Something is stirring under the mountain - Smaug is here! P12 back in stock. Again.

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**pretre**

**Azreal13**

Sinful Hero wrote:
Wasn't the LE Void Shield generator made of resin, and not Finecast? Why would this not also be resin like the VSG?

It was polystone resin, the sort of stuff that movie collectibles, garden ornaments etc are often cast from.

**pretre**

**RiTides**

Azreal13 wrote:
Sinful Hero wrote:
Wasn't the LE Void Shield generator made of resin, and not Finecast? Why would this not also be resin like the VSG?

It was polystone resin, the sort of stuff that movie collectibles, garden ornaments etc are often cast from.

Interesting - I had never heard of GW using polystone. Just found out about the material recently, although as you say it's apparently commonly used in some other applications.

No confirmation on what material Smaug is actually made from yet, though, right?

**Azreal13**

It was an odd one, to be sure. Perhaps an experiment? I guess if we see a range of polystone terrain and fortifications in the next 12 months we'll have our answer.

**Sinful Hero**

RiTides wrote:
Azreal13 wrote:
Sinful Hero wrote:
Wasn't the LE Void Shield generator made of resin, and not Finecast? Why would this not also be resin like the VSG?

It was polystone resin, the sort of stuff that movie collectibles, garden ornaments etc are often cast from.

Interesting - I had never heard of GW using polystone. Just found out about the material recently, although as you say it's apparently commonly used in some other applications.

No confirmation on what material Smaug is actually made from yet, though, right?

No, not yet other than "resin" that requires expert modeling skills

**A Town Called Malus**

weeble1000 wrote:

That said, it does not defy all logic or reason that a lucky shot from a skilled archer could sink an arrow deep enough into Smaug's body to puncture the creature's heart.

Even so, it is a tale of fantasy, and Smaug dies because he is slain by a hero, getting his proper comeuppance for his evil ways. In the grand scheme of the fantastic feats of skill and heroism that occur in Tolkien's works, Bard killing Smaug with a single arrow is certainly a big deal, but it is not the most legendary thing to have been done. Turin's slaying of Glaurung, for example, is comparatively less believable.

Or Ecthelion killing 3 unnamed Balrogs and Gothmog during the Fall of Gondolin.

**Kanluwen**

Azreal13 wrote:
It was an odd one, to be sure. Perhaps an experiment? I guess if we see a range of polystone terrain and fortifications in the next 12 months we'll have our answer.

The Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith wall sets, along with the 40k "Chapel of Sanctuary" that they did around the time of the Eye of Terror event were all polystone.

**Azreal13**

I had my suspicions, but they were from an era where I wasn't really engaged with the tabletop stuff, so wasn't sure.

So I guess there's a specific product profile that makes them roll out the polystone (larger terrain pieces by the looks.)

**weeble1000**

A Town Called Malus wrote:
weeble1000 wrote:

That said, it does not defy all logic or reason that a lucky shot from a skilled archer could sink an arrow deep enough into Smaug's body to puncture the creature's heart.

Even so, it is a tale of fantasy, and Smaug dies because he is slain by a hero, getting his proper comeuppance for his evil ways. In the grand scheme of the fantastic feats of skill and heroism that occur in Tolkien's works, Bard killing Smaug with a single arrow is certainly a big deal, but it is not the most legendary thing to have been done. Turin's slaying of Glaurung, for example, is comparatively less believable.

Or Ecthelion killing 3 unnamed Balrogs and Gothmog during the Fall of Gondolin.

Ah, but that gets you into the uncomfortable debate about what exactly a Balrog is within Tolkien's fictional universe. Arguably, the Balrogs described in the The Lost Tales/Silmarillion in connection with the fall of Gondolin are somewhat different from the Balrog as described in The Lord of the Rings.

But yes, I take your point.

**wuestenfux**

Interesting new WD tomorrow.
A Tactical squad is now 34 €.

**Bossk_Hogg**

Vermis wrote:
It's legendary heroism. Beowulf. Fafnir. St. George. The vorpal blade went snicker-snack. Y'know?

There's legendary heroism, and then there's silliness. Beowulf ripped the arm off a pretty big guy, not a guy the size of the Statue of Liberty. Most of the illustrations of St George's dragon put it around the size of a horse. Movie Smaug is just so insanely big. To me, a ballista bolt to a weak spot strains belief, but a shot with a bow vs something that big is immersion shattering. Also, Tolkein's world is pretty low on the epic heroism scale. Its not like Aragorn is going to knock out Cthulhu with a punch or something.

**Vermis**

Bossk_Hogg wrote:
Beowulf ripped the arm off a pretty big guy, not a guy the size of the Statue of Liberty.

There was also this. (Scroll down to the 'legacy' bit)

Most of the illustrations of St George's dragon put it around the size of a horse.

Some of them put it around the size of a jack russel too.

Movie Smaug is just so insanely big.

Well you know who to blame. (hint: it's not Tolkien)

Also, Tolkein's world is pretty low on the epic heroism scale. Its not like Aragorn is going to knock out Cthulhu with a punch or something.

