Hello all, so today, new Hobbit SBG miniatures have been officially posted online for pre-ordering =

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/The ... orting=phl

So I was wondering on your opinions. No boring 'I hate finecast'... 'I hate GW prices' nonsense though - I want to hear your thoughts on the sculpts, style, paintjobs and whether or not you'll be buying any of them? Feel free to reply with general thoughts about these pre-orders too, like if you think we could have been offered better miniatures to kick-start the Battle for the Five Armies releases. Personally, I think a great starting buy would be a new version of Thorin's Company, as I think the Mirkwood forces got a little tired during the course of the DOS releases last year.

Having said that, I'm a fan of all the new miniatures, excluding the characters. The infantry are all fantastically sculpted and posed, and the paintjobs aren't too bad for once, although I notice the mounted cavalry have a different colour scheme to the footsoldiers, which would look odd in a large army. Because I already have 20 Mirkwood Rangers and 10 Palace Guard (all with spear as I did a 5-man swap with a friend), I probably won't buy any of the footsoldiers yet. Also, because of the cost of the new cavalry, and because I'm keen to develop my conversion skills, I think I might buy the Rivendell Knights boxed set and customise them minorly to resemble the Mirkwood theme a bit more, which shouldn't be too difficult (... famous last words).

Now, the characters, by which I mean Legolas, Thranduil and Tauriel. I held back during the DOS releases from buying any character models, as I knew we'd get more for the third film, but overall I'll be turning back to the previous releases. I'll definitely be getting the new Thranduil, although his mounted version will be finding its way onto Ebay very soon, unless he compares well to the Rivendell Knights in which case he's a keeper. His foot pose however is fantastic, at in my view the best clam-pack character figure released for Hobbit SBG so far. My only concern is the dual swords, which I will solve by chopping one off and maybe resculpting the hand to look more graceful and less like a fist. Now, Legolas, I think the sculpt is great, don't get me wrong, and once again he's received an awful paintjob (the mounted face seems to have a severe eye wound that rivals Thrain), but I much prefer the plastic Legolas from DOS. The same goes for the new Tauriel, which couldn't look more like a man if she grew a beard and started bodybuilding. Unlike Thranduil, I think this is not just the lease accurate-looking sculpt I've seen in the Hobbit SBG, but maybe in the entire GW range since War of the Ring was released in 2007 (I think). So that'll be plastic Tauriel for me please.

Now, I'm interested to hear everyone else's thoughts, so please comment away!

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Wise Old Elf

Ultimately, I feel that the rules to each model is what makes me decide whether I will buy something or not. However, aesthetics certainly make we want these. I love all the sculpts for the Mirkwood elves! I think they are well posed and I would buy them just for thier look.

As for heroes, Thranduil is interesting and disappointing at the same time....He looks good in my opinion, and I love to have an action posed Thranduil with a different style cape.....that being said.....WHERE IS THE ELK!?!?! ....I mean seriously I would pay tons of money for Thranduil on an Elk....

Legolas also looks good, and I would probably buy him just to get him on a horse (without Gimli on it too). The Mirkwood Calvary also look good too.

My only complaint is Tauriel. Her plastic version is a ton better!!

I think the legolas sculpts are good. I already have him on horse with bow from LOTR range, but because of orcrist I may snag this in the future. Tauriel can stay right where she is, in the GW warehouse. I like the plastic one and so I don't need a second one that is not as good.
I love the captain model. I hope to get a decent amount of the foot troops as well, but it will not be for a few months. I am not sold on the color schemes yet, but I think they are painted well for showing the models.
I think the Cav models are ok, but only two sculpts is a bummer. I don't think I will need a strong cav force for my Mirkwood army anyway, so I think only buying a few makes sense and maybe what GW was thinking as well (or perhaps they did switch to elks for plastic kits to come later and these are being pushed out to get some return on the investment). I hated the Rivendell knights plastic kit because of the over the top cape flowing, these don't immediately make me react that way, so that is at least a plus, I will reserve judgement for when I get a pblister, if they are good and can be converted I may get more just to flank the king (however he ends up mounted now or later).

