Middle Earth SBG: Saruman and Grima Review

 


As part of the Tale of Three Wargamers that I'm doing along with two friends on the Blog (here's a link if you're interested), I picked up the Saruman and Grima plastic kit that was released a couple of years back now. I've got a couple of these new kits for Middle Earth SBG now, and have been impressed with them all, so how does Saruman stack up? As always, I'll be breaking my thoughts down into value, quality, build and looks:

Value: 3/5

As with all Games Workshop kits, you are paying a premium. All 3 miniatures (and the palantir) are squeezed onto a single sprue- which is impressive, but in terms of sheer quantity of plastic- it's not much for £26 if you buy straight from Games Workshop (you can get a discount from a FLGS for this though!) What saves this for me is that you're getting 3 miniatures, and a nice token/scenery piece in the palantir. When you compare this to a Warhammer 40k character sprue, for example, there you are getting just a single model, and sometimes on a smaller sprue, for a similar (if not more expensive) price point. It's a nice touch giving you a dismount for Saruman, a support hero in Grima and the palantir as an extra touch. They definitely could have gotten away without the extras- so it's a nice touch.

Same price- I know which I'd rather have!


Quality- 4/5

The quality is good- of course it is- you're paying Games Workshop prices for the higher end of the market. Why not a 5 then? Mould lines. Mould lines to the point that I was actually surprised. When I build a newer Games Workshop kit, the mould lines are usually very little concern- they're either in places which won't be seen, and places where after you've scraped them off, won't be noticeable. Where are they on this model? Saruman's smooth robes, the legs of the horse, the round end of Saruman's staff, the palantir... I spent the better part of an hour scraping mould lines for this miniature. It's not that other miniatures don't have them- but when I built the Witch King, or Treebeard, there was no where near this much work! There is nowhere near this much work on any of the recent Blood Bowl miniatures either. Perhaps I just got unlucky, but I didn't feel I could give the usual 5/5 for a Games Workshop product after the amount of work that was required.

Unfortunately I hadn't been expecting to take any build photos, so I didn't photograph any of the more annoying mould lines. But I deliberately left the Palantir on the sprue to show the kind of mould line I'm talking about- a smooth surface, the most annoying place to have to clean!

Build- 3.5/5

It was fine. Just fine. The parts went together OK- some small gaps, but easily solved. It wasn't challenging, it wasn't especially satisfying if you enjoy the build. It was the usual splicing of pieces that you see on modern plastic kits designed in a computer. Scraping mould lines probably resulted in the loss of half a point, but it was still fine to build.

You can see a small gap on Grima's foot as an example. Can't say I understand why this needed to be a separate piece- it won't be an issue after some paint is on though.

Looks- 5/5

For me, this is the definitive look for Saruman and Grima. They're just perfect. Grima really with his slimy appearance both in Theoden's court and Orthanc. Saruman is imposing, and the details on the clothing is really great. I'm glad that they're quite static, but just have that little bit of subtle movement to Saruman's pose. For me, the wizards just look better when they're appearance is more reserved- Saruman was commanding, and this model is just that!

Just the perfect Saruman look for me!

Overall- 15.5/20

Overall, I'm extremely happy with the miniature. Most of my issues with it were with the building stage of things- but once you're past that, it's still a good product. As to whether you should rush out and get one, I suppose it depends how much you like Saruman. If you are just starting, and have an interest in Isengard- yes absolutely. If you enjoy painting, I think this is going to be great to paint compared to some of the older Middle Earth wizards (I've painted both Gandalf and old Radagast in the past). If you already own a Saruman though, I'm not sure if I'd recommend it due to the price and amount of clean up required- it would have to come down to how much you love the posing of the models.



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