Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Frostgrave => Topic started by: Chief Lackey Rich on 23 October 2021, 06:22:38 PM
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So this thing's finally on pre-order from GW, probably on sale next week:
(https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/catalog/product/920x950/99121499047_RuinsofDolGuldurLead.jpg)
Supposed to be modular so you can stick the bits together in different ways, and of course they're hoping you'll buy a dozen sets to make their marketing department happy. At $65 retail that isn't likely to happen, but it doesn't look like a bad kit for the size if you can find a decent discount. Can't compete with home-printed or trash-bashed terrain for cost, but nothing really can, can it? Similar stuff cast in resin would be pretty close in cost while also being heavier, although probably better detailed.
(https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/catalog/product/920x950/99121499047_RuinsofDolGuldurScale.jpg)
The skulls are thankfully separate bits you can add where you want, or just leave off altogether. The, um, stuff on the stonework is cast on though, which is mildly annoying. Took a hard pass on the Hobbit movies so I'm not clear what the hell Jackson was trying for there - is that junk supposed to be rusted metal or something? You do get a dead tree, some equally dead-ish creepers for dressing up walls or cliff faces and a generic creepy statue as well, which is kind of nice.
(https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/catalog/product/920x950/99121499047_RuinsofDolGuldurSprue2.jpg)
(https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/catalog/product/920x950/99121499047_RuinsofDolGuldurSprue1.jpg)
Looks like one of each sprue to me, but maybe there's two of the "all stonework" one in the second image. Everything is Lord of the Rings scale, so more 25mm-ish than whatever GW thinks their other stuff is these days - 32mm? That's a plus for use with actual Frostgrave figs, although it might look out of place with chunkier 28mm sculpts or bloated 30mm+ stuff.
Be interested to see how many people add a "Hill of Sorcery" neighborhood to their Felstad with this thing, or if the cost and scale makes it a flop outside of the GW diehard community.
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If you want more on them, Zorpazorp seems to have managed to get some early and is using them in a Dol Guldur board.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbmj7a3wMN0
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It’s an interesting looking building - but what are all the brown strap things? They really make it look odd.
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If you want more on them, Zorpazorp seems to have managed to get some early and is using them in a Dol Guldur board.
Well, that's pretty ambitious. Probably make a mint selling that to some collector eventually, especially if he didn't have to pay for the...$780 at retail??? Yeah, $780 worth of plastic kits. Yeesh. Still, you can also see how much scratchbuilding went into it, and how fundamentally easy (albeit time-consuming) it is to get good-looking effects out of much cheaper materials, so kudos to him for that.
Kits themselves look pretty good, more promising on the modularity end of things than I'd have expected from the frame shots.
what are all the brown strap things? They really make it look odd.
Like I said, I think they're supposed to be heavily rusted metal that's been clamped or bolted to the stonework, but I'm not sure. There's some civic architecture near me that has a sort of similar thing going on, I think the metal parts there are holding crumbling stone facings together so the slow rain of debris doesn't kill people walking by. Me, I always cross the street to avoid the place.
Regardless, blame Jackson for the look. Tolkein's probably spinning in his grave over the Hobbit flicks.
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If its from the Hobbit movies then who knows!! They were unwatchable shit.
I’ve seen metal crosses / strapping on old buildings to secure old masonry but only 1 or 2 on a wall. Not the whole wall covered in them…
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If its from the Hobbit movies then who knows!! They were unwatchable shit.
Preaching to the choir as far as I'm concerned. The three or four minutes of clips I've seen still give me a headache.
I’ve seen metal crosses / strapping on old buildings to secure old masonry but only 1 or 2 on a wall. Not the whole wall covered in them…
In the real world, yeah. Felstad and Middle Earth both pretty fantastic though, and apparently the Dol Guldur in the flick (flicks? Was it in more than one? Jackson stretched the book to three full length movies somehow) is such a falling-down ruin it might need all the help it can get to stay even partially upright.
