As to the figures themselves. Both are decently molded, with no visible flash. They come painted, with a basic, decent quality paint job. "Decent" here means no shading, washing,highlighting etc-just a single color per area. Both are based for the hex combat rules produced by Sabertooth, so folks considering them with an eye towards using them for something ( like GW's version of LotR wargaming ) else may be in for a side project. The material is a soft, durable plastic. Both figures also come with an expanded rules insert for using them with the hex combat game, and a special die ( Clear Red for Sauron, with a Lidless Eye symbol replacing the one, A grey die with a sort of green leafy branch for Treebeard).
Sauron: Right around 3 3/4" from his soles to the spiky bits of his Iron Crown. Majestically Evil, Sauron is standing ready, with his upraised mace. The figure is basically just dark chainmail colored, with a flat black cloak. The detail seems very repectable. Experienced minis painters will probably want to dry brush a little bit of higlighting on him, and perhaps add some glowing red eyes.
Treebeard: Treebeard also comes with Merry and Pippin figures. Again, materials and overall paint job are comparable to Sauron figure. Treebeard comes in at just under 5" tall, not counting his hexbase. Some interesting "branches" have been included on the figure to hold Merry and Pippin on his shoulders. I thought that was an especially nice touch. The fact that the figure is made of soft plastic means a little bending is possible, and the figs would be very secure there. While the paintjob is certainly adequate for casual gaming, there is enough texture on this piece that I'm drawn irrestistably to highlight. As for the hobbits, well, they're adequate. They don't have the attention to detail that the two big figures have, in terms of either sculpting to resemble the actors they were based on, nor any particularly brilliant painting. OTOH, I didn't buy Treebeard for the hobbits.
The Big Question: How do they stack up vs. GW minis for LotR?
Considering that I just spent some dough at the GW shop in town on LotR minis and boxed sets, I really feel no guilt over using these two Sabertooth models. I actually think I like Sabertooth's Treebeard better than the GW version. He seems just plain more gigantic. I am well pleased with this model. Sauron I'd rate as fair/good in terms of sculpting and painting. I think the GW version is slightly better, but the vast savings in dollars for a figure that I'll likely use rarely makes me recommend the Sabertooth figure. He is suitably menacing, towering over mere mortals. The hobbits are bland. Maybe you can give them to your D&D playing pals.
These figures are a larger scale than GW LotR miniatures. I have an unpainted GW Fellowship boxed set around, so I pulled it out to compare scales. There is a noticeable difference between the hobbits by GW, and those by Sabertooth. The ST hobbits are easily a head taller than the GW figures, and much bulkier. I would not recommend mixing the two companies' human sized and smaller figures. With the big guys, I think the Sabertooth stuff will work just dandy with the GW figures, especially after I rebase them.
Overall Rating: At a comparatively low price relative to metal figures of a similar size, these figures are a bargain. Prepainted figs are a little hard to guage for quality, but I'd put these at a fair, basic paint job. Actually, I'd rate them a little better than that, especially if you aren't a big fan of painting minis. I actually like the Treebeard mini quite a lot, and am quite pleased with the purchases overall.
