I was very disappointed today when I opened my new box of Goblin Warriors. I was expecting a couple sprues of heads and arms and looking forward to a couple hours of poseing and assembly. Much to my chagrin they are solid pre-cast, no assembly required.

I expect this when you purchase the starter boxes but I am very disappointed to find this in a regular army box. I truly hope this isn't a sign of releases to come. One favorite times in army building is assembling the force, going for unique poses that give a certain personality to each of the units.

Shame on you GW, shame shame shame

Has anyone bought any of the new boxes like hunter orcs? Are all the new boxes going to be precasted like this?

You'll find that most of the LOTR/Hobbit line is this way, always has been.

As for the Hunter Orcs, they come with things like heads and legs and arms separate from the body, but there is limited if any variation as to how you can switch and change them about.

There are pictures of the sprues for Hunter Orcs on Games Workshop's website if you wish to see them before purchasing.

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Soon the Dark Lord Knighty shall have all he needs to cover the lands in an eevee-related darkness...

The Hunter Orcs need assembly, but their extras all have predetermined spots to go on. That is, there's no chance for additional posing and such. I'd honestly prefer single-piece miniatures to multi-piece ones that only go together one way. Of course, I'd like multi-piece, customizable ones best.

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I don't have the new Goblins myself (didn't want to be dissapointed so didn't buy them).

To answer your question: pretty much all plastics on the GW site have photo's of their sprues online. It depends per set, so you best check them out. Here's the one from the Hunter Orcs:

Welcome to the SBG! I'd say 80% of the models are like that. The newer Cavalry sets have the most variety as they come with options for banners, musician, alternative heads etc, but troops at most you're looking at shields, in some cases heads and arms being seperated. Goblins don't have any additional wargear to speak of so thare's really no need for them to be multipart. Best solution is get your hobby knife out and reposition some, to your liking. Im pretty sure the arms and heads are seperate on the hunter orcs so you have some options with that. Same for the Wargs theres six different heads in those sets.

Boooo

Well I guess it is time to get out the whet stone and sharpen up my knife.



I agree 100%, if it is predetermined why bother. I guess I will have to consider it a exercise creativity and lots of practice for green stuff and reposing. I don't know why GW would do this, especially in a small model count army I want every model to be a little unique

They do it because it's easier for them and for beginning modellers who don't do conversions.

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"... Telchar wrought it in the deeps of time."
-On Andùril, The Lord of the Rings

That is what the start box is for. To ease you into the hobby....

This is just the first time I have some across this precast models out side of hero's and starter kits.

I would be happier even if they put some extra items on the sprue. Like a optional hat, or club that put someone belt, some decapitated heads that could be used for the base or on the model.

I don't like to do fancy conversions on every model, but I do like a little individuality. Just the ability to swap all the arms around and pose them would make this set of Goblins look completely unique to the set of goblins that I already have with little to no skill or work

At least you only get two (I think) of each pose in the box. (It's two each of nine different poses, correct?)

Compare this to moria goblins. The spearmen are all pretty much the same, and there's two different poses of archer and sword/shield each. (iirc) That's five different poses.

I like one piece figures, -> no gap filling, -> less time assembling and more time painting. If I want to gap fill I'll convert. So to me this box is exactly how I like it, though I have no plans on buying any.

With the Goblin warriors you get 18 Goblins that are all different and individual. Not one is the same.

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Soon the Dark Lord Knighty shall have all he needs to cover the lands in an eevee-related darkness...

True, but they are the identical set that I already own from the "Escape from Goblin Town" box

I have 8 or more of the same pose of some figures. It happens. I actually like having lots of the same pose, you can get a nice formation look with them all lined up together.

Than again, for alot of people, like me (although I did the odd conversion), the hobby is about the painting really. I could do without assembling as much as possible.

Furthermore I agree with what's been said, I've been doing this since 2005, and he plastic's have always come pretty much assembled, bar a few arms or something like that, but that isn't modelling either, right.

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"Mickey, my friend!"

I think the model scale is simply too small to make it really worthwhile (although it may eventually change as the scale has been creeping up in recent years). Anyone who has bought Wargames Factory Multipart Anglo Saxons or Vikings will know just how difficult they are to assemble; having to attach each arm, head, weapon, shield and optional extra piece (quivers, knives etc) to the body (torso and legs = one piece).

Because each piece is attached independantly, and all parts are interchangeable, its far too easy to create unnatural looking poses with arms at odd angles and heads in unrealistic positions. The weapons are also extremely fragile, being half the thickness of LOTR models (the Spears on my Saxons regularly snap and the shields drop off).

So be careful what you wish for.

What I do want to see, is more optional components. Choices of Weapons, whether spear, sword, axe, mace, hammer, whip, flail. Choice of shields. Unique head pieces for Captain and horn blower/banner bearer conversion, and other Hero conversions.

I do not want to have to glue together each leg, arm, head, weapon, shield, and optional extra and then start from scratch for the millionth time because the whole model disintegrated in my hands (happens with my Saxons).

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For most people, like me, playing the game is the best part, thus the rules. I don't want it to be a chore putting together all my models. Besides, the vast majority of LotR models are one piece with a shield that you have to glue on. If you already have the starter set, you should have known already what to expect.

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As for the sprue number, of course there is only 1 sprue in the box. All infantry comes in 1 sprue. You get more in the goblins box than in any otjer. The rest are all either 12 (Hunter Orcs, WoMT, galadhrim, Dwarves, Moria Goblins, Morannons etc) or 10 (Easterlings, AotD, Uruks).

Single part minis are very handy for when you are in a rush. And actually it is possible to change some of the hunter Orcs. The ones with the arms seperate can be swapped with others including parts from the mtd box set.

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"I am the Flying Spagetti Monster. Thou shall have no other monsters before me"
-FSM.

the LOTR/Hobbit range is much like this, but has extremely improved in variation over the years.

Yeah, I do understand all the points above. That is one of the joys about the hobby is that we each have a favorite aspect of it.

This is really going to force me to be a little creative when it comes to assembly (and give me some of the green stuff practice I need). I have already started a conversion of Narzug for the monthly challenge. I will be posting my pics later today.

My plan now is to dip into my WF bits and piece just to change out some wargear and weapons.