Mighty Smaug The Golden Awakens For The Hobbit!
December 5, 2014 by brennon
The Hobbit: Strategy Battle Game gets another week of pre-orders in the run up to the films release next week from Games Workshop. As many of you will know by now the miniature releases for this week include the massive Smaug himself alongside Bard the Bowman and a few Laketown extras for you to marshal for battle...
Once again it's an impressive piece and there are only 200 of them available on the webstore, at least for this side of Christmas anyway. 200! As we guessed it is made of the same stuff as Forge World use so you're working with some expert resin.
"This magnificent 42 piece miniature is hand cast using the highest quality resin (the same used by Forge World), and the most advanced techniques to produce a model with extremely fine detail. Every scale, horn and battle-scar has been expertly reproduced to create a beatifically authentic collectors piece.
Weighing in at 2.4kgs, the height of the miniature from the bottom of the base to the tip of Smaug’s™ wing is 8.4 inches (or 21.4 cm). The base is 9.2 inches (or 23.1 cm) long and 5.4 inches (or 13.3 cm) wide."
As well as the mighty Dragon Smaug we also have Bard the Bowman alongside Laketown Bowmen, Spearmen, Swordsmen and a Captain much like with the other offerings we've come to see over the past two weeks for the Elves...
Once again it looks like an awesome selection of actual sculpts but the paint job appears to be letting some of the actual infantry down which is a shame. A couple of the Spearmen and Bowmen look a little odd as does poor Bard's face. I'm not a big fan of him with the Windlance either but I'm sure it's something that will be more or less reserved for a scenario in the game book.
Get it if you want it, they are going to go quick I imagine!
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I have already said my thoughts about that Smaug previously so there is no reason to repeat that.
Those infantry models are lacking but then again those have not got best possible paint job.
Sold out in 40 minutes, only 200 available before Xmas
Sold out in Australia in about 5mins so I missed out (guess I’ll be waiting for the new year). I wish the hobbit was as unpopular as the Internet keeps telling me it is.
While it is just my experience, I’ve seen that the lotr/hobbit range is popular with a lot of people who don’t play. While GW was regularly stocking product on the shelf, there was frequently people in there buying models, particularly characters (Treebeard, etc.) to paint or create dioramas, etc. When it comes to playing, the vast majority of people that I’ve found who are still active are playing the scenarios, much more like traditional historical wargamers, than they are the points based missions, which is why I think we don’t see a lot of it in the stores. Anyways, the… Read more »
While it is only 200, the fact that a model in that price range manages to sell out does seem to suggest that there’s definitely money in The Hobbit range to be made for the right model(s) at the right price.
still nice, still expensive, I wound not do Smaug justice painting him any way to be truthful. Lol
Is the model available from retailers or is this direct sales only?
Well based on box I would say that it will be retail product. Otherwise it could easily just be in brown cardboard box. But I could be wrong.
CDN site has the little angled arrow / web exclusive badge. I think that means special order for retailers, no?
A release that really means nothing to the non 200 willing to spend $500 on it.
Different strokes, for different folks.
it’s impressive that it’d sell out that fast given how extremely unpopular Hobbit is compare to LotR as a franchise.
The point is not that The Hobbit game is well loved or not, but that there are enough Tolkien fans with 500 bucks to drop on a resin Smaug, because as said elsewhere, no one is likely to use the piece for gaming.
Which makes me wonder about Bard with his AA ballista. I guess you could borrow one of the Dragons from the D&D Attack Wing and ignore scaling (no pun intended)
The Battle of Lake-Town Adventure Pack arrived this morning so I can at least get roasted by Smaug in a card game Whoo-hoo
I think I need to explain this comment since someone is thinking it is a slight against GW I love Tolkien and would like to play the skirmish games. But due to personal circumstances it is going to require a great deal more energy than I can provide I actually have plenty of the LOTR sprues, but I they are very unlikely to get made. And I am loth to sell them Finally I simply do not have the resources to buy, paint and display Smaug, however desirous of the old fellow I may be. I don’t need to assemble… Read more »
No slight taken here, from me to you. The LCG is on my wishlist right next to Smaug 🙂
I didn’t see this being the forum thread to diverge into how epic the LCG sounds to a Tolkien fan, but had it been, you can be assured I would be asking you all about it. I’ve heard nothing but good things, and as a parent of a young lad who is now just coming of age enough to appreciate Tolkien and his works, I look forward to hopefully getting the LCG to enhance his appreciation even more.
