Quote :

I held plastic mounted SKODA today. Beautiful sculpts in the same vien as metal ones, but with more elegeant helms (in the same style). I was not a Metal SKODA fan, but will definitely buy several boxes of these. Looks like the sprue is designed similarly to the Galadrhim Knights in terms of configuration for banner bearer, Captain, etc. Glad I did not buy a horde of Knights of MT to convert (although those ebob heads can now be used to make cheap footman).

Also eyeballed Isengard's Mauhar's Marauders command set in Metal. Understand that other plastic sets are in the works. Release dates unknown.

Your action news reporter.

Lost Pict

Taken from TLA.

Sounds interesting...what do ye lads think of this?

Cheers,
Fenrir

I'm dubious, but I have no reason to call the guy a liar, so can't really say anything. I find it odd that a GW store would be assembling the minis for display long before sneak peaks were posted on the website, but maybe that just means GW have decided to keep things under wraps more.

Agreed. It seems strange to me that GW would release some rather elite and expensive (points wise) troops in plastic...people won't buy that many because they can't field all that many in an army...why not release some troop types like Dunlendings, Khandish Warriors, etc who cost a fraction of the points of the Swan Knights? That way people will buy more of them to fill their armies.

But though there's not much proof besides "I saw them firsthand" from one lad, it would be pretty ballsy of him to say "Oh yeah, I definitely saw these, they're being released" and then to have them not. Here's hoping they look nice

True, but he may have just seen them painting WH High Elves and mistook them for SKoDA. On the other hand, he could just be making something up just for the attention. Without knowing him better, we can't say, and it's not fair to pass judgement on him, but like any rumour, we should retain a degree of skepticsm until it's officially announced/we see first hand.

Then again, maybe that's what that mysterious sneak peak several months back was


As for releasing them in plastic being odd due to their points cost - we do have plastic mounted Galadhrim. It probably depends on what sells best - SKoDA are probably better sellers than Dunlendings or Khand (althrough probably ironically because those are in metal), so as far as GW are concerned, it's better to put those into plastic.

it makes sence to me...sort of. I think a 5 pack metal kit would have been better but hay GW seems to want to make everything plastic (I can't think of many non HQ Space Marine units that are metal)

As weither this is legit it's hard to say. I'm not on LA so i don't know the guy so he could work for GW whihc might explain it. Also it may have been at Warhammer World or there "Main" shop in ....... where ever it is.
However i'm looking forward to seeing them

I do know Lost Pict has posted things before which ended up coming true so I'd believe the guy personally. Dunno how he saw them mind you, probably Warhammer World or behind the scenes somehow.

Just saw on Warseer that some chap said we'll be getting plastic Morgul Knights as well as the Knights of Dol Amroth.

The Swan Knights I can tolerate, but I cannot stand even the thought of plastic Morgul Knights, for many reasons:
1.) They are super elite cavalry.
2.) They were released only two years ago, and I can't believe they've sold enough to justify making them into plastic.
3.) They are completely made up by GW!! This is the big one for me. Tolkien never makes mention of "Morgul Knights", but does so for Dunlendings, the axe-men from Khand, Mordor Uruk-hai, etc. Why the cuss are we not getting sets for these?

Angered Fenrir out.

i agree that plastic mogul knights are a bad idea. firstly for the resons you said Fen but also that fact that i have 5 all ready!
Tho i got them for free thanks to a mistkae at the GW posting office ( Score!)

LordFenrir wrote:

3.) They are completely made up by GW!! This is the big one for me. Tolkien never makes mention of "Morgul Knights", but does so for Dunlendings, the axe-men from Khand, Mordor Uruk-hai, etc. Why the cuss are we not getting sets for these?

I think you need to go re-read the books again. When the Witch King rides from Minas Morgul, it's at the head of a force of cavalry aswell as infantry. As for whether or not they're the MoS's little brothers is another thing...

Tolkien wrote:

All that host was clad in sable, dark as the night. Against the was walls and luminous pavement of the road Frodo could see them, small black figures in rank upon rank, marching swiftly and silently, passing outwards in an endless stream. Before them went a great cavalry of horsemen moving like ordered shaddows...

but that could be almost anything as Frodo has also seen the Haradrim and Easterling by this point...and small???? When i last cheaked Numneour(Which is what they are) where about 6 foot tall!

