fun right now, they feel punchy. The other weapons feel awful to use because they don't damage anything with a toughness higher than a marine
One thing I like about magnets that I haven't seen mentioned is how it allows the figures to be (at least somewhat) poseable. I tend to put the magnets where the arms meet the body, which typically allows for a bigger contact point than wrists so I can use a stronger magnet and minimize the risk of blowing through the model when drilling. This won't work with all models, and there will be times when you don't have the bits to build out two full sets of arms for a model. Once you get your process down, though, I find it can go pretty quickly. More painting time, of course, but a body and four arms is still less painting than two entire models.
Part of the reason I was attracted to Eldar when getting started was that their units had limited wargear options to worry about. The units that do have a lot of options are bigger machine models that you can magnetize pretty easily.
I love magnetising minis. Never have to worry about choosing the "wrong" option + MASSIVE savings on storage space. 50 minis compared to 10 with magnets might look cool on display but if you have limited space magnets are the way to go. Also, with a bit of practice, magnetising becomes painless. Although, I magnetise necron warriors so I might just be used to the pain.
@@ninja_dragon44-35 another commentor mentioned storing magnetized bases and bits in a cookie tin so they don't move around in transport. The magnets on the bases that hold the models, and the magnets on the arm/weapons both hold to the inside of the metal cookie tin. Maybe separate with cardboard dividers and super glue to keep the dividers stable. Each marine could have a smol little armory stand tho... like in minecraft or Ironman
I would say you should only magnetize models like large tanks or knights, I actually magnetize a baneblade as it felt like a waste to let all of those parts go to waste and every week I switch out the load out so my eyes never get tried of looks at it.
One aspect of magnetizing that wasn't covered is that sometimes you can magnetize models that have a very large footprint for their mass to make them easier to transport. So things like wings of flying hive tyrants, dragons... or be able to take the torso off something that's very tall so it's more compact. It's useful if you have to go to a game by public transport. Magnets can also be used for making posable models like some action figure though that is mostly for fun... or for holding doors closed in things like tau devilfish.. Other than that I do agree with your points. Generally you should reserve magnets for larger models so you save more on both money and space, also as "in" models change from codex to codex, magnetizing the big models means you can just swap to the current best builds (or not worry bout no longer legal builds) without needing to buy a new model of one you already painted. Infantry is generally not worth it. Crisis suits however are a good idea to magnetize due to the sheer variety you can have.
The only miniatures outside of vehicles I tend to magnetise are HQ units that come with a lot of options like the autarch or new lieutenant, both of which massively benefit from only having to buy one kit while keeping all the options especially considering (at least with the autarch) you can only take one per army list. Though at least with my autarch that ended up being an even bigger task than I was initially expecting given the 3 head options, 3 back pack options and 8 weapon options.
I'm still newish to the hobby and have yet to play a game but this is how I've been thinking about it. My big Grey Knight army I'll tell what each unit does if its not WYSIWYG and smaller kill teams I'll magnetize to give it more of a "specialist" feel
i'm pretty organized also as a player and love to fiddle with builds no matter if its in warhammer, D&D or PC games. BUT i only magnetize big models and even here not much.
Stumbled across this video when looking up a tutorial on magnetising Imperial Knights. I’m glad to hear that most of the issues you raise with magnets only apply to little guys, and that it is definitely worthwhile for big boys.
For infantry arms, i've found that blu-tack works just as well, if not better than magnets. The hold is plenty strong, and they resist spinning, unlike magnets cheaper, easier, and better, imo Only downside is that for it to hold well, you have to be able to give it a good firm squish, so no super fragile or pointy stuff i guess
You got me good with the bit about the Harlequins, I play them in Kill Team and even I don't know what their weapons are. I actually just paint the ribbons and hair differently to tell the weapon loadouts apart at a glance.
Magnetizing bases made sense back in the day for Warhammer Fantasy, where lining up your models in tight base-to-base blocks was a pain in the neck without them.
5:05 „they all take up room on the display shelf.“ And in a carrying case. When I went to my flgs to get in some games, I wanted to have options. So I magnetised to quickly shake up my lists. Bringing a whole additional dreadnought wasn’t feasible with my carrying case, regardless of what an extra model costs. I also like magnetising as an open end to new painting experiences. I magnetised option 1 and played games with it, a fully painted army. When I wanted to change up the list, I didn’t have to paint a whole new mini, just an arm or a weapon. Much faster and easier to do! Also, each edition change brings with it a nerf to the weapon loadout you would have glued on, so magnetising somewhat future proofs your painting effort 😅 When gaming switched to my place, I did end up making a lot of additional models just to have the options fixed and ready. When space was no issue, avoiding magnets rose to prominence, no doubt.
I initially began magnetizing every model that I could, and it was easy enough and all that outside being a bit time consuming but my biggest issue was storage of the extra weapon bits. It didnt take too many kits till I had pieces for all sorts of models loosy goosy and no matter how well I try to label/store them it just became a logistical nightmare.
I started Tyranids in the fall of 2022. For Tyranids I think it's worth it. I got burnt bad with the warrior nerf and have magnetized since. Certain models I haven't but for models like the carnifexes, warriors and tyrant I would magnetize now
I magnetized my rubric marines to have the option of choosing the inferno bolter or the warpflamer. I also magnetized my Forgefiend to have the option of making it a Maulerfiend instead. In that case, if you choose one over the other, that's so much wasted plastic! I think though that this is easily solvable if GW puts magnet sockets into its models as part of the molding process. It gives you the option rather than having to drill out a hole and risk damaging the model.
Did you do the full magnetization on the Fiend? My friend did 3 of them. I think he said each one had 48 magnets because they switch from an animalistic stance to a centaurian stance.
Totally did the same with my deathwatch team too. After I finished, decided to just get the extra models on following teams. Hard agree on doing vehicles. Extremely satisfying to snap on options.
I haven’t magnetized any of my 40k stuff, but in my Warmachine/Hordes days, I did it pretty often. The warjack and warbeast kits were some of the easiest magnetizations ever - the arms were independent so you could swap them at the shoulder without worrying about the alignment, and the different arm/head options defined different models. A single Warpwolf kit could be magnetized as a Stalker, Feral, or Pureblood and each had their own uses. For 40k, I feel like magnetization is less important, when there’s more emphasis on having a robust bits box for future kitbashes. Those leftover maces from my Celestian Sacresants are an easy way to give a power maul to a sister superior later down the line. I like my Squad leaders to have some visual distinction and identity.
My fiance and I play mostly kill team, we each selected a couple teams, and if they have options, I magnetized them. Outside of that she plays Drukhari and I play tau for 40k, we magnetize everything that is feasable to help cut cost of buying whole other kits. For example all 6 of my Tau Hammerheads can be skyrays or devilfish if needed. Her Ravagers can be Raiders if needed. We have planned dates of when we play, 40k once a month, kill team every week. Gives us plenty of time to set up and what have you.
I’m just starting a Black Templar army and I used to pay back in the day (Battle for Macragge) and was thinking of magnetizing the units. This is a great video with good pros and cons. Would love to see how you magnetise your units though.
I haven’t magnetized anything in my current collection. My venerable dreadnought can friction fit bit different arms so I have those all painted even though I’ve only played one way. I can friction fit a few other vehicle things in the space marine range I have. The only thing I think I’d work on magnetizing in the future is if I bought myself a Knight just because that can be a massive change for any option. And even then, it would need to be the imperial knight kit, because the chaos kit only has a few options anyway. Maybe allow the desecrator to swap between his sword and claw.
Totally agree! Magnets are small and fiddly and I don't want to mess with them on tiny models. if I want to have all the options, i'd rather just buy an extra box of troops and make them with all the options so they can ride the pine on the bench until I need that weapon. Vehicles and large models, on the other hand.... I have magnetized two Annihilation/Command Barges and I magnetized the head and weapons of my Forgefiend. I kind of love the ease of swapping those around as I wish. But, those are big models with big magnets.
