What The Faux

Azog is a different story. I liked the miniature the moment I saw it, at least the mounted version. I had mixed feelings about the one on foot and still don't feel good about it. You'll notice in the pictures that he's much larger than the version mounted on a Warg, his chest in particular is significantly bigger. I also had some problems putting the large Warg together. The beast is cast in two halves and they didn't fit together well. I needed to put it in hot water, bend it to the proper shape and then out it in cold water to save it in the desired shape. It wasn't too much trouble but it's disappointing that more than two years after the introduction of Finecast (despite an overall improvement in quality) the same problems still make putting these miniatures harder and less enjoyable.

I picked up some of (actually most of) the new Hobbit releases and thought I'd upload some quick pics of the sprues along with my first impression.
First off, my favorites - Hunter Orcs. The sculpts are very dynamic and the details are pretty amazing. Even elements like quivers and blades of swords have well defined texture. The orcs themselves are twisted and ugly, which im my opinion suits them just fine.
The new Wargs are quite different from the older plastic versions. Their poses are much more dynamic and their snouts are much more detailed. There are some areas without any fur on their backs, which may be a problem while painting but overall I really like them.
There are six of the riders, which means that in the box you get the same thing twice. Seems like boredom's creeping in until you realize that there's multipart involved!




The new orc heroes are even better. The details are fantastic and there are surprisingly few problematic areas. Has GW finally come to grips with finecast? Pics may not reflect that so well but Narzug's my favorite here - absolutely amazing sculpt.





 I have to admit I wasn't sold on the trolls when I first saw them. The awful paintjob was probably the main reason. However, after opening the box and seeing them up close I have to admit that they're pretty nice. Hard to tell their size based on pieces from the sprues but they seem to be  somewhere between Cave and Mordor Trolls.






I wasn't sold on the White Council too. Their poses are quite static and the paintjobs didn't help either. But then I saw the quality of these casts and had no more doubts.


And last but not least - the new starter set, Escape from Goblin Town (Limited edition). There are two sprues with new Goblins, 18 different poses on each. These little buggers are ugly as sin, which suits them just fine. There are differences in height, build and weapons wielded by them. As you can see in the pics, there are hardly any mold lines. Also, the plastic is pretty tough, which means that preparing them for painting should be nice and easy.


There's also the sprue with terrain and one with the Scribe and Goblin King. The big dude is even uglier than his small subjects but I'm sure he'll look great surrounded by his shorter kin. He's massive and he's also extremely fat with a double chin that looks like final stage of cancerous growth (or swollen testicles). Still, there's so much character in this model that I'm completely sold on it.
The terrain is quite nice too (check out the details on king's throne!). There is also a ruler for new players who haven't bought a tape measure yet along with 8 dice and a small, condensed rulebook.



 The limited edition Radagast mini has already been seen on the web. The only new thing for me was that apart from the tiny hedgehog that the wizard is holding, there's also a spider on his base - nice touch.


And finally - new Gandalf and Thorin's Company. Overall, I like these very much. They's a huge step forward in comparison to the plastic Fellowship from the "Mines of Moria" set. There are more details, better scale for the whole company (anyone remembers the giant plastic Aragorn?) but there are some areas that I feel could have been sculpted better. Still, a solid paintjob will fix that.


And to anyone who has read until the end of this lengthy entry, here's a small surprise - some pics from the mini rulebook.

Looks like there's finally going to be official elf cavalry, something the fans have been waiting for since the original release of the game in 2001

An alternative Radagast. I guess we can expect quite a few of alternative versions in themed boxes, just like it  worked in the past

Another interesting alternative, I'm actually digging this one more than the original

 So there you go, my take on new GW "Hobbit" releases. I'm happy with most of them. There are still some areas that can be improved but overall it seems to me that GW is going in the right direction with the aesthetics and quality of "Hobbit" miniatures.

Difficult times call for creativity. Now that a number of hobbyists are struggling with preparing finecast miniatures for painting, a brilliant young man from Sweden offers words of wisdom and presents a way to deal with this problem. Without further ado, enjoy (and thanks to Haldir for the link).

