Don’t get excited - I don’t have any exciting pics or news!
This time last year we had ‘The Hobbit Release Thread’ which was created on October 2nd and ran for 40 pages up to the start of January. It was a one-stop shop for all the info on GW’s releases as well as THE place to go on the forum to discuss rumours of the new models and the new models themselves. Obviously, we’re a bit later starting this time but hopefully we’ll get lots of people engaged over the next two weeks in time for what will hopefully be a great release.
So, the aim of this thread is to accumulate all the news and rumours we have about GW’s DOS release plans to build excitement over the next fortnight, as more news comes in, I’ll update the first post to reflect new rumours. I will keep my opinions out of the first post and just include rumours, my suspicions, along with everyone else’s, can be discussed in depth further down the thread.
Current Rumours (as always these are unconfirmed, take with a pinch of salt):
Weds 4/12 - 3 days until release day
Leaked rules and pictures start appearing from the DOS book.
Sat 30/11 - WD release day & Hobbit Pre-orders available.
Weds 27/11 - 3 Days until WD
Leaked WD pictures appear online.
Mon 25/11 - 5 Days until WD
A release list appeared online listing all the Hobbit releases along with their US prices. These products were listed alongside the long-rumoured 40K and fantasy expansions (no Tyranids) and contain all the models that would have been produced in 2012 when there were still only two films. It makes logical sense as a first wave as all the figures featured have been shown in the trailers and other promotional material (very heavily in most cases). In addition the time-scale seems legit as, amongst other things, this is exactly the same time we received the (correct) release list for AUJ last year. Thanks to SouthernDunedain and Black1Blade for making the following UK pricing estimates based on current ranges and exchange rates.
Legolas (plastic) £15
Tauriel (plastic) £15
Palace guard (plastic) £25
Mirkwood Rangers (plastic) £25
Thranduil (Finecast) £12
Mirkwood captains (Finecast) £20
Palace guard captians (Finecast) £20
Thrain the Broken (Finecast) £12
Beorn (Finecast) £15
Mirkwood Spiders (finecast) £20
Desolation of Smaug book £20
Barrels out of Bond (Finecast) £40
21/11 - 8 days until WD
One report from a reliable source says he heard from his local retailer (who presumably might have a release list to order from by now) that there are no Tyranids in December but there is a Hobbit expansion. This would certainly be supported by the fact that, 8 days out from the WD release, there is still no more rumours about the Tyranids. A major 40K or fantasy release would almost certainly have a release list and rules rumours by this point which is promising for us Hobbit fans.
GW Digital Editions released a preview pic of a new digital product being released in December, the link's below:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= ... =3&theaterAll the chatter seems to be about whether this is a deamon prince or Eldar or Tyranid but it could be Smaug's wing in the background and the hand could be the Necromancer holding a Palantir. After all, we have no real idea how the Necromancer will be portrayed in the film beyond the brief glimpse in AUJ and the Lego figure.
17/11 - 12 days until WD
There are rumours from reliable sources on other forums that there will NOT be a new starter set in December.
16/11 - 13 days until WD
GW have traditionally released their SBG miniatures in the December issue BEFORE the films come out. This trend happened for Fellowship, The Two Towers, Return of the King and, most importantly, An Unexpected Journey.
This means that we are likely to see the DOS of Smaug releases in the next White Dwarf that is released on Saturday 30th November and that the miniatures will be online around 12:01 on the 30th.
As of yet no firm news of models, books, starter sets has emerged.
There have been rumblings that the Smaug miniature has been delayed as Warner Bros weren’t happy with it, supposedly this has caused a delay in the release of some/all of the Hobbit range. Whether or not this would have an effect on the release schedule is a matter for discussion below BUT there is some evidence that might support this. In the Unexpected Journey Extended Edition, as Smaug breaks down the door to Erebor, there is a subtle change to one of the shots. In the shot that shows a close up of his legs walking forwards, the shot has been digitally changed and his two forelegs have been replaced with 2 claws on the tips of his wings. This implies that at some point in the last year PJ has changed Smaug’s design from a 4 legged dragon to a 2 legged Wyvern style design. This would certainly cause a redesign of the Smaug miniature to remove the surplus arms.
In conjunction with the Smaug rumour, rumblings emerged that the 40K Tyranids, long scheduled for release in January, had been moved up to December due to the delay in the Hobbit range. However, in the last week all the Tyranid rumours seem to have dried up and there has been no further news. It’s fairly unusual that 2 weeks out from a major 40K/Fantasy list that there wouldn’t be any news on model releases/prices etc. implying perhaps that the Tyranids are staying in January and December will indeed be a Hobbit month.
Most encouragingly it is NOT unusual for the less popular SBG market to not have any news two weeks out from release, to put it into context, here’s when we found out about things last year:
The White Dwarf announcing The Hobbit:AUJ SBG was released Saturday November 24th 2012
15 days before WD: LOTR SBG will be re-branded ‘The Hobbit’ and be released with a limited edition starter set that contains scenery, the rules are LOTR SBG rules but with updates.
10 days before WD: Starter set called Escape From Goblin Town
5 days before WD: 30 second Teaser video on GW’s site. Full Release list and prices.
3 days before WD: Full description of the starter set contents and the new models. Leaked WD pictures later the same day.
7 hours before WD: People start to get hold of White Dwarf and post rules and full news updated.
So there we go, in the context of last year we shouldn’t really have had any news yet, we’ll probably have 1 more quiet week and then things should start to appear from next weekend onwards.
So, what do we all think? What models do we want to see? What models do we think we’ll see? Let the excitement commence!
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im just hoping for a good variety to be released, keeping everybody happy and guaranteeing a good christmas! I predict a multi-part plastic spider kit and new orcs
( open a pack not yet ready to be sold in secret )
"Leave Sauron to me."