Seems like forever since there were any new releases. What the junk is happening at gw? And where is that big scaly lizard?

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Hopefully we’ll see the new Bolg in August. Other than that I don’t think we’ll see anything until December when hopefully we’ll get a Battle of the Five Armies book and some new miniatures.

It seems like they are saving all their releases til the last film is released. They will only have so many sculpts made as the Perry twins have now left so I can see us getting two big waves(film release and blu-ray release) and that will be that.

We've actually been relatively well served, go and have a look through the Good and Evil sections for the Hobbit and the range has quietly become rather large. I don't know what more anyone could really expect from this film really. The only real missing minis are the other Bard, the new Bolg and Smaug. Given that Bolg was a digital creation he'll be out around August (as Azog was last year) at the earliest so he's not late as such. The same goes for Smaug although logic would now say they'll hold him back as the big release for the third film, IF they're making him.

As ever, we shall see...

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You would hope they were making Smaug as it would be an opportunity missed in my opinion. It could be a flagship model for the range to get people interested. Anyone who did not know about the system could still appreciate how cool it would be to control a big, fire breathing Benedict Cumberbatch

I have spoken to several GW staffers who have said a Smaug is highly unlikely. This is gue to the liscence GW hold to make 28mm figures. Smaug would have to be made to the saem scale as all other Hobbit minis, which would make him roughly the size of a gaming table.

These restrictions didn't apply in the days of LotR, so GW where allowed to scale down beasts such as the Mumak to make them playable, affordable and ultimately possible to produce. As it stands, GW (and Forge World for that matter) do not have the means to make a Smaug to the correct scale, and thus it is unlikely we will see one unless an exception to the liscencing is made.

You would hope common sense would win out in the case and a scaled down version made with the licence holders permission. I fail to see what they could gain out of refusing an offer made by GW to produce Smaug.

With all due respect, these days GW staffers are privy to no more information than us. This rumour about scale and licensing originated on a 40K forum in December and has just spread around the internet since then, there's never beens a definitive source or any evidence to back it up. It's more than likely that the staffer you spoke to simply read the rumour online and then passed it on.

The reality is, no-one beyond the inner circle is privy to the details of any of the licensing agreements between GW and any of the film companies.

However, that's not to say this isn't the case, it's not beyond the realms of possibility, I would just suggest that a little caution is required.

Let's not forget, going on the past release schedule of all 3 LOTR films and an AUJ, given that Smaug is the giant CGI creature we wouldn't expect to see the model until around August so it's not even like he's late yet!

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I also think a lot of people forget that the last movie was pushed back a couple of month very late in its production and GW got left in the lurch a bit in regards to their release schedule so you can't really blame them for having no models to release in monthly release windows that as far as their concerned didn't exist 12 months.

On the Smaug front I'm pretty sure we will have one GW already has a dragon and stats for it so we know it can fit into the game and a Smaug model will likely make a shed load of money which makes everyone happy especially big companies like Warner Bros, GW and the Tolkein estate so it seems like a win win situation to make one

I do have hope for Bolg. Maybe the alternate Thorins Co. before the third film. Since we all know they have not dressed like Thorins Co. since they were captured by the elves (somehow they all snuck gold out of there though to pay bard, convenient). I would not hope for much more than that if anything. What else is there really? There is not even a long list of what to make for a third film, I at least hope for an armor version of thorins company (I wonder if the other dwarves left in laketown will make it to erebor?) . There is just so much to get done in one single film, and that is not even including the name sake of the 5 armies battle, that is small compared to how much story stuff needs to be dealt with.

I cannot say if they will make a smaug model. They sure are not making as many scenic models as they did with the forst trilogy (dying Boromir, Legolas with Gimli mounted, Arwen with Frodo mounted, wrapped up Frodo with Shelob, the list keeps going). We have got Barrels out of Bonds which is the first in this trilogy and so far the only set of models that are really not regular play models.
yes there is a point to all this I think. So Smaug falls into this category. He really will not be a great army model, will be very scenario driven at best. So it is very possible that GW could pass on making it as it is not a fit for a battle game. I don't want this to be the case, but I can at least see it.

I think though that GW should make the model. At 10-12" base he would be a good scale to make everyone look small regardless of what the real scale is which is still very debateable since we only see him in scenes with smaller than man size people and the shots are dynamic and set up to make him look larger than life, it is film. So I still am not sure how big he really would be nor how he could fit depending on his pose onto what size base.
My main reason I think they should make him is because without any film, if you were asked who the villain of the Hobbit story was then Smaug should be top of the list...not Bolg or any orc army, not the goblin king, not the barely mentioned elf king, nor Bard, nor even Thorin... Smaug is the main reason for the whole journey. No Smaug would not be cool at all.

