I'd need advice on a LOTR/ The Hobbit project

[BrickSev]

Hello fellow AFOL,

I'd really an advice from the experts of Lego Middle Earth regarding a project I wanted to start.

I've been away from Lego world for a very long time and so I missed many sets released during the years.

From LORT/ The Hobbit themes I have Orthanc, Lonely Mountain, The Witch King Battle and the Goblin King Battle.

I was thinking about getting The Hobbit sets still available ( 1 of each Dol Gur Battle, Battle of Five Armies, Attack on Lake Town and 3 Mirkwood Elf Army)

My plan was to acquire some scenery for my Brick Comics and create some Fantasy Lego army (which I always desired to build)

However I realized with those sets I won't get a lot of "units" (For example the Elves should be about 16 and the Orcs about 19 included 5 Series 13 Goblins I already own)

In the end it does not look very spectacular as army and it's likely I won't be able to get more sets before they go out of production.

So I was wondering if it is worth the "investment" or if I should use that money for some fresh new project.

Your insight about those sets and the theme could really help me.

Sorry if my question looks strange lol but before buying all those sets I'd really like to know if they could be a good "investment" for my project or if I'm going to spend money and get that project only "half complete".

Thank you very much for your help and time

[Blakstone]

Give me some more clues on your interest.

It seems like you are not wanting to do Brick Comics specifically for Middle Earth though. In that case, I wonder if there is much point in getting these sets.

Would you want to get rid of the flesh colored heads and hands of the elves, dwarves, and humans? I think the orcs, Uruk Hai, and goblins would be just fine either way. I read on this board all the time the expense of this conversion and how many licensed minifigs even have flesh on their torsos.

If you wanted to keep the flesh, I find that the Middle Earth minifigs have wonderful detail. But so do the CMF.

If you just wanted fantasy in general, I would probably do CMF and hunt eBay for decent Fantasy / Kingdoms sets.

[BrickSev]

Give me some more clues on your interest.

It seems like you are not wanting to do Brick Comics specifically for Middle Earth though. In that case, I wonder if there is much point in getting these sets.

Would you want to get rid of the flesh colored heads and hands of the elves, dwarves, and humans? I think the orcs, Uruk Hai, and goblins would be just fine either way. I read on this board all the time the expense of this conversion and how many licensed minifigs even have flesh on their torsos.

If you wanted to keep the flesh, I find that the Middle Earth minifigs have wonderful detail. But so do the CMF.

If you just wanted fantasy in general, I would probably do CMF and hunt eBay for decent Fantasy / Kingdoms sets.

Thank you for your reply.

Regarding scenery: I plan to do Bricks Comics in many settings, Fantasy included. I noticed Lonely Mountain and the Goblin King Battle scenery can be used even outside fantasy context without problems

The flesh colored headpieces are not a problem to me. I wanted to build a Middle Earth army (or armies) and that was the reason I though about LOTR instead of the old Lego fantasy themes

Sadly I missed a lot sets during my absence and I don't know if the sets still available would allow me to make that "army building project" a nice one. That was my dilemma.

Thank you again for your reply

[Risgrynsgrot]

I don't know your budget, but if you wanna get some minifigures you gonna want to bricklink them now, the prices are only gonna go up..

Mirkwood Elf - around 4 bucks each

http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?pg=1&itemID=122510&sz=25&searchSort=P

Bald Gundabad orcs, 2 euros without shoulder spikes and 3 euros with:

http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?pg=1&itemID=122571&sz=25&searchSort=P

http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?pg=1&itemID=122572&sz=25&searchSort=P

However personally I never bother to get more than 15 or so troops, because I feel that if you want to get a proper-looking army you need to get like 100 and that's just too much. It's up to you, but keep in mind that minifig prices add up.

[BrickSev]

I don't know your budget, but if you wanna get some minifigures you gonna want to bricklink them now, the prices are only gonna go up..

