It will be no surprise there is no Hobbit content. I can not find the words to express my disappointment in the new Wood Elf models. There is very little positive I can say.

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

I wouldn't expect much Hobbit stuff for the next 3 weeks or so. Next week is the official announcement of 40K's updated rules set. The week after that is the release and the week after that is supposed to be Orks and the week after that will most likely be Orks again. A huge announcement followed by a huge 40K release followed by another HUGE 40K release (orks haven't been updated since 2008).

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For once, I completely disagree with this negativity. Although I, too, feel a completely alienated from the hobby after having so little Hobbit-SBG content in recent months, I think the new Wood Elves are utterly phenomenal!

Perhaps it's because we've seen so little WE content in almost a decade, possibly longer, and the hype is getting to me, I must admit that all the new WE miniatures look absolutely beautiful. The sculpts, painting quality, overall design, even the slightly cheaper prices (in comparison to all other newly released miniatures), dumbfounds me. Since the website update, it seems to me almost as though GW is determined to begin anew, re-branding both their company and their ethos.

Like I say, I am very disappointed in the lack of decent Hobbit-SBG coverage in months, excluding several miniatures releases (which let's face it have been pretty poor in general anyway unless you're a fan of Mirkwood or severely overpriced floppy-cast), but on the whole I think GW is taking a step in the right direction for once. I for one, am proud to be part of this hobby, which is something I have had no desire in saying for some time.

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Wise Old Elf

I think it's unlikely we'll see any more Hobbit content until the release of 'The Battle of the Five Armies'. Even the Gundabad Orcs were a push this year, seeing as they are only seen for about five seconds in DoS (mind you, Beorn has three variants already and he didn't appear much longer). The only other miniatures I think GW can squeeze out of DoS would be Bolg and Bard's children - the former being better released when he has his big moment (hopefully) in the next film, and the latter is unlikely and frankly pointless.

Also, bear in mind that Beastmen, Bretonnia (and potentially the Skaven rulebook so I've heard) are definitely getting an update this year (if not early next year), I believe that's been confirmed, so that's another colossal blockage in the way of Hobbit releases.

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Wise Old Elf

I have to admit that I like the Treemen model for the wood elves, and will pick one up just to put in my Saturday night role-playing game.

Most of the humanoid characters (wood elves, high elves, bretonians, empire) are too outlandish or cartoonish scale to me. I'll stick with Gripping beast, Fireforge, Foundry, or as always, Perry Miniatures for my human contingents outside of LOTR/Hobbit releases.

I think those new Wildwood Rangers could make some interesting Watchers of Karna conversions.

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Interesting as in being horrifically out of scale?

They are pretty cool though. If Warhammer wasn't so horrifically expensive and if my backlog of unpainted miniatures wasn't so horrifically big, Wood Elves would be my army of choice.

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I hate Warhammer and it's whole terrible aesthetic. Not a fan of its overly cartoonish proportions, there are perhaps even more hideous than normal

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They don't look that out of scale, mostly because of the hoods. I'm not too familiar with Warhammer scale.

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"Leave Sauron to me."
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As for future release dates it's worth considering the last film release date has been put back. That could have caused some issues for what models they are to release.
With the original date being July, we aren't too far away so after the last set of releases they could have planned to hold off another release as everyone will be excited for the final film. A decent release could have been planned for July and August but that is now scuppered.
So any models they wanted to release they can't because the film isn't out until December.

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I think this is a genuinely good idea. The Watchers are not the best sculpts in my opinion, and using these is actually a bit cheaper.
They just need swords and a bit of arm repositioning from what I can tell.
http://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Wildwood-Rangers

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Pretty much all Warhammer models are out of scale to the SBG. Warhammer Fantasy and 40K use heroic scale and proportions - that means the heads, arms, weapons, are all distorted and exaggerated. Arms are big and beefy, weapons are absurdly oversized (as is typical for most Fantasy), heads are proportionately larger then they should be in relation to the body.

Whereas the SBG uses a more natural looking and realistic scale, though it has crept up over the years, and fluctuated back and forth with plastics tending to be smaller and metals tending to be slightly larger.

If you want to use Warhammer models for a LOTR arm, then I'd recommend only using Warhammer models. Mixing together models from the two ranges will really highlight the difference in scale and proportions.

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I think hate is a bit harsh, but I would not have had a comment to make if I had just not liked them.

So bad I almost did not buy the book. I preordered it so I did buy it. I am glad some new Saga books are due. White Dwarf has finished off any desire I might have had for GW releases.

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

You should try out SAGA: LOTR. I believe there are some fan-made supplements and battleboards on the forums.

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The lack of Hobbit releases have really put me off about the whole lotr range. Almost made me forget about the whole range and instead made me focus more on Perry miniatures.

I find that WHFB miniatures are in general slightly taller too, without taking into account the exaggerated proportions. I have a WHFB Wood Elf Glade Guard and a Mirkwood Ranger in front of me right now, and even in a slightly crouched position the Glade Guard is roughly 2mm taller, which is very noticeable.

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Wise Old Elf

My point was that since they are hooded, their heads don't look any larger than a LotR head would. I was referring to not knowing about the relative heights of the models. I play 40K, so I know that there are some size differences, but these genuinely don't look that out of scale.

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"Leave Sauron to me."
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I disagree, I think the majority of Hobbit releases have been of outstanding quality, by which I mean the sculpts. The quality of finecast and prices is a separate issue that does not need to be revised in this thread. Compared to the sculpts released in 2001, these new Hobbit miniatures contain so much more detail. I know there are some that are not great (as with all releases) but I wouldn't play down the majority of releases so willingly.

Phew, I thought many Warhammer players were spiteful when it came to LotR, didn't know the reverse feelings were so strong as well.

Wood Elves are among the best WHFB figures as far as I'm concerned, much fewer heroic scale issues too: fine heads and generally pretty decently sized weapons, with the exception of one of those new kits. Although I wouldn't mix entire models with the Middle-earth range as they simply are a bit bulkier and taller, an Asrai head is one of the few bits I've ever used on a LotR model: to turn Glorfy into an infamous Assassin (used as Hasharin).

Most of the people I play WHFB with would have purchased thousands of LOTR figures if they had been scaled to WFB. They are not so they did not.
I think most of the spite is directed at GW. I do not see how a new player could afford to play WHFB now. I am not going to pay $23 for a plastic figure period end of statement.
Back to the White Dwarf
I am not going to give my treemen swords or paint them lavender. I am not going to equip wood elfs with Klingon weapons or paint them with green skin. I am not going to buy a horse figure with Rudolf the red nose reindeer head on it. I do not like them. I truly and sincerely do not like them. If this was Frothers I would use language that would burn their ears off. So before my head explodes I think I will work on something that has nothing to do with GW.

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