It's stupidly cheaper to magnetize. I have a small necron army only supported by the little money I have as a student. So I don't magnetize the small units. But a full magnetized ghost/doomsday ark is bliss. The magnets cost me 10€. A second set, needed to get the second model is 54€ in the online shop. (There are still options for 40€ but still). So monetary, magnets are great
Fully agree. On figures, they don’t hold arm position, they fall off in the box, and I end up gluing them in position or buying more units for “the other loadout”. I really like using them with my dreadnoughts and armigers, I use a stack of strong magnets and everything is poseable like an action figure, but stays put…a little layer of blue tack in the joint if I really want it to hold a position.
Recently I magnetise only big stuff (vehicles etc) and stuff I want to be able to break apart for transport. I keep my Ultramarines bits inside Impulsor (didn't glue the top lid) and Rhino. So you can make your own 'jewellery box'.
I use a display shelf for my spare parts too it’s just has arms all sticking out I used a small wood frame and made it stand so I can display my models behind the frame with all my spare arms . It might be weird but I like it and that’s all that matters at the end of the day so it is worth it .
Spending a little amount of money for some magnets and a cheap fruitbox with a metalinsert instead of a expensive transportbox isn't that bad of a deal...But magnetizing weaponarms...nope! (And as an Orkplayer I have every possible option already on one of my countless boys...😂)
I was actually searching for "how to magnetize space marines" when this showed up. As a total noob, I appreciate the insight. I'll only bother for the more unique units that I can't decide which look l like best.
Magnetizing is a diminishing returns situation, a game like Warmachine or MechWarrior where you may want to do swap outs or pay at a larger scratch built scale. Once you get to smaller models with large counts you no longer really need to do that nor would want to. Though magnetizing a couple of things like dreadnaughts, tanks, and commanders if you tend to switch up your lists a little depending upon opponent. find the balance between effort and usefulness. I think on Kill team or if you want to rekindle 54 or 72mm kill team magnets are almost a must.
Im building my first model ever and its a hive tyrant. Im magnetizing for every variant. Im one day in. My magnets arrive tomorrow. All the pieces are ready to be magnetized. Just need to drill and place, everything that CAN be glued together without issue is glued together… itll be done and primed tomorrow. It doesn’t take long at all. Being able to make my hive tyrant a single wing if i choose for aesthetic just makes it so much more worthwhile.
I feel like a good option for quick readability would be Stat Icons that could be attached to the bases, i dunno if this is already a thing but i feel like it should be
Stats change a lot and it ruins the cinematic tabletop look but SW legion has unit cards which achieve this well from the side of the table so you can always reference it easily.
For comp. play, WYSIWYG is not optional. You have to have on the model whatever it is armed with. For magnetizing kits, it future proofs your armies, magnets are cheaper than additional boxed sets, painting a few extra arms takes less time than painting up a bunch of duplicate models with differing weapons, and having 50+ models on your shelf that you never get to play with all at once (outside of certain narrative games) represents a bunch of “wasted” time painting for certain folks. For certain models it is impossible, but for the majority of figs, it makes sense.
The tau commander in coldstar/enforcer has about 7 small magnetization options. It was a lot of work and I'm not looking forward to doing it again for the enforcer variant!
I choose the models and loadout that I like the look of, then glue it together and stick with it. I don't buy and paint models for the sake of the rules. What you said at 9:26 resonates. Let's just get to playing!
Same. I have magnetized things, but I've never magnetized everything, but magging up a few key things can allow you to tailor your force up just a bit versus hordes or tankspam.
I'm with you on not wanting to magnetize every orc/goblin/space marine in an army, and I definitely agree that vehicles are great for magentizing. Where I differ a bit is that I feel like the small combat games like Kill Team, Warcry, or old Mordheim are perfect for magnets, not so much to swap out for the perfect set every game as to let me upgrade my guys over time. I will be much happier about upgrading "Fred" to carry a different gun if I can just swap out his arm rather than having to swap to a different figure - because that won't seem like it is still "Fred". I probably wouldn't actually magnetize & paint the new arm until I actually needed it, though.
If the choise in time to my hobby is: Will I paint my mini's or magnetise them? Magnetising all of them. This hoby is already expensive enough. Having to buy+paint a second (or third) unit just to field the one corect one to this edition's meta is a fail to me. If you are not playing competetive or toornaments, well whatever rocks your boat I guess. For me, having options is were chaff and wheat are separated.
I feel you can get the best of both worlds. I magnetize the model and the option I want at the time, paint it up, the rest of the kit gets the put into boxes in an orderly fashion. If the "best" option changes, and I'm about to go to a tourney, I pull the option out of the box, paint it up, done. No "frontloading" all the painting till it's necessary. For placing magnets, place the magnets on an already magnetized piece like the torso of a marine, "slice" one off off the stack using an exacto blade, and press the magnet into the drillhole of the to-be-magnetized arm. Helps with the orientation as well.
I always build units with express purposes eg. a squad of Marines for anti-infantry, a squad of Marines for anti-elites, a squad of Marines for anti-vehicles, etc. I haven't magnetised anything yet, but the only things I would consider magnetising are larger units, like Crisis Suits, vehicles, and Knights, because those are (with the exception of Crisis Suits) units you would only take 1-2 of at most, so it's better to have them be flexible rather than buying another $200 Knight to have one with slightly different weapons
If GW made their kits like gundams where you have peg, hole connector and some articulation like a Gundam, but not as extreme as gundam, you can easily just swap out arm and legs with no issue. Gundam artifact is the smaller scale version that does this.
@Nyall Leary didn't know about that GW already tried this. Maybe the can contract with Bandai to develop something like this since they have the peg and hole designed correct and gundams are extremely kit bash friendly.
@@bacawaka2813 The reason we even had Easy to Build kits in the first place *was* the cooperative tech transfer GeeDubs got from Bandai when they re-launched their Japanese branch. They even got the Bandai Space Marine series of action figures to show for it before GeeDubs contracted it out to McFarlane after the initial lot.
I mainly play HH and i love magnet ! Of course there are great for vehicules and Dread but i also use them for little guys, I don't want to paint 50 support marines when i'll ever only play 15 maximum for exemple. Also they are great for safely transporting banners.
Do like I did in bloodbowl with skills. Paint a coloured band on the black base... You can pretty much do this 5min before you play and its very quick and you can scrape off the paint after.
As a new player, I didn't think of magnetising every weapon and arm. But definitely did for an imperial knight, I can't afford to buy one for each configuration there is.
Honestly I am glad someone with an audience is saying this. I have been of a similar opinion for years. I get tired of having to defend my stance all the time.
I appreciate your point however I play hh white scars and it is so much easier to have say ten guys that can do missile launchers or autocannons; painting a new squad would take me over my marine limit for my brotherhood so Id be trying to paint and sculpt the same details or paint them as an attached unit which is not as cool
It depends on the game system. A game like Adeptus Titanicus is the best candidate for magnets, for the Titans at least. A typical army will only entail 5 or so titans for most people so making sure the expensive models are as customisable as possible is a good idea. Same goes for Titans at larger scale, seeing as each arm weapon can cost over £100 on a Warlord, which itself costs over £1000 without weapons.
I've been doing the same thing with my minis: Just 50-50 on the options. Just slap the guys with the correct weapons to the front of the block for that WYSIWYG, if you got that big of a rules lawyer as an opponent. But painting an army that is arguably a rag-tag team of monsters, I don't exactly expect them to file into neat rows with identical weaponry on each.
I actually really enjoy using magnets in my minis. The time it takes me to install the magnets ( now that I have it figured out) is far, far less than the time it would take me to by another set of minis, clean and assembly them, build alternate load outs, and paint them to match my current team.
