My Mordor army has been a part of my collection since at least 2003. It started off small, just a small force of Mordor Orcs that came in the Return of the King starter box. But over the years it has ballooned massively, especially with the addition of Morannon Orcs over the years, both independently and with the addition of the Pelennor Fields boxset when that came out.
However, the painting side of things has been dragged out for almost as long. Few models had been painted, and none of those based. This was a situation that had to be rectified if I wanted to ever play them properly.
I chose to start with painting one entirely new model, the Orc Taskmaster, and three models I touched up slightly and based.
So with this playing in the background…
Oh yeah, so this exists. God bless the 1980’s!
So without further fluff, lets take a peek.
First up, a Mordor Orc Captain. This model is long OOP, and is a fantastic sculpt, chock full of great detail.
Pardon my hands, but the light doesn’t catch the face all too well otherwise. I love the scavenged Minas Tirith armour, and the gruesome severed head on the belt.
The shield is also a great touch, and yep, that is another severed head. This model has more character then a lot of the more recent FW captains!
Another OOP model, a Morannon ‘Orc’ Captain. I found this model looked more like an Uruk Hai, which another blogger(long since forgotten unfortunately) also had done. He is still being fielded as an Orc Captain though.
The nice, spiny armour takes a wash really well. I didn’t touch up this model much, it was pretty good to start with.
Some detail I hand-painted years ago, which I kept.
Its Skully! The name the character has is Guritz, but he will forever be Skully in my mind. This is literally the third iteration of the model I have, and the only one that was made specifically to represent the Movie character.
Lots of great detail on this FW model, but that isn’t altogether too surprising.
The first entirely new model I painted today, an Orc Taskmaster. This is a metal model, and I believe he is still available, albeit it in Finecast.
This guy definitely has eaten well in Mordor. Meat perhaps is back on the menu?
This model is based of the Orc ‘inspector’ that almost finds Frodo and Sam in Return of the King. I didn’t take too long trying to copy the film version, and just went with colours that I felt worked really well.
Not too much work, but a nice fun distraction. I’m looking forward to painting more, but I’m avoiding burnout as best as possible so no masses of the same thing being painted days on end.
Just a short post today, I hope you enjoyed the read! Happy War-gaming wherever you are, and have a great day!
14 more Durin’s Folk for the Battle of Dale. Its all coming together…
I’ve been a very busy hobbit today. As I don’t have much to do during Lockdown, I decided to get another Iron Hills warband done!
I’ve talked at length before about the Iron Hills models, but I must say if your a newcomer here; One, great models with loads of detail that I’m definitely underselling with my paint job, and Two….don’t glue the shields on! By Durin don’t! It makes them monumentally harder to paint. But, a little perseverance goes a long way, and I slogged through and got them done.
Lets take a closer look!
A mighty block of shields indeed! Not much will want to charge this head-on!
As before, nothing too fancy. The shields honestly paint themselves with a wash.
With this many spearmen(spear-dwarves?) I’m definitely set. I could use more mattocks and crossbows…
They look pretty decent, but again a more experienced hand could probably elevate these models. Still, I’m happy with them and that is what matters.
A lot of similar poses, but differing the beard colour helps. It does mean they rank up quite nicely…
This Captain doesn’t want to remain in the shieldwall, he wants to get stuck in!
A simple cloak marks his rank, along with his helmet. Other then that not much distinguishes them from the rank and file armour wise, which I like. This is a professional army.
The banner has…interesting embossed detail. I definitely prefer the other design, but this looks okay too.
And with a shield he can stand in the ranks and not break Shieldwall, which is nice.
Another 14 Dwarves done, which means I have 28 battle-ready! And boy, do they look the business when all ranked up together!
Add in a block of mattocks and crossbows and this will be a nasty force to fight, even more so then it already is!
I almost wish they were on square bases to rank even closer together…
Now, this morning I posted a product review of the new ‘Old’ King Dain that will be leading the force, alongside his son Thorin III. But I wasn’t pleased with the good kings base, being just a boring 25mm base. So I fixed that in the most traditional way possible; I stuck him on a rock!
A small rock will paint up to be a much bigger rock. Sure, King Dain is a bigger target now, but he leads from the front, even at his venerable age.
