Stuff going to legacies was discussed here: https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/vozvvb0g/middle-earthtm-strategy-battle-game-the-upcoming-range-update-explained/

Presumably that means anything not on there and not in either of the first two books will be in the third book

Apparently there's Middle-Earth reveals up for next week:

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/k9c6bz33/sunday-preview-the-gitmob-gallop-into-the-fray/

Unusual of them to actually announce it.

The DVD/Blu-Ray/4K release is tomorrow so thats probably why. I'm guessing it will be a WOTR campaign book and remaining models.

I wouldn't expect a campaign book before they release the armies book. People would lose their minds.

I doubt it as it will be the last chance to coordinate with the film.

I don't think they need to. Anything like that would have probably been finished at the time of the new edition launch.

Too much to release in one go.

Just a question though; have they actually confirmed that there is going to be a third book? I've looked through the MESBG articles and I can't find anything that says there will be another armies book.

Could the remaining stuff be saved for future campaign books?

Yeah, they confirmed back at the edition launch. Everything not movie related goes into the third armies book.

Found it...

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/m9f0rghw/middle-earthtm-strategy-battle-game-army-building-in-the-new-edition/

...and called "Armies of Middle Eath", which will be released "later on".

That's the one everyone's clamouring for, where half the units in the game are currently locked up.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
No, legends are gone. The third is for anything not specifically featured in the films. So Gondor/Rohan secondary characters, Angmar, the rest of Harad etc

My recollection from the article was that models sent to legends would still get profiles in a one-time PDF release. This would be there one and only integration into the current edition, and never be addressed again in the current or any future edition.

callidusx3 wrote:

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
No, legends are gone. The third is for anything not specifically featured in the films. So Gondor/Rohan secondary characters, Angmar, the rest of Harad etc

My recollection from the article was that models sent to legends would still get profiles in a one-time PDF release. This would be there one and only integration into the current edition, and never be addressed again in the current or any future edition.

That is correct. They will get rules but won't be kept updated for competitive play. Which is a shame for Khand and Far Harad players, but I don't want to beat that dead horse any more.

I think someone was looking for the Armies of Middle-Earth book?

Looks like you get bonus Imrahil at the same time.

New Prince Imrahil announced alongside Armies of Middle-Earth

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/fy8isfxy/prince-imrahiltm-of-dol-amrothtm-rides-to-battle-with-the-armies-of-middle-earthtm/



Ninja'd.

Love the lance, bit annoyed that it's so different from the rest though. I suppose the current model also has a more traditional looking lance than the generic Knights, so the inconsistency is consistent.

Prince Imrahil was my very first mini I ever bought and painted.

This IS a must-buy for me...

Ahh, Prince Not-Appearing-In-This-Film.

Lovely model.

Wonderful. Best boy finally gets the sculpt he deserves. Also posting the book cover, because that cover art is stellar.

That's a lovely model! I likely won't want to pay what they'll charge for him but great for people who've been waiting for some Fiefdom's love.

Looking forward to hearing what is in the new book, hope people are happy with it!

Also here's all the army lists. A lot going to be showing up in these

Can't see anything obvious left out - old dunland been superceded by new dunland I think?

 Tim the Biovore wrote:
New Prince Imrahil announced alongside Armies of Middle-Earth

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/fy8isfxy/prince-imrahiltm-of-dol-amrothtm-rides-to-battle-with-the-armies-of-middle-earthtm/



Ninja'd.

Love the lance, bit annoyed that it's so different from the rest though. I suppose the current model also has a more traditional looking lance than the generic Knights, so the inconsistency is consistent.

I'd just put that down to "i'm the prince. I get the fancy, specially made lance".

Plastic Imrahil?! GW, you have my attention...

Now if only we could have plastic foot knights to complete the trinity.

Dragons of the North? But surely Smaug is in the Armies of the Hobbit book? Is there other 747-sized dragons in the range?

I imagine it could be a list based around cold drakes and the Moria dragon. Perhaps some sort of new drake model to come.

I wouldn't say no to a plastic dragon.

My Beornings will ride* again.

*walk

New Imrahil looks amazing. I have the old one that I got randomly from a friend who ended up with a couple of extras somehow. I don't play Fiefdoms, but it's a cool model nonetheless.

But the real news we were waiting for was, of course, word of the third book. And I am STOKED! There's lists for so much stuff that was only in the books, and they went ahead and put the Arnor/Angmar stuff in there too, which I honestly expected. Easterlings get a couple of lists (The Easterlings and Host of the Dragon Emperor), which is awesome, and it looks like Khazad-dum will also get a single list (just the one but how many did they honestly need?). Moria is probably the expanded version where Shamans, Prowlers, Durburz, the drummers, and some of the monsters will likely live. And I wonder what all this talk of dragons is about? Will Smaug actually get a couple of wingmen for the REALLY big games?

Another thing I like is that they are integrating certain profiles into the existing armies from the two Armies books. I wonder if that's where the Galadhrim Knights, Haldir's brothers, and the Galadhrim Court Guard will fit in. Or if they'll retroactively allow the current Garrison of Dale list to take Knights.

Unfortunately, they didn't give a release date so the waiting game is still going. And still no word on the missing War of the Rohirrim characters. Oh well, at least we have some idea what's coming.

Interesting new Imrahil, solid sculpt and a replacement of a metal, rather than Finecast, sculpt this time which is quite exciting. Implies any non-plastic character might just see a random plastic release at some point, as I can't think of any particular reason the old one needed to be resculpted. Good stuff.

I'm of the mind that if the ME license is genuinely that big of a deal, and its in metal or finecast, then a model needs updating.

I'm guessing that characters like Sauron, Shelob and Gollum will get new sculpts for when The Hunt For Gollum is released in December 2026.