looking at the model on GWs website it looks like just another stiff CAD sculpt … plus it looks like one large low detail model, not to mention the bildo sculpt. 295 pounds, get f*cking stuffed Games Jokeshop … Its time to stop calling everything GW awesome and impressive, this is not impressive compared to CMON:s dragon detailwise. Very far from it, especially considering the price asked.
But…but…GW are the PREMIER model making company.
Apparently
with that point of view, what an awesome model … full of detail and nicely painted to show it off in all its glory
A question to ask oneself before buying bard and the other models; are the original sculpts made in play dough?
Now, now don’t go down that path. Play dough is a very reputable product and would give way more detail than what we see above.
When I play I say DOH a lot because of all my errors. 🙁
If you have something you disagree with or upset by, please at least have the good grace to explain what you find so offensive in my comments which as far as I can see cause no one any harm
If I said the sculpt is shite I could understand but self deprecating humour says nothing negative about any one but my self. And I am genuinely crap at games.
Im not sure if that was for me as these threads get pretty cluttered and confusing .. anyhow; my reply was just running with the joke of premium model maker 🙂
Not at all
It was aimed at an anonymous cove who seems to have personal vendettas against anyone who dare say anything against the maker of premier models.
Their ire takes the form of giving the most innocuous of remarks the thumbs down even when they are not about GW
That whole thing about GW Premier models is somewhat amusing.
Not sure there is enough to justify the claim
They make some good stuff and they make some not so good.
I guess they are good enough for what they do on the whole
Premier is stretching it a tad.
I like old Smaug well enough though.
This is a stunning kit. I would never buy it because I really don’t like the movies or the design of Smaug in them, but it’s a stunning sculpt. Amazing level of detail which manages to capture the actual look of reptilian skin, rather than the over wrought, stupidly exaggerated textures you usually see on dragon minis. The pose gives the impression of real weight and power. Any one who says this is a poor sculpt just doesn’t know what they’re talking about imho. As for the Laketown guys; a bit of a mixed bag. Some are great, some less… Read more »
I don’t mind the costume designs overall and I would never have thought of Mongol costume as a basis for the residents of Lake-Town. Thinking outside of the obvious is no bad thing imho. Same with Smaug, I wouldn’t have imagined him like this. Overall the production design has been good even if, like you, they are not as I imagine the world to be. The films diverge from the books in places but then films nearly always do. The important thing for me is there is a coherence and works as a whole as a cinematic experience. For me… Read more »
At the risk of derailing this into a discussion of the films @chibi , I think the films are terrible as films. By that I mean, even if you just judge the Hobbit movies entirely in their own right, they are very poor movies. As adaptations of a book they are worse, totally failing to respect the source and making no attempt to capture the charm and whimsy Tolkien’s writing.
But there are very few books that have been transposed into film without changing something or other. It is not necessarily the film makers role to create a film totally true to the book It is problematic for various reasons, not least of al because of the individuality of our imaginations. IMHO Jackson could have conveyed the charm of the book, intended for children, or take a creative decision to make The Hobbit trilogy an epic prequel to the Lord of the Rings. For me and many others that was probably the correct course. I understand how others would be… Read more »
That’s the problem right there; “epic”. The hobbit movies quickly degenerated into a series of loosely linked, overblown action sequences, each trying to out awesome the previous one. of course I can accept that changes are made from the book, but as I said, I also think the hobbit movies are bad movies judged entirely in their own right. I was prepared to give Battle of Five Armies a fair chance, but the trailer just looks dire. Why is it that in Jackson’s world elves become automata in battle? I think he got confused by the pointy ears and thinks… Read more »
TBH I can’t really disagree with much of what you said there. The Hollywood Turboboost treatment touches on what I said about accepting that the film is what it is, and chug back metaphorical popcorn. I would certainly welcome a film that was closer in spirit and flavour to the book. Thinking about Tolkien’s own designs compared to the movie, the former’s Smaug is very much more a literary dragon. He is a beast of words and riddles, whereas the Jackson Smaug looks predominantly a beast of brute strength. It is easier to think of the latter trashing Lake-town rather… Read more »
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes @chibi ! Noggin the Nog is exactly the kind of style and atmosphere Tolkien should have. If I remember correctly, Tolkien was actually a massive influence on Oliver Postgate when he was writing Noggin.
