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Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Topic started by: Doomhippie on April 30, 2012, 11:03:24 AM
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After a long pause, I think it's time for me to come up with some Middle-Earth stories again. This time I'm embarking on a longer trip than just a battle report. I decided to post a thread about an ongoing project that has been in my mind for some time and is slowly actually getting somewhere. I'm working an a campaign in Ithilien, roughly 100 years before the Lord of the Rings story. Ithilien is at that time a war-torm place with lots of opportunity for some interesting games. I am going to post pictures of the project as soon as I have the time to take them and will let you watch as the project grows over time. Of course any played scenarios will be in here as well, hopefully with some pictures to go along.
Today I start out with some basic thoughts about Ithilen and how to represent it on tabletop.
Geography: The land between the river Anduin in the west and the Ephel Duath in the east. In the south the river Poros separates Ithilien from Harondor, in the north the Dead Marshes and Nindalf separate Ithilien from the the plains of Rhovanion. Ithilien is divided into North-Ithilien and South-Ithilien. Some claim the river Morgulduin running out of the Vale of Morgul is the line of separation, others say that the Emyn Arnen further south is actually the dividing line.
Climate: Not being an expert on climate I venture the guess, that the climate is relatively mild. The Anduin valley is the easiest way north for moist air coming from the ocean. Both the White Mountains in the west and the Ephel Duath in the East will probably cause the air to rise, cool down and thus provide for more or less regular percipitation in the area. Accordingly Ithilien is often called the Garden of Gondor. What influence the poximity of Mordor and Minas Morgul has is hard to tell. From what I was able to find on the topic Ithilien's climate is considered to be similar to the valley of the Rhone in France (I've never been there, unfortunately).
History: The campaign is set around the year 2901 (so roughly 100 years before the War of the Rings). At that time Sauron is still in Dol Guldur, however the ringwraiths have organized his return to Mordor. Minas Morgul has been the lair of the Witchking for almost 1000 years. The Ruling Stewart of Gondor at that time would be Turin II., great-grandfather to Denethor. At that time Ithilien was already sparesly populated due to repetitve invasions by Easterlings and Haradrim. The year 2901 saw a marked increase in raids by Haradrim, Easterlings and Orcs, forcing most of the remaining civil inhabitants to leave Ithilien and take refuge west of the Anduin.
Ithilen in 2901 on tabletop: Obviously this time offers a wide variety of possible scenarios. There are no reports of any massive battles, which I hate playing anyway, so it seems obvious to fight a number of skirmishes, as various fractions launch raids against the remaining Gondorian forces. As far as I know there were still regular soldiers in Ithilien. Furthermore it is well known that Gondor employed Rohan troops as auxiliaries.
The Forces of Darkness: I can use Easterlings, Haradim, Orcs and even Corsairs of Umbar for the Dark Side, even if the Corsairs would basically stick to river raids and prabably only in South Ithilien (I'm going to ignore that fact and have them mingle happliy in the north as well). If I feel particularly vicious I might even have one or two Nazgul make an appearnace (though historically speaking they didn't show themselves openly but what the heck? If it makes for a good story...). Unfortunately I don't have all these models, but the idea is of course to slowly build and paint more armies.
The Forces of Gondor: The regular Gondorian army models will find their use here along with the Rangers of Ithilien. I will not use any Dol Amroth miniatures nor any other fiefdom models. First of all because I don't have any, but mainly because they are territorial armies sworn to their own Lord, defending their own lands. Ithilien as a former crown land would be under the direct rule of the Stewart. I might use some Rohirim as auxiliaries. I will slowly expand my collection of models here as well (hopefully).
The gaming table: I really want to have some better gaming table than the usual ones I use BUT... I just don't have the time to build it. At some point along the line though I hope I will add to what I have. Fortunately Ithilien does not have any major city that requires any larger construction work. I will use various ruins and buildings as there must have been quite a few scattered settlements in that area.
Game System: Basically I'll use the GW Lord of the Rings rules but might actually fiddle around with my homebrewed rules (which are completely different but might be more suitable for certain hide and seek scenarios).
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Sounds like a great project. The period and location you've chosen has wide potential to see almost any faction played. No hobbits or Isengard Uruk-hai, though. On the up-side, you can play Saruman as a good guy if you like!
I will be following it with interest. I've really enjoyed your story-driven LOTR battle reports in the past, especially the 'minor heroes of Rohan at the eaves of Fangorn' one.
I also have a large stack of GW LOTR models, which I collected over the years for a similar project: enough to play skirmish-sized warbands for any LOTR faction. Unfortunately, they make up a large part of my lead mountain of shame: almost none are assembled or painted. Your Ithilien project might be the inspiration I need to get started. The White Council against Dol Guldur? The Angmar wars? Hmmm....
I've recently been thinking that SAGA would be an excellent alternative to the War of the Ring rules if you want to play some slightly larger pitched battles of 50 -70 models per side. It's simple and evocative. You could even use the existing SAGA battleboards unchanged: Gondorians as Anglo Danish, Rohirrim as Normans, Orcs as Vikings, Moria Goblins (or Hobbits!) as Welsh etc.
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens with the Ithilien project. Best of luck!
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From memory the old Iron Crown Middle Earth RPG supplements gave excellent background information on terrain, climate, flora and fauna, settlements, etc. I had a copy of the Riders of Rohan book and it gave lots of the details you might find useful for background.
Sounds likean interesting project - good luck
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A interesting think is, that some guys from Hamburg use the SAGA-Rules for Lords of the rings, maybe an alternative. Or 7TV as skirmish rules...
Great Idea...
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From memory the old Iron Crown Middle Earth RPG supplements gave excellent background information on terrain, climate, flora and fauna, settlements, etc. I had a copy of the Riders of Rohan book and it gave lots of the details you might find useful for background.
Sounds likean interesting project - good luck
I have almost everything I.C.E. produced at that time. Unfortunately, Ithilien was never a seperate module. There were of course various smaller adventures but mainly in or around the Morgul Vale. Anyway, thanks for reminding me, I might just look at them again for more detail.
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For general climatic purposes, it's worth bearing in mind that, if Hobbitton = Oxford, then Minas Tirith = Rome. So in effect, Ithilien is Italy. It can get very hot, even in the north; and in the mountains, it can get very cold even in the south. And there should be thunderstorms, as well as strange fogs and darknesses and noisome stenches wafting down from the Ephel Duath or out of Morgul Vale.
Excellent location for a campaign, especially one based around skirmishes rather than massive battles; there are plenty of forts and settlements (both ruined and surviving) as well as the possibility of camps for both the Gondorian and Harad forces.
Looking forward to seeing more of this!
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One interesting angle is that at the time of your campaign, the east bank of ruined Osgiliath had yet to be recaptured (iirc Denethor mentions it being recaptured "several decades" prior to the LotR). If you want to really stretch the definition of "a few decades", you can offer opportunities for that battle to be included later in this campaign.
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One interesting angle is that at the time of your campaign, the east bank of ruined Osgiliath had yet to be recaptured (iirc Denethor mentions it being recaptured "several decades" prior to the LotR). If you want to really stretch the definition of "a few decades", you can offer opportunities for that battle to be included later in this campaign.
Lazy me hopes to circumvent large construction of Osgliliath. I'll just see where the project ends up. Anyway, here the first few pics.
This is a shot of the Rangers I've painted lately.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01193.jpg)
My photography skills are a little rusty, sorry. The mins are all GW Rangers of Ithilien with the musician and banner bearer from the Blackroot Vale Archer Command. All minis are newly painted. I'll throw in some of the Rangers of Arthedain and have the painted Damrod, Madril and Duinhir flying around somewhere to have some more individual characters.
Next up the command squad in detail (oh, and there is Madril on the left: look at the size difference! Somebody screwed up big time while making this model). I chose to paint the banner in white with a golden tree on it. It's a compromise. The white flag with a silver tree was the banner of Gondor under the Stewarts, but I painted the tree golden to make the contrast a little stronger. I used the black frame to indicate that Ithilien is officially property of the King of Gondor even if the throne is vacant at that time.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01188.jpg)
The next three shots are just more detailed versions of the rank and file troops.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01191.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01190.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01189.jpg)
I still have plenty of ranger models left, but they are extremely time consuming to paint, as I had to mix up every color. Generally speaking each of these cuties are about 6 hours work (that's without using a hairdryer...). Even though these are "just" plastic models, there are lots and lots of details on them. I like them a lot (and think I've done a way better job painting them than GW did :D. I was really unsure if I should buy them after looking at the photo on the package. But I was pleasantly surprised).
So much for now, I'll try to take some more pics tomorrow.
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nicely painted. I have tried painting some of these rangers (the palstic ones) and it's not as easy as it looks.
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Nice painting Lars :)
For general climatic purposes, it's worth bearing in mind that, if Hobbitton = Oxford, then Minas Tirith = Rome. So in effect, Ithilien is Italy. It can get very hot, even in the north; and in the mountains, it can get very cold even in the south.
Really? I always thought Tolkien had somewhere utterly bucolic and further west in the Cotswolds in mind for Hobbiton (like The Slaughters) and Minas Tirith was Oxford.
Or Possibly London.
It's been a few years since I last read the books I must confess, but I don't recall any descriptions of Mediterranean-style climate or flora... I'd have had Ithilien down as a much more temperate and idealised 'garden' landscape.
Mind you, in the recent TV adaptation of Game of Thrones, everyone seemed very comfortable with the depiction of King's Landing as a kind of sweaty, sun-baked Mediterranean or even near-Eastern metropolis. Whereas in the books everything about the description suggests a kind of chivalric-era North European medieval town... (Sunspear is clearly described in later GOT books as the hot place with swimming pools and palm trees... But I digress ;))
Anyway, that's fantasy geography for you. One man's Rome is another man's Chipping Sodbury :)
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For me Middle-Earth has always been more middle-European than anyhing else. I don't think it translates into our world one on one. There are good arguments for Gondor as a more mediterranean area. However, I personally have always seen or "felt" it like the good Captain wrote in his reply.
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I think you could see Minas Tiritha as Rome or Constantinople form a north european perspective, i.e. written down by people who had never been there, based on accounts from 3rd parties. But all the same it might as well be inspired by Karolingian Aken. So climate would be as you see fit.
I don't think the Eddas or Beowulf neither mention climate at all, unless for a certain purpose.
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Great idea for a project.
Well thought out with plenty of options.
Nice start on the painting, too.
Those Rangers look lovely!
:-*
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Lovely Rangers there Doomhippie! Beautiful paint jobs.
As for the geography... http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Middle-earth puts Gondor in 'Mediterranean Italy and Greece'. I think given Tolkien's religious beliefs (he was a Catholic) and his use in the story of Aragorn of elements of Arthuriana (in one version of the Arthur story, he conquers Italy and becomes Emperor), because the 'myth' of the Sons of Elendil is a re-working of the legends of Aeneas and his descendants (including Brutus who supposedly named Britain having brought the line of Trojan kings here), and because it's about 600 miles (960km?) east and 500 miles south (about 800km) of 'Hobbiton' - that gives about 780 miles (1300km?) south-east - then I'd say it's Rome, or close enough. The distance (I've just shoved it into google) is apparently 943 miles or 1517km.
Of course, if I'm wrong and Minas Tirith is Ravenna (last capital of the Western Empire) then it's 799 miles (1290km) from Oxford and even closer to the estimates of 780 miles/1300km (Osgiliath might then stand for Rome - the place where the capital was moved from). Whichever way, I think it's pretty clear 'Ithilien' = 'Italy'.
Oh, and I've always assumed that 'Kingsfoil' is supposed to be 'basil', which as far as I know doesn't grow wild anywhere north of the Alps (read 'The White Mountains', which may well be what 'Alps' means).
Having said all of that, I think it's of course entirely up to yourself and your players how you see it. If you think Ithilien is more like Hungary or France or anywhere else, that's really none of my business; but this is my understanding of what Tolkien was trying to do, anyway.
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Okay, here are the next pics. I have discovered some flaws in my painting and will mention what I found, feel free to any other things you see.
First are the newly painted Knights of Gondor. Though Gondor is not especially well-known for her cavalry I am certain that as with most armies the cavalry was a prestigeous part of the army to serve in. We can safely assume the riders to be the better trained elite troops of Gondor's army probably consisting of minor nobles and/or second, third sons of the aristocratic elite. Once again I painted the little banners white. I chose to use red for the saddle blankets to add a little more color to the models. The horses are rather dark as is the uniform of the Gondorians. So a dash of color might work well here. Eventually I plan to add some hero/leader model to the force, maybe the Boromir model (that says Faramir on the blister...). He would function as some kind of captain, maybe even the oldest son of the Stewart (as he carries the Horn of Gondor which traditionally was carried by the oldest son of the ruling Stewart). I haven't painted the model yet, but have primed it.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01194.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01199.jpg)
Next up is the infantry command crew. I have to admit that I'm for various reasons not altogether happy with the way they turned out. My first problem: they are finecast... I don't want to get back to the resin debate but I found all my prejudices jstified. Airbubbles on swords and in faces, warped armor (in places it looks like the model was moved a few milimeters before the rest of it was cast), the two-handed sword looks like a LARP sword and is bended in so many ways I almost cried and the banner has see-through holes in between the branches of the tree (so no chance to fill them up). So I tried to hide some of the effects with paint but of course that decreases the overall appearance of the models. They somehow look very untidy this way.
Anyway, here is the group together:
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01201.jpg)
And here individual shots.
The model of The Knight of Gondor is not too bad. I like it somehow. I'm going to use him as the overall commander of the Ithilien forces and will hopefully come up with a cool background story for him. His sword will be a special sword (maybe something along the line of giving the wielder a bonus on his to kill rolls without reducing the to hit rolls).
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01209.jpg)
Next a captain of Gondor. Unfortunately he is just tramping across an orc which looks not very convincing and sucks if there are no orcs present. His sword is a little bent (thanks to finecast). I generally find the faces of the Gondorians hard to paint, as the helmet leaves very little chance of shading the face well. The eyes are so small that I can actually never hit them with a brush. Sorry.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01206.jpg)
The musician and the banner bearer are nice models as well (but finecast...). I painted the tassels of the horn red for the same reason I included red in the rider models. I'm not sure about that now, maybe a blue would have been nicer. Ah well, I'll just leave it that way. Gee, the sword needs some seeing to - I forgot to paint the heft...
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01205.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01202.jpg)
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This time we re going to have a look at some bad guys. After doing some more research I realized I screwed up on the historical side. 2901 saw the invasion of Uruks from Mordor, 2885 the defeat of a Haradric invasion (beaten back with the help of Rohan albeit at the cost of Rohan's King's sons) and a little earlier the invasion of Easterlings from the north. Anyway, I'll mix them all together for some fun and will treat this campaign as a kind of melting pot of these three invasions.