Exactly this. To me it's not so much as having options, it's that if I need to swap my loadout in the future because of a change, I don't have to built and repaint an entire new model, just an arm or two at most.
I will engineer and install the magnets, and then I will only paint the one that I use, for me the painting is the part I'd rather skip unless I need to swap that part, then I will see a need to paint it.
My plan is to only magnetize units like Paragon warsuits where I might swap out different weapons. Other units aren't worth it or requires shifting around units etc. If I'm taking a battle sister squad with a heavy weapon model, it's most likely a multi-melta as the rest of the squad can deal with chaff, the multi-melta for heavy/armour. Paragon warsuits however can be used in so many ways for no extra cost (except +10points per model with multi-melta)
My first brush with magnets was 5th and by extention WarmaHordes. Then i can see it made a little more sense because there were scenarios where you could run a squad where everyone had the same weapon but the sprue only came with one, so you needed bits and with the meta things could shift. Nowadays the sprue comes with your max options and needing to get the most bang for your buck seems less necessary. Theres a lot of times I look at a box, make them all the normal troop, then take another box and make them all the different special options. Who am I kidding, I model rule of cool and i think half my guys are technically illegal.
I primarily play IG and AdMech, I don't magnetize individual guardsmen or skitarii, but I absolutely magnetize vehicles, I don't have storage space for 35 Leman Russ tanks, but I can manage 9 or 10, plus it future proofs me for edition changes/data slates
Dreadnoughts get magnets at the waist and weapons, missiles on top are magnetized. For me I like them to swivel to face the enemy in game and modelling is a big part of the hobby for me. Plus weapon options are fun. Vehicle weapons are magnetized, mainly for weapon destroyed in game. I just did 20 Cataphractii and did hidden magnets for fulmentarus missiles on top as it allows me to do Command squad/terminator squad/fulmentarus, but none of the weapons are magnetized. Smaller troops I very very rarely magnetize. My Warhound is also magnetized at the waist for the same reason as dreadnoughts - for posing it. I also magnetized the carapace Covers as I have a red LED set up for the eyes(pew pew). I actually used large bolts for the weapon arms instead as I liked the look of them. P. S. Ceramic tweezers really help.
I agree on vehicles completely. Heavy weapons squads tend to all blend into each other but it’s even though I’m not huge into wysiwyg I think vehicles take up so much space visually it’s nice when they are what they have equipped. That and GW pricing is crazy and there’s no way I’m doubling up on these just to use a different statlinr
I put magnets on most models but only build one option. It's future proofing, when the options change I paint up new weapons/arms and the old ones go into a drawer until they are needed again.
I’m a Tyranids player- gants I’m not worried about magnetizing. But my warriors and my hive tyrant I have a lot of fun magnetizing all of their options. Same thing for my harpy, magnetizing big models like a harpy makes it so much easier and safer to transport.
a friend of mine had a similar problem. he also started a deathwatch killteam, then put them back on his todolist. now he returnd to finish the team and is per new rules 1 marine short for a full team
Ive never used magnets (dont have any either), but ive always thought vehicles would be the perfect place for them. Luckily the dreadnaught i have you can just slap the arms off and on for options, and sometimes I wish more models had the tiny lil arm connection points for weapons to slide onto like that. It also seems pretty easy to keep the weapons on vehicles not glued down in general, sure they might jiggle a bit while moving them but at least I can choose which option I want (and when it gets destroyed just like with magnets just take the cannon off). Space marines seem really easy to magnetize (and most elite armies or elite choices like battlesuits) but with also not really playing the tabletop right now, and no real plans to in the future, all that extra work for a weapon swap that will never get used on my lil guys seems a bit of a waste for my collection lol
Having Tau as my main army, I do appreciate having hot-swappable weapons so my tanks and battle suits are WYSWIG on that table. But it's a pain in the ass to do, it does take a tremendous amount of time, and they can sometimes fall off when I move them around. And that was just battle suits and vehicles, I didn't attempt magnetizing infantry. Plus a magnetized weapon never looks as good as one glued in place. For painting and display, zero magnets deliver a far superior visual aesthetic.
Having swappable parts on a model youre supposed to glue together is super scummy. Magentizing seems weird but id rather that than waste my money on duplicates of a 100+ dollar model
It's really going to be a personal preference. I'm an OCD maniac so I love magnetizing my units, but only if it's worth the extra effort. Weapons I'll do my best with for smaller units. Obviously if they don't make smaller magnets for what I'm trying to accomplish then I'd just try to find someone with extras or get another set. Larger units are definitely a must. From experience I put together a Dunecrawler before I knew about magnetizing and couldn't go back to changing it without damaging it. The way I think of it is, get what you can out of how much you pay. Everyone knows this hobby is expensive, so I would push each kit to it's limit before buying another set, unless you know exactly what you want. It's just always good to have options out of 1 box, or you could go the cheap route and build whatever looks good and tell your opponent, this unit has such n such.
I don't tend to magnetise, but right now with the current project on the table I am magnetising the Leviathan Dread, Contemptor and a close to dozen tanks (and a scenic base for a FW model). I wont be magnetising anything smaller than a Dread though, my fingers don't let me get that fiddley anymore.
I magnetized my Leviathan... Only to find out that I should have put them in the shoulders not the elbows. So now I have a second Leviathan for punching things.
The Magnets are more for ITC Tournaments and GW tournaments. Since WYSIWYG is what your army is supposed to be. For local games it’s ok to use proxy. So it does matter depending what you are doing.
I think magnetizing is just fun. I magnetized my Tzaangors, a horde troop, but honestly it was easier that you'd think. The weapons, hands, arms, and chest of the miniature is all one single piece. All I need to do is put magnets on either side of the inside of the chest, so it's magnetization with no drilling required. I did this because they have quite a few wargear options between 40k and AoS, so I wanted some flexibility. Already it's sort of paid off, with in 40k them making the Brayhorn and Herd Banner free now, so I now can just go over, pull of some arms, and swap in arms that have the horn/banner.
Magnets are useful on units that you only intend to purchase in small numbers. With units that you are purchasing in larger amounts then you can typically just piece together whatever wargear options you need from the different units.
It's worth it for some people in some cases. I like painting my models more than playing, if I magnetize I get to paint and work on all the weapons and parts I have. That all said... honeslty not that bad magnetizing, I mean... dremmel a hole here, dremmel a hole there, you can do it in like five minutes per mini, pop of super glue, and you're good. Now you do have to wait enough time for that to dry before painting and working on them again, but that's rarely an issue for me, I have some unptainted primed minis always sitting around to work on whenever I have a bit of down time on other things. This all said, I honestly don't magnetize all that much. A big vehicle, sure by all means do it. But most normal infantry, between a normal gun or a rocket launcher... I'd just take the rocket launcher. Still, between a big shoota and rocket launcher ya now there's an argument... but I can also just have both of those and drop a normal boy. For me that's fine, for some who don't have enough money and every model they have is valuable then it's worth it to have that option, for me who almost never really plays with them... it's just for the painting. I mean... once I finish painting it's not like I randomly go and swap out the weapons that often when they are sitting there posed on my shelf as an army, so it's not like I even really use it often. But oh well, just my thoughts as more of a painter than a player for the games. As a kid when I got into it I didn't have reliable transport so barely got any games in then, new codex and editions came out, I didn't want to buy them with kids money so stopped and just ignored it for a few years and now... well, like said I paint for fun rather than playing now that I got back into modeling a bit. I magnetize when it's fun or seems to allow more flexibility, or just a nice challenge to do or whatever now. So I also have a different perspective like you, but to put my broad thoughts simply. Magnetizing is NOT a scam or something you should stop, if you do it and like it, then keep it up. If you never bothered and don't care, don't bother.
