LOTR/WOTR/Hobbit news.

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**reds8n**

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIIlUFzTPds&feature=em-uploademail

new video.

**Eiríkr**

reds8n wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIIlUFzTPds&feature=em-uploademail

new video.

Nice. That's more like it... What was so difficult with a release such as that?

**Brother-Captain Scotti**

Herzlos wrote:
Brother-Captain Scotti wrote:
Herzlos wrote:

And £35 for Goblin town doesn't seem as bad, it's still a resounding no from me though.

j/k right?

It doesn't seem as bad as the £40-45 I was expecting. But then if it'd come from a company like Renedra (who do plastic injection scenery) I'd expect the same set to cost £15-20. Even with the GW markup it's overpriced.

That's what I mean, I 'think' that Warlord games use Renedra's plastic terrain for BA and a village of four good sized ruined buildings in 28mm is the same price, it's an outrageous ask for goblin town but GW are testing the waters for sure with that one, I can't see them taking the sales figs seriously.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

hubcap wrote:
Oof. Personally I find the US pricing a bit...oof. But the only ones that made me roll my eyes were the characters. I mean, GW pricing has been a bit oof for a while now. But $20 for a character, or $40 for a mounted character, or $75 for four characters seems over the top.

But here's the thing, I know lots of people on the internet like to talk about how stupid GW is and how bad they are at business. But they are not. There's no other game company that's been around as long as they have, selling in the volume that they sell. All the companies people compare favorably to GW - Mantic, Privateer, Battlefront, etc - would be thrilled to have the longevity, sales and profit of GW..

All of those companies are growing at a rate far beyond GW (who seems to be shrinking/stagnating), in terms of range/value/market share. GW are still by far the biggest player, given then 20+ year head start, but in another ten I wouldn't be betting on GW to remain as dominant as it is now.

What's more amusing is that Mantic and Battlefront, at least (I don't know anything about Privateer) are run by ex-GW staffers, so could have all been within the GW empire if they hadn't rejected them (FOW was apparently suggested to GW and turned down).

Again worth mentioning Warlord Games, while not any form of Sci-Fi or Fantasy, every penny spent on their historical stuff is a penny not spent on GW and it seems more often than not that people annoyed with GW's increasing hikes turn to historical. The point I have failed to mention in my waffle is that it is owned by Paul 'Fatbloke' Sawyer and the game rules generally created by Rick Priestly and Alessio Cavatore.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Brother-Captain Scotti wrote:

Just on a weird positive spin for the council box set, there is guaranteed to be 600+ pts in that box for £45 despite it being invested in 4 miniatures. All hero armies can be a lot of fun to play, Elrond with his kick ass combat skills, the powerful offensive and hindering magic of Gandalf and Saruman and the healing powers of galadriel, it could be a powerful combination played right

I've never bought into the whole "Yes it's expensive as a figure but good value for the points" argument. Yes it's useful if you want to get a competitive army for the lowest cost, but it doesn't make sense to most people who figure A can cost more than figure B in size, detail, material and age, expect that figure A is a better in-game character. It feels like a rip-off.

That point of view isn't for everyone, I digress. Just playing devils advocate

Though I must admit I think it would be fun to play this 'force' in a game, to the shock and horror of all reading, I am going to buy this set!

**heartserenade**

Okay, looking at the GW website, the Goblin Town terrain set is more than TWICE as expensive as Ruins of Osgiliath. Judging from the photos it seems that they contain almost the same amount of plastic, maybe a little bit more on Goblin Town.

I really want to love these, but the prices are killing me.

**wuestenfux**

reds8n wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIIlUFzTPds&feature=em-uploademail

new video.

The dwarfs look good, while the goblins are ugly, especially the king.

**Sigvatr**

The Hobbit: A Tale of Hobbits and Hobos!

Seriously, those dwarves...guys! Some of them look like a bunch of homeless people who found some improvised weapons in a back alley...meh. Not interested in the movie, the book (mediocre to me) or the game at all. Interested in how this turns out for the actual LOTR tabletop, ye know, the one where you have manly battles instead of this new stuff...

