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

[nine09nueve]

We'll I've bought 1 for my son and then 372 promotional Mirkwood Elf packs for me... (Didn't think 4 elves were enough!)

[Venunder]

I will be buying multiple Elves. For the Wargs, Tan bricks and the Elven army for the Battle of 5 Armies, in the valley of Dale MOC that I have planned. :)

[greenalfonzo]

Not very interested. Will buy one for Thranduil, the tan bricks, orcs, and hair elf, but am not interested in army-building the hooded elves at all, as there have been no hooded elves in the Hobbit movies. Would have bought ten, easy, if there were two armored elf warriors (like were in the movie) in the set instead.

The hooded elves just look like human rangers to me.

[nine09nueve]

Not very interested. Will buy one for Thranduil, the tan bricks, orcs, and hair elf, but am not interested in army-building the hooded elves at all, as there have been no hooded elves in the Hobbit movies. Would have bought ten, easy, if there were two armored elf warriors (like were in the movie) in the set instead.

The hooded elves just look like human rangers to me.

Then surely you change the torso to be something more armoured - add a cape and a sword... maybe tweak a head or two and voila...

Death from the trees!

No?

[Albus]

I was very tempted to buy four to create the ring-fort by connecting them all, but then I saw the movie, and realised it wasn't supposed to be a ring-fort, but rather a water-gate, so I was thankfully able to settle with the two I already had...

I'll mod it later so it actually has a gate in it.

[greenalfonzo]

Then surely you change the torso to be something more armoured - add a cape and a sword... maybe tweak a head or two and voila...

Death from the trees!

No?

Gondor Rangers are described in the book LOTR as wearing green. I got some green capes to complete the look, but haven't bothered to change the torsos or heads. The "leaves" around the neck are the only thing that look really elfin, the heads don't say 'elf' to me at all. Eventually I will get more of the hair pieces and then they will have the complete elf look.

[Lego dad]

I bought 4 sets of Uruk-hai to go with helms deep but only have 1 MEA. If the price drops low enough I might pick up another one otherwise having all the Hobbit minifigs is my only real goal.

[SirBlake]

I bought 6 UHA for both bricks and minifigs. Only 1 MEA though. Between Thranduril, hooded elves and bald orks, it's just not as versatile. Same goes for the brick selection.

Edited March 2, 2014 by SirBlake

[Only Sinner]

I have bought five of the UHA, and fully intend to buy six of the MEA. I really like all the useful parts like the elf pieces, the shields and weapons, and the warg of course! The extra Thranduil's will each recieve helmets and armors from my castle collection. That will look just fine as far as I'm concerned.

[Leo604]

I only bought 1 of each MEA and UHA; army building for LOTR wasn't a priority for me, and the Thranduil and Eomer minifigs were the main incentive for me to get the sets.

[ShrikeArghast]

I have one just because I wanted the Thranduil figure. Having said that, the cowled elves aren't... well they aren't really elves, you know? They're just the standard tan minifig in a hood. The set really only comes with two elves, and one is really a unique figure that can't be turned into an army. It actually seems like an expensive way to build an elven army.

[Wardancer]

Thranduil cannot be turned into an army? Too bad I already have 9 of him. This will make a fine regiment of noble elves.

[ShrikeArghast]

Thranduil cannot be turned into an army? Too bad I already have 9 of him. This will make a fine regiment of noble elves.

Those crowns are going to look a little silly. Frankly, If I had to guess, it would be cheaper to build an elven army either via Ebay or BL.

[nine09nueve]

Or via myself *cough* for example? Have probably got 300+ elves spare... ish... Am on bricklink too as it happens...

However, I disagree about the hoodies not being elvish... a green hood per se yes on it s own probably isn't - but a number of green hoods with elf bows (in dispersed with a few long hairs or pointy ears) and you start to have a mix of elf troops. And what could be more Elvish than 100 or so hooded archers, just inside the treeline, waiting for those greenskins to come in to range of a hail of death....

Having said that, having every soldier with exactly the same look makes a regiment look a little false IMHO. But I do like the majority of the troops to look broadly very similar - different faces or hair perhaps and the odd colour change here and there to (maybe even to signify different clans/squads etc)

Then you can really go to town with the heroes/generals/leader models as well as other individuals like standard bearers/musicians uniques etc etc - Wardancer has particularly good ones in that respect. I'm really interested to see how the noble elf regiment works out!

Much love

David

[Wardancer]

That is the real merit of the MEA, making elves cheap on bricklink. I bought 3 MEAs and BLed the rest. Prices in the US are insanely low, it was even worth paying extra toll fees.

Yes, Thranduils hairpiece is quite useless. Either there is a way to cut back the crown into a normal hair circlet or I'll have many useless hairpieces.

Since Thranduil has the same green on him as the old mirkwood elves and some variations of Legolas, it should be easy to combine him with others. Capemadness for example has capes in an "elf green" colour, which might work well on them.

