Héra, Daughter Of Helm Previewed For Middle-earth SBG
December 13, 2024 by brennon
Games Workshop have a couple of new miniature previews for their new edition of the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game. We've seen the Forge World resin version of Héra from later on War Of The Rohirrim but here is the plastic version of Héra, Daughter Of Helm that you'll be able to get your hands on soon.
Héra, Daughter Of Helm // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game
This is Héra in better times mounted on the back of her horse, Ashere. The set also comes with a version of Héra on foot and the plastic kit allows you to build her with or without her cape. I think a cap maketh a hero so I will probably end up going with that option.
Héra, Daughter Of Helm With Cape // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game
She takes on the role of a Hero Of Fortitude in the Army Of Edoras and can now be added to your games alongside brothers Haleth and Hama to stop the usurpers from claiming her father's throne. There are still a few more plastic kits that feel like they are on the way, especially for representing Helm Hammerhand before the battle at the Hornburg. We shall have to wait and see what Games Workshop reveals over the next few weeks.
What do you make of this version of Héra?
"She takes on the role of a Hero Of Fortitude in the Army Of Edoras and can now be added to your games alongside brothers Haleth and Hama..."
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Her, eh?
It is better than the first model of Helm’s unnamed daughter. I don’t hate it, but it doesn’t really look like Rohirrim attire or armour. Other than that it is a perfectly good model for any fantasy setting.
Give her a boltgun instead of a sword and she’d fit into any leather fetish SciFi setting 😀
You’re not wrong …
I agree. Nice model for a fantasy rpg if you want a foot and mounted version…
But she doesn’t look like she’s from rohan… or any other part of middle earth.
I prefer the first one, at least that one looked vaguely like it might belong somewhere in Middle Earth. This one looks like it belongs in Eberron captaining a Sky Ship.
I have just seen the movie, and I don’t care if this character looks like someone out of Tolkien’s world or not. She will always be Helm’s unnamed daughter, and that is not something that I wished for. If I were to choose between this model and the first, I would buy this one, because it is not a bad miniature by far, and I can use it for several settings, even (as mentioned by a member) for the Grimdark with a weapon change. Having said that, I was actually thinking of an Eberron Sky Captain – well said. I… Read more »
They are going to charge extra for the option to add the cape.
What are you talking about? This is Games Workshop, they’d never do anything like that!
Paint the hair grey/white and you have yourself a witcher XD
Heck yeah, you would! @sundancer
Ha! Yeah, you would!
And the award for the least middle earth looking miniature of all time goes to…
HERA!
Seriously what the actual fcuk is that? It looks like it was shat straight out of a D&D players handbook
Nothing wrong with the mini, it’s nice and all – but I 100% agree. It’s just so random.
I mean, I might disagree with there being nothing wrong with the mini. I’m sure it’s lovely if you like “modern fantasy”, which I don’t. It doesn’t look particularly Tolkienesque nor is it in a style that I hold any particular love for.
I could definitely see the new generation of D&D fans enjoying it
Ok; I think it reminds me of the Dragonlance style of art – which is definitely a few decades old. Not the new style.
Opinions, eh?
Please, that is a wild exaggeration. Half the design Jackson’s team made up for The Hobbit (and which GW produced as models) look even more out of place due to their outlandishness. Hera’s is just an aesthetic choice, but thanks to the Hobbit we have repeater bolt throwers on chariots, ogres and troll brutes.
I completely disagree. There were one or two designs from the Hobbit that poor – the goat chariot for example. The elk that Thranduil was riding perhaps. Dain Ironfoot himself was a CGI nightmare. But the general design of the Dwarfs, Elves, the Kingdom of Dale all looked reasonably good and carried on the design traditions of the previous films. But even the bits of the Hobbit that I mentioned as feeling particularly egregious, still took their design cues from the bits of the world that they were affiliated with. So Dain Ironfoot still looked visually like the other Iron… Read more »
I watched the movie it fits in fine there, and remember this is for a story about dynasty dying out due to folly set 200 years before the war of the ring, meaning the outfits shouldn’t look too much like anything from the other movies (just bare reference at most). Also I have honestly heard old folks complain about Peter Jackson making the Middle Earth less colorful than it was in the books (and this is more colorful) and lets remember Tom Bombadil and his crazy yellow boots, so I don’t think we can say “middle earth looking” so much… Read more »
What’s with the weird underboob belt? Is that a Rohan bra?