I did this for all my Ghunstrock Thunderers and endrinrigger, It's really not that useful because no one exept KO player will know a Rivet gun from an aethermatic pistol. But it's just so fun, I like painting them because they look cool. And I like changing the equipment of my dude, it's so cool. Also I don't have to paint the shoulder multiples times, the weapons juste have a little piece of arm. I don't even play ! I don't think i'm gonna do this for the other ones though.
Couldn't agree more. All the time I'm spending magnetizing I could be painting or building. I've never magnetized any minis I own. All those extra bits are for kitbashing! Duh! The only thing I could see there being a use for is a Knight, where the model is very expensive, and changing the loadout drastically changes how the model is played.
rule of thumb is terminators and up. not for troopy guys, if you want all the weapon options just get more guys cause its cool to have more of them. looks better to have more troops than other stuff on the shelf and table. magnetizing devastators in theory would be good but its too tricky with the different backpacks and cables and personally i like having lots of devastators anyway. if you are making a Killteam without a 40k army behind it to pull from then magnetizing makes sense since you will only have a few guys to do anyway and potentially many weapon options for more diverse loadouts.
When I tell people to magnetize (or magnetize myself), it's meant as: Build your model with ONE option with magnets. This way if the meta shifts and I need a different loadout, I can magnetize and paint another set of arms and am ready faster and cheaper than buying a whole different model. If you have a problem with gluing the magnets, use clingwrap inbetween two magnets. Handle the magnet on one side, while the glue goes onto the magnet on the other side. Once the glue is set, the clingwrap usually comes off easily...or if not, it's so thin that you won't notice it.
I think it’s worth magnetizing large models like tanks, special characters etc. individual infantry is a stretch and maybe a long term goal at the bottom of the to do list if you feel like it :)
i only magnetized stealth suits and up as a tau player. when it comes to the squads i just mix and match and if they have a sword i just add it to their backs and its implied they could also use the sword. i mainly magnetize the bases so i can transport them
The models, especially for large groups on units like necron warriors, should just be build in a way that it's easy to just push fit/pull out the weapon to change it out without breaking anything, and the guns can go on any of them, not where the arms are connect to the gun so that one arm will only fit on two of the twenty warriors, so even if you keep those arms you're not likely to store them in a way you can match the arms to the warriors even if you keep the extra weapons around.
Spending 10 minutes (it doesn't take that long, just being extreme here) to magnetize one model beats spending an hour plus painting an entirely new model. I don't paint the extra loadouts/arms unless I need them. Not to mention you likely would have to buy another set just for one weapon swap or spend time looking in used groups to see who is willing to sell you the exact model loadout you are looking for. You need to use some nice magnets with decent strength and use the right tools (burrs and drill bits as needed) but it's super easy with just a bit of practice and it usually don't have to be completely perfect thanks to large shoulder pads covering the area. It feels like a pain at times (I feel it for sure) but it's worth the time, effort, and money one would have to spend otherwise to get that different loadout.
My opinion on magnetization is that it 100% depends on the unit/model. Like you said, vehicles are usually worth it, but I also think it can be worth magnetizing heroes/HQ models since its only 1 model at a time and they're meant to stand out a bit anyways. When it comes to repeatable infantry like guardsmen and orks its usually better just just have more of them, but if its something like a dreadnought or monster with different options, like vehicles I think they're large enough for it to be worth it. It can also be worth it for smaller games like killteam for a couple of reasons. First, its much more feasible to kitbash and convert a small team of really customized models but it might actually be easier to magnetize their parts instead of trying to completely recreate completely new and unique additions to your team, especially if there's a lot of lore and roleplay going on. Second, it can be fun to tell a story about the evolution of specific characters rather than a team as a whole, and allowing the model itself to be customized and changed on the fly with magnets can be very rewarding.
My friends second Army was Tau (4/5th edition). He magnetized each "hard point" on the crisis suits and every single weapon.
Sometimes he would make lists by passing his suits over the gun pile and going with whatever stuck lol
That's hilarious lmao
I’m starting a Tau army and am planning to go “oops all crisis suits” and that sounds awesome.
@@dragontek2112 oops all crisis is simply the best way to play.
Be farsight enclaves so you can oops 4 suit commanders with an additional detachment :)
I'm actually building a Tau army now. And eventhough the firewarriors and stealthsuits have fixed weapons, I'm considering to use magnets on the Ghostkeel. I guess that would be a good idea then? Anyone experience with this?
Weebs
The best part of magnetizing for me is future-proofing. An example: the upgrade points for my plague marines have changed numerous times since the book came out, and I have been able to play the optimal loadout through each buff and nerf they have received.
Future-proofing, flexibility, cost-saving and more!
I used to think the same.
I magnetized the entirety of my Grey Knights army (all melee and range weapons for every model), 20 vanguard veterans, 10 sternguard veterans (with all the different types of combi-weapons), 20 death company marines, 30 sanguinary guards (among a host of other things)...
Guess where all that pharaonic work as gone in 10th edition....
@@carolineturingds so now you can make your grey knights look cooler. TBH I am only magnetising what I know I would swap play. If I will later need it I will later magnetise it. Not all in one go.
plague marines are so unique and customizable. Its worth imo to have many characters with load outs
I don’t think magnetizing miniatures is a scam, I think buying a bunch of the same miniature to build different load-outs is a scam. As a new Tau player the only thing I’m magnetizing is all my battle-suits, and my hammerhead gunships.
I agree I play kill team and some teams you need to buy multiple boxes to fully play some teams so magnetizing them is super useful.
Solution: Magnetize stuff with crazy wargear options, but only actually assemble and paint the ones you immediately intend to use. That way you CAN change them out later if you want to, but don't have to expend all the effort for those "what if" scenarios.
Yes exactly! As an newbie painter I find that it makes it so much easier to batch paint without the arms on. It also relieves the anxiety of putting the wrong gun on for me because I can get the other guns off the sprues to swap out later.
Ive always thought about magnetizing bigger models but never ended up doing it. I'm that player that goes "this is what the model does" and I just glue it together the way I think it looks coolest.
Brings me peace, here I am trying to magnetize to avoid some firstborn proxy issues with weapons.
Magnets were invented by the magic shiny rocks companies to sell us more magic shiny rocks
Shiny rocks are pretty cool though
@@SquidgyWobble Sounds like something a Magic Shiny Rock Salesmen would say..
It is Known 👍
@@SquidgyWobble that's what big shiny rock wants you to think
@@derisgaming9773shhhhh, don't tell them bro!
I only got into painting miniatures for wanting to paint some dungeons and dragons minis, and started to collect the Warhammer stuff to paint on the side because they seem fun to paint, so I might have a bias in not feeling the need to magnetize weapons, but I do think it is helpful to magnetize based, I like taking one of the metal tins from like the Girl Scouts cookies or playing cards and letting the bases stick to the sides of the tin and that way they don’t really move around during travel, I only really use them for dungeons and dragons xD
I used to do static scale models of planes and cars and I got some warhammer models to try something new.... I'm not 200 bucks in with a 1000 point black templar army lol. I only plan to magnetize the dreadnought, no way id magnetize the space marines.
I'll tell you from experience that magnetizing bases is generally a whole lot easier and quicker than magnetizing weapon options. And yeah, if you're using it for transport and/or storage, there's definitely value there.
My process for bases is generally - Mix up a ball of plumbers epoxy putty. Squish into the bottom of the base. Squish base down on top of magnet on a flat surface. Done. Quick and perfectly flat. Bothering with standardizing polarity is completely optional here. If the base isn't hollow, you might have to drill into it but this is more of an edge case here.
Arm options though? You have to drill a hole for a magnet on the body *and* on the arm. They have to be aligned as perfectly as you can manage. Getting the polarities right is mandatory and prizing out a magnet that you accidentally glued in backwards is a nightmare. The magnets need to be set perfectly flush or they will cause problems. To top it off, arms are one of the easier things to do. What if you're needing to magnetize hands and weapons? They're a lot worse.
