Category Archives: Games Workshop

QUIRKWORTHY, “Tis the Season”

Posted on 2012/05/26 | Comments Off on QUIRKWORTHY, “Tis the Season”

Jake Thornton just posted a great article on his blog, Quirkworthy, about the latest price rise announcement from Games Workshop.

Price rises, or, more specifically, GW’s annual price rise is bubbling on the forums. There was a link, but it’s been altered so that it doesn’t work. However, the basic scuttlebutt is that GW supposedly mentioned their price rise in 2 lines of a deeply embedded page, several links down their site. Copies of what purport to be the US trader’s new retail price list are kicking about with some scary % increases. Supposedly the non-US retailers have heard nothing of this. Whether it is real or nonsense is anyone’s guess.

Actually, I don’t think I care. [more here]

I passively follow the goings-on of GW through their newsletter (which I barely glance at) and the unavoidable tidbits picked up from forums and various news sites on the Net.  I don’t hold a grudge against them, and I certainly don’t go out of my way to criticize them.  I just have no interest in their core products and universe(s) (except, at one time, their LotR models, but that’s another story).

The only time I ever feel an urge to discuss GW is at times like this when they announce price rises on the horizon, and the grumbling ensues.  I’ve actually tried, on more than one occasion, to write an article on this phenomenon, but in the end always opted to devote my energy to other projects.  Fortunately, thanks to Jake, I’ll never have to, as he’s captured my opinion in his article to a T.

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Posted in Games Workshop

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BoFA Elven Cavalry, now on sale

Posted on 2010/07/27 | Comments Off on BoFA Elven Cavalry, now on sale

click on the image to be taken to the auction

The BoFA elven cavalry are now listed for sale over at eBay.  You can view the listing here.

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Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Battle of Five Armies, Games Workshop, Middle-earth, Warmaster

Kallistra 10mm Viking Huscarls

Posted on 2009/12/20 | 1 comment

Copplestone Horse Tribe infantry (left) and Kallistra Huscarls

Kallistra Huscarls (lefft), Magister Militum greater orc, MM ashigaru, and more Kallistra Huscarls

Kallistra Huscarls (left) and Copplestone City Spearmen

Kallistra Huscarls (left) and GW Warmaster Swordmasters of Hoeth

Kallistra Huscarls (left), Eureka Anvil dwarf, Eureka Warspite elf, more Kallistra Huscarls

Old Glory Persian commmand (left) and Kallistra Huscarls

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Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm historical, 10mm Middle-earth, comparisons, Copplestone Castings, Eureka, Games Workshop, Kallistra, Magister Militum, Warmaster

Magister Militum Ashigaru, et al (100mm macro)

Posted on 2009/10/31 | Comments Off on Magister Militum Ashigaru, et al (100mm macro)

Under the Mountain 31 October 2009 5904

Magister Militum ashigaru

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Copplestone Horse Tribe infantry, MM ashigaru, Copplestone City Guard

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Old Glory Persian command, MM ashigaru, GFI/AIM Persian command

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Eureka elf archer, MM ashigaru, Eureka halfling militia

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Eureka Anvil dwarf, MM ashigaru, Eureka Warspite elf

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GW Swordmasters of Hoeth, MM ashigaru, MM orc

Flavor text soon…

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Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm historical, 10mm Middle-earth, AIM/GFI, Copplestone Castings, Eureka, Games Workshop, Magister Militum, Old Glory, Warmaster

Magister Militum Ashigaru, et al

Posted on 2009/10/31 | Comments Off on Magister Militum Ashigaru, et al
Under the Mountain 31 October 2009 5873

Magister Militum ashigaru with spears & command

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Copplestone City Guard, MM ashigaru, GW Swordmasters of Hoeth

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Copplestone Horse Tribe infantry, MM ashigaru, Old Glory Persian command

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Eureka elf archer, halfling militia, MM ashigaru, AIM/GFI Persian command

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Copplestone half-orcs, MM ashigaru, Copplestone orcs

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Eureka Anvil dwarf, MM ashigaru, Eureka Warspite elf

Flavor text soon…

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Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm historical, 10mm Middle-earth, AIM/GFI, Copplestone Castings, Eureka, Games Workshop, Magister Militum, Old Glory, Warmaster

Specialist Games, Rumors

Posted on 2009/10/16 | Comments Off on Specialist Games, Rumors
Games Workshop's Battle of Five Armies, a personal favorite

Games Workshop's Battle of Five Armies, a personal favorite

I really hope the rumors floating around in various forums (see here, here, and here) about the future and fate of the Specialist Games division are not true.  Time will tell, and soon if word on the street is correct.

