When I first saw the pictures of the new models, I didn't know what to think, but for a moment I regretted I am still collecting the figures...
Now that I have seen better quality pics on the GW site, I think there's some nice stuff though.
I look forward to painting the drake (which will probably end up in the backlog for a few years...).

The goblins ... dunno... not my kinda stuff. They are getting a bit too much off track from the original concept which was based on the movie. I somewhere feel like the quality of their goblin-sculpts has gone a bit down the last few years... The drum is... well, a good idea... for Warhammer FB... but here they are getting a bit too "funny" for the fearsome race of gobbo's we've seen in the beginning.
Gamewise, I can imagine this is a nice and welcome unit... but figurewise.. I'm not to pleased.
The good news is, they now made it so easy to convert their own plastics into these "stronger" forces, I have still a lot of plastics laying around, so with a little greenstuff and beginner-sculpting-skills it seems easy to make a cheap army of these guys...

The dwarves... hmmm.
The standardbearers seem not much special, just extra standard bearers wearing a shield...
The captain... with centurion-helmet... oh no... I never liked those kinda helmets, not even on the centurions we know... (but who am I?)
Flói... I feared for this... Loremaster... I don't understand. They give him the loremaster-rule (of which I guess is.. magic?? correct me if I'm wrong, I don't know the rules), and describe him like he writes down all the battles to gain knowlegde of their tactics... so... in my opinion, that should be more like "warmaster" or something... Knowlegde is one thing, magic is a totally different thing... and Dwarves and magic... :confused:
Nice sculpt though, but I see more something like a Dwarf-prophet into him, who know the entire library of Middle-earth, able to encourage the dwarves a little more and makes em able to use special tactics against their foes or something, but not a master of lores.

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CMON-gallery

The loremaster rule gives him the abbility to negate an enemy special rule for 1 turn in WOTR... Says so in the rulebook.

I kinda like all the models actually.

I previously thought that all of the models for the dwarves have been released but they are still mising one.

A hornblower. Not a big deal since it isn't the best option to take (for the points) but if you play Durin's Guard you have to have one in that unit.

Misty mountains is still not complete either. Conspicuously lacking a Stone Giant.

GW, you were so close... You should have just taken this opportunity to complete Dwarfholds and Moria and be done with them.

But if they show up in the movies and look different it'll be a problem.



That would be a poor business decision. What would they sell? Their business model requires that they consistently come out with new products. Why else are Elves not done? Finishing off Elves would pretty much close my wallet thereafter.

I guess its possible considering the one minuscule reference of stone giants tossing boulders as a game in the Hobbit.



They would sell models for other armies that need to be done. Its two lousy models. One is a fairly major deal, the other a pretty minor one who really could be ignored and whose usefulness only matters for completions sake

Battlehosts has shown that even if you were to have every model released, you might not have them in the quantity that you may need them in. Thats where GW's marketing comes in and is proven effective. Not that you have to cater to future releases such as battlehosts, but the point remains the same. GW know how to expand stuff to keep you buying. They have never let a little thing such as releasing all of their models get in the way of making a buck before.

So how is this a poor business decision again?

New models generate more excitement and sell better than expansions.

What I'm wondering is, why does the king's champion have the heralds? What are they actually going to be used for as WotR is the major game, I can't imagine they'd make something solely for SBG. The gunabads were a slight dissapointment and the command looks far to cartoony and warhammer fantasy like. Especially the drummer, he actually looks like a fantasy figure on a round base.

Cave drake looked quite good but very pricey considering how good it actually is. And about the stone giant. Why would they not release it? It dosen't appear in the Hobbit as far as I remember.

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"War does not determine who is right, only who is left."
- Bertrand Russel

Amusingly, Floi, in the book is just some J Random Follower of Balin who had the dubious distinction of being one of the earlier Dwarves to get shot by the Goblins.

Ori, he of Thorin's companions, was the one who wrote the big book Gandalf read from. I suspect there may have been some licensing issues floating around there.