This caps off a very busy hobbying day for me, with helping my friend get his blog off the ground and my review this morning. But I think I have earned a break…I say as I eye the rest of the ever-shrinking pile of unpainted dwarves…
I’m in the home stretch now!
There is always more hobbying to be done, and I cannot yet rest upon my laurels until this batch is done! One final effort, but I may leave younger Dain for a day all by himself. He is a very nice model.
Anyways, that is the last of what I got for today! I hope you enjoyed the read! Leave a comment if you liked what you saw, or have any criticism. Happy War-gaming wherever you are on this good (Middle) Earth of ours, and have a great day!
Saying ‘no’ to Sauron in style! Lots of gold armour in my future…
It has been a while since I have done a product review. I generally shy away from them. But I haven’t seen much said about these models online yet and they were released not that long ago, so for once I am ahead of the curve!
This set includes King Dain Ironfoot and his son Thorin III Stonehelm. They are in that great Forgeworld resin, which I must say having worked on their kits for a while it has improved drastically. It cuts like butter, and is fantastic to work on. But some caution is needed to not cut away important detail!
They had little flashing, but it was there. Easily cleaned up with a hobby knife! No warping, but given the small size of the parts that was to be expected. Extremely clean casts with no fuzzy detail. As we would hope given the price!
Great looking models, and easily built too!
The kit comes with a few parts, but nothing too difficult to put together. The armour detail is great, taking notes from both the Iron Hills and Erebor. King Dain still has his signature ‘tusks’ in his beard, a really nice touch! His warhammer has been replaced with Barazantathul, his famous Red Axe, which pleases me to no end. It is a lovely throwback to the original King Dain model from the early 2000s. For reference, this was his old model…
King Dain on the Left. While the new model has an entirely new look, he did have an axe! I’m glad its back!
Thorin III looks great too, with a really detailed shield. I probably shouldn’t have glued the shield on, but unlike the Iron Hills warriors, I can still reach behind to paint it. His pick looked a bit thick in the photos Games Workshop put out, but looks a lot better ‘in hand’.
Still has his ‘tusks’! A lovely fur cloak adds a hint of class, but his armour reminds you that he is a Dwarf King, ready to defend his hold.
Excellent, crisp detail on the cloak!
Thorin III looks great, and while I got the set primarily to get King Dain, this model will definitely see use as well!
And the detail on the armour is fantastic. A lot of hints of both Iron Hills and Erebor in its design.
All in all, I am quite happy with these models! My friend is lending me a can of Retributor Armour Spray, which will give these dwarves the gold armour they need. But that will mean waiting a month….which given how cool these models are might mean I paint them sooner!
There is no scale creep, and they fit amongst the Iron Hills warriors I have really well! I might need another warband for Thorin to lead, probably with crossbows and mattocks to add a bit of variety to my list.
Looking just right compared to the warriors they will be leading into battle!
I can’t wait to field them in a game soon! My project to do the Battle of Dale is that much closer to being done with the addition of these two models. I really hope they bring out a King Brand to go with the Dale models…
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed/got what you needed from this review. I will post again soon when they are painted! But for now, Happy War-gaming wherever you are, and Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!
Captain of the Tower Guard, ready to defend the Steward of Gondor, no matter the cost.
Most of the models I paint for the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game originate from the books, but not all of them. This is one of those examples. Irolas, the Captain of the Citadel Guard is one part Film creation, and other part Games Workshop fitting the character into a role that needed filling. Beregond, the main Tower Guard soldier in the books, didn’t make it into the film, which is unfortunate because his relationship with Pippin is so wholesome.
While Beregond exists as a model, and I will get to him, Irolas is a beautiful Forgeworld sculpt. He comes as part of a two-pack with a re-sculpted and updated Denethor model, and was the part of that pack I was most excited to paint. His stoic pose perfectly matches the older metal Citadel Guardsmen, and he will look great leading 12 of them in my games.
The yellow trim is something you see a lot of on the Games Workshop Citadel Guard, a pragmatic adaptation of film embroidery to something more easily applied to a model. I might get a paint pen down the road to add a little detail to the trim down the road, but as it stands I do not have a small enough brush nor the fine motor control to do so as of yet.
He wasn’t an especially difficult model to paint, with the exception of his face. I decided to give him a bit of stubble, and that took a little while to achieve. Again I eschewed painting eyes, but his face seemed to repel the wash and it took a while for it to finally settle.