I’m thinking seriously about picking up another copy of BoFA.

Moose

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Posted in 10mm fantasy, 28-32mm fantasy, 28mm SciFi, 6mm scifi, Battle of Five Armies, Games Workshop

Beyond Smaug: Fielding the Other Dragons for 10mm Middle-earth

Posted on 2009/09/12 | Comments Off on Beyond Smaug: Fielding the Other Dragons for 10mm Middle-earth

If you’re like me, Games Workshop’s Great Battles in Middle-earth: The Battle of Five Armies box set (slight price increase as of late) and its supporting release of metal blisters were just the beginning of your foray into the 10mm Middle-earth hobby.  You’ve probably perused the plethora of catalogs of 10mm miniatures available on the Web dozens of times in search of models to use for the armies, monsters, beasts, characters, siege works and even architecture that were never a part of GW’s release plans for the system or have since gone out of production (i.e., Smaug, trolls, elven cavalry, spiders of Mirkwood, dwarf archers, bat swarms, and the storm giant).  Not surprisingly, one of the more popular searches is for dragons.

According to The Encyclopedia of Arda, there are two primary divisions and two subdivisions of the dragon race: fire-drakes (urulóki), cold-drakes, flightless fire-drakes (urulóki, fire-drakes of the north), and long-worms.  In the works of Tolkien, all of these types of dragon appear at least once as named characters: Glaurung the Golden (flightless fire-drake, urulokë), Ancalagon the Black (fire-drake, urulokë), Scatha the Worm (cold-drake or long-worm), and Smaug the Golden (fire-drake, urulokë).  As the names suggest, the colors of dragon include, but are probably not limited to, gold, black, and red-gold (Smaug).

There’s a vast array of models from various manufacturers from which to choose proxies for named or generic Middle-earth dragons.  Reaper, for example, has a number of great dragons that would potentially work for 10mm gaming.  Some of my favorites include Shadow Dragon, Dragon of Fire, Silver Dragon, Narthalyssk, Guardian Dragon, Wy’zern, Young Fire Dragon, and Young Ice Dragon.  But if you like the look of GW’s metal Smaug model for BoFA, then it’s probably a good idea to keep aesthetic consistency in mind when looking for more dragon models.  In my opinion, the range of dragons with the closest match to the BoFA Smaug is Dark Swords’ Dennis Mize Dragons from their Visions in Fantasy line.

The Dark Sword dragons match the GW Smaug in terms of both size and aesthetics.  Lithesome, perhaps, is the best adjective to describe the lot.  There is enough variety among the DS dragons to choose proxies for all of the Middle-earth dragon types.  Personally, I think either of the chromatics would work great for Ancalagon and Glaurung (although this would require some minor modeling with Green Stuff, since you wouldn’t need the wings for the latter); and for Scatha, either the green or blue dragon, because they are the longest of the bunch.

NOTE: Painted samples of Dark Sword’s dragons featured in this post are Copyright © Dark Sword Miniatures

REFERENCES:
“Dragons,” Encyclopedia of Arda.
“Dragon (Middle-earth),” Wikipedia.
Asylum Online Store, Reaper.
“Dennis Mize Dragons and Beasties,” Visions in Fantasy, Dark Sword.
Specialist Games, Games Workshop.

