THE TAPROOM 3

This topic has 2,403 replies, 28 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 4 months ago by Barliman.

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July 30, 2015 at 12:01 pm #32787
Gavin
Participant
Yeah, there are two challenges here.

One is Mithril/PA’s weird passivity. Other minis companies go and do things like kickstarters, make alliances, get their name out. Mithril assumes it can coast. So participation will always be skewed. You’re going to have dwindling numbers of keen participants and new infusions of overly enthusiastic sorts which will seem out of place.

The other one is that a lot more people have been exposed to Middle-earth through the films; way more than have ever read the books. Mithril itself is not even a “pure” range – it has its roots in RPGs, after all. There can be room for a more D+D ish – or even Hobbit movie style – interpretation. (Actually the film is more Warhammer :p) Arwen hunting I could go either way on. I’d prefer it was totally-not-Luthien hunting. Luthien is Tolkien’s action hero elf lady. Done right, she could even be proxied in as a certain invented female Elf character of Mirkwood.

To me the big Mithril strength is tone. Tolkien favoured this idea of willowy, otherworldly figures and Mithril catches that so well. There are weaknesses. The Man does like his gothic plate on occasion and his Hobbits are a bit too little. The range itself has never quite figured out what it was. The ambiguity gave it a great deal of scope, but its often frustrating to collect. “This diorama needs…oh hell” or “I need all the figures for this MERP module…oh hell” or “I could make a warband of Beornings but…”

Also, where’s me bleedin’ Easterlings!
July 30, 2015 at 12:22 pm #32788
Barliman
Participant
Ah yes, amidst everything else I’d completely forgotten about the “missing” Easterlings….
July 31, 2015 at 10:30 pm #32789
Theobald
Participant
huoomm … quite a lot seems to be forgotten by now … rhûom … alas, wasn’t it once being said the third series of the “Helm’s Deep” had been sculpted some years ago? … hom … yes … and more there had been expected to be produced by the now run-down Phaeton-design-concept … alas … hmm … there had been these interesting concepts of a “Necromancer’s Tower”-series, which obviously isn’t considered no more than the “fallen Balrog” or other nice ideas …. rhuuuôm … need a drink, Master Barliman … anything you you might be willing to fill in my empty bowl … huom … mind I cleaned the upper windows this summer … alas, no coins to find … huommm-hom?
August 1, 2015 at 7:40 am #32790
Barliman
Participant
Indeed, Master Tree, there have been several other “rumoured” sets of figures – The Man himself once mentioned to me two more Helm’s Deep sets he had either designed or sculpted (that at the time I wasn’t to broadcast at large, but such caution seems irrelevant now), including an Orc assault gang complete with bombs. And wasn’t there a Rangers of the North set too?

It’s very sad that none of them have appeared.

And Phaeton – well, I can’t help but voice my opinion that the figures released thus far have been far, far too esoteric to appeal to a wider audience. If he’d released the unreleased Helm’s Deep figures and others of that ilk, with suitably camouflaged names to distance them from Tolkien Enterprise’s copyright claims, then they’d have sold to the general military/fantasy figure collectors and wargaming community at large. A lost opportunity. Great shame.

And what has happened to the ancient Irish range that he was working on? – Cu Chulainn etc? Must be five years since I last heard anything about them.
August 1, 2015 at 10:15 am #32791
Gildor
MMP Elder
there is a fact that already sculpted figurines, commissionned by Prince August to Chris Tubb are… the property of PA and Chris is not free to release them , produce them and sell them hilmdelf…

that’s the case for Easterlings, for Helm’s Deep 3 and certainly for others… Else he may have tried to sell them through Phaeton already…. Fact is, I have had no news from Chris in months now, and from our last exchanges, he was quite perplex and skeptical about Phaeton mitigated success and was not in a mood to carry on with it because of its lack of success…
(no need to reopen a debate on the reasons of this lack of success , be it communication/design concept/lack of releases etc)

As our friend tree often said here, well the best we can do is wait and see…. I’ve voiced my concerns a lot already both at mithril and Chris and that produced nothing… so why wasting energy on that?
August 1, 2015 at 11:03 am #32792
Turambar
Participant
EXACTLY!
Master Barliman, may I add that “Wilderland” range. Not to be forgotton!
A great shame you said. Yes it is. A real great shame.
To help you to remind, I add a picture of that mentioned irish hero:

[imgz url=http://mmp.faerylands.eu/uploads/32_pi1_cuchulain.png]http://mmp.faerylands.eu/uploads/thumbs/32_pi1_cuchulain.png[/imgz]

