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With the recent anouncement by GW of a new "Specialist Design Studio" that will support (among other things) LOTR I have to wonder what this will mean for our game? Will they continue to sell the existing line of figures or will we be limited to Space Hulk or the Assassinorum style boxed games? Will we finally see some of the missing miniatures from the last Hobbit movie? GW has posted job listings for a LOTR line manager and for a LOTR sculptor so we must be getting something new. In a way I'm excited about this but I wish we had more details.

I suspect we'll see a new print run of a new set of updated rulebooks as they'll be looking to grow/add to what already exists as opposed to just maintain the status quo.

Its going to fall under the umbrella of forgeworld. Seeing a new ruleset is possible or not a new core but maybe an expansion. I think current plastics might be on their way out but since gw already have the molds they might keep them. Its sketchy the future of LOTR but at this moment is pretty much announced that LOTR is going to die within the GW stores. To me moving this to direct only and upping the price that comes with forgeworld I see this game dying out in less then 24months. By dying out I mean NO ONE new coming in and current players giving up trying to play.

 namiel wrote:
I think current plastics might be on their way out but since gw already have the molds they might keep them.

WIth GWs movement to 100% plastic miniatures, I would think if anything remained in production it would be those. As you say, they have a lot of money tied up in the molds for those plastics, and they remain the most reasonably priced miniatures in the line. The issue I would see would be the heros, as all those are metal or finecast. They could let some of the current metal/resin warrior types fall out of production (while it would make the game poorer, it would at least still be playable). However, with the current rules people need the heroes to be able to play the game.

Actually, I am more and more expecting to see one-off box games set in Middle-Earth, along the lines of Space Hulk or Dreadfleet rather than serious continued support of the full game. Hopefully the miniatures will still be useful in playing both any such box set and the full SBG too.

Its sketchy the future of LOTR but at this moment is pretty much announced that LOTR is going to die within the GW stores.

The game has been effectivly direct only for a while now. I have not seen anything but occasional old stock in any B&M store since the first wave of Hobbit miniatures. I agree that any growth is hard when you have to special order everything, but from what I am hearing there has been a bit of a resurgence in interest in the game, or at least the remaining interest has become more public with the Hobbit League.

You will be able to buy the current plastic sets from forgeworld, and you will be able to get the current finecast models recast in resin from forgeworld. The books will be produced again too.

The only question is will this last after their license runs up in 4 years? They spoke about new models for lotr so who knows!

The main reason I question the plastics is forgeworld doesn't do plastic...........

I assume they will still have availability to the entirety of GW's manufacturing capabilities but just food for thought. Kinda gotta wait to see what really happens who knows what will come of our game.

Apparently this new/expanded studio will have access to plastic if they can prove that stuff will sell. For example, the new HH set came from this studio.

 455_PWR wrote:
You will be able to buy the current plastic sets from forgeworld, and you will be able to get the current finecast models recast in resin from forgeworld. The books will be produced again too.

Is this based on some sort of offical source, or just guess work? I certainly hope its true but I have not seen any details at all on what they are going to do.

 mdauben wrote:

 455_PWR wrote:
You will be able to buy the current plastic sets from forgeworld, and you will be able to get the current finecast models recast in resin from forgeworld. The books will be produced again too.

Is this based on some sort of offical source, or just guess work? I certainly hope its true but I have not seen any details at all on what they are going to do.

official gw release through the store FB pages

Yup.

And if you buy other forgeworld kits that use gw plastic kits, those kits come with the gw plastic kits (40k). This is the case for many lord of war units.

Gw will still produce the kits in smaller numbers and forgeworld will just sell them as above.

I must say I am excited to see what models they come up with as well as possible rules. It may be expensive, they may stay true to current pricing (which isnt all that great really)

Only time will tell I suppose, but I can't deny I am excited for the future

We'll see. A lot depends on what price they charge. The Hobbit is pretty much beyond the Pale price wise, any higher than that and I'll just ignore the release.

I went into my local shop yesterday and all of the LOTR/Hobbit stuff was gone, boxed up and back to Memphis.

 namiel wrote:
official gw release through the store FB pages

Really glad to hear this confirmed. I wonder if this means some of the already OOP metal/finecast stuff will be re-released in FW resin? I know I wanted to get one of the finecast Hobbit Radagast figures (the clamshell one, not the one in the Escape from Goblintown box set nor the old LOTR metal figure). The last one I saw on eBay sold for over $200!

 namiel wrote:
I went into my local shop yesterday and all of the LOTR/Hobbit stuff was gone, boxed up and back to Memphis.

