Is the game alive?

[steward]

I have only started with GW in the last few months. I got into it because of a love of LoTR books. The minis are good and I am really enjoying painting them. With my family I have enjoyed playing the game too. I have noticed though that it seems to be the poor cousin to the other two games, and that seems understandable given the history of GW. But is the game LoTR really alive? Few seem to be playing it much, and the local store is far more active in the other games.
Is the LoTR game less good intrinsically? (I have no idea about the others), or is it more limited? Or are the other mini's just better to paint?
My experience of it so far is very positive. Its fun, extremely variable, boundless opportunity for imagining and re-imagining the LOTR world, or even playing non-lotr bound scenarios with working rules.
Is the game alive, or is it a collectors realm? What's your experience?

[redcorsairs]

Hi there steward!

Good to see that more players are getting into LOTR.

I know what you mean, since about a year after the last LOTR Film there has been a decrease in the amount of advertisement GW have been giving LOTR and a decrease of people playing the game. Also now that Games Workshop have to produce models from the books, they haven't as much to work from and so their models are becoming more like Warhammer Fantasy models.

However, they are still a different scale and LOTR minis generally have a little more detail on them compared to Warhammer.

There is still much hope for the LOTR SBG and with the new Mordor supplement I really hope it will attract more gamers. I myself really do like the LOTR SBG game a lot and I am glad that you like it so much too.

Thanks,

Jake

[woodspeed]

lotr as red said is a dieing game but hopefully can be revamped with the new stuff id like to dig out my old haradrim and play but games workshop have attracted it to some younger players which is fine but at my local gw most either play 40k or fantasy and people that do play lotr either dont know the rules or just mess about and are immature.

also lotr is meant to be a skirmish game unlike 40k and fantasy which are designed to be full on warfare so people really do rip into lotr which annoys me because there comparing it to a completely different system and generally speaking have never played it

[redcorsairs]

Apr 16, 2008 10:14:56 GMT @woodspeed said:

but games workshop have attracted it to some younger players which is fine but at my local gw most either play 40k or fantasy and people that do play lotr either dont know the rules or just mess about and are immature.

Yes! I have noticed that. This is one of the reasons I am not getting as many LOTR games in as I would as a lot of people my age, as you say, either don't know the rules or are imature.

I have to admit, I was the same myself when I started out playing LOTR, but that was about 4 years ago .

[Tim C]

the trouble with Lotr is that it was the films that got alot of people interested and as the trilogy unfolded in the cinema and then subsequently on dvd the interest remained. Unfortunately without the films being fresh in the public eye interest has dwindled.
GW are producing miniatures and ranges for areas of the story that only die hard fans of Tolkien who read the books are really interested in. Also because they are producing miniatures with no real background resource to fall back on the models are tending towards the Warhammer look. Most people who play the game really got into it with the release of the films and therefore have the PJ image planted firmly in their minds as being the only image to go on if models and the like do not look like they were designed by New Line Cinema and WETA workshops then they generally get disregarded.
A sad fact as I much preferred alot of the old GW Lotr minis that were produced in the 80's with only the books and the semi animated/ live action film to go on.
Hopefully next year will see the release of the Hobbit and interest will rekindle, if the film is delayed by a long time or never sees the light of day I think then the game will eventually be dropped.

[steward]

Ahh I remember watching the old animated films and thinking, yeah, they could never make a movie of this that would look right. Then the movies came out and there was Bag End to make your eyes water. Pity about the loss of plot and character though.
As for the game, since I'm only getting into it I hope they don't drop it. Then I will be hunting on here to buy all your unpainted LoTR minis off you all. I want an army of mumakils to battle against an army of smaugs, or maybe see what all the wizards can do against half a dozen balrogs... and goodness knows what GW would make of an Eru mini.
I guess the future depends on if there are some die-hard LotR fans in GW?
I agree that the minis do not have to have a weta feel to them so long as they work in the game well and are good when painted. Weta's vision isnt exactly mine from when I read the books anyway.
Thanks for all the thoughts, good to know there are others interested. For now I'll get on with those Rangers ..... black undercoat here I come.