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!”
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!
