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Just saw in the trades that New Line has packed it up. Warner Bros. is absorbing them, will likely use their label to make lower budget films they don't want to attach their own name to. This move will likely cause the 600ish employees of new line to be updating their resumes.

What does this mean for GW and their new line relationship? Will WB be interested in tabletop miniature battles? Or will they end the relationship? Will we get those 15 pages back in our white dwarfs? and the shelf space back at the GW stores?

Discuss...

when you buy a company out, you also buy thier commitments... the impending lawsuit from GW could put a bit of $$ in thier pocket for the trouble..

also, it is a shared commitment, there is a cost associated with breaking a contract, it transfers just like public holdings and other leans/loans and assets...
also.. the license is also being held by ENTS as well, for all the LOtR extra goodies not in the filmss.

only thing to be concerned with is the upcoming "hobbit" film and any planned product releases there... but I assume those are already signed off on as projects

Yeah, we wish it would mean the end of LotR minis, but with The Hobbit still to come out, I think it will be filling our WD pages for many years to come.

You are missrepresenting what happened.

Warner Brothers is absorbing New Line but New Line will still exist as a "brand" of Warner Bros. So there will still be New Line movies realeased. It makes since because Time Warner owned both of them anyways.

SO I doubt that there will be any effect on LotR minis.

DAMN!!!!!

Here I was hoping GW would end up dropping that dead weight.

Not really dead weight at 11% of their business last year. LOTR is still profitable for them.

IIRC GW also has a licence with the Tolkien Estate so they're good no matter what happens in Hollywood.

Dead weight? It is quite a money source to them. Just because some gamers can´t cope with mom GW havin a third child it does not mean that LotR is dead weight.

Duncan_Idaho wrote:Dead weight? It is quite a money source to them. Just because some gamers can´t cope with mom GW havin a third child it does not mean that LotR is dead weight.

Yes, but whereas all the WHFB and WH40K minis are of the same scale and style and are therefore visually compatible, all the LotR minis come out smaller and without the same characteristic "heroic" proportions. Obviously "Mom GW" has been fooling around with other people's IP.

Mommy, why does Aragorn look like the mailman?

Ha, I still laugh at heroic proportions. That's why all my guys have gloves, armor and helmets. None of this 3-foot wide head and footlong hands crap. I just imagine my doods as having really thick armor. Tau have 4+ save after all.

But, I guess some people really DO like heroic proportions. I still wonder why. Maybe they love Bobbleheads. Those things are cool but can get annoying.

I was putting together the new skeletons, and grave guard last night. Gamers kept wandering by, looking at them, and making the general comment of " nice detail, but why are they so small," "why are they so skinny.

So I explained over and over, that when you take a human sized figure, and remove the clothes, muscle, and skin, it probably should be a bit smaller than a regular human. Everyone is used to a 'skeleton' being some type of monster with huge, thick, bonelike limbs, that's also taller than a normal human. Freakish exo-plated things.

The new models are a bit smaller than before, definitely thinner in the bones, a bit delicate to work with. But overall a much nicer model, scaled with noral empire models, for what they should be.

Yes. It's weird how people "get used to" epic (more like slowed ) proportions. Then again, most people haven't had some sort of rudimentary art or anatomy class.

I justify thick 40k clothes because everyone who wears one is a spaceman. Spacemen need thick clothes to survive those harsh space-winters. "It's lonely out in space...In fact it's cold as hell...

Or maybe some of us don't really care if our toys have the proper proportions... as long as we think they look cool.

stonefox wrote:Yes. It's weird how people "get used to" epic (more like slowed ) proportions. Then again, most people haven't had some sort of rudimentary art or anatomy class.

I justify thick 40k clothes because everyone who wears one is a spaceman. Spacemen need thick clothes to survive those harsh space-winters. "It's lonely out in space...In fact it's cold as hell...

stonefox, you are definately hung up on size...(and bongs.. or hookas..) aren't you? lol

stonefox wrote:Yes. It's weird how people "get used to" epic (more like slowed ) proportions. Then again, most people haven't had some sort of rudimentary art or anatomy class.

