New Minis, a new supplement, and a new edition on the horizon that could potentially invalidate said supplement? Which GW line am I looking at exactly?
A new edition and a slew of new minis have just been announced for MESBG. I had no clue either of these things were happening, and as I blearily checked teh internets from my bed this morning, my brain turned into Pam from The Office. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, trying to make sense of the horned helmets, bare chests and biceps. Had beastmen been announced for Old World? No, that would be way too close to the Dwarf releases. Did Untamed Beasts get announced for AoS? No, that’s a MESBG logo, what’s happening and where are my pants?
Since its launch in 2001, MESBG (then LotR) has been one of GW’s most stable games, eclipsed only by Blood Bowl for longevity and similarity to the original ruleset. Supplements, updates, and consolidated rulebooks have been a regular occurrence, but most of the changes have been to unit or character profiles and adding special rules as new minis have been added to the range. I still have my rulebooks from the first three LotR boxes, and the core rules are remarkably similar to their current iteration. Even though the community might say we are effectively on the 5th edition of the game, GW does not. We are still just playing MESBG. These minis, though… Are these Carn Dûm warriors really MESBG minis?
Look at those pecs, look at those abs, look at that rock heroes always find for that one foot! One of the hallmarks of the Middle Earth range was realistic proportions, thanks to the solid foundation laid down by the Perry twins. These guys push the envelope from realistic towards heroic proportions pretty darn hard. And it’s not just a question of proportion but scale. Take a look at this image (and the opposing hero rocks):
That Captain of Arnor’s head would fit inside this Carn Dûmmie’s bicep. That Mordor orc beside him looks like he comes up to his waist. It’s not a given that all these minis are side by side (that warrior on the right is clearly a lot closer to the camera) but there is enough evidence here to make it seem like these minis are scaled better for AoS than MESBG.
Lastly, these minis are busy. Though I can’t pretend MESBG is exempt from this current trend (look at that Captain of Arnor), I am having trouble understanding the rationale behind this particular uniform. When these guys get up in the morning they put on: pants, leg wrappings, WWE belt + thigh guards, ratty kilt and then a belt. Underlings must hide at least one pectoral muscle under a shash. This is a lot of gear to differentiate, and there are a bunch of exposed stitch marks. Don’t get me wrong, I think these trolls are my favorite ones in the range, but they are going to take a lot more time to paint than any of the other troll models.
So what does it mean that they are now saying that there is a new edition coming? I’m going to come out and say: hopefully, not much. My earnest hope for MESBG is that nothing much changes. Consolidation of rules is great, cleaning up, clarifying and adding FAQs is good stuff. Adding or changing game mechanics is treacherous, and can threaten the stability of a thriving community. What does it mean that the minis seem to be getting bigger and busier? My personal view is that GW’s worst design instincts have been leaking into the range for a long time, creating minis that look exceptional as display pieces, painted by pros, but a pain for the average hobbyist. I’m very interested to see what comes of all this, but I can’t help feeling a slight pull of skepticism at the back of my brain.
What do you think? Are you thrilled by these announcements? Let me know how wrong I am in the comments!
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