So here the first baddies. Rather than using the plastic Easterlings I decided to buy some Variags of Khand. I have never ben too happy with the heavily armored Easterlings from the movies. The few close ups of the faces reminded me more of some Indian, maybe Persian kind of people while I have always depicted the Easterlings as more Mongolian people, swift to hit the enemy but not carrying a lot of armor (which fits better with the idea of the Huns and Mongol invasions into Europe in the late antic and medieval times, both of which IMHO sound so much more like the destructive wave of Easterling invasions Tolkien wrote about). Unfortunately those models are more expensive and have less variety to them. But I like their style better, so here we go.
The first picture shows a batch of them together. Hm, that's about half of them, must have accidentely erased the picture with the whole group. Anyway, I decided to paint them in brighter colors than the GW black with grey highlights. Black is really hard to paint well. If you look at the Gondorians above, you'll see that I ended up having almost blue uniforms And those are endless layers and washes and blendings. I just wasn't really willing to go that way with these models. And I like the brighter colors better as I think the wild Easterlings have better things to do than dye their clothes all black.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01212.jpg)
Seeing these pics I realised I have forgotten to paint a few details: First of all the beards should be black or dark brown (I did put some brown ink on the moustaches but didn't really do anything else - must have been happy to have them finished and forgot about that). And obviously all these guys are blind as I din't paint any pupils in their eyes. Gives them a creepy look (like the superheroes from the comics). Hm, maybe I'll leave them that way (but don't tell Karsten or he'll be very - put off). Lazy me.
Next a few archers of the same group, more details to see more shame in having overlooked some...
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01210.jpg)
Next is the leader of the gang. I haven't come up with a cool Mongolian or Hunnish sounding name (and I don't mean Fritz... :D). Actually I thought he turned out quite nicely but the highlights on the red (especially on his banner) look rather extreme and uncool in this photo. It's way better in real life (or so I hope).
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01213.jpg)
Next is his lieutenant who doubles as the standart bearer. The Variag models don't have a real command group, as far as I know, as they are just used as auxiliaries and mercenaries in the GW game. I will hopefully convert one of the models in the future (well buy new ones that is and then convert one), so the lieutenant will have to do for now. He looks almost exactly like the warchif but with a simpler design on the banner. Oooooops, same model. Hm, anyway, the lieutenant looks basically the same but as I said with the simple banner design the rank and file troops carry.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01214.jpg)
Right, the banner: I was originally thinking of some cool design like a falcon or axe and bow but realising I would have to paint it on each model twice I quickly decided to keep it simple. It looks like the Japanese flag but when I painted it I wasn't actually thinking about that. I had in mind to have some simple motif with a strong color. And in my mind the Easterlings often wear red (don't ask me why) so I decided to have that color appear on the banner. So forgive me, Japan, I was not trying to picture you as the bad guys here...
Anyway, that's it with my painted models so far. Okay, I haven't taken pics of the Gondor rank and file troops nor of the Rohan troops, as they are not newly painted. You'll get pictures of them once the battles start. The next models to be painted are Variag cavalry (which will take some time, so it might be a few days before I can actually post any pictures of them). And of course the captain of the Gondorian cavalry is on the to do list. So stay tuned for some more Middle-Earth, as dark clouds slowly begin to gather over fair Ithilien....
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Wow! Some of the nicest LOTR figures I've seen in a long time. I have a stack of these just sitting unpainted, this thread is great inspiration.
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Yes indeed. I can see that the Finecast figures have been a real problem, but the painting you've done on them looks really good. And the the Variags look like they're coming along nicely. It is indeed inspiring for those of us with piles of unpainted LotR lead-and-plastic to see what can be done with these.
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Thanks for your comments. It's always nice to have a little feedback.
Anyway, the Variag horsemen will take some more time, I'm not really good at painting horses and am not particualrly fast painting them. In the meantime here are some pics of the Corsairs of Umbar. I painted them last year when I first thought about a scenario in which a few Gondorians had to repell a raid on a lighthouse. Of course I was too lazy to construct a lighthouse but at least I managed to finish the raiders. This group here was then the basis of the idea to expand into the Ithilien campaign.
As you can probably see, I painted them quite quickly so they might be a little below my standart. On the other hand I believe they are good enough for a tabletop battle. I didn't paint them in one go but split the unit up into smaller groups to paint. I'd really go crazy if I painted 24 minis at the same time. To give them a more rag-tag appearance I used the old GW method: use a small number of basic colors but use them on different parts of the mini. So here we have brown, blue and purple as the basic colors. One group recieved blue shirts, the next blue pants etc. This way they still look like they form one unit but are still a mixed bunch of individuals.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01218.jpg)
Note that there is no leader nor any banner carriers here. Well, for a group of cutthroats out for plunder a banner doesn't really seem too important. It looks cool on the tabletop though so maybe I will add a banner at some time. The lack of a prober leader is not really a problem, I'll just nominate one of the miniatures as the leader. Eventually I might buy some individual models for the corsairs but I have already spent quite a bit of money on the models and so that will have to wait.
Next up are three pictures of the differnet weapon groups that are included in this unit.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01219.jpg)
Bows are good, crossbows suck. At least for me on Middle-Earth. Crossbows are too modern for my taste, so I am happy that the corsairs have some archer models. I don't see the corsairs as great archers, more in the way of surpressing fire. My guess is they get in close and dirty (as in the good old swash-buckling movies - how many people with guns do you see on your average pirate ship?). So I'm quite happy about the sword fighters. And I do like the scimitar-style swords.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01220.jpg)
When I first read the books (back in... 1980) I pictured the corsairs the corsairs more like Gondorian noblemen as Umbar was of course a Numenorean harbor (actually the Numenorean harbor). And at various stages Gondor has occupied the city and those Gondoreans who rebelled against their king in the kin-strife eventually settled in Umbar and became the corsairs. However, the kin-strife is 1500 years over so it's safe to assume that things have become really different. So I haven't had any problems with PJ interpretation of the corsairs in his movies.
This last group fits better on deck of a ship but I like their hooked spears to present a wider variety of weapons on the battlefield. And long spears make armies look so much more powerful. So I'm quite happy to have them.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01221.jpg)
Overall I quite like the corsair models. Of course they have their limits, as have most of the Middle-Earth plastic models as most are cast in one piece. They'd be better if they were cast in parts like the warhammer troops (or the Mordheim gangs), but overall I have no problem with them.
Alright, I'm off to tackle the Variag horses one more time... :D
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Looking good!
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Very nice!
:-*
A quick job, you say.
Well, it looks pretty damn effective and a lovely combination, too!
I am with you that it is much more important that they have a good enough paint job for the table, that being the most important thing- Getting them into use.
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As promised I have been busy painting up cavalry figures.
First we see here a model falsly called Faramir. Those familiar with the Lord of the Rings movies will see right away that this is actually Boromir. Never mind that, both weren't born at that time. I will most likely use this miniature as a hero leading the knights of Gondor. Depending on my mood I might actually use it as the stewart's oldest son (as he carries the oxen horn of Gondor, a hereditary item of Gondor's stewarts). The model is quite nice but I'm not quite happy with the casting, the face does look like he just got out of a bar brawl. But it nonetheless is a great model for a hero/leader of Gondor.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01225.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01223.jpg)
Next up are the wild riders of the Easterlings. Once again I chose the Variag models. I'm afraid I did not remember the exact color I mixed together for the coats, so the riders' coat has aslightly more whitish color than the foot soldiers. Again, I'm quite happy with the models, I think they look very much the way I pictured the Easterlings - fast, aggressive and wild (unlike the disciplined armies featured in the movies). I bought the leader model in addition to the box of the riders. That gives me the option of having a cavalry attack and use the infantry models should the horses be killed or feature them both together as a mixed attack force.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01226.jpg)
I painted the leader's horse black (actually bluish-black). Ignorant as I am concerning horses I always thoughht pure black or oure white horses would somehow be a sign of quality (ok, my wife cured me of that idea but still in any fantasy setting the heroes' horses seem to be either white or black if you are talking about the antagonist).
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01228.jpg)
Here are a few pics of the riders in more detail. Notice the wonderfully dynamic poses these models were sculpted in. It's things like this that make the LotR range one of the best models GW produces today. I can really feel the wind, see the coats flap and hear the thunder of the hooves. Great models.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01229.jpg)
The horse's tail of the left rider in the picture below broke off. So I had to make one with green stuff. This, ladies and gentlemen, is my first attempt in life to actually sculpt something without anybody telling me how to do it. It turned out okay, though thinking about it I would now make the tail slimmer and take more time for a few details. But at least I learned a little more about the hobby during this project.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01230.jpg)
That's it for today. What's next? Well, I have a batch of Gondorian foot soldiers in the making. And then there is the Variag chariot waiting to be assembled and painted. I'm looking forward to that one. So stay tuned.
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A great update!
Those Variags look like they are really flying!
:-*
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Those are some nicely painted forces, well done!
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So we're back again with my latest update.
I found a shop selling off some GW Lotro miniatures and purchased some soldiers of Gondor. As I have presented the command crew before I have now some rank and file troops freshly painted. Again the black turned out to be a lot more bluish than anticipated but overall I don't mind. Notice that I decided adding a little scenery to the minatures to beef up the pictures. More about that a little later.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01233.jpg)
Now these models aren't anything fancy, but as I wanted to let you see the project coming along I have decided to include anything new in this thread. Here another picture of the group.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01235.jpg)
Next up some scenery. A few years ago I stumbled across a playstation 2 game called "The third age". It's a lovely game and I instantly loved the way nature and old ruins was brought to life there. This pond with an old statue took a lot of inspiration from that game.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01237.jpg)
Coming back (briefly) to the climate debate: I decided to keep Ithilien more Middle-European and less mediterranean. However, my skills in making trees is not really up to the task. So I will have to use a wild mixtue of bought and self-made trees to come up with the feeling of decideous forest (vocab correct here?). Anyway, I had these roots lying around for quite some time and at first thought to make them into some kind of "dead wood" for the Morgul Vale (they would have looked cool) but decided to flock them to be able to put a larger forest on the tabletop. So here a quick picture of the new part of the Ithilien woodland.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01238.jpg)
Now here's a little extra. On page 2 of this thread I showed you the corsairs of Umbar and I admit I felt shabby for not giving them a ship. Then just a little later I stumbled across a thread here of somebody building a sailing ship of polestyrol and cardboard. unfortunately I can't find the thread anymore so I had to work from memory. Now this is the first ship/boat I have ever attempted to build and my rather lazy attitude of not being too accurate of course is a mayor drawback for this. Of course the question arose, why bother you guys with shoddy work? The answer is simple - I assume that we have lots of people here on the forum who are not too much into spending hours drawing construction plans and slowly build a masterpiece worth everybody's praise. I kind of thought "what the heck - let's see how it turns out in the end" and started building the ship. Of course it's not finished but I'll keep on adding details and pieces whenever I need some colors on models to dry.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01239.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01240.jpg)
So far I plan on usinf a lateen rigging. We'll see how that works out. At least now I am giving the corsairs there little extra. I might even construct a makeshift balista on the boat. Not sure yet. But one thing is clear: if there's a ship there needs to be a bigger river to sail on - that forces me to start thinking about constructing a new gaming table. I love it how in this project one thing leads to the other - without me having a master plan and just going along with it.
That's it for now, there'll be more to come.
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:o
Wow!
Thats quite an update, sir!
Well worth the wait.
Love the Gondorian reinforcements and the ship-in-progress, but I must say a big 'Thank you!' for posting your scenery.
It has given me great inspiration for how I want to approach my impending forest pieces for Strange Aeons.
I have some of those LotR ruined statues around somewhere that will work perfectly too.
So- 'Thank you very much' for the inspiration!
Much appreciated!
:D
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excellent Stuff :o
out of curiosity:whos the Guy in your Avatar Pic?Is that the young (Hawkwind) Lemmy?
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Even young Lemmy is pretty ugly, that fellow in the avatar seems a lot more dashing! :D
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Wow!!!
Wonderful stuff Lars!
I never thought you were into LOTR. I have loads of the stuff myself but unfortunately I know no one in the vicinity with whom to play. lol
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Great thread! Very inspirational work. :-*
Might I suggest Perry Miniatures' Korean line to add to the Variag forces? They fit very well with the LotR scale:
http://www.perry-miniatures.com/index.php?cPath=23_39
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Like somebody wrote....very inspirational. And i just love your little ship. It looks simple to make but perhaps a small tutorial is possible?
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Very impressive stuff. I do actually like the GW LotR range and own bits-and-bobs of it (mostly metal). My son and I plan to collect the Hobbit stuff when it comes out later in the year. I am, however, slightly apprehensive as I haven't bought any 'Finecast' minis and have heard plenty of horror stories about their quality. Anyway, please keep the pictures coming.
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Love the Gondorian reinforcements and the ship-in-progress, but I must say a big 'Thank you!' for posting your scenery.
It has given me great inspiration for how I want to approach my impending forest pieces for Strange Aeons.
I have some of those LotR ruined statues around somewhere that will work perfectly too.
So- 'Thank you very much' for the inspiration!
You're most welcome. I draw lots of inspiration from pics here on LAF so it's nice to know I'm able to give soemthing in return.
excellent Stuff :o
out of curiosity:whos the Guy in your Avatar Pic?Is that the young (Hawkwind) Lemmy?
Sorry to disapoint you but that's me at the age of 25 as a student at the University of Wisconsin... :) I admit I feel rather good about being mistaken for Lemmy.
I never thought you were into LOTR. I have loads of the stuff myself but unfortunately I know no one in the vicinity with whom to play. lol
How little you know of me! :D Seriously, I am a real nerd about anything related to Middle-Earth.
Great thread! Very inspirational work. :-*
Might I suggest Perry Miniatures' Korean line to add to the Variag forces? They fit very well with the LotR scale:
http://www.perry-miniatures.com/index.php?cPath=23_39
Thank you for your praise and for your suggestion. I've taken a quick look but will definetely have a closer one this weekend. There are some real nice models on that page.
And i just love your little ship. It looks simple to make but perhaps a small tutorial is possible?
Well, I "stole" the idea from somebody else on this forum. If any of you remember that thread, please post a link here so I can have a look again. It was really a cool little tutorial. But here's the gist of it:
I drew the shape of the boat on a piece of paper, glued it on some polestyrol and cut it out.
Next I took an empty cereal box, cut the box into stripes (about 1/2" wide) and glued them on the side of the hull as planks.
For the deck planks I used very thin balsa wood.
I used some more cartboard stripes to cover up the areas where the planks on the side meet as I was rather sloppy measuring them and had some "holes" in the hull. And that's it so far
Very impressive stuff. I do actually like the GW LotR range and own bits-and-bobs of it (mostly metal). My son and I plan to collect the Hobbit stuff when it comes out later in the year. I am, however, slightly apprehensive as I haven't bought any 'Finecast' minis and have heard plenty of horror stories about their quality. Anyway, please keep the pictures coming.
I will post more pics as soon as I have finished anything new. And I am really looking forward to seeing the models for the Hobbit. From what I have heard and seen it's going to be just the right kind of movie for me.