I justify thick 40k clothes because everyone who wears one is a spaceman. Spacemen need thick clothes to survive those harsh space-winters. "It's lonely out in space...In fact it's cold as hell...

Keep in mind it's also to look more dramatic (comic books use longer limbs and shorter bodies for the same reason) and so we can clearly see who has what weapon on 1 inch figure from 6 feet away.

Oh and to keep limbs and weapons from snapping off.

They're game peices, not sculptures.

wait, your saying they are actually going to make the hobbit into a movie?

Good IMHO, LOTR was the worst thing to ever happen to 40k and Warhammer Fantasy. Plus, no one plays it here.

Not really, without the money generated by LotR GW would have been forced to make smaller steps, which would have also influenced 40K and WHFB. Sorry, but some people are really nailed to one perspective. Just because YOU don not play it it is not that bad. Actually LotR has some game mechanics that would do the silbings quite a favour when implemented in their system.

Ok. Drop LotR, and impliment the changes in the remaining core games.

Shep wrote:Just saw in the trades that New Line has packed it up. Warner Bros. is absorbing them, will likely use their label to make lower budget films they don't want to attach their own name to. This move will likely cause the 600ish employees of new line to be updating their resumes.

What does this mean for GW and their new line relationship? Will WB be interested in tabletop miniature battles? Or will they end the relationship? Will we get those 15 pages back in our white dwarfs? and the shelf space back at the GW stores?

Discuss...

Welcome to Hasbro. Maybe we see the new and improved version of LOTR Heroscape.

Yes I get the weapons thing (because marines and tau alike ain't compensating for nothin'!) but I still laugh at the slowed proportion of unhelmeted models.

And THT, nice try. What I do in my own private time, in the company of other me-, er girls, yes girls, is my business.

Duncan_Idaho wrote:Not really, without the money generated by LotR GW would have been forced to make smaller steps, which would have also influenced 40K and WHFB. Sorry, but some people are really nailed to one perspective. Just because YOU don not play it it is not that bad. Actually LotR has some game mechanics that would do the silbings quite a favour when implemented in their system.

I can not disagree more. Prior to GW getting the LOTR license 40k was on a path to taking GREATER leaps than they have done since they got the LOTR license. The entire time line was actually moving forward and approaching the 41k instead of stagnating in 40k. The Tau were plotted to have something like an Enclave Specific Codex, the Necrons were slatted for a very early update that rumored to include the awakening of the Void Dragon and possibly the emergence of the Outsider, Codex Xenos was on track to actually being reality and most importantly they were releasing a 40k codex approx. every other month. When LOTR began, the time of 40k came to an abrupt halt, 1/3rd to half of WD became LOTR, core GW employees began leaving, Chapter Approved stopped, prices for Fantasy and 40k continue to go up, etc... GW would have benefitted from picking up the LOTR license but not at the sacrifice of their already extremely successful core lines, instead I feel like they attempted to put their best people on LOTR and left 40k and Fantasy on cruise control.

NecronLord3 wrote:

Duncan_Idaho wrote:Not really, without the money generated by LotR GW would have been forced to make smaller steps, which would have also influenced 40K and WHFB. Sorry, but some people are really nailed to one perspective. Just because YOU don not play it it is not that bad. Actually LotR has some game mechanics that would do the silbings quite a favour when implemented in their system.

I can not disagree more. Prior to GW getting the LOTR license 40k was on a path to taking GREATER leaps than they have done since they got the LOTR license. The entire time line was actually moving forward and approaching the 41k instead of stagnating in 40k. The Tau were plotted to have something like an Enclave Specific Codex, the Necrons were slatted for a very early update that rumored to include the awakening of the Void Dragon and possibly the emergence of the Outsider, Codex Xenos was on track to actually being reality and most importantly they were releasing a 40k codex approx. every other month. When LOTR began, the time of 40k came to an abrupt halt, 1/3rd to half of WD became LOTR, core GW employees began leaving, Chapter Approved stopped, prices for Fantasy and 40k continue to go up, etc... GW would have benefitted from picking up the LOTR license but not at the sacrifice of their already extremely successful core lines, instead I feel like they attempted to put their best people on LOTR and left 40k and Fantasy on cruise control.

