How Many Mirkwood Elf Army Sets Do You Plan on Buying?

[Wardancer]

I bought no Uruk Army, but 8 Eomers and 12 Rohan soldiers (these I got for a very good price).

Since my regiment size is 8+1 for foot soldiers and 4 for mounted soldiers, I will buy three MEAs. That makes 1 regiment of archers with leader instantly. The orcs I shall sell off to buy one more warg to make a warg regiment (still need to find out what exactly as I still think they look weird with a saddle). Then I need 6 more Thranduils to make a new regiment, which is a bit more a long time effort. Maybe there is a way to cut down the wooden crown to make them more generic, with one leader with full crown.

[Niku]

I think that having the set on "real and built" will change my mind and probably will get a little more of them.

Anyone seen this?

http://farm6.staticf...2f3d1d8de_b.jpg

I did not notice as well with this pic, the pieces it includes.

[Elrond]

Probably only 1. I might have bought more if they had new armors.

[Fives]

I'll get two to start. But I'm thinking four total. That way I can make a round Elf base with four tree towers and some sort of courtyard in the middle. A mini castle!

[Niku]

I'll get two to start. But I'm thinking four total. That way I can make a round Elf base with four tree towers and some sort of courtyard in the middle. A mini castle!

A nice idea indeed.

[tacozftw]

I bought 4 Uruk-hai armies ($25 per, via Amazon) because I felt that everything about the set was proportional, and Eomer easily functions as an army-building rider of Rohan. I actually didn't even know the set included a named character until I bought my second or third set. I also bought 3 Orc Forges.

I'll only be buying 1 MEA (at $25 via Amazon) because the ratio is pretty lame IMO. If it was 3-4 orcs vs. 2-3 elves, I'd probably buy like 2 or 3 sets. But I'm on a budget, and it really irks me that I'd have those extra Thranduils and an Orc deficit. I may buy a couple Wargs and a few Orcs off of Bricklink (if the Wargs are ~$5-7 and the Orcs are ~$3-5) but I will definitely buy only one of the set.

[Hepitos]

i bought 15 Uruk hai armies, because u can easily change body of Eomer and u have another rohan soldier.

but MEA i will only buy once, because Thranduil is useless. dont know what to do with all his hairpieces :(

so, a very bad army builder set

[Lynx]

A nice idea indeed.

The idea is nice, but the castle would look rather ugly, I fear: Low walls without much structure to them, no gate and four towers only remotely resembling trees. You would need something to fill the courtyard. Unfortunately, combining MEA with Barrel Escape won't work too well. We might get better ideas after watching the Desolation of Smaug.

[Tyrant]

I have 11-12 Uruk Hai Army sets. Looking over my lists it looks like I only paid retail for 2 of them and that was part of an order to get a promo figure from TLG. I sold the extra Eomer figures to make up some of the money. As for the Mirkwod set, it will ultimately depend on how easily I can get rid of the extra Thranduil figures and if I can get them on any kind of sale. I plan to get 3-4 right now, and more if the situation is right. I like the elves and the orcs (though I do agree that they should have hair and that armored elves would be nice at some point) and I can use most of the parts. Likewise with the Dol Guldur Ambush if I can find them cheap or find a way to offload the extra Beorns then I will geta number of them as well. I like that this wave will give us yet more variety for the orcs and elves. I just wish there was a cheap set with Moria Orcs.

[naf]

I'll start with 1, might buy another if I can find a really good deal. I'm not much of an army builder, eurobricks standards anyway. I don't have the room for hundreds of figures, and I find that having too many in a MOC ends up being distracting.

I did buy 3 uruk hai armies, since I thought the Helm's Deep set needed a few more uruk's, and I wanted to extend the wall.

[csc166]

I am going to use them to build a wall around my modified ewok village

[Mahtion]

I am going to use them to build a wall around my modified ewok village

That sounds like a good idea! Would love to see the MOC when it is finished.

I will try to make a circular wall with 3 or 4, I will have to create a gateway and make some towers and increase the height of the wall so I may need more bricks. After seeing the high res pics and knowing about the modular aspects of the wall I am excited to improve upon the basic design.

I am also working on getting some Lego and Brickwarrior pieces to make my own Armored Mirkwood Guards.

[Mutant Orc]

The idea is nice, but the castle would look rather ugly, I fear: Low walls without much structure to them, no gate and four towers only remotely resembling trees. You would need something to fill the courtyard. Unfortunately, combining MEA with Barrel Escape won't work too well. We might get better ideas after watching the Desolation of Smaug.

I agree. I won't get many so I probably will just break the set up for scrap after a while.

[Infernum]

I am also working on getting some Lego and Brickwarrior pieces to make my own Armored Mirkwood Guards.

If you find any cool combinations let us know.

[Ardelon]

I'll only get one, if any, since I'm not into army building. I didn't buy any UHA sets either, since it didn't seem worth it just to get the single Rohan soldier I was interested in.

Maybe interest in the MEA set will grow after people see the movie.