As to the finecast models: I have posted something about them here on this thread (the Gondor command group). They are better than I feared but worse than I hoped. I'm still not convinced by them but as the boss of the shop where I get my LotR models is a very nice and decent guy I feel less worried about giving them a try (if I need any that is).
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Lovely stuff there Lars :-* :-* :-* Might have to think about doing some more LOTR myself,a right inspiration* and cracking painting too :)
Sorry I haven't posted earlier,but you know.
Guy
* And I love the fact your are a bit of a LOTR scholar,right on !
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I love my GW LOTR armies. Yours are making me want to drag them out again. Very nice work. Who makes that tree with the dryad in the trunk in your pond picture?
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What's your tree recipe? It looks like you've used real sticks, but these ones have a much more satisfyingly tree-like branching pattern than most twigs and sticks and that leaf cover is very nice.
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I love my GW LOTR armies. Yours are making me want to drag them out again. Very nice work. Who makes that tree with the dryad in the trunk in your pond picture?
Well, I aim to please. ;) Seriously, part of the fun of a project thread is actually seeing how things develop and to see that small steps in the end have a huge result.. As to the tree, I can't really remember, it's been lying around here for ages, glued to the base...
What's your tree recipe? It looks like you've used real sticks, but these ones have a much more satisfyingly tree-like branching pattern than most twigs and sticks and that leaf cover is very nice.
These are the roots of some bush my dad got rid of a few years ago. I generally find roots better suited to make trees. I used some cheap flock from a modelshop and just added little sprinkles of clum foilage and a sprinkle of static grass to avoid a too uniform look. There is some kind of webbed structure in the bright green flock, which I cut into irregualr pieces, put some glue on the individual "branches" of the tree and then wrapped the web around it. The main point is not to be too clean so it doesn't look too neat.
I'll be looking for more roots to dig up should I ever start doing anything in my garden. That has become quite a djungel these last years as both my wife and me absolutely hate working in the garden....
Lovely stuff there Lars :-* :-* :-* Might have to think about doing some more LOTR myself,a right inspiration* and cracking painting too :)
Sorry I haven't posted earlier,but you know.
* And I love the fact your are a bit of a LOTR scholar,right on !
Thanks Guy, praise from you means a lot to me.
LotR has been my "bible" since I first read the book in 1980. It was actually also the first book I voluntarily read in English in my 7th grade at school (when my grades in English were usually F-). The feeling of a long and vivid history, culture and an overall set of believes behind the story has always fascinated me. So becoming somewhat of a Middle-Earth scholar came naturally. I guess that is why I actually enjoy playing little stories of the unmentioned heroes of Middle-Earth, the little stories that make up the background of that epic tale. And realizing I actually added little things here and there without changing the overall story made me enjoy this project a lot.
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A little bit off topic....Someone else mentioned it,so; showed the wife the picture of you in your avatar Lars,she said what a handsome chap you are,like a good looking Dennis Hopper circa Easy Rider. The thing that got me that when I was the same age I looked (and still dress like,though now I'm a bit,how shall we say middle aged?) a member of Captain Beefhearts Magic Band on the cover of Safe as Milk. What I'm trying to say is I like your style my man. 8)
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I forgot to post these pics here. I've been thinking about having some kind of fortification that would be a little different from the usual walls and towers and such. With the gradual breakdown of Gondor's control over Ithilien I imagine that castles are not that common anymore. So I thought about something like a semi-permanent fortification. Then I stumbled across an article in one of the many GW sourcebooks about LotR explaining how to build just that kind of terrain.
To have more flexibility to use the fortification I built various elements that can be arranged as is neccessary.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01241.jpg)
Put together properly you have something like this: a fortified camp. A couple of years ago I made these tents for some pulp adventures in Africa but they fit in here just as well.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01242.jpg)
I put a few minis on the walls for size comparison. When I constructed the fortification I forgot to take into account the relatively high bases of the miniatures. That's why the parapet isn't as high as it is supposed to be. But it will serve. After all on the tabletop you just have to define what kind of protection these walls offer.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01243.jpg)
As you can see there are rather large caps between the individual elements of the walls. I might have to sand the edges down a little bit.
The building process itself was rather simple:
1. Cut a block of polysterol and glue it on a base. Make sure the polysterol goes right up to the end of the base where you want the elements to connect.
2. I used the good old McDonalds coffee stirrers for the parapet. As the wall itself is about an inch high the wooden planks have to be higher to actually cover any models up on the wall. I used balsa wood for the interior side of the wall to cover the polestyrol. Small wooden pieces made of toothpicks were used as posts to hold the planks on the inside in place (well of course its the glue that does it but of course in reality you would have to secure the planks so that the earthen wall doesn't flow away after the firt rainshower.
3. I covered the top of the wall (ramparts?) with the usual white glue and sand mixture just as I did with the rest of the base. I used various very watered down browns to paint the wood, then gave it a slight drybrush with grey and sand color.
4. The gate: Of course I forgot about the gate. I had hoped to come up with a movable gate on hinges or something like that. In the end lazyness prevailed and I just glued four longer posts on the base with enough space between them to just drip the gate down and have it held by the posts.
the whole thing was quick to make (well, total time was of course a feww days since the glue and the waterd down color take some time to dry properly) and did not involve any fancy planning. Perfect for me. Whenever I got sick of painting miniatures or had to wait for some washes to dry I glued on a few more coffee stirrers. That way the fortification grew alongside the Variags I painted up.
The nice thing about this fortification is that I can use it for both Gondorians or their enemies. Okay, it does not look like an orc camp, but it could be a camp for the Variags from which they could stage a raid, it could be a fortification at the banks of the Anduin, protecting the ship of the corsairs. I could imagine a scenario in which the Gondorian player tries to reach the ship and burn it while the corsairs try to hold them off. So endless use. And should I ever get bored with this project I can just as well use it in almost any other setting, be it a wild west setting, Napoleonic, even in between war settings (Russian civil war etc.).
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A little bit off topic....Someone else mentioned it,so; showed the wife the picture of you in your avatar Lars,she said what a handsome chap you are,like a good looking Dennis Hopper circa Easy Rider. The thing that got me that when I was the same age I looked (and still dress like,though now I'm a bit,how shall we say middle aged?) a member of Captain Beefhearts Magic Band on the cover of Safe as Milk. What I'm trying to say is I like your style my man. 8)
Well, it's getting better and better here. :) With the good old Captain behind you, there's nothing that can go wrong. And I have to say your wife seems to be a lady of great taste :D :D :D
Unfortuantely I have gone a little more (how shall I put that...) 3 dimensional in the meantime. And being now in my forties has left some traces here and there. Though my wife says I'm just as childish at times as I used to be - that seems to make me so irresistable to her. lol
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Not sure why you've kept the ends rounded on that fence there? Looks a bit odd to me.
But otherwise very nice!
I hope to one day game some LOTR with you.
I bought Fall of The Necromancer last year and I'm still planning on playing it. Oh boy all those projects.
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Not sure why you've kept the ends rounded on that fence there? Looks a bit odd to me.
But otherwise very nice!
I hope to one day game some LOTR with you.
I bought Fall of The Necromancer last year and I'm still planning on playing it. Oh boy all those projects.
Hm, now that you mention it - it does look a little strange.
The Fall of the Necromancer is definetely another great setting, especially when we can expect a lot of material being published in the wake of the two Hobbit movies. I'll be looking forward to that.
And maybe next time you are around here I'll have something suitable to play. Just drop me a line.
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I do like the way you've done the fort. I saw a Games Workshop battle report a while ago where they had done a similar thing (there's was more complicated and had a higher standard of finish, but there were several of them being paid to do it and it took a lot longer, so I think what I'm saying is I prefer yours!) - it seems a good way to get some simple but still very flexible fortifications on the battlefield.
And I don't think the rounded ends look too strange - you can explain it as providing small gaps for archers on the inside to shoot out but still protecting them from archers outside. Just a different style of crenellation.
It doesn't look like an Orc camp it's true, but Orcs will take over anything so I'm sure they'd be quite happy to find an abandonned Gondorian fort and stick a banner in it and say 'yer, this is ours now, you want it, you come an' get it!'
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Another short update. I spend most of today wondering what next to paint. So I rumaged around my basement and looked at all the Middle-Earth models I purchased a long time ago. Unfortunately, I have no metal Mordor uruks whatsoever. Those are great models but at 12 Euros for three of them they are a bit expensive. On the other hand better get them now before they only have those shoddy finecast models.
However, I did find a model I am going to use as my special hero for this campaign. It's really a blast to paint an individual model again and not a group of figures. I didn't get a lot done yet, hust the face, pants and boots. But I'm gonna take my time with that.
I also continued working on the ship model. So here you are with the next stage.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01244.jpg)
As you can see I'm going for a lateen rigging here. As the hull looks rather slow a lateen rig might make it look a little faster. As usual I found out lots of things I would do differently next time but for me that's part of the fun.
Here's another shot, this time with one of the corsairs on deck to give you some idea of the size of the vessel. I'm slowly getting to the point where I have to decide how to paint this thing. No clue yet.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01245.jpg)
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I promised my special hero and here he is. Of course you all know it's one of the many Aragorn models around. I actually didn't know I'd ever bought this miniature as I have always thought this model to look rather crappy in any of the battle reports. It was either the way they painted Aragorn or maybe it is because this model is a lot more slender in the face and so somehow looked off in the photos I've seen.
I officially renounce the notion that this model is bad. I looked at it once, twice and said "Wow - this is reeeally a cool mini..." So it's only fitting that I use this model as my role-playing element in my project.
Background story: I chose the name Ashandar for the character. Ashandar was a character a friend of mine played in a Middle-Earth role-playing campaign I mastered for 5 or so years. That was a true hero, willing to sacrifice himself in order to protect those who couldn't protect themselves during the Fall of Arthedain. Anyway, that name stands for the highest qualities in a warrior so that's him. He is (as of now) the descendant of an old noble Dunedain family that was given land in return for bravery during the war against Sauron at the close of the Second Age. Ever since his family has been living in Ithilien. Peaceful times are gone by now but Ashandar still tries to hold on to his family's land and retainers. As a Gondorian nobleman he strongly believes in duty and in doing the right thing. The upcoming invasion will give him plenty of opportunity to do so.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01250.jpg)
As you can see I didn't paint him as a Ranger. Instead I chose a strong red with gold (thinking about Boromir's outfit in the movies). I originally painted the cloak white but it looked rather goofy. I don't know it reminded me more of a clown than a nobleman. So I repainted the cloak in a dark color. I originally wanted it to be black but as usual my black ended up as a dark blue. But I think it works out.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01249.jpg)
The cloak is actually rather tattered (Aragorn really wasn't wearing formal dinner clothes in wilderness) so white showed all the little tears and wears. The darker cloak is able to hide some of that.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01248.jpg)
The greaves. Right, well, I wasn't too happy about them. Originally I wanted to paint them in a dark-reddish brown with some details in a lighter brown. Howver, I thought metallics look better with the blue. The details are really crappy but I found out my eyesight is just not as good as it was 5 years ago. Kind of shocking.
I'm not sure about the base. It might look a little busy, too much on it. Not sure, any feedback would be appreciated.
So I will follow Ashandar through the invasion and see if I can manage to come up with a few suitable scenarios.
What's next? The ship is more or less finished, just needs a little more time to dry. But there should be photos of it soon. Furthermore I'm working on an orc balista and on a nazgul on horse. That model was seriously damaged during the casting process. So it'll be a while to patch it up. Maybe I shouldn't use it anyway as there are no reports of any nazguls around in Ithilien - well, maybe nobody who could have told a different story survived... Muahahahaha. Stay tuned.
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That, Lars, is jolly nice painting.
:)
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Great stuff! I love the idea of unknown heroes like this in LOTR. Also some really excellent paint work, especially the Corsairs and Ashandar.
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Gotta agree - beautiful painting even if you think your eyesight is going. I think he looks perfect for the somewhat impoverished son of a noble house fallen on hard times.
I don't think the base is too busy. It's busy, certainly, or to put it another way, it's interesting. But it doesn't take anything from the model I don't think.
I think you've done a smashing job (and I hope you realise you've pretty much single-handedly convinced me to restart my own LotR project, by providing such lovely and inspiring images!).
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Well, Red Orc, in my opinion there can't be too many Middle-Earth projects around. I'll be waiting to see your work here on LAF.
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I am really enjoying following this thread of yours, Doomhippie.
Your tale of Ashandar takes me back to the very first bit of GMing that I did, back in the '80's. ( :o).
MERP and all.
Great, carefree teenage years....
Lovely paintjob on Ashandar and the ship is coming along nicely.
I always enjoy your updates and am looking forward to the next.
;D
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Sorry I've missed your thread up until now; I seem to avoid Lord of the Rings threads..it's some sort of phobia/lunacy. That aside, the project in general & your minis specifically are WONDERFUL, IMAGINATIVE creations...I really enjoy your painting style. VERY WELL DONE!
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That, Lars, is jolly nice painting.
:)
It is.
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Lars, your painting on Ashandar is beautiful,your style is wonderful and for me,the important thing it is recognisable as yours,cracking work!!!
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Thanks for the nice comments, guys. It means a lot to me. As much as I enjoy working on the project, reading that my efforts are actually paying off is a boost to morale.
So here's the next update as promised: the ship is finished.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01251.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01252.jpg)
All I did was paint it black and then lightly spraying white on top of the ship. After that I just washed it with various browns. In the end I put a very light drybrush with sand color on top of it.
I fiddled around with the sail and rigging. Originally the sail was a little bigger but painting a white sheet of paper with a very watery color makes it shrink a little. I then painted the dragon on it, after drawing it with pencil. I was think of various other things to paint on the sail but a dragon has the right mixture of aggressiveness and goes well with pirates. Of course in Tolkien's books the sails should be black but that would make the ship model too dark in my opinion. So I took the liberty to keep the sails whitish.
So here's the happy bunch of corsairs off to do some mischief.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01253.jpg)
Okay the ship looks overcrowded but I wanted to see how many miniatures fit on it. 22 if I counted correctly, which means 2 corsairs will have to swim. :D
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01254.jpg)
Looking at the photo you will understand why I chose a very small sail for the model: that way the sail would not interfere with any miniatures on deck. It might look unrealistic but I find that a reasonable compromise between "looks and playability".
Here a little detail of the helmsman. I originally wanted to put a steering wheel on the ship but two facts spoke against it: first the hobby shop that had all the neccessary ship model supply closed down and second it would have looked too modern for my taste.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01255.jpg)
And here a detailed shot of the bow. I haven't found an anchor yet. I might add one later. Or maybe not since I want models to be able to stand on deck which means I have to be carefull with too many details.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01256.jpg)
I am well aware that this ship looks a little beat uo and shoddy and of course highly unrealistic but the idea is of course to have something that just might fit into a fantasy setting. So all in all I am quite happy with my little ship here and as far as I can tell so are the corsairs who are about to set sail and go north...
