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 Iron_Captain wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Did Tolkien specify that Elves went to battle in chain mail tunics and those particular helms? If not, there is plenty of room to add decoration and innovation...but then you might end up with Peter Jackson elves or GW elves or some third thing which is also cool and distinct. If Tolkien did specify that elves dress exactly like humans, just buy some Gripping Beast historical minis and save some money. If you need the Asian Charicature face, Fireforge Mongols have you covered.

Really, though, if boring minis are the only way to properly portray Tolkien's vision, then maybe just drop him and read something else.

Given that Tolkien's writings consistently mention 'coats of mail', yes he did. Tolkien did specify a Dark Age/Early Medieval theme for Middle Earth.
And calling Peter Jackson elves or GW elves distinct is just weird, given the fact that everyone and their grandmother has copied and been inspired by those designs. Dark Age elves are in fact a lot more distinct. If you don't like that design then you can just buy GW WHFB or LotR elves.
And no. Buying historical miniatures won't do. Tolkien's world was inspired by history, but it was not the same. Elves aren't the same thing as norsemen or saxons, even if they both wear a coat of mail. It is like saying you should just buy WW2 miniatures if you want to play Imperial Guard in 40k.
I am going to wait until I see the possibilities of the sprue before I am going to comment on whether they are distinct enough as elves or not, but I like that they are sticking to a Dark Age aesthetic. Great for when I ever get around to making some nice Dark Age fantasy armies.

Well, I didn't remember those references. I concede then. I'm glad you will finally have the elves that live up to your vision of them.

For the record, I do buy Ww2 miniatures to sci fi up. It makes them look like c1990's budget space troopers, like out of Babylon 5.

If these elves look good and elfy to you, more power to you. Buy them to your heart's content.

I will not be, as to my eyes they look more faux-historical Norman than anything else.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Did Tolkien specify that Elves went to battle in chain mail tunics and those particular helms? If not, there is plenty of room to add decoration and innovation...but then you might end up with Peter Jackson elves or GW elves or some third thing which is also cool and distinct. If Tolkien did specify that elves dress exactly like humans, just buy some Gripping Beast historical minis and save some money. If you need the Asian Charicature face, Fireforge Mongols have you covered.

Really, though, if boring minis are the only way to properly portray Tolkien's vision, then maybe just drop him and read something else.

Given that Tolkien's writings consistently mention 'coats of mail', yes he did. Tolkien did specify a Dark Age/Early Medieval theme for Middle Earth.
And calling Peter Jackson elves or GW elves distinct is just weird, given the fact that everyone and their grandmother has copied and been inspired by those designs. Dark Age elves are in fact a lot more distinct. If you don't like that design then you can just buy GW WHFB or LotR elves.
And no. Buying historical miniatures won't do. Tolkien's world was inspired by history, but it was not the same. Elves aren't the same thing as norsemen or saxons, even if they both wear a coat of mail. It is like saying you should just buy WW2 miniatures if you want to play Imperial Guard in 40k.
I am going to wait until I see the possibilities of the sprue before I am going to comment on whether they are distinct enough as elves or not, but I like that they are sticking to a Dark Age aesthetic. Great for when I ever get around to making some nice Dark Age fantasy armies.

Well, I didn't remember those references. I concede then. I'm glad you will finally have the elves that live up to your vision of them.

For the record, I do buy Ww2 miniatures to sci fi up. It makes them look like c1990's budget space troopers, like out of Babylon 5.

Don’t ditz Babylon 5. Or my homie and I will have to come over and in 5 minutes I’ll be the only one in the room still standing

If anyone here already has the dwarves in hand can I impose on you for a height measurement of them? I got a bunch of dwarves from the last RBG KS coming my way and if these dwarves are close enough in scale I’ll get some to grow my large war and into a small army.

Huh, they all look good to me, tbh. And seeing as the first thing I thought when I saw the elf was "hey, an elf", I'd say it worked for me. At the very least I think I'll be buying one box of each for RPG purposes.

Some pics shown of the gobbos based and painted:

Is there a scale shot of them next to another company's miniatures?

Looks like they're either really tiny or standing on ogre bases.

Well, they are goblins.

They are small- but the only scale shot so far is next to the Oathmark Dwarfs. They’re also on 25mm bases, which won’t be helping...

