"mumakil substitute?" Topic

Hey Guys,
Any suggestions for Mumakil substitutes?
I'm using alot of the GW figs but I just feel the Mumakil model is just way to big for the oliphant.
Thinking of using the biggest 28mm elephant on the market.

try a Warlord elephant

link

Victrix limited makes a plastic one, providing for some flexibility in assembly, but it is not particularly large:

link

What about looking for big plastic toy elephants?

I'd pick up a schleich elephant and use that as a basis for a Mumakil – they are big, as they are 54mm but not as big as the Mumakil and prety cheap…

Mike

I always pictured them as similar to a wooly mammoth link

Mithril made/makes one,with several crew.

Reading LOTR, I never got the impression that the mumakil were hugely out of scale with humans.
They were …. elephants.
I bought, assembled and painted the GW one. It's very pretty. I sold it.
In my opinion, Ordinary 28mm War elephants should be fine with 28mm LOTR figures. Seleucid, Seljuk/Ghaznavid or armored Moghul elephants would be fine. Cheaper too!

It's been a while since I soldiered in Sncients. I saw many fine Seleucid elephants. The Irregular Ghaznavid one was nice but smaller.
Does anyone now make the impressive Moghul elephant pictured in Gush?

Well, Tolkien might have envisioned oliphants as elephants, or maybe even slightly larger elephants, but that's because he was an amateur.

It took the visual genius of Peter Jackson to make oliphants into something so ridiculously large that no ecosystem could possibly support herds of these things.

I can just hear him now: "No, no! BIGGER! More EXTREME!!!"

The story of the Witch-king's flail tells it all. He kept going back to the artist to make it bigger. The artist then made it really ridiculously big, thinking Jackson would say "woah, too much, scale it back down." Instead, Jackson approved.

Same way the action in each of the six movies gets bigger and more ludicrous as they go. Legolas walking the troll's tightrope seems positively tame by the time you get to oliphant-surfing or the non-stop electric barrel-riding extravaganza.

But yes, I was thinking Schliech elephants might be a good way to go.

Some of their dragons are fabulous, and many of the knights make great statues for smaller scales.

Must agree that the film's Mumakil were one of the sillier Jacksonian elements. Not that there weren't others!

The recently published map by Tolkien includes a scribbled note about the Pennelor battle saying the easterling /southrons used elephants like Pyrrhus in Italy.

In another posthumously – published bit he mentions the Mumak were larger than elephants now alive (which could mean almost anything).

If you have face-book go to the middle earth wargaming page where a dedicated chap recently posted his excellent two-part research notes getting to grips with Mumak – and how he made up a squadron of them.

regards

David F Brown

Thanks guys

What Winston said. And Darthfozzywig. Peter Jackson is an idiot, plain and simple.

Side track: I can't find a recently published map by Tolkien. Got links?

thanks
andy

From my reading, I pictured them as Mammoths, much larger than a common elephant. Not necessarily a Woolly Mammoth, but a much larger version of the normal Circus elephant.

Isn't there a passage where Merry and Pippen see them for the first time and describe them?

"Peter Jackson is an idiot, plain and simple."

Really??

May I ask how many movies you've directed?
And how many millions have watched your efforts and enjoyed them?

Because I really enjoy the 3 films and have watched the extended cut releases repeatedly.

So, please enlighten me as to what makes Mr. Jackson an "Idiot" and what your qualifications are for referring to him as such.

Pay attention. Darthfozzywig explained above. I find his movies start out fine, excellent maybe, but then somehow they then proceed to go downhill fast. He's like a chef who adds too much salt; he just has no sense of moderation or balance.

You avoided the questions. Darth didn't call him an idiot. You did.

So, what makes him an "idiot"?
And what are your qualifications to cast such aspersions?

No, I indicated exactly what causes me to characterize PJ as an idiot. And Darth only mentions a few instances of PJ's poor creative decisions. There are a good many more, in a good many films.

I'll ask again, since you've avoided answering for a second time?

And what are your qualifications to cast such aspersions?

While I would not call Jackson an idiot – far from it – neither would I insist that you can direct your own movies before you can comment upon them. The same goes eg for sports – if I see a fail I can call it so, even when my own performance on the field would be far worse.

Still – making decisions you do NOT approve (like excessive Olifants, Frodo in Osgiliath or lots of ghosts on the Pelennor, pushing persons to act out of character etc… to name but some of many more) – does not make a person an "idiot". Just imho, of course.