Cave Drake: Incredible sculpt, but it's damn expensive
Kings Champion: I love that sculp, it's a real warrior of old (but I would like it mor if it would come like the other lotr sets)
Floi Stonehand Blister Pack: Well, I don't know him but I it's ok
Gundabad Blackshields: Like them, just the white paintwork makes them a bit odd, like it that they are all helmed; like the spears to, but not the shields, those are... Not that cool
Gundabad command 1: Great! Both are good sculpt and I really like the captain pose (just maybe some outstanding paintwork will do it)
Command 2: I like the sculpts quite much, because they reflect the alan lee goblins that we see in the book.

Conclusion: good models, but the price will raise defenitatly

_________________
We must forgive our enemies...
But not before they are hanged

Pretty good stuff. Nothing earth shaking. Nothing that will make me run out to buy them. But nothing horrible either. Means I will probably find it in my heart to complete my Angmar/Misty Mountains (ie, Gundabad and the remnant of Angmar in the Late Third Age) army between now and Christmas.

Considering some of the more egregious things GW have done in the past, I shall have to give credit where credit is due.

_________________
Dreaming of getting back to painting...any month now.

That drake is such a nice sculpt!

The rest is ok, not really great, but not really bad either. However, does that goblin carry a drum with a flattened dwarf on it?O.o

Rueben

_________________
"Mickey, my friend!"

I hadn't really looked at the second banner bearer propaerly because he wasn't fully pictured and I assumed it was showing the other side of the banner. Why on Earth would anybody buy a "commander" box set to get 2 banners and a single King's Champiuon? Dwarfs are far more likely to take Shieldbearers than Banner Bearers, although usually both. It seems like such a jip that Rohan/Minas Tirth etc get a Commander, Musican, Banner trio and Easterlings get a Dragon Knight, Warrior Priest, Banner combo and Dwarfs get two banners and the King's Champion... For a HIGHER price... Well, that's put me out of buying that box. Will see if I can pick up the singular of the King's Champion elsewhere.

Not sure if I commented on the Moria Shaman before, but I think he looks a lot closer to how he should, however, I hate that he looks bog-eyed and unable to control either his thoughts or mouth...

You get the champion and 2 banners because in WotR the 3 models make up the single unit on a 60mm base.

I actually really like the Blackshields, maybe with the exception of the standard bearer (looks more like a shaman or something). I like the big warg-skin cloaks, and they look suitably heavily armored but still keep the goblin aesthetic with the helmet and sword designs. Overall very cool, in my opinion, and a good execution of the "elite goblin" concept. I'll probably pick up a few. At first I was a little turned off by the dwarf-skin drum, but the idea has grown on me, and even though it's a bit extreme for the somewhat more sedate, "realism" of LotR (compared to Warhammer, for instance), it also seems like something the Misty Mountains goblins might do anyways. Having it strapped to his head like that, on the other hand, seems very impractical and a little silly.

The dwarves are pretty cool, too, and while the double standards in the King's Champion pack isn't necessarily especially useful for us SBG players, I still think the idea of the champion with running around with two banner bearers is kinda cool and works out OK in my opinion. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, they do with these guys for SBG. In WotR, is Floi Stonehand a magic-user? That would be new ground for dwarves, certainly!

The Cave Drake is OK, in my opinion. I like that it comes with a hatchling to decorate the base, and the overall model is cool, although I'm not too big on the horns/whiskers, or whatever they are.

_________________
Well, that's my 2 cents.

It is good to see some new releases for the LotR range, and I am very happy to see some new dwarves. My judements:

Drake: Good sculpt, well painted, and looks to me like it would fit in with the rest of the LotR range.

Dwarf Champion set: I've never really liked these two-weapon holding models, but I think this one seems to be growing on me. The banners look horrible though, so I don't think I will be picking up this set.

Floin: I like this model. I have wanted to convert my own "Dwarf Loremaster" for some time now, but this model is exactly what I have been looking for. I will probably buy it (eventually).