Lately I've responded to Games Workshop post on the blog that encouraged painters to submitt their works upon their account to be published at the blog. I took a shot with pictures of Arwen I posted here earlier. I'm very proud to announce that lately it was published at mentioned GW's blog in post for LotR minis.

Maybe it's a small thing , but still I'm very excited about that. Hopefuly there'll be some more of my works on GW blog.

Anyway link to whole post is here : http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/wnt/blog.jsp?pid=1100078-gws , just wanted to share this info with you ;)

I put some of the Gondor heroes on the new forest bases. I needed to slightly alter them so that these guys fit better but overall I'm really pleased with the effect.

They look more dynamic and will definitely pop out among the rest of rangers.
I put some of the LotR heroes on the forest-themed bas Here's a quick pic to show them next to regular rangers. I used pieces from old LotR ruin set (not sure if it's still available. I plan on adding more static grass and different types of forest flock to make it look as it they were scouting in the forest among some old ruins.
I also finally had a chance to use GW tools from the new Cleanup kit. I really like the mouldline scraping tool. It's got blunt edges and removes the mold lines easily both from plastic and metal models. The fact that it's blunt is a big advantage as I cannot even recall how many times I've managed to cut myself while working with Citadel hobby knife. The handle is made of rubber so it's comfortable to hold too. The other one, a flash brush, is something that I still have to find good use for. So far it seems like a really unnecessary tool. I've also tried the Liquid GS and it seems very promising but I'll write more once I've worked with it a bit more.

I spent last weekend in the hospital and had a knee surgery. It went well and I'm already back home, recovering quickly. Now, having this surgery meant a compulsory two week sick leave. I need some time to fully recover before I start walking normally again.
This situation has some undeniable advantages. The most obvious one is that I basically have two week long holidays now and can spend more time on hobby - you can expect the effects soon. I still have a few pics of dwarves I haven't uploaded to the blog yet. I also want to finally catch up with my painting backlog - one jack from WARMACHINE and a crew for Malifaux.
Now, back to the main topic of this entry. GW has recently released some information on the new hobby supplies. I'm particularly happy about this one. Liquid GS that is water soluble and can be applied with a brush? I'm taking two!

Other than that, there are a few other new items:
- Citadel cleanup kit: Contains a flash brush with right rigid bristles for removing flash from resin and a mouldline scraping tool, ideal for metal, resin and plastic.
- Citadel Emery boards: Pack contains three emery boards that are great for smoothing resin surfaces. Contains two fine-grade and one super-duper-extra-fine-grade board.
- Revamped Citadel tool kit: Contains all previous tools along with the new clean up kit.

Looks to me like GW's trying to make up for the first batch of finecast minis that wasn't received very well by many of the customers. Still, GW makes really good hobby tools (hobby drill and hobby knife are top-notch). Even though it may seem like GW's trying to rip us off by introducing new tool that aren't really that necessary, the quality of this stuff is the key factor.

I've recently taken part in an event organised by GW Poland (you can read about it here). It was a very positive experience so when I had a chance to do it again, I couldn't refuse. Last Saturday, I had a chance to participate in a similar event.
This time it was organised at the Warsaw University of Technology. Staying indoors meant that we had a chance to maintain better control of the whole thing.
Once again, the turnout was really good. It was particularly nice to see people who were at the previous event with their kids and came back wanting more. The atmosphere was great too. Once again, I was struck by how quickly kids learn the basics. A matter of a few minutes and most of them were able to paint a Space Marine, High Elf or a member of the Fellowship of the Ring as if it was part and parcel of their everyday school life.
Painting miniatures was only part of the larger event devoted to various types of Board Games. Everyone who took part had a chance to try out many games in the game room. Obviously, guys from WFB and WH 40K were there too with painted minis set up on a gameboard.
All in all, it was another great experience. Thumbs up for GW Poland for taking the initiative.
I was quite busy during the event so here are just a few pics that I took.

If you want to read more about the event and anything else connected with GW P{oland, check out their FB profile, some nice stuff going on there.

And here's probably the best song that summarizes the mood of the event: