I agree that The Hobbit releases won't all be delayed, but the fact that Tyranids with a boatload of models, 2 major 40k expansions, 1 FB expansion, probably a 40k supplement are all going to be released means that the Hobbit stuff that is released will be marginalized.

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I agree,
however maybe the character design has changed for the movie just like what happened with azog, maybe not as severe but enough to change what they have previously sculpted

You know what? I wonder... The movie releases on the 13th, and these sets would be available on the 7th. Pre-orders well before that. If Smaug is involved in this wave either as a model, or even as a picture in the rulebook or somesuch, then is it possible that WB put the kibosh on it, prior to the films release? That might encourage GW to shift Nids up a slot and delay the Hobbit, rather than release a mixed up jumble of releases for different things (which would make their usual all out guns blazing promotion of the "new shiny thing" a tad difficult).

There's defiantly a concerted effort to keep Smaug to "teased, but not fully seen until the movie" status. I wonder if this is related. After all, all these minis would have been produced some months in advance, so a switcharound at the warehouse after WB got wind of their big Smaug reveal being spoiled by GW isn't out of the question (if I understand the business model correctly).

I have not seen or heard any rumours, just a scattering of speculative postings. I am inclined to see Smaug as a very large plastic kit in a box by itself, larger than a mumak though obviously not as stupendous as the film representation, for cost and pragmatic reasons. I could see the licensors objecting to a kit that was not up to their standards, but as these thing are created many months, if not years in advance, it would be a bit of a disaster to have it impacting now so close to the movie release.

The cynical side of my brain says this might all be industry inspired muddying of the waters intended to get people a bit more hyped up, or seeking indications of what people are looking for in the kit. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it - there will be Smaugs galore, be it GW or toys, so you can always proxy one if the kit is delayed or pants.

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Hoax, fake, lie, pointless stiring, shennanigans whatever lol. I'm thinking a die hard 40ker who has no love for the hobbit probably started this.

I'm still excited for the new WD, newline/ warner bro's are too strict to allow GW to not release stuff in time for the movie. Dr G has it right (as he most often does :X ) probably releasing the nids to make sure december is a bumper month.

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Mid Sussex Wargamers

I'd bet heavily against Smaug being released so soon (if ever).

1) The entire design won't be revealed pre-film. We got glimpses of Treebeard and Shelob, but nothing decent til the films.

2) GW have always released the "monster" in the summer following the film; Sauron, Fell-Beast, Mumakil and Azog.

3) Look at the size of the thing!

4) Poor support for the Hobbit overall, especially compared to the heyday of LOTR. Both from GW and the general public.

5) They're probably still finalizing aspects of Smaug in post production. Mumakil were still being worked on up to a few days before general release of ROTK.

6) I still doubt the chances of another starter set, though I am hoping for one.

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First of all stop with the negativity please , ive had my fair share of complaints towards me for it and to be frankly honest what im seeing is really does take the proverbial *** hypocritically speaking. Now as long as its available online GW or on internet (Ebay) its still "there" to acquire so stop being so dispondant. The days of wandering into local or GW shops for LOTR are gone!... accept it and move on. "Its all coming to an end" you say... well wait and see with the new Hobbit and what GW do with it in the coming 2 years. Expecting to see any new LOTR range models ... more chance of Silmarillon being turned into a film then GW buying rights and producing models based on that.

Smaug will most likely be a forge world model , that is if they want to give him his
grand worth shown in full scale , im thinking 2x mumaks size with merged base. Cost id say to do it justice in plastic around the 150 euros mark.

If we are looking at film scale then the Smaug would need to be half the biggest model forgeworld produce have which is that insanely expensive Tau Ship. (Erebor Guard barely comes up to 3/4 past Smaug Claw in the scene when he breaks through and stampedes , you can see a good idea of scale there ) How expensive this would be... let's just say ALOT of people will cry and cry and ... cry? in this case i would probably say in the region of 480-600 Euros mark.

That would be so fun to see , his wingspan would effectively be something near 16-20 inches wide although we have yet to see how big they will truly make him. If he is worse than the generic metal ( now Finecast ) model , then GW have well and truly failed in giving us such a huge " WOW Factor" in relation to the aesthetic of the design of Smaug.

On November the 30th 12:01 we shall know what lies in store for the Christmas Sales Period ( It has historically speaking commercially been the best time of sales.. that and of course the post Christmas spending money period) So it would be business suicide to mess it up royally. Hyping something up like the "big whew ha OMG AMAZING , I WANT!... that thirst to the customer and then saying " No sorry no models released till January", which would mean we not seeing any models till December 30th could be a very bad decision but i trust GW not to make that. At the end of the day WB want max profits , GW want max profits , we want max models!

Grant soldatetain, I've got to second robs post here. Please stop with the negativity until you have accurate information to pass on. It is not "DEAD", otherwise I assume there would be an announcement of some sort.
On the GW website, it does not come under specialist games (for AUS anyway), so while it might not receive the same focus as WH/40k, it technically isn't.
Yes we know they are outpricing it and yes we know it is dying (how can any movie based game exist for eternity? I think it will live on for quite a bit longer than you think, given that its main fans are fans of the book (and now film).

I don't want this to become a focus, but I would certainly appreciate some evidence (internet or otherwise) before posting too much on the topic (and with more than 5 posts - this is a community to build others up after all, so apologies if this has been offensive to you, it isn't meant to be).

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Rejected the model post production? Yeah and I was awarded a nobel prize for my sexy bum.

Each model was not just sent to the company but sent to each actor. How would it become rejected?

ALL the models and rules were ready before the first film as released... then some had to be redone which may haveh appened but not because GW made a mistake but because PJ changed his mind as to what it would look like

Oh let me count the ways I think you right the Dragon rejected the 3up pre production mold. The context of the conversation and rumor was that the post production Product was rejected. Why? Poor design and fit would be my guess. But you see that is a point. That is an opinion not a fact. It has been pointed out that there probably was not going to be a early release for the Dragon. That sounds the most reasonable.However it is still speculation. If PJ has not approved a pre production model we are in for a long wait, I am afraid that is a fact.

Let us try to dial back some of the vitriol and stay on topic.

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

To be a bit more positive, I think the Mirkwood bits of the story (elves, beorn and spiders, possibly something to do with Dol Guldur) would have been fully completed by the time of AUJ (they would, after all, have been in that movie until fairly late in the production process), so I am fairly confident we'll be seeing those fairly soon, even if there's been a re-think on the Hobbit at some level by GW (which I still hope not to be the case).

No business, surely, is in the habit of producing stock, and then not selling it (indeed, Lego's strategy was to just release what they'd made anyway, with a 'preview' tag on it).

That's one of the reasons why I'd doubt a delay on the dragon model holding things up - there's stuff they probably made almost a couple of years ago sat there waiting to be released first.

A rational opinion. Elves and spiders should have been ready long ago.

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

I recall reading some speculative rumours on Dakka Dakka.

The rumour seemed to suggest that New Line was unhappy with the design for the Smaug miniature (as of October IIRC) and GW was forced back to the drawing board.

I agree that Smaug was probably never going to be included in the starter set - I think its much likely to be Thorin's Company vs Mirkwood Spiders, or Mirkwood Elves vs Azogs Orcs.

But I think there is a possiblity that the Smaug model was delayed. PJ seems to have become notorious for making last minute changes that messed up Licensed Merchandise releases.

e.g. 2 films > 3 films resulted in Lego sets being released too early, the Hobbit SBG book apparently had to cut out scenarios that would have been in film 1 but are now film 2, Azog was redesigned making Yazneg an original character.

I think its possible that some late changes were made to Smaug's film design, so the version GW had already provided for approval had become out of date.

Or the GW sculptor just screwed up with a design that didn't meet New Lines expectations.

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I think we might be approaching this the wrong way.

What if it wasn't GW's sculpt which was the problem leading to Smaug's release being pushed back, but another factor? We all know that PJ has altered Azog's design over and over again, so who's to say that Smaug hasn't gone through the same processes?

This article will clear things up, and after reading it, I think it looks like Smaug's design has changed a lot too. Sticky Fingersss posted it in another thread;

http://atolkienistperspective.wordpress ... -of-smaug/