More narrative tomfoolery with The Two Towers...

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/qauhhaz2/narrative-play-in-middle-earthtm-to-war/

SamusDrake wrote:
I'm of the mind that if the ME license is genuinely that big of a deal, and its in metal or finecast, then a model needs updating.

I'm guessing that characters like Sauron, Shelob and Gollum will get new sculpts for when The Hunt For Gollum is released in December 2026.

It's December 2027 now. And we're four months past War of the Rohirrim, and four months since the reveal of the plastic Hera, with no release in sight, and we haven't even seen the plastic Helm, if he even exists, nor Frealaf, Olwyn, or Lief, again, if they're even going to get miniatures at all, so if you think GW are particularly keen to cash in on tie-in releases, you must also think they're extraordinarily inept at it.

I don't know about Shelob and Gollum, but a plastic Sauron has been such a no-brainer for so long that I can't see GW wasting that golden goose on a mostly unrelated spin-off, that feels less likely than them just never doing it at all. We'll check in again in three years time when they make a new starter set, we'll get that full refresh of the Last Alliance eventually, lads.

OMG noooooooooooooooo. I haven't been this disappointed since Luke Skywalker was hoping to submit his application to the academy... Still, there is always the fan film in the meantime...

Is it mid-April already? Well blow my nose as time flies! But seriously, its been three months since the film was released in cinemas, and that's usually the spacing between releases for most GW games.

Keeping a positive attitude to the whole situation, I suspect that the resheduling of the WOTR film has caused some headaches for GW and there's no overlooking the fact that the new edition is only now going to be covered in White Dwarf - three months late.

Throw in the removal of the Imperial Knights from the 40K roadmap, the earlier-than-suspected release of the Emperors Children, the 40K drought leading up to Christmas, the appearence of the Knight combat patrols in the current edition of White Dwarf when a codex probably might have been released...maybe its an awkward situation that just had to play out.

Hopefully things will be a bit smoother going forward...

Something will be revealed this week according to Warcom.

Hopefully it will be Olwyn, Frealaf and Lief, along with the WOTR narrative book.

Well, goddamn

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/i88uzy0l/middle-earth-strategy-battle-game-give-the-enemies-of-azogtm-a-taste-of-boulder-with-the-gundabad-catapult-trolltm/

It’s a beauty!!

The miniature is made of Forge World resin.

Well, BOO!

Something of that size and complexity really should be plastic i agree.

That is certainly a thing that exists. Resin though? Yikes.

Interesting addition of the Matched Play Guide.

That's a really cool model and definitely better than the prepainted plastic D&D similar ogre. It's too bad it's resin.

Damn, looks good and has Goblins on it, the only models from the Hobbit movies I collect

Omg! I'm getting 2!

I didn't believe they would ever do this model.

I hope this means plastic Gundabad and Azog. I believe things look promising.

Was really hoping it would be plastic, but glad to have it either way

Pretty cool model if you dont stop 2 seconds to ponder the rationality of the construct.
Im not one to criticise insane fantasy concepts for lack of rational viability, its just that this is the final nail in the coffin for Middle Earth beeing a more realistic and grounded fantasy IMO.

His abs should look slightly more firm to be able to counter the force of the catapult, just to mention one thing that looks pretty bad for the troll.

 Fayric wrote:
Pretty cool model if you dont stop 2 seconds to ponder the rationality of the construct.
Im not one to criticise insane fantasy concepts for lack of rational viability, its just that this is the final nail in the coffin for Middle Earth beeing a more realistic and grounded fantasy IMO.

His abs should look slightly more firm to be able to counter the force of the catapult, just to mention one thing that looks pretty bad for the troll.

Agreed. It's fairly ridiculous to mount a catapult that way when a trebuchet would clearly have been the optimal and more realistic troll mounted option.

Well... it's Fantasy so cool factor is > reality. The esthetics of trebuchet on the back if a troll doesn't need much explanation.

This model gives me a lot of hope for the future of MESBG. If they do dive more into Gundabad and redo those terrible Finecast models mayve that means Mirkwood Elves will get done with it. We are approaching the 10 year anniversary of The Battle of the Five Armies are we not.

I agree. Even if they just redo the molds so they can be converted to FW resin, i would consider that a massive plus.

Maybe they should've made a launch box for Battle of the Five armies instead, and made War of the Rohirrim into a separate game altogether.

The sling attachment to the arm is one of the thinnest connections between two very large resin pieces I've ever seen...

About a decade overdue, but nice none the less. Will be purchasing at least one.

 Fayric wrote:
Pretty cool model if you dont stop 2 seconds to ponder the rationality of the construct.
Im not one to criticise insane fantasy concepts for lack of rational viability, its just that this is the final nail in the coffin for Middle Earth beeing a more realistic and grounded fantasy IMO.

His abs should look slightly more firm to be able to counter the force of the catapult, just to mention one thing that looks pretty bad for the troll.

The side view doesn't show any ropes even tying the catapult platform to the troll! It's just got those little shoulder bars to balance it. Unless the leather 'vest' is connected somehow, but I can't figure it out if that's the case.

GW did a thing!

Fayric wrote:Pretty cool model if you dont stop 2 seconds to ponder the rationality of the construct.
Im not one to criticise insane fantasy concepts for lack of rational viability, its just that this is the final nail in the coffin for Middle Earth beeing a more realistic and grounded fantasy IMO.

zombie_sky_diver wrote:We are approaching the 10 year anniversary of The Battle of the Five Armies are we not.

The 10th Anniversary was last December, and the catapult trolls are an exact recreation of the design from the film, any complaints about how goofy that trilogy looked are a decade late. The now OOP Iron Hills Automatic Bolt Thrower Tower Goat Chariot has been in the game since mid 2017, and I'd call that more hare-brained than 2013's Rhosgobel rabbit sleigh. Frankly I'd still consider the catapult trolls to be quite realistic, in the sense that they were employed to minimal effect by a commander whose entire army was wiped out by the end of the day

 Tim the Biovore wrote:
The 10th Anniversary was last December, and the catapult trolls are an exact recreation of the design from the film, any complaints about how goofy that trilogy looked are a decade late. The now OOP Iron Hills Automatic Bolt Thrower Tower Goat Chariot has been in the game since mid 2017, and I'd call that more hare-brained than 2013's Rhosgobel rabbit sleigh. Frankly I'd still consider the catapult trolls to be quite realistic, in the sense that they were employed to minimal effect by a commander whose entire army was wiped out by the end of the day

Well, it's been 10 years for me of complaining about the numerous, ill-conceived departures from Tolkien's work contained in PJ's Hobbit trilogy. Fortunately, I can choose not to purchase any of them (including the 3 you mentioned above). Yet, I'm glad there are people who will enjoy these models.

Well, I get the complaints but it's still leagues above the blind Troll walking on maces. The catapult Troll might not exactly work, but he looks cool while doing so. The Troll brute on the other hand is just terrible in any way .

Where did the idea that LotR was "a more realistic and grounded fantasy" ever even come from to begin with?

Tolkien?

As LotR is written as the origin/backstory of our own world with all modern myths/fables and religions being based on what "actually" happened prior our age (there is this unkown event at the end of the 4th age were everything started from scratch and mostly humans were left in middle earth after)
so it is as grounded as fantasy can be

it is also the origin of all modern fantasy so there was no "more grounded" one before that

yet it is the movies and how certain things are shown there that is off and takes away the realism from it

chaos0xomega wrote:
Where did the idea that LotR was "a more realistic and grounded fantasy" ever even come from to begin with?

I suspect it depends on what you're comparing it to - would you say the statement applied if comparing LotR to AOS, for example?

 Dysartes wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
Where did the idea that LotR was "a more realistic and grounded fantasy" ever even come from to begin with?

I suspect it depends on what you're comparing it to - would you say the statement applied if comparing LotR to AOS, for example?

Even normal WFB. I had that discussion 15 years ago when a friend described the difference between high and low fantasy to me and we realized that everything in Warhammer is truly bonkers over the top compared to gandalfs most outstanding spell of casting a searchlight against the nazgul. And it’s the biggest problem of the Hobbit-movies to throw away that difference and turning middle earth into just another fantasy franchise to forget. Why did those stupid Worms that made the tunnels not just eat the dwarven and elven army and the whole erebor - end of story?

chaos0xomega wrote:
Where did the idea that LotR was "a more realistic and grounded fantasy" ever even come from to begin with?

Because LotR is the "end" of fantasy within Middle-Earth. By the end, the elves are all but gone along with magic, Sauron is gone, the Dwarves are dwindling. It's all but over as the more mundane world takes over.

You go back to the first age and futher, the Silmarillion, and the fantasy element is in the epic AoS style of over the top.

 kodos wrote:


it is also the origin of all modern fantasy so there was no "more grounded" one before that

Not really disagree with you points, but this part is simply not true.
There were many contemporaries with Tolkien writing fantsy. "The worm Ourobouros" Bu ER Eddison is just the first that pop in mind written about a decade before the Hobbit.
Looking at the American pulp scene, Robert E Howard had invented Conan and built the sword and sorcery genre together with the other fantastic writers in the 1920s and 30s (Howard died about the time the hobbit was released).
More fairytale style Fantasy was also quite available with writers like Lord Dunsanys wonderful "the king of elflands daughter" from 1924.

These are just some examples of different styles of Fantasy already on the scene when Tolkien wrote his books.

So, lets recap what is coming soon...

Hera & Horse. (plastic)
Bolg & Warg. (plastic)
Imrahil & Horse. (plastic)
Goblins & Troll. (resin)
Armies Of Middle Earth. (book!)
Matchplay Guide. (pamphlet.)

 Fayric wrote:
These are just some examples of different styles of Fantasy already on the scene when Tolkien wrote his books.

of course there are other fantasy worlds that came up during that time, or are older than Lord of the Rings, but none of those shaped modern fantasy the way it did.

John Carter has had a big influence on SciFi although it is more fantasy, the Nibelungen and Grimms Fairy Tales existed long before but as soon as Dwarfs, Elves and Orcs are there it is Lord of the Rings based with the influence of others being on lower end
Conan exists but its influence outside dedicated material about that fantasy world is not there compared to Lord of the Rings

PS: and just to be clear, by modern fantasy I mean past WW2

SamusDrake wrote:
So, lets recap what is coming soon...

Hera & Horse. (plastic)
Bolg & Warg. (plastic)
Imrahil & Horse. (plastic)
Goblins & Troll. (resin)
Armies Of Middle Earth. (book!)
Matchplay Guide. (pamphlet.)

Looks right. Seems like they're just going to do a massive dump at some point rather than just do it piecemeal.

Yeah, I dont buy yhat argument. Armies of zombie ghosts, balrogs, fire breathing dragons, betentacled lake monsters, treemen, tom bombadil, etc all seem pretty fantastical to me.

most of those were considered to be real at some point in time (outside the Balrog and Tom which is a specific for LotR) and not just "fantastical"

people believed the Kraken to be real for a very long time, a Kraken like lake monster isn't very fantastical in that context, neither are Dragons when a lot of larger cities in central Europe have an origin story based on slaying a dragon

chaos0xomega wrote:
Yeah, I dont buy yhat argument. Armies of zombie ghosts, balrogs, fire breathing dragons, betentacled lake monsters, treemen, tom bombadil, etc all seem pretty fantastical to me.

But you don't see them around often. The average person in a Middle Earth village will never ever see any of those creatures. It's not like there are flights of dragons blackening the skies, or every forest in the world is overrun with ents.

It was only 60 years between the events of the hobbit and lotr. Smaug waking up and obliterating lake town would have still been fresh in people's memories far and wide.

This would make for a fine topic in it's own right.

The troll isn't to my taste for LOTR but it is fairly accurate to the Hobbit films, which is what they've always been basing these things on. I thought the Battle of 5 Armies film was the most warhammer-y film I'd ever seen in my life.

Please remember Troll design is from Weta, not GW.
Silmarillion share very few things with Age of Sigmar, even in the tone.

Johanxp wrote:

Silmarillion share very few things with Age of Sigmar, even in the tone.

Not sure if you answer a question with this or just throw it out there but I agree, everybody know AoS is a totally uniqe and protectable IP that GW just made up from scratch.
Horus Heresy on the other hand, theres your Silmarillion.

Just reading through the new edition of White Dwarf and they have a line up for all the launch models. The plastic kit for Hera is showcased on the Rohan side of things, so her pre-order should be very close now...

The editor also mentions that secrecy, regarding details of the film itself, is why it didn't feature in the December issue.

Hello Beechbone!

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/eo3jlfyc/beechbonetm-is-the-biggest-enttm-in-fangorn-foresttm/

Well he looks rather fine. Resin, but after all the plastics, i guess it was to be expected. Looks great though

I really like the model, too.

I got this nagging feeling that WOTR's cinema release was at some point scheduled for this month, and everything got moved forward to Christmas at the last moment. Hera stayed put to ensure we'd get something this month.

Probably going to see Hera in this Sunday's pre-order preview, and then 3 months from now we'll get the Armies of Middle Earth book.

I have no desire to paint or collect Ents for MESBG, but Beechbone is probably the best Ent they've made yet. Even better than the new(ish) Treebeard that came out a few years ago.

I like him a lot. Great pose that matches that like two frames worth of footage from the movie.

He looks very tall as well.

SamusDrake wrote:
So, lets recap what is coming soon...

Hera & Horse. (plastic)
Bolg & Warg. (plastic)
Imrahil & Horse. (plastic)
Goblins & Troll. (resin)
Armies Of Middle Earth. (book!)
Matchplay Guide. (pamphlet.)

Don't forget the Easterling War Drake, which was name checked in a WarCom article last month (Imrahil's reveal). Almost certainly a resin release. The same rumour guy that said catapult troll is coming soon said the same for it.

So once again - by popular demand - lets recap whats coming next...

Hera & Horse. (plastic)
Bolg & Warg. (plastic)
Imrahil & Horse. (plastic)
Goblins & Troll. (resin)
Armies Of Middle Earth. (book!)
Matchplay Guide. (pamphlet.)
Beechbone (resin)
War Drakes of Rhûn (To be confirmed, likely resin).

Honestly not used to this much actviity in this thread. It's awfully disconcerting...

SamusDrake wrote:
So once again - by popular demand - lets recap whats coming next...

Hera & Horse. (plastic)
Bolg & Warg. (plastic)
Imrahil & Horse. (plastic)
Goblins & Troll. (resin)
Armies Of Middle Earth. (book!)
Matchplay Guide. (pamphlet.)
Beechbone (resin)
War Drakes of Rhûn (To be confirmed, likely resin).

"Apparently" there have been signs of the War Drakes actually at Nottingham. As in they're sculpted, just not released yet.

I'm late to the party, but I'd just like to chime in just how much I'm looking forward to Imrahil - I'm hoping his release will lead to more new Gondorians in plastic. (I'd love some re-designed fiefdoms! But also just some classic Gondor re-sculpts would make me so, so very happy!)

I always felt the game was designed and marketed around the Peter Jackson films, rather than the books. Characters like Imrahil I find a curious inclusion to the game. Its a good thing but...the game's narrative tends to be at a cross roads; some will shake their heads at Elves at Helmsdeep, while others are eager to be authentic to the films.

But if a player I'd be Bakshi all the way...

FIRE OF ISENGARD!!!

For what it's worth...

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/dlog0p8e/narrative-play-in-middle-earthtm-join-the-final-battle/

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:

"Apparently" there have been signs of the War Drakes actually at Nottingham. As in they're sculpted, just not released yet.

Eh, thats not a big surprise, its normal for GW to have a model done and dusted but "sit" on it for a while, sometimes even years, before releasing. Even for the likes of 40k where there is no licence issue.

> its normal for GW to have a model done and dusted but "sit" on it for a while

We saw this with The Old World releases, models made before The End Times are finally getting released now.

Evil returns to Middle-earth with the War Drakes of Rhûn and the Umbar Ballista

Those Drakes are really nice.

Excellent sculpts indeed.

Do the line, Bart:
*sigh*
"Shame it's not plastic"

Well, speak of the devil and all that.

Those drakes are fantastic, I'll snap those up for my old world lizardman army

The Drakes are nice, but I'm quite taken with that corsair ballista. The crew look good, and despite just being an oversized crossbow on stilts, they've made the ballista itself look not boring.

The Black Adder wrote:
Those drakes are fantastic, I'll snap those up for my old world lizardman army

You leave em' alone. It's hard enough keeping the resins in stock for Middle-Earth in general.

I have nothing against these previews for "Armies of Middle Earth", but they are jumping the gun when they've said its all for "later in the year" and "in due course". The book is now said to be "forthcoming", but if Hera is anything to go by then "available soon" means "more than four months", so I'm assuming that forthcoming means "come back at Christmas"...

Hey, take it for what it is. I'll wait until later in the year, even if it's Christmas. I'm happy (and very suprised) GW is even supporting the game this much of at all. For a while there I thought they might scrap it all together considering how scarce support and new releases were.

Now I'm hoping some old models and terrain sets come back that sudden went missing without notice

I'm a bit surprised that the drakes don't come with goaders/keepers. Nice sculpts though.

I really really like the Drakes. Some of my favourite creature sculpts they’ve done, despite how relatively simple they are.

 warboss wrote:
I'm a bit surprised that the drakes don't come with goaders/keepers. Nice sculpts though.

That does seem a bit odd. Maybe they don't require handlers, although the implication from the pictures is that they are goaded. If they are goaded then some more original sculpts for anybody with an easterling force would have been appreciated, I'm sure.

On the flip side, fewer resin sculpts should keep the price point lower, which is especially nice for those of us co-opting them for another game (sorry Inquisitor Gideon, they're just too pretty to leave in Middle Earth )

So many announcements and not a single actual release yet

I have this nitty feeling that it's going to be like Necromunda in that they get all these announcements, goes radio silent for months and then there's just a massive dump of stuff, then the piled up previews again.

The Black Adder wrote:

 warboss wrote:
I'm a bit surprised that the drakes don't come with goaders/keepers. Nice sculpts though.

That does seem a bit odd. Maybe they don't require handlers, although the implication from the pictures is that they are goaded. If they are goaded then some more original sculpts for anybody with an easterling force would have been appreciated, I'm sure.

Including the spear guys in the blurry background of the picture absolutely didn't help that impression. Seeing them in the pic and not seeing them mentioned in the post is what got me to double check for a mention.

The rules for the Drakes were already out two years ago, no such thing as a handler for them.

Johanxp wrote:
So many announcements and not a single actual release yet

Yeah, at this point I think everyone's getting weary of GW stringing us along. Just release some of this stuff already!

Nice, but how about new Riders of Rohan and Cavalry for the Dunlandish.

Hopefully it will be the Armies book and Hera in todays "Coming Soon" article. And sod it, they should throw in that Gondor Prince chap whatshisname as well.

Imrahil?

Thats the one. Well done. They should also throw in that Gondor Prince chap whatshisname who has now been identified as Imrahil as well.

I found plastic Imrahil to be completely uninspired. He's metal sculpt is much nicer. New one looks like it could well be a generic captain.

Actually, just remembered the Thousand Sons are yet to go up for pre-order? Probably them this week...which is alright as they're pretty cool chaps.

Putting nothing up for pre-order next weekend is certainly a choice...

That...is just heartbreaking.

For the complete lack of nothing yet again, decided to get a few of the resins i've been missing. Because i'm annoyed and i waste money when i'm annoyed.

When's the last time GW had nothing to order, except for Christmas week? Will we see a couple of weeks of hunkering down to see how this whole tariff thing plays out?

It wouldn't surprise me if this is down to trade route disruption with companies delaying/cancelling stuff due to tariffs (& potential port fees for chinese manufacture ships hitting US ports)


meaning ships being delayed/rerouted meaning stuff GW was expecting in terms of books, empty boxes and plastic terrain not turning up as expected so we get weeks with no new stuff

Iirc it happened 2 or 3 times last year, plus the occasional week of mto or bl only

Lief preview

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/ftakeald/enact-the-king-of-rohans-will-with-lieftm-page-of-helmtm/

Before anyone asks, the WarCom article doesn't seem to specify the material for this young chap.

When I was in Morocco I was approached by a local who offered me to pet his horse for 10€ and the horse gave me a "next person to touch me dies" look. This horse reminds me strongly of it.

 Dysartes wrote:
Before anyone asks, the WarCom article doesn't seem to specify the material for this young chap.

Plastic, per Warhammer on Facebook

Yay!!!

Nice. Now if they could actually release something, that would be lovely.

When I first say the pic, I was asking myself why this Hobbit was wearing boots. I assumed they were trying to emulate Merry. Then I pulled up the link and read the fluff.

(still looks like a lot like a halfling to me)

 Tim the Biovore wrote:

 Dysartes wrote:
Before anyone asks, the WarCom article doesn't seem to specify the material for this young chap.

Plastic, per Warhammer on Facebook

Huh - I wonder why they didn't mention that in the WarCom article?

I'm pretty sure there's exceptions to the rule when it comes to MESBG, but since the introduction of WOTR the characters that come with a horse variant are in plastic. I was only expecting Lief as a single FW model, so I'm well impressed.

I think Lief looking like an honorary Hobbit is awesome. If only the Shire folk got the same treatment!

My only disappointment with these WOTR sculpts is that they lose their anime style, which is one of the reasons I love the new film. It's understandable given that they have to be consistent with the rest of the range...but my feelings still remain.

I love that Helm's Page gets a mounted model before Helm does.

Love it though!

Well, someone has to announce his presence!

 KidCthulhu wrote:
When I first say the pic, I was asking myself why this Hobbit was wearing boots. I assumed they were trying to emulate Merry. Then I pulled up the link and read the fluff.

(still looks like a lot like a halfling to me)

Agreed. I thought he was a halfling. Then the text says he's 16... okay

I'm thinking of a diorama, which has Lief returning to his Hobbit home in Bag End, with Hera standing at the door with their kids...

SamusDrake wrote:
My only disappointment with these WOTR sculpts is that they lose their anime style, which is one of the reasons I love the new film. It's understandable given that they have to be consistent with the rest of the range...but my feelings still remain.

I actually really like that they made the models consistent; while I do like the anime style from the movie, I enjoy the chance to see these characters in a more realistic style too, like how they might have looked if the movie had been live action. But I totally get where you're coming from.

To be fair, I think it warranted a live action film as it was that good a film.