The Goblins: Something about these just feels wrong to me. Is it their posture, is it their bulk, is it a hint of the emerging fantasy style which seems to be slowly infecting the LotR range? I'm not sure, but they really are bothering me.

I'm surprised these aren't being more hated on! I really think that most of the models are mediocre sculpts in awkward poses with odd facial expressions, cumbersome and unnecessary looking details, and a complete deviation from not only Jackson's vision of Middle-earth but also quite separate from the established miniature range!I was more lenient earlier because I had no definite interest in purchasing anything, so I held back some of the disappointment. But am I really the only one to find these models so...sub-par??

Personally, I think they actually maintained the look pretty darn well. The dwarves are the biggest departure from the existing range, with all the scale-armor and the big octagonal shield on that one guy, but the sort of typical angular motiffs are there, the helmet design is consistent (other than the sort of Romanesque crest on the King's Champion). The blue/red color scheme, on the other hand, seems a little odd since most of their dwarves in the past have been done in a green/yellow color scheme.

The Blackshields use the same helmet and sword design as WETA's goblins, and the shield is only a slight modification on the existing model. The only thing they added really is some scale armor, tunics, and the fur cloaks, none of which seem "over the top" or anything and all of which are already included in several other orc models throughout the range (in fact, they look like they'd go very well alongside Golfimbul, in my opinion).

I think, especially given some of the worse departures from WETA's look that GW has released in the past, these guys are really quite tame.

_________________
Well, that's my 2 cents.

Yes, there are of course elements that have remained the same or similar. Frankly, however, those paint schemes are terrible, the cloaks looks very awkward, heavy, and out of place, the drum looks extremely ridiculous, the bone cross staff looks out-of-place, etc, etc. I can see where you are coming from, but at the same time, I have to disagree. The fur cloaks and what not that they did add were done so in a way that they do somehow, in my mind, look over the top, when in actuality, adding a fur cloak should have, could have, and would have seamlessly blended in with the standard design scheme.

I'm not complaining, I hope everyone understands, I'm just sharing an opinion. I think they could have done a better job, because looking at these models, I don't think they should have turned out this awkward...but somehow they have.

Imo.

Sorry, didn't mean to jump on ya!

I can see where you're coming from, too, and I definitely agree that at least on the dwarves and goblins the paint job or color scheme or something doesn't seem right. The red on the gobbos in particular seems awfully bright.

I also agree that the Blackshield command is a tad overdone, and they just don't seem to fit with the regular troops anyways. The skin-drum itself doesn't bug me, but the way that the poor goblin is carrying it is kinda ridiculous. I guess the fact that they made them a 2-piece team means it can double as a standard goblin drum in SBG though.

Anyways, didn't mean to put you under fire there!

_________________
Well, that's my 2 cents.

No, no, dude, I didn't detect that you were attacking me at all! I simply said "I'm not complaining, I hope everyone understands, I'm just sharing an opinion," as a precaution, as I seem to be going against the general grain with this opinion. Dude, don't even worry about it, no harm done at all!

I think the Drake looks pretty awesome but the others are kind of rubbish, though I have never been drawn to the Dwarves and Goblins so that could be saying something.

Edit: To be honest the paint jobs aren't doing the models any favours, which seems to be the case with recent LOTR mini releases; remember that horrific Faramir model that everyone was bagging a few months ago, too rushed and messy.

_________________
Ash Nazg Durbatulûk, Ash Nazg Gimbatul,
Ash Nazg Thrakatulûk Agh Burzum-ishi Krimpatul.

I personly really like these mini's. The only real problem that I can see is the horrible paint jobs, especially on the gobo's. With a different color scheme, I think that they can look a whole lot more LotRy.

_________________
My WIP thread: http://one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=18247

Given how infrequent LotR releases are, it's a shame they didn't release more. I suppose that wouldn't make sense from a marketing perspective though, as the core units for each army have already been released, so they may just want to keep a very steady trickle of models coming out to maintain interest.