I think perhaps the issue with the Hobbit movies is that, while the quality is clearly here, it suffers from being NOT what you’d expect from reading the book, whereas the LOtR movies were pretty much EXACTLY what you’d expect from the book (minus Tom Bombadil, the Barrows, and some other stuff that go omitted but not transformed… and perhaps one or two scenes such as Arwen riding Frodo to Bree, and so on… Nothing as completely made-up as what’s in the Hobbit). It’s a matter of respect, and it’s a matter of consistency. It shows that the screenwriters just… Read more »
You make a very good point about the screenwriters @elromanozo . In both the Hobbit and LotR the parts of the films which are good are usually the parts lifted straight out of the books and the parts which are bad are usually the parts the film makers have written. LotRs does suffer from the Cult of the Awesome too, just to a a lesser extent. I still cringe everytime I see the giant eyeball on a stick that is Sauron. I can’t believe that the writers interpreted the visions of an eye rimmed by fire which Frodo and others… Read more »
For me, I can forgive the “artistic license” used in padding out the story out to the point that it looks like it’s wearing a fat suit, but what I can’t forgive is what they have done to the dwarf characters. After watching the first two films, I still couldn’t tell you which dwarf was supposed to be which, except for Thorin (obviously). And while I like the actor who plays Thorin, he ain’t convincing as a dwarf let alone the great Thorin Oakenshield. That goes for all of the actors playing dwarves: in the LoTR movies the dwarves looked… Read more »
Didnt say it was poor, i described what i thought it looked like .. looking at the close ups on gws website thats what i see. And if your opinion happens to differ it doesnt mean im “wrong”. Not calling you elitist or anything ..
It’s funny that the right to have an opinion does extend to being able to have an opinion about somebody else’s opinion.
Thanks for not insulting me too. 😉
Well in that case .. in my opinion You do have a need to compare your opinion with others though, its like an itch when it doesnt compute with erastus-truth ™ … I for one dont rate my own opinion so highly that i feel free to claim that others dont know what they are talking about.
Wow. So you make no distinction between opinions which are different but equally valid and opinions which are invalid because they are based on misinformation, a lack of experience or simple confirmation bias? What a delightfully simple world you like in, where all opinions are equally valid @hatamoto . It’s also funny btw, how so often you answer my posts by insulting me. As far as I am concerned, you sir are the single biggest argument in favour of BoW having an ignore function. I made no reference to you in my original post, yet you treated it like a… Read more »
On we go with the drama, and who decides wether an opinion is based on misinformation or lack of experience? Im not the one living in a small world erastus.. As for not making a reference to me, you basically said that anyone who doesnt think its a stunning kit doesnt know what theyre talking about. An ignore function would be a great feature, atleast we can agree on that.
@hatamoto you’re creating the drama with your insults, you silly man. I just expressed an opinion and you attacked me for it. Now, please do what you’re threatening to do and ignore me.