Your local shop still had Hobbit stuff? I have not seen anything in the local independent shops since the intial Hobbit movie releases years ago. I had to special order everything from the second two movies.

 mdauben wrote:

 namiel wrote:
official gw release through the store FB pages

Really glad to hear this confirmed. I wonder if this means some of the already OOP metal/finecast stuff will be re-released in FW resin? I know I wanted to get one of the finecast Hobbit Radagast figures (the clamshell one, not the one in the Escape from Goblintown box set nor the old LOTR metal figure). The last one I saw on eBay sold for over $200!

 namiel wrote:
I went into my local shop yesterday and all of the LOTR/Hobbit stuff was gone, boxed up and back to Memphis.

Your local shop still had Hobbit stuff? I have not seen anything in the local independent shops since the intial Hobbit movie releases years ago. I had to special order everything from the second two movies.

the local gw shops still stocked it. Not anymore.

The release was actually not meant to be sent out but it was none the less now gw is just publically saying whats up.

 namiel wrote:
To me moving this to direct only and upping the price that comes with forgeworld I see this game dying out in less then 24months. By dying out I mean NO ONE new coming in and current players giving up trying to play.

You haven't been paying much attention the past few years have you? LOTR is thriving at the moment with the least amount of support it's ever had.

 Ketara wrote:

 namiel wrote:
To me moving this to direct only and upping the price that comes with forgeworld I see this game dying out in less then 24months. By dying out I mean NO ONE new coming in and current players giving up trying to play.

You haven't been paying much attention the past few years have you? LOTR is thriving at the moment with the least amount of support it's ever had.

I live 9000 miles away from you. We might be seeing different people. Who knows though maybe im just way out of touch with the local united kingdom gaming scene here in Chicago.

 namiel wrote:

 Ketara wrote:

 namiel wrote:
To me moving this to direct only and upping the price that comes with forgeworld I see this game dying out in less then 24months. By dying out I mean NO ONE new coming in and current players giving up trying to play.

You haven't been paying much attention the past few years have you? LOTR is thriving at the moment with the least amount of support it's ever had.

I live 9000 miles away from you. We might be seeing different people. Who knows though maybe im just way out of touch with the local united kingdom gaming scene here in Chicago.

Touche. Here in the UK, there was a weekend tournament the other month with more than a hundred players. There's about GBHL tournies about twice a month up and down the country with player numbers stretching from that down to about 15. If you go searching Ebay for certain models, prices have reached ludicrous levels. Generally speaking, there's more Hobbit stuff happening now than there has been since The Two Towers hit the cinema.

 Ketara wrote:

 namiel wrote:

 Ketara wrote:

 namiel wrote:
To me moving this to direct only and upping the price that comes with forgeworld I see this game dying out in less then 24months. By dying out I mean NO ONE new coming in and current players giving up trying to play.

You haven't been paying much attention the past few years have you? LOTR is thriving at the moment with the least amount of support it's ever had.

I live 9000 miles away from you. We might be seeing different people. Who knows though maybe im just way out of touch with the local united kingdom gaming scene here in Chicago.

Touche. Here in the UK, there was a weekend tournament the other month with more than a hundred players. There's about GBHL tournies about twice a month up and down the country with player numbers stretching from that down to about 15. If you go searching Ebay for certain models, prices have reached ludicrous levels. Generally speaking, there's more Hobbit stuff happening now than there has been since The Two Towers hit the cinema.

Hobbit is booming there in the UK but here in the us its few and far between. The space between metro areas is much larger here too so it spreads us out more. Look at adepticon this year, the biggest gaming event in the us and we have 1 lotr game all weekend. Not even a tournament just a scenario with materials included. LOTR SBG is not being represented at all.

Sure. Perhaps in America. I just took issue with the blanket, non-geographic specific declaration that LOTR would be 'dying out in less then 24months. By dying out I mean NO ONE new coming in and current players giving up trying to play.' Perhaps it will in America, but from what you're describing, it's already dead over there. In the Uk though? I suspect it may help boost it to greater heights, assuming they play their cards right.

GW aren't complete fools, and they'll have noticed that LOTR sales have taken off again. I've heard along the grapevine that their curiosity/renewed interest was kicked off by all the email requests for the various OOP sourcebooks they've had lately (which are hitting fifty quid apiece on ebay right now).

Very true about the non geographic declaration. I was meaning to say for my region.