I was going through the new books (still hate the fact they didn't simply combine them) and noticed a glaring Loss!

LoME had its place and I used it to, sparingly. What I did like was the potential for interesting, and believable units, that didn't have profiles much less models.

Gone is LoME and with it::
Gone are Easterling Siege Bow,
Gone are Keiseimu,
Gone are Stone Giants,
Gone are Grimbeorn and the Beornings,
Gone are Elven Chariots, Knights, Rangers, Pathwalker, and Catapult,
Gone are Quickbeam, Beechbone, and Huorn,
Gone are named Eagles,
Gone are Royalblood Huscarl,
Gone are Werewolves, Black-Heart Tree.

I may have missed a few, but I felt a sense of abandonment on discovering this. I spent time and money on creating profiles and miniatures for the Easterling seige bow, the mini's for Beornings, even Quickbeam and Beechbone, the major hit was finding out I can't use werewolves and the stone giant. Can't use; I mean I can't say to my opponent "See here, in the rulebook they have a listing for them. Here is my profile/cost/etc. for them. What do you say? Can I use them?"

I know, House Rule them, but that's not the point. This is not about gaming, but about the hobby. With them in writing there was a sense of Hope that the game was going to expand, be around and not slowly side into a SpecGame. To expand beyond the movies, and into ME; flesh it out more (without ruining it).

Just sucks. *sigh*

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Free speech carries with it some freedom to listen. -B.M.

I don't view it the same way. I see this as a way to bring all players and hobbyists up to the same page. Yes, many profiles have been abandoned before completion, but the hobby long ago strayed from the path set forth by LOME. This was a way to return to SBG and to give all armies lists up to date with the models released during the dark days of WOTR. Now everyone is ready for the hobbit related supplements and in a year or two, these books will be replaced with new ones, one at a time, possibly including these lost profiles.

It is a sad realisation that these units never came to be and there omission from the latest sourcebooks just goes to show that games workshop has given up on the lord of the rings once and for all. They've marketed these new releases and books as a revival of the game, but I think it’s clear to see that this is a last minute attempt to grab a few more quid out of the hands of its loyal customers. The only beacon of hope that shown through for the game was as you mentioned was LoME, with these clear ideas for units showed that GW had at least some idea of where to take the game in the future, but once again GW has let down its customers badly by failing to act upon its intentions, which ultimately has led to the demise of the game.

Yes I know that the future holds The Hobbit, which comes out next year and the year after. So we'll get a maybe new rulebook, a hobbit source book(s) and a few new miniatures. But after I see the game we all love fading into the obscurity of a specialist game with very little support like so many other good games in the games workshop back catalogue.

I agree that we did lose some models before their time. However there is good news!

The Hobbit comes out this year! GW could be saving production/rules for another run at the end of 2012/beginning of 2013.

But also, the majority of the LOTR line is still metal. They need to update all of the models, get them to a point i don't have to wait 8 weeks for some Hobbit archers..

I agree that it is still frustrating haha.

Just a thought?

Not in the UK, as you don't have to wait anywhere near as long and the metals cost less.

As for tthe topic itself. Well I wouldn't say SBG has died, it was greatly weakened and recovering some health. On the other hand, they did cancel ideas which actually suited LotR whilst some of the actual models including the 3 latest Goblin named heroes, (Druzhag, Groblug and Ashrak) are ridiculous. And that is what we must call annoying. In the iminent future, GW will be doing stuff for LotR and in my area, the number of LotR has increased over the past momth by a noticeable amount, and the worst thing GW has done recently is the price rises hence I now have a backlog, which prior to now, despite the fact I've been playing/collecting since 2005, I never had, as desoite the large quantity of models I bought, I would always paint them before moving on (well 99% of the time) and I paint models in much larger batches than most.

Anyway, I appear to have gone a little off topic, but on the wholse SBG certainly has not died. Also There was nothing wrong with WotR, I liked the playing style, and they did actually keep to a schedule (like the LoME one) and made profiles for other models, so I do not consider WotR to be the Dark Days/Ages, unless you are referring to the fact there were no new releases for over a year, in which case, it has nothing to with WotR.

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"I am the Flying Spagetti Monster. Thou shall have no other monsters before me"
-FSM.

I do agree that while LoME has been lost to us, the hobby has not yet died, though WoTR has, at least, in GW standards, gone the way of the dodo. I agree with Gothmog- the flood of strange named goblins does leave me a bit puzzled, but with the exception of the rock-rider, there does seem to be some hope. Though it may yet be a while before we get the glorious high-elven cavalry.

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"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”

I'd just like to add that in my area, I was the SOLE lord of the rings SBG player for 200+ miles (Northern CA) for nigh on 2 years. With the new sourcebooks, 2 people have come out of the wood works with fully fledged Uruk-hai, we had 4 people purchase armies up to 750pts! And we're still growing! We're doing Learn to PlayGames almost every weekend now, with more people purchasing!

I've been extremely satisfied with the result of the new sourcebooks. While it might have a negative effect on other players, i'm at least able to head to the store and almost guarantee an opponent.

How long will this last? Who knows! But i'll certainly enjoy it while it does!

Up til now there hasn't been anyway for me to get all of the rules for everything in one spot. With the new sourcebooks, I now have all of the profiles for a certain army which means that I can just pull out the book and show new people what they should look into getting. I'm running a demo game in a couple days at a hobby store that isn't affiliated with GW (as in nothing GW related is sold) and it'll be much easier to use the new books than have to find old WDs I don't have and look for old sourcebooks that aren't in print. I figure that there will be at least one more LotR release this year before the Hobbit takes over, then we'll have a host of new minis (maybe not a whole lot for the first part, but definitely more for the second). If we're ever going to see Stone Giants, named Eagles, Beornings or High Cavalry, it'll be when the Hobbit comes out.

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"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

Of the profiles listed, at least Beorn/ Beornings, Stone Giants and High Elf Cavalry will likely come with The Hobbit. Rangers and Pathwalkers as well as named Eagles may be coming too.

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Gondor: 2339pts
Rohan: 1318pts
Dwarves: 2482pts
Elves: 1091pts
Mordor: 2305pts
Isengard: 1762pts
Moria: 1463pts
Evil Men: 381pts

Except that it isn't going to die, it has greatly increased in popularity... GW has released alot more articles and support for LOTR. It won't ever become a specialist game. It's a major game, just not as popular as 40k or fantasy. Some of the profiles I was looking forward in LOME but unless there isn't a model, i don't really care. I can make up my own profiles.

I would have loved to see the Easterling Siege Bow, and many of the other characters seemed closer to Tolkens own history. I think these characters could however be created by other players with some success.

Actually, the recently released books would have made my life much easier (okay, so a little easier) if they had come out a few years ago, when those who I taught to play were learning and beginning their own collections- rather like the situation that Drauglin is currently in. Now, I don't know whether there is anything new for me in that regard in the near future, but still, it is nice to see the hobby getting attention.

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"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”

I see the new army books as bringing LotR into line with the other GW games. Now, they will be able to do an update cycle, where each book can get an update/new minis & profiles/etc. without having to do it all at once.

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Respectfully,
Jonathan

Do what is right, love mercy, and walk humbly

Battle Companies

They did that before with replacing Sourcebooks eg Shadow in Flame was replaced with Khazad-dum.

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"I am the Flying Spagetti Monster. Thou shall have no other monsters before me"
-FSM.

And with replacing the Siege of Gondor with Gondor in Flames. And adding Journeybooks, and....

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"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”

To be fair, considerable content was added between S&F to K-D (many new Dwarf warriors and heroes, a few new Goblins, beasts and the Dragon), and with SoG to GiF (to a lesser degree). But that is still a valid point.

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My (more regularly updated) painting blog:
https://www.facebook.com/Pindergorn/

Hadn't thought of this and it makes sense. At least there is a logical cohesion in the groups, and you don't need to buy several books just to get all the profiles. Going forward they can just add Laketown and Dale to the Men book, etc.

This did do this with Gondor and Moria, but it seemed a bit piecemeal. Rohan never got the same kind of attention.

@King Ondoher- Yes, they did add quite a bit of new information- I was merely continuing the point.

@Whafrog- I do agree that it is definitely a better move, in that it might, in the long run cost less money- one won't have to buy a new rulebook as a whole everytime something new comes out. On that same note, if one wants to keep up with all the armies, it will, no doubt, get painful on the pocketbook rather swiftly.

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"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”

We may also find in future that each list (e.g. Rohan) gets an individual book with all the background and hobby content. The latest sourcebooks could be a way to bring everything up to date quickly.

I suspect not even GW has a concrete plan yet. Even without all the extra options from LoME and WotR there are plenty of models to replace with either finecast or plastic, and many more that need making (like Prowlers with shields or bows).