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I can't believe I've semi known you for 3 years almost and I never knew you could paint!!! lol
I really like Ashander and the whole deal with the ship. Lovely!
I have a lot of the old MERP books lying around somewhere I think. Hmmmmm!
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I can't believe I've semi known you for 3 years almost and I never knew you could paint!!! lol
I really like Ashander and the whole deal with the ship. Lovely!
I have a lot of the old MERP books lying around somewhere I think. Hmmmmm!
Thanks a lot. Well, I haven't really posted that many pics of painted miniatures. Or maybe not in the threads that you read at that time. Whatever it is, I'm glad you like 'em here.
As to old Merp books - go find them, read them and get hooked again! But sorry, no owlbears in Middle-Earth. ;)
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Your project is so great! I love your miniatures, too. But I already told you that when you was so kind to let us sleep at your home. Will you run a game when I´ll be in Kiel next time?
Cheers
Jan
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Your project is so great! I love your miniatures, too. But I already told you that when you was so kind to let us sleep at your home. Will you run a game when I´ll be in Kiel next time?
Cheers
Jan
I'll drive down and join it if you do! lol
We could make a Saturday out of it. ;)
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I'll drive down and join it if you do! lol
We could make a Saturday out of it. ;)
Okay you guys just tell me when you'll be around here. I'll get something ready for you. At the latest during the next GLAM... ;)
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Okay you guys just tell me when you'll be around here. I'll get something ready for you. At the latest during the next GLAM... ;)
Most days after the 30th of June will suit me. :D
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oh wow - some cracking work here :)
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I really love this project. I can't wait to see more!
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Awesome thread DH!! Let's see more ;)
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Awesome thread DH!! Let's see more ;)
I wish I could say I'm working on it but at the moment things in school are very busy. Hope to get back to painting next week or next weekend at the latest...
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Awesome thread, your painting on plastic is top-notch, I've never seen it look so much like metal!!
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man those are some great minis.
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Even though I am not a great fan of Tolkien, I must say that I really like this whole project, its very nice and interesting!
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Time for the next update.
I built or recieved some more pieces of scenery. Nothing too fancy, just down to earth stuff.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01257.jpg)
The ruin is some aquarium scenery which I thought looked fitting for something in Ithilien. The trees in the background in the next photo are just typical tabletop trees (I think by Noch/Ziterdes) which I just put on a little piece of plasticard. I sprinkled a little flock on the base and that's all. Nothing really worth taking photos of but as I wrote earlier, I want to record the complete process of this project.
The little round base in the front is a CD with some polestyrol rocks on it surrounded by more flock and stuff. Originally I wanted to put a statue on it as well but it somehow didn't look right. I'll do that on another piece of scenery later.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01258.jpg)
On the third photo you can see two more pieces of aquarium scenery, two gnarled trees I bought a few days ago (curtesy to luidinuovo, who has them on his Conan thread). I'm not sure if I'll leave them like this as the colors look a little artificial. I've been using greys on the rocks and on parts of the trees but am not yet satisfied. They also look very twisted, maybe more fitting for a Fangorn setting. then again they are really eyecatchers and might make a nice variation in a woodland.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01259.jpg)
Next up the evil behind the invasion. A firend of mine gave me this Mithril miniature a few months ago. I painted it in March but forgot all about it. This seems to be the Witch-King himself. I am quite sure he never really took part in the invasion itself (Boromir told the Council of Elrond that the present of the Nazgul caused a level of fear hithero unknown to the Gondorian troops defending the Crossing of the Anduin. That would mean that the terror of the Nazgul was not present in earlier battles). But I'll allow for some leeway here.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01260.jpg)
A word or two about the painting of the miniature. I personally find black to be the hardest color to paint. The typical "paint it black and drybrush a little grey" doesn't work for me. Black needs to be blended into fairly bright colors. I've tried the approach to have white as a base color and then just put washes of black over it but it still doesn't really satisfy me. So this is the good old blending approach. As with white there are variants of black: bluish-black, brownish black, grey or even greenish blacks. I personally prefer blue/grey as a higlight.
I'm not happy about the violet part and might repaint that in the future.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01261.jpg)
Notice that I actually highlighted up to almost skyblue in parts.
This next one is a kick-ass miniature: a classical black rider as they are described in the books and have been very well designed in the films. The cast of this miniature was terrible. It was ripped apart along the back of the cloak. With little effort I could have snapped it in two. Instead I let endless drops of superglue vanish into the gap, slowly filling it up and finally used some green stuff to hide the worst parts. That was really a labor of love but was well worth it, I think.
The problem of black again. How do you paint a black rider on a black horse wearing a black blade? Obviously you need to have various shades of black, not least of all because the nazgul is wearing different layers of clothing. Some kind of undergarment, a cloak, a hood, a cape, you name it.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01263.jpg)
I tried to give each layer a different black and think I have managed reasonably well. Of course I started with the horse. The horse has various leather straps and wears some kind of hood (I have no idea how you call that in German, less so in English). I went for the usual bluish black on the horse and a very dark brown with almost no highlights for the leather so as not to distract too much from the important part of the miniature: the rider.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01262.jpg)
As you can see see I painted the highlights of the various layers of garments to a different final color. The arms have the brightest highlight. I did that on purpose because that helps breaking up the dark siluette of the miniature. The model seems more mobile that way.
The final layer of clothing, hood and cape, were kept darker than the rest to make sure the black in black rider was kept (they are, after all, not called grey riders). The dark cape works like a frame for the lighter other layers of black.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01265.jpg)
Hm, this reads more like it belongs in the "how to..." section. Nevermind.
I'm not yet sure if I will actually use the nazgul miniatures but then they might make for a great special scenario. And they are just absolute great villains, way beyond your typical orc or troll. The aura of failed or corrupted majesty is really intriguing for me, so I might just deviate a little from the history as put down by Prof.Tolkien (who, after all, felt more like he rediscovered ancient legends - so maybe he could have been a little wrong here and there...).
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Great additions to the project!
The scenery items are really nice. The ruins will work perfectly and those 'warped' trees are brilliant!
Nice paintjobs on the minis and the Rider is one of the best versions of it that i have seen.
The differing shades in the 'blacks' work really well.
:-*
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You've got some BEAUTIFULadditions there. The Wraiths painted up WONDERFULLY. I love the trees; they are TERRIFIC mood enhancing pieces. VERY WELL DONE!
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Wow! Those are just beautiful looking minis and terrain! Well done!
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That rider turned out fantastic... rich and dense, but also a little ethereal. Perfect for black riders!
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Nice rider! Thanks for the 'how to...', i find that the usual 'black drybrushed grey' makes the lodel look unfinished.
Will be borrowing the technique...
:D
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Interesting thread and very nice blending on your black riders.
:-*
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Fantastic work Lars, a really lovely thread, looking forwards to seeing more!
Duncan
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With my 2000th post I'd like to say thank you for the nice comments. Holidays are coming so I might post a first battle report soon...
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Congrats mate on your 2000!!!
Here's a suitable song ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6hro4qsb80
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With Roky telling me to levitate it's really hard to stay focused (thanks a lot for the video, Guy. I still can't decide whether the Elevators or the Charlatans are my favourite band... Problems, problems). Hence today only a short update.
The following miniature is just a plain plastic model from the Rangers of Ithilien box. However, I have decided to make him into a minor character with the name of Bragil. He is Ashandar's trusted henchman/friend/advisor. To show their connection I painted his garment in a similar red as Ashandar's. The green cape is supposed to show that he is less the warrior but more the ranger type. Maybe Ashandar's Master of the Hunt (apart from the fact that there are no other hunters left in his household). I imagine Bragil to have a more "cautious" approach to bravery. While Ashandar would probably confront a dragon attacking his village, Bragil would try to lead the people to safety. A different kind of courage. The "Samwise Gamdshie" of the two.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01303.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01304.jpg)
The next picture is just a piece of terrain I built yesterday. It's a beacon that I plan to use as an objective marker in my first scenario.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01305.jpg)
I have finished painting the orc spear thrower but have to finish basing the models (so hopefully they'll be ready tomorrow). I have also primed a command group of the Barad-Dûr guards, which I plan to use as uruks. As much as I love the metal Mordor uruks they are just so friggin' expensive and I cannot get them from my hobby shop here as they are only sold via mail-order. GW trying to cut out their retailers... As soon as I have finished those I should be ready to try out the first scenario. So stay tuned.
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Nice. You painted that ranger really well. The piece of terrain is great too. What I like about LOTR is that the world is big enough for you to use your own imagination, like making characters and scenarios.
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Lovely paintjob on Bragil and the beacon looks good.
Simple but very effective.
You may already be planning it, but a few tufts of grass on the base of the beacon would really set it off to a tee.
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VERY WELL DONE! Both the Ranger & the Beacon are BEAUTIFULLY painted creations.
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Sorry - I seem to be a bit late to the party.
This is shaping up rather nicely - really looking forward to the battle report!
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Lovely paintjob on Bragil and the beacon looks good.
Simple but very effective.
You may already be planning it, but a few tufts of grass on the base of the beacon would really set it off to a tee.
You're absolutely right. I forgot about that. Will do tomorrow. Thanks for the reminder.
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Next picture.
I've finished the bolt thrower of the orcs. Looking at the picture I realize I have overdone the rust effects a bit. I don't mind rust on orcish equipment but if this machine is actually used there should be less rust on it. Oh well, at least it's a bit more colorful that way. The orcs have a similar problem. Since they wear rags I tend to be rather sloppy painting them. I think it shows. Then again they still look suitably orcish to me.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01316.jpg)
I am working on the Barad-Dûr guards' base, they should be done in an hour or so. Once they are finished the first battle will be joined. Can you already hear the distant orc drums? Well, the brave guards of Gondor are getting uneasy...
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Another fine bunch of reinforcements for the Orc hordes.
I dont see 'too much' rust on the machine, it looks good the way it is.
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On the picture it looks okay. I've already tried to let a little more metal shine through.
Anyway, here are the promised Barad-Dûr/Uruk pics. The models are actually quite nice. This "gentleman" will be the captain of the orcs in scenario 1. Actually I might make him into some kind of recurring antagonist. He certainly looks mean and strong.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01325.jpg)
I tried to keep the overall appearance rather dark (a pain to take pictures) and think he comes across just the way I imagined.
This next picture shows the command crew. I will actually use all three of them as captains. Never mind that they are musicians and banner carriers. At least until I get some other uruk model. I tried the keep the colors maily black with the exception of the breastplate, which has a dark red on it. I think it helps giving the models a little distinct apeearance other than just a black blotch (see my black discussion about the nazgul).
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01326.jpg)
As I said the models are quite nice but are a pain to actually glue together. The arms carrying the equipment are really heavy. Even with superglue I was unable to attack them. So in the end I used the drill and wire to fix them up. Of course the banner broke off as soon as the drill hit the arm. So I had to drill a hole into the banner staff and reattach that. I am happy that I managed to do that, even though the banner now is sagging to the right. Still better than having no banner at all.
I don't really like the burning eye on the banner and maybe should have scraped it off. At least the flames which I think are too dominant on the banner. At least I got rid of them on the captain's shield. They would have distracted too much from the miniature itself. I painted a (not too sofisticated) skull on the shield, which I personally find more fitting.
The last shot features one of the ballista crew men as a means of comparing the style of the models.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01328.jpg)
It's plain to see that the Barad-Dûr orcs are bigger, stronger and better equipted than the archtypical orc. I also paint the usual orcs less dark, more dirty grey-brown. The uruks are black, dark and just altogether a different kind of opponent. I think they work very well.
I let you off with a little scene of things to come...
Armandil drew his cloak closer around him trying to ward off the chill that had been creeping into him all day, yet he could not find comfort in this dark night. As every night the cold wind blowing down from the peaks of Ephel Duath carried the sound of countless orcish drums being slowly beaten in a steady rythm. Distant lights of many torches being carried along the long forgotten paths through the mountains had been seen and the Gondorian soldiers of the little guard post at the foot of the dark, brooding peaks had felt a nameless dread slowly growing in them.
No torches were to be seen tonight. Dark and seemingly devoid of life the mountains lay before the guard's eyes. Just the slow rythm of the drums could faintly be heard in the deep shadows of the mountains. And then the drums fell silent...
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I had no idea that the LotR minis could paint up THAT NICELY. You really did a SPLENDID job on them all. VERY WELL DONE!
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Cool Uruks, lets hope the Gondorians hold firm...
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The time has finally come to put the forces to the test. I took pictures of the first clash of orcish and Gondorian troops in Ithilien 2901. The assault ont he beacon is the attempt of the orcs to destroy Gondor's alarm system and thus surprising the defenders in that area. I took a lot of pics and will guide you through the battle. Let us have a look at the battlefield.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01329.jpg)
The Gondorian camp overlooks a small deep through which a small creek is merrily running towards the Anduin. I imagine the camp to be in the foothills of the Ephel Duath. Here any attempts of an invasion can be spotted in which case the beacon on the right flank will be lit to warn troops and farmers living further away from the mountains of the coming danger.
Here a picture of the creek. which devides the battlefield into two parts. There is a rope bridge hanging over the deep to connect the two parts of the Gondorian camp. On each flank a steep path leads up to the plateau of the camp. I ruled that for the normal Gondorian soldiers in their heavy armour everything counted as difficult terrain (half moves only), while the rangers could move freely. The orcs could only move 5" rather than 6" but had no further problems.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01330.jpg)
On the right flank we have the beacon, in the left camp is the supply of weapons for the defenders. I created a simple score systhem to determine the outcome of the battle. Each end of the bridge is worth 1 victory point, each captain killed 1 VP, to break the opposing army (kill at least half the men) 1 VP, lighting the beacon 3 VP for Gondor. I further decided that should the left part of the camp be lost to Gondor they could no longer use their bows and arrows, as the supply of arrows was kept there. This forces the Gondorian troops to split up.
Here is the right camp with the beacon (notice that the weapon counter originally was here as well. I moved it afterwards to the other flank):
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01331.jpg)
Here the two forces: Gondor had 10 warriors and 6 Rangers. The captain is a tough leader with the name of Belegnor.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01338.jpg)
And here the orcs: 30 orcs, some with spears, bows and heavy axes, most with a sword and shield. They are lead by the Uruk captain Rotgut (okay, that name sounds very warhammerish...), the captain Buruk (carrying the drums) and a normal uruk carrying the banner.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01332.jpg)
For those who like point values the forces were worth 182 and 323 points respectively.
Here two pics of the Gondorian setup. It is a cold night and the men are huddling around the tents, preparing food and trying to stay out of the cold. That way Gondor couldn't just set up the troops at the best possible location but actually had to move the minitures to reach defence position. The only exception were two guards at the ends of the bridge.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01342.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01343.jpg)
We pick up our tale just as the drums of the orcs in the mountains fell silent...