I don't like the new mirkwood elves too much, so I restrained myself to buying only 9 as well because that is the size I decided for to make one regiment.

nine09nueves 300 is a lot of elves! You should post pictures in the army building thread!

[nine09nueve]

376 Elves would take forever to set up - but we'll see if I can get some space. Yeah - they seem low in the US at the moment... (I'm guessing you are this side of the pond Dance?) but no one will have as many as me... *muhahaha*

Edited March 3, 2014 by nine09nueve

[Wardancer]

Price for a new mirkwood elf in US bricklink: 2,49 Eu. Here in Germany: 4.19

Thranduil US: 3.33 Eu, Germany 5.39.

Brown Warg: US 4.35, Germany 7:90.

372 polybag mirkwood elves! Haha, I was glad a friendly EB user imported 10 for me. I made the CMF elf my core unit.

[nine09nueve]

No - not polybag Mirkwood elves - limited edition promotional elves from the MEA set with art card insert from Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug movie! Just like lor078 on bricklink...

4.19 Euros seems like £3.45 - wow...

If you ever want to increase/vary your core unit - I'm sure I can do better than that per elf (and mine come with bows too!) And no US import tax too (strictly free I love the Eurozone no borders business!) AND less shipping costs no doubt!

[Wardancer]

Thanks for the offer! But I have decided to complete my army soon (at about 100 elves) and then start with a dark elf army with black and dark blue as basic colours, so my needs go into a different direction at the moment.

[nine09nueve]

Bah - 100 is no army... more of a light skirmish force!

I have been thinking on how best to portray the Dark Elves/Drow figures - I've yet to see one that hits the spot 100% - I'd be very interested to see your take on them.

[Deathleech]

It's true you can MOD and switch some pieces to make Thranduil serve as a more generic soldier. The problem is that only really works if you want to use him in your own fantasy world and not as something directly taken from LotR/Hobbit (at least seen in the movies). Also, as mentioned, his hair piece is pretty much useless after the first one no matter what you plan on doing with his head, torso, and legs.

In terms of the green hoods, I have mixed feelings about them. On the one hand they are great for people who want to use them for other purposes outside LotR or the Hobbit. Even within Middle-Earth they could have a few uses such as being used for Ithilien Rangers. That is both a blessing and a curse though. It's hard for some people (myself included) to imagine the Mirkwood Elves as elves since they have no real defining parts on them to differentiate them from humans (ie the pointy EARS!). Ya they have the printing on their legs and toros and the long elven bows, but at first glance they look just as much like a human ranger as an elf.

Lego COULD of given us a new hood mold that has the ears on the side of it. Of course that has it's own set of issues. The ears generally don't stick out of hoods and the hoods would have no use outside being very specific elven hoods (no more using them for Ithilien Rangers, for instance). I think in the end Lego probably chose the best option, even if the elves are never really seen with their hoods up in the films. Two hooded elves and one with hair. MAYBE they could of switched those ratios around, and of course the BEST option would of been one hooded, one with hair, and one tricked out in the water gate armor. As is though, Lego made a fairly decent compromise without having to invest in too many new molds or prints. Personally I still wish the set would of came with another Orc instead and they would of had hair

No - not polybag Mirkwood elves - limited edition promotional elves from the MEA set with art card insert from Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug movie! Just like lor078 on bricklink...

Wow, where did you get all of those? I am guessing you are a manager of a movie theater or got a bunch of left overs for cheap or something? I doubt you went and saw Desolation of Smaug 372 times, especially considering how bad it was (ok, it wasn't THAT bad, just not amazing like the LotR films... )

[nine09nueve]

Still haven't seen either Hobbit movie once! Am waiting until all three are done... and THEN waiting for the extended edition DVD sets and THEN I'll spend 2 days watching everything back to back

[Wardancer]

TLG could make the Wyldstyle hood in dark green (http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=15428pb01). This could be combined with pointy ears. (Which need to be painted yellow, which is a terrible work even for a customizer).

[nine09nueve]

TLG could make the Wyldstyle hood in dark green (http://www.bricklink...asp?P=15428pb01). This could be combined with pointy ears. (Which need to be painted yellow, which is a terrible work even for a customizer).

Exactly! Have a few of these dotted around lots of the green hooded mirkwood elves and you have a great collection of troops - clever stuff Wardancer!

OR - a clever MOC-er cloud do some mixy-mixy with the green hoods and some little beardy folk and come up with...

(http://www.avatars-of-war.com/eng/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&prodcode=pl07&prodname=Dwarf+Pathfinders&mediumcast=plastic&id=118&Itemid=115)

That would be pretty clever!

[Deathleech]

TLG could make the Wyldstyle hood in dark green (http://www.bricklink...asp?P=15428pb01). This could be combined with pointy ears. (Which need to be painted yellow, which is a terrible work even for a customizer).

Does that hood fit with the elf hair and ears? I know quivers don't so... ?