A shame you don’t have a dog to kick @erastus . @hatamoto has some valid points, and many apply throughout the GW range. If you want latent community proof that GW’s work has turned to scheit you need look no further than posts on companies that do it all right. For instance, it’s not often you find adversarial dialogue on a Perry’s post, or on a new release from Infinity. You’re often objective about such things, so I really find your trolling on this thread bizarre. The only time controversy seems to arise is when GW puts out yet another… Read more »
@cpauls1 trolling? Jesus effing Christ on a bike, I get called a troll now. All I do is express an opinion that the smaug model is a great scuplt and that anyone who says it isn’t doesn’t know what they’re talking about and I get called all kinds of names. IT WAS AN OPINION! I am f*cking sick of this. As far as I am concerned, some of what GW produce is utter crap and some of it is brilliant, but it feels to me that there are some people in here who just paint me as some GW fanboy… Read more »
You mean the same type of opinion, (that you have stated you are tired of) you imagine is being expressed in other GW related threads? Where somehow criticizing gws work is an insult to all gw hobbyists? Use of the word elitist have been thrown around liberaly. Notice how i said what i thought about the model without adding “and anyone who thinks its great doesnt know what they are talking about”. This is also an imaginary statement you seem to more than once have read into opinions of less positive nature regarding gw. Im out, getting sick of this… Read more »
The Hobbit: Strategy Battle Game: We Don’t Care About. Honestly that’s all I see in this. I see half assed characters not only sculpted in a bad way but painted and presented in a bad way. I see they don’t care for this range too much and plan to drop it. But Smaug! Limited runs, non functional piece. GW is what got me into tabletop, kills me to see this.
I was interested to read that this is Michael Perry’s last sculpt for GW, and the only one he did digitally.
Evidently, it has the flaws of 3D : too much regularity in the scales of the bag-like neck and body… smoothness… But perhaps the abysmal paint-job doesn’t serve it well. I mean, really, on such a piece, GW could have called on a master painter !
I don’t mind the 3D process, it can yield some amazing results. Smaug looks alright, not 500 bucks alright but he looks like he does in the movie. But that’s exactly how far it goes, no extra flair, boring position. They had such a good creature to work with and went with it essentially laying down. The baggy neck and body I don’t mind because that’s just how real life big reptiles are: baggy neck, puffed stomach.
Make it go, @elromanozo !
would have been interesting to see what a master could have done with it, definatly
Wondered why the pictures were on the Perry’s Facebook page this morning.
I didn’t pay any attention to it
Did Perry do the other sculpts as well? The fact they are being done by someone completing a contract rather than with passion might go to explain the lack-lustre results……
It would be disappointing to learn that was the case.
I would hope that Perry’s have more pride in their work than to pass off shoddy work.
I don’t know. If they did they haven’t mentioned it. I’d be surprised if they phoned any Hobbit sculpts in given their passion for the project.
I don’t think its shoddy work at all. Quite the opposite in fact. I know people have questioned the lack of detail, I find it a fleshing change that the surface detail is so subtle. Too often people obsess about surface detail. I keep seeing people raving about how detailed some shoddily proportioned and badly posed mini is, as if having lots of detail is the very definition of good sculpting. It’s not.
My wording was shoddy.
Put it down to lack of sleep
The dragon looks good, but my dilemma is where could I put it? It would be a pig to build and a bigger pig to paint, but that’s just the way it is, not anyone’s fault.
I’m just not seeing $500 worth of value in that model, especially if it’s that bubbly flaking Forgeworld slop. I gave up on the only thing I ever bought from them, which was 10 times smaller, so I don’t imagine this fellow will be any different. The other mini’s aren’t bad, but not great either, and certainly not worth the price. And of course I’m still pissed that the figures weren’t released in 28mm heroic scale. I’ve got no use for them at the size they’re at. Perhaps part of it too is that the movies left a bad taste… Read more »
I think some of the criticisms that Roman and Erastus made are in part due to the decision to making The Hobbit a trilogy.
Film makers seem obsessed with threesomes.
*Romain not Roman.
Apologies
Bloody Romans etc.
All about the bottom line. After the boatloads of cash the LoTR trilogy brought in, I would have thought they would have been content with a prequel… but why make money off one movie when you can make three times more with three movies? And then of course there’s this blatant Smaug money grab, which commercializes the whole thing even more.
Three hundred quid for a fucking dragon!!! Who do GW think plays their games Russian Oligarchs?