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Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Battle of Five Armies, Dark Sword, Games Workshop, Middle-earth

10mm Orcs, Half-Orcs, and Goblins

Posted on 2009/02/05 | Comments Off on 10mm Orcs, Half-Orcs, and Goblins


Note the size difference between GW’s own plastic and metal goblins for BoFA: huge.  The GW metal goblins, like their dwarves and elves, are a perfect fit match with Copplestone’s complete range of 10mm metals, Old Glory Persians (that’s all I have from them to make a comparison), and Eureka’s halflings.

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Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Battle of Five Armies, Copplestone Castings, Games Workshop

Swordmasters of Hoeth

Posted on 2009/02/03 | 3 comments

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This is probably the rarest model for GW’s Warmaster system, High Elf Swordmasters of Hoeth.  They are almost impossible to find these days.  I lucked out a year or so ago when I won these in an eBay auction.  That was the first time I ever saw the Swordmasters listed there, and I haven’t seen them since.  Those of you with a soft spot for Warmaster High Elves are probably going to hate hearing this, but I plan to take a Dremel to them sometime soon.  I’m going to reshape their swords a tad, and shave down their helmets to make stands of Galadrihm.  I have some High Elf archers that will get the same treatment.  Hopefully I don’t make a complete mess of things.

Click on the photo for a much larger image.

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Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Battle of Five Armies, Games Workshop, Warmaster

BoFA Dwarves, plastic and metal

Posted on 2009/02/03 | Comments Off on BoFA Dwarves, plastic and metal

If there’s an “odd man out” in this sequence of photos, it’s Eureka’s elf archer.  The GW BoFA plastics come in a distant second since, like all BoFA plastics, they are smaller than their metal counterparts; but the difference really is negligible.  The Eureka halflings, metal GW BoFA dwarves, and Copplestone men are perfect matches in terms of racial height and proportions.

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Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Battle of Five Armies, Copplestone Castings, Eureka, Games Workshop

Copplestone vs. BoFA Cavalry

Posted on 2009/02/03 | 1 comment

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Here we have a strip of GW’s metal elf cavalry for BoFA next to one of Mark Copplestone’s Horse Tribe cavalry models.  That’s a pretty perfect match.

Why in the hell GW discontinued the metal BoFA models is a complete mystery to me.  These elf cavalry models are highly sought after now.  They’re nearly impossible to find, though, and you can expect to pay a pretty penny if you come across some.

Click on the photo for a much larger image.

1 Comment

Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Battle of Five Armies, Copplestone Castings, Games Workshop

Forge World Order – Death Korps of Krieg

Posted on 2009/02/03 | Comments Off on Forge World Order – Death Korps of Krieg

These are some sample shots of the last part of my Forge World order.  In addition to the 10mm fantasy terrain pieces, I ordered three packs/sets from their Death Korps of Krieg line: Command HQ Squad, Death Riders Squad, and Squad at Ease.  I’m not a fan of GW’s universes, especially 40k; but these models have been tempting me for a long time.

Be sure to click on the photos for larger images.

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Posted in 28mm SciFi, Forge World, Games Workshop, Warhammer 40k

More Eureka

Posted on 2009/01/27 | Comments Off on More Eureka

Here are three more photos highlighting the size differences between Eureka, Copplestone, and plastic GW BoFA 10mm models.  Again, I think the Eureka elves, while comparable in size with the GW BoFA plastics, are too small in relation with the hobbits from the same range; the halflings look dwarf-size next to the elves.  That being said, they look perfect next to the 10mm models from Copplestone Castings.  Of course, all of this is purely relative, especially at this scale.

Click on the pictures for larger images.

***********

Up next, Persians from Old Glory.

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Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Battle of Five Armies, Copplestone Castings, Eureka, Games Workshop

10mm Fantasy Pachyderms

Posted on 2009/01/25 | Comments Off on 10mm Fantasy Pachyderms

Here we have a comparison between the 10mm elephants from GW’s Warmaster Araby army (left) and Eureka’s fantasy range (right).  I cut off the heads and decorative front pieces from all of my Eureka elephants.  The second and third photos include a couple models from Mark Copplestone’s 10mm fantasy range, Horse Tribe cavalry and a strip of orcs.

Click the photos for larger images.

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Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Copplestone Castings, Eureka, Games Workshop, Warmaster