New narrative scenarios for An Unexpected Journey.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/6rn7mqtc/narrative-play-in-middle-earthtm-a-surprise-trip/

It's not everything, but christ it's the book, Hera and a handful of others:

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/ck4pqjsu/sunday-preview-change-comes-to-the-mortal-realms-and-the-brayherds-raid-the-old-world/

My interest in MESBG has died out over the last six months, returning to focus on BSF, but I'll still put in an order for Hera. She's cool.

SamusDrake wrote:
My interest in MESBG has died out over the last six months, returning to focus on BSF, but I'll still put in an order for Hera. She's cool.

Yeah, they have completely dropped the ball on releases. It is very disappointing. Unfortunately they will probably release everything at once, instead of once a month so normal people could afford it.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
It's not everything, but christ it's the book, Hera and a handful of others:

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/ck4pqjsu/sunday-preview-change-comes-to-the-mortal-realms-and-the-brayherds-raid-the-old-world/

What's still o/s (that's been previewed, anyway) - I thought the Ent and the Corsair stuff was the last to be announced?

Lief, Wardrakes, Catapult troll off the top of my head.

Seren Nishiyama wrote:

Yeah, they have completely dropped the ball on releases. It is very disappointing. Unfortunately they will probably release everything at once, instead of once a month so normal people could afford it.

They indeed, Seren.

While the wait has been frustrating it did give me the time to throw around ideas for a campaign thats a "fan fiction sequel" to WOTR. I'm thinking of Hera and a Warg chieftan, bit like Atreyu and Gmork from Neverending Story. I like the idea of agents of Sauron stealing the body of Wulf and he reincarnates him as a large and powerful warg, with the sole purpose of ending the line of Helm Hammerhand for good. Run, Hera, run!

I kept playing it because it is a great game.
Such a shame to see people leaving because ithe game is not supported like 40k or aos. It really gives the idea on what it is important for a player... gw owned you.

My interest in playing has also waned critically over the last few months. From what I hear, the rules are still solid, very much on par with previous editions, but the shonky list building has just sorta killed it for me. I'll keep collecting because I still love the miniatures but as far as gaming goes, I'll just stick with the Pelennor Fields edition.

Anyone try using lisybuilding from ladt edition with the new rules and profiles? Dont see why you couldnt really, probably not quite balanced but uhh... its not like GW is great at that anyway.

Seems like abandoning the list building before we see the 3rd book is a little premature.

Is seems that drakes of Rhun too will be available for preorder saturday - even though GW did not announce them in the article...

Price list. Everything seems pretty reasonable really.

This image for an "MESBG Journal" was apparently sent to retailers by mistake, instead of the Armies of ME photo

Interesting. An easy thing to fake, but i can't really see anybody wasting their time doing so.

You had my hopes up there for a moment.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
Interesting. An easy thing to fake, but i can't really see anybody wasting their time doing so.

World is full of people ready to waste time doing this kind of things.

So according to one of the local stores, the Matched Play guide isn't being made available to Australian retailers. He had it confirmed with his supplier that only GW Stores are stocking it "for the foreseeable future".

Well it's not on the above price list. So presumably it's going to end up as a "direct only, while stocks last" thing.

Ah righto. Nice to know it's not just an us problem then.

Well that's bs and it screws over the independent shops. Why make that book harder to get? Seems a bit arbitrary.

We're heading back to the Spots The Space Marine era of GW sh*tfu**ery.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
Well that's bs and it screws over the independent shops. Why make that book harder to get? Seems a bit arbitrary.

there is a limited amount of books anyway (a single print run doesn't last forever) and GW makes more money with it by selling it thru their own shops
Also it being a "veteran" system no advertising for new players is needed by putting books on a shelf in a general store, everyone who plays the game knows how to get the books anyway.

And we have a plastic Theodred

Finally, Hera has been pre-ordered. Had to get it over £20 for free P&P so I treated myself to a Warg Chieftan, so that he can chase Hera around Middle Earth, a bit like Gmork and Atreyu from Neverending Story.

Surpisingly everything was a good price imo. All the new plastics being under £20 after discounters was surprising, so i got one of everything.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
Surpisingly everything was a good price imo. All the new plastics being under £20 after discounters was surprising, so i got one of everything.

I got the new plastics, but I actually got 2 Heras. I simply couldn't decide if I'd want to do her with or without the cloak. Plus there is a lack of shieldmaiden characters available anyway, so if I end up painting one and don't want to paint the second as is, it will make for great conversion fodder.

Technically both Imrahil and Bolg are both duplicates as well (as I have the originals). Imrahil will go nicely with the resin sculpts and his older metal sculpt can be downgraded to a champion for 'regular' unit of swan knights.

I don't play MESBG anyway, so having duplicates for other characters work outs great for me!

Bit shocked at the price of some of the returning metals, but I only really need two or three kits now to complete a couple of gaps. I've almost completed everything I want to get from the MESBG range at this point. They will have to wait though, as too many Old world + MESBG releases in one week, and warlord games is choosing to end their 2000ad lines this week to so its been a costly week.

Was also agonizing over the cloak.

At the moment I'm thinking the cloak for when Hera is on the horse - traveling mode. But on foot, she looks more ready for action without the cloak...

On the other hand she still looks great the other way around. Oh s***, I should've put two on the tab as well...

So this guy's getting a single release next week

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/yvrlx5af/sunday-preview-chaos-knights-crush-the-competition/

Why next week and not just drop him this week is anyone's guess

Bought some times ago (with the now-useless other dunleding heroes). But nice to see something more is made available for the players.

Johanxp wrote:
Bought some times ago (with the now-useless other dunleding heroes). But nice to see something more is made available for the players.

I got them all as well. I just run the two characters as Dunlending chieftans now, they fit just as well.