I prefer my goblins smaller rather than larger anyway.

If they're on 25mm squares though, that explain why they might look smaller than expected.

While 5mm in each direction doesn't sound like much; the area of a 25mm square base is more than a 50% increase from the area of a 20mm square one.

Look quite cool, make me think a little bit of the Mantic orks (in that they're quite understated)

Nice pics Zywus, do you have any that are a higher resolution/a bit bigger?

 Pacific wrote:
Look quite cool, make me think a little bit of the Mantic orks (in that they're quite understated)

Nice pics Zywus, do you have any that are a higher resolution/a bit bigger?

Yea, I feel they would fit very well with the Mantic orcs. (Which is good, since the mantic HIPS goblins aren't great)

There's bigger pics on Northstars facebook page I think.
I linked these from the Tabletop Fix blog. You can click them to see them in bigger resolution
http://ttfix.blogspot.se/2017/11/north-star-military-figures-new_8.html

 Pacific wrote:
Look quite cool, make me think a little bit of the Mantic orks (in that they're quite understated)

Nice pics Zywus, do you have any that are a higher resolution/a bit bigger?

Great observation. They look like they would go great with Mantic orcs.

MattW wrote:

 pancakeonions wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
There's a Kickstarter for plastic elves restarting soon, and the difference is immense. Those elves might borrow more from GW than Tolkien, but they are clearly elves, and they look like they can justify their smug mugs far more than the Ren Faire Souvenir Vendor up above.

Whose kickstarter is this? I'd like to keep an eye out for it.

I think the elf is OK. Nothing awesome, but not bad.

But yea, the goblin/orc is great!

I think he’s talking about the Last Sword one. They’re much more Peter Jackson-style, and in a kind of restic rather than HIPS.

my issue with lastsword is they tend to be expensive per model, which denudes the point of making models realistically looking to be used in a massed ranks wargame.

I like gobbos, but not feeling these tough guy gobbos. Like a fat elf or a tall dwarf, if it's not sticking to the stereotype it feels wrong

I have put together a few Mantic Orcs and I do not see the connection.

I like that they are small, but they really look far to competent and intimidating to be Goblins.

Maybe Goblins by another name?

They should be intimidating if they are aiming for a classical fantasy theme. Goblins used to be just a synonym for Orcs, as in the works of Tolkien.
It is only later works of fantasy (D&D maybe?) that made orcs and goblins into separate creatures with goblins being smaller and weaker.

I blame Jim Hensen.

I really like the gobos and dwarfs. Most curious about what the human faction will look like.

 tgmoore wrote:
I really like the gobos and dwarfs. Most curious about what the human faction will look like.

I’m guessing tall, thin and having point ears given how the elves look like humans.

LOL

I'm looking forward to seeing the Orcs - given how their goblins look like mini-Mantic Orcs! (maybe they'll also look tall, thin and have pointy ears?)

 tgmoore wrote:
I really like the gobos and dwarfs. Most curious about what the human faction will look like.

I’m thinking that we’ll see some winged helms, mail hauberks, and kite shields.

 Iron_Captain wrote:
They should be intimidating if they are aiming for a classical fantasy theme. Goblins used to be just a synonym for Orcs, as in the works of Tolkien.
It is only later works of fantasy (D&D maybe?) that made orcs and goblins into separate creatures with goblins being smaller and weaker.

I realise that in Tolkien Goblins and Orcs are the same thing, the animated Return of the King makes a point of stating this clearly.
Although I must admit, when I first read the Hobbit this was not clear to me at all, and Goblins and Orcs seemed like different things.

Unless I am mistaken, I thought Tolkien was the first to apply the word Orc to Goblins?
I agree with you, in that I think it was D&D which separated the Orc and Goblin in the 70's, which would mean (if my previous thought is true) they were the same thing for about 20 years, and have been different things for about 50 years now.

Of course, none of this is at all factual as I am discussing fictional creature across different fictional settings. So I am not even sure I can make a point.

I think I would be have been happier if they were called Orc runts or something, of course it is not as confusing as Godslayer. In that setting Orcs are called Troglodytes and Goblins are called Gnolls.

I will probably get some anyway... I will just call them some other name.

