The Lord of the Rings: Armies of Middle Earth: Happy Birthday JRR Tolkien

Tuesday, 3 January 2012

Happy Birthday JRR Tolkien

It's the 120th anniversary of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien's birth today. Here is my daughter outside his favourite pub in Oxford, The Eagle and Child where he used to chat with CS Lewis.

My English teacher at school's tutor at Oxford was JRR Tolkien and it was he who introduced me to The Hobbit. I have now learned that Games Workshop did indeed sign a deal, last February, with Warner Brothers to produce products based on The Hobbit.

So hopefully soon we will start to get figures like this!

4 comments:

Giles5 January 2012 at 16:49
Buy GW! Buy GW!
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legatus hedlius5 January 2012 at 21:56
I already own part of it!
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The J.R.R Tolkien Project9 February 2012 at 05:25
Good blog !!
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Scottswargaming15 February 2012 at 00:59
Nice post. I too, and rest of family for that matter, are eagerly awaiting the Hobbit movie. No doubt I wont be able to help myself once the new figures come out...
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Wargaming Middle Earth

I confess that I had never been a fan of The Lord of the Rings until Peter Jackson's monumental films came out. I had never read the books and had, years before, given up on The Hobbit half way through. Now I have read most of them (I am still struggling to finish the Return of the King) and whilst acknowledging their influence and scope still don't think they are particularly readable.

No, for me , it was the fantastic images created by the film that inspired me. Oddly, when Games Workshop came out with their Fellowship of the Ring boxed set I didn't buy it as I couldn't see how you could turn a film featuring largely invincible heroes into a satisfactory game.

It wasn't until D'Agostini came out with their Battlegames in Middle Earth part-work that I got interested, at the prompting of my little boy, Guy, and subsequently subscribed to the magazine; eventually collecting every issue.

I painted the 12 goblins included in the first issue in a day and my little boy and I immediately played a game using these and the cardboard Aragorn included as well.

Since then I must have acquired hundreds of figures, although very few are painted. Most are designed by the Perry brothers and are, as a result, completely gorgeous. Some of them are truly remarkable portraits, in 25mm, of the actors who played the parts in the films.

Occasionally, LotR games are played at Guildford but the main driver for me in getting more figures done is Guy, who loves playing the game.

So over the next year or so I will see how many more of these splendid figures I can get onto the gaming table and even have a go at making some scenic items.