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Rhuoommm ... good choice you chose, Master Barliman. So that "lad" seems to be welcomed by some regulars here ... huoommm ... thank you ... hom.
Alas ... the 'Variant' of that MX ... is not for sale ... unless I could pay some tabs with such a tiny figure. That was my intention. But also I was thinking about a good prize for the next Christmas-riddle ... huommm ... you might remember last year's riddle ... I do hope ... hom.
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.... is there any consent ... rhuoomm ... in this room ...hom... about that ... sort of matters?
... on the other hand I shouldn't haste everything ... as there are more serious matters which are about forgotten ... rhuoom ...
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Hello Master caster. No , I wasn't in this morning, but Nob told me you were asking after me.
And Gildor, I completely agree about the charm of the unorganized old gaming shops. My friends and I used to go every Saturday night to a shop in town, where they would lock the doors at ten in the evening, but allow us to play RPG games, or anything else people wanted--Axis and Allies, Diplomacy, Machiavelli, even Monopoly, etc . . . until the early hours of the morning. The owners were gamers too; not just RPG or board games, but full scale miniature war-gamers. They had vending machines for snacks and pop, and we all had the best times of ouir young lives!
I miss those days, and wish that I could afford Mithrils then. When someone was able to afford a nice figure, we all gathered around to look at it, and wished we had one!
Ahhhh, yes! The good old days!
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Of course, if everyone had thought the old shops were so good and had supported them, then I guess they'd still be around. The very last of that ilk closed down in Cambridge about five years ago, because a GW had opened up a few years before that and everyone seemed to prefer their products. So in the end it was the lack of customer loyalty and the absence of worthwhile product that settled the issue. Shops need to make money for their owners or they don't survive.
The only positive aspect to the shop's sad demise was that I was flush with cash at the time and managed to buy a lot of remaindered stock. Unfortunately (and strangely), however, there were no Mithrils.
Ah, another riddle contest would be interesting, Master Tree, but I think that in fairness to everyone else you'd need to announce exactly when each question would be asked - I had the advantage last time of always being about the place, so it wasn't a case of being more clever than everyone, just that I was able to see and answer the questions first!
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Huooommmm ... thank you for your honesty and understatement, Master Barliman ... so I will consider your advice seriously .... rhuoommm ... as there's some time left until next Christmas there's no need for me to haste about these matters .... rhuohuom. .... I'll announce that riddle in time .... huom ... but first let leaves grow on those bare branches ... huommm ... and then colour them nicely when autumn falls ... hom ... then I will contemplate and consider again .... rhuoommm .... I cannot haste everything, as you know ... huoommm... or is anybody around here wanting me to urge this year's Christmas to be sooner than it's meant to be? ... rhuoommm.
Alas ... on the other hand there are things that even old Ents cannot decide about nor influence ... huooommmm ... and this is good .... hom.
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Huoommm ... as for those good old days of role-playing and envying other's figs after closing time ... yes ... huoommm ... I do recall all that ... those dusty shops with them tables in the centre of the room ... huom ... never being opened before 10 am ... with rare customers but interested people exchanging news about new releases from different companies ... huoomm. Then discussing about the layout of table-tops and details ... huommm.... I do remember well ...
hom ... then I also witnessed those excellent models of Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith (one year later) displayed at a fair in germany ... it was then before GW started those series about the LotR ... huoomm..... so I decided to make my own table-tops .... I'm still working on those Moria rooms ... and halls ... and ... well, time is limited .... rhuoommm ......
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On the subject of Moria models, have you looked at Thomarillion's models, Master Tree? Their 'Dark Realm of the Dwarves' model is particularly nice.
And on the subject of wargames, aren't the RingCon pictures posted on the Mithril site a treat? Very inspirational.
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.... huoommm ... yes ... if there's one word to two questions ... huoommm ... mine "Morias" are about 8 steps from where I sit at the moment ... rhuoommm ... so move, Tree, move ... downwards ... to see ... rhuoomm ... no one to carry me torch? ... alas ... rhuooohom.
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rhuoomm ... back again ... well, Master Barliman, those Thomarillion pieces are quite nice but to me obviously too sterile and one can see the material they're made of immediately .... rhuoomm.
I know those were meant for production, so there always have to be compromises ... hom
so I do prefer working with different material ... I will have to show because I cannot explain ...
huoommm ... oh by the by I chose to start with the East Gate, then a hall, a great chamber (not the one with the tomb), after that there's the vault with the bridge, then an idea of the Moria mines ... still working on another 'great hall' ... each piece having a base of approx. 50X50 cm.
rhuoommm ... all material used is not kind of plastic just pure ... huomm including those spider webs I discovered ... alas ... have some nice days off and enjoy the beginning of spring today ...
rhuoomm ... as some people producing those calendars tend to set it ....hom
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Ah, the vernal equinox at last. Are you sprouting yet?
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And another thing - indeed, probably a more interesting thing - is that I now have before me one of this year's Salute wolf-riders by The Man, and I can only say that the pictures we've seen to date don't do him justice. He really is yet another very fine figure, full of action.