I think it is a great release considering it is well before the film release. because this is a pre-release, based on past experience with toy companies, I would say that the best is yet to come and this is just stuff GW is trying to sell before we see the real stuff we want. I am fairly sure that Rivendell will get another release as well.

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http://www.sithious.webs.com

Cautiously optimistic, based on this release.

Good quantity of releases, and some rather good models. Obviously GW remains inconsistent with their ability to sculpt well (or inconsistent with their ability to capture the sculpt in resin) but a good paintjob can do wonders. Mirkwood is now safely out of the way - with two plastic kits and a nice set of resins, they're a complete army list to rival those from LotR.

The scale of the elf releases (pretty much everything is represented, if not exactly how we would wish it to be) to me indiates that if GW knew what something looked like (or thought they did) two years ago then theres a good chance of seeing it. I expect great things of the coming dwarves, and still have my fingers crossed for some plastic somewhere down the line, and a new version of the Nine and the Necromancer. Resin, obviously. Rivendell elves would be great, too.

I don't know if it's the painting of the faces or what, but I'm disappointed in that aspect. Legolas's head looks like a ball... Might be tempted to buy a pack of the swordsmen, even though I don't have any Mirkwood models. And having some armoured units makes it possible to represent a Mirkwood contingent in a Last Alliance army! The new 'spears' are interesting, must have missed them in the trailers.

Will likely get the swordsmen (but why online only?), probably Tauriel for a future headswap.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

The Mirkwood Armoured Captain looks like a Klingon.

He looks like Thranduil.

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"I am the Flying Spagetti Monster. Thou shall have no other monsters before me"
-FSM.

Nice looking figures that will grace many a board or cabinet.

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Commission Service Available

mallysminiatures.blogspot.co.uk

Beautiful sculpts. I have noticed that the swordsman and the large bundle are out of stock already. This could mean a number of things, but I am hoping GW see that there is still interest in the game.
I will likely get some of each eventually, however with just starting over I have more important things to buy at the moment within the hobby!

I am glad I am free to express my thoughts so long as they are not nonsense and boring.
I am not going to purchase any of the figures because of all of the boring prohibited nonsense plus I do not like them. I have more than enough nice wood elf cavalry. If they were plastic I might add them because they match concept drawings at least. But there is the other boring prohibited nonsense I would be free to mention if you were interested.

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

Wow I am just stunned at the prices.

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Xintao

I agree that Mirkwood for a first release is overdone. As I said in the other topic, I believe they put them out first to try to get as many sales out of them as possible, knowing theyre all re done characters, before they release more stuff.

I think the first sets they should have come out with is plain and simple new models, or models with new profiles. I wanted to see Iron Hills Dwarves and new evil creatures not Elves......some of which have already been released twice in the past.

As for models:
*note-for the paint jobs....I dislike all of the characters and like all of the soldier models including the captain. I dont have much room to say anything, because as a painter, I suck. BUT, I dont like most of their paint jobs at GW in general have seen 10x the talent here*

Legolas-
I love his on foot pose with Orcist and Id love to see a profile where he can use it. I think it looks awesome. Sculpt wise, it looks nothing like Legolas and the face looks horrid. The mounted pose looks really boring to me. No action involved at all. I only like dynamic poses. Im glad I have an old metal Legolas looking like a bamf.
Tauriel-
Terrible pose, terrible sculpt. Cut off her hair, and she can be a man elf. Very unflattering compared to the lovely actress playing her.
Thranduil-
The most upsetting for me. I dont care if hes never on a horse in the movies, or if he has a profile that shows his use of two swords. I love the pose of this model on horse the most, and on foot as well. I love his robe on foot....No it doesnt look like the actor and I shudder to think of how badly Id murder his paint job but until I saw the price I was going to buy this guy.
Mirkwood Captain, Mirkwood Cav, Mirkwood Foot Soldiers-
Im just going to group these in. These guys are the exception to the paint job. I like em. I love the captains pose and sculpt. All of the foot soldiers have nice poses and nice sculpts. They look really cool. The cavalry is less dynamic but not bad if you have like 4-6 and modify them weapon wise or something.