Pre-orders are up!

http://www.northstarfigures.com/list.php?man=257&cat=366&page=1

I REALLY want to go all in, but no coin...

 StygianBeach wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
They should be intimidating if they are aiming for a classical fantasy theme. Goblins used to be just a synonym for Orcs, as in the works of Tolkien.
It is only later works of fantasy (D&D maybe?) that made orcs and goblins into separate creatures with goblins being smaller and weaker.

I realise that in Tolkien Goblins and Orcs are the same thing, the animated Return of the King makes a point of stating this clearly.
Although I must admit, when I first read the Hobbit this was not clear to me at all, and Goblins and Orcs seemed like different things.

Unless I am mistaken, I thought Tolkien was the first to apply the word Orc to Goblins?
I agree with you, in that I think it was D&D which separated the Orc and Goblin in the 70's, which would mean (if my previous thought is true) they were the same thing for about 20 years, and have been different things for about 50 years now.

Of course, none of this is at all factual as I am discussing fictional creature across different fictional settings. So I am not even sure I can make a point.

I think I would be have been happier if they were called Orc runts or something, of course it is not as confusing as Godslayer. In that setting Orcs are called Troglodytes and Goblins are called Gnolls.

I will probably get some anyway... I will just call them some other name.

Yeah, I also thought Goblins were different from Orcs when I first read the Hobbit. Only later I learned that 'orc' is the word for goblin in the language of the Rohirrim and of the Hobbits and that Tolkien invented it (wel, he did not invent the word, but he did invent the concept we associate it with nowadays). Same thing with Uruks. At first I thought Uruks were different from ordinary Orcs (and that is how the movies portray them) but uruk is simply the word for orc in Black Speech.

Personally, I like it when Orcs and Goblins are different things. It brings more variety.
It is a big shame that I am all out of money after the Joan of Arc kickstarter. Otherwise I would have definitely jumped in on this.

 Iron_Captain wrote:

 StygianBeach wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
They should be intimidating if they are aiming for a classical fantasy theme. Goblins used to be just a synonym for Orcs, as in the works of Tolkien.
It is only later works of fantasy (D&D maybe?) that made orcs and goblins into separate creatures with goblins being smaller and weaker.

I realise that in Tolkien Goblins and Orcs are the same thing, the animated Return of the King makes a point of stating this clearly.
Although I must admit, when I first read the Hobbit this was not clear to me at all, and Goblins and Orcs seemed like different things.

Unless I am mistaken, I thought Tolkien was the first to apply the word Orc to Goblins?
I agree with you, in that I think it was D&D which separated the Orc and Goblin in the 70's, which would mean (if my previous thought is true) they were the same thing for about 20 years, and have been different things for about 50 years now.

Of course, none of this is at all factual as I am discussing fictional creature across different fictional settings. So I am not even sure I can make a point.

I think I would be have been happier if they were called Orc runts or something, of course it is not as confusing as Godslayer. In that setting Orcs are called Troglodytes and Goblins are called Gnolls.

I will probably get some anyway... I will just call them some other name.

Yeah, I also thought Goblins were different from Orcs when I first read the Hobbit. Only later I learned that 'orc' is the word for goblin in the language of the Rohirrim and of the Hobbits and that Tolkien invented it (wel, he did not invent the word, but he did invent the concept we associate it with nowadays). Same thing with Uruks. At first I thought Uruks were different from ordinary Orcs (and that is how the movies portray them) but uruk is simply the word for orc in Black Speech.

Personally, I like it when Orcs and Goblins are different things. It brings more variety.
It is a big shame that I am all out of money after the Joan of Arc kickstarter. Otherwise I would have definitely jumped in on this.

Not entirely correct. The Uruks you see in the movie are Uruk-hai (same as in the book), which are somewhat different from ordinary orcs. Being bred as larger and more powerful than ordinary orcs. Also being described as almost as tall and broad shouldered as men. Same as the Olog-hai (the trolls) which were described as being the biggest and most powerful that had ever been bred. Also resistant enough to sunlight as to not turn to stone in it's presence.

Who does NorthStar preorders in the US again? I think I have to pick up a box of those goblins...

Brigade models if I remember rightly. I'm in the same boat as you Iron Captain.

Rats... Nothing at Brigade about this preorder...