[Gabe]

I'm planning on getting a couple of the MEA, we'll see i guess. Figs look great, some nice parts in there (Reddish brown gothic half-arches? Yes please!) and i can always use more tan. I ended up with 3 Uruk-hai battle packs and it wouldn't surprise me if that happened again with this new set.

[Rogue Angel]

I don't know why people would think Uruk Hai Army is so much better than Mirkwood Elf Army. You get a significantly bigger set with a warg as well, plus, you don't get screwed like you did with Rohan soldiers. (Yes Eomer is nice, but we will probably never see a Rohan soldier again, so it was a missed chance.)

Here is how they measure up from a non-biased view (Better option shown in blue)

Uruk Hai Army Mirkwood Elf Army

3 Uruk in Armor & Lurtz * 2 Hooded Elves, a Haired Elf and Thranduil

1 Rohan soldier & Eomer * 2 Generic Orcs

1 Horse * 1 Warg

2 Uruk Swords & 1 Spear* 2 long bows, longsword & black spear

2 Uruk & 1 Rohan Shield * 2 Elven shields

2 wood tiles & 5 brick bricks * 3 new lt bley arches, 2 new brown arches & 2 lt bley new facet bricks

$0.13/piece * $0.145/piece

Uruk Hai has a slight advantage but I feel the Warg makes up for that.

Now there are some other less distinct comparisons that make me like Mirkwood more. Uruk Hai are fodder for me, while Rohan and Elves are the reason I buy sets. I don't care that much if my Elven army is facing 40 Uruk Hai and 20 Gundabad Orcs, or 20 Uruk Hai and 20 Gundabad Orcs and 20 Mordor Orcs, or any combination of the 3, while I am very particular about how many Elves I am getting. Also, I prefer the tan, dark tan and browns of Mirkwood to the light bleys or Uruk Hai, and the Warg is a huge bonus for the Mirkwood set. Also, the piece cost might be higher, but you get bigger pieces on average in Mirkwood.

In my mind, Mirkwood is a better set overall, and I will probably be buying just as many as I did Uruk Hai (6). If one or two of the Elves would have been armored, it would be Mirkwood, no contest, if I hadn't already purchased 30 Mirkwood Elf Polybags, it would be Mirkwood, no contest, if the Elven shields were new molds instead of Ovals, it would be Mirkwood, no contest, If low-ears had a more useful head piece, or if we would have gotten 2 more hair pieces (Elf or orc), it would be Mirkwood, no contest. If the Uruk Hai set would have included 2 Rohan soldiers and no Lurtz.... I would feel the two sets were even (with the present makeup).

I am happy with the Mirkwood Elves set, even though I think there were a number of small things they could have done to change this from a good set to a fantastic set. My hope is that we get Elven Armor is BO5A.

[Lynx]

Here is how they measure up from a non-biased view (Better option shown in blue)

Uruk Hai Army Mirkwood Elf Army

3 Uruk in Armor & Lurtz * 2 Hooded Elves, a Haired Elf and Thranduil

1 Rohan soldier & Eomer * 2 Generic Orcs

1 Horse * 1 Warg

2 Uruk Swords & 1 Spear* 2 long bows, longsword & black spear

2 Uruk & 1 Rohan Shield * 2 Elven shields

2 wood tiles & 5 brick bricks * 3 new lt bley arches, 2 new brown arches & 2 lt bley new facet bricks

$0.13/piece * $0.145/piece

Two Rohan soldiers beat two generic orcs any day, in my opinion, and the pieces in UHA are more useful in LotR MOCs, as far as I'm concerned.

[Deathleech]

The Uruk-hai with hair in the UHA set isn't technically suppose to be Lurtz. Sure he has an identicle print and hair piece to Lurtz in the Orc Forge set, but he is a different color (red instead of brown), and Lurtz never was at the Battle of Helm's Deep.

As for the rest of your points, I totally agree the brown Warg owns a brown horse. Other than that though, I think the Uruk-hai Army set wins in every other way. First off it has a better minifigure selection all around. Four Uruk-hai, a Rohan Soldier and Eomer who can easily serve as a second Rohan Soldier vs two Gundabad Orcs without hair, three elves (two of which have hoods on making them indestinguishable from normal human minifigs), and Thranduil who looks way to special with his hair piece provided to serve as anything but Thranduil (unless you buy extra helms or head pieces of some sort). You basically get 5 minifigures in the MEA set vs 6 in UHA, and only one of those elves is decent really. The Mirkwood Elf polybag really diminishes the need for more hooded elves too.

Another point you didnt really touch on is how UHA can be connected to Helm's Deep to make that set look more like the movie or create taller walls. what do you do with multiple MEA sets though? Great bigger circular outposts? Meh.

As for the rest of your points, I think they are just a matter for preference. Some people might find the tan and brown parts more useful and others the light bley depending what they need or want to use them for. Even in your comparison though, UHA wins 4 out of the 7 categories and really I think it should be 5 out of 7. 2 Rohan Soldiers should beat 2 Gundabad Orcs, especially without ear/hair pieces and with better versions of them being available in a cheaper set (Dol Guldur Ambush).