And the pose on foot makes me think Lord Flashheart from Blackadder.
How would you know this was a fantasy miniature without a random belt? Duh.
I think they are a rather lovely pair of miniatures.
They put this nonstarter in plastic, but not their new Old World wizards? It’s a good thing this plastic crack sells itself, I’m pretty sure the GW ship is being steered by somebody’s feet while they read a book.
They can’t read a book while doing anything else. Come on. 🤣
No, no and nope! I even watched the film and still no. It does not fit the lore, and this is just a money grab.
Was the movie ok?
It could have been good but Hollywood cannot get out of their way of putting forth its agenda items. There are some small part that refer back to the lore that were well told, but otherwise the rest was a Hollywood agenda film. While Hera was not exactly a Marie Sue, it was all about an agenda. I had free tickets so at least I did not pay. I would wait until it ends up on streaming.
What’s “agenda items”?
@holly indeed, “agenda” – but @turbocooler reveals the clue with his misogynistic reference to a Mary Sue type character. People can’t just enjoy a show, anymore, without attaching conspiracy theories that the movie is meant to influence people in some subversive manner. It’s tiresome to hear about “the agenda”.
Yep, that’s what I interpreted as the meaning too. I’m just sorry that strong female characters are so threatening to some people, how limited their worldview must be.
Not threatend, but I do not believe in unrealistic characters.
@grantinvanman it’s got very little to do with feeling “threatened” by strong female leads. I will not, in most cases, watch films centred on “girl boss” characters, not because I feel threatened by them but because they are usually poorly written and are an indicator of an poor story. I generally find them to be highly unbelievable (yes, even in fantasy shows), totally unrelatable as people because they bear absolutely no resemblance anyone in real life and for the most part, utterly unlikable as characters as the writers try too hard to make them bad ass and they end up… Read more »
@onlyonepinman – hey, you watch what you want to, but you’re missing a lot of good stories just out of misogynistic blindness. There’s no other way to describe what you’re talking about. Have a good one, eh?
Given the number of shows I have started watching and then stopped before getting to the end and the number absolutely eye-watering financial losses made on alleged blockbuster films recently, I am reasonably certain that I am not. It’s not like I never watch anything at all you know and these are patterns I have been seeing for almost a decade now, not a recent phenomenon. My instincts are usually correct.
@grantinvanman Interesting that you have jumped to the conclusion that I am a misogynist for no reason other than not enjoying poor quality stories because they have female leads. All you are doing is creating a strawman argument – you haven’t provided any evidence to support that claim whereas I have given a fairly detailed explanation why I dislike the “girl boss” trope, prevalent in modern media and given some good examples of what goof, strong female characters might look like. Maybe you don’t feel the need to justify why you personally DO like such shows, but to simply label… Read more »
“misogynistic blindness” — please give examples instead of just gaslighting. If all you can respond with is personal attacks you have already lost your argument.
The whole “agenda” thing is hardly a conspiracy theory when film studios are completely open about the fact that the are doing it (see Kathleen Kennedy and Jennifer Salke by way of an examples)
But what is the “agenda”?
It’s the conspiracy theory that misogynists and those who are intolerant have decided that the world they like is being invaded by other views, other (insert whatever you want here), and it threatens to shatter their glass fortress of solitude. People who are too afraid of their shadows and believe they are somehow losing their own identity if they won’t be brave enough to adjust their narrow lens. It’s … “woke culture”. There, I said it. It’s the words everyone has been dancing around here. And it’s SO TIRESOME to keep encountering the thinly-veiled hatred, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, that comes… Read more »
Sadly, I think you are right 🙁 Thanks for outlining that @grantinvanman I’m going to bow out of these comments as sadly I think some of the views here are too entrenched, and there’s nothing to be gained from discussing with people who are so firmly of the view that women are ruining “their” spaces. I’ve been in this hobby since 1987 – collecting and painting miniatures, playing games and enjoying all aspects of this tabletop hobby – and am not going anywhere. In terms of Lord of the Rings miniatures – I had some of the Jew Goodwin sculpted… Read more »
@holly couldn’t agree more.