One thing I noticed that irks me a little about the rerelease of the Woses warriors is that now they come with 15 plus Ghan-buri-ghan. When I bought the box it was only 12. I feel slightly shafted, but I don't think it's going to be a huge deal. Unless you are required to bring exactly 15 for the Paths of the Druadan list, then I'll be mad as hell. Last edition you were required to bring 12, so let's hope they dropped that requirement.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
One thing I noticed that irks me a little about the rerelease of the Woses warriors is that now they come with 15 plus Ghan-buri-ghan. When I bought the box it was only 12. I feel slightly shafted, but I don't think it's going to be a huge deal. Unless you are required to bring exactly 15 for the Paths of the Druadan list, then I'll be mad as hell. Last edition you were required to bring 12, so let's hope they dropped that requirement.

People complained about 12 because there was one situation where you could use 15 and no convenient/direct way to acquire the other 3, so hopefully it is still optional as I also have the 12 box.

Did someone say Swan Knights? Because i'm sure i heard someone say Swan Knights

Where'd they show up, Gideon? Haven't seen owt on WarCom about them coming back (yet).

Warhammer Facebook page.

Well, good but... new resin knights are far better than those. And is the same for the plastic knights in armoured horse.
I should buy DA command group as I miss capitan and banner on horse... uhm...

Are you fething kidding me? Damn you GW, pulling this gak when I really don't have cash to throw at it.

I've been chasing that Faramir for ages. And I'd not say no to that command pack either. Hopefully it's not for another month or so.

Johanxp wrote:
Well, good but... new resin knights are far better than those. And is the same for the plastic knights in armoured horse.

Oh I'm the complete opposite, the metal knights are far superior. I dislike the unhelmeted heads on the resin versions.

I really want that Faramir, and I'd love to grab a pack or two of the foot knights and the Dol Amroth command set. Cost is going to determine what I get, as always. For the mounted guys, if they are way too high I can just get the plastic ones, but I'd be willing to bet that the metal foot guys will be cheaper than the FW resin ones.

 Snrub wrote:

Johanxp wrote:
Well, good but... new resin knights are far better than those. And is the same for the plastic knights in armoured horse.

Oh I'm the complete opposite, the metal knights are far superior. I dislike the unhelmeted heads on the resin versions.

You're free to prefer the classic metal style of the old sculpts, but you do know the resin kit has six helmeted heads in it, right?

Uggg they just had to announce these Made to Order NOW. After I just dropped $$$ on Wood Elves?

Ugg my wallet will hate me. I want all those models....

 Tim the Biovore wrote:
You're free to prefer the classic metal style of the old sculpts, but you do know the resin kit has six helmeted heads in it, right?

I was not aware of that as it happens. I was under the vague impression that the banner bearer's head was moulded to the banner. I'm quite pleased to be wrong if that's not the case.
I certainly don't dislike the resin sculpts. It was mainly just the unhelmeted heads that were my issue. Being able to have them all helmeted certainly puts them on parity with the metal versions as far as I'm concerned.


Having just gone back to the webstore to look at them, I note they're no longer present on the site. What with plastic Imrahil, and the existing plastic mounted knights, dare we hope for some plastic foot knights/men-at-arms in the near future. And possibly a Dol Amroth battlehost? (Hint hint GW. Hint hint.)

A whole two PDF's this week.

Legacies PDF and a narrative PDF:

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/jysh351k/legacies-of-middle-earth-rules-for-yet-more-warriors-of-good-and-evil/

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/ngkqwxdu/narrative-play-in-middle-earthtm-the-desolation-of-smaugtm/

That Minas Tirith + dwarfs army looks tasty.

Seeing as i managed to pick up 10 half trolls bnib just lately for 50, i feel a far harad list is in my future.

Wrong thread

Honestly, this takes some of the sting out of these models going to Legacies, as they do look like they'd be fun to play in casual games even if most events won't allow them. Now if I can somehow lay my hands on some Khandish Horsemen for a not-outlandish sum of money...

Swan Knight MTO next week,

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/piux6zf8/sunday-preview-grand-cathay-marches-from-nan-gau/

Personally i'm in for two units of 12, 2 commands and Faramir.

This is absolutely HORRIBLE timing, being alongside the Cathay release for Old World. Especially since it seems both are going to be FOMO releases (they said the Cathay battalion will be limited). Now I'm gonna have to pick and choose. We'll have to see the pricing, but I'm leaning toward getting Middle-Earth stuff rather than starting yet another army for a game system I've only played a little bit of. I probably will want at least the Dol Amroth commanders and one or two sets of the foot knights if they are cheaper than the FW ones, and I really want that Faramir.

Why worry about the knock-off Chinese at this point? They're plastic and new, not going anywhere. The Swan Knights have only got a limited time and will still be damn expensive second hand even if they do come up.

Price list:

Looks like Faramir will be about £20 and the foot knights about £25.
Reasonable and about half the price of the resin ones if memory serves.

Next week? So very not the month or so away I'd wished it to be, but oh well. I'll grab Faramir if nothing else and if I can squeeze in the command so much the better. The foot and mounted knights I can pass on as you do see them pop on trading sites, sometimes even for not total ridiculous prices. The captain and banner bearer are far harder to come across.

Based off that UK/US price list, I'm going to predict the Australian prices thus; Farmair at $50, the Captain/Banner at $80, Foot Knights at $110 and Mounted Knights at $60.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
Price list:

Looks like Faramir will be about £20 and the foot knights about £25.
Reasonable and about half the price of the resin ones if memory serves.

Bit annoying that they are again dropping large old world and middle earth releases on the same weeks, especially for limited releases.

