Thursday 27 May 2010

Two New LOTR Mithril releases: Gandalf & Gwaihir, Bolg's Standard Bearer

Mithril has released two new 32mm scale metal miniatures in May. These 2 releases were winning ideas from October and November 2009.

MS552 Bolg's Standard Bearer is based on the Battle of Five Armies from The Hobbit. Bolg was the chief of the Goblins (orcs) that attacked the Dwarven, Elven and Men of Dale forces. Wargs (intelligent Wolves) were the Goblins allies. These made up the 5 armies involved.
Bolg was accompanied with a Bodyguard unit of troops, including a standard bearer.
Beorn, the skinchanger, eventually slew Bolg and his bodyguards during the conflict, in revenge for their attack on Thorin.


MS553 'Gandalf and Gwaihir', is from The Lord of the Rings books, when Gandalf was imprisoned on the Tower of Orthanc. Gwaihir, the Great Eagle, rescued him and carried him to safety.
Interesting Note: While most illustrations show Gandalf on the Eagles back, sculpting it successfully in that pose was not seen as a workable solution. A 2D illustration can hide a lot of detail in feathers, including how you ACTUALLY ride an Eagle.
Since Mithril had released these Eagles previously in different poses, they could not suddenly have a gigantic version the size of a full Dragon like Smaug (also unrealistic for an Eagle). So it was impossible for Gandalf to SIT on Gwaihir's back and look even remotely feasible. Nor can Gandalf hang-glide on the back of the Eagle, or hang from his claws (it would look awful).
So this shows Gandalf after being rescued and thanking Gwaihir.



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