Uneasily the men looked at each other and at the distant mountains. Captain Belegnor rose slowly still holding the steaming cup of tea when the cry of the bridge guard was heard in the sudden silence: "Orcs! There are orcs in the deep!"
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01346.jpg)
"To arms!" shouted Belegnor and grabbed Armandil's arm. "See that the beacon is lit. Make sure news of the attack is spread. Join us once the fire burns!" Quicly the men took up positions guarding the steep paths to the plateau. Below them on both banks of the river a horde of orcs moved like ants forward through the trees.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01347.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01348.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01349.jpg)
Yet hardly had the soldiers reached their positions when the first wave of orcs crashed into them lead by a fearsome black orc whose furystaggered even the seasoned Gondorians. Yet the defenders held and arrows rained down on the dark shapes and here and there a scream proved the defenders skills while the dark bolts of the hidden orcish archers clattered harmlessly on the rocks and stones of the hill.
I won't bore you with the details as such. I used the GW LotR rules and the solid Gondorian armor was worth every nickel, so to speak. The orcs had a lot of problems actually wounding the Gondorians. Thank Sauron for the two uruk captains who at least managed to inflict some damage. And slowly pushed the defenders up the path.
A word on the shooting. As the attack is supposed to take place at night I ruled that the human archers are not allowed to pick their target. Rather they have to shoot at the closest target or at least at the closest unobscured target. In turn 2 that was actually Rotgut who lost one of his two lifepoints during the first shooting phase.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01350.jpg)
The fight was a confusing melee of hacking and stabbing. The discipline of Gondor's finest was laudable and time and again the horde was thrown back. Belegnor encouraged his men directing defenders to where the pressure was the highest and joining the fight when his men stumbled backwards. But endless seemed the horde and while the men of the right camp held their line, desaster struck on the other side of the river.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01351.jpg)
With a mighty roar another black orc hewed down defenders right and left and up jumped the orcs, reaching the plateau and falling on the lightly armored rangers who, while fighting valiantly, were soon swepped away in a tide of steel and blood. The left side of the camp was overrun and soon one bow after the other fell silent, the archers having spent all their arrows.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01353.jpg)
The fight threatened to be lost for the men of Gondor. " Armandil! The beacon! Light the beacon!" Belegnor shouted above the clash of steel but then fell silent as the huge shadow of Rotgut, the orcish leader, fell on him...
But why wasn't the beacon lit?
Armandil was close to desperation as he tried time and again to light the wood. Yet everytime he struck a flame it failed to catch on to the logs. The cold wind seemed to mock him as the flame was blown out yet once again.
The rules for lighting the beacon are simple. Each round one model may have one try. In the first round you need to roll a 1, each round thereafter this number is increased by one. Finally, in his 5th attempt, Armandil managed to roll something less than a 6...
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01352.jpg)
With his men falling around him, Belegnor was gripped by a terrible fury and in a hail of blows that split the black orcs mail he vanquished the dark uruk and kicked his lifeless body over the edge of the deep. But to his left and right he percieved his men falling backwards, some hewn down by the overwhelming number of enemies.
"To me, soldiers!" he cried. "Don't fear death nor darkness. Remember your oaths to Gondor!" And though the defenders were still pushed back the line held.
Belegnor managed to slay Rotgut. Even the nearby battle banner of the orcs was no help. In fact, it proved rather uneffective in this battle. Maybe it was too dark to be seen... ;)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01355.jpg)
The dark banner bearer now swept forward and at last the line of defenders crumbled. Woe to the two lone soldiers on the rope bridge. With no way out they prepared to sell their lives as dearly as possible. "This was a good fight." said one. "Aye, that it was." replied the other and then they fell silent forever.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01359.jpg)
Sorry, out of focus snapshot.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01360.jpg)
Beregnor felled the banner bearer with a sweep of his sword and saw Armandil join the fight. A grim smile played around his lips but he was too tired to say anything. And just then the pressure of the enemy seemd to subside as if his power was spent as well.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01361.jpg)
The beacon's flames shone brightly in the night and its light could be seen many miles away. The men of Gondor had fullfilled their task and now quietly slipped away, when the orcs fell back to prepare the next assault.
Thus ends our tale of the battle for the beacon. In the end Belegnor, Armandil and one other soldier managed to escape. All other fell. A terrible price to pay, but overall a success for Gondor. The managed to light the beacon, killed one captain and broke the enemies strength for a total of 5 VP. The orcs overran the bridge and broke Gondor's army for a total of 3 VP. Only one uruk captain and 10 orcs remained after the fight.
Most successful figure was Belegnor, who held his men in line for a long time, killed both Rotgut and the uruk banner carrier and survived. Armandil was a little slow to light the beacon - it could be argued that he really took his time to join the fight but that would be completely against the spirit of the game.
Most useless? Hm, I'd say the orc archers. In the whole game they only managed to hit once and that was one of their own in melee. 7 models throwing dice and doing nothing. Oh, one ran away and deserted. Charming fellows. To be fair, they had a hard time hitting anything because first of all orcs only hit on a 5 and 6 and second all their potential targets were at least partly behind cover (effectively giving them a 50% chance not to be hit even if the orcs rolled a hit).
Anyway, that's my little report for now. I hope you enjoy it. There's more to come...
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Very nice battlefield! Great battle.
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Du Geiler !
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Absolutely bloody brilliant! Best looking LOTR minis and game I have seen in a very long time!
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Amazing terrain! I want one!
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Amazing terrain! I want one!
No problem. Here's the link how to build it.
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=10538.msg121138#msg121138
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No problem. Here's the link how to build it.
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=10538.msg121138#msg121138
Excellent >:D
I was thinking of building a sand board. My dad use to have one so i might give it a go, owuld need big side to make this 'gorge of doom'!
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Bloody nice terrain and very entertaining report! Just great!
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Smashing stuff!
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Great report of a game played on a wonderful table!
:-*
I love the way all the seperate elements of scenery come together so well.
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The terrain looks fabulous! I think i steal the idea with the bridge for my next jungle board.
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Dude, you rock! You are making my son and I very excited with this superb project.
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Stunning work! A great table, great minis and a great looking game. Is it the same board you showed us at GLAM a couple of years ago? Because it looks like you've added at lot to it since.
Duncan
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It's the same board just with trees and a little flock here and there. I haven't added anything to it. Glad you like it.
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Okay, the next battle has been fought. We left off with the beacon being lit and the Gondorian armies warned of orcish mischief. The Gondorian troops react swiftly by trying to occupy important landmarks overlooking roads, bridges and settlements. At the same time the orcs pour down into Ithilien, burning and looting. Some evil force is pushing them swiftly forward in order to disrupt the Gondorian deployment. I played a battle representing exactly this situation.
This is the Gondorian force under the command of Captain Calmegil, a brave if somewhat inexperienced leader. His small company of 28 men is supported by Rangercaptain Melumbar with 6 more Rangers. Point value: 390
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01363.jpg)
Rushing towards them is this little group of 41 orcs and 7 warg riders. The orcs are commanded by an uruk captain and command crew, the warg riders have their own captain to lead them. Point value: 461
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01365.jpg)
The battlefield was quite narrow representing one of the many shallow valleys in Ithilien. Three landmarks are positioned on the battlefield: the ruins in the foreground, the hill in the centre and a formation of rocks barely visible at the far end of the table. Whoever controlls the most landmarks at the end of the battle is the winner.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01366.jpg)
Troop deployment was rather simple: a straight line. Where possible the orcs tried to put their spearwielding troops as support for the front rank and have the two handed weapons a little further back to engage once the battle lines meet. The orc archers trot after the army and will use volley fire. While that reduces the chance to hit it increases the range of the fire and the troops don't even need a direct line of sight. The warg riders hand even further back in order to prevent any arrow fire on them before the battle is joined.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01367.jpg)
The Gondorians basically are deployed the same way. Only their archers are supposed to run as fast as they can because their strength lies in direct fire. The rangers who treat wood as open terrain for all movement are on the extrem left flank hoping to sneak by the main battleline and capture the ruins. If need be they can support the main troops with their accurate bowfire.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01368.jpg)
The orcs are on the move. The main body of the army is trying to flood around the hill while a smaller detachement is supposed to storm the hill directly.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01370.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01371.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01372.jpg)
The orc archers let fly with their arrows and the first hail of bolts hits the advancing Gondorian troops, killing one of the young soldiers. Grimly his comrades step over his dead body and advance.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01373.jpg)
As the battlelines draw closer to each other more arrows are shot but fail to hit.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01374.jpg)
Soon the little clearing at the foot of the hill is filled with fighting men, the sound of weapons clashing and the screams of the dying. The Gondorians once again had the benefit of superior armor. Still the fight quickly bogged down into a swirling melee.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01375.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01376.jpg)
At the same time troops of both sides started climbing the hill. Here the heavy armor of the Gondorians was of little help, especially as the side of the hill the troops were trying to ascend was the steeper slope.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01377.jpg)
As a result the troops arrived in bits and pieces on top of the hill and were unable to prevent the orcs from gaining the hill top as well. Soon the hill was full of men and orcs hacking away at each other trying to push the enemy back down the slopes.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01379.jpg)
The rangers supported the fight on the hill with some well aimed arrows that wiped out parts of the orcs trying to engage the regular archers coming up the hill.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01380.jpg)
At this moment when both armies were more or less fully engaged and the Gondorian battle line seemed to be an imovable wall the orcs were unable to breach, the young Gondorian captain Calmegil called upon the reserves to follow him up the hill to fall into the orcs flank and thus secure this important landmark. Alas, that was not to be. Bravely he charged into a group of orcs, heedless of the fact that the troops following him where slowed down by the terrain. The orcs swiftly isolated the brave man and cut him down before any help could arrive.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01382.jpg)
This was really a dramatic moment, more so because I had absolutely no doubt that the captain should be able to fight through a group of three orcs. He has after all two hit points plus a onetime safe of 50% and was close to the battle banner, which allows a reroll. The orcs need to roll a 6 to wound him if they win the fight in the first place.
After this totally unexpected loss I ruled that the Gondorian army had to take an immediate morale check or fall back. They failed miserably. The captain of the rangers was able to stabilize the troops in the clearing but he men on the hill turned tail and ran hotly persued by the orcs.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01383.jpg)
The orcs cut down some of the fleeing troops. Since the orcs won the initiative I allowed them an attack from behind thus negating the shield bonus.
The loss of the hill forced the Gondorian troops in the clearing to lengthen their own line which in turn openend up the shield wall - with a catastrophic result: not only did the uruks now manage to push to the front and start dealing out death and destruction the warg riders, who so far had found no opening to charge through, now had their chance. They hit swifty and hard, the Gondorian battleline was pushed further back and started to disintegrate under the preassure of uruks and wargs.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01385.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01386.jpg)
The orcs on the hill killed the last defenders claiming the important landmark and persued the retreating Gondorians towards the last landmark.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01387.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01388.jpg)
The rangers now joined the melee with their captain, who tried to cut the advancing orc line in two and hoping to cripple the wargs before they could charge again. But fate ruled otherwise. Their attack, while causing a few casualties, failed to wound even one warg. In return the monstrous wolves and their riders killed and hacked down the lightly armored men. When the captain of the rangers, Melumbar, was vanquished by the leader of the warg riders the battle was more or less over.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01389.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01390.jpg)
The bowmen of Gondor feathered one more orc but they were the last defenders and as the Gondorian force was broken (over half of the army dead) and both captains lay among their dead soldiers I officially ended the battle. The last picture of the fleeing banner bearer says it all.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01395.jpg)
Aftermath: The orcs are in control of the battlefield. Even though I ended the battle before they reached the third objective, it was clear that the few bowmen wouldn't be able to stop them. So that's that. Furthermore, both captains were killed and the army broken. That would give the orcs a total of 12 victory points (3/landmark, 1/captain killed, 1 army broken) while Gondor didn't even manage to gain one. 12:0! That's a desaster! Now the orcs are free to run amok and that will have some serious consequences for the next battles fought. And there are still some to come. So stay with us.
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Nice! I think your terrain is very realistic, and the battle is great as well!
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You can almost here the clashing and the shouts! Like the close ups ;)
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SPECTACULAR! The minis in their natural surroundings are GORGEOUS; they held my attention long enough that, with much moving of lips, I plowed through the report...very well written. GREAT STUFF!
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Fantastic battle report and lovely figures and terrain!! I'm looking forward to seeing future reports!
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Beautifully done - particularly the photography - the terrain and minis look fantastic of course.
I really enjoyed the cut and thrust of the battle - seemed very realistic and fluid the way everything swung around the death of the inexperienced and somewhat impetuous captain and the loss of the hill - must have been very exciting/agonising to play!
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This is spectacular! The visual effect of the terrain and models is amazing, but it's the story element that clinches it: just makes it so exciting. This is what tabletop gaming is all about. Inspiring stuff.
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Wow! Lovely work mate,I'm envious!
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Missed the gorge thread as it was posted just before I joined lol
Brilliant campaign Lars, figures and terrain are top notch :-* :-*
Small battles are quite often the most interesting :)
cheers
James
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Thanks for all the kind comments. It is definetely a boost to morale to have one's work appreciated.
I must admit that my painting efforts have lessened these last few days. But there are still some models that want some looking to. And the invasion has just begun, so lots of stories yet to tell.
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Your painting logs and battle reports are hugely inspirational. The idea of playing previously unknown skirmishes in Tolkien's world is very appealing. Because of this, I'm faced with decisions to make about my next hobby project, and that is a wonderful problem to have. Thanks, and I can't wait to see what you have planned next.
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Next very short update. I slowed down a lot lately (thanks to online gaming... :( ) but have made plans to get the Ashandar story going. I'm still painting the civilians I need for the second scenario. However, the next scenario will basically be about Ashandar and his friend getting a hint that trouble is coming their way. Lifestock has gone missing from the fields and Ashandar and his master of the hunt will be looking for clues.
I decided to give Broadsword Adventures one more go. So I've prepared the encounter cards for the scenario. Before I laminate them I've taken a quick photo to show you front and backside of them. I'll explain the rules behind them once I post a battle report.
The front of the cards basically depicts what can be found at a certain encounter side. I just copied photos from google (hopefully I haven't infringed on any copyrights there...) and added a little text. I used the program Comic Life to edit the cards (thanks to an idea Grimm had... oh.. about a hundred years ago). The back of the cards just shows a screenshot from the "Lord of the Rings online" game that keeps me away from painting so much - might as well do something good then. It's actually a screenshot somewhere in the Trollshaws but works fine for me.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01397.jpg)
Well, I'm off to Denmark for a week of heavy duty role-playing with a bunch of friends. I'll get the scenario and battle report going once I'm back.
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Love the painting on the orcs and will have to steal some ideas for when I get round to painting mine. :D
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Great report Doomhippie. Your trees look better than mine !
I love the encounter cards.
Have a save trip
Björn
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Fantastic terrain and minis. I'm really enjoying reading through your thread.