Lets take a closer look!
The yellow trim was tricky to paint with my shaky hands, but I gave it my best shot.
His armour was done much the same as I would do any of my Minas Tirith warriors, and was nothing too special. Much of the model is enveloped in a nice cloak, so I focused my attention on that and the face.
While not intentional, I do like the ‘tired’ look he has. Denethor can be a handful! As well, I like to imagine that Irolas is losing sleep because of the great battle that will soon take place, and is running a bit ragged at this point out of fear and doubt. *I have since touched up his glove.
Some simple shading brought out the depth in the cloak, and the yellow trim gives it a bit of pop.
Irolas was a fun model, painted in a few hours while chatting with friends online. I have managed to convince one of my friends to play, and I’m looking forward to getting some games in post-lockdown. Between my Minas Tirith and Iron Hills armies I have a tough, dependable force no matter which I choose. I might restart work on my Mordor force to have an opposing force ready, or start on my Easterlings.
Well, that is all I have more today. A nice short and sweet post! I’ll have more for you in the coming days. Happy War-gaming wherever you are, and have a great day!
“The city of Osgiliath has been reclaimed. For Gondor!”-Boromir, The Two Towers Extended Edition
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.
I looked at many production stills, but the model differs in a lot of ways to the movie version. So I took some creative liberties, especially with the gold-trim on his shoulder armour and his tunic.
The shield, being a one off, I decided to mix Vallejo Flat Brown and Scarlet to make a reddish toned shield. I only need to do it once afterall!
The cloak I could have done a brighter colour, but given the decline of Gondor and their overall muted colour scheme, I went for a grey-black.
I can’t paint eyes to save my life, but I did his beard and shaded his face. It looks alright from a distance.
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!
A very cheesy option for the gaming table, but a very pretty model to build and paint!
When I got my Iron Hills army, I of course added a ballista to the roster. Now, I didn’t actually like what it did in the movie; the ‘Old Twirly Whirlies’ were really dumb and I didn’t like it then, and I don’t like what it does on the table either.
However, a cool looking model it remains, and is an excellent centerpiece for an Iron Hills list. As well, the rules do benefit the otherwise static nature of the army. It is very strong so I don’t intend to have more then one.
It remains a beautiful mode, with deep wood-grain on the carriage. I had begun painting it years ago, finishing the carriage back in 2018. However, I stopped short of doing the crew for whatever reason, I don’t remember why. I needed a quick and easy project for the day, and so I brought it out of storage and knocked out the crew in about 45 minutes. Lets have a look at the completed project!
I decided to glue two of the crew figures to the ballista, which will make ingame book-keeping harder but looks better.
The crew does look pretty animated once they were done, and I’m pretty happy with the completed effect.
This crewman is doing…something with his hands. Not sure what!
If anything, these models were a lot easier then the warriors. Easy to access all their parts for painting, with no large shield in the way!
The Iron Hills Siege Veteran, a solid choice to lead the crew, but can be swapped for a Captain. I like the pose, it is very commanding!
The armour has a lot of subtle detail that I really like. A better painter can probably make it pop a lot better!
All in all, a fast paintjob and a solid chunk of points done in a one sitting. I’m looking forward to getting more of the Iron Hills painted in-between my other projects. The Battle of Dale is fast approaching…perhaps some Easterlings will cross my desk in the near future.
The Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game is near and dear to me, so expect more content beyond just Iron Hills models in the near future. Happy War-gaming wherever you are, and may Illuvatar bless your rolls!
This is from March 2018: Almost a lifetime ago it feels. Its about time I got some paint on them!
‘I do not think that any would come,’ he answered. ‘They have no need to ride to war; war already marches on their own lands.’-Legolas, Return of the King.
Back 2018 I made a massive push to play the then Hobbit Strategy Battle Game with my friends. It was tough going; 40k was wildly popular and almost without rival at my local clubhouse, and it was a fantasy game competing with Age of Sigmar, another juggernaut. Of course, in my reckless optimism, I acquired a large force of Iron Hills Dwarves, probably the strongest army in the game at the time.
That wasn’t the reason I collected them; while I have many opinions about the Peter Jackson Hobbit Trilogy(not many of them particularly nice…)I did love the dwarves. We never got to see that many during Lord of the Rings and seeing them in battle was a nice contrast to the prim and proper elves. Dain brought a decently sized force to the Battle of Five Armies, and while they differed drastically from the book depiction…I have a fondness for spears in large numbers.
