Games Workshop - Hero’s of the West Set

Review by Steve Crofts

First Thoughts



I must admit that before I’d seen the set of figures, that, I did read John's preliminary review, and a point that he made within the article, did get me thinking when I opened the box.

The review that I am writing is of course and as usual my own thoughts on this product, but I will expand on my thoughts on Johns comment also.

The box is as usual very nice and colourful and details the products within, and does have a nice photograph of the figures once painted, the normal that you expect from GW.

Opening the box…. Out comes the plastic segregated tray, now back in the old days this tray would have been a foam one, (This is taking Johns comment further), 

with cut outs to hold the figures sandwiched between to flat pieces, one of which was stuck to the bottom of the cut out piece. This Idea in my personal opinion was great, as it did one of two things….

First it stopped the figures banging around and getting bent or broken.

Secondly it came in handy once the figures were painted to keep them safe from damage when being stored or when travelling to friends houses ect…

These plastic trays don’t do that and figures weapons can get bent or broken.

The foam in the boxes idea I would personally like to see being brought back into service, it was an excellent idea and why it got scrapped in favour of the plastic and polystyrene types I will never know.



Back to the figures…

One first inspection the figures are very nicely cast, very clean and detailed.

All of the figures reflect very well the characters that they portray and are easy to recognise.

Faces and hands are in proportion to rest of the figures and there is plenty of movement in the figures.

Creases and folds in the clothing is as you would expect well cut and defined as is the armour and weapons.



Flash

Not much at all, and only the odd minor mould line which is easily removed, so not much cleaning and tidying to do.

Eomers, Eowyns, Legolas’s and Aragorns swords needed straightening as did Gandalfs staff, care did have to be taken here as if you bend them too much the snap off, so be careful!!!!



Painting

Oh what Joy!

I tend not to follow the Art work on the box, as some of the painted models can look a bit too brightly coloured or wrong to me, so I go with my own resource material if I can, this was in the form of Photographs taken from the films and compiled into a couple of books that were available in WH Smiths at one point.

I do prefer this type of reference as you can get a truer colour match and you can match the characters in the photo’s near as damn it.

The detail on the figures is beautiful, and it does give you a lot to work with. Successive build up colours enhance this detail tremendously and each complements the other.

If time and care are taken, you can really go to town with these figures, Gandalfs clothes for instance had no less than six different shades put on them.

Eowyn I must say has to be my favourite of the bunch, her defiance and determination have really been captured in this figure and she really was worth the time and work to paint.

Each figure is it’s own challenge but the results are well worth the while.



Final Thoughts

A price ticket of £25.00 is to me very excessive for just 9 figures which I feel is a shame because I do think everyone who is into LOTR’s should have a set.

All the figures are extremely nice and well positioned in their poses each captures the characters presence and makes an exceptional set.

Packaging…



I do hope that GW read this note on the packaging, they did used to package the figures in an exceptional way that prevented breakage and damage and did give a use to the package materials, rather than just slinging it into the bin!

Please remember to mention Wargames Forum when contacting traders!

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