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I agree. Having read the book and watched what I consider a somewhat dissapointing movie, it would be a shame to any Tolkien fan if there was no Smaug. Couldn't they make it the same scale as the other dragon?
I would also like to see a ('n expanded) Dol Guldur army with maybe a new troll and captains

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What a major exaggeration if I ever heard of one; A GAMING TABLE!?! Get out of here. I'll give him the size of two mumakil models at most.

If you compare Bilbo (Halfling) to Smaug's head in that scene where he takes the ring off, you'll see Bilbo standing the length from Smaug's Jaw line to his eye. His head isn't grotesquely big. And as far as "gaming table" size is concerned, he would have to be sculpted at full wingspan with neck and tail outstretched. Who would sculpt the model to be like that? Better if he was compact with tail coiled up.

Personally I hope his pose looks something like this:

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If you compare Bilbo (Halfling) to Smaug's head in that scene where he takes the ring off, you'll see Bilbo standing the length from Smaug's Jaw line to his eye. His head isn't grotesquely big. And as far as "gaming table" size is concerned, he would have to be sculpted at full wingspan with neck and tail outstretched. Who would sculpt the model to be like that? Better if he was compact with tail coiled up.

Personally I hope his pose looks something like this:
[/quote]

"A Gaming table" is a very big exaggeration indeed.
Given the scale of Bilbo to Smaug in that picture, the top of Smaug's head would be barely 6 1/2 to 7 inches high in that pose, and the point of the front foreclaw to the end tip of the opposite wing would be 13 inches.
Smaug in the pose above should fit on a Mumak-sized base.
These calculations are based on the picture scale of Bilbo to Smaug, and extrapolating the size of Smaug in relation to the already released Bilbo miniature from the Escape from Goblin Town set.
In that pose, Smaug is completely do-able as a figure.

I really do hope for some light high elf cavalry or infantry, maybe missile cavalry who are fantastic shots but hopeless in melee? Would make them cheap for high elves and a good way to add diversity to your army.

As the username suggests I play a lot elves and agree they need more diversity but light cav isn't the way to go I've thought a lot about new models for elves and I'll explain why they don't work

1) Elves high fight and courage (so high cost for even the lowest defence model)

2) Horses are expensive (added cost)

3)All elves have expert rider and woodland creature (compulsory special rules)

These three things mean even the cheapest elf cav is going to be like 15-16 (-1 defence and 12 inch move) points min add to that a bow and a special rule at 1-2 points each and your back up to 18-20 range at which point just go for rivendell knights who gets no bow limit and can work in combat. Light cav are supposed to be cheap harassing units but at 18-20 their to expensive and fragile to be expensive

There is however a work around for this but it would require changes to standard elf rules, give them the most basic elf profile then remove expert rider it's main upgrade is allowing you to take a shield and get +1D on a horse but these guys won't have an option for it so remove it and cut off 1-2 points. Second give them an archery special rule called Master or Archery (or something along those lines) that thematically/lore wise states that these elves are master archers so can move half and shoot with no penalty (or whatever) but focus on archery over close combat so are only F3/4 meaning they should get the rule for 'free' as it has both positives and negatives.

What do you think?

I wrote this just before I saw your post:

High Elf Scout Riders. 10pts
F. S. D. A. W. C.
1/3+ 3. 3. 1. 1. 5

Wargear:
Unarmed, Elven Bow, horse (12" move)

Special rules
Expert Rider
Woodland Creature
Parthian shot: High Elf Scout Riders may shoot even if they have moved their full 10".
Riding light: High Elf Scout riders travel light in order to travel swift. They always count as unarmed and do not gain an extra attack when they charge.

They would go in the Erigion and Rivendell list so that they could not be abused and spammed, and so that they would be purely the 'scouts' of the army.

As you can see, they are hopeless in melee, too hopeless for an elf, but they sort of need to be that bad in at least one area to make them cheap enough to be worth taking.

Im hoping for:
-Thorins company models to fit the finish *SPOILERS* including Thorin, Fili, and Kili with no fate and the whole company with armor.

-I want a new Dains profile and model
-Iron Hills dwarves
-New men in plastic
-High Elf troops
-Bolg and his guard/azogs guard
-more orcs of different variety/goblins/something
-Crazy creatures like bats/wolves for a decent price and with good stats

And Id be happy. Basically, more boxes of 12 plastics.

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I'm hoping for more goblins, but that's really unlikely. Dol Guldur trolls would be awesome, but they won't do that.

We. Need. Smaug.

It would be crazy stupid for them not to release the beastie since he's such a major character and he is one model hobbyists do not want to miss.

The second movie was called the desolation of Smaug, for crying out loud.

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Having been in this hobby for a while, I can tell you we won't be seeing Smaug until another source book is released, in all my years since RotK I cannot recall once where a model came out before having some kind of rules for the model to be used.

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