And at this point, I’m with you: once the trenches are dug, these types of discussions tend to become, as I said, just tiresome.
People are people. Good stories are good stories. Simple as.
@holly criticism of this miniature and the film that inspired it is hardly an attempt to exclude women from the hobby. Nor is it a form of hatred. The agenda, if you are wondering, is to increase the number of female led films, which is not, in and of itself, a problem. The problem is entirely down to the way studios are trying to achieve that objective (which creates awful, unlikable and unrelatable female characters and for the most part denigrates males and masculinity) and then the subsequent blaming of fans, particularly male fans, when they reject the films and… Read more »
@holly It is very sad that you have this opinion. Nobody wants women or minorities to leave the hobby. No one! @onlyonepinman is talking about a trend that has been recurring in the entertainment industry at least since 2016. It does have to do with ‘woke culture’ but the problem with this is whether you understand the term from the ‘left’ or the ‘right’ . Neither of the two are bad or wrong. The problem, at this point in time, is coming from the ‘far left’ institutionalization of the term. So, for example, feminism is essentially a good thing. We… Read more »
– thinly-veiled hatred, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, that comes with resentment of the “agenda” – this is uncalled for. With great respect, I think you don’t really understand what @onlyonepinman is referring to. You don’t really understand the term ‘woke’ or what ‘woke culture’ is, nor the so called ‘agenda’ which; the people who support it have laid out in their own words at higher educational levels. I assure you I am non of the epitaphs you are blindly throwing around.
@nightrunner I wouldn’t get too hung up on the labelling and insults. As a wise man once said, he who resorts to insults has run out of arguments. I don’t really care if people call me sexist, racist or misogynist; I am confident enough in both my beliefs and my own personal character to know without doubt that it isn’t true. Generally this sort of tactic is used by people unable to justify their opinion with reasoning; it’s nothing more than a distraction from having their own opinions scrutinised
You once again make poor arguments. Hollywood is going broke. As someone who works in property management they are literally liqudating whatever they can because they keep producing products that nobody wants and loosing money. Nobody gives a hoot if someone is gay or lesbian just that the story should not be just about the characters sexual preference. They have forgotten there needs to be a story that everyone can relate to. Every recent film is the last few year stars a female lead who is has super powers or is just swap for what should have been a male… Read more »
@turbocooler Yes vey true. I ‘woke’ to this ugly situation with the comic industry. These people have slowly overtaken the comic book industry and inserted their post-modernistic ideology into every story line. It has gotten so bad that DC and Marvel cannot stand on their on feet without financially. They are held up by their parent companies just for the IPs. In the 80’s, if a comic sold less than 100,000 copies, it was retired. Today, if Marvel sell 10,000 copies it is considered a success. None of their comics are in the top ten lists, except maybe for Batman… Read more »
Nope, I am not misogynistic you put your own agenda on my words I was using “Mary Sue” correctly. A Mary Sue is a common type of Literary Archetype, usually a young woman, who is portrayed as unrealistically free of weaknesses or character flaws. In the film the character as if she was a military leader and could defeat all men with zero experience on her part. That is the objection. I am not bothered by strong female characters I want them to go through the hero’s journey not just show up and apparently be better and stronger than any… Read more »
It’s a film made solely to retain the rights to the property. Nothing more, nothing less. Yes, sure, it rewrites lore for no reason other than to insert a “strong woman” into the story. But ultimately, Warner had to make a film or lose the rights. So they put together a film with a $30m budget of which At present, after its opening weekend, it’s earned $10m back. These numbers may seem huge to you or I but to Warner it’s an amount they would easily tolerate losing rather than lose the rights and associated revenue from licensing them. Within… Read more »
@onlyonepinman The fascinating thing I learnt today, if Wikipedia is to trusted, is that Tolkien Estate sued ‘Middle Earth Enterprises’ in 2012 over some casino/video use of Tolkien’s characters citing that this action had lead to “irreparable harm to Tolkien’s legacy”; they settled out of court. Ironically, 2012 is when the Hobbit trilogy began. The more I read about the matter though, the less sympathy I have with ‘Tolkien Estates’. Professor Tolkien was no fool, he must have had some inkling what Hollywood was capable of yet *he*, I believe, sold the rights to his book. “He who sups with… Read more »
I don’t really have sympathy for any particular party involved. I just understand why things are happening. I do not currently have, nor is it likely I ever will have, any burning desire for more Middle Earth content (what an awful word). The Lord of the rings films were about as close to perfect as you are ever likely to get and it is a feat unlikely to ever be replicated (look at the history if how they were made, I genuinely don’t think that could be done again, certainly not now). I don’t really think any of the rest… Read more »
Isn’t it mostly Japanese? Current Western politics usually don’t appear in those from my experience.