For Felstad use, maybe they're some kind of arcane architectural addition that keeps incorporeal spirits from passing through the walls, or block teleportation-style magic, or they carry a bunch of warding glyphs that keep spells like Crumble from, well, crumbling the building they're on? You could paint them rusty (the city's been under a glacier for a thousand years) or do something else. What color is orichalcum or witch iron or truesteel? :)
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Mrs. GG are unsure about these. At first I really liked them but the longer I looked at them the more the metal bands put me off. And the price is not helping.
However, Rich you make a good suggestion with anti-ethereal defenses for Frostgrave.
It always amazes me how much Mrs. GG and I enjoy Jackson’s LOTR (even though it diverges from Tolkien) and how much we do not enjoy his Hobbit.
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other way 'round for me: found LoTR unpleasant and (towards the end) laughable due to the things Jackson emphasised and mis-represented (and failed to include in the standard 'cut'), in terms of the books' depiction of things imo.
Apalling irresponsible bollox with the real world as it is ... while oddly sat through the Hobbit films without too much bother.
... and ... underwhelmed by the kit. Might be a dodgy paint-job but the overeall impression is of an enthusiastic 'amateur' let loose on the blue / pink foam (although I couldn't get close to be fair, no matter how much enthusiasm might be mustered).
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I'm very hit-or-miss on the kit as Felstad fodder myself, but I'd mentioned it on an older thread here when they first showed a teaser image and there was some interest then, so I thought it'd be polite to give a heads up now that its imminently available. Maybe I should have just stuck it in general fantasy, but I don't feel like helping GW advertise quite that much.
If I do get a set or two it'll be at the best discount I can find, but I may just skip altogether.
That youtube vid table setup's impressive but impractical, to put to mildly. Have to admit it doesn't look like a bad space to Frostgrave in, albeit a little too open for my tastes - but of course its an homage to the films and teh GW game doesn't work anything like FG does.
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If its from the Hobbit movies then who knows!! They were unwatchable shit.
lol lol lol lol lol
I’ve seen metal crosses / strapping on old buildings to secure old masonry but only 1 or 2 on a wall. Not the whole wall covered in them…
That made me smile thanks!
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The zorpazorpa video is indeed impressive but that project is well beyond my current project list. And as you say Rich, more in tune with the movie than FG and MESBG playability.
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Meh. A Sunday afternoon with dollar store foamcore, a craft knife, a ballpoint pen, and a ruler, and you'd have assembled three times the scenery for less than one-tenth the cost, and be at the same point in the process as you would after clipping and plastic-gluing the kit together.
And it'd be more appropriate for Frostgrave and wouldn't have the ugly orc repair banding all over it, to boot.
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It’s an interesting looking building - but what are all the brown strap things? They really make it look odd.
Trellises. The original pitch for this kit was ‘ The Conservatory of of Dol Guldur’. :)
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I prefer some colour in the Frostgrave games. They were wizards and likely ensorcelled their buildings to keep them pristine. Maybe. 'Make Frostgrave Colourful!'
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It always amazes me how much Mrs. GG and I enjoy Jackson’s LOTR (even though it diverges from Tolkien) and how much we do not enjoy his Hobbit.
Isn't that the damn truth? Love the LotR movies, can hardly watch the Hobbit ones. The first one is (questionably) okay, but it takes a steep downhill turn after that.
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Trellises. The original pitch for this kit was ‘ The Conservatory of of Dol Guldur’. :)
That actually makes more sense. Add lots of flowers and leaves
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That actually makes more sense. Add lots of flowers and leaves
Pretty sure the "Conservatory" thing was a joke. That said, GW does sell boxes of flexible vines. :)
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I’m sure it was!
Still makes more sense than some ruins that need that much metalwork to hold together
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I’m sure it was!
Still makes more sense than some ruins that need that much metalwork to hold together
Like I said, blame Jackson. Hopefully when the zombie apocalypse comes Tolkein's shambling corpse will get a shot at eating his brain as revenge.