Don't worry, Jamros, you're not alone. However, after that Faramir incident I decided to be a little more reserved in my judgements. While there is a part of me which would love to start a debate on this, I know that it isn't really in the spirit of the forums here (and certainly not this thread), so I am trying to show some restraint.

Well, I've maintained for a long while now that the list of major releases is dwindling rapidly. There's a lot of "filling in around the edges" to be done, but little enough to drive a major release (though I would not rule out more plastic replacements for current metals, eg, Citadel Guard or Lamedon). In that case, you have to very slowly stagger what's left.

The current model of command sets without a force is clever - you buy the command set for the new models and/or the rules and then you go rebuy a plastic set for the rest of the force. Saves GW a lot of hassle, especially considering how cheap it is (for them) to run off some more plastic sets.

I foresee more of this in the future, maybe (finally) a release with the Beornings and some of the odder creatures of Mirkwood et al.

_________________
Dreaming of getting back to painting...any month now.

My opinions:

Cave Drake: Fantastic model, great attention to detail.
King's Champion set: Quite good, interesting idea with the two banner bearers. However, the shields make them kind of awkward for the SBG. GW seems to have a thing for two hand weapons; first the dragon knight, then Mauhúr, and now the King's Champion. I think an axe more like Gimli's two-handed one might have been better. But I quite like the Roman style helmet. The paint job on the banner bearers is a lot better than on the Champion.
Floi: I really like this model, he looks old and wise.
Gundabad command: I like the style of these models. The paint job is not good at all, but if they were painted well, I think they could look good. I think they look more 'orcy' than the normal goblins. I like the captain, drummer and shaman, but I'm not so fond of the drum-carrier. He looks clean terrified. I like the white warg fur cloaks, it makes sense as they lived at a cold mountain.
Gundabad Blackshields: Terrible paintjob, but good models underneath I think. Again more 'orcy' than their Moria cousins.

All in all, not bad, but I collect neither Dwarves nor Goblins, so this is really of no consequence to me. I can't help noticing how random the quality of both the minis and paint schemes are. The Drake is by far superior to the others.

_________________
Better, though difficult, the right way to go, than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe. John Bunyan - Pilgrim's Progress

not to be rude or anything.... i dislike all the new misty mountain models there poses are just plain wrong... colour schemes are bad.... and GW makes a big fuss when awaiting for the new models and yet there not even that good
sorry guys but none of the new models spark my interest

The funny thing is, the ‘drake’ looks more like I always pictured Smaug (dragon), and GW’s ‘dragon’ model looks more like I picture a cave drake.

I was waiting to pick up a Dragon model until I saw what was coming in this release. Now that I see, I think I may get the Dragon but assemble it with no wings and let him be my Drake (nice big mouth on that fella ). Then take the wings and add them to the Drake model to give me a Dragon more akin to the long, serpentine look that reading the Hobbit always gave me (even Tolkien’s own sketches for Smaug that I’ve seen in various books looked more like that). I am not sure how much GS work would be needed to get the wings attached reasonably but if life was easy, it’d be boring.

I agree that the rest of the figures is a mixed bag. I’m really not a fan of GW’s shaman models across the board as they seem to think you just make someone near-nekid and throw a bunch of skulls on the model and you have a good shaman (just like you can give any model an oversized, unusable sword and he's tougher). Bah. And the strapped-on-drum is pretty stupid. Decent concept, dumb execution. But I think the other Goblins are reasonable. As far as Dwarves, I’ve been only fairly interested in several Dwarf models that GW has produced until I’ve seen how one of our local Dwarf players paints them up (sometimes with minor conversions) and he changes my opinion. So I’ll reserve judgment on these guys until I see them in person.

_________________
Wait ye the finish! The fight is not yours.
Beowulf

http://TacticsInMiniature.com

I think I agree with you, if you took the wings off the Dragon model and the Drake model was a bit bigger.

_________________
"There are few left in Middle Earth like Aragorn, son of Arathorn." - Gandalf, Many Meetings