No, it was animated by a Japanese team, but the story and screenplay are primarily by Phillipa Boyens, Phoebe Gittins, Jeff Addiss and Will Matthews. Boyens was previously involved with Jackson on LotR, Hobbit and King Kong,not sure about the others. But the interviews with Boyens and Gittins do seem to suggest typical modern Holywood tactic of inserting female characters where none previously existed and then making those characters ubermensch. Here’s an excerpt from an interview: “We know Helm has a daughter, and we know that she was central to the conflict that happened. But myself, and especially screenwriter Phoebe… Read more »
Wouldn’t mind that if it wasn’t an obvious cash grab. Not everything should be a franchise imo but we do live in capitalism
I don’t think it is a cash grab as such. It’s not necessarily being made to generate income in and of itself, rather to maintain a source of income from existing licensing deals. I am fairly sure Warner will be fine if this does nothing more than break even, or even if it makes a small loss. I mean, I sort of agree about the whole Franchise thing. The Peter Jackson films were great, the Hobbit were OK but had a few problems, nowhere near as good as the LotR films but still passable. But I don’t feel like I… Read more »
Actually, since director is Japanese (the most indirect people on earth) and given the whole moral of the story was “pride goes before a fall” repeatedly since it was the mistake the 3 most prominent characters (Hera, her Dad Helm, the Villain Wulf) kept making, I do not think it was Hollywood’s standard “agenda” of “make women men and vice versa” though I am sure the American voice acting coach tried make it appear that way. Frankly I got the feeling Hera was made out to be the “that fool whose downfall you are about watch” from the start since… Read more »
The OTT team spend hours creating a 90 minute plus ‘Weekender’ show that gets 16 or so comments
Brennon uploads a few pictures and a few paragraphs about ‘Hera’ and the Lord of the Rings film and gets 21 plus comments.
Just saying …
I think the weekender gets more comments when there is a prize up for grabs.
Middle Earth and/or GW as topic always provokes an opinion and when it’s both…
Agreed. So much negativity here 🙁
I haven’t seen the film yet as it’s only just come out this weekend – but credit to GW – they always do really great Lord of the Rings miniatures when based off the source material (in this case the film) that they have the rights to. Personally, I think these are 2 lovely looking miniatures, and beautifully painted. I am sure that they must therefore be very faithful to the characters representation in the film.
@holly agreed! GW’s LOTR range is almost always a standout. I can think of very few examples that were misses.
They are faithful to the imagery from the film. But the film is probably part of the problem, it’s way too far “off piste”. It strays too far from the visual styles of the Peter Jackson films and into modern fantasy/anime styling. GW are only making what the film provided, but it doesn’t change the fact it’s horrible. Why the negativity? MESBG fans don’t get too much by way of new stuff and when they do, this is what they get. The Peter Jackson films were beautifully imagined, to be reduced to this is some fall. There were definitely better… Read more »
There’s masses that’s been previewed and is currently available that is just awesome – Burdhur and the Hill Trolls for example. The Shadow Of Rhudaur, Fraecht, Vassal Of The Witch-king – lovely sculpts, and with the promise of more to come.