Unfortunately, Im not going to buy any. I know you dont wanna hear about prices but you also asked if we planned to purchase. And thats the reason why I will not. Had these elf foot soldiers been in packs of 10-12 I would have gotten a few boxes! They look lovely and I believe they may even warrant defense 6 for Elven foot soldiers, which is awesome. But Im not one for over-zealous spending.



Both points I agree with 100%. I tend to buy for gaming reasons, not just for the models. And for the Elk model, yes I would pay the ridic prices.

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Overall, as a general release, if I had to do it the most boring way and rate it out of ten, Id give it a 4-5.

The heros here have all been released before, in better poses. There are barely any new profiles here. Im guessing the foot soldiers will be barely different from other Mirkwood units.

I have a bunch of Galadhrim, Wood Elves, Mirkwood.................all of which have fought well for me in many battles. A combination of the same profile type units and prices have completely turned my excitement into continuing astonishment at terrible business choices.

Yeah, theyre nice looking models, and for even half that prices Id buy at least Thranduil, and probably 2 full warbands of the foot soldiers........but as for now, I will be spending USD $00.00

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY

Excellent. I will buy them all over the coming year. It is quite refreshing to actually have minis in the range that I don't own again.

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You don't have to be great to start. But you do have to start to be great.

I far prefer the Lothlorien cavalry models to the new Mirkwood. I am horribly disappointed in the lack of an Elk. That was the giving-up moment for me. I would have definitely bought Thranduil on an Elk if the pose had been half-decent, even in Finecast, and possibly some faction cavalry to go along with him. Now GW will be getting none of my money.

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I have ordered Thranduil, Legolas, Tauriel and 3 blisters each of the 3 foot troops. So a total of 30 Mirkwood Elves for my Battle of the Five Armies display board I will be making, to go along with 4 Palace guard to position next to Thranduil.

My thoughts on the sculpts, I'd like to start by saying I'm not sure about this obsession to sculpt bags under eyes that has crept into the Hobbit range. It makes the eyes themselves look more squinty and also makes them look very aged. Sometimes it does look good for example the Master of Laketown but for the most part I'd have to say I'm really not a fan.

Obviously as disappointed as everyone is at the absence of Thranduil's elk. Since seeing it in AUJ it was something I really wanted.

Legolas on foot looks great, his head on his mount looks a little funny but hopefully it's just the paint job.

Tauriel I really love this pose, a little worried about the face but hoping it's just the paint job as well.

The foot troops all look great and once painted with a red and gold scheme will really pop on the battlefield just like they do in the movie trailer.

I love the cavalry but have no place for them on my board as I wanted to recreate the trailer with a mass amount of foot troops.

The captain, probably the best sculpt and also a really nice paint job. His face is disappointing he doesn't look like an elf at all far too aged. I haven't got this yet for my army but it may be one addition I could make in the future, however I may swap his head.

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CMON Gallery http://www.coolminiornot.com/artist/Green_Dragon

I like most of the designs but the painting is terrible and the prices are OP.

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'Though my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior'
-John Newton

Thranduil
I like his poses, though I think I'll stick to getting the DoS model instead. If he was riding an elk, different story.

Legolas
Don't like his mounted sculpt, looks ugly, foot model looks average.

Tauriel
Bad bad bad. She look-a like a man. Don't like the outfit as well, looks plain ordinary

Mirkwood Armoured
Shame not plastic, but they look amazing, better than any other Mirkwood troops to me as far as I'm concerned. Strongly considering getting despite those obvious discouraging factors.

Mirkwood Cav.
They look nice, but not nice enough for me to purchase. If it were 6 plastics on the other hand...

Champions of Erebor
Love the armour and weaponry on all of them, dislike a few of the heads and faces though. Dwalin looks beast. Would like to have, but pricey. I could convince myself that individually each would be $25 each like the other dwarf heroes, so these packs are giving a 3 for 2 special.

What's up with the Bundles!?!
You'd think because you're buying in a bundle that you would get a cheaper deal, but these bozos are just adding all the separate prices together. Really what's the point than just ordering all the individual packs at the same time.

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My Lotr backlog: 305/952[][][][][][][][][][]32% completed
Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA