Besides Knight Models, Mithril, and GW, one other company (that I know of) makes LotR miniatures in a similar scale--Wizkids. Granted, I don't think the LotR Heroclix range will magically take off once GW's support ends. It doesn't seem well-supported or popular. I just thought it was worth mentioning.

Especially as Clix is probably the worst looking pre-painted figures ever lol

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Yeah. I have no interest in them. Though I did buy a pack of Haloclix once just for kicks, and the paint job wasn't so horrible.

Those were better. I enjoy the game as a whole. It's fun and light hearted even if the minis are poorly painted

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Im going to keep working on my stuff. I think the average player has invested far too much research and work into this line and game to just drop it for a new one. Other companies can make similar scale models, and we can still use them. This way, they can sell good models at a profit without the task of reinventing the lotr franchise in gaming.

Other than that, I dont think there will be a large scale release....more like other companies putting out hero characters for collectors.


Ill certainly still play as long as there are people to play with!!!

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY

Even if they drop it I will keep playing because it's a great game and the miniatures are one of my favourite lines around. I have a big backlog to paint and there will be plenty on ebay for a long time to come.

You only have to look at games like bloodbowl to see how things can keep going even after they have been dropped by GW.

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my lord of the rings blog

http://journeyofthering.wordpress.com

Middle-earth was around long before GW.
It will still be around long after GW.
My Backlog will be around long after I am gone.
Nothing to worry about as far as I am concerned

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Very well said Dorth!! I'll have to convince my son to take up the hobby and help me with my backlog, if I'm to even put a dent in it before my time comes!!!

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2014 Backlog Reduction Oathtaker (3 points)

I have already got my 6 year old running games with me.
We battled it out for 3 hours at 350 points a side.
He whipped me pretty good.
Kids are menace with lucky dice!

I am grateful that he enjoyed the game.
Plus, he's excited to get another match in soon.

The best way to recruit is to show how cool the game is.
Get the miniatures painted, and make the battlefield appealing.
It would be hard for the uninitiated to pass.

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The only company I would realistically envision taking over would be Warlord Games.
Staffed by (among others) ex-GW people, they've become a decently sized company over the past few years. Hail Caesar and Black Powder are among the more prominent rulesets for historical gaming (filling the gap Warhammer Ancient Battles left behind), both probably surpassed in popularity by their WWII Bolt Action game, which seems to have gathered quite the playerbase. Additionally, they have taken over several companies and ranges already (Immortal Miniatures, Cutting Edge), including the licensed Judge Dredd figures.

That is not to say I think it's likely they will in any way take over, but they are definitely among the more likely companies. Wouldn't mind it though, they're great guys.

Gday people.

I have a question im interested in.

What future does LOTR miniatures and rules have with GW after the last hobbit movie is released at the end of this year 2014.

Will GW support its LOTR/Hobbit miniatures and rules for 5 years after the last hobbit film is released?

Will GW release a WOTR version themed around the battle of five armies. And so that will carry its future further with gw.

Please let me know your opinion on LOTR/hobbits future with GW Id like to hear it.

thanks.

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I have my issues with GW but in the end, secretly, I am a GW fanatic.

We don't know. We have no idea.

To answer your questions in order:

1: GW have a license till 2018 (I think) to create wargames inspired by the movies and middle-earth. The current Hobbit license is more restrictive (likely owing to the increased number of license holding entities making The Hobbit). LOTR and Hobbit armies are supposedly not meant to be sold together. This probably mitigates against there ever being a "one rulebook to actually rule them all." However, an update of the core Hobbit hardback is not out of the question. Assumably they could also release codexes of each army after. Assumably.

2. Unknown. Drifting towards "unlikely." There's a pattern. LOTR was the biggest merchandising spectacular of the years 2001 to 2004. By 2005, the whole thing had sort of stopped. Other LOTR things started appearing in bargain bins in mid 2005. GW's "LOTR bubble" collapsed around then. The Hobbit has more cinematic visibility, but its up against way more competition, merchandising wise. It does not seem to have the secondary market penetration. So, its likely that there's not that much cash to be had from the Hobbit brand/license. Anecdotally, independent retailers say that Hobbit sales are awful. I suspect they are doing better at direct and store sales. All of which means there won't be much impetus for a post-Hobbit long term set of releases. I suspect we might see some, but that's likely wishful thinking.

3. The original Battle of the Five Armies was part of a separate license deal. Don't know anything about its current status, but it did not seem to set the world on fire. So, I suspect we'll never see it or anything like it again.

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Dreaming of getting back to painting...any month now.

I've always heard that the licence expires in 2017, but have not independently verified this.

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I don’t know if this is still the case but at one time GW had 2 different licences for making models. 1 based on the films and another on the books, that is how we got The Scouring of the Shire. It also explains the faces of the mounted Hobbits being different and not being able to see the faces of Sharkey & Worm.

What the current date of expiry for the 3 licences is I don’t know.

I have heard very worrying rumour, as I'm sure others have, that the entire range (Hobbit and all) are to be dropped completely much sooner than would be expected. This means a very limited amount of releases for Bot5A.

This wouldn't surprise me at all considereing the changes to GW of late, and the harsh truth that, despite the fact independent tournements have seen picking up, it is clear that the LotR and Hobbit ranges just aren't shifting a viable amount of goods, especially compared to 40k, and to a lesser extent WFB.

I don't think we will see any new miniatures after the initial release of the final film. I think we'll be lucky if they are still releasing miniature by the DVD release. And i can't say I''m surprised, the only Hobbit miniatures I have purchesed myself are Beorn, the Trolls and EFGT.

Anyway, enough with the negativity. I will continue playing the game for as long as I enjoy it, weather it is supported by GW or not. And i will collect miniaures for as long as GW make them, and then after that I will collect what i can by trade and ebay for as long as it is affordable.

If GW wants to throw away money they've already spent, sure.

Here's a poser for you. DoS saw Mirkwood, Laketown and Gundabad Orcs, with some heroes. We know Mirkwood was done in advance of AUJ because the two film split ruined a lot of companies plans. It doesn't take a year (from AUJ to DoS) to produce the number of new resin releases DoS saw. Furthermore, the Perry twins left June/July I believe. They worked exclusively on the Hobbit range prior to leaving, and the last release was Feb/March, I believe. So what the hell have they been working on all this time? The perry's have managed to produce plastic kits and metal minis for Perry Miniatures in their SPARE TIME in this time frame. They've had plenty of time to work on substantial content for the last movie, and if they weren't working on it they'd have left a good while ago.

To scale stuff back would invole scrapping things budgeted for and probably started some time before Hobbit became three movies - think, when there were only two films, they would have had ALL movie one stuff in various states of production, given the lead times we know are involved here, by the time the movies were split.

They would have been working on Movie 2 stuff by that point, of which all we have seen is Laketown and Gundabads, both minor resin kits. We know that a plastic laketown building went as far as steel moulds being tooled due to the evidence from the videos of the laketown release including visible mould lines on the terrain. Producing said moulds is by a massive margin the most expensive part of the process, so to can them now is throwing thousands of grand straight onto the fire. Possible, but unlikely. Far more likely is they just had to pad out DoS with what they had already completed and was relevant from the products already in production. Hence the Gundabads showing up after a split second appearance in the film. No Smaug, or Laketown buildings because, my guess, they want to have Smaug destroying Laketown be a big set piece display for the third movie. It's a perfect photogenic scenario, in line with the Goblin Town boards from AUJ.

tldr; DoS was a sucker punch that caught everyone off guard, forcing GW to split two films worth of content that was already well underway into three. GW would be burning an astonishing amount of money if they canned it now, and they simply can't afford to do that. The expensive bit (tooling) is in many cases already done, as evidenced by the Laketown scenery. They paid a lot of money for this license, and they'll drop it the moment it runs out, but they sure as hell mean to make every penny they can from it until then.

If we get a disapointing BoFA i'll be surprised and disapointed. It may well be the case that the rumours are true, but if so I'll be surprised. Let's be optimistic, eh?

I haven't heard any worrying rumours from credible sources. I've heard plenty of worrying rumours from people who don't know any more about it than I do, but the smart money says GW already has its BoFA releases prepped and ready to go. I doubt we will be inundated, but there'll be some stuff to drool over, I would imagine.

In other news, Nasa has sighted a giant ice cream meteor heading right for us.

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For me, when and if GW ever drop the LOTR and the hobbit range, I will switch into almost entirely building First Age armies, there are lots of suitable models out there for that. Until that happens however I will continue to collect LOTR.

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