I wouldn’t say “masses”. There has been a reasonable amount of new stuff, I wouldn’t say “masses”. We are going through a spell of renewed interest owing to a new film, it is highly unlikely to last more than a couple of months. Also worth pointing out the film is not looking like it’s heading towards success, so that will further limit the promise of “more to come”. Support for MESBG will die along with interest in War of the Rohirrim. So really, unlike warhammer, when there’s a swing and a miss, that’s kind of it. There’s no second chance… Read more »
For what it’s worth, I actually wonder if this film and the miniatures GW are producing (and in all likelihood have to produce given that they probably can’t redesign the film designs), could be the death knell for the game system. If these don’t sell – and I suspect based on the reaction this one really will struggle – how keen will GW be to maintain a license for a film franchise whose “peak” was 20 years ago and that has nothing but token lip service every 10 years to look forward to in terms of new media. I genuinely… Read more »
Well, the 100th anniversary of the actual Hobbit book is a mere 13 years away, shockingly. I have a reprint of the original text version, which was changed after Lord of the Rings, to make the story about the ring finding bit mesh better. Some people love the work, some don’t.
Warner are contractually obliged to produce another film before then. It would seem that arohnd 10 years is probably the specific time frame for reversion back to the Tolkien Estate. The Hobbit was released 9 years after The Return of the King, War of the Rohirrim 10 years after Battle of the Five Armies. So we should see another film around about 2034.
Honestly I thought MESBG was dead 10 years ago. Community is really carrying the heavy load here.
I suspect over the next 10 years it will dwindle further and become unviable for GW. Especially without new films to keep majntain general public awareness of the franchise. Mind you, 10 years from now, maybe they will “reboot” Lord of the Rings. Won’t that be exciting.
With regard to MESBG, for me, the games ‘died’ when they released ‘The Hobbit’ book. The ‘rules bloat’ and that point, for me, became ridiculous. I think the ‘different weapons’ was the tipping point. I’ve just looked online and they are describing the rulebook as 176 pages long. Given the price of £34 is that ‘176 pages’ supposed to be a selling point? Obviously they’ve now included an index as a ‘selling point’. But to play the game you need to buy the Army Books, at £40 a throw (£22 or so for ebook). I guess you don’t have to… Read more »
I’ve a drawer full of unopened GW ME stuff – mainly lead. From the day when I was an avid ‘War of the Ring’ player. I even bought a ticket for the first (and only) ‘War of the Ring’ GT.
I reckon I better get this stuff on ebay ASAP before it is too late.
Taking a quote from Tolkien… “I would draw some of the great tales in fullness, and leave many only placed in the scheme and sketched. The cycles should be linked to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama.” In isolation yes and there is nuance in his quote when you consider more of his writing and Christopher’s but maybe bear this in mind. I will say, again, that adaptation does not harm the original. The original books are still there. They aren’t going anywhere. War Of The Rohirrim is… Read more »
…and if you don’t like the miniature. Don’t buy it. It’s an old meme sir but it still checks out. Don’t yuck other people’s yum. I think she looks cool, especially with the cloak. Also, you can find plenty of other awesome Shieldmaiden miniatures from the likes of Medbury and Footsore that fit the classic Anglo-Saxon aesthetic so just go there. Having had the new miniatures in my hands, they all work really nicely next to the more recent plastics from GW for MESBG. The older plastics are showing their age for sure and there’s a bit of scale creep… Read more »
Whilst it is absolutely fair to say “if you don’t like it don’t buy it”it is equally fair to say “if you don’t want people’s opinions on something, don’t invite them” or “don’t ask questions you don’t want to hear the answers to”. The issue here, with this miniature is not whether there is some issue with political messaging behind her inclusion in the film. That has been discussed here within the context of the movie, and it’s a fair discussion but perhaps not necessarily relevant here. But what is absolutely relevant is the design of Herà and the quite… Read more »
I already found a great proxy for her.