**Eiríkr**

Sigvatr wrote:
The Hobbit: A Tale of Hobbits and Hobos!

Seriously, those dwarves...guys! Some of them look like a bunch of homeless people who found some improvised weapons in a back alley...meh. Not interested in the movie, the book (mediocre to me) or the game at all. Interested in how this turns out for the actual LOTR tabletop, ye know, the one where you have manly battles instead of this new stuff...

Battle of Five Armies, much?
Also; I'm willing to place bets on there being spin-off titles involving the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, as well as Dol Guldur material. Manly battles occurred throughout the period of the Hobbit too, y'know...

**H.B.M.C.**

Weirdly enough GW already covered the Necomancer/White Council stuff with their non-movie expansions. How are they going to do that now? What's going to happen to things like this guy? Or this guy?

**heartserenade**

Not to mention they'll include the White Council battling the Necromancer a.k.a. Sauron, plus the battle against Smaug.

**alphaecho**

Sigvatr wrote:
The Hobbit: A Tale of Hobbits and Hobos!

Seriously, those dwarves...guys! Some of them look like a bunch of homeless people who found some improvised weapons in a back alley...meh. Not interested in the movie, the book (mediocre to me) or the game at all. Interested in how this turns out for the actual LOTR tabletop, ye know, the one where you have manly battles instead of this new stuff...

That would be the Dwarves who ,at the start of The Hobbit, are scattered and wandering and in the words of Thorin "sinking as low as blacksmith work or even coalmining". They have not been carrying The Lonely Mountain's armoury with them. Also consider the fact that in a visual medium the Dwarves need to look distinctive from each other hence the differing appearance. That said, some of the hair styles freak me out and I'm sure Tolkein didn't state that one Dwarf had part of an Orc axe embedded in his head!

**ExNoctemNacimur**

About the secret underground culture thing about LotR players:

It was my first miniatures game. I would always play it with my friends at his or my house, we would never play it at a store. Yet we both ended up having huge armies!

**Eiríkr**

H.B.M.C. wrote:
Weirdly enough GW already covered the Necomancer/White Council stuff with their non-movie expansions. How are they going to do that now? What's going to happen to things like this guy? Or this guy?

Interesting! I wasn't even aware that they had designed and released a model for Sauron as the Necromancer. I'm going to assume that the officially designed New Line models will take order of precedence over these older ones.

alphaecho wrote:
Sigvatr wrote:
The Hobbit: A Tale of Hobbits and Hobos!

Seriously, those dwarves...guys! Some of them look like a bunch of homeless people who found some improvised weapons in a back alley...meh. Not interested in the movie, the book (mediocre to me) or the game at all. Interested in how this turns out for the actual LOTR tabletop, ye know, the one where you have manly battles instead of this new stuff...

That would be the Dwarves who ,at the start of The Hobbit, are scattered and wandering and in the words of Thorin "sinking as low as blacksmith work or even coalmining". They have not been carrying The Lonely Mountain's armoury with them. Also consider the fact that in a visual medium the Dwarves need to look distinctive from each other hence the differing appearance. That said, some of the hair styles freak me out and I'm sure Tolkein didn't state that one Dwarf had part of an Orc axe embedded in his head!

Good man. It took me a while to warm up to the Dwarves but I must say, I now cannot wait to watch them on the silver screen. I think the problem would arise for the average cinema go'er with thirteen Dwarves, all bearing similar names in a language that is largely unspoken outside of Scandinavia and the Icelandic family sagas. Tolkien took to assigning the Dwarves different coloured cloaks and varying beard colours. Whilst it may work in the book where one may back-reference something quickly, I don't think that approach would work well for the cinema. I'm stoked to see that Bifur, Bofur and Bombur look decidedly different and rough compared to some of their more noble companions - afterall, the two brothers and cousin were not of Durin's lineage.

**H.B.M.C.**

I expect so too, but does that mean they just stop selling them?

