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A Polish company called Unreleased Miniatures has just started releasing pics of their new fantasy range, which looks like it could be LOTR standins. Their first release a mounted Forlong the Fat (or as they call him, ' Fat Medieval Bismarck on horse) makes me quite eager to see more!







https://www.facebook.com/UnreleasedMiniatures


A German company called Ridgeback Miniatures is also stepping into the breach it would seem. I genuinely think that if GW doesn't pick up the ball on this one, the fan community will take up the model production/rules writing, in the same way Elfball evolved.

Looks good! I have one of Ridgeback's Dains from the original run and it's an awesome mini, easily as nice as any of the official stuff. I'll be grabbing a mounted one as soon as he gets the next batch cast! Even better, even with postage a foot+mounted set only sets you back as much as they used to in the good old days of LotR! On his blog on One Ring he's got a few more wips of IH Dwarves/Gundabad Orcs that might pop up at some point.

On a similar note, Shadow and Flame will soon be selling Iron Hills upgrade sets for converting Grimhammers:


And this thread in p&m looks promising, the Dwarves should fit right in with the GW stuff.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/656496.page


I foresee a lot of this kind of stuff emerging over the next couple of years!

Unreleased's not too bad, but there are a few places where the putty just looks mushed together, that I hope will be tidied up; like the spearhead, the horse's tail, areas of the cloak...
To be honest and nitpicky, whether he's Fat Forlong or Fat Bismarck, the face looks a bit like an average, slim guy playing a department store Santa. Too much 'standard miniature dolly* with added accessories', like a lot of historical minis.

But still, not too bad. I wouldn't kick it out of my lead pile.

I can appreciate Ridgeback's efforts, but the results look a bit too much like a fresh new sculptor who should've bought one or two more anatomy books. I've seen it before. For the last pic I'm having trouble imagining where the shoulders go and end, and where the neck begins. Some of the detail looks soft, in the way of someone not altogether used to the way GS works and how it fights you, and in both sculpts there's signs of objects as mostly marked-in textures, rather than 3D pieces or layers. The 'skirts', for example.

I'm pretty tempted by some of the minis posted by Alex Volf up in Painting and Modelling, and his promised kickstarter. Not so much the undead or the orcs (latter too GW-ey for my likes) but the dwarfs look pretty tasty.

Unreleased just released (no pun intended) pictures of another model, the 'Absolutely Random Dwarf Lord on Foot'. I have to say, it puts the previous one by Ridgeback to shame.

 Vermis wrote:
Unreleased's not too bad, but there are a few places where the putty just looks mushed together, that I hope will be tidied up; like the spearhead, the horse's tail, areas of the cloak...
To be honest and nitpicky, whether he's Fat Forlong or Fat Bismarck, the face looks a bit like an average, slim guy playing a department store Santa. Too much 'standard miniature dolly* with added accessories', like a lot of historical minis.

In all fairness, that one is clearly not done, the feet haven't even been sculpted yet. It's also heavily influenced I think, by the GW Forlong (for obvious reasons), which has a similar appearance.

Yeah, that is nice... Not too sold on the head, though, looks a bit too small, proportioned more like a small human rather than a Dwarf.

Options are options, though, and it's certainly a fine mini!

 Paradigm wrote:
Yeah, that is nice... Not too sold on the head, though, looks a bit too small, proportioned more like a small human rather than a Dwarf.

I think Games Workshop already showed that 'dwarf' can be a very.....general term....



Also, do you have a link for those Shadow and Flame sets?

The S&F sets aren't out yet, I don't think, but I guess they'll show up here when they go live:
http://www.shadowandflame.co.uk/#!shop-1/caqe

Also, if anyone's in the market for an Ent or two, there's some epic alternative sculpts there!

Dave and Kev from S&F do a tremendous job! Glad to have another excuse to throw some money at them!

And, coming very soon will be my additional Misty Mountain Goblins.

Followed by Miniatures for the Levy of the Fiefs and Mahûd.

I just need to get finished with this crap in California with my moron of a doctor so that I can start printing the masters to have production molds made.


MB

 Ketara wrote:

There is something incredibly wrong with that horse..i cant put my hooves on it.........

