Hey everyone. I have just purchased my first GW LOTR miniatures, a little late, I know. Strange since I have been a fan of Tolkien ever since my dad read me The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings when I was a kid. I saw the miniatures when they first came out and always wanted to get some, but it's taken me this long.

I bought a box called LOTR SBG Host of the Dark Lord, which has been sitting in the local collectibles shop for god knows how long. It had it's priced slashed to a nice deal. It contains a Mumakil, 36 Warriors of Harad, 5 Metal Haradrim Raiders, 2 Haradrim Command, 1 Haradrim Horseman Lord (Foot), 1 Haradrim Horseman Lord (Mounted), 24 Mordor Orcs, 1 Gothmog Lieutenant of Morgul (Foot), and 1 Gothmog Lieutenant of Morgul (Mounted).

The first thing I noticed was the scale of the plastic Warriors and Orc. I love it. Much more realistically proportioned than Warhammer Fantasy/40K. But when it comes to the metal figures I was rather disappointed that the scale seems to be different.

The Haradrim Command, for example, is the one with the Banner Bearer and Commander with Bow/Spear. . The Banner Bearer is slightly taller and generally bigger than the Warriors, but when he is standing in them it is not too noticeable. But the Commander with the bow and spear towers above everyone and seems VERY out of place. The same with the Lord on foot and mounted. The Haradrim Raiders are more like the Banner Bearer. Slightly bigger, but not hugely noticeable.

So are many of the metal models like this? I don't mind the Raiders or the Banner Bearer, they can blend in well enough. But the Commander and Lords fit in better with Warhammer models than LOTR.

Would newer metal models be closer to scale or are their certain models that are more out of scale than others? I collect more for the painting/modelling aspect than the game itself, so I would prefer to avoid getting the models that don't fit with the scale.

Welcome mate,
Sounds like you scored an awesome deal!
Can't help you much with the scale problem though, sorry.

Cheers,
Pinky

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

Interesting. Ive always thought GW has some scale issues but i had put it down to the metal casting proces, you will always get a bit of variation in size due to the process rather than anything else.

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You could always pretend he's like Xerxes from 300, some colossal, towering git that makes no sense but he's leading the army so it's all good!

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

This is a big problem with the lotr range, but can't say I noticed it for the Harad but there is nothing wrong with a hero being slightly taller than his warriors. Now go and compare the new Lothlorien metals with the plastic High Elevs - you will have a heart attack!

Well the newer plastic sets seem to be larger now too - which fit nicely with all the metals, but not so well with the older plastics. Plastic Uruk Scouts is a good example. They have little armour but tower over the older plastic Fighting Uruk-hai minis who are fully armoured up! A Plastic Army of the Dead warrior towers over a Rohan warrior too, so it's a common occurrence these days.

I think it is more of a problem that the older plastics do not fit scale wise with all the metals and newer plastics, rather than the other way round.
They were nearer the 25mm scale rather than 28mm, which is the widely accepted norm these days.

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I've noticed the same thing with my minis... the newer plastics (rangers of gondor, etc) and some, not all, of the metal figs (banner bearers, etc) seem considerably bigger. There's nothing you can really do about it, except try to ignore the size difference

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Hmm... what would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way?

The difference never really bothered me. People come in different sizes in real life, so I just leave it at that for the minis.

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That would be true if scale issues were varied amongst the entire model collection, but you do not get units of 5'6" high elves fighting alongside 6'6" wood elves.

I also noticed this with by mounted Haradrim Lord and my Raiders. If you have the time you could put your smaller models standing on small rocks (on their bases). It could work...

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"Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone"

I think it makes sense for the lords and such to be bigger, makes them easier to spot on the battlefield.

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There is no real justification except GW not having a good set of standards and controls. It used to just be a little frustrating but over the few years I've been playing and collecting it seems to get worse.

That being said, if you put the mini's side by side the differences are obvious, but in reality I never found it mattered on the game table. In SBG your forces are rarely that packed as to make you look down and notice slight variations. And in WotR almost all models in a Formation are going to be the same type anyway with only the Command and Epic Heroes being something that could stand out with a scale issue. For those that are already larger you can do little tricks such as building up their base or putting them on a "rock" or such. In this way they are visibly more "dramatic" than the common troops and the scale diff probably won't be noticed.

BTW, cool box set. I actually wasn't familiar with that one. Some of those sets were really the best way to get good value from your purchase but GW just doesn't seem to like doing them any more. Especially lucky you found one still on a shelf and even better that it was discounted.

Though the temptation may be there, I suggest you hold off on doing the Mumuk for a while. Those are expensive so you may only ever own one for your collection and they are not something you can easily take apart and redo later. Wait until you're really happy with the way your basic troops are coming out before you dive into that guy.

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That's one of the things I was thinking, build him up so he is standing on a ledge or whatever above his troops. That way hes not standing shoulder to shoulder, or rather shoulder to top of the head, with the rank and file.

Plus for now I won't be playing any games, just painting and building some scenery/diorama type things.



Ya, I took him out of the box and sized up the pieces but I am going to wait. In fact, I will probably be waiting a while on all of these models. I've just started listening to an unabridged audiobook of The Lord of the Rings (which is awesome) and I plan to paint these guys up after I have finished listening to it. Probably drag out my books as well and just browse over the bits to see if there's any inspiration I can take from it.

The store also had some Fellowship of the Ring boxes, so I think I am going to take a look tommorow. I am only to the point where Frodo and Company meet Strider, and already have ideas for dozens of diorama's I guess it speaks to how amazing the story is, where the adventure has barely begun and I am already daydreaming about what to do.

Awesome that you're getting into the stories! Don't get discouraged if a few points in FotR are harder to get thru. Even as a dedicated fan and re-reader there are times I find myself skipping some chapters ( ). With the audio books though it's a different situation all together as it's easier to get thru some of the "slower" parts when someone else is reading to you. Though I think PJ did a good job bringing the stories to film, and I enjoy the BBC radio adaptation version of the trilogy, there's nothing that matches the depth and "life" of the texts.

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

http://TacticsInMiniature.com

I wish GW would rerelease those box sets as they would make nice starter armies.

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I have to admit that that one does bother me principle. But, in the game itself, they're all too small for it to make a difference to me.

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One thing I have noticed is the difference between mounted men and foot troops. When comparing them, they are not the same scale, either. And this is comparing metal to metal figs. It's not a huge problem, but it is annoying.

This issue with scale is not just limited to metal v plastics..take a look at teh 'fighting uruk hai' compared to the uruk hai scouts..same critter, same medium (plastic) but scales are hugely different..the fighting guys with pikes look like waifs compared to the scouts. Curse GW and the lack of continuity.

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I think you are all forgetting the most important thing here and that is : how much did this bargain cost you good sir?

210$ Canadian give or take a few bucks. Not bad considering ordering the stuff I got in it on the GW site would be around 316$ (300 to get all the stuff, then an aditional 12 Warriors of Harad thrown in the box) Probably even more considering I have metal raiders, and priced them using the plastic box.


Sadly I wont have any WIP pictures up anytime soon. Will be moving sometime within the next month for University (assuming I can finally find a place to live...) then once I get settled in school will be starting and being out of highschool for 3 years I think it's going to take alot of getting used to. Using the brain again and all. Once I get settled into that I'll probably start the painting process.