**mattyrm**

I think the minis look decent enough, but I have to concur that the price is a bit ridiculous.

And I'm not one to moan about the prices, as I've said many times, if you aren't a fanatic about the hobby, its not really THAT expensive because they don't degrade or get subjected to actual cannon fire.. therefore I own only two armies, and I don't own every unit or every figure, so I've spent maybe £500 on minis in about 4-5 years, hardly dear when I spend £10,000 a year going boozing.

But I just think passing the £15 mark for individual character models is taking the slash. The prices for them seemed about right a few years back, with gak like chaplains and captains in 40k ranging from between 8-12 quid, I'm happy with that. But the trolls and white council specifically are more than I would be willing to pay.

Good models though, I think Bilbo is probably my favourite, I like the simpler stuff, and I think its a really great pose, he actually manages to look impressive and imposing even though he's a midget.

**ExNoctemNacimur**

Probably.

If New Line were smart, however, they'd make their necromancer Sauron look like the GW because it looks epic!

**wuestenfux**

I think the minis look decent enough, but I have to concur that the price is a bit ridiculous.

Maybe, but you get several characters each of which would cost about 12-20 Euro in a blister.

**Kroothawk**

Archibald_TK over at Warseer wrote:Things were made a little clearer today. I assume modules are treated the same in every country, if not then keep in mind what I'm saying may not concern USA and the UK:

- Mine of Moria and the Moria paint set are out for good.
- Other boxes that were part of the first module (the most common boxes) are now shifted to the last module (4b). I don't know how many are shifted, it may be all of them, I also forgot to ask if some of those that were already in the last module were going out.
- Modules 4a stay untouched so still includes the rulebooks that were released earlier this year and some other boxes.
- LotR is still present in the first module, but the new boxes replace the old ones. Notably the Trolls, Warg Riders and the main box are in.

It's a smart move by GW, the boxes that retailers are forced to get are the most costly (outside of the terrain) that some retailers may have had skipped, the others (goblins, orcs) we will automatically take as they will be asked for more frequently. Instead of including in the module boxes that they know would sell anyway, they place those that could have ended up as an unpopular pick by the retailers. In addition the Main box is in the module (obviously) so people are forced to take two, but only the Limited Edition is available at the beginning, so you are forced to take two of the most costly ones. Finally all of the boxes that were part of the first module can be sent back to GW (unless you have subscribed to the fourth module in which case you have to keep those that shifted there), but it eats up your quota of returns normally so many retailers won't be in a position to do so.

I think the way they dealt with the release will leave some retailers unhappy, but overall will get GW a lot of money. Personally while I had no intention of sending back the majority of the old models I have in the shop, I assure you if I had the choice I would never had taken the Trolls and I would have ordered regular sets, not limited ones. Now I cross my fingers that the new LotR journey will become successful, while I won't lure myself into thinking that it will bring as much money as the previous trilogy I hope it will noticeably increase our sales of GW products.

**Herzlos**

So essentially the 3rd party retailers are being forced to take the most expensive and least likely to sell kits? Good for GW, but a bit crap elsewhere. Is that even fair?

Incidentally, I quite the goblins now

**Sigvatr**

GW hating on retailers, nothing new here.

**FM Ninja 048**

And will this not Artificially inflate their sales of LOTR products?

That'll look really good for them too

**Sigvatr**

I expect a huge sales spike as people buy the starter, but a few months / weeks after the movie has aired, the game will die. Pity for the actual LOTR tabletop, I always liked it and was even considering re-starting...meh. Too late now.

**Azazelx**

H.B.M.C. wrote:
Weirdly enough GW already covered the Necomancer/White Council stuff with their non-movie expansions. How are they going to do that now? What's going to happen to things like this guy? Or this guy?

Well, I'd say you can (obviously) still use the old models when playing the game, but there will be new models for both based on however WETA decides they're going to look (already in progress with Radagast)...

