The Flawed Hero: An Old Model, Finally Painted!

Oh Boromir. Our flawed and noble hero. In our clubhouse, he is unfortunately the butt of many jokes. But myself and a few other staunch fans constantly defend him. He is a great character, and on the tabletop for Middle Earth he is a powerhouse. He comes in two versions; a Fellowship version, corrupted by the Ring, and a Minas Tirith version, at his apex of power before setting off for Rivendell.

This model is the latter version, and I have had him for years. I never got around to painting him as I was intimidated by the complexity of some of the detail, but after my recent painting successes I decided to give him a go. He might be the vanguard of the rest of the Minas Tirith army, which has been in various states of half-painted, or done to my standard of ten years ago, which won’t fly now.

I also have him with a banner and on horse, so those might follow. He is a beast on horse, and the banner is special to him…but has no embossed detail! A tough task to free-hand for sure!

Lets take a look at this noble son of Denethor.

Boromir is one of my favourite characters from the Lord of the Rings. A flawed man, but one that saw his downfall not from just greed, but a desire to do good for his people. He is often maligned as a traitor, when instead his final acts were to protect Merry and Pippin, and to die in the attempt. His retribution and atonement wrapped up in a little neat bow.

When I first saw the extended cut of The Two Towers, his speech was captivating. This was the real Boromir, not the one wracked by doubt and fear. An indomitable hero of the White City. And he immediately goes to the defense of his younger brother, Faramir, when their father goes to rebuke Faramir for letting Osgiliath fall. His men love him, and his charisma among the soldiery of Gondor is obvious.

While we only got a few minutes of seeing this, true Boromir, we can luckily field him in the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game, where he is a peerless warrior. Not quite the equal of Aragorn, he can easily lead a pre-fellowship Minas Tirith army and carry the day with his amazing stat-line and upgrades.

I look forward to seeing his heroics on the tabletop, leading a vanguard of Minas Tirith warriors while his ranger brother provides archery cover.

Well, that is all I have for today. I hope you enjoyed this look at Lord of the Rings flawed Hero. Happy War-gaming wherever you are, and have a great day!