Heroes Of Middle-earth & Citadel Project Kit This Week From Games Workshop
November 19, 2018 by brennon
The team at Games Workshop has been busy working on a few Middle-earth related releases for this week but also something for the Painters out there too. We'll start with the Middle-earth goodness however with this weekend ushering in the release of a new version of Gandalf The White & Pippin.
There will be variants of the pair from their time in Gondor either Mounted up on Shadowfax as you can see here or on foot, ready to defend Minas Tirith from the onslaught of Sauron's Orcs and the dreaded Witch King himself.
I'd love to do a scenario which features Gandalf and Pipping holding out in the streets of Minas Tirith alongside beleaguered Gondorian soldiers hoping that the Army Of The Dead and the forces of Rohan can break through the assault and save them before it's too late.
Horse Lords
To help in that endeavour we have King Theoden who is now available separate from the large Pelennor Fields Starter Set that Games Workshop designed. You can get him either on foot or mounted.
It's great to see that Games Workshop is working on more of these plastic kits for the heroes so that you have a nice new option when it comes to your force. Metal is grand, and the original range look fantastic, but the plastic side of their Middle-earth range needs a serious update.
The Woodland Realm
You will also be able to pick up the miniatures for Legolas & Tauriel in one pack if you would like to run yourself a force from the depths of Mirkwood.
These two were mentioned in the same breath as the other kits so one hopes that they are also in plastic too rather than the Finecast material that we...well, let's not go back to those dark days.
I really liked Tauriel from the Hobbit movies and it was just a shame that Jackson and the team turned her into some sobbing loved-up character rather than just letting her be a total badass all the time.
The 'romance' should simply have been the brotherhood between Thorin & Company and Bilbo and that final acceptance of the Hobbit when Thorin realised it was too late. The storyline between Tauriel and Kili just robbed those moments of its significance with something cheap to appease the need for there to be something more conventional included within the plot. Anyway, I'm rambling.
Roll Like An Istari
As well as these new plastic kits, Games Workshop has also designed a set of Gandalf D6 for you to use in your games.
They bear the mark that Gandalf left on the door to Bilbo's home when the Dwarves came a-knockin' to rouse him from his comfortable life and take him on an adventure.
Citadel Project Set
As well as all of these releases for Middle-earth we also have one for the wider painting and hobbying community with their Citadel Project Kit.
The idea is that this will help you to organise your particular tools, paints, brushes and miniatures into one place so that if you are focused in on a single project (or multiple) you will have all of the colours and such that you need in one place.
These are the kind of gifts which you'll start to see coming out towards the Christmas period as every hobbyist needs some way to organise their collection and make sure that there's some semblance of coherence in the mess of plastic and metal on their tabletops.
What do you think of the new releases coming soon?
"...make sure that there's some semblance of coherence in the mess of plastic and metal on their tabletops"
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I want the Gandalf and Merry plastics so bad that it hurts . Shadowfax ‘s wild mane and tail make him seem more like the way I visualised him when I first read the book all those years ago … Really enjoying my Middle Earth hobby at the moment.
On further reflection , bugger it , I am getting the lot . (I will do a Theodan sans helment to go with the helmeted one I did from the starter.
Not enamoured with those minis, dunno why but there’s something ‘off’ about Pippin and Gandalf and Legolas’ face looks like he’s been eating too much lembas.
Theoden is good though. The best of the lot is probably Tauriel, although part of that could be because I’m not invested in the character due to not liking the Hobbit films, so for me it’s pretty much a generic wood elf mini.
Yeah, I’m not sure if it is the paint jobs or them being plastic minies, the faces aren’t nowhere near as good as the Perry sculpts were. Otherwise fantastic minies.
Those look really good.
Hang on there. What do you mean by a being a bad ass all the time? Characters who show emotion are a lot more likeable and relatable than those who don’t. Lots of characters cry in Lord of the Rings, the entire Fellowship (bar Gandalf) cries when Gandalf “dies”. I don’t really think her having a romantic/tragic story arc or crying as a result of tragedy is a bad thing. I would even go so far as to argue Legolas is a lot more likeable by the end of the Lord of the Rings trilogy than he is at the… Read more »
Also, Kili has also been made to look more human and less Dwarven for the same reason – to facilitate a romantic story arc. Let’s face it, with the exception of Thorin, we probably don’t want to see many of the others playing tonsil tennis with Tauriel.
Oh c’mon mate, I thought Bombar was in with a chance 😉
Romantic story arches are fine but Tauriel’s was just her sobbing over a Dwarf she’s not really interacted with beyond a few pieces of dialogue and her saving his life was just hamfisted. What I was saying was what you mentioned above, that she was there simply to be a romantic love interest…that’s it. She could have still existed in the film as one of the rangers of Mirkwood that she was and they could have done a lot more with her being the one who could act as a counter to Legolas in the film instead. That would have… Read more »
I think you’re being a little cynical there. It was a little more than just sobbing over a dwarf. Don’t forget for her that’s the first time she had probably had to deal with mortality on that level. She only really cries at the end, when he’s dead. I don’t recall much crying at any other point – I could be wrong, she may have lcried more but I don’t remember it; which means it didn’t really register with me that it was happening. Arwen was given less story, comparatively, she was mostly a part in Aragorn’s story she didn’t… Read more »
I would say that bigger problem is that whole romance between Kili and Tauriel felt so forced and was there just because. It didn’t have any place in story other than just be there so there would be some romance and that’s not good reason to have one.
The reason to have one is that it generates a broader appeal for the film, which is essential if you want to recoup some the eye watering budget films like the Hobbit get – $750m for the Hobbit Trilogy and $250m seems to be about the average for a blockbuster. In order to obtain a budget as large as that you have to cater to the masses and unfortunately* the masses like a good old smooch every now and again.
*unfortunately if you don’t like a good smooch that is. Personally I’m quite partial to one
In other news I love that Theoden Model. The dismounted Gandalf is also very good.
Tauriel and Legolas were already plastic weren’t they? Isn’t this just a “bundle” allowing you to buy them together at a discount?
Yes Tauriel + Legolas are old kits.
I hope they also come seperately because I always wanted to get Tauriel but never din’t and I don’t need another Legolas more so if he looks this bad.
Legolas looks like he got hit by a troll in the face XD
Maybe the troll misheard his name as “Leg o’ Lamb”?
?
Edit: as opposed to Leg o’ Sam which is what @dracs is called when he does a Legolas cosplay. ?
Leg o’ of the pun already! 😉
Reading Bored of the rings again?
Great looking new figure’s shame you can’t get shadowfax solo the marble effect dice are looking brilliant.
Theodin’s face looks really well done.
These are all older minis that are just getting rereleased, right? I know I’ve seen that Legolas before (I really need to pick one up for a diorama).
Tje Gandalf/Merry set is new , Theoden was released in the middle of the year as the new minis in the new starter box, and you are right that the elves were released before and are just a repack.
Always felt sorry for Tauriel’s actress. Apparently, she signed on saying “this looks great, just as long as I don’t end up in another love triangle.”
Few months into production they come to her and are like “so we got word down from the higher ups and they think it would be really great if your character kinda sorta had a… thing. A triangular shaped thing. With two other characters. Like Legolas. And a dwarf.”