WOTR Miniatures Quality Issues

[Jamiri]

Yesterday I purchased a copy of "War of the Ring" (English Version) from the Phalanxgames booth at the "Spiel" fair in Essen.

Unfortunately, after unpacking the contents at home I was rather disappointed of the poor quality of some of the game figures. About 10% percent of the miniatures are severely inclined or bent to one side, and worse, some of the tall Nazgúl figures, cannot even stand up properly without falling over. Anyone else had this kind of problem?

I'd really appreciate a replacement for these figures as soon as possible, because I'd like to play the game pretty soon. However, I cannot go back to the Spiel fair, since I live relatively far away from the Essen area. Furthermore, I do not want to send in the complete game, as this would cause unnecessary shipment costs. I've already contacted Phalanxgames on this issue, but they haven't answered me yet. Maybe the game designers or somebody else can help me out with an idea?

[Veldrin]

I'm not sure who you should contact but there is a way to fix the leaning minatures.

1) Heat them up (in boiling water or hot water directly from the tap)

2) Bend them right.

3) Cool them down (In cold water on in the freezer)

I fixed most of my Nazgûl this way and they all became perfectly straight.

The only miniature you cannot do this with is the S&E Elites (the Mûmakil) since they are sculpted with the left leg bent.

[glow=green,2,300]Veldrin[/glow]

[Amnesiac]

Unfortunately, bent plastic miniatures are not uncommon. Since WotR has over 200 miniatures, the amount of bent pieces per set is bound to be a bit higher than most other games.

Veldrin's heating / cooling tip is much appreciated, for though all of my Nazgul stand up, a few of them will tip over if they are even so much as breathed on!

On a side note, my Fellowship miniature is slightly huched over. I do not know whether this is by design or not, but I actually like the sense of burden that the hunched over figure of Frodo and Sam conveys...

[Jamiri]

Thanks for replying to my request. I'll definitely try that
"heat to fix" technique as soon as possible. Still hoping to get a response from Phalanxgames, though, as I've found another major "bug" in my copy of the game:

All the Free People dice have TWO character icons and NO army icon. I know that I can solve that issue somehow as well, but honestly, I don't feel like fixing up the whole game before I can start playing it.

I think I grabbed a really bad copy...

[redsimon]

Jamiri said:

All the Free People dice have TWO character icons and NO army icon.

I noticed the same in my copy, but I thought that would be okay.
Can the owners of the English edition clarify that, please?
Why would they make different dice for the Dutch and German version anyway?

[Amnesiac]

There is no issue with the dice, although it would help if the manual explained this matter better. The Free People's dice indeed hae two character icons. They also have an army / muster icon, giving you the choice of using either option if this side comes up. The Shadow dice have one character icon, and one army / muster icon, as well as a seperate army icon.

These differences in dice help greatly to balance the game, as well as to "mold" the choices given to each side in a "historcal" context. The Free People have more character choices and less army choices, as they indeed have more characters and a less numerous force at their disposal, as per the book. The Shadow player has more army choices and less character choices so as to reflect Mordor's limitless hordes of Orcs, as well as their lack of major characters (they have only three charcter cards, after all).

I hope my somewhat convoluted answer makes at least a small bit of sense...

[Fiveangels]

I had the same problem and the heating and rapid cooling in ice water helped a bit. My nazgul would still fall on occasion though, so I took some small washers and glued them to the nazgul bases. The pieces never fall and have some nice heft like weighted chess pieces now.

[Jamiri]

Amnesiac said:

There is no issue with the dice, although it would help if the manual explained this matter better. The Free People's dice indeed hae two character icons.

Are you sure about that? I mean, how do you know that? The manual lists the different action die icons in the box on page 9 and there's a single army icon shown for the FP. So I thought the Shadow and FP dice would be basically similar (although your "historical" explanation makes perfectly sense to me).

[Amnesiac]

Roberto Di Meglio, one of the designers of this remarkable game, clarified the FP dice issue over at boardgamegeek.com. Here's the link:
www.boardgamegeek.com/article/53517

His comment is at the bottom of the thread.

Being one of the chief playtesters, Veldrin, who also posts on BGG, can perhaps add his considerable knowledge to the matter...

[dougadamsau]

If your Nazgul are falling over, glue a coin or washer to the base of the piece. Keeps them nice and stable.

[Jamiri]

@ Amnesiac: thanks for the link. I'm entirely convinced now.

dougadamsau: doesn't work if your Nazguls are inclined at an angle of more than 45°, as some of mine are

[Veldrin]

The Shadow's and the FP's dice are different.

the shadow needs more army dice while the FP needs more Character dice.

The symbols shlould be like this:

Shadow die:

1 Character symbol

1 Palantir symbol

1 Eye symbol

1 Army and Muster symbol

1 Army symbol

1 Muster symbol

FP die:

2 Character symbols

1 Will of the West symbol

1 Muster symbol

1 Army and Muster symbol

1 Palantir symbol

[glow=green,2,300]Veldrin[/glow]

[dougadamsau]

Jamiri, sorry about your bendy Nazgul. A few of mine were a bit the same. I filled a basin with very hot water, held them under for a minute or two in a "straight" position, then moved them quickly to the freezer! They seemed to straighten out okay.