At the time, I justified it by saying I could always field it as the dwarves present at the later Battle of Dale in the Third Age, where they fought a downright massive host of Easterlings from Rhun. This battle was in the book appendices, and was simply titanic in terms of forces involved, and almost none of them Orcs. I never expected in a million years that Games Workshop would actually cover the battle again(they did in the original Return of the King book), and with models to go with it. They did have an ‘old’ Dain Ironfoot, but his son Thorin III Stonehelm was simply a renamed generic Hero, as was King Brand of Dale.
So, of course the mad-lads behind the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game went and did it.
Oh yeah, Old Dain is back! And his slightly goofy looking son as well!
This had the (probably intended by GW) effect of reviving my interest in Middle Earth again. While as of writing these models are part of a modified Erebor Reclaimed army-list, I have no doubt that that we will see either a bespoke army-list or an expanded one for this massive battle. It is heavily implied that we will see an expansion either just on this battle or in a compendium of battles that Sauron launched against the West, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for King Brand.
Now where does that leave me for army building? Well, I have enough Orcs to probably fill a bathtub, and enough Easterlings to fight skirmish level games. The Iron Hills army stands at 43 models including 2 banners and 2 captains. The Ballista, while very cool, isn’t in the Erebor Reclaimed list and must(for now) sit this battle out. I decided as a palette cleanse before I start assembling my horde of Bolt Action Soviets, to get some painting done, and selected 12 models and 2 command!
Lets see how I got on!
A small force, but a very playable one! More will come!
Now these are truly beautiful models. At 81 Canadian dollars for every 12, I certainly hope so! I was hesitant to paint them for the longest time, especially because resin can be hard to strip paint off of it had gone badly. But, I’ve learned to accept that I will not always paint ‘amazing’ models compared to the standards of others, but I can always shoot for my personal quality. So with that caution thrown aside, I got started.
The Warriors were particularly annoying, as past me had made the lazy decision to assemble them fully then paint. What a mistake that was! The shields and faces were very difficult to do.
A simple paint scheme for these doughty dwarves. Some gold accents, copied from film, and brown undertunics, which can barely be seen here.
The wash really came alive and helped me feel better about how I was getting along. They really don’t look too shabby, and are definitely tabletop quality.
There is something to be said about a good shield, and these are indeed good looking shields!
Easy too. The detail is in sharp relief and took the paint and subsequent wash really well.
Arrayed together as a single warband, and the sea of spears really comes to life. This is a shield-wall few will want to mess with!
With the Warriors done, I moved onto the banner and Captain. These were actually a bit easier, as the shield was not blocking too much of their bodies. The banner was a tough nut to crack as I had not a single idea on how I wanted to do it beforehand. Luckily, a chat with my more artistically inclined(if not particularly verbose) sister led to the result. “Add more colour” she said, and honestly the addition of sky blue and red made it pop just enough that I am happy with it.
A Captain of the Iron Hills is no slouch in combat, and with his spear, can contribute to the fighting line.
A dirty but striking red cloak makes him stand out on the battlefield.
The banner! It’s simple but its enough that I’m happy with it. I have a far more complex banner in the works for the next warband.
And the back! Not much to say other then hey, its the back!
That was this warband completed, and a solid chunk of points too! I’m going off a 750pt to 1000pt limit as my initial goal. With new(old actually, ha!) Dain replacing his pig-riding, bloody crazy version leading the main force, with two wings led by either his son or the able Captains.
Which leaves…
Ho boy, I got loads to go. At least I can rule out piggy and the Ballista.
With the new ‘Old’ Dain and his son on his way, I am eagerly awaiting the supplement that will accompany him. Luckily, they have published rules to use in the mean time, most of which have been pinched from his original form back in 2003. His son, Thorin III, is a different beast entirely, and while not a beefcake, can be used as an interesting strategic tool with his subsect of abilities allowing him to change the flow of the battle.
I should, unless they add some stuff, be able to field the army upon release of the supplement without much in the way of work, if I keep hammering out dwarves 14 at a time. That is the plan anyways, and judging by the fact it took me 3 years to get this lot even near the painting table, plans can be easily go awry.