The real problem here is that GW pushed the whole 'all models in play must be wysiwyg' to sell dumb kids more models and it *really* stuck hard in a good portion of the gaming community. Truth is that it's absolutely unnecessary but it's not going to go away any time soon.
I've got a ton of Tau Crisis suits. I've magnetized every single weapon/support item. Tossed em in a small tackle box that stays with the army. They're one of the few things I see as "worth" magnetizing.
I mean I paid for those upgrades and just putting them in a bits bag for a rainy day and making me buy more models seems like a bigger "Scam" to me. I also spent 13 hours to hhalf complete my first 15mm scale tank so...
Agreed, buying a whole second squad because you want a different loadout is just ridiculous.
I sometimes also use them on lower detail models. Heads and arms are the things that catch attention, the rest of the body is easily swapped.
But at the same time there is nothing wrong with just telling your opponent this is what this model does though
Magnets definitely have drawbacks, but I like them, even though I wish there was a better solution that had the same effect. I spend 4+ hours painting one model, so it's worth it to just magnetize rather than painting 6 more marines that could take 1-2 weeks to paint.
I also just like the concept of swappable armaments, and it's an interesting thing to have in my collection that you can't just buy from a game shop.
One thing you can do is superglue the weapons on with just a small dab. This will allow you to break the weapons off if you want to change them.
It's more permanent than magnets, but good enough if you're only wanting to swap once every 6 months when the rules change.
@@kirotheavenger60 thats fkin dumb.
@Kirothe Avenger That's a good alternative for sure, I hadn't thought of that.
Something I learned recently that you might already know, is that freezing super glue weakens the bond, but the strength returns when they warm up. It's not useful for on-the-fly arm switching, but it is nice to have a way to separate pieces without feeling like you're going to break anything pulling it apart lol
this ^
Jay: "For me these games are little bit more roleplaying and less competetive"
Also Jay: "Right now I have the perfect loadout for these guys - it is all about the plasma, so I want as much plasma as I can get"
Competetive player in a nutshell😀
I play for the fluff I can write for my warband, the only thing is I actually want them to win from time to time so the fluff isn't just them getting absolutely stomped
Tbf plasma guns are actually fun right now, they feel punchy. The other weapons feel awful to use because they don't damage anything with a toughness higher than a marine
One thing I like about magnets that I haven't seen mentioned is how it allows the figures to be (at least somewhat) poseable. I tend to put the magnets where the arms meet the body, which typically allows for a bigger contact point than wrists so I can use a stronger magnet and minimize the risk of blowing through the model when drilling. This won't work with all models, and there will be times when you don't have the bits to build out two full sets of arms for a model. Once you get your process down, though, I find it can go pretty quickly. More painting time, of course, but a body and four arms is still less painting than two entire models.
Part of the reason I was attracted to Eldar when getting started was that their units had limited wargear options to worry about. The units that do have a lot of options are bigger machine models that you can magnetize pretty easily.
Gw charging so much they should make the minis with slots for magnets and weapon kits from the get go
I love magnetising minis. Never have to worry about choosing the "wrong" option + MASSIVE savings on storage space. 50 minis compared to 10 with magnets might look cool on display but if you have limited space magnets are the way to go. Also, with a bit of practice, magnetising becomes painless. Although, I magnetise necron warriors so I might just be used to the pain.
Agreed. Quality over quantity.
How do you go about storing the weapons and such? Be as descriptive as possible because I’m dumb and I’m also in the hobby
@@ninja_dragon44-35 another commentor mentioned storing magnetized bases and bits in a cookie tin so they don't move around in transport. The magnets on the bases that hold the models, and the magnets on the arm/weapons both hold to the inside of the metal cookie tin. Maybe separate with cardboard dividers and super glue to keep the dividers stable.
Each marine could have a smol little armory stand tho... like in minecraft or Ironman
I am an imperial knight player, for me magnates aren't an option, they are a necessity
I would say you should only magnetize models like large tanks or knights, I actually magnetize a baneblade as it felt like a waste to let all of those parts go to waste and every week I switch out the load out so my eyes never get tried of looks at it.
One aspect of magnetizing that wasn't covered is that sometimes you can magnetize models that have a very large footprint for their mass to make them easier to transport. So things like wings of flying hive tyrants, dragons... or be able to take the torso off something that's very tall so it's more compact. It's useful if you have to go to a game by public transport. Magnets can also be used for making posable models like some action figure though that is mostly for fun... or for holding doors closed in things like tau devilfish..
Other than that I do agree with your points. Generally you should reserve magnets for larger models so you save more on both money and space, also as "in" models change from codex to codex, magnetizing the big models means you can just swap to the current best builds (or not worry bout no longer legal builds) without needing to buy a new model of one you already painted. Infantry is generally not worth it. Crisis suits however are a good idea to magnetize due to the sheer variety you can have.
The only miniatures outside of vehicles I tend to magnetise are HQ units that come with a lot of options like the autarch or new lieutenant, both of which massively benefit from only having to buy one kit while keeping all the options especially considering (at least with the autarch) you can only take one per army list. Though at least with my autarch that ended up being an even bigger task than I was initially expecting given the 3 head options, 3 back pack options and 8 weapon options.
You can take a second lieutenant with the first and he doesn't take up a slot.
For me it’s kill team
I think, if you can fit them, magnets can be handy for smaller games like Killteam. It is handy to swap over very specific thing.
I'm still newish to the hobby and have yet to play a game but this is how I've been thinking about it. My big Grey Knight army I'll tell what each unit does if its not WYSIWYG and smaller kill teams I'll magnetize to give it more of a "specialist" feel
i'm pretty organized also as a player and love to fiddle with builds no matter if its in warhammer, D&D or PC games.
BUT i only magnetize big models and even here not much.
As a Tau player magnets are a must
Stumbled across this video when looking up a tutorial on magnetising Imperial Knights. I’m glad to hear that most of the issues you raise with magnets only apply to little guys, and that it is definitely worthwhile for big boys.
For infantry arms, i've found that blu-tack works just as well, if not better than magnets.
The hold is plenty strong, and they resist spinning, unlike magnets
cheaper, easier, and better, imo
Only downside is that for it to hold well, you have to be able to give it a good firm squish, so no super fragile or pointy stuff i guess
You got me good with the bit about the Harlequins, I play them in Kill Team and even I don't know what their weapons are. I actually just paint the ribbons and hair differently to tell the weapon loadouts apart at a glance.
Magnetizing bases made sense back in the day for Warhammer Fantasy, where lining up your models in tight base-to-base blocks was a pain in the neck without them.
I have a magnetized knight. It took ages. The next knight I do will not be. It will have the one loadout I use most often.
5:05 „they all take up room on the display shelf.“
And in a carrying case. When I went to my flgs to get in some games, I wanted to have options. So I magnetised to quickly shake up my lists. Bringing a whole additional dreadnought wasn’t feasible with my carrying case, regardless of what an extra model costs.
I also like magnetising as an open end to new painting experiences. I magnetised option 1 and played games with it, a fully painted army. When I wanted to change up the list, I didn’t have to paint a whole new mini, just an arm or a weapon. Much faster and easier to do!
Also, each edition change brings with it a nerf to the weapon loadout you would have glued on, so magnetising somewhat future proofs your painting effort 😅
When gaming switched to my place, I did end up making a lot of additional models just to have the options fixed and ready. When space was no issue, avoiding magnets rose to prominence, no doubt.
I initially began magnetizing every model that I could, and it was easy enough and all that outside being a bit time consuming but my biggest issue was storage of the extra weapon bits. It didnt take too many kits till I had pieces for all sorts of models loosy goosy and no matter how well I try to label/store them it just became a logistical nightmare.