Duncan
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Looks interesting - have fun in Denmark!
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Stunning battle reports.
Tables are awesome, miniatures are very well painted.
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Surely I'm not the only one checking this thread every so often to see if any new magic has been posted? More more more!
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Surely I'm not the only one checking this thread every so often to see if any new magic has been posted? More more more!
Thanks for the encouragement - I haven't forgotten this thread but have failed to paint up anything new or actually get a game going. But there is a certain spider lurking on my to do list (okay, Shelob has no role to play in Ithilien apart from the fact that she lives on its border and is a cool mini) as well as a war chariot. And Ashandar's first appearance...
I hope to get back into painting soon and hope to get a game going in the second week of October. Just a little more patience... ;)
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Hi Mr. Doomhippie.
I was very inspired by your building of Shelob the other day and I look forward to seeing it in full colour. I might even have to dig out my own S'lob and see if I can make it look the part..
Also I hope that the next time we meet up in Kiel you could be persuaded to do a bit of gaming with our shared collection! Wouldn't that be awesome!? :o
We could force vikotnik to watch!
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We could force vikotnik to watch!
lol
I'll be there without forcing, having a beer then...
Dr. The is right! Carry on, Doomhippie! Make more! Quick! Quick!
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Okay, just a very short update.
As Dr. Viking hinted, I have been working on Shelob lately. To be honest, she's a bitch to assemble and most of the work was actually done by Vikotnik (thanks a lot). Otherwise I probably would have thrown the model out of the window shouting abuses and whatnot!
Anyway, two days worth of drilling, pinning, glueing, redrilling, reglueing, breaking off pins we finally had her settled on the painting base. We gave her a quick undercoat of black and then a thin layer of white to see where else we needed to work with putty and such. Today I finally gave her the (hopefully) final undercoat, used a few squirts of white undercoat to highlight Her Majesty and have since given her three washes of mixed sepia and blue. Originally I intended to paint her up like an Australian funnel web spider but that critter is rather black - too black for my taste so I decided on a more brownish approach. I took these two pics to give you a first impression of the work in progress. Looking at the photos I realize there are still some lyers of inks needed to even out the color. I'll post mor pics once I have done a little more painting.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01450.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01449.jpg)
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She is looking very good ;D
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She is looking really promising.
That model is so realistic it makes me shudder just looking at the bugger on the screen.
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wow looks terrific already :o
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Ghastly! :)
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Now that is one ugly ass spider!!! :o
I'm quite fond of arachnids myself and I seem to recognise this particular specimen from real life although your paint job makes it elude from me...
And I still haven't found what I'm looking for. I have climbed the highest mountain, I have scaled these city walls... but my copy of the last child of Ungoliant is nowhere to be found. Dread.
EDIT: By 'ugly ass spider' I of course mean 'really well painted, albeit disgusting'
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She's rappelling down from the ceiling. Just... over... your... shoulder...
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Very nice! I love the colours. How big is that figure? It looks pretty large to me.
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Man, we constantly noticed how dynamic this model is but in the photo, it really looks the part, haha!
Colours look great so far. Brr, what an unusally creepy thing this turns out to be, surely one of my favourite Lord of the Rings models!
Quick! Paint more!
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Love the whole Thread, its great to see LotR getting some Love, you prove how good they can look if someone can paint!
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Wow - I painted up one of the old citadel giant spiders a while back and it looks like a daft caricature in comparison!
Definitely wouldn't get in the shower with this one :o
I do have one of the Otherworld giant spiders to put together and paint sometime - if Shelob gave you that much bother I'm not looking forward to it...
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Beautiful work on the pi-pi mate (that's old fashioned Australian vernacular for spider) !!! :-* :-* :-*
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Of course the model dropped down today. Karsten told me "don't drop it!" so I just had to do it. Spend some time fixing it up again and have continued painting. Maybe I'll be able to post a pic or two tomorrow.
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Okay, next spider update.
As I mentioned before, I dropped her Ladyship and she consequently had to have some plastic surgery (not that there was anything to do about her rather... exotic appearance in the first place). But all in all things turned out alright for the two of us. :-*
Anyway, this first picture is actually from the first batch of pics. I just forgot to post it. Why is it interesting? I think looking at the belly of the model makes you appreciate why I actually constantly have to fight my feeling of disgust to paint this model up. It gives me the creeps to look at this picture and I am not particualrly arachnophobe (still find spiders rather disgusting).
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01452.jpg)
It is a little out of focus but you can see enough to see what I mean.
Next up a few pics of my recent work on her.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01453.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01454.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01456.jpg)
As you can see I opted for the "traditional" GW use of colors with the red/orangy spots on her back. Looking at the model now it takes away some of the creepiness of the spider but then again the eye needs some distinguishing markings on a model lest it becomes a dark smear when looked at from arms length. I also painted the body underneath the carapace in this reddish tone (once again being influenced by photos of of the funnel web spider) seen here in comparison:
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/spider.png)
It is really orangy but still I have the feeling I've been overdoing it a little. Any feedback is welcome. Furthermore I am not sue about the face. I gave it a little more detail in a typical antropomorphic way (as spiders or insects don't necessarrily draw the attention to their head). I think it's alright to do so even though once again it takes away a little of the weirdness of the model. I'm not sure about the eye color yet. So far the eyes are black and I actually think about keeping them this way to contrast the other lighter colors on the model. I fear that painting them bright red or green or whatnot wouldn't really help much. What do you guys think?
Last picture is for size comparison. She is not as huge as she could be but big enough in my opinion. Considering that she is a metal model she is quite heavy and making her any bigger would probably have made her way to heavy (I know, I know - resin is the answer...). Anyway, she isn't finished yet but basically there are only details to add plus course a base.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01457.jpg)
Hope you like her. Stay tuned, looks like I'm slowly getting back into painting again.
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Man I love it!!! :-* :-*
Brilliant all the way. Now get it based and play something!
You forcing me to try mine in black and purple though
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Just so beautiful! I love the lighter colouring, it really brings out the details of the sculpt. I have Her Ladyship sitting around in a box somewhere unpainted, and this is pretty inspirational!
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:o
Great, yet gross at the same time.
A great job!
:-* :-* :-*
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I think she looks bloody brilliant!
You're right that the contrasting orange bits takes away the naturalistic horror it had before but it looks great - and who necessarily wants a model that gives you the creeps? I particularly like the angry orange flashes on her abdomen. 8)
I think the eyes should stay black - perhaps a little white highlight to imply shine?
Cracking job - I look forward to seeing her finished off and based.
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Okay, she is almost done.
Thursday night Vikotnik and I were sitting in his basement talking about cool music (Ufomammut for the fans of Doommetal) and doing a little brushwork. As usual he was extremely helpful to come up with some solutions about my "problem of orangeness" on Shelob.
I spend about one hour just putting a black glaze around and on some parts of her back thereby trying to subdue the brightness of the orange (except for the very middle ridgeline) and at the same time sepreating the bright part more clearly from the rest of the body. And I must say I'm really pleased witht he outcome.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01459.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01461.jpg)
I think she looks a lot more sinister now without being an indistinguishing mass of darkness.
Unfortunately I only seem to have matt varnish at home, as I wanted to make her eyes and the black parts on her feelers (whatevers next to her mough) glossy. So I'll have to get me some gloss varnish soon.
On this next picture you can see how far down her back the "black triangle" runs. Looking at the photo I find it just afew milimeters too far but okay, I can live with that. And it seems to be a little asymetric, which makes it look a little wrong. That probably has to do with the fact that I forgot to take her slightly to the right leaning body into account. Again, I'll live with that. However, that once again makes me realize that I sometimes are not carefully enough with the details - which makes the differnece between an excellently painted model and a well painted model. Then again - hey, I'm painting toys here! ;)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01462.jpg)
So what's next? Karten demands that I'll give some special care to her base. Spider webs... does anybody know of a cool tutorial how to make them?
And following that I have finally begun working on the Khand war chariot and am painting some civilians for Ashandar's manor. These should be finished next week. Well, the chariot might take a little longer.
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BLoody wonderful!!!
How I wish I was party to some of your painting sessions.
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BLoody wonderful!!!
How I wish I was party to some of your painting sessions.
Well you have, haven't you? :D
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That is truly unpleasant. It will doubtless present a fearsome spectacle on the tabletop.
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She is LOVELY! You chose a GREAT mix of colors & your brushwork is EXCELLENT...I'm impressed. VERY WELL DONE!
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So what's next? Karten demands that I'll give some special care to her base. Spider webs... does anybody know of a cool tutorial how to make them?
Yes: http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.de/2011/12/tutorial-realistic-spiderwebs.html (http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.de/2011/12/tutorial-realistic-spiderwebs.html)
Very nice spider, by the way!
:-*
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Damn!
How the hell did I miss this thread!
Gorgeous stuff. I love it!
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Top job - the black layers look great.
Good luck with those spider web effects! :o 8)
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Okay, new photobucket, so let's see if I can get this going...
I have bsed Shelob but there are still no spider webs. Admiral Benbow's link was wonderful (thank you very much), however the material needed would be another investment into machinery which I am not willing or actually able to do at the moment. So Shelob has to live without her web (unless I find a really cheap alternative). So here she is.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01477.jpg)
As you can see, the base has a different style than those I usually use. There is a very simple reason to that: I don't expect Shelob to do any running around in the open countryside so I decided to paint her base in darker colors more fitting to the twisting tunnels and mountain valleys she usually prowls. Now I just have to create some terrain to play on... But I am working on that.
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Outstanding :-*
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Outstanding :-*
Agreed!
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Alright, had to switch back to the old photo bucket - direct links don't seem to work with the new one. Gee, never change a system that works...
These next few photos are partly miniatures I had already painted and some I recently painted. Most are from mirliton even though I find their models anything but well-made. Unfortunately they are about the only civilian models that at least in some way fit to the LotR range. Too many companies try to go for the renaissance style which is absolutely a no go for this project.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01463.jpg)
So here's a nice buccolic scene. I plan to use these models as followers or retainers of Ashandar (remember, our hopefully soon to be hero), who live around his estate managing the everyday life like cooking, cleaning, building and whatnot. I guess the great pile of food on the table is from Zafarelli's range of goodies.
I find the Mirliton models a pain to paint. Their faces do have rather grotesque forms (sorry, they do look like a bunch of inbreds to me). Consequently, I have a hard time enjoying the painting process - mostly I just want to get over it. And I always realize it shows. Not really my best painted models. But they will do, as their main job will be to be cut down mercilessly by orcs, eastelings and other up to no good creatures (or, alternatively, to be saved selflessly by Ashandar).
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01468.jpg)
Even more of them, this time arguing about the quality of the latest shipment of cloth and doing various important tasks.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01471.jpg)
The major domus preaching to a mischievious boy.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01472.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01473.jpg)
The working men (who at least might have a chance to defend themselves).
I just realize that the light is not very good in these pics. When I sat down to take the photographs the sun was shining and the very first picture I took looks a lot better (which is the first one of the civilian pictures). Unfortunately the batteries in my camera gave up after only one picture, I had to recharge them and by then the sun had vanished behind a layer of thick grey clouds. I really do have to think about getting me some good lights for my photo sessions.
In this next picture are two more Gondorian soldiers, a captain and a banner carrier. They can be a nice addition to the other command crew I painted in spring. The banner is smaller than the huge battle banner of the fail-cast models so it might come in handy if I want to play a more skirmish oriented encounter or it might just be a secondary banner for a different unit.
The captain's model is more static in its pose and since he looks more or less like an ordinary soldier he might as well pass for an nco. I did paint the tree on his breastplate white to make him stick out a little from the ordinary rank and file troops.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01475.jpg)
The last picture of today's batch is a WIP picture of the Khandish chariot. It's a great model but somehow I am stuck at the moment and cannot really make up my mind to continue painting it. Though it really is cool and I would like to have it finished.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01476.jpg)
What's next? I have recently got my fingers on Mordor uruk-hai, which I find absolutely cool. So far I have primed half of them but there is unfortunately a lot of work in real life waiting for me so I don't really feel comfortable sitting down and painting. Too many things in my subconscious to really relax and enjoy painting. Sucks!
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Very well done. I imagine that is hard to find any other minis for plucking a chicken or a goose. I particularly like the large copper kettle. As an archaeologist that has worked on 17th century Iroquois sites I would recommend this for Contact period kettles - that would be chopped up and reworked into bangles, arrow points, and many other uses.
LB
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Some lovely characters there, Lars :)
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Shelob is LOVELY...all things considered. Your color choices, brushwork, & basing (love the Girl's base...it adds to her sinister nature) are WONDERFUL. VERY WELL DONE!
The Villagers are also a FINE addition to the The Project as are the Tower Fellows & the Chariot. GREAT STUFF!
I can identify with your PhotoBucket woes; AND the contrary nature of cameras...I may have mentioned that mine is Demonically Possessed & hates me.
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Some lovely additions there, even if you yourself are not too keen on them.
:-*
Considering that you are not too keen, you did a great job on the tartan of the majordomo.
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Wonderful work. You did a great paint job on the civilians, and I think they fit in very well with Middle-Earth.
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I've got the six Mordor Uruk-hai variants and must say I share your enthusiasm for 'em. They look very dark and aggressive and lack the uniformity that somewhat puts me off the White Hand Uruks.
Great new additions to this superior project. Shelob is especially unpleasant and I can't wait to see what terrain you devise for her to scuttle about in!
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Altogether lovely selection of miniatures!
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The Civis are fine much better than I can paint!
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Great job with the mirliton stuff - I've been contemplating getting some of this range and those pics are most helpful!
The chariot lloks great so far by the way 8)
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Because of you I searched all my LotR Stuff together again and plan on adding all left metal models to it, thanks for that more money to spent ;).
I love it , the spider looks awesome and I even like the "Inbreds" ;P. What I like the most is that I think we have a pretty similar take on the LotR Game, I allways was a sucker for the Story and Scenarios.
Great Stuff!
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Because of you I searched all my LotR Stuff together again and plan on adding all left metal models to it, thanks for that more money to spent ;).
Believe me, I know how you feel. Without this forum I wouldn't have spent half as much money on miniatures than I did. But actually I still think it has been a good investment.
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Great Spider !
Great other things too !
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Lovely work mate,your painting cracking!!!
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Great stuff!
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Just gone through all of this thread and have to say the painting is excellent, it's been a joy to look through (Shelob was my favorite).
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Hi there, missed the spider, excellent thing that.
The big picture made my daughter scream. :o
Well done
Greetz
GS
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Just come back to this thread after a long time away - lots of updates and some beautiful painting. I have stacks of LotR stuff that needs painting and this is just the inspiration I need. Keep up the good work. I am looking forward to the next few battle reports.
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Love the Mirliton stuff and the spider. I too have thought about getting some citizenry, livestock and practical items from Mirliton. A story usually has just a very few heroes and a ton of scenery and extras.