I have fair amount of stuff for a swan knight army anyway, but I need foot knights and more commanders. And I don't play MESBG, I have armies for war of the ring. So its going to be a costly week after having just picked up wood elves and beastmen. So I do wish they would spread out their fantasy releases, I'd hoped that HH would had come in-between some of these releases.

 Mallo wrote:

Bit annoying that they are again dropping large old world and middle earth releases on the same weeks, especially for limited releases.

It turned out that Grand Cathay Battallion isn't limited edition after all. I guess it's time for me to pick up some MESBG instead.

I can't help it but I must shout about it - I have just this moment recieved my very first MESBG miniatures in the post, delivered by none other than The Man From Royal Mail, himself...

Hera and the Warg Chieftain are in the house, boys and girls!!!

Future purchases depends on GW's release schedule...

Welcome to what (was, I'm not if it still is, as I've not played the new edition) the best game in GW's stable.

If you haven't already, look at picking up the battle hosts. If they're armies that interest you, then they're great value and provide a great launch point for a new force.

Cheers. I did consider the Isengard set at one point but that fell by the wayside when WOTR came along and the focus changed. I've been hanging on for missing characters for a rather long time now...

 Snrub wrote:
Welcome to what (was, I'm not if it still is, as I've not played the new edition) the best game in GW's stable.

People keep saying this, but it is simply not true. Once upon a time it may have been true, in the dark days of 2006-2016. Most of the MEsbg players I know are not gaming butterflies trying all of GW’s games. Now, when it comes to GW mass battle games, like 40K, AoS, Legions Imperialis, this claim may still hold up as true.

But GW has made some major innovations in the skirmish-scale rulesets that blow away MEsbg and other rulesets in terms of tight, engaging rules. Kill Team and Underworlds are amazing. Blitz Bowl is up there, and Adeptus Titanicus is solid.

Well, that's just like, your opinion man.

Sgt. Cortez wrote:
Well, that's just like, your opinion man.

Sure… so was the post I responded to.

Yet, my opinion is not some random, baseless statement. I have been gaming for over 30 years. I’ve played 1000’s of different games and hundreds of miniature rulesets. MEsbg is a good, solid ruleset. But it’s a quarter-century old and there have been innovations since then that have bumped up other games above it. Still fun to play, but it doesn’t hold the mantle of No. 1 anymore in my opinion.

See, your second post is far more nuanced than the first one. I still wouldn't really agree with it or argue that the games you mentioned hardly compare to mesbg as a wargame as they're rather boardgames (not too familiar with the scale of Titanicus), but at least your post is open for debate.
My experience usually is "the Grass is always greener" and stuff. I started with lotr back then, saw some of its flaws (like dependance on rolling 6's or swingy cavalry rules) and tried out a couple of other games because of them, in the end they all have their own flaws and mesbg actually stays up there as a game that works from 2 to 80 miniatures and has that narrative side that no other GW game today has.

Cannot really compare MESBG with stuff like Blitz bowl or Underworld as they are a completely different beasts. It doesn't make sense.

I am a huge fan of Adeptus Titanicus, like the models and the lore but the system suffered the knight-only army plague and unfortunately some rule issues make it absolutely hard to play in a competitive manner - and the matched play guide couldn't do nothing, especially if the TO allows custom houses.

Lots of GW games are nice games, to be honest, it depends on what you seek. BUT...I tried almost every GW system so far but it's crazy how MESBG still remains, in my humble opinion, the best GW game, after 25 years since its launch.

callidusx3 wrote:

Yet, my opinion is not some random, baseless statement. I have been gaming for over 30 years.

I've been gaming for nearly 40 so my opinion outranks yours then.

Okay peeps, take the pissing contest elsewhere. This thread is for Middle-Earth news and rumors, not arguing which game is better.

 Snrub wrote:
What with plastic Imrahil, and the existing plastic mounted knights, dare we hope for some plastic foot knights/men-at-arms in the near future. And possibly a Dol Amroth battlehost? (Hint hint GW. Hint hint.)

Unfortunately seems very unlikely given that Men-at-arms of Dol Amroth have been moved to legacies. A shame; I really like their sensible-yet-decorative swam helmets and the overall Renaissancy look of pike blocks with heavy cav, all in plate armour (though preferring the more Dark Age aesthetics for Middle-earth overall and not feeling it's in line with how it's meant to be, but hey, they look great in isolation!). Until the big range purge, I had hoped for a metal re-release of the Men-at-arms to finally make that army with the plastic mounted knights, but alas...

Well this is just fething ludicrous. They want $110 for the Swan Knight command. Absolute balderdash. I'm not paying that much for four 20 year old metal models. Utter twaddle.

 Snrub wrote:
Based off that UK/US price list, I'm going to predict the Australian prices thus; Farmair at $50, the Captain/Banner at $80, Foot Knights at $110 and Mounted Knights at $60.

I wasn't far off with my guesses for Faramir who's $55 and Mounted Swan Knights who're $66 though. The foot Swan Knights come in at a surprising $74 for 6. That's much less then I would have expected. I wonder if they maybe switched the prices of the Foot Knights and Command by mistake.
Decided I'm not getting anything now, just out of spite.
Now, if no one objects, I'm going to go sulk about it loudly in this corner over here.

 Coenus Scaldingus wrote:
Unfortunately seems very unlikely given that Men-at-arms of Dol Amroth have been moved to legacies.

Oh yeah. That's a bummer. Well I guess they could still do a pure Swan Knight battlehost if they end up making plastic foot knights.

Went for three packs of knights, a command and Fararmir. The knights were a decent price, but the command was a rip off. But, they still cost a lot more than that on the second hand market. So lesser of two evils.

Yeah I suspect I'll go back in a few days once I've internally grumbled about it for a bit and put Faramir in the cart.

Until then....

Faramir is actually a good price. My memory feels like he's barely changed from what he was when he was on general release.