You mean aside from the head being too small, and the neck slightly too wide.

The producers of all of these have sloppy anatomy (and poor consistency in symmetry and proportions).

They also tend to drape accessories directly over the forms, rather than following a natural path, as gravity or tension would affect things such as straps, or clothing (or swords).

They have a decent enough design sense, but not yet the skill to really pull off what they are trying.

MB

If we're honest here, a lot of the LOTR figures aren't exactly that pretty. I mean, plastic Wood Elf Warriors, anyone? Chafed crotch Eomer on foot?

The truth is, no, this stuff isn't perfect . But I give it a solid 8/10(referring to the Unreleased miniatures stuff, I'd give the Ridgeback a 6.5), and would happily dab some paint on and plonk it down on the table. It wouldn't look out of place, it doesn't embarass itself or me, and I'm always happy to have more options. At the end of the day, probably 60% of sculpts I see in the wargaming market are inferior, 30% are of equivalent quality, and that 10% that are superior don't come along that often, and don't form the bulk of any company's product catalogue.

I'd also note, BeAfraid, that you're looking at this from the perspective of a rival designer, which means that you have both the knowledge to look for the flaws (technically speaking), and the motive to do so (to see how your stuff compares if nothing else). I know from discussing things with one or two other designers that once you have the eye of someone who does it professionally, it can become difficult to see things from the perspective of the average gamer. A slight flaw in casting, a wonky buckle, a shoe that has five laces where the other has three, some things will jump out at you when you look at them with a professional eye that would simply never occur to most other people.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Looks like we're getting boar cavalry.

Ketara wrote:
In all fairness, that one is clearly not done, the feet haven't even been sculpted yet.

Ah, thought they were pointy sabatons or something!

Ketara wrote:
I think Games Workshop already showed that 'dwarf' can be a very.....general term....

Well, that's one thing I wouldn't blame GW for.

Desubot wrote:
There is something incredibly wrong with that horse..i cant put my hooves on it.........

Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Ketara wrote:

I'd also note, BeAfraid, that you're looking at this from the perspective of a rival designer, which means that you have both the knowledge to look for the flaws (technically speaking), and the motive to do so (to see how your stuff compares if nothing else). I know from discussing things with one or two other designers that once you have the eye of someone who does it professionally, it can become difficult to see things from the perspective of the average gamer. A slight flaw in casting, a wonky buckle, a shoe that has five laces where the other has three, some things will jump out at you when you look at them with a professional eye that would simply never occur to most other people.

The problem in my view, speaking as a bit of a 'designer' myself, is that if it jumps out so much at us rival professional designers, why doesn't it bother the original professional designer at all?

Also speaking for myself, I realise that gamers will have less of a problem with it. On the subject of horses, people snap up Fireforge's plastic cav like hot cakes, despite having somewhat wonky horses. (Though I know one gamer who swapped out the heads with Perry versions) But unless the original designers are closely monitoring the forums we frequent, it's easiest just to have a cathartic moan here. I'm not so sure how well unsolicited emails, telling the sculptor what they're doing wrong, are recieved.

Not so keen on this one. The beard feels off.

BeAfraid wrote:
You mean aside from the head being too small, and the neck slightly too wide.

MB

Keep looking

****OBLIGATORY PLUG FOR RED BOX GAMES****

Tre Manor's Red Box Games miniatures are in scale with Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings minis.

The Dwarves are especially good:
http://red-box-games.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=16&zenid=75b964974340a547f97f5d938f28f383

The elf range is small, but suitable:
http://red-box-games.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=15

The evil barbarians are more sword and sorcery style, but Fenris would make a great Warg chieftain:
http://red-box-games.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=13

The goblin range is one of my favourites, and could work for one of the breeds of goblins that live out in the open:
http://red-box-games.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=17

The small halfblood range includes some miniatures that could make decent Orc Captains and so on:
http://red-box-games.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=24

The halfling range is small too, but hey, extra halflings....
http://red-box-games.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=22

The human range is large and diverse and includes footmen and warriors as well as ruffians and villains. All are of really lovely quality and there are some brilliant individual figures in there!
http://red-box-games.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=21

The Infernal range has some good evil figures, including the awesome keeper who could make a fantastic alternate Wormtongue:
http://red-box-games.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=25

The Norse range is a bit beefy, but could do well as Rohan heroes and so on:
http://red-box-games.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=14

And if you want some big, pig faced Orcs in your LOTR, these orcs are fantastic (I plan to use them as Half-Trolls, actually):
http://red-box-games.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=29

I love the look of the Red Box stuff! I just wish there was some way to get them in the UK without insane postage costs and customs fees. If he got UK distribution set up then I'd regularly be sending cash his way.