https://www.wargamesillustrated.net/product/lord-flash-revisited/
I’m perfectly fine with people discussing whether or not they like the miniature but when people start discussing “political messaging” and deeper meaning as to why x or y has been done, it invariably ends up turning into an entirely different discussion. As I mentioned above, did Warner Bros make the film to make sure they could keep the property? Yes, they’ve said as much. So that’s valid and explains some of the shortcomings I have with the film despite enjoying it. As for any kind of messaging, Film-makers put themselves into projects. Regardless of what it is. The team… Read more »
I think I diagree with almost everything you have suggested here. The ONLY bit we agree on is that when people talk about political messaging in the film it becomes a different discussion and while we agree on that, I think when a miniature is based on a character in a film, it’s very difficult to talk about the miniature without talking about the film. – Film makers insert hemselves into their works… No they don’t. Good ones don’t, bad ones do. Ridley Scott doesn’t self insert. Steven Spielberg doesn’t self insert. Francis Ford Coppola, Jerry Bruckheimer, Denis Villeneuve don’t… Read more »
Is this not really just the same old debate though? If someone dislikes something, are they entitled to dislike it openly and if so on what grounds is it and is it not acceptable to dislike it? We have been here before (almost always with GW) and we shall undoubtedly be here again. Because like almost everything these days, there are two conflicting opinions and ne’er the twain shall meet. There are the people who wish to express opinions, regardless of whether they are positive and negative, and there are people who wish only to see people leaving positive opinions… Read more »
@onlyonepinman Very well put. I agree with everything you just said and could not have said it better myself. Just to add some wood to the fire, the film is bombing at the box office everywhere. The latest figures show that it cost 30 million to make with an added 20 million in advertising. It only made 5.5 mil domestically (in the US) and 5.4 mil worldwide. This is disastrous for the franchise and for the hobby. Compare it to another animated move Demon Slayer – an anime I have never heard of unlike Tolkien – it made 50 mil… Read more »
I haven’t and probably won’t watch it. It’s just another prequel/sequel nobody really wanted for, rushed into production to save the rights. So I won’t be bothering, I may watch it in future if it’s on streaming. If people want to watch it, if people ENJOY it, fine. But I don’t think that invalidates the reasons why people dislike it. I don’t really see New Line doing anything with the license except taking royalties from licensed merchandise. I suspect there is even a degree of protectionism behind it as well, to prevent Amazon getting full rights to the story, which… Read more »
So here’s my ‘pennyworth’ with regard to middle-earth wargaming and GW. Is there enough to this film to warrant the direction GW is taking with MESBG? I suppose I had better be more precise. GW recently culled a large number of, in fairness, old miniatures that were part of the LoTR line. They’ve produced some absolutely stunning new figures. The figures appear to be ‘true’ to characters in the film – which we may or may not like. I just get this uneasy feeling that the film is dragging GW down a cul-de-sac with regard to MESBG. (Rohan vs Dunlendings?… Read more »
It would be nice if they did some new Dunlendlings. The Hill Tribes are ok, but they’re a bit of a rabble. I remember the old viking themed Men of Dunland, I hope this film doesn’t mean they’re no longer allowed to make them anymore
Absolutely all of this! Especially don’t yuck someone else’s yum – always loved that phrase 🙂
There’s something else I want to say here, because there’s quite a lot of complainys being made about negativity and criticism being levelled at people who are perceived to hold that negative opinion. Some of that criticism is now coming from a member of the OTT team. This is not an attempt at trying to silence @brennon, far from it I want him to continue express his opinions and enthusiasm for all things tabletop. OTT is a wonderful place with him in the team. But the optics of stepping in the way he did? They don’t look good. Some of… Read more »
It’s nice to see OTT testing the waters of 3.0 by mimicking Reddit this month.
Been a member of this community for nigh on 15 years now. Believe it or not, this happens from time to time. It’s not the first and it won’t be the last