1) Actually he hadn't seen Easterlings (barring the vission on Amon-Hen).
2) 'small' is describing the infantry, and Frodo was a fair way away from them, several hundred yards at least, so could just be more poetic than actual description.
3) Numenoreans' hieghts aren't recorded, but Noldor and Dunedain are stated as being 7 foot.

As I said, Fenrir's claim that there is no support in the text what-so-ever for the Morgul Knights is nonsense as obviously there was a cavalry force at Minas Morgul at some point. The exact nature of the riders is debatable though. The connection to Numenor and the Mouth of Sauron explictly stated by GW is unfounded, but it doesn't rule out the possibility that there were men in the service of Minas Morgul.


Personally, I think that it is plausable that Minas Morgul had a resident cavalry force (also, remember that Sauron's servants were stealing black horses from Rohan specifically for breeding purposes, and it's possible they were trained by Men in Minas Morgul in preparation for being ridden by the Nazgul, and said men got the spares [of which there would be quite a few considering the raids on Rohan were frequent]). Further, in RotK, the army that Aragorn leads to the Black Gate were scared of Morgul Vale and were reluctant to enter it, so it's possible the same goes for the men in Sauron's service (which also explains why Frodo and Sam saw Haradrim going in through the Black Gate rather than going into Mordor through Morgul Vale which they would have passed on their way to the Morrannon).

Plastic mounted SKoDA would be awesome, as I wanted a cavalry contingement fo my Linhir army but was unsure about how I'd go about buying them all. Plastic solves most of my problems. I'm going to be very happy if this is true.

After hearing about the SKoDA, Morgul Knights aren't really surprising. GW (almost typed Mordor) is trying to set them up as the evil equivalent of the SKoDA, so it makes sense that they'd be released together to combat each other. I'm assuming it'll be the same design we currently have. Wonder if being in plastic will allow them to be altered a little. A knightly Easterling order could be an interesting idea...

well we need Plastic Katalphracts more than morgul knights really

I agree. Kataphrakts have a lot of potential but oh well. I was just wondering whether the Morgul Knights could be themed into some evil knighthood, seeing as they don't get Dragon Guard. They'd probably need a headswap, and maybe blunting, but there might be potential as some dark, terrifying force?

Plastic SKoDA would be an answered prayer (my wallet's...)- and if the previous round of releases are anything to go by the shouldn't be too much of a disapointment. As a Gondor fan I always toyed with the idea of splashing out for a nice contingent of the metal ones - very glad I didn't now.

I share many of Fen's reservations about the MKs though. The portrayal of them by GW is that of super-elites, making them plastic would only encourage the already common unthemed over-use of them. There are certainly a number of other models that would better 'suit' plastic - all ones I'd much rather be seeing more of than MK. And although Dinadan rightly pointed out the textual evidence for cavarly accomanying the host of Minas Morgul, I don't see GW's MK as accurate an portrayal at all (mainly because they are so much mroe useful as front-line infantry...) and so I personally think Fen's point still stands; while there is clearly justification for such models, GW's interpretation is almost entirely fabricated...

Neither of the knights are particular favourites of mine model-wise but perhaps a re-release will see some adjustments made?

And the pictures we've all been waiting for:

A few Plastic Swan Knights of Dol Amroth:



And a few Plastic Morgul Knights:



Discuss! I'll post my opinions once I have a chance to better look at the models.

Cheers,
LordFenrir

Aright, I must say I'm rather pleased with these models, though I'm not a big fan of the huge pendant on the Swan Knight's lances, mostly because you can see, even in these "official" GW pictures the spear bending, which kind of annoys me.

I like the fact that they made the Swan Knight and Morgul Knights helms smaller, and I like the fact that they made an option for a hornblower. I even am more warmed up to the Morgul Knight models to a frightning degree...they look cool enough to actually buy now

Cheers,
Fenrir

Wonder if they'll do their foot incarnations in plastic aswell.

I was wondering the same thing, and it's one of my big beefs with them releasing the Morgul Knights in plastic in the first place.