When I've ordered small amounts of stuff in the past I haven't been hit for customs, but my bigger orders have and it does add a fair bit on the price

I'm a total fanboy though so I keep buying

It's more the shipping that puts me off. The price of the minis is fine, especially for what looks like good quality stuff, but I don't like the idea of paying more for postage than the minis themselves.

Momotaro wrote:

BeAfraid wrote:
You mean aside from the head being too small, and the neck slightly too wide.

MB

Keep looking

I don't see anything else.

It has sloppy sculpting on its hooves (the ones its body is leaning against - sculpted as additional parts - look no more finished than the ones sculpted to the body).

But otherwise the hooves look no worse than the rest of the body in terms of sculpting technique.... But the proportions are kinda wonky.

MB

I think its great news that these are appearing. It’s what we need to keep things going when Games Workshop stop supporting the game.

I think the Forlong is a pretty good sculpt and is clearly based on the GW version which I am painting at the moment. Both sculptors have some way to go before they hit the standards of the Perry twins but they are decent miniatures. They are better than any conversion I could do. I am looking forward to see what they and others come up with next. I am particularly looking forward to BeAfraid’s efforts.

Redeaston wrote:

Both sculptors have some way to go before they hit the standards of the Perry twins but they are decent miniatures. They are better than any conversion I could do.

That's the key, I think. No, these might not be as good as sculpts for the best in the business, but in the hands of all but the best painters the difference is largely negligible, especially given the scale of these models. Take the Ridgeback Dain, for example; here's mine, with a couple of other Dwarf models. Not the most amazing sculpt, but at the same time it fulfills the purpose, you can tell what it is, it resembles what it's supposed to and fits in with the other models pretty cohesively. Moreover, it's better than a conversion I could do myself, and I daresay the same is true for most people.



Would I love an official, Perry-sculpted Dain? In a perfect world*, hell yes, but as it stands I'm more than happy with the alternative. I'll definitely be getting a mounted version, but now there's options I'll have to pick one.... All things considered, not a bad problem to have!

*ie not in Finecast and at a tolerable price.

The mounted Ridgeback version arrived over the weekend. I have had a quick look at him and I plan to assemble him tonight. He looks pretty decent and I will put up some pics once he is painted (although that could be a little while with my current backlog.)

 Paradigm wrote:

On a similar note, Shadow and Flame will soon be selling Iron Hills upgrade sets for converting Grimhammers:

I very much want to pick these up when they become available. They are fantastic.

Hi guys. Dave here from Shadow & Flame. I see our conversion sprue has made it onto here. There is a grimhammer conversion video on our youtube channel for anyone interested. More news on the August release date and pricing coming soon on the channel, on the website and on our facebook page.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyXtXhVfsWM

Cheers Dave! Many thanks for letting us know about the video! Consider me subscribed

Also, if you do make a mounted Dain miniature, oooh boy that's gonna be hard to resist!

To be honest I never even thought to promote them on here as I always considered DakkaDakka a 40k forum board. Usually I stick to the One-ring.co.uk forum boards as it is dedicated to Middle-earth.

ukfreddybear wrote:
To be honest I never even thought to promote them on here as I always considered DakkaDakka a 40k forum board. Usually I stick to the One-ring.co.uk forum boards as it is dedicated to Middle-earth.

You'd be surprised. Dakka is the biggest wargaming forum currently in existence (according to the usage figures I've been shown), so it's only logical a number of the old LOTR fans will end up on here as well.

Unreleased is gearing up for their Wave 2 release with their 'Goblin Skirmishers from the Dark Deep'.





Designed to be used with shields, apparently.

Those are nice looking Goblins! It was a pain to have to convert the GW ones.