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I was watching the Desolation of Smaug tonight, and was thinking about starting a mirkwood army. However, the categories for The Hobbit were gone, except for a couple of LoTR armies. The minis are still available, but they require searching to find. What might this mean for the Hobbit game? Now that their license is up, and the Perrys gone, could they be moving to drop the game?

I only know of LOTR models being discontinued instead of hobbit models, but I doubt GW will want the license any more after the third film, so they'll be gone in 18 months or so.

I feel bad for the 10-15 people worldwide who actually play this game, but eventually it had to go. I still think they will hold up to their contractual obligations and make some models for the final movie, but don´t expect anything major.

Pretty sure GW had all their releases planned for the 2 film release. When the last minute decision was made to turn 2 films into 3 they had to shuffle everything around and it left a big hole in the middle of the releases (it also affected Lego releases in the same way).

I'm expecting a big December release including a new starter set. Overall though, I'm very disappointed in the support The Hobbit has received, especially compared to what LOTR received when that was first released in 2000-2004.

I think the GW site was malfunctioning maybe? I can see all the hobbit releases now.

Earlier in the night I went on the GW site and the 40k section was broken as well, it all seems to be working now though.

GW got bitten hard when the original 3 films ended and the sudden surge of sales of the line vanished almost overnight. They are just not geared up nor experienced in the movie-toy industry side of things. They took a gamble but the upscale in production they invested in for the LotR line didn't translate into as many players as they hoped for long term.

I think that is why they basically cut support - they just couldn't see it working on its own merit; esp when they've their own decades old fantasy line that also needs its own attention.

Running the line down as much as they contractually can until the films close is likely what we'll see; with them dropping the line outright after the 3rd film. Indeed there is already news that two of the sculptors who were working on the line are no longer with GW - considering it can take a while for models to go from renders/sculpts to cast models ready for retail sale it sounds like they've designed the last for the last film and then that's it.

Hopefully after Fantasy can get some much needed marketing

 tarnish wrote:
I feel bad for the 10-15 people worldwide who actually play this game, but eventually it had to go. I still think they will hold up to their contractual obligations and make some models for the final movie, but don´t expect anything major.

Apart from Smaug. But I can see even that release being a bit lackluster.

Smaug I've a feeling likely had to be totally re-designed. Considering that GW used a traditional western dragon for their Smaug release years ago whilst the studio went with a drake/wyvern approach to his appearance. Wouldn't surprise me if even GW didn't get much of an early look at him before the 2nd film came out - then BAM - he's a drake!

I just checked again, and nothing is showing up at all for Hobbit, even in searches, so they might have dropped it now, or it might actually be just a glitch, as was mentioned before

Funnily enough I got an email from GW today telling me the King of the Dead and another drawf character where back in stock. Although given the time frame they might have seen I was interested in it and quickly pulled one from the US or UK stock list and threw it into Oz to try and move them.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
I think the GW site was malfunctioning maybe? I can see all the hobbit releases now.

Earlier in the night I went on the GW site and the 40k section was broken as well, it all seems to be working now though.

I'm having problems too. Their web store only pulled up chaos possessed and a stompa for me. No fantasy, no scenery, no paints. The storm fang ship was a broken image on my iPad. Maybe their site doesn't like my tablet.

Check number three, and it's definitely a glitch in their system, as it's only showing about 9 things on the store total. Good thing for Hobbit fans, and good for me, because I can get my Mirkwood army.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Final check for the night and the site is fine now. This whole problem was just due to a bug in their system.

willb2064 wrote:
Pretty sure GW had all their releases planned for the 2 film release. When the last minute decision was made to turn 2 films into 3 they had to shuffle everything around and it left a big hole in the middle of the releases (it also affected Lego releases in the same way).

I'm expecting a big December release including a new starter set. Overall though, I'm very disappointed in the support The Hobbit has received, especially compared to what LOTR received when that was first released in 2000-2004.

Not only that but have all licensees (not just GW) had to redesign logos and packaging after the third film changed from the working title "There and Back Again" to "The Battle of the FIve Armies".

The problem Lego had was that they had to release some sets (Spiders in Mirkwood and the Barrel Escape sets)as 'Sneak Previews' otherwise not all of the Lego dwarves would have been released along side the first film. Another spoiler (my assumption) is the set with Beorn released along with Desolation of Smaug. It features Beorn at Dol Guldur. I wonder who helps rescue Gandalf in the third film?

 Overread wrote:
Smaug I've a feeling likely had to be totally re-designed. Considering that GW used a traditional western dragon for their Smaug release years ago whilst the studio went with a drake/wyvern approach to his appearance. Wouldn't surprise me if even GW didn't get much of an early look at him before the 2nd film came out - then BAM - he's a drake!

He's a male duck?
They really did change it from the books.

Why do people freak out and make news posts every time they can't find something?

Technical glitch? Noooooooo. Must be world shaking gw news.

 HisDivineShadow wrote:
Why do people freak out and make news posts every time they can't find something?

Technical glitch? Noooooooo. Must be world shaking gw news.

Don't know, why does HisDivineShadow make snarky, mocking posts that add nothing to the discussion?

The whole range appears to be back at the USA site. Definitely a glitch.

 HisDivineShadow wrote:
Why do people freak out and make news posts every time they can't find something?

Technical glitch? Noooooooo. Must be world shaking gw news.

Because GW has a habit of just removing things from the line, and refusing to discuss it?

what, no. squats never existed.

 the shrouded lord wrote:
what, no. squats never existed.

Oh my gosh, you're right!
I went to my box of squats just now and they were gone.
Maybe I never had them….

Even if they Squat the game, I would like to see a collector series of models still supported. I have no interest in the hobbit or LOTR game by GW. As a collector, I would love to buy sets or models to paint and shelf. There has never been a finer set of Tolkien figures. I have always felt this way, but own zero LOTR miniatures. I suppose it comes down to my table top gaming budget or my collectible swag budget. Neither of which are budging to allow for these kinds of purchases. I've always stated that if GW prices were 2/3 of what they are I would buy twice as much stuff. I don't like feeling ripped off, so the only time GW gets my money directly is when I give in to an impulse buy that I almost always regret not waiting and paying 2/3 of the price through an independent retailer. I'm working class, though, so obviously not their target demographic.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

 Overread wrote:
Smaug I've a feeling likely had to be totally re-designed. Considering that GW used a traditional western dragon for their Smaug release years ago whilst the studio went with a drake/wyvern approach to his appearance. Wouldn't surprise me if even GW didn't get much of an early look at him before the 2nd film came out - then BAM - he's a drake!

He's a male duck?
They really did change it from the books.

No, that story's just a canard.

While it is inevitable that The Hobbit and LoTR will disappear from the GW lineup when the licence expires, that moment is not now.

The missing models are caused by a glitch in the Games Workshop web shop, so we don't need to worry about them truly vanishing for a considerable time yet.

I shall close the thread to prevent useless speculation.