For example:

Mordor Uruk-hai are Common Formations in War of the Ring (as are Foot Knights of Dol Amroth, Men-at-Arms, Khandish Infantry, etc, but they all cost the same, so we'll use Uruks as an example). Since they are Infantry, they require 8 models per company, which equates to buying three blisters, costing the gamer about $45 USD per company.

The current metal Morgul Knights however only require two models to make a company, requiring $24 USD to make a complete company (which costs more points than the Mordor Uruk, and rest of the above mentioned companies). They are also a Rare Formation, unless you take the Dark Marshal as your Leader, which means most Fallen Realms rmies will only have a formation or two of these lads, no more.

I personally feel that they shouldn't release Rare troops in plastic until they have all Common troops made in plastic first. After all, they are the units most people will get for their armies, why not make them affordable?

Just my 2 cents.

Probably because GW thinks that people have no concept of trying to save money - they think that people will buy their products regardless of the cost. It'ss also propbably a ploy to catch out all the little kiddies who will go "Oooh shiny new minis" and buy a bucket load and will then have to buy a crate load of common formations to use them, rusulting in more money for GW (in 'theory').

From TLA:

Quote :

The following news are waiting for us in May:

- The War of the Ring: Hosts ??,?? Euro
- Knights of Dol Amroth (plastic) 26.00 Euro
- Morgul Knights (plastic) 26.00 Euro
- Ruins of Osgiliath Ruins kit (plastic) 22.50 Euro
- Mauhúr (blister) 11,50 Euro
- Brand Mauhúr Schatzer Command (blister) 12,50 Euro
- Duinhir (blister) 11,50 Euro
- Protect the Schwarzgrundtals Command (blister) 12,50 Euro
- The Dwimmerlaik (blister) 22,50 Euro
- Faramir, Captain of Ithilien (blister) 12,50 Euro

All data without guarantee.

Alrighty, my German's a bit rusty, but I think I can pick the German apart fine enough...

* The War of the Ring: Battlehosts. Cool. More books means more releases, more releases means extended license, extended license (since it was supposed to have expired by now) means miniatures for The Hobbit, miniatures for the Hobbit means GW will be forced to make their models look realistic again...at least that's where my train of thought goes. The concept of an expansion is intriguing too, I'll have to flip through it first though before making any judgments.

* Osgiliath Ruins kit. Sounds pretty nice for bums like me who can't make terrain worth a darn

* Mauhur in a blister. Looks like they're releasing Mauhur separate from his banner carrier and musician, which is fine because they're bought separately in the formation too.

* Mauhur's Raiders Command. My beef with these lads, though I have not seen them yet, is that they will probably have overly large banners (scouts shouldn't have big banners) and they'll have drums (a scout should have a hon if they need to be musicians in the first place). Wasn't there an article on GW that had a ram skeleton banner and a hornblower scout a while back?

* Duinhir. Great, sounds good. Bring on the pics.

* ?????????. Absolutely no idea, though if I were to venture a guess, my guess would be its Hurin and a hornblower fromthe Warden of the Keys formation.

* The Dwimmerlaik. While I abhor the idea to "named" Nazgul, this guy may or may not be a nice model.

* New Faramir. Why? Perhaps this is a ranger Faramir on horseback (the price suggests that). The downside is it, like the recent Saruman and Eomer, his face will have little to no resemblance to the old ranger Faramir, who was modelled after the actor.

Overall. Aright. Several things are good sounding, but others I will have to wait and see before making a judgment.

That's my many cents. Cheers,
Fenrir

Alright, I just checked, "Schwarzgrundtal" translated literally means "black basic valley", so I assume this is a Blackroot Vale Archer command blister, which would contain...just a hornblower if they follow the rules presented in the book. Intriguing...let's see how this model is...if not as part of a WotR army, he may find use as a RPG character

that looks ok but i'll have to see the modals beffore i say anythign really.

Just found these pictures on Warseer. Don't know how ligigt they are. (They are pritty big pictures too but not that great quality)

Spoiler:

The thing that shocks me is they seem to have command included in them!!! That something that LOTR has NEVER done. Fantasy maybe and 40k for some boxes but never lOTR