Just because they decided at one point to put the storyline
on a treadmill doesn't necessarily mean it was a result of
gaining the LotR license.

I mean, what if instead of picking up LotR and assigning creative
folks to produce for that game, what if GW had simply done
nothing at all? I don't think it's as simple as LotR took resources
away from 40k and WHFB. I imagine they hit some sort of ceiling
in their development budget and so LotR gave them a way to
reach out to a group that's not already their core market.

NecronLord3 wrote:
I can not disagree more. Prior to GW getting the LOTR license 40k was on a path to taking GREATER leaps than they have done since they got the LOTR license. The entire time line was actually moving forward and approaching the 41k instead of stagnating in 40k.

Nope all they did was screw up the fluff. If you call angry robots that were a joke in a 2nd edition WD suddenly popping out of no were with their flying houses and Not-Greater Daemons improvement I would beg to differ. Then we have the other two bastards, mean not-chaos space elves and hey I watched Robotech lets make an army out of the designs. Before that all they had was Choas is bad, Imperium is bad but not so much as Chaos, Space Elves are dieing out, Orks are everywhere and have a lot of fun, Tyranids want to eat our brains. It is the same exact thing you have now only Orks are all serious and the 3 brain farts races added.

Aw DM, without that Robotech army I wouldn't be here talking about the chilled-out, relaxed state of 40k.

I'd probably be complaining of some sort of falcon nerf in 5th edition because eldar are the only other space race with sleek space vehicles.

stonefox wrote:Yes I get the weapons thing (because marines and tau alike ain't compensating for nothin'!) but I still laugh at the slowed proportion of unhelmeted models.

That's another one. Motorcycle helmets and Star Wars storm trooper helmets, naturally have to be bigger than heads but once you do taht the whole figure looks out of proportion. So GW makes full helmet heads and bare heads the same size, the key thing being they look 'right' from a distance until you think about them.

It's not a mistake, it's a deliberate choice.

malfred wrote:

Just because they decided at one point to put the storyline
on a treadmill doesn't necessarily mean it was a result of
gaining the LotR license.

I mean, what if instead of picking up LotR and assigning creative
folks to produce for that game, what if GW had simply done
nothing at all? I don't think it's as simple as LotR took resources
away from 40k and WHFB. I imagine they hit some sort of ceiling
in their development budget and so LotR gave them a way to
reach out to a group that's not already their core market.

Actually yes it was because of LOTR. The entire outline of the future of 40k was shown during the GD just prior to GW acquiring the LOTR license. And you can't argue that it does not take away from 40k and Fantasy just by simply looking at the reduction in releases after the LOTR license and all the dedicated pages of WD now going to LOTR.

NecronLord3 wrote:Actually yes it was because of LOTR. The entire outline of the future of 40k was shown during the GD just prior to GW acquiring the LOTR license.

I was not involved with GW at the time, do you have any links or such that show this?

NecronLord3 wrote:

malfred wrote:

Just because they decided at one point to put the storyline
on a treadmill doesn't necessarily mean it was a result of
gaining the LotR license.

I mean, what if instead of picking up LotR and assigning creative
folks to produce for that game, what if GW had simply done
nothing at all? I don't think it's as simple as LotR took resources
away from 40k and WHFB. I imagine they hit some sort of ceiling
in their development budget and so LotR gave them a way to
reach out to a group that's not already their core market.

Actually yes it was because of LOTR. The entire outline of the future of 40k was shown during the GD just prior to GW acquiring the LOTR license. And you can't argue that it does not take away from 40k and Fantasy just by simply looking at the reduction in releases after the LOTR license and all the dedicated pages of WD now going to LOTR.

I'm interested in links to this as well.