Another day, another Vostroyan done. This medic is for my command squad, and while the medics aren’t terribly useful he looks fantastic, and thus has a place in my army. He is younger then most of the other veterans in the command team, and his mustache has yet to grey with age. I might revisit him in the future, add a few more details, but when one has 80+ Guardsmen to finish, that’s a problem for later. I’m finding the vostroyans actually fairly easy to paint, as the amount of sharp detail in the cast takes really well to shades.
The plan is once I get to the Infantry Squads is to do them in batches of 5, that way it should only take 2 days per squad. I’ve never batch painted before starting on my kill team, so I’m fairly new to it as a concept, but after getting the Catachans fully painted and played them, it felt GOOD. Playing with a painted squad was awesome, and now imagining a whole army has really been a shot in the arm motivation wise.
But, the Vostroyans are by no means the only project I’m working on. The Vostroyans have been my focus for the past half-year…the big project has been something I’ve been working toward since I was 12!
40k was not my gateway drug into war-gaming. That honor lies with the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game! As a young boy watching these movies was life-changing, and the game was actually surprisingly popular with kids my age in my hometown. A trip to a Games Workshop got me the Warriors of the Last Alliance box( my confusion as to why there was all these “Space Marines” and “Empire State Troops” all over was hilarious in hindsight), but honestly I had no idea what I was doing until my folks got me the Return of the King starter box.
To my 12 year old self, being able to fight the battles of Osgilliath and Minas Tirith was an experience I’ll never really forget, despite getting half the rules wrong. Many a battle was fought on the living room floor, and many an Orc was badly painted. I even got a box set, I forget its name, but it had a massive amount of Good forces, and it felt to me like my own little mustering of the Free Peoples.
It was the beginning of a journey that still continues to this day, despite my focus shifting away from it as popularity of the game ebbed and finding people who played it became harder and harder. 40k took hold after it became apparent that people had forgotten all about the good ole LOTR SBG. Soon, Guardsmen replaced Warriors of Minas Tirith, and that which should not have been forgotten…was lost.
I made one very good decision during this dark time, when it seemed GW had forgotten us. I kept everything. 40k Armies came and went, but my little(but growing!) stash of Lord of the Rings models lay just out of sight, occasionally coming out for a quick jaunt in Balins Tomb, but the big battles of yesteryear were a distant memory. As more models disappeared from the webstore, my trips to ebay to find recruits for what I thought was a dying game was a weekly habit.
But, unknown to me, there were some that resisted. Things like the Great British Hobbit League kept the torch alive. Eventually, I found out that I was not alone! And with the Hobbit on the horizon, everything looked great!
Then came bitterness. It started well, new plastic kits! A good starter box! But, it came at a cost; Finecast. Casts that were amazing in metal became flash ridden, horribly fragile miniatures. Swords that once could be bent simply snapped off. All at a massive mark-up in price. It helped that the movies weren’t as good, and I felt less need to keep up.
I, along with many other people awaited the inevitable. A long wait, with an answer we already knew. The game was dead.
But like the quest of the Ring, from such dark times did hope arise! Forge World, Games Workshop boutique line took up the torch, and while the Lord of the Rings left shelves, new miniatures were coming out again. But, it was still only for the Hobbit, and I could feel little excitement for it.
Then, something happened that this blogger did not expect; Games Workshop announced that the The Hobbit Strategy Battle Game was to be rebranded as The Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game! Battle Companies, a mini-game from the past akin to Kill-Team, re-emerged. Hope was kindled.
And yet, no-one expected what was announced next, least of all me.
Middle Earth is back, baby. New plastic heroes, rereleasing old OOP(out of production) models, and the hated repack of 24 man troop boxes into 12 is being undone. I haven’t felt excitement like this since watching Return of the King for the first time. And, my childhood dream of fighting the Battle of the Pelennor Fields comes ever closer to being a reality. I’m ready, my full strength gathered. Men of Rohan, of Gondor, waiting patiently for the paint brush. Hordes of Orcs and Uruks in their serried ranks await the same.
At around the same time this was announced, I decided that if I was going to do this, it would be a movie style refight, as opposed to the book. And for that, I needed the Army of the Dead. Ebay saved the day here.
The cost was insignificant; people sell the banner alone for outrageous amounts of money on eBay. and with more Army of the Dead then I’ll ever possibly need, all that remains is the noble Rohirrim, the beleaguered garrison of Minas Tirith and the vile Orcs and their allies. Of course, it won’t be a full scale refight, even my collection pales in comparison to what would be required to do it justice. But even a small part of the battle would be the culmination of a life’s dream.
So, in closing, don’t worry there will be still loads and loads of 40k content; My friend is working a pace at his Tank Company and he has given me permission to share it with the internet. My Vostroyans will be worked on at a steady rate as well. This just means they’ll have to share with Gondorians, Men of Rohan, and Orcs. Many, many orcs.
Instead of my usual sign off, I leave you with this
“Theres some good in this world Mr.Frodo, and its worth painting for”-Samwise Gamgee
Not by Strength, By Guile 