See A Town Called Malus' example. Also, Merry and Eowyn vs. wraithbeasts and witch-kings, Bilbo vs. giant spiders, Sam vs. a giant spider, Turin vs. Glaurung, Eärendil vs, Ancalagon the Black, Fram vs. Scatha, Beren and Luthien vs. a fallen silmaril-hoarding archangel, and so on.

**Paradigm**

Smaug is up, £295 and does look much better with propper lighting and better angles.
http://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Smaug

Also some Laketown stuff that looks decidedly underwhelming...

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

I'd almost say it's more believable,

it's not one of these 'movies' where the monster gets back up again no matter what happens to it

Dragons flesh is not any denser/robust than any other creatures (although their armoured hide certainly is)

A longbow arrow could certainly achieve deep enough penetration to hit the heart and if the heart has a hole in it then the creature will die (not necessarily immediately), and especially if the arrow was some fancy one (extra weight/sharpness etc),

after all modern bow hunters can put arrows clean through deer and occasionally even bears if it does not hit bone, and they are not using bows of the draw strength of medieval ones (I recall the longbows from the Mary Rose averaged about 110 lb, but could go up to about 180)

http://www.longbow-archers.com/heavybows.html

**BrookM**

There are only 200 Webstore Exclusive Smaug™ miniatures available before christmas. Order yours today and receive a free upgrade to courier delivery, complete with a tracking number for extra peace of mind.

**ImAGeek**

Does that mean there'll be more after Christmas? Also, might just be because it's far away, but the neck and tail look very smooth and undetailed.

Also, I've just noticed that the re print of the end times books don't even come with the slipcase. So they're only £5 cheaper, and they aren't hardback or come in a slipcase. Sorry for off topic, but that's rather annoying.

**pretre**

BrookM wrote:
There are only 200 Webstore Exclusive Smaug™ miniatures available before christmas. Order yours today and receive a free upgrade to courier delivery, complete with a tracking number for extra peace of mind.

And more:

There are only 200 Webstore Exclusive Smaug™ miniatures available before christmas. Order yours today and receive a free upgrade to courier delivery, complete with a tracking number for extra peace of mind.

The mighty fire-drake, Smaug™ is doubtless the largest and most powerful of his kind left in Middle-earth™.

Smaug™ is built upon a stunningly detailed scenic base that depicts the vast treasures of Erebor. The Arkenstone™ and The One Ring can both clearly be seen amongst the gems and gold as Smaug™ looms over the would-be burglar Bilbo Baggins™.

This magnificent 42 piece miniature is hand cast using the highest quality resin (the same used by Forge World), and the most advanced techniques to produce a model with extremely fine detail. Every scale, horn and battle-scar has been expertly reproduced to create a beatifically authentic collectors piece.

Weighing in at 2.4kgs, the height of the miniature from the bottom of the base to the tip of Smaug’s™ wing is 8.4 inches (or 21.4 cm). The base is 9.2 inches (or 23.1 cm) long and 5.4 inches (or 13.3 cm) wide.

Please note: This miniature is not recommended for children under the age of 14. Advanced modelling skills are required. It is supplied unpainted and requires assembly - we recommend using Citadel Super Glue: Thick and Citadel Paints. Some preparation and cleaning will be required prior to painting. Small areas of flash and mould lines will need to be filed or sanded, and larger casting gates will need to be removed before construction.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
That's over 5 pounds of resin. Sheeeeit.

**ImAGeek**

Ahhh so it's FW resin

**Melcavuk**

Temporarily out of stock already

**ImAGeek**

Bloody hell. Surprised that many people paid that much!

**pretre**

I'm not. It's a collector's edition for a vastly popular IP.

**ImAGeek**

But...but... It's 300 quid!

**Mymearan**

wuestenfux wrote:
Interesting new WD tomorrow.
A Tactical squad is now 34 €.

Wait... they LOWERED the price? Even if it's only by €1, still, it's GW.

**Azreal13**

ImAGeek wrote:
But...but... It's 300 quid!

There are many, many good reasons to not buy this, but I'm afraid the majority of a tiny number of units will probably be bought by people who probably aren't involved in the wider hobby to appreciate them.

I suspect many people saw "200" of what is, after all, a big deal in the context of the range, and jumped on it.

**Shandara**

Mymearan wrote:
wuestenfux wrote:
Interesting new WD tomorrow.
A Tactical squad is now 34 €.

Wait... they LOWERED the price? Even if it's only by €1, still, it's GW.

Must be a misprint.

**angelofvengeance**

And he's gone..

**Thraxas Of Turai**

Nice way for GW to earn nearly 60 grand in an hour or so, what with the Blood Angel pre-order this could be a very profitable weekend for them.

And Smaug does look sublime, hopefully a few Dakka posters can blog their experiences with the miniature.

**Azreal13**

Probably closer to 30k after costs and taxes, and that's not an awful lot for GW.

**RiTides**

So they only are selling 200 of them, lol... why even bother (for a company of GW's size). Heresy even sold more dragons than that, although to be fair they haven't Delivered more than that yet

Also, apparently it's just standard resin:

Games Workshop wrote:Smaug™ is made from the same resin as Forge World miniatures.