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I know I have been taking my time again. Even with my weekly get togethers with Vikotnik I'm still not getting much painting done these days. But here is a little soemthing for Ithilien. I have finished the first six of the Mordor uruk-hai. After having painted the faces they basically sat around and I didn't really know how to continue. Karsten gave me a nudge in the right direction I guess. So here they are. I haven't finished the bases but have been putting on white glue and sand after taking these pictures. So I'll have something to paint tomorrow.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01478.jpg)
This first pic shows the batch of them together. I went for bluish faces as they look really dark and aggressive, fitting for the elite of Mordor's orc population.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01480.jpg)
Here is a little close up of them. I really like the way the blueisch faces work with the leather of their clothes and the metal of their chainshirts/weapons.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01479.jpg)
Second close-up. Overall I'm quite happy with these guys. They turned out a little more brown in their overall appearance but that's actually quite okay with me. I haven't decided if I should paint their eyes red or just keep them white. The white gives them a rather ghostly appearance but I like that. So any opinions here?
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VERY WELL DONE! The bluish skin tones & white eyes are GREAT color choices. I really like the browns & the way you did the metals...I can't imagine a race devoted to war you would allow their weapons & armor to turn to rust.
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Love these mate, fantastic work! Very inspiring blog!
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I love those Uruk minis. Great stuff.
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They do look nice
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Love the blue
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those orcs really catch the right spirit. Great
GS
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Yesterday I painted two orc casualties from the new warg rider box of the Hobbit series. I intended to use them in my next scenario as markers.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01526.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01528.jpg)
Nothing fancy but still enjoyable to paint.
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And while I'm at it here is the next battle report. We remember the last battle ended with a crushing defeat of the Gondorians troops. So all Mordor now needs are a few more troops to secure victory...
Evil turns against itself
Life as an officer in the Tower of Cirith Ungol had its good days. However, today was not one of them, Bugat decided. It had started out alright for him. He had beat up a skinny whimp of a tracker who had thought to be funny with him. In fact, just make clear his position as an officer the uruk had ripped out the tracker's guts and those of half a dozen others(just be on the sure side).
That's when things had started to go wrong. Just then Slaggat appeared. Slaggat! Special pet of the powers in the ruins of the old fortress of Barad Dur. As usual Slaggat appeared with a full detachment of uruks from that place. Everything about him cried out: "I am super important and have powerful people protecting me!"
With his usual bored look Slaggat surveyed the carnage around Bugat. And in his whispering voice (trying to imitate his dark masters toneless voice) he remarked: "Bugat, I have great news from the war. Our troops have been victorious and now the way to the river is almost free. Every soldier is now needed to push forward and claim our goal. Yet here I see you killing those very soldiers needed at the front. if I didn't know better; I'd say you are working for the other side..."
Bugat snarled forming various plans in his head to rip out Slaggat's throat. Before he could decide on any of them Slaggat continued.
"It doesn't matter now. See, I have a very important task for you. You are to secure the quickest way to move troops from the tower down to the front. Which would be... oh, yes, the stairway. So, get your boys together and scout the path for the main force to travel on. And better be quick about it," he added when he saw Bugat's hand slowly reaching for the long dagger hanging by his side. "Unless you would rather discuss the matter with one of THEM? He will be here very soon to get the troops ready. For your sake I hope you'll be long gone by then..."
Life as an officer in the Tower of Cirith Ungol in the end usually sucked, Bugat decided as he left in more than a hurry to assemble his scout party - maybe he shouldn't have killed off all the trackers....
The scenario is quite simple: Bugat and one other Mordor uruk will lead a group of orcs through the winding tunnels and crevices of Shelob's lair trying to find the path to the stairs of Cirith Ungol in order to move troops quickly to the front. Okay, maybe it is just a plot of Slaggat to get rid of Bugat. Who knows?
Anyway, here is the gaming table. The orcs start in the far right corner and will have to take a zig-zagging path across the table, having to roll for various encounters along the way (marked with the little piles of skulls) and being hounded by a very hungry spider.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01490.jpg)
Here are the boys together. In the middle we see Bugat and his pal Mauhad.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01495.jpg)
Victory conditions are fairly easy: Mordor has to exit Bugat and at least 10 other orcs from the table. Shelob is not on the table in the beginning but has an increasing chance to appear (on a roll of 1 in the first round, 1-2 in the second round etc. Each encounter further increases the chance by one).
Just around the first bend the orcs stumbled across the first encounter: the remains of one of Sehlob's victims.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01500.jpg)
The sight of the dead orc forces bugrat to pass a courage test. Should he fail the closest model to the encounter blip would run away in terror as discipline crumbles and would try to hide somewhere in the tunnels (and later obviously eaten by Shelob) thus making him a casualty for gaming purposes.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01499.jpg)
"Quit your squealing, maggots. This one had it and if you make a racket like this, you'll just bring her Ladyship down on us..." shouted Bugat. Unfortuantely it was his shouting that got the attention of her...
While none of the orcs ran away in the second round Shelob appeared and I rolled the dice to decide from which side of the table she would enter. It turned out she was following the orcs already...
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01504.jpg)
With Shelob so close the orcs once again pushed forward unwilling to face the terrible spider. As Bugat was elemental to the success of the scenario I made sure that at least two or three orcs were always close to him. A good leader always leads from... where it's safest.
Greedily Shelob climbed down the walls of stone but obviously she was too greedy because she slipped and fell down - rather unladylike. That gave the orcs a little more time to run off. A lonely archer decided to shoot at the monster, hit her but was unable to penetrate her thick hide. Even more embarassing for Shelob was the fact that once she charged the lone archer he was able to fend her off.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01508.jpg)
By now the the orcs were about one third across the table and so far none had died. Unfortunately at this moment they came to a little obstacle in the form of difficult terrain which slowed them down quite a bit. Shelob left the single archer standing and thanks to her spiderclimbing was able to take a shortcut.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01509.jpg)
Several things happened now. First of all another encounter took place right in front of Shelob. Once again the terrifying remains of a half digested orc were found. This time Bugat failed his test. That meant the closest model to the encounter would have to be removed. There were two potential victims: an orc who sttod between Bugat and Shelob or his Uruk pal Mauhad. Rather than giving Shelob an opening to attack Bugat, the more valuable uruk was sacrificed and removed as a casualty. Selob easily dispatched the bodyguard.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01510.jpg)
On the next photo we can see Bugat running for his life way ahead of the others. Shelob's huge body is almost blocking the path of the orcs. I decided to have each orc roll a moral test to se whether they were brave enough to run past the huge monster. Unsurprisingly with their leader almost out of sight and the uruk discipline master having run off almost no one moved.
"You go first!" - "No, you go!" - "Okay, lads, let's all start running on the count of three. Ready? One-Two-Three. Hey, why isn't anybody running?" - "Oi, I don't see ya running neither!"
You know how it goes...
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01513.jpg)
Shelob now tried to go for Bugat rather than taking on a dozen or so orcs. She climbed up another column in order to jumb Bugat on the other side. As soon as she was up on the rocks the orcs moved on.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01515.jpg)
And then she blew it - again! No jumbing on the running uruk for Shelob! No, sir, instead another miserable fumble as she tumbled from the rocks (fortuantely with no damage to her besides her dignity). But by the time she was up again orcs were running towards the exit. Bugat took one last look at the monster before he flead from the field. Somenody would pay for him having soiled himself in fear - somebody would pay!
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01519.jpg)
Aftermath: The orcs actually won. All in all only 5 orcs were killed. Even when Shelob attacked in the last two turns (after Bugat had already reached his goal) she was only able to snatch 1 more orc fom the fleeing her. And one orc got left behind (and counted as a casualty) when he froze in fear while the rest of the orcs ran past the spider. Reserves will reach the front in Ithilien soon and the fighting will be renewed.
A few snapshots of orcs escaping Shelob:
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01518.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01525.jpg)
A few thoughts about the scenario: a little more attention to details would be fitting. The encounter table was not well organized, I had forgotten to prepare markers for deadfalls (which thankfully weren't needed). Shelob has only one attack per round and the whole game was over in 12 rounds or so so she has a hard time actually killing enough orcs. Okay, not always falling down the rocks would have helped...
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The WONDERFUL way you've done up G.W's LotR minis has changed my biased perceptions of the Beasties. VERY WELL DONE!
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You have done a spectacular job on all of these models! I like the way the blue skin of the orcs interacts with the rest of the colors, it ends up looking like black skin in strange dim light.
This thread is really inspirational, I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with next!
--Fitz
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Lovely :-* That spider is truly horrible!
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Great report and photos. You've certainly done a cracking job with this project and I'm enjoying watching it grow very much. Cheers!
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Witty and nice!
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Thanks guys. It's fun to do and if you enjoy it it's even better.
Well, I'm off to visit a friend for a week or so. I hope I'll get back into business in January.
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Okay, with the school reports more or less finished and me actually getting up early enough for some action I decided it was time for another battle report. The idea of this one has been around in my mind for some time now. Some of you might remember an old White Dwarf scenario from the 80s in which the action of the movie "Zulu" was transferred into the WH 40K world. Well, now it's here in Middle-Earth...
The basic idea: after the last few battles I've played it became clear that Mordor's forces are more or less free to do what they want in Ithilien. For orcs that basically means plundering and killing everything and everybody they find. In this case it is the little keep of Ahandar that happens to lie in their path. Luckily Ashandar has recieved warning of the approaching orcs by some soldiers of Gondor trying to escape from the lost battle I've played a few months ago. For those who want to reread the story behind Ashandar please look at page 3 (or4) of this thread.
As this report will probably be rather long I intend to split it into different posts. I had photobucket crash too often for my liking...
Setup: Ashandar's keep consists of various houses and a guard tower. In preparation for the orcish assault some improvised barricades have been put up to give the defenders some protection. It will be located in the middle of the gaming table surrounded by woods and some ruins of the keeps buildings from glorious times long gone by.
The orcs will arrive in wves - three waves to be specific. Each wave will be a randomly assorted gang of orcs and potentially worse creatures. Each wave will fight until half of them have been slain. At that moment, the orcs withdraw (all models are removed from the table), the defenders may set up there troops again and the next wave will be assembled and attack. I used the following tables to roll for what the different waves consist of.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01537.jpg)
The defenders have to survive three consecutive waves.
Here are the defenders:
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01542.jpg)
In the front is Ashandar himself, behind him his friend and trusted henchman Bragil and Ashandar's wife. The rest of the group are armed civilians that will do their best to defend their home.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01543.jpg)
These are technically no defenders as they are all unarmed and have to be protected. The boy with the pink trousers represents Ashandar's son (for lack of a better model).
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01545.jpg)
Six rangers who survived the slaughter of the Gondorian army have arrived at the keep - both looking for help and willing to help in return.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01546.jpg)
Last but not least 10 Gondorian soldiers, once again survivors of the last battle. Too tired to continue their retreat they are prepared to make one last stand. Actually that's one of the special rules I used: all of the defenders are aware of the fact that they have nowhere o run and cannot expect any quarter from the enemy. So they will fight to the death, no morale checks are used.
And here is the first wave of enemies I rolled up: one group of 16 orcs, one group of 10 orcs plus 3 uruks and another group of 10 orcs plus 6 uruks. All in all 45 enemies which means that the defenders have to kill 22 of them to beat the first wave back.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01549.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01550.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01553.jpg)
The stage is set for an afternoon of death and glory...
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Here the gaming table at the beginning of the battle. I ruled that the forces would always appear from the same three areas: One from the bootom of the picture opposite to what I called the gate (which actually is only an overturned table...), one force arrives on the hill in the upper right corner and the third group enters the battlefield from the left side. The defenders are split up to cover the barricades with the Gondorian soldiers manning the gate because of their better armor. The rangers and Bragil (who is a good bowman) have deployed on the tower and on the roof of the manor. As they are all very good with the bow and the key to survival is to kill as many eneies as they can I tried to keep them out of melee as long as possible.
Ashandar is kept in reserve with his wife near the civilians to lend a hand whereever things get tight. Actually Ashandars's stats make him a real hero with 3 attacks and 3 wounds. An Aragorn-light so to speak.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01554.jpg)
The orcs need two turns to reach the barricades. During this time the rangers and the single civillian archer rain down arrows on them, picking the weakest targets to quickly kill huge numbers. 22 necessarry kills are quite a lot. So the rangers target orc archers because they have a weaker armor and are the only ones to fight back. By the time the orcs reached the barricades, 4 orcs were dead but a single arrow also killed the cicilian bowman on top of the tower.
Here we see the orcs attacking on all sides.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01555.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01556.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01557.jpg)
Even this early in the battle it became clear that there were not enough defenders to hold every possible route into the keep. So the defenders had to shift forces here and there. Here we see Ashandar's wife lending a hand in defending a barricade made out of a cart against the orcs. She quickly became one of my favourite characters in the battle as she fearlessly did what needed to be done and as an armed civilian was actually no match for an orc. However, she really lived up to the expectation of a Gondorian noblan's wife.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01559.jpg)
At the same time Ashandar helped defending the right flank of the keep against uruks, leaving the soldiers and armed militia to deal with the weaker orcs.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01560.jpg)
Due to the barricades the orcs were at first unable to really get to grips with the defenders and play out their numerical superiority. However, as the battle wore on here and there they would eventually get across the obstacles. Those were always very intense moments when the defenders were called upon to drive them back or manage the crisis in some other way.
One of the most dramatic moments came, when the orcs managed to hew down a defender at the cart barricade and climb over it, attacking Lady Ashandar now from three directions.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01563.jpg)
This lead to a great scene, when one peasant and the unarmed son of Ashandar rushed in to safe the Lady of the House. And between the tree of them they managed to push the orcs back and secure the barricade. At that moment they still had 11 orcs to go...
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01564.jpg)
At the gate the fight was going fairly well, even the uruks had problems with the strong Gondorian armor. So far things looked alright all things considered. Some orcs had fallen, even the odd uruk was arleady down.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01565.jpg)
Here we see the view of the complete battlefield. There's fighting all around the keep.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01566.jpg)
Then the orcs were starting to get across the fences. Here and there civilians fell and that allowed the orcs to get into the keep. However there were yet enough defenders to react to that. And with each orc slain, the breakup of the first wave came closer.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01567.jpg)
And when the orcs started getting over the barricades at the gate, the rangers from the tower made a short sortie to help out.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01569.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01571.jpg)
Finally the first wave broke and the defenders had a short time to catch their breath. All in all 22 orcs were dead compard to 6 militia men and 1 soldier at the gate. Ashandar was wounded once in his fight agaist the uruks (I must admit for 3 of the 7 turns he was rather "unproductive" losing his fights. However his presence secured one of the barricades. But I had had higher hopes for him. After all, he is the hero of my campaign...). Lady Ashandar probably glanced sternly at her son for running into battle but there was hardly enough time to do so before the second wave came out of the woods, shouting their gutural warcries and brandishing weapons.