In any event, I rewarded myself as a Hobbit would do…
A bit of the Old Toby, and a lovely evening chill.
Anyways, that is all I had for today. I hope you enjoyed this drastic shift in topics(not all those wander are lost after all!)
Happy War-gaming wherever you are, and remember what Tom Bombadil said: “Be Bold, but Wary! Keep up your merry hears, and ride to meet your fortune!”
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”-JRR Tolkien
Fair warning, this is minis lite: This is something I plan to do, not currently have ready! It reads more like an essay. This is the beginnings, the first steps…the first stones that start an avalanche. It’s not going to be for all of you! And that’s okay. Its a bit depressing too, at first.
It has been a rough year for all of us. Between Covid, Lockdowns, Quarantines, Restrictions, one could get tired of it all. I can be tough to cope.
Buckle up Frodo, you got a long way to go!
For myself, especially, and for the first and last time I’ll mention on this blog, it has been a particularly close run thing. My mental health has taken serious blows, and it brought myself closer to the brink then I’d like to admit. Let me be perfectly blunt. I’m happy to be alive. I’ve come out of the darkness with a pretty renewed sense of purpose, drive, and motivation to not let the little things pass-me-by.
Sometimes a hard-lesson is the only way to learn what matters.
In the midst of all of this, Games Workshop quietly announced Quest for the Ringbearer, a supplement for the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game. Having received my copy yesterday, I finally got a chance to sit down, and read it. A pretty good supplement, barring some minor spelling errors and potential rules gaffes. The campaign is akin to the journeybooks of old, but updated for the most current ruleset and party to some of the more balanced versions of the included scenarios I’ve seen.
Finally, worthy tomes exist to replace these great but long since out of print epics
If it was just that, I’d have been happy, but included were a couple additional treats; a full fantasy Fellowship campaign modification, and most crucially to me, an up to date way to fight ALL of the Fellowships battles using all currently released books. This is something brand new, and very exciting!
This, and the Gondor at War book, complete the whole Trilogy of epic content.
Indeed, it brings me back to a childhood dream of a much younger version of me, twinkles in his eyes and full of naivety as I fought battles across my living room floor. I wanted to do the books AND the movies justice, nailing the feel of both. A full Fellowship playthrough, with bespoke terrain, painted armies, and good company.
I dreamed in my youth of taking the Fellowship, all parts of it, across Middle-Earth on an adventure to end an age.
For the first time in living memory, I have both the drive and willpower to see it through. I have the collection my thirteen year old self couldn’t even dream of owning. I have many good friends willing to go on an adventure, lending me their Sword, Bow, or Axe to the cause. From Bag-End to Mount Doom, from Rivendell to Rohan and Gondor, to the Black Gate itself.
Adventures are better with friends!
It fills me with joy and excitement, something that can be difficult to muster in this age of uncertainty. It could take years for me to complete such an undertaking. It could see missteps, mistakes. But yet my excitement holds true. I work best with a goal, however distant, in mind.
The man I have become these last few years isn’t the one I thought I’d be, better or for worse. But for the kid I was, that happy go lucky pre-teen who broke the seal on the Return of the King Starter Box back in 2003….I’ll follow Frodo and Aragorn’s journeys across Middle Earth. A dream, now a future.
And its WORTH fighting for.
I hope you good folks out there can forgive a man getting a few things off his chest, and finding hope in the smaller things in life. I don’t like to dwell on such unhappy, if motivational topics, and your regularly scheduled dose of wargaming content will continue on Wednesday evening! But in the mean time, Happy Wargaming where-ever you might be, and may you find some inspiration in the strangest places!
As I mentioned in my last post, I did a joint Forge-World order with a friend recently. Weirdly, and something I didn’t expect, I didn’t actually want anything 40k related at the time, as I felt I had everything my army could possibly use. That left Lord of the Rings. Now, as a massive fan of the book, the Hobbit movies didn’t impress me. It didn’t feel as quality as Lord of the Rings, and felt like a cash-in. However, I did enjoy the Dwarves, as we didn’t see much of them in either the books or the movies of the Trilogy.
GW have over the years, tried their hand at making Dwarves for the SBG, and while some units I think look fantastic, such as the character models, Vault Wardens, and Khazad Guard, the others looked very generically fantasy, very safe and I was never really drawn to them. It was clear that since they only had Gimli and the dwarves at the council of Elrond to draw inspiration from, they hadn’t put as much time into it as Weta did for the films, and it showed in the generic nature of the rank and file models.