**goblet270**

Having read this thread and subjected the new models to an intense scrutiny, I find myself marvelling that I can by 10 nice uruk-hai for just £15 and 4 highly detail berzerkers for £16.
What? The white council is £45?!
Why, GW?
Why?

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

They may have to pay extra to use the stars likenesses

**insaniak**

OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
They may have to pay extra to use the stars likenesses

Looking at the models, that seems unlikely...

**timd**

insaniak wrote:
OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
They may have to pay extra to use the stars likenesses

Looking at the models, that seems unlikely...

Maybe for Saruman and Gandalf, but Gladriel? They may be paying extra for using a horrible likeness of Kate Blanchette. If I were Kate Blanchette (also quite unlikely), I would be suing GW for that horrible figure...

**Goliath**

H.B.M.C. wrote:
I expect so too, but does that mean they just stop selling them?

I hope not, whilst I would like the new Radagast model, as I like it a fair amount and it looks fun to paint, I will be rather peeved if it takes precedence and means they stop selling the original Radagast model.
Especially since it's limited edition and won't be sold for very long.

**Shrapnelsmile**

scipio.au wrote:
H.B.M.C. wrote:
Weirdly enough GW already covered the Necomancer/White Council stuff with their non-movie expansions. How are they going to do that now? What's going to happen to things like this guy? Or this guy?

Well, I'd say you can (obviously) still use the old models when playing the game, but there will be new models for both based on however WETA decides they're going to look (already in progress with Radagast)...

Pardon me if this is a repeated question, but the answer will make or break the game for me:

With the new Hobbit rule book, can you use ALL the old models? Are their Stats for all the older models?

Will the Hobbit skirmish game replace the rules for the original SBG??

If the Hobbit is taking it all to a new level, and including the past figures, I will love the opportunity to buy and play.

If they are simply disregarding everything else, or asking people to buy those expensive army books to play "the original SBG", I don't see
how this is going to work.

We actually started with War of the Rings, but do not play it often. I have a TON of painted miniatures, however. If i can use them all, with support int his new system I will be quite happy. If not, no way.

Lastly, will the rules manual in the Starter Goblin Town box actually contain everything from the rule book (just in a smaller format)?

Thanks gents

**Bloodwin**

@Shrapnelsmile - This editon is meant to use all the LotR figures as well as the new stuff. In the video Adam Troke says that you are meant to be able to pit the old figures against new challenges such as Nazgul vs Thorin and co. Or the Fellowship vs the Goblin King. I couldn't say wether you 'need' the army books as they've been out for a while and they aren't listed in the new releases section of this months White Dwarf. I think that the big box will have all the rules but that's an assumption based on the fact that the SBG has always been light on rules, which is not a bad thing. That said if you want the dwarf models before Christmas that big box looks like the only place you are going to be able to get them.

**UltraPrime**

Shrapnelsmile wrote:
scipio.au wrote:
H.B.M.C. wrote:
Weirdly enough GW already covered the Necomancer/White Council stuff with their non-movie expansions. How are they going to do that now? What's going to happen to things like this guy? Or this guy?

Well, I'd say you can (obviously) still use the old models when playing the game, but there will be new models for both based on however WETA decides they're going to look (already in progress with Radagast)...

Pardon me if this is a repeated question, but the answer will make or break the game for me:

With the new Hobbit rule book, can you use ALL the old models? Are their Stats for all the older models?

Will the Hobbit skirmish game replace the rules for the original SBG??

If the Hobbit is taking it all to a new level, and including the past figures, I will love the opportunity to buy and play.

If they are simply disregarding everything else, or asking people to buy those expensive army books to play "the original SBG", I don't see
how this is going to work.

We actually started with War of the Rings, but do not play it often. I have a TON of painted miniatures, however. If i can use them all, with support int his new system I will be quite happy. If not, no way.

Lastly, will the rules manual in the Starter Goblin Town box actually contain everything from the rule book (just in a smaller format)?

Thanks gents

There are certainly stats for older models in the book, but not sure how many.

It's basically a new edition of the SBG.

Hope that helps a bit, I know it isn't much!