Istari & Hobbits Herald A Bright Future For Games Workshop’s Middle-earth SBG
October 12, 2018 by brennon
Games Workshop has been absolutely bowled over by the response from the community to the new version of their Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game, and rightly so! This means new models and many old miniatures coming back to the fore in the coming months.
The first of these is a new on-foot version of Gandalf The White. This is the version of him that will come alongside Armoured Pippin when you snap up the mounted set that we showed off a few months ago.
I'm not a massive fan of the paint job here but I can certainly see the awesome model beneath it. I have a thing for the Istari from Middle-earth and own many versions of Gandalf, Saruman and Radgast, but it would be great to have another in my collection to show off Gandalf at his mightiest.
As mentioned above the releases will also include a new version of Pippin dressed as a Guard Of The Citadel.
I think we're going to see them expand on more of the characters who took part in the fight for Gondor and the defence of Minas Tirith. Imagine if we get a new version of Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas from that bit in the movie where they leap off the ship!
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As well as these new models we'll also see some older models coming back to the webstore in the coming months. For example, the Uruk Hai will see Lurtz come back to lead their Scouts.
One of the most powerful Elves of his age, Glorfindel, is also going to be coming back in his armoured form.
I have recently been playing the Living Card Game from Fantasy Flight Games again recently and Glorfindel really is an awesome character. He's very cool in the expanded story of Middle-earth and of course in the books, it is he who saves Frodo from the Ringwraiths in Fellowship Of The Ring.
Last but not least we're going to be seeing Games Workshop dig too deep once more with the models for the mighty Durin & Mardin being released too.
This mighty king of the Dwarves and his loyal retainer will help you tell some of the old stories from Middle-earth as the Dwarves fight against the Goblin hordes and the darker things that dwell down in the roots of the mountain.
All of this is great news and I can't wait to see what else Games Workshop do to help build on Middle-earth in the coming months.
What do you think?
"I can't wait to see what else Games Workshop do to help build on Middle-earth in the coming months..."
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Those look really good. Now if only GW would bring remaining two Istari to game because you know there were five of them.
Alas Alatar and Pallando are not from the Lord of the Rings trilogy so they can’t make miniatures for them – everything has to be either tied to the three movies (and the Hobbit) and the Appendixes as far I remember.
I believe I did once see them provide White Dwarf rules for them, somewhere in the mists of time, because that was where I first came across the characters.
Hmm was it possibly in the alternative Fellowship stuff they did? I can’t remember if I saw them in a WD but I do remember that Shadow Of Mordor introduced me to them in more detail (and kinda played around with their background a bit).
Not sure that the blue isitari were named by Tolkien. Get the feeling it was Iron Crown Enterprises that gave them names and they went beyond the lands written about in Lord of the Rings.
I think the names came from Unfinished Tales but I could be wrong @pagan8th
I did a bit of googling and found this quote from Tolkien that was in a letter… “I really do not know anything clearly about the other two [wizards] – since they do not concern the history of the N[orth].W[est]. I think they went as emissaries to distant regions, East and South, far out of Númenórean range: missionaries to ‘enemy-occupied’ lands, as it were. What success they had I do not know; but I fear that they failed, as Saruman did, though doubtless in different ways; and I suspect they were founders or beginners of secret cults and ‘magic’ traditions… Read more »
Their Maiar names are Alatar and Pallando and Ben is quite correct, they are mentioned in 1980’s “Unfinished Tales” (just pulled out my copy) …… Later on in Christopher Tolkein’s Encyclopedic Historys of Middle Earth they are refered to again, in Volume 12 “The Peoples of Middle Earth” published in 1996, by their elvish names as “Morenihtar” and “Romestamo”. The good professor towards the end of his life softened his attitude towards the Blue wizards and said that they may not have failed as in Pagan8th’s earlier quote above, but their struggles may have indeed assisted the West and the… Read more »
To be fair to GW for making up the names- Tolkien wasn’t exactly clear about it.
In a later letter (the one where he says that maybe the blue wizards succeeded) he names them as Morinehtar and Rómestámo.
Of course, these could be their Middle Earth names (we know the other Istari had several appellations) but the brevity of their mention in the letters gives us very little to go on.
GW should totally make the two blue wizards, and name them “The Short One” and “The Tall One.”
Where do we get the names Alatar and Pallando? Weren’t they just featured in Tolkien’s letters? I just read that his letters contain two versions of the story of the blue wizards (one that they failed, and the other that they were instrumental in weakening Sauron’s forces in the east). He even had two sets of names for them (which might be because they had several names, and maybe he just forgot about or openly contradicted his previous letter). I don’t know whether they aren’t featured because GW doesn’t have the rights, or if it is because GW wants to… Read more »
They had rules for them in War of the Ring so maybe they can make rules but not minis?
Does GW get rights to make rules without minis? That seems like a really odd way to write a contract.
The only issue with minis that I can see is that there are no descriptions of them anywhere in Tolkien.
We don’t even know anything about them thematically (like we did about Ratagast). So they’d probably just end up looking like Galdalf, just painted blue.
Probably, GW sells a LOT more of the iconic characters (how many Galdalf sculpts have we seen?) and not so much the unnamed characters who are passingly mentioned twice.
I’m not sure but they have done it in the past.
In War of the Ring they’re part of the Council of Wizardry and called Naurandir and Sulrandir. pg 148 of the WOTR Rulebook.
Ooh they look good.
Really excited about this
I’m Happy that GW is getting success on these lines, and I look forward to seeing more attention given to Lotr/Hobbit. I wonder if they’ll actually delve into the non-movie license, like Children of Hurin, or Beren and Luthien.
Depends if they can gain access to the additional content from the Tolkien estate. I think it would be great to see them do some special miniatures based on those older models.
I really want them to do more with the time between The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings with Aragorn serving alongside Theoden’s father and the like.
They do now have the rights from the Tolkien estate to everything. Being tied to the movies and WETA designs is what limited them with LotR and killed them with the Hobbit. Now they have access to all the published works, but are going to focus on the Return of the King battles with the upcoming releases. Pretty sure Adam Toke said this in an interview I saw and from discussuions with my local GW Store Manager.
I think everything is up for grabs since Christopher Tolkein resigned from the Tolkein estate
Damn, this is nice to see.
Always great to see more LOTR, I do like the new minis, but Gandalf’s clock look odd, could be the paint job. Will give me a separate mini for Rohan and Gondor, hmm time to re-think basing