“Three hundred quid for a fucking dragon!!!”
Well that explains the pose, and the expression on Smaug’s face! 😛
In that case, wouldn’t you need to buy two, and do some serious conversion work? On the bright side, you can get all the naughty bits you’ll need from the leftovers on your Kingdom Death sprues lol.
Never realized how tired one can get about being ‘collector enough’ and ‘financially capable enough’ also implying that we are part of some rich, social deviant, upper class – until right about now.
I pay my mortgage, car payment, savings plans, kids savings, and bills like everyone else. If I, and any one else, has enough left over after that for an expensive, entirely life-optional, probably irresponsible, shelf ornament then let them buy it.
The whole argument of “it’s expensive” thus GW = evil argument is getting old.
no one is stopping anyone, common misconception
I have no idea which part of my comment your response is in relation to.
“Let them buy it”
Old does not necessarily invalidate an argument. That’s like saying one is tired of hearing how it is wrong to kick a bloke in the nadgers when he is down. I don’t really understand what the “collector enough” and “financially capable enough” has to do with a supposed slight about financial and social status, apart maybe from being a truism. It has been stated that it is out of one’s own budget, or that people are of the opinion that the model is not worth £300. I don’t see what is wrong with either statement nor how it is a… Read more »
My reply was written in haste, and probably not as well thought out or appropriately worded as it could have been. I don’t have an issue with it being expensive, there are lots of things that are expensive that aren’t worth it. I also don’t have an issue with some people not liking the model, or seeing value in it – that’s an opinion, and everyone is entitled to it. My issue with the comment was associating the ability to purchase said “300 quid f’ing dragon” with socially irresponsible, arguably criminal, but certainly overwhelmingly wealthy Russian “upper class”. If one… Read more »
It is sad, and it also cuts both ways. I have been told pretty much that my money is not good enough and poor people shouldn’t play GW games. lol Hope it doesn’t sound condescending to say I hope you have great joy of old Smaug if you get one. TBH I look at GW stuff and think of the greater amount of plastic I can get for less elsewhere in Hobbyland. I don’t really have the same sense of comparison with this resin kit. I am less familiar with resin since it tends to be out of my price… Read more »
Ya, that is a shame to be told that. The problem with the price argument, rich vs. poor, though is that it’s so contextual. I don’t know anyone personally on these forums, so … sometimes, ya maybe they are too poor and they need to get off the forums and get their life in order. If someone is behind on bills, taxes, or can’t feed themselves effectively, then that’s a lack of prioritization. And, I’ve seen it happen. Friend of mine was going through bankruptcy, but that didn’t stop him from buying a new PS3 game every week, and then… Read more »
Sorry if you thought I was having a go at oligarchs, I was going to say rich Arabs but I thought that would be even more controversial. I was just commenting that if you look at the prices of a lot of GW’s new releases with the bundles starting at 150 quid they seem to have given up on the pocket money hobby they started as.
And I would argue that when they started out as a ‘pocket money’ company, the competition for your limited dollar was practically non-existent. I’d easily drop a couple of hundred bucks a month on GW stuff, videogames, etc. Now that same money has to go farther, or I need to decide to do less of something because the whole lot is costing more over time. I’m not saying they aren’t expensive, I’m saying that life, in general, is more expensive, and our hobbies are a reflection of that fact. Smaug is a $600 kick in the nuts at the CDN… Read more »
Ah, the noble GW crowd working an extra job to put models on the table for the family :-). Hmmm… hardly the socio-economic profile at the stores I’ve been to.
That’s dangerously close to putting words in my mouth.
How about, maybe it is “I didn’t need my $700 smartphone, my $400 gaming console with $70 games, and 7 different wargames at the same time.” Maybe I can prioritize, or I can actually go through life not feeling like just because I want something companies of all shapes and sizes should just acquiesce to my demands.
Tale of Painters has a full unboxing, and a mini review of the Smaug kit here:
http://taleofpainters.blogspot.ca/2014/12/review-smaug-unboxing-video-and-photos.html