Do you think GW did a decent expansion on Tolkien's world?

[Khaines Wrath]

Hi all I was reading an article the other day saying that The Lord of the Rings strategy battle game copped a lot of flak from fans over its interpretations of characters and units written about by Tolkien but never made it into the film. Or even things that were created by GW. A few units that seem to come up frequently are..

The Swan Knights of Dol Amroth
The named Ringwraiths
The Haradrim forces from Far Harad
The Variags of Khand
Gulavhar

Etc

Admittedly even when I used to frequent Warseer years ago in Lotr's hey day I never remember coming across these kind of controversies. I actually can't think of any models I would say trampled on Tolkien's legacy and I actually enjoyed the majority of the expanded fluff that GW invented.

Did you ever come across these views or share them, I'm curious to know.

NOTE: I realise that the Swan Knights, Variags and Trollmen of Far Harad are genuine Tolkien, I put them on the list because they seem to be frequently criticised by fans for some reason.

[Whitwort Stormbringer]

As far as I know, Swan Knights were maligned for their design, particularly the oversized helmets, rather than their inclusion at all.

I never heard any complaints about Variags or the far Harad units, although again for design reasons, I didn't like a lot of the later Harad units, particularly the new Suladan and the big tusk ornaments that a bunch of them had.

For the most part, I think the named wraiths are cool designs, but conceptually it detracts a bit from the effect that the rings are supposed to have.

I don't like Gulavhar because of how they crammed him into the lore, but otherwise he's an alright interpretation of Tolkien's vampires.

Other stuff that GW brought in: For the most part I think they've done just fine. I could have done without orc and goblin shamans, but there is some obscure and vague textual support for it.

[Khaines Wrath]

Yeah beyond the Half trolls I didn't like the majority of the additional Far Harad units.

[Karak Norn Clansman]

Yes, I definitely think GW did a great job expanding Tolkien's world. It certainly wasn't untrue to the spirit of it. They were short background pieces, but tasty. Especially the Harad, Goblin and Dwarf expansions were nice. Very nice.

[Khaines Wrath]

I agree I think they were some thoroughly inspired expansions. There was very little I didn't like.

[Warpsoul]

The last Mordor supplement (2008 I think) had Black Númenórean troops.

I thought that was a little over-powered for a Mordor army, fluff-wise at least, given their Orc-heavy strongholds. Maybe I am wrong in that. Did Minas Morgul have garrisons of evil humans living there under the thrall of the Witch King?

[Khaines Wrath]

That did seem odd, I suppose it was possible though considering the Mouth of Sauron was a Black Numenorean.

[Karak Norn Clansman]

Maybe a bit odd, but I never like discarding something interesting from a setting just because it is past history. Having Black Númenoreans survive in Mordor and Umbar is more than OK with me.

[Khaines Wrath]

Completely agree

[cornonthecob]

I enjoyed all the expansions and updates, the only one I felt was a little iffy was Gulhavar because it was nice to have a vampire free setting but then at least they made him suitably monstrous and not just a super powered zombie who feeds on blood.

[Warpsoul]

I enjoyed all the expansions and updates, the only one I felt was a little iffy was Gulhavar because it was nice to have a vampire free setting but then at least they made him suitably monstrous and not just a super powered zombie who feeds on blood.

They had plans for Werewolves and Stone Giants as well as Beornings, during the pre- War of the Ring push for sales. So much awesome was planned but alas, never came about.

[Bladelord]

Middle Earth never was free from neither vampires nor werewolves. They always were around in Silmarillion. (Neither of them are dear to me.)

[Warpsoul]

That did seem odd, I suppose it was possible though considering the Mouth of Sauron was a Black Numenorean.

Question about the Black Marshall, from the last Mordor supplement. Was he a wraith, or a Numenorean? When I read ROTK, I always assumed it was just another alias for the Witch King, not a whole new character.

[Whitwort Stormbringer]

He's a wraith, distinct from the Witch King.

According to GW, the 9 Ringwraiths are:

The Witch King*
Khamul*
The Dark Marshall
The Shadowlord
The Tainted
The Undying
The Betrayer
The Knight of Umbar
The Dwimmerlaik**

* These two were named by Tolkien
** This was used in the books as an alternate name for the Witch King, but as far as I can tell GW is treating him as a separate wraith

[lonelybrick]

I'd of loved to see more, there's stuff they did like the isengard troll that looked a bit rubbish, but I love fantasy so why wouldn't I want to see more? I'm a model and fluff enthusiast, in that order, so if it's a cool model I'll forgive a little bit of weak fluff.