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Hey,
Anyone know anything about Gamezone miniatures? They seem to have the same races as WFB. Are they connected to GW or is there a separate game system for them?
Thanks!

No and No

Most companies that make minis have ranges in common.

Is it frowned upon to use non-GW miniatures in WFB or 40K?
I would have thought that there would be some kind of intellectual property issues or something... I mean who first dreamed up Dark Elves, Dwarf Slayers, High Elves etc. etc.

Megalomaniac wrote:Is it frowned upon to use non-GW miniatures in WFB or 40K?
I would have thought that there would be some kind of intellectual property issues or something... I mean who first dreamed up Dark Elves, Dwarf Slayers, High Elves etc. etc.

Tolkien.

Ask him if he's pissed about it.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:

Megalomaniac wrote:Is it frowned upon to use non-GW miniatures in WFB or 40K?
I would have thought that there would be some kind of intellectual property issues or something... I mean who first dreamed up Dark Elves, Dwarf Slayers, High Elves etc. etc.

Tolkien.

Ask him if he's pissed about it.

Actually it goes back much farther then that. Its why most fantasy has alot of things in common. Its been borrowed for so long that no one can claim most of the names as their own.

Catyrpelius wrote:

MeanGreenStompa wrote:

Megalomaniac wrote:Is it frowned upon to use non-GW miniatures in WFB or 40K?
I would have thought that there would be some kind of intellectual property issues or something... I mean who first dreamed up Dark Elves, Dwarf Slayers, High Elves etc. etc.

Tolkien.

Ask him if he's pissed about it.

Actually it goes back much farther then that. Its why most fantasy has alot of things in common. Its been borrowed for so long that no one can claim most of the names as their own.

True, but he produced the first homogenised and easily recognisable 'Fantasy' and spawned a genre, he used diverse parts of several folklores and stories, but 'Fantasy' I think, starts with JRRT.

I would argue that his works were the first to populararize it, but it still stems from the work of others. I'm not saying this to downplay what Tolken acomplished, I'm just trying to say that in Fantasy and Sci-Fi perticularly authors borrow and bring there own unique style to the genres that are borrowed and expanded by future authors. Fantasy and Sci-Fi has evolved from the very begining of history.

I think then we can both agree he set the benchmark against which all modern 'high' fantasy is measured and facilitated many other sub-genres coming into existence.

Catyrpelius wrote:I would argue that his works were the first to populararize it, but it still stems from the work of others. I'm not saying this to downplay what Tolken acomplished, I'm just trying to say that in Fantasy and Sci-Fi perticularly authors borrow and bring there own unique style to the genres that are borrowed and expanded by future authors. Fantasy and Sci-Fi has evolved from the very begining of history.

When watching the LotR movies, especially Return of the King I caught myself thinking "this is soooo cliche" at a couple points... Then I realized that the original book created, or at least popularized, a lot of fantasy cliches.

Tolkien very deliberately borrowed a lot from myths, legends, and folklore from various European cultures. Tolkien-derived elves thus have a lot of traits based off the 'fair folk' of myths. (Read Terry Pratchett's "Lords and Ladies" for a funny yet dark comment on this.) A lot of Middle Earth is inspired by Norse and Anglo Saxon myths. Even the languages he created have ties to real-world: Elvish borrow sentence structure from Finnish, I believe.

Still, he 'set' the fantasy baseline in a lot of ways. As such, it's pretty much fair game for anyone to use certain bits of fantasy lore when crafting a setting.

TSR made the various D&D worlds by taking things in a direction from Tolkien's baseline that suited the need. Magic was heavily amended (Keep in mind that the LotR wizards are immortal beings akin to Christian angels, while in D&D they're wizards that may be powerful, may be a asthmatic guy who can throw a spell or two a day.

GW went their own way, and it's a dark yet comic version that is kind of their own. They have taken a lot of inspiration by adding the witch hunter aspects and generally making everything dark,a s well as keeping magic limited. In Middle Earth, true Wizards are feared. In most D&D worlds they're relatively common, and anyone might, with years of study, master at least limited magics. In GW's setting magic can be learned but it is always trying to bend a chaotic force to the wielder's will.

GW has added some elements to fantasy I'd consider very unique. Dwarf Slayers were mentioned... I have not heard of them before GW stuff. The mohawked lone berserker seems pretty unique, at least.

True enough.

Gamezone makes their own line of miniatures that are gorgeous, just as expensive
alternatives to Warhammer fantasy.

You can't expect to bring them to a GW store or a GW sponsored event.

You can usually use them outside of these venues.

Gamezone pretty much looks at what GW is doing, and matches a lot of their models to be replacements for GW. Some of it is cool, some gak. Doesn't tend to be much cheaper than GW.

If I could get them without shipping from spain, and the language barrier, I'd have a rack of them in my shop.

Back to Off Topic: Early DnD was VERY Tolkien. Rangers used Palantirs, Hobbits, Balrogs, and other tolkienisms were all over it. These got changed to halflings, scrying stones, and type 6 demons.

The DnD magic system is from Jack Vance's books about the Dying Earth. Wizards could only use som many spells each day that they spent hours memorizing, only to forget them when used.

The real treat of Tolkiens world is reading about how he created it, the influences he had, the huge number of rewrites in different types of story forms, and the languages and background of the 1st and 2nd age that he created for a story set at the end of the 3rd age.

Hmm, need to go read it again. I do every year, Silmarillion on up.)