Bard, Bolg & Azog + New Hobbit Book Leaked
December 9, 2014 by brennon
As well as the new Blood Angels from Games Workshop there's some new heroes for The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies that comes out on Friday at cinemas. See what you think of Bard, Azog and Bolg as well as the new supplement book that comes free with the issue...
Bard is presented away from his Windlance and in some more battle worthy attire. I imagine this is the outfit he's wearing in the trailer with chainmail underneath when he is leading a whole bunch of Laketown Warriors into battle. As well as coming on foot he also rides into battle atop a horse that seems to have something wrong with it.
Azog is looking as deadly as ever but without his sword arm (with claw instead) leading me to believe that these sculpts were made a long time ago before all the new CGI had been added to the final film. Some commentators have said that he looks like he's dancing around, or ice skating.
Bolg also comes in last with his snarling Warg and a rather deadly looking axe/cleaver. Much like most of the characters he was needing a mount although I still think the original Gundabad Orc General version of him was the best and I think people should just modify the new rider to look more like him instead!
As well as the miniatures there is also the free rules supplement for the game instead of you having to punt for a full on book this time around.
Despite there being some rather suspect pricing across the range and a lack of plastic kits for people to get into the game as new players it's good that Games Workshop have at least given us a whole bunch of miniatures AND the new rules to help fans of the system.
Hopefully I'll be able to pick up a copy of the rules supplement and have a flick through it!
Will you be getting any of these?
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Did somebody win a raffle to have their painted minis feature in WD?
I agree. I’ve seen some of these Hobbit figures up close and they are ten times better without the paint job. Really not a fan of the paint job once again. Ah well.
BoW Ben
I know the tendency has been to move away from aspirational to achievable since the launch of the current paints, but these seem a step or two below even that. You still need to make the minis look nice even if you’re not pulling out all the stops on the paintjob.
I was of the opinion that the ‘Eavy Metal school of mini painting at least in part about making the models look good in photographs
Maybe the painting department has been reduced and have less time per model?
Though as is oft said, The Hobbit range does seem to be getting the second class citizen treatment.
IMHO it is rather odd that a company that has stated it prides itself in excellence should lower its standards. If you are putting your wares in the shop window you should want them to make a good impression.
Maybe blue table painting are the studio painters now.
ZIng! lol Even allowing for the for the more achievable style the ‘Eavy Metal team have been painting in recently, these one look a few levels lower than that. It could be that GW think the core audience buying these minis don’t need the extra encouragement that a good paintjob would give so they’re diverting the team’s resources to painting WFB and 40K minis. I don’t the current situation with the ‘EM team, though I am aware from the former members I know that it’s a low paying job with a lot of pressure to turn around paintjobs quickly (which… Read more »
Like the horse .. seems like it has retracted its neck somehow after stopping too fast .. is that something to look forward to seeing in the new movie? Or ice skating Azog?
It was the very first thing I noticed even before the crappy paint jobs
Might be the camera angle but very much doubt it
Azog looks like he’s performing Swan Lake.
Will eventually grab this stuff, but am too busy right now filling out the gaps from the old range before it disappears.
Really like the walking Bolg model; definitely has the badass walk going on.
AFAIK – the supplement will also be available for order separately direct from GW.
Man, the Middle Earth line has taken a nosedive since the Perry Brothers left…
Azog strut……..:)
Does anybody else think that bard looks like geography teacher/70s port star with that task. Sculpting leather elbow patches here I come.
Certainly hope not, geography teacher at my school was found guilty of gross indecency in the local park
Those are not bad at all. It’s paint job that makes those look worse than those really are. Still Perry Brothers sculpts are better than those.
Looks great but the prices are just ridiculous. After this has all died down GW will more than likely shelve the lines.Such a shame as the original LOTR (films) skirmish game was great!
Hmmm…it would seem the GW secret police have snapped up the mini photos, and cleverly replaced them with screen shots. Maybe no one will notice.
lol I just read the article and was getting a bit confused…
Dropped the images and instead talked about what the sculpts look like. Apologise for people wanting to see the leaks. They are out there on the net.
BoW Ben
No probs!
Artwork now appears on the Blood Angels news item.