When the Hobbit movies came out, I was initially very happy with them, despite the changes made, and this was mostly because Weta had finally been able to turn their incredible talent towards Durins Folk, and the culture and style finally gave GW something to work with. The Warriors of Erebor kit, and the Grim Hammers, look awesome, and feel very true to the movie materiel (if not the books, where plate was unheard of, and everyone seemed to wear mail armor). The other two movies didn’t impress me though, and with the game dying out anyway, I didn’t invest in Dwarves at the time. Cue Forge World.
Forge World took over the Middle Earth SBG around a year after the Battle of Five Armies release, and they took the chance to bring out possibly my favorite depiction of dwarves in fiction, Lord Dain Ironfoots Iron Hills warriors. Now, that it a statement I make with some hesitation, as I am NOT a fan of Dwarven cavalry, especially not goats and boars! But the rank and file dwarf, armed with a broad shield and long spear, really captured my imagination. I was delighted when Forge World brought them out, but knew it would be a while before I got any.
I finally got my chance with this order, as with the free shipping over 150, I could really make a solid push to get what I need to play them properly!
Absolutely crisp, with barely any clean-up. I still washed them, just for good measure.
A couple bendy spears fixed with a tea-cup of boiling water, and presto, one shieldwall of angry dwarves!
I also got the command. You see very little of the captains in the movie, even in the extended cut, but Weta had done the groundwork, and Forge World took the next step. The banner is seen in the movie, however briefly, and looks fantastic on the model, and has detail embossed on it, which made me very happy! Gamling with his royal standard of Rohan remains unpainted to this day, simply because free-handing that banner is sheer madness!
Amazing detail on both models!
All in all, I’m very happy with my new Dwarves, and while the plate armor is a definite no-no book-wise, I plan on fielding a force as true to the source material as possible. I’m making an exception for the spears, as they look fantastic, and the Ballista isn’t stretching the idea too much, but I will avoid using the Goat ram-riders, and Dain will be marching on foot! I’ll have placed a second order for another 12 warriors, Dain, and the variant 3-dwarf spear pack. As Dain can now lead 18 models, my captain can lead the rest, and I have a solid little force! I need one ballista to bring it to a competitive level, but that can wait. I have both the Battle of Five Armies and the Battle of Erebor during the war of the ring in mind for this force, and to that end I’ll be converting up an older version of Dain Ironfoot, with his famous red-axe!
Until next time, may Durin watch your back, and Du-Bekar!
Not the best paint job, but they’ll do for a demo game!
So its been a while! I’ve found myself with more time off, and the Clubhouse is letting me run a demo game for the Middle Earth SBG! I’ve always found the easiest and most fun scenario to learn with is Balin’s Tomb, from the fellowship, as you get your heroes fighting impossible odds, and almost every basic rule gets covered! I’ve long had the Fellowship set, back from the Mines of Moria release, but the models are frankly not great, full of soft detail that is both difficult to highlight and shade easily. A much better painter can make the sculpts work, but I can’t do them as well, so I decided to just bang them out in a sitting, so I could carry on!
“You have my sword!” I painted this years ago, and it shows. I just tidied it up and tried to make it look less terrible. I failed. But, I have many poses of Aragorn, so this will do in a pinch!
“You have my bow!” A bit better here, I painted this today and it shows, its a lot cleaner and tidy. Still a terrible sculpt though, and I look forward to doing a better Legolas model.
“And my Axe!” Not a bad job here, could be better but looks like a good Gimli to me!
“If this is truly the will of the council, Gondor will see it done.” I love Boromir, and this is actually the best of the models in the set. Didn’t do it justice but I’m very happy with it.
“I will help you bear this burden.” Not a terrible sculpt, but my hamfisted earlier painting left a lot to be desired. Like Aragorn, I just tidied him up a bit.
This leaves just the Hobbits, a difficult task but it will prepare me for the masses of goblins required for the scenario!
For those who are hoping for some 40k content, my Clubhouse is starting a Kill-Team Campaign, and I’ll be posting batreps from that. As well, my friends are coming up for a game, a 3000pt slugmatch, which I’ll be sure to take many pictures of!
Until next time, may the grace of the Valar protect you!