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The second wave arrived. This time, the attacking force was only half as big as the previous one which proved fortunate in the end as things really became quite dramatic in the end of the battle. This time the forces consisted of one group of 10 orcs, one group of 8 orcs plus a single warg rider and a uruk captain with two bodyguards. Nevertheless, the orcs were determined to capture the keep, eat the women and rape the horses... In the light of the slowwly setting sun the orcs attacked once again.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01572.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01573.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01574.jpg)
This time Ashandar helped out on the left flank and this time he managed to dispatch his enemies quickly thus securing an important part of the defenses of the keep.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01575.jpg)
With fewer enemies in this wave the rangers had problems picking out targets as they are not allowed to shoot into close combat. So Bragil lead the bowmen from the roof of the mansion into melee to help out the soldiers fighting for their lives there.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01578.jpg)
Things became nasty at the gate, as the uruk captain was rather tough and strong and managed to kill a soldier or two and jumped over the barricade. However, Ashandar having just finished off the orcs on his flank, charged the captain and wounded him heavily. Another orc fell and that was enough for the second wave to pull back.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01580.jpg)
However, another 2 soldiers and one ranger lay dead on the battlefield. The defenders now had a serious lack of manpower, which forced them to leave parts of the barricade unprotected in the hope of being able to rush to those areas most threatened by orcs. Lady Ashandar herself barely survived this assault when she lost a fight against her opponent. However she recovered quickly and killed her third orc in this battle.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01584.jpg)
What a lady... Ashandar's eyes were filled with pride when he looked upon her. Had he just known what the future would bring...
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The third wave arrived. Three groups of 10 orcs each, one lead by a captain and one by three uruk warriors. This was it. This was the final assault and by that time 5 rangers, 6 soldiers, Ashandar, Bragil and Lady Ashandar were all that was left to defend their lives. Together they had to kill 17 enemies to win. There wasn't mutch manpower left, this would be really hard.
The fight started out with orc archers massing on the hill and showering the rangers on the roof of the mansion with arrows. In the LotR game six archers stading in base contact may fir balistically - reducing their to hit chance but not needing a line of sight. Well, the orcs gave it their best shot - which wasn't enough though. Their arrows clattered harmlessly around the rangers who in turn wiped out three of the orc archers thus robbing them of their special rule. The rangers on the tower concentrated their fir on the uruks this time. There were no archers for them to shoot at and none of the uruks carried a shield making them as easy to kill as any other orc. And as their true potential lies in close combat, the rangers did everything in their power to kill them off before that.
When the orcs finally reached the gate Ashandar was there to hold the line against them. The number of uruks was quickly reduced by the combination of Ashandar's prowess and the ranger's accuracy.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01586.jpg)
But on the left flank things looked grim. Only two soldires treid to hold the fence against a whole group of orcs. Withe the rangers on the tower targetting the orcs rushing the gate this group managed to bring their complete strength to bear. For once tehy didn't split up but tried to quickly overwhelm the defenders through numbers.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01587.jpg)
Accordingly Lady Ashandar left her position at the cart and rushed to lend a hand defending the fence. Just then two orcs quiety sneaked off to now capture that empty position. On the other flank another orc tried to do the same.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01589.jpg)
The fighting at the gate became more desperate. Ashandar held his own but the orcs were able to attack some of the soldiers with a huge numerical superiority. Little wonder that they broke through again.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01590.jpg)
Then disaster struck. On both sides of the tower the defence crumbled. Orcs rushed into the keep and there were no men left to counterattack. Bravely Lady Ashandar tried to hold at least on flank but the orc captain who had just climbed over the fence struck her down with viscious blows right in front of ther son's unbeliving eyes. As the orcs had priority this turn they managed to keep Ashandar occupied with a few orcs and thus prevent him from saving his wife or doing anything to keep the orcs from rushing into the keep yet once more.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01591.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01592.jpg)
Ashandar was cut off from his son who stood weaponless in front of the onrushing orcs. Other orcs blocked the tower entrance preventing the rangers to come to his rescue. Ther orc chieftain prepard for yet another kill when Bragil managed to feather the brute thus saving Ashandar's son. Okay, that was in strict violation of the "don't shoot into melee" rule but I found that appropriate in that situation. I mean, that's what a trusted henchman and friend is for, right?
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01597.jpg)
But things still looked grim. The rangers fired on the orcs inside the keep, Ashandar was still occupied by two orcs and about ten of the orcs were on the lose insider the keep. They managed to breach the tower's door and engaged the rangers on top preventing them from fireing arrows at the other orcs. Worse, the rangers were unable to kill the orcs in the tower thus keeping them occupied for another turn.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01599.jpg)
On this last picture we see the orcs excitedlyrushing towards the unarmed civilians. Ashandar's son is right in the middle of the horde. Unfortunately I forgot to take more pictures as things came to a dramatic climax. And this is what happened:
Ashandar's son grabbed his fallen mother's sword and actually (despite recieving a huge malus for being an untrained child) to kill the orc attacking him. Ashandar killed the two orcs keeping him away from the main force of the orcs. As he rushed forward another single orc assaulted him. Bragil and the rangers on top of the mansion desperately tried to bring the number of orcs down to the required 17 but were one orc short. So in the last round things really came to a head. Orcs were gleefully slaughtering unarmed civilians, Ashandar killed the lone orc while his son managed to rush into his father's arms for safety. Arrows from the mansion's roof threw down two more orcs. So at the end of this turn 20 of the required 17 orcs had been killed thus ending hte battle as the surviving orcs of third wave fled into the woods. But they left behind them woe and death and misery. 2 Soldiers, 5 rangers, Ashandar, his son and Bragil as well as three unarmed civilians were left standing. The battle was lost but at a terrible cost.
Oh, the many highlights! Ashandar's wife fought heroically and some credit for defeating the first wave goes to her. Her ultimate yet hopeless sacrifice was really terrible. As both Ashandar and his wife are characters from my old Middle Earth role playing campaign it was really more than just a model being removed from the battlefield. A highlight if a sad one. The dramatic survival of his son was so cool. And of course the whole scenario played out just great. The desperate rushing here and there and trying to throw the orcs back was everything I had hoped for. It was all "Zulu" for me this afternoon.
So what's left? Ashandar will have to give up his keep. There just aren't enough people left to live there or fight for it. I was thinking about letting you guys decide if his wife somehow miraculously survived - but decided against it. What better dramatic hook for Ashandar to now really get involved? The good old revenge story has been set into motion. But first of all what can be done for the survivors? Well, there is that ferry landing across the Anduin not that far off. Unfortunately a small ship of the Corsairs has just captured it. So can Ashandar somehow get his people to the river despite the orcs in the woods? And will he be able to wrest the ship and the landing from the corsairs?
So many adventures left to tell...
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Excellent report, i'll give that scenario a go!
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I really enjoyed that and look forward to the next instalment :D
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A FINE Report & LOVELY photos of GLORIOUSLY WELL DONE minis & terrain. I am truly impressed...you may have guessed that from all the bold capitals.
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That was superb!
Great story, pictures and eye-candy, a thoroughly entertaining read, Doomhippie.
I loved it!
:-* :-* :-*
Really looking forward to the next instalment in the Tale of Ashandar!
:D
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Great looking game Lars, and an enjoyable report :)
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One of the few 'wall of text' threads I actually read thoroughly.
What are the civilians you use The mirliton stuff looks good! They seem to mix well scale wise.
Your terrain and figures look smashing! :-*
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Really great AAR - Ashandar will have to avenge his fallen love! >:(
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One of the few 'wall of text' threads I actually read thoroughly.
What are the civilians you use The mirliton stuff looks good! They seem to mix well scale wise.
Your terrain and figures look smashing! :-*
They actually do. However; I am not really immpressed with the sculpting. But since they are not in the centre of the game they were okay. At least they fit from the way they are clothed.
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That looks really nice. Too bad I had no time to show up !
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Cracking game Lars,wonderful report,the stuff that myths are made of :)
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Stirring stuff indeed!
The idea of this one has been around in my mind for some time now. Some of you might remember an old White Dwarf scenario from the 80s in which the action of the movie "Zulu" was transferred into the WH 40K world. Well, now it's here in Middle-Earth...
I think I've heard of a similar vintage fantasy version of this... ;)
Loved the waves of attacks and desperate attempts to plug gaps in the defences and Ashandar's wife! 8)
The next scenario sounds great too.
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Great AAR and fabulous set-up :)
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Excellent report. It's very inspiring to see such nice minis and terrain!
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Great stuff, Doomhippie. Best battle report I've read in ages.
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Phew, what a tale!
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Sounds like a great game!
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Great battlereports! I allways like visting this thread.
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This is possibly the best LotR Thread on the net -by far!!!
I love it all, because of you i got back into LotR and the first thing I am planning is a small Mahud force, simply beacause I love those models and you never see them.
Thanks!
Edit: I might be in love with Lady Ashandar, it broke my heart when she fell :-[
Any chance that she might be just wounded?....Pretty Please :D
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This is possibly the best LotR Thread on the net -by far!!!
I love it all, because of you i got back into LotR and the first thing I am planning is a small Mahud force, simply beacause I love those models and you never see them.
Thanks!
Edit: I might be in love with Lady Ashandar, it broke my heart when she fell :-[
Any chance that she might be just wounded?....Pretty Please :D
Thank you very much for your kind reply. Actually all of you that is.
Theatralic, I am very much into LotR and I know it's a thin line to tell tales about Middle-Earth as I don't want to contradict Tolkien. However from my rpg experience with Middle-Earth I can say that playing within the great storylines and having a closer look at what the minor heroes of those tales, who are never mentioned, did is a nice way of making believe you are actually playing a part of the original. Just as long as the outcome isn't changed.
As to Ashandar's wife... I sympathize with you here, I really do. But her surviving is as unlikely as dying fighting the Balrog and somehow coming back... ooops, wait, guess that did happen... Oh-oh, I have to think about that... :D
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In the Third Age, the only woman I can think of who actually fights in the narratives is Eowyn, and she was definitely thought to be dead, by Eomer, during the Battle of Pelennor Fields (later her condition was upgraded to 'a bit poorly'). Faramir was also thought to be dead, by his father. Lack of trained battlefield medics, and the repeating of rumours as fact, I think very probably led to very many cases of false reporting of casualties in Middle Earth.
Though, of course, if she's dead it's a motivation for Ashandar to revenge his fallen wife, and their son to grow up into a fervent orc-hater in the years to come....
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10/10.
It must have been an exciting game.
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Bit late on the band wagon but what a great battle report- the photos were splendid, but the story was the star! So dramatic, and cinematic. The mixture of role playing, back story and action made me really root for the good guys- brilliant! I wish every battle report (indeed, every battle) could be as good as yours.
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Wow, thanks Rob. I know I like story driven scenarios and battles especially when the story fits into a larger background. That's what I am trying to achieve. It sometimes leads me into completely different directions than originally intended but the fun of it outweighs any other considerations.
I'm happy you folks enjoy this thread, it always gives me reason to stay with this project.
Thanks to all of you.
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Last night I stuck together a load of rangers and hobbits, then spent hours looking at the mirliton website.
Consider me inspired!
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Well, I have to say that revisiting this thread has done wonders for me. I have looked at it as a 'lurker' for a while, but since the Tolkien bug bit me again recently, I find myself visiting often. The last battle report is amazing and has added to my own Tolkien gaming inspiration. What I love about this is the attention to detail, the terrain, the civilian figures, the storylines. All of this is helping me to shape my own project, as the approach you take is pretty much exactly how I like to game - scenario-driven games with a back-story...
My Elf and Orc forces are slowly taking shape (thank you, Christmas money and the mighty EBAY!!!) and the painting has begun...
So many thanks for the inspiration that this thread provides...invaluable!!
Just one more thing...please keep it up!!! Am desperate to hear the next part of the saga now!!
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Doomhippie, thanks to your fantastic battle report, I've been thinking about getting some Middle-Earth Villagers for myself. I came across this pack from the Perry's Crusader range, which I thought would work well. I also thought it might work well for you if your survivors were going on a long march:
(http://www.perry-miniatures.com/oscthumb.php?src=/images/cu27.jpg&w=540&h=172.8&f=jpg&q=95&hash=e905bd7d4e9d9f2ece51ec5cefb17681)
Being Perrys they should scale pretty well with the LOTR stuff...
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Thanks Joe.
I'm always looking for some civilians for Mirddle-Earth so I am quite interested. However, the picture doesn't seem to work for my computer. Anybody else having problems with it? Maybe you could just post the link and I'll be able to look at it on some other homepage/thread.
Thanks.
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These are them http://www.perry-miniatures.com/product_info.php?cPath=23_33_52&products_id=1785 (http://www.perry-miniatures.com/product_info.php?cPath=23_33_52&products_id=1785)
CU27 Pilgrims
I was just looking at them
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Those are the ones!
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Thx for the quick answer. Looks like my computer doesn't like the original pic either. But now I know what to look for. Great.
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Does anybody know how Gripping Beast's miniatures measure up to GW LotR miniatures? Because there are some really intersting models around from that company...
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The newer GB ranges (Early Saxons, Picts, Welsh) are slightly larger than LOTR minis. However, you'd probably find that the plastic Vikings and Saxons would be a good match. Some of the earlier ranges (mid-late Saxons, Vikings, some of the Norman and El Cid stuff) would fit ok - they'd be a bit bigger, maybe, but not dreadfully out of place.
I do know that I have seen some people use GB Romano-British cavalry models as Rohirrim...
BTW, Perry minis would mix well with LOTR, as the Perry bros sculpted some of the LOTR stuff anyway...
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I had the same thought!
(http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/2452/dscf8025.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/839/dscf8025.jpg/)
I think the GB plastic figures are over sized compared to LotR- the scale better with the warhammer stuff. They have the same big hands, feet and weapons as the warhammer plastics.
By the way, Doomhippy, these are the first of my new wave of LotR figures, inspired by your great battle reports. Thanks for turning me back onto Lord of the Rings after a prolonged absence. I intend to start a thread when I have a few more done.
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Looks good. And the civi in the middle seems a perfect fit - both in style and size. Thx for the picture.
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Great battle report. Probably the best I've seen/red for LoTR.
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Lars,I can't help myself I keep thinking about your report and Tuor,argh! Too many things I want to do,not enough time :)
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Lars,I can't help myself I keep thinking about your report and Tuor,argh! Too many things I want to do,not enough time :)
Isn't that always the problem? I know there are about a dozen projects I'd like to work on. In all honesty I am working on one at this time and am seriously planning for a second one. I just need the miniatures but they should be here in a few weeks (hopefully).
For Middle Earth there are a few more projects I have at least thought about (some of them former role-playing campigns of mine):
- the fall of Fornost (where the original Ashandar tried to save as many civilians as possible...)
- the coming of the Balrog in Moria
- Sauron's war against Eregion (2nd age)
- the Dunlending invasion of Rohan at the time of Helm Hammerhand
I have not seriously thought about any