I have to say, I’m not massively sold on the plastics in the main set. I don’t think the technology is that well-suited to true-25s, and they don’t really have much detail.
That said, I think these would make a fun unit of mutated greenskin slaves for a Chaos Dwarf army:
Scarred by the Hell-forges, perhaps?
There are also some new-style warg riders. Don’t like the poses, but they’re pleasingly multi-part, so it would be quite easy to give them Gnoblar heads instead:
I think “Goblin Town” also has some potential uses:
All in all, an interesting, if mixed, release. The main thing really is I’m now more excited for the movie.
Does anyone know something about the rules? Are they going to be compatible with LOTR or this is a complete new game system?
Also, I remember that ages ago (when I still was wargaming and going to tournaments) it was forbidden to mix Warhammer and LOTR bits. The ban is still standing or it has been dropped during the ages?
It’s the same game system. I just got the new White Dwarf - they refer to the generic system as “The Strategy Battle Game” now and are advertising the old supplements alongside the new models.
I’d imagine the ban on mixing Hobbit and WHFB/40K parts in GW stores and events will be even more strictly enforced, now that they’re part of a Hollywood promotional machine again.
The size will of course be the same as for the existing Lotr range, although I’d have liked a 28mm realistic range from the start instead of the current 25mm. Many of the miniatures are odd or disappointing. I’ll still buy some, but extensive conversions are needed for the gobbos to fit alongside the Moria ones, and the Dwarves will need adjustments such as bigger beards.
The scaffolding will be useful for Chaos Dwarf slave mines, but it should be bought alongside the starter box, otherwise it is all too expensive.
@Skink: That is true, and even the bones scattered upon the scaffolding is simple to do in green stuff. But it’s still a nice extra if one buys the starter box.
I’d be interested in picking up the rule book… But $100? Seriously?
zobo1942
Why buy a rulebook when a slimmer one is included in the starter set? Whilst expensive, that one is still worth its price.
I really liked the look of ‘goblin town’ for use in Mordheim untill I saw the price… �,�45 for such a small and bland piece of scenery? Thanks, I’ll build my own from balsa-strips methinks…
I think their prices for the new releases are a bit high in my opinion, but I expect them to sell well though.
The gobbo weaponry is better than I remembered it to be, but boy will these require a treatment to have them as Lotr figures in the collection. At least they’re perfect for Ghouls or CD slaves.
As for the prices, oh gawds! I think it is cheaper to buy foot characters from FW than from GW.
Putting on my cynics’ hat (note: hat is actually a fully-enclosed helmet welded shut and cannot be removed): they can charge what they want for these. Not just because of market forces, but because the whole idea of these figures (and the LOTR ranges before them) is to ensnare new hobbyists with tie-in products for what will doubtless be a hugely successful movie event. And these will be people who may never have had any contact with GW products before - they’ll have no idea what they should be worth and, with no preconceptions about pricing, they can push them up a little further if they want.
I understand that - I’m just a little disappointed in both the prices and the way the miniatures look (especially the ‘goblins’ and trolls). If that is what the characters in the movie look like… well, I may skip going to the theatre to see the movie entirely.
Which is a shame, because I’ve been looking forward to seeing this movie for two years.
I understand that - I'm just a little disappointed in both the prices and the way the miniatures look (especially the 'goblins' and trolls). If that is what the characters in the movie look like... well, I may skip going to the theatre to see the movie entirely.
Which is a shame, because I've been looking forward to seeing this movie for two years.
zobo1942
Well, I don't actually think they look that bad! I think that they nailed the look of the Hobbit for what concerns characters... I always imagined the Hobbit to have a more "fairy tale" atmosphere compared to the "darker" setting of LOTR...
I always imagined the Hobbit to have a more "fairy tale" atmosphere compared to the "darker" setting of LOTR...
Skink
I think this is an important point (or, as "important" as any discussion about Tolkein film adaptations can be...). The Hobbit is only nominally, retroactively, in the same universe as The Lord of the Rings. It's a kids' story and, for the hell of it, Tolkein threw in a few names and places from the expansive legendarium he was writing as a home for his invented languages. Then he wrote the Lord of the Rings which explicitly connected them by canonically putting Hobbits into the same world as the Silmarillion and Sauron and Gondor and all that - something not originally intended.
So I think it's fine for the film version to be a bit different, to have a more outlandish, grotesque aesthetic (which is also obviously down to Guillermo del Toro's early involvement) which resembles more a story told to entertain and frighten children. I think Bilbo relating the story to Frodo is even the framing device in the movie. The Hobbit isn't about world-ending wars: it's a kind of silly, low-stakes adventure across a magical land. Loathsome, mutated Goblins who are less a culture than bogeymen obstacles are perfectly appropriate. More than LOTR, The Hobbit is "just a story".
I realize that the figures are based on the movie images - thanks for taking the time to point that out, Thommy. (?)
I was hoping it ‘The Hobbit’ hadn’t been ‘del Toro-ed’, but it appears it has - which is not what I was hoping for. Oh, well - at least it saves me what going to the theatre would cost me.
Regarding use of LotR and WH/40k pieces, originally you couldn’t mix and match and use them at GW/GW events. More recently, it’s become that you can do it, but aren’t allowed to win prizes and/or have photographs taken and published. As to what they’ll do regarding it when the newest set comes out, I have no idea.
The rules are another update with soe new things thrown in. Much like Return of the King updated the rules in Two Towers and One Rulebook updated the Return of the King book.
Ah, so there appears to be a new Weta Workshop team member who has influenced this drastic deviation from the obviously necessary continuity with the Lotr trilogy’s style. That’s a pity, especially since I could have enjoyed this rather grotesque style very much in another setting than Tolkien’s Middle-Earth. I still like a few of the new design elements, but I have no high expectations for these movies.
I hope it will turn out fine in the end anyhow, with a decent to great Battle for Five Armies which feature well done human, dwarf, elf and orc/goblin forces. I also hope that the rumours about dwarf berzerkers mounted on wild boars is a joke and nothing more.
Anyhow, it’s quite liberating that GW run no tournaments here in Sweden, since it’s open field for anyone wanting to mix in Lotr, Mantic, AoW or Titan wargames bits and models. Heck I wouldn’t even be able to field my CDs on a GW tournament, and a few Undead players would have had a hard time replacing all the Lotr miniature spirit hosts and other unit entries. Since I’ll use some of those bloated gobbo ghouls as mutated and damaged Greenskin slaves in a CD army, that’s a relief.