Mirkwood Elf - around 4 bucks each

http://www.bricklink...25&searchSort=P

Bald Gundabad orcs, 2 euros without shoulder spikes and 3 euros with:

http://www.bricklink...25&searchSort=P

http://www.bricklink...25&searchSort=P

However personally I never bother to get more than 15 or so troops, because I feel that if you want to get a proper-looking army you need to get like 100 and that's just too much. It's up to you, but keep in mind that minifig prices add up.

Thanks for info. I guessed the Minifigures price is about to increase after the fate of LOTR and The Hobbit themes have been sealed.

The Mirkwood set also comes with a Warg that should increase the value.

As for the budget: it is de facto the cost of the sets I mentioned.

I know what you mean about the army

I also have a Clone Army of about 170 units and it still looks small lol Sadly Battle Packs exist only in the Star Wars universe.

The advantage of getting the full set instead of only Minifigure is we get some scenery. It may not be useful to anyone but since I want to make Brick Comics they may have a role

[Balbo]

Hi

If you are interested particularly in army building i would recommend getting as much Mirkwood elf armies as possible and pass on the other sets you are considering buying.

There are 1 warg, 3 elfes and 2 Orcs in that set which makes a nice army when you're buying multiple of them. Thranduil will be a good figure to sell in the future because he isn't included in any other Hobbit set - but he's a very important character. So you can save some money when selling the spare Thranduils

Dol Guldur Battle, Battle of five armies and Lake Town attack aren't very good army builder sets because there a only two Orcs in each of the sets - the same number as in the Mirkwood Elf Army

Unfortunately Uruk Hais are getting more and more expensive and aren't nearly affordable now. When you're interested in getting some of them I would recommend you buying them quickly on BL because the price is increasing nearly every day.

Getting some Moria Orcs is a good alternative - they match better with the CMF Goblins and aren't that expensive than the Uruks

[MAB]

For comics / photos you don't need a big army at all. Just set up the shot and camera on a tripod, place your 10 minifigs (or whatever) and take the shot. Then move them, take another shot, repeat and repeat. Then stitch the photos together to create a large army.

The size of an army you need for a physical display is really up to you. If you concentrate on a 32x32 part of the battle, then 10 a side is perfectly adequate, for a 16x16 vignette even smaller numbers still look fine. Something small can be spectacular too, if you concentrate on the detail of what you are showing. As you get bigger, detail is often lost and the spectacular part comes from just sheer number of figs (or money spent on them) rather than necessarily what you do with them.

[BrickSev]

For comics / photos you don't need a big army at all. Just set up the shot and camera on a tripod, place your 10 minifigs (or whatever) and take the shot. Then move them, take another shot, repeat and repeat. Then stitch the photos together to create a large army.

The size of an army you need for a physical display is really up to you. If you concentrate on a 32x32 part of the battle, then 10 a side is perfectly adequate, for a 16x16 vignette even smaller numbers still look fine. Something small can be spectacular too, if you concentrate on the detail of what you are showing. As you get bigger, detail is often lost and the spectacular part comes from just sheer number of figs (or money spent on them) rather than necessarily what you do with them.

Thank you very much for the advice

I was a bit unclear in my original post (it happens when I multi task too mach things )

The project was "double folded": I wanted to build a fantasy army (or armies) for the sake of army building and then use the scenery for Brick comics

I completely agree with you: when making a Brick Comic or a Brickfilm few Minifigures are better.

Details are indeed lost when the army is larger the "spectacularity" is then determined by the sheer number of Minifigures.

So in the end, you are saying it won't be a waste a money to acquire those sets before they are sold out, since I can still get nice results

Thanks again for the advice

[Blakstone]

I just swung by the local LEGO Store at lunch today and they have Dol Guldur Ambush on clearance. If you have a local store, you might check that out. Two orcs with ears. Very nice.

