When the new wood elf models come out, will I be able to get them and use them as the old wood elf warriors, as well as their new profiles?

The same with Thranduil?

(I mean at a GW, btw).

Thanks,
LordElrond

As I understand it the Hobbit license stipulates that the Hobbit stats have to be kept separate from the LOTR ones. This is why the Knights of Rivendell have not, and I believe will not, be FAQ'd into the Rivendell list. It's not stubbornness on GW's part, it's actually part of the license.

If you look at the new releases they're all called different things 'Hunter orcs' 'Warriors of Erebor' 'Fell Wargs' etc. none of these names appear in the movie. I believe miniatures for The Hobbit SBG have to be branded differently. Thus, when the new Wood Elves come out, I'm almost certain they will be called 'Warriors of Mirkwood' or similar and have a subtlely different rule or statline to the previous Wood Elves to set them apart. The most likely scenario is that they will have armour like the elves in the prologue of the Hobbit movie but I still think they'll have a different rule (like Fell Wargs and Hunter Orcs do) to set them apart from Galadhrim warriors. Similarly new Thranduil will have some new rule or piece of equipment (like Sebastian for Radagast) to set him apart from the LOTR Thranduil.

As to whether or not you can use them as proxies in GW I don't know, I've never played in store so I don't know their rules on proxies. There was a fairly extensive thread about One Ring users feelings on proxies recently and some people would be fine and some people wouldn't. Personally I wouldn't have an issue with you using either Thranduil model for either Thranduil profile but using Armoured Hobbit Wood Elves as unarmoured LOTR Wood Elves would probably bother me, particularly if they were in an allied force alongside Galadhrim etc. that cold be confusing mid-game.

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Yes I get all of that and agree totally.
I just thought that if it is the same character with the same wargear, I can save myself £15-20 per warband of warriors.

The Thranduil model should be acceptable for anyone as long as you are completely clear what Profile is being used. The Profile will probably have a bigger impact on what lists you are able to play. The current Thranduil leads the unarmored Wood Elves. The new one will likely lead lightly armored Mirkwood Elves (or similar name). As noted above, there are legalities that force some odd separations here. So you can probably use the same model for either but you will not has as much flexibility in picking what Profile you use as each version of Thranduil will only go with a specific list of warriors.

Of course, once you have Thranduil's own Warband selected you can ally in the old/new elves of your choice. I am really curious what GW is going to do to help any new Mirkwood Elves stand out from the original Wood Elves and the Galadrhim Warriors. This could either be an exciting addition or a complete disappointment. As a long time Wood Elf player I'm hoping for something exciting.

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They FAQ-Ed Elrond already, his current profile replaces the current free people's statline and states where there is a difference the current most recent stats are the rule. So Elrond could lead hs knights, the regular Rivendell army, or hire out a suitable captain to ally with the other. Example: Glorfindell armouredon foot with 12 High Elves on foot could ally with Elronds and his knights.
So Thranduils coming stat line will replace the old one. And we should get a new contingent of Mirkwood Elves. Which is only fitting because the current plastics, while useable in all Elf lists are actually Modelled after the unarmoured Lorien designs. So to me it's all good because there will be, eventually three individual lotr Elven houses to pick from.