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

Yeh, good point. Ori would be the obvious choice instead of Floi but I can't imagine why Tolkien Industries wouldn't allow the rights :/

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"War does not determine who is right, only who is left."
- Bertrand Russel

I feel like the whole magic and dwarves = thing got started with Warhammer, actually (although better versed Tolkienists may be able to point out that dwarves were more averse to magic than other races). But, with orc shamans and lesser human and elf wizards already in the mix, one dwarf with a few spells really doesn't seem like such a long shot. In Children of Hurin the petty dwarf Mim even put a curse on someone, which could be seen as a type of magic.



I think for the King's Champion, in WotR the heralds will just walk around on the same 60mm base as him, and the trio will act together as a "monster" - it would be a bit over the top to have a single, individual dwarf packing that profile (even though I'm sure the King's Champion is still pulling most of the weight).

I don't really see the "Warhammer Fantasy" connection with the Blackshield command, especially the champion. The drum-carrier is a little silly, and I'm not such a big fan of that model in particular, but they're still a long shot from WFB-cartoonyism.



I think it's when they're crossing the Misty Mountains and there's a terrible thunderstorm outside. Gandalf mentions something about the giants throwing boulders as part of a game.


0 Fate!

It's possible that they are holding off on Ori for the same suggested reason that they're holding off on the Stone Giant - they want to remain consistent with the Hobbit movies if/when those are released. On the one hand, that didn't stop them from making Thranduil a couple years back, but on the other hand the Hobbit movies seem more tangible now so maybe they are in the forefront of everyone's minds. Anyways, I'm pretty sure Ori is mentioned by name during the Lord of the Rings, or at least in the appendices, which should mean he's covered by GW's license if I understand it correctly.

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Well, that's my 2 cents.

Maybe. Though, the blackshield command still looks significantly more "cartoony" than other command sets. If you look at their faces, you can see that they're not as well proportioned (or realistically) as other models. Just my 2 cents, though. I don't think the cave drake will sell that well. £35 for something worth 160 points. I myself would just spend the extra £5 and get the dragon which is worth nearly 3x the amount with spells. But I think it will sell to the competitive players with lots of money to spend.

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"War does not determine who is right, only who is left."
- Bertrand Russel

I think part of the reason they look so cartoony is because of the way they were painted. Almost every part of them is painted with extremely bright and vibrant colors, especially the red cloth and the skin, which makes them look ridiculous. The captain has to be the best painted out of the whole command because he is wearing a lot of armor, and less cloth. I think the warg skin capes are also too bright aswell.

I'm not going to say if I like any of them yet. I would like to either see them in person, or at least see them with a better paint job first before I judge them. I have to say, I really like how the cave drake looks though. I'm still not sure about those headspike things though.

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

Yes, probably. But the faces still look a bit weird IMO. The shaman staff looks like it just came out of a warhammer box tbh.

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"War does not determine who is right, only who is left."
- Bertrand Russel

Oh God, here are more minis to add to my backlog...
I'll be getting the dwarves as I have a large army of these guys already, and they will be welcomed new comers to the unpainted masses.
Cave Drake is really cool, but I don't think I'll splurge on him.

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No one feels as helpless as the owner of a sick goldfish.

My view is that the new releases are brilliant as almost nearly all the releases always our. I am one of the collectors thay call completists, they have to have the whole collection.

I am just pleased that GW are still running with LOTR and producing some amazing models, just look at the Drake, its perfect!

Thanks GW ( and i dont work for them)

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Harfoots-The first of the Hobbit people to cross over the Misty Mountains and enter Eriador.

That will be the reason for me adding a pair of £6 Balrog wings to the Drake and then run him as a Dragon (and besides, it adds variation having two (GW LotR) dragons).

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When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.

Backlog Reduction Oath Participant - 6/53

I'd really like to see that conversion!

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No one feels as helpless as the owner of a sick goldfish.

I'll be getting the Cave Drake, Balrog wings and Greenstuff for Christmas so watch this space...

I may even try and make an article out of it

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When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.

Backlog Reduction Oath Participant - 6/53

does anyone know what will the profile, special rules, abilities and the cost in points for the gundabad blackshields and floi in war of the ring????

Not until they come out in WD. For the Drake, and Blackshields, you could probably make a guess based on what shows up in the WoTR rulebook.

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http://bdhobbymadness.blogspot.co.nz/

May the wind under your wings bear you to where the sun sails and the moon walks!