I started Tyranids in the fall of 2022. For Tyranids I think it's worth it. I got burnt bad with the warrior nerf and have magnetized since. Certain models I haven't but for models like the carnifexes, warriors and tyrant I would magnetize now
That's an impressive paint job you have on those guys. Definitely shows how dedicated you are to these men and the stories you craft for them.
I magnetized my rubric marines to have the option of choosing the inferno bolter or the warpflamer. I also magnetized my Forgefiend to have the option of making it a Maulerfiend instead. In that case, if you choose one over the other, that's so much wasted plastic!
I think though that this is easily solvable if GW puts magnet sockets into its models as part of the molding process. It gives you the option rather than having to drill out a hole and risk damaging the model.
Did you do the full magnetization on the Fiend? My friend did 3 of them. I think he said each one had 48 magnets because they switch from an animalistic stance to a centaurian stance.
Totally did the same with my deathwatch team too. After I finished, decided to just get the extra models on following teams. Hard agree on doing vehicles. Extremely satisfying to snap on options.
I haven’t magnetized any of my 40k stuff, but in my Warmachine/Hordes days, I did it pretty often. The warjack and warbeast kits were some of the easiest magnetizations ever - the arms were independent so you could swap them at the shoulder without worrying about the alignment, and the different arm/head options defined different models. A single Warpwolf kit could be magnetized as a Stalker, Feral, or Pureblood and each had their own uses.
For 40k, I feel like magnetization is less important, when there’s more emphasis on having a robust bits box for future kitbashes. Those leftover maces from my Celestian Sacresants are an easy way to give a power maul to a sister superior later down the line. I like my Squad leaders to have some visual distinction and identity.
My fiance and I play mostly kill team, we each selected a couple teams, and if they have options, I magnetized them. Outside of that she plays Drukhari and I play tau for 40k, we magnetize everything that is feasable to help cut cost of buying whole other kits. For example all 6 of my Tau Hammerheads can be skyrays or devilfish if needed. Her Ravagers can be Raiders if needed. We have planned dates of when we play, 40k once a month, kill team every week. Gives us plenty of time to set up and what have you.
I’m just starting a Black Templar army and I used to pay back in the day (Battle for Macragge) and was thinking of magnetizing the units. This is a great video with good pros and cons. Would love to see how you magnetise your units though.
I haven’t magnetized anything in my current collection.
My venerable dreadnought can friction fit bit different arms so I have those all painted even though I’ve only played one way. I can friction fit a few other vehicle things in the space marine range I have.
The only thing I think I’d work on magnetizing in the future is if I bought myself a Knight just because that can be a massive change for any option. And even then, it would need to be the imperial knight kit, because the chaos kit only has a few options anyway. Maybe allow the desecrator to swap between his sword and claw.
Totally agree! Magnets are small and fiddly and I don't want to mess with them on tiny models. if I want to have all the options, i'd rather just buy an extra box of troops and make them with all the options so they can ride the pine on the bench until I need that weapon. Vehicles and large models, on the other hand.... I have magnetized two Annihilation/Command Barges and I magnetized the head and weapons of my Forgefiend. I kind of love the ease of swapping those around as I wish. But, those are big models with big magnets.
It's stupidly cheaper to magnetize. I have a small necron army only supported by the little money I have as a student. So I don't magnetize the small units.
But a full magnetized ghost/doomsday ark is bliss. The magnets cost me 10€. A second set, needed to get the second model is 54€ in the online shop. (There are still options for 40€ but still).
So monetary, magnets are great
Bro says this and then magnetizes everything
I do find magnets a good use. But for dreads , tanks and knights . But gw is making their stuff better for weapon change
Fully agree. On figures, they don’t hold arm position, they fall off in the box, and I end up gluing them in position or buying more units for “the other loadout”.
I really like using them with my dreadnoughts and armigers, I use a stack of strong magnets and everything is poseable like an action figure, but stays put…a little layer of blue tack in the joint if I really want it to hold a position.
Recently I magnetise only big stuff (vehicles etc) and stuff I want to be able to break apart for transport. I keep my Ultramarines bits inside Impulsor (didn't glue the top lid) and Rhino. So you can make your own 'jewellery box'.
I use a display shelf for my spare parts too it’s just has arms all sticking out I used a small wood frame and made it stand so I can display my models behind the frame with all my spare arms . It might be weird but I like it and that’s all that matters at the end of the day so it is worth it .
Spending a little amount of money for some magnets and a cheap fruitbox with a metalinsert instead of a expensive transportbox isn't that bad of a deal...But magnetizing weaponarms...nope! (And as an Orkplayer I have every possible option already on one of my countless boys...😂)
I was actually searching for "how to magnetize space marines" when this showed up. As a total noob, I appreciate the insight. I'll only bother for the more unique units that I can't decide which look l like best.
Magnetizing is a diminishing returns situation, a game like Warmachine or MechWarrior where you may want to do swap outs or pay at a larger scratch built scale. Once you get to smaller models with large counts you no longer really need to do that nor would want to. Though magnetizing a couple of things like dreadnaughts, tanks, and commanders if you tend to switch up your lists a little depending upon opponent. find the balance between effort and usefulness. I think on Kill team or if you want to rekindle 54 or 72mm kill team magnets are almost a must.
What's your opinion on magnets on the bottom of the bases for organizing your armys?
Im building my first model ever and its a hive tyrant. Im magnetizing for every variant. Im one day in. My magnets arrive tomorrow. All the pieces are ready to be magnetized. Just need to drill and place, everything that CAN be glued together without issue is glued together… itll be done and primed tomorrow. It doesn’t take long at all. Being able to make my hive tyrant a single wing if i choose for aesthetic just makes it so much more worthwhile.
I feel like a good option for quick readability would be Stat Icons that could be attached to the bases, i dunno if this is already a thing but i feel like it should be
Stats change a lot and it ruins the cinematic tabletop look but SW legion has unit cards which achieve this well from the side of the table so you can always reference it easily.
For comp. play, WYSIWYG is not optional. You have to have on the model whatever it is armed with. For magnetizing kits, it future proofs your armies, magnets are cheaper than additional boxed sets, painting a few extra arms takes less time than painting up a bunch of duplicate models with differing weapons, and having 50+ models on your shelf that you never get to play with all at once (outside of certain narrative games) represents a bunch of “wasted” time painting for certain folks.
For certain models it is impossible, but for the majority of figs, it makes sense.
The tau commander in coldstar/enforcer has about 7 small magnetization options. It was a lot of work and I'm not looking forward to doing it again for the enforcer variant!
I choose the models and loadout that I like the look of, then glue it together and stick with it. I don't buy and paint models for the sake of the rules. What you said at 9:26 resonates. Let's just get to playing!
Same. I have magnetized things, but I've never magnetized everything, but magging up a few key things can allow you to tailor your force up just a bit versus hordes or tankspam.
Never bothered with magnets on anything outside of dreadnoughts etc.
Too small/fiddly for me
I'm with you on not wanting to magnetize every orc/goblin/space marine in an army, and I definitely agree that vehicles are great for magentizing. Where I differ a bit is that I feel like the small combat games like Kill Team, Warcry, or old Mordheim are perfect for magnets, not so much to swap out for the perfect set every game as to let me upgrade my guys over time. I will be much happier about upgrading "Fred" to carry a different gun if I can just swap out his arm rather than having to swap to a different figure - because that won't seem like it is still "Fred". I probably wouldn't actually magnetize & paint the new arm until I actually needed it, though.
If the choise in time to my hobby is:
Will I paint my mini's or magnetise them?
Magnetising all of them. This hoby is already expensive enough. Having to buy+paint a second (or third) unit just to field the one corect one to this edition's meta is a fail to me. If you are not playing competetive or toornaments, well whatever rocks your boat I guess. For me, having options is were chaff and wheat are separated.