For those interested in such things, his base reads "c Prince August PM 496 Salute 08", so as predicted, he isn't technically a Mithril figure as such. However, what the "PM" number is all about I have no idea. Anyone else know?
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496 belongs to the Mithril range incremential... MS495 was Salute 07 as far as I can remember... PM stands for Phaton Miniature maybe, like the PM1 elven maidens... Mithril chose to use a different Prefix than M... but the number used still matches the reference which may mean that... there wont be any M or MS or MX496...or maybe they'll do the same they did for the MB369 and M369....
anyway I'd be curious to know how it is that some people here manage to have their VIP entries or favors to get such material before date or even manage to keep in touch with the Man.
I may have had a problem with my emails or whatever, but I have been polite and everything... but it's been close to two months I asked but simple news of Chris Tubb and not even a little answer to tell me he's ok but just busy
I begin to think people at mithril or Chris himself are bored of me... and I don't know why
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I wouldn't read too much into it, Master Elf. You've been dealing with The Man long enough by now to know that the regularity of his communications is spasmodic at best. I've been waiting for pictures of the remaining Dol Amroth figures for about six weeks, in which time he's promised to send them twice. He also forgot to ask the factory to send me some Corsair freebies until I reminded him a fortnight ago (these were in thanks for my input regarding their appearance). But I still didn't get a reply from The Man himself! It's just par for the course with Chris. A great guy, and a generous one, but very, very busy most of the time. And don't forget that he has a large family and a home life to manage as well!
As for the wolf-rider, ah, well, it's a case of who you know not what you know, as we say here in Bree. That's also how I got one of the different pre-production versions of the Glorfindel/Witchking combo last year, as well as the standard model. At the moment I'm not certain if my wolf-rider is a standard or pre-production casting, but the fact that he's undercoated would suggest the former.
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Huooomm .... yes, last year's Salute figure indeed was MS495 and copyrighted by Mithril .... huommm ... though that Witch-King for 'Shadows of Angmar' MSA1 was copyrighted by C.Tubb 2007 .... hom ... the Elven princess vignette Pm1 clearly is marked as Phaeton and also copyrighted by C.Tubb '06 ... mine having an additional subreference reading CT1 ... as for Chris Tubb nr 1 ... huoommm ... so obviously the copyright of the Warg-rider is with Prince August company and additionally with Phaeton ... that's how I interpret those subreferences ...
don't ask me about the choice of those numbers .... rhuoommmm .... I dunno ....
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Huoommmrhuoooommmmmm ... well, contacting the Man is a different matter and quite obscure ... if I were you, Master Gildor, I wouldn't worry that much .... rhuoommm ... the frequence of replies changes as much as the weather does ... huom ... once he told me that he keeps to a habit of answering emails once in a month ... hom ... then, while working on that Imrahil-MX he was able to react immediately within a day .... also he sometimes decides not to reply to certain questions, just ignoring the matter ... rhuooommm .... hom ... and then there's the fact that he sometimes gives information that he afterwards seems to have forgotten .... rhuoommmm .... it took me about a year to remind him of having promised to sell those Dwarves ... as he announced before .... hom ... then there was some delay ... ahem, I simply asked him not to put them on Ebay in the summertime, because then many collectors might be on holiday and so not being able to buy them ... rhuoommm ... he agreed and later forgot about it for a while .... yes, and up to now there is no sign to read about when selling (offering) the next Dwarves ... rhuoommm ... on the other hand he never forgets to inform us precisely when he intends to put another 'buy-at-once' offer on Ebay .... rhuoommm ... so some things are complicated .... but it's not a reason to worry, Master Gildor .... the explanations Master Barliman gave also should be considered seriously, as he has closest of contacs to the Man ...
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Rhuoommmm .... Master Gildor and me were considering about dragons some time ago ... hom.
So now there's a problem left for me. I do hope one of the most absent or present regulars around here can help me to solve that .... rhuoomm ...
So ... Khamul the Easterling (later Nazgûl) wears an armour partly made of dragon scales of a dark blue colour. I can just suppose that the dragon 'providing' those scales must have been a 'Cold Drake'... huoomm ... because of the colour ...
To me all this isn't more than a rumour .... and goes together with more questions arising. Where do those names of the Nazgûls come from ... such as Adunaphel,Akhorahil, Dwaw, Hoarmurath, Indur (that elephant-man) or Ren? .... huoommm ... Uvatha the unhorsed horseman ...
does anybody know if those names could be proved by any link to the works of Master Tolkien?
... huoomm .. if not, is there any explanation why Mithril decided for those names of the LT-series? ... thanks a lot ... rhuoomm ...
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No, Master Tree, the names are all - with the exception of Khamul - inventions by ICE; whence they found their way into the Mithril range, which, of course, was originally associated with the ICE role-playing game. Though I haven't dug out the ICE books to check which book it's in, the dragon-scale armour is also an ICE invention, and nothing to do with JRRT. The Ranger may be able to cinfirm that if he's here, or perhaps Presto.