[BrickSev]

I just swung by the local LEGO Store at lunch today and they have Dol Guldur Ambush on clearance. If you have a local store, you might check that out. Two orcs with ears. Very nice.

I did, I checked at local stores but no trace of those sets on clearance, sadly.

I recently found the Goblin King battle with a 15€ discount. Not a lot but since it is set long sold out I got it

[ElCrab]

You're not the one messaging on eBay right now, are you? :P

I have a bag of orcs that I need to sell, PM me if you'd like.

[Borador]

There are a few ways I know of to do this... Bear in mind I've only heard of them, never actually done them, but I'm hoping I can put you on the right track.

If there is a LUG (LEGO Users Group) in your area, I've heard of them doing these things called "drafts" where everyone puts a little money towards buying one or more sets, and then they part it out. Everyone picks what pieces they want, and then they only pay for those pieces. I assume figures cost more than the standard price per piece ratio, but they'd still be cheaper than they are on Bricklink or BrickOwl.

If you don't have one in your area, there are websites that will do it, but I couldn't name any. Also, I've heard of people doing bulk bricklink orders, but I think that will only save you on shipping, not on the pieces themselves.

If I were you, I'd make up a Bricklink wanted list of every figure I wanted, both complete and parted out, and then try to match that to stores to find the best possible price. Also, have Bricklink notify you when quantities and prices of what you want are available.

If all else fails... Photoshop is your friend.

[BrickSev]

You're not the one messaging on eBay right now, are you? :P

I have a bag of orcs that I need to sell, PM me if you'd like.

It's not me lol. I'm not on ebay :) I live in Italy so everything shipping from USA has prohibitive shipping costs and taxes as well. I noticed there were few interesting thing on ebay from Italian stores/users. We are not very lucky when it comes to the collecting world

There are a few ways I know of to do this... Bear in mind I've only heard of them, never actually done them, but I'm hoping I can put you on the right track.

If there is a LUG (LEGO Users Group) in your area, I've heard of them doing these things called "drafts" where everyone puts a little money towards buying one or more sets, and then they part it out. Everyone picks what pieces they want, and then they only pay for those pieces. I assume figures cost more than the standard price per piece ratio, but they'd still be cheaper than they are on Bricklink or BrickOwl.

If you don't have one in your area, there are websites that will do it, but I couldn't name any. Also, I've heard of people doing bulk bricklink orders, but I think that will only save you on shipping, not on the pieces themselves.

If I were you, I'd make up a Bricklink wanted list of every figure I wanted, both complete and parted out, and then try to match that to stores to find the best possible price. Also, have Bricklink notify you when quantities and prices of what you want are available.

If all else fails... Photoshop is your friend.

No Lego user groups in my area. It's not a very large city, after all.

Photoshop would be a nice idea if making a comic or video but I wanted a real fantasy army. I'm a collector, after all.

I know it is getting difficult getting Fantasy Minifigures so I thought "I can grab those last sets and make something out of them before they are sold out"

So I could even had some scenery instead of making Minifigures "act" on a white screen or spending a lot of time editing photos to add a proper background

[Ludzik]

I kmow that shipping to EU can get expensive at times though depending on how you pack things prices could very. if you're so inclined look at my for sale thread and pm me with what would interest you and I can send you a quote with shipping costs included. Who knows... it might end up being worth it ;)

[Deathleech]

I wouldn't bother in all honest. Most of the really "good" sets are long out of production and the ones left aren't great for army building nor the scenery. If I were you, I would invest in something new and fresh coming out.

[BrickSev]

I wouldn't bother in all honest. Most of the really "good" sets are long out of production and the ones left aren't great for army building nor the scenery. If I were you, I would invest in something new and fresh coming out.

I had the same though. I recently found and bought the Goblin King Battle and I'm very pleased with it. It's a good scenery too. But the remaining sets are so undertone. Perhaps only Dol Gur Battle would be nice for scenery (and Lonely Mountain which I already have ) but the other are just few ruins or a bridge and nothing else