I feel you can get the best of both worlds. I magnetize the model and the option I want at the time, paint it up, the rest of the kit gets the put into boxes in an orderly fashion. If the "best" option changes, and I'm about to go to a tourney, I pull the option out of the box, paint it up, done. No "frontloading" all the painting till it's necessary.
For placing magnets, place the magnets on an already magnetized piece like the torso of a marine, "slice" one off off the stack using an exacto blade, and press the magnet into the drillhole of the to-be-magnetized arm. Helps with the orientation as well.
I always build units with express purposes
eg. a squad of Marines for anti-infantry, a squad of Marines for anti-elites, a squad of Marines for anti-vehicles, etc.
I haven't magnetised anything yet, but the only things I would consider magnetising are larger units, like Crisis Suits, vehicles, and Knights, because those are (with the exception of Crisis Suits) units you would only take 1-2 of at most, so it's better to have them be flexible rather than buying another $200 Knight to have one with slightly different weapons
I play Salamanders so it is almost never really a choice, I'm going for the flame weapon if the model's got one!
If GW made their kits like gundams where you have peg, hole connector and some articulation like a Gundam, but not as extreme as gundam, you can easily just swap out arm and legs with no issue. Gundam artifact is the smaller scale version that does this.
I think gw current push fit models prove they're not quite at the engineering level yet
That's how the ork meganobz hand are connected to the model. You can easily change out the hands to have whatever loadout you want.
@Nyall Leary didn't know about that GW already tried this. Maybe the can contract with Bandai to develop something like this since they have the peg and hole designed correct and gundams are extremely kit bash friendly.
@@nyallleary1643 you would think that with how good GW is at pegging their customer's wallets, they would have better peg connected models
@@bacawaka2813 The reason we even had Easy to Build kits in the first place *was* the cooperative tech transfer GeeDubs got from Bandai when they re-launched their Japanese branch. They even got the Bandai Space Marine series of action figures to show for it before GeeDubs contracted it out to McFarlane after the initial lot.
I mainly play HH and i love magnet !
Of course there are great for vehicules and Dread but i also use them for little guys,
I don't want to paint 50 support marines when i'll ever only play 15 maximum for exemple.
Also they are great for safely transporting banners.
Do like I did in bloodbowl with skills.
Paint a coloured band on the black base... You can pretty much do this 5min before you play and its very quick and you can scrape off the paint after.
Thank you, this was a wonderful talk. I am now thinking more on my magnetizing for the future, thank you again.
You guys are thinking way more than I do.
I get a kit, get a idea and build it. Sometimes I can't even take them on tabletop but they look so cool.
As a new player, I didn't think of magnetising every weapon and arm. But definitely did for an imperial knight, I can't afford to buy one for each configuration there is.
Honestly I am glad someone with an audience is saying this. I have been of a similar opinion for years. I get tired of having to defend my stance all the time.
I appreciate your point however I play hh white scars and it is so much easier to have say ten guys that can do missile launchers or autocannons; painting a new squad would take me over my marine limit for my brotherhood so Id be trying to paint and sculpt the same details or paint them as an attached unit which is not as cool
It depends on the game system. A game like Adeptus Titanicus is the best candidate for magnets, for the Titans at least. A typical army will only entail 5 or so titans for most people so making sure the expensive models are as customisable as possible is a good idea. Same goes for Titans at larger scale, seeing as each arm weapon can cost over £100 on a Warlord, which itself costs over £1000 without weapons.
I've been doing the same thing with my minis: Just 50-50 on the options. Just slap the guys with the correct weapons to the front of the block for that WYSIWYG, if you got that big of a rules lawyer as an opponent. But painting an army that is arguably a rag-tag team of monsters, I don't exactly expect them to file into neat rows with identical weaponry on each.
I actually really enjoy using magnets in my minis. The time it takes me to install the magnets ( now that I have it figured out) is far, far less than the time it would take me to by another set of minis, clean and assembly them, build alternate load outs, and paint them to match my current team.
Exactly this. To me it's not so much as having options, it's that if I need to swap my loadout in the future because of a change, I don't have to built and repaint an entire new model, just an arm or two at most.
I will engineer and install the magnets, and then I will only paint the one that I use, for me the painting is the part I'd rather skip unless I need to swap that part, then I will see a need to paint it.
Hey Jay, guys here.
My plan is to only magnetize units like Paragon warsuits where I might swap out different weapons. Other units aren't worth it or requires shifting around units etc.
If I'm taking a battle sister squad with a heavy weapon model, it's most likely a multi-melta as the rest of the squad can deal with chaff, the multi-melta for heavy/armour.
Paragon warsuits however can be used in so many ways for no extra cost (except +10points per model with multi-melta)
My first brush with magnets was 5th and by extention WarmaHordes. Then i can see it made a little more sense because there were scenarios where you could run a squad where everyone had the same weapon but the sprue only came with one, so you needed bits and with the meta things could shift. Nowadays the sprue comes with your max options and needing to get the most bang for your buck seems less necessary. Theres a lot of times I look at a box, make them all the normal troop, then take another box and make them all the different special options.
Who am I kidding, I model rule of cool and i think half my guys are technically illegal.
I primarily play IG and AdMech, I don't magnetize individual guardsmen or skitarii, but I absolutely magnetize vehicles, I don't have storage space for 35 Leman Russ tanks, but I can manage 9 or 10, plus it future proofs me for edition changes/data slates
Dreadnoughts get magnets at the waist and weapons, missiles on top are magnetized. For me I like them to swivel to face the enemy in game and modelling is a big part of the hobby for me. Plus weapon options are fun. Vehicle weapons are magnetized, mainly for weapon destroyed in game. I just did 20 Cataphractii and did hidden magnets for fulmentarus missiles on top as it allows me to do Command squad/terminator squad/fulmentarus, but none of the weapons are magnetized. Smaller troops I very very rarely magnetize. My Warhound is also magnetized at the waist for the same reason as dreadnoughts - for posing it. I also magnetized the carapace Covers as I have a red LED set up for the eyes(pew pew). I actually used large bolts for the weapon arms instead as I liked the look of them. P. S. Ceramic tweezers really help.
I agree on vehicles completely. Heavy weapons squads tend to all blend into each other but it’s even though I’m not huge into wysiwyg I think vehicles take up so much space visually it’s nice when they are what they have equipped.
That and GW pricing is crazy and there’s no way I’m doubling up on these just to use a different statlinr
I put magnets on most models but only build one option. It's future proofing, when the options change I paint up new weapons/arms and the old ones go into a drawer until they are needed again.
I’m a Tyranids player- gants I’m not worried about magnetizing. But my warriors and my hive tyrant I have a lot of fun magnetizing all of their options. Same thing for my harpy, magnetizing big models like a harpy makes it so much easier and safer to transport.
If it’s easy to magnetize like Tau crisis weapons or tank guns I’m in. Complete arms and wrists on every model? No way.
a friend of mine had a similar problem. he also started a deathwatch killteam, then put them back on his todolist. now he returnd to finish the team and is per new rules 1 marine short for a full team
Ive never used magnets (dont have any either), but ive always thought vehicles would be the perfect place for them. Luckily the dreadnaught i have you can just slap the arms off and on for options, and sometimes I wish more models had the tiny lil arm connection points for weapons to slide onto like that. It also seems pretty easy to keep the weapons on vehicles not glued down in general, sure they might jiggle a bit while moving them but at least I can choose which option I want (and when it gets destroyed just like with magnets just take the cannon off). Space marines seem really easy to magnetize (and most elite armies or elite choices like battlesuits) but with also not really playing the tabletop right now, and no real plans to in the future, all that extra work for a weapon swap that will never get used on my lil guys seems a bit of a waste for my collection lol
Having Tau as my main army, I do appreciate having hot-swappable weapons so my tanks and battle suits are WYSWIG on that table. But it's a pain in the ass to do, it does take a tremendous amount of time, and they can sometimes fall off when I move them around. And that was just battle suits and vehicles, I didn't attempt magnetizing infantry.
Plus a magnetized weapon never looks as good as one glued in place. For painting and display, zero magnets deliver a far superior visual aesthetic.
Having swappable parts on a model youre supposed to glue together is super scummy. Magentizing seems weird but id rather that than waste my money on duplicates of a 100+ dollar model
It's really going to be a personal preference. I'm an OCD maniac so I love magnetizing my units, but only if it's worth the extra effort. Weapons I'll do my best with for smaller units. Obviously if they don't make smaller magnets for what I'm trying to accomplish then I'd just try to find someone with extras or get another set. Larger units are definitely a must. From experience I put together a Dunecrawler before I knew about magnetizing and couldn't go back to changing it without damaging it. The way I think of it is, get what you can out of how much you pay. Everyone knows this hobby is expensive, so I would push each kit to it's limit before buying another set, unless you know exactly what you want. It's just always good to have options out of 1 box, or you could go the cheap route and build whatever looks good and tell your opponent, this unit has such n such.
I don't tend to magnetise, but right now with the current project on the table I am magnetising the Leviathan Dread, Contemptor and a close to dozen tanks (and a scenic base for a FW model). I wont be magnetising anything smaller than a Dread though, my fingers don't let me get that fiddley anymore.
I magnetized my Leviathan... Only to find out that I should have put them in the shoulders not the elbows. So now I have a second Leviathan for punching things.
@@kenupton4084 yup in the same boat as you there except I'm going all out and making some extra parts to make sure the whole lot gets used.
The Magnets are more for ITC Tournaments and GW tournaments. Since WYSIWYG is what your army is supposed to be. For local games it’s ok to use proxy. So it does matter depending what you are doing.
I think magnetizing is just fun. I magnetized my Tzaangors, a horde troop, but honestly it was easier that you'd think. The weapons, hands, arms, and chest of the miniature is all one single piece. All I need to do is put magnets on either side of the inside of the chest, so it's magnetization with no drilling required. I did this because they have quite a few wargear options between 40k and AoS, so I wanted some flexibility. Already it's sort of paid off, with in 40k them making the Brayhorn and Herd Banner free now, so I now can just go over, pull of some arms, and swap in arms that have the horn/banner.
Magnets are useful on units that you only intend to purchase in small numbers. With units that you are purchasing in larger amounts then you can typically just piece together whatever wargear options you need from the different units.
It's worth it for some people in some cases. I like painting my models more than playing, if I magnetize I get to paint and work on all the weapons and parts I have. That all said... honeslty not that bad magnetizing, I mean... dremmel a hole here, dremmel a hole there, you can do it in like five minutes per mini, pop of super glue, and you're good. Now you do have to wait enough time for that to dry before painting and working on them again, but that's rarely an issue for me, I have some unptainted primed minis always sitting around to work on whenever I have a bit of down time on other things.
This all said, I honestly don't magnetize all that much. A big vehicle, sure by all means do it. But most normal infantry, between a normal gun or a rocket launcher... I'd just take the rocket launcher. Still, between a big shoota and rocket launcher ya now there's an argument... but I can also just have both of those and drop a normal boy. For me that's fine, for some who don't have enough money and every model they have is valuable then it's worth it to have that option, for me who almost never really plays with them... it's just for the painting. I mean... once I finish painting it's not like I randomly go and swap out the weapons that often when they are sitting there posed on my shelf as an army, so it's not like I even really use it often. But oh well, just my thoughts as more of a painter than a player for the games. As a kid when I got into it I didn't have reliable transport so barely got any games in then, new codex and editions came out, I didn't want to buy them with kids money so stopped and just ignored it for a few years and now... well, like said I paint for fun rather than playing now that I got back into modeling a bit. I magnetize when it's fun or seems to allow more flexibility, or just a nice challenge to do or whatever now. So I also have a different perspective like you, but to put my broad thoughts simply. Magnetizing is NOT a scam or something you should stop, if you do it and like it, then keep it up. If you never bothered and don't care, don't bother.
I did this for all my Ghunstrock Thunderers and endrinrigger, It's really not that useful because no one exept KO player will know a Rivet gun from an aethermatic pistol. But it's just so fun, I like painting them because they look cool. And I like changing the equipment of my dude, it's so cool. Also I don't have to paint the shoulder multiples times, the weapons juste have a little piece of arm. I don't even play ! I don't think i'm gonna do this for the other ones though.
Couldn't agree more. All the time I'm spending magnetizing I could be painting or building. I've never magnetized any minis I own. All those extra bits are for kitbashing! Duh! The only thing I could see there being a use for is a Knight, where the model is very expensive, and changing the loadout drastically changes how the model is played.
rule of thumb is terminators and up. not for troopy guys, if you want all the weapon options just get more guys cause its cool to have more of them. looks better to have more troops than other stuff on the shelf and table. magnetizing devastators in theory would be good but its too tricky with the different backpacks and cables and personally i like having lots of devastators anyway. if you are making a Killteam without a 40k army behind it to pull from then magnetizing makes sense since you will only have a few guys to do anyway and potentially many weapon options for more diverse loadouts.
When I tell people to magnetize (or magnetize myself), it's meant as: Build your model with ONE option with magnets. This way if the meta shifts and I need a different loadout, I can magnetize and paint another set of arms and am ready faster and cheaper than buying a whole different model.
If you have a problem with gluing the magnets, use clingwrap inbetween two magnets. Handle the magnet on one side, while the glue goes onto the magnet on the other side. Once the glue is set, the clingwrap usually comes off easily...or if not, it's so thin that you won't notice it.
I think it’s worth magnetizing large models like tanks, special characters etc. individual infantry is a stretch and maybe a long term goal at the bottom of the to do list if you feel like it :)
i only magnetized stealth suits and up as a tau player. when it comes to the squads i just mix and match and if they have a sword i just add it to their backs and its implied they could also use the sword. i mainly magnetize the bases so i can transport them
The models, especially for large groups on units like necron warriors, should just be build in a way that it's easy to just push fit/pull out the weapon to change it out without breaking anything, and the guns can go on any of them, not where the arms are connect to the gun so that one arm will only fit on two of the twenty warriors, so even if you keep those arms you're not likely to store them in a way you can match the arms to the warriors even if you keep the extra weapons around.
Spending 10 minutes (it doesn't take that long, just being extreme here) to magnetize one model beats spending an hour plus painting an entirely new model. I don't paint the extra loadouts/arms unless I need them. Not to mention you likely would have to buy another set just for one weapon swap or spend time looking in used groups to see who is willing to sell you the exact model loadout you are looking for.
You need to use some nice magnets with decent strength and use the right tools (burrs and drill bits as needed) but it's super easy with just a bit of practice and it usually don't have to be completely perfect thanks to large shoulder pads covering the area. It feels like a pain at times (I feel it for sure) but it's worth the time, effort, and money one would have to spend otherwise to get that different loadout.
My opinion on magnetization is that it 100% depends on the unit/model. Like you said, vehicles are usually worth it, but I also think it can be worth magnetizing heroes/HQ models since its only 1 model at a time and they're meant to stand out a bit anyways. When it comes to repeatable infantry like guardsmen and orks its usually better just just have more of them, but if its something like a dreadnought or monster with different options, like vehicles I think they're large enough for it to be worth it. It can also be worth it for smaller games like killteam for a couple of reasons. First, its much more feasible to kitbash and convert a small team of really customized models but it might actually be easier to magnetize their parts instead of trying to completely recreate completely new and unique additions to your team, especially if there's a lot of lore and roleplay going on. Second, it can be fun to tell a story about the evolution of specific characters rather than a team as a whole, and allowing the model itself to be customized and changed on the fly with magnets can be very rewarding.
Hey are there any "crates" STL files on your patreon? They would make great thematic storage for all your spare bits!