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The Warcry defiled ruins set is still available at Wayland - link (https://www.waylandgames.co.uk/warhammer-age-of-sigmar-terrain/69470-warcry-defiled-ruins)
GW themselves are having what actually appears to be a saving on Azyrite Scenery - link (https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/azyrite-scenery-collection-2021). The price is less than buying each kit individually from Wayland, even with Wayland's 20% off. Offer valid until 8th November.
Almost feels like thread hijacking, talking about scenery lol To keep to the topic, I rewatch the LOTR films every few years. I have no intention of ever rewatching the Hobbit.
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Very underwhelmed by these. They remind me of a fantasy version of the Technolog Robogear hex platform scenery
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Very underwhelmed by these. They remind me of a fantasy version of the Technolog Robogear hex platform scenery
Except the Technolog stuff was actually cheap and fairly good source of parts for kitbashing. Played plenty of 1st ed Deadzone on that stuff back in the day.
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Got a look at the frames for this thing in person yesterday at the FLGS. Will be passing on it. Not terrible, but nothing to write home about either and I'd just rather throw money at companies that aren't GW.
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I will also have to give these a miss. The details are "nice" but only just. GW seems to be painting themselves in a corner with their business model again and the contract for LOTRs is not helping.
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It looks and feels too much like an action figure play set for me. The same can be said for most of the GW output these days.
A very loose but valid perspective: the same design ethos and limitation of plastic injection moulding, cost cutting on soft detail, etc. hold true for castle greyskull as they do for some of the GW terrain.
Foam based Minas Tirith and Helms Deep terrain were far superior in many ways.
Personal opinions only.
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We were going to try this kit out but hearing that you only get one set of stairs in the set killed my idea to easily make a tower out of it. Between that and the comments of folks here we cancelled our pre-order for it. But we are still going to get a new Witchking, the two dice sets and the book.
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We were going to try this kit out but hearing that you only get one set of stairs in the set killed my idea to easily make a tower out of it. Between that and the comments of folks here we cancelled our pre-order for it. But we are still going to get a new Witchking, the two dice sets and the book.
Saw the Witch King plastic kit stuck together at the store. Looks pretty faithful to the Peter Jackson character design as you'd expect, and it has a couple of build options so you're not (say) stuck with the giant flail thing if you don't want it. At $35 for one foot and one mounted model it's not very reasonably priced but that's GW for you.
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We never normally spend that kind of money on a mini but Mrs. GG decided to spoil me as I have a strange fascination with the Witch-King.
Our order arrived today. The dice are much easier t read than we expected. The book is very thin.
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We never normally spend that kind of money on a mini but Mrs. GG decided to spoil me as I have a strange fascination with the Witch-King.
Fair enough. The various Nazgul sculpts are some of my favorites in the whole LotR range and he's got the best sculpts of the lot, as well as being the only one that Tolkein gave any sort of individuality to at all - even if that personality mostly consisted of being overconfident and then terribly but briefly surprised after being shanked by Merry and face-stabbed by Eowyn. :)
And let me just ask, how does scoring an assist on the Witch King of Angmar himself still leave Merry the second most dangerous hobbit in the series? Lit theory notwithstanding, "Samwise is the everyman" is such a crock. The little bastard solos Shelob, calmly rescues his angsty boss from an orc fortress, shrugs off the Ring's temptations like it was a crackerjack prize, gets to go home and get his gal, followed up by founding a veritable dynasty of offspring that will dominate the Shire throughout the Fourth Age. And he can do all the gardening while he's at it.
If Tolkein had finished up his notes, one of Sam's descendants would probably wind up taking out Morgoth when he shows up for the end times. "Where are all the Valar? Why is there just this one short guy waiting for...OH ERU, NOT THE GARDENING FORK! NOT THE GARDENING FORK!"
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Once again I agree with you mate.