Musing over models, or has 40K given itself the shaft?

I sit and look at the new Vampire Counts models, and am very impressed with what they are releasing. The Coven Throne/ Mortis engine is amazing. The Zombie Dragon/Terrorgeist is stellar. The big ghouls, the new cavalry and Krell are all pretty good. These almost make me want to play Warhammer Fantasy.

Then I look back at the last few fantasy releases and notice they all have some great new models. The Ogre Thundertusk/Stonehorn, the Tomb King Necrosphinx and Sepulchral Stalkers, the Orc/Goblin Arachnarok spider, the Savage Orcs with all their bones and stones, the River Trolls, the Skaven Doomwheel, the Screaming Bell and the Hell Pit Abomination; are all models that peak my gaming interest. I then look at the last few 40K releases and am struck by how lame they are in comparison. 

Now this is new and looks ok....

vs.



..............but this is fracking amazing!



The Necrons are the new army, but there isn’t much in the release that blows my mind. Yeah they have new stuff, but noting in comparison to the Fantasy models. The Grey Knights gave us the Dreadknight, which I found a bit of a push. I liked the idea but the baby seat looking pilot does not impress. The new kit for the basic troops is nice, but not shocking. The Dark Eldar does have the Talos and the Scourges. Both of these are cool looking and almost make me want to play games with them. Their new model line is great, so they seem to be the exception. The Blood Angels gave us new infantry kits, Dreadnaughts and the Stormraven. These were neat, but to me not super awesome. I almost forgot the Trygon. This was the only real cool model made from the Tyranid codex. Some of these models were not even in the initial wave released with the codex. That is another problem all on its own. Still when it comes to new models; why is Fantasy getting better and 40K falling behind?

Maybe it is a perspective thing. I know my likes are different so maybe I’m not seeing the coolness of new 40K stuff. I think it is the fact we 40K players love us some power armored goons and there is only so much you can do with that. Power armor has a look and all of it is similar. Sure it can be dressed up with bits and bobs, but it is still looks like power armor. The new 40K stuff does look good and it is so much better than before, but it just doesn’t pop my mind grapes.  Hell, the last real 40K stuff I was floored by was the Space Hulk Terminators. Those guys are awesome! It is a shame they were for a board game.

Maybe fantasy is just easier to do than sci-fi. There seems to be limitations to how weird the distant future can be. These are limitations that the Warhammer world need not worry about. Fantasy players should relish in the fact their armies are getting this stuff. The look of each force is different and the model designers are doing a great job of exploiting that.

40K stuff is good, but can it get to that eye bugging, headshaking, or mouth dropping level of the newer Fantasy releases?