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Most 'Cold Drakes' are grey-white or white; though the older,more powerful ones are often black,brown,or red.Itangast ,a 'Fire- Drake', had blue-tipped black scales but Water-Drakes and related 'Rain-Drakes' can be deep or dark blue.This according to ICE.
Best wishes to you Gildor
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Ah, a new customer! Welcome. And what's more, one who still has enough grey cells to remember his ICE texts! I wish my memory could stretch so far. I have trouble remembering to feed Bob's cat.
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I would like to caution anyone making armour out of Dragonskin to be careful of the beast's toxic blood while cutting off the scales and underlying hide from the Drakes body.
The more I consume of this wonderful drink of Master Barliman the faster I feel the death-throes of mine own grey cells.I hope it is not through some influence of the Dark Lord.
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Essentially, early on in MERP's development, Pete Fenlon sat down and drew a continental map of Middle Earth.
Some people adore it (our own Master Tolwen has done some interesting work with it), and some people (like me) are not so fond of it. I personally think it looks like a big bushy head. Anyway, the big continental map was filled with place names, which didn't really have a whole lot of context: places like Waw, the Isle of Dogs and so forth. Later, when ICE created their Lords of Middle Earth series, they created a back story for each of the Nazgul.
Some of those stories were decent - the Witch King of Angmar's, Akhorahi of the South and Adunaphel. Others were less so: Ren the Unclean, Indur Dawndeath and so forth. Khamul's was particularly lousy. (He's the Easterling, so lets make him the easternmost of the poppermost! Whee!). Personally I've an idea to salvage Adunaphel's story and have her as a Mouth of Sauron type minion, rather than a Nazgul.
The nazgul were described, and Mithril portrayed them, in their time of power - as dark kings during the middle of the Third Age of Middle Earth. Since that era, as described by MERP, owed more to traditional fantasy RPGing and sword and sorcery, their visualisation is pure fantasy (as in fantasy as genre). "Dragonscale" armour almost assuredly comes from one of the early 80s editions of Dungeons and Dragons, for instance.
So, me, I'd ignore a lot of that.
Gavin
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Hello,
Yes, these nazgul names are creations of ICE. And in the MERP books there are occassional sketches in black and white to give an idea of their apperance. Then in the late '90s ICE created their Middle-earth Card Collectable Game (MECCG) where they hired several of the best fantasy genre artist, many of whom had already done Tolkien related illustrations, to create a remarkably beautiful set of pictures for these cards; many of which had little or no basis in the actual works of JRR or Christopher Tolkien. This is where the image of Khamul with dragon-skin armor originated. For a long time the works of ICE via MERP were refined and spread about the internet on sites such as merp.com (still in existance, although in a much reduced format due to TE's cease and desist orders) as well as long-running publications like that produced by Chris Seeman called Other Hands (also forced to cease publication due to TE). Gavin, cantact me if you are still interested in contacting Mr. Seeman.
So regarding Dragon-scale armor, etc . . . there is really no way to say based on the actual words in the books. But that allows us to use our imagination, and I think that JRR Tolkien would like that, even if Christopher does not!
Now Gildor, regarding Master Tubb, I can tell you that Theo and Barli are absolutely correct. You can not take his silence personally. I also have had the same experience. PA keeps him very busy, and with kids in college (at university, as he would say), he really just doesn't have time to respond to every email. Also, he often is asked the same questions by more than one person and relies on us to keep each other informed. there are times when we trade a dozen emails in one week, and then I don't hear from him for three months. All of a sudden, he sends me another email as though we just talked the day before! So do not think it is personal, I believe he tries to spead things around so that we all get a piece of his time once in awhile. Of course, he has long-time friends who he has known for many, many years who he tries to keep in more regular touch with. I will be patient (he owes me an email for two months now), and suggest you should also.
Last edited by twrich (Sat, Mar22 2008 8:19pm)
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While you're here, you might as well have a drink on the house (well, in a jug, but you know what I mean).
Incidentally, who was it that was once asking about dead orc figures for gaming purposes? I really can't recall. Anyway, if it's of any interest still, I've just noticed that Thomarillion now produce one - but only the one, sadly...at least at the moment. Who knows, more may follow.
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Huoommm ... I saw that dead orc ... rhuoommm ... but who's in need of dead orcs? .... ahem.
You will not use them as substitute doormats, Master Barliman? ... rhuoomm ...
... had some trouble with one of the new GFMs .... had to comment .... RHUOOOMM ... hom ...
no bowl, alright, I'll go to the forest to bed by now ... snow now there is ... alas ... huomm.
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Well of course there's snow, Master Tree - it's Spring! Good idea about the doormats, by the way, though I suspect dead orc wouldn't be as hard-wearing as wargskin.
I've added a comment of my own regarding Gavinorandon (or whatever)'s remark. His choice of the term 'unacceptable' was certainly unnecessarily terse.
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