The Tree also mentioned the “fallen Balrog”. A great sculp that was.
Well- I can not explain my disappointment to all this. Being refreshed last weekend in the Tree´s garden.
And since the “POLL” concerning all matters about “Necromancer´s Tower” range lead into NOTHING I gave up spending energy in anything, like Master Gildor pointed out also.
Or was it after my “FIFTH” not answered question to – you call him the Man- having some pictures of my so adored Easterlings throughout four years?
Who knows . . .
August 1, 2015 at 11:07 am #32793
Barliman
Participant
Ah yes, I’d forgotten that we once actually saw Cu Cuchlainn.
August 1, 2015 at 2:54 pm #32794
Thingol
Participant
Nothing more to say… about long expecting Chris new(old) figures….. I only hope Chris is well… and his small figures…. he’s made more than 1000 diferent figures and perhaps he thinks……this was enough…. and he had not have enough money to invest into a some dreams of other people… even if they call himself “customers”. Talkink about PD figures…. factory policy…. again… nothing more to say… and those stories about abandoned figures…. hm… pity but time goes on… … all of us, including him …
sooner or later there will be nothing new. Time passes with or without us. With figures or without them.
For me is a important to be patient and see what happens …
August 1, 2015 at 2:56 pm #32795
Thingol
Participant
Cheers to all of you guys….
August 1, 2015 at 4:32 pm #32796
Theobald
Participant
Huooommm …. wise words, dear MasterThingol … huom … all that’s left is to say cheers from time to time and see what might happen … or not …rhûooommmm …
August 2, 2015 at 2:21 am #32797
Gavin
Participant
Personally I’d love to see him work for a boutique company like Dark Sword Miniatures, perhaps even for Reaper, who are two of the higher end fantasy miniatures companies going, and companies with a broad engagement with the market.
August 2, 2015 at 10:16 am #32798
Gildor
MMP Elder
well Chris founded Mithril with Lars, so it’s part of his life that would be hard for him to change company for THIS kind of sculpting he does. I know he already works for other companies on small contracts and actually it seems to be his best source of income at the moment because mithril and phaeton do not produce a lot…

Chris is special and not very talktative that’s hard to know what he’ll do next… Even polls, open letters or petitions don’t seem to move things positively alas ;( Maybe because it would require a certain quota for things to be taken seriously, and with all of what is left of the MMP active members, this quota is not reached.. and thus considered not significant enough. That’s the only thing I can imagine
August 4, 2015 at 2:28 pm #32799
Maenas
Participant
Seems that time is slowly killing our community and mithril, just as everything else.

Just logged on to wish you all a happy summer holidays.
August 4, 2015 at 3:49 pm #32800
ddaines
Participant
Just ordered some MMs including Forlong – must be getting my MoJo back 😆
August 4, 2015 at 8:14 pm #32801
Theobald
Participant
huom … right Master Maenas, I also wish everybody around here, or being absent, a nice holiday … rhuoom …

Master Ddaines, good to learn that you’re about getting back to that hobby … hûom … though … to assemble that new Forlong-figure took most of my nerves as the parts didn’t fit well enough … huom … then the primer went away at nearly all edges … so the new figure now appears in a quite worn condition … huoom … I wonder if anybody else made these maddening experiences …. hom?
August 4, 2015 at 8:20 pm #32802
Barliman
Participant
Haven’t bought him yet, but I shall certainly keep your experiences in mind when I do!
August 4, 2015 at 8:43 pm #32803
Theobald
Participant
huoommm … ah, Master Barliman, just for a different matter … huom … I just read on the official Mithril-board-voting-thread-thing that you wondered about a vote being shifted from Ohtar to that Dwarf just before/after that poll closed … huoomm … well, it was me who is responsible for that … hm … but I’m sure I did it in time before that poll was closed … huom … I simply did it, because that Ohtar-suggestion had no more chance of winning that race ….
August 4, 2015 at 9:19 pm #32804
Barliman
Participant
I guess I must have been mistaken, as Master O’Brien suggests, but I’d have put money on the fact that the page stated that the poll was closed when I looked at it. Still, no harm done – it didn’t affect the result at all.
August 4, 2015 at 10:42 pm #32805
Milo
Participant
Hi everyone,
I am here for few days, coming back from a week holiday, before leaving again for 2 weeks.
I received last MS releases but did not open my blisters yet.
I also received a parcel from Thorondor containing minis plus mithril stuff such as Tee shirt, orange cardboard for my glass cabinet. It’s still a good feeling for me to open these littles parcels.
Master Barliman, please fill everyone’s bowl with appropriate liquids. Of course I will pay for all.

Cheers!
BTW, I am glad that toys won last votes and I would support Ohtar when he is back in another poll.
August 5, 2015 at 6:22 am #32808
Arthadan
Participant
I have a question for you, folks.

One of my favourire miniature brands has announced it’s going to move into plastic and it will re-release some of its current metals in plastic assuring there will be no loss of detail.

Now, thinking about Mithril style I think it would translate fairly well into plastic. Would you get Mithril miniatures if they were plastic?
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