[Rogue Angel]

Two Rohan soldiers beat two generic orcs any day, in my opinion, and the pieces in UHA are more useful in LotR MOCs, as far as I'm concerned.

Oh, I agree that the Rohan soldier and Eomer are infinitely better than the two orcs if you are comparing that way, but I also feel that 3 Mirkwood Elves and Thranduil are far better than 4 Uruk Hai, but I was trying to be unbiased in terms of "3 nonunique units in armor and a nonunique-able Lurtz-ish vs 2 non-uniques in hoods, 1 unique and 1 non-unique with hair" and "1 nonunique and 1 unique vs 2 nonunique"

The Uruk Hai are all non-unique, and the best you could want (short of the white hand) for Uruk Hai, while the Elves could have all had hair pieces, and could have had armor and could have had new prints, but I value any one of those Elves over any Uruk Hai every time.

As I view it, the hooded Elves are worth $4 a piece ($3 for torso and legs, $1 for hood), Thranduil is worth $5.00 ($4.00 for better torso and $1.00 for cape) and the haired Elf is worth $6 ($3.00 for torso and legs and $3.00 for hairpiece). The Warg is worth $7.00, the saddle is worth $0.50, the shields are worth $1.00 each, the long sword is worth $0.50 and the Gundabad Orcs are worth $5.50 ($2.50 per orc and $0.50 for shoulder piece) until I get 10 Gundabad Orcs, at which their value will drop to $2.00 for me. Some might value the shoulder piece at $1.00, but it's just an accessory that looks nice on Orcs, but I wouldn't buy extra once I have 2 or 3. This gives a total set value of $34.50 not counting any bricks, so as soon as this set is 15% off, it pays for itself IMO

In Uruk Hai Army, Eomer was worth $5.50 ($3 for useful torso and legs, $1.00 for cape, $1 for shield and $0.50 for semi-useful helmet), the Rohan soldier was worth $3.50 ($3 for useful torso and legs, $0.50 for semi-useful helmet) (BTW, if Rohan soldier would have been more readily available, I would have valued him at $5.00, but with only the 1, it's too expensive to get a halfway decent army of them, so I just use the torso and ditch the helmet.) The armored Uruk Hai are worth $3.50 ($2.50 for Torso, Legs and head, $0.50 each for helmet and armor), the Lurtz Uruk Hai is worth $3.00 ($2.50 for torso, legs and head and $0.50 for hair piece), the horse is worth $2.00, the saddle is worth $0.50, the spear is worth $0.50 and the 2 orc swords are worth $0.50 each for a grand total of $26.50 without any bricks.

So technically Uruk Hai army has more value relative to the retail price 88.6% vs 86.25%, but the pieces in Mirkwood are much more useful to me as I already own a ton of light grey.

I agree that the modularity of the set is very nice, but once I had 2 of the Uruk Hai armies, that was no longer relavant for me.

[Deathleech]

So technically Uruk Hai army has more value relative to the retail price 88.6% vs 86.25%, but the pieces in Mirkwood are much more useful to me as I already own a ton of light grey.

I'm curious, where are you getting these prices? Are they just values to you personally? According to BL they seem much different than what you are quoting:

Full armored Uruk-hai - $3.80 (x2) = $7.60

Uruk-hai with helmet only - $3.15

Uruk-hai with hair - $2.75

Eomer - $4.30

Rohan Soldier - $5.50

Brown pose able horse - $2.60

That's $25.90 for the minifigures and horse alone. I am guessing after several months the Mirkwood Elf Army value per figure will be dramatically less. I don't see Thranduil being more expensive than Eomer since he is so unique and his parts aren't that useful beyond one of him. The hooded elves and orcs without hair/ears probably won't be worth more than fully armored Uruk-hai. Looking at the current Mordor Orcs without hair/ear pieces, they are only going for around $3 and I am guessing that's what the Gundabad Orcs will go for (prolly $2.75 for totally unarmored and $3-3.50 for shoulder armored). I can't see the hooded Mirkwood Elves fetching more than $4. I am guessing the only figure that will be over $5 will probably be the elf with the hair and ears and the Warg.

[Rogue Angel]

I'm calculating their worth to me. That is how much I would pay for them and value them at. I would not buy the Warg for more than $7 and I would pay up to $6 for the haired Elf. I realize they are not all the Bricklink values, but I like to get a sense as to how much army builders are worth before I buy them.

[korpen4444]

I'm not into LotR, but I'll buy 1 or 2 of this set because it looks cool.

[roccom22]

I bought 4 Uruk armies and anothe 20 or so singles. I'll probably get one MEA to start and another if i have some extra funds. Would like to build a small elf archer unit but not sure if buying the set would be the way to go. Probably just buy a few more elves off of BL.

[Rogue Angel]

Well, now that we're looking at a $30 set instead of a $40 set, Mirkwood Army more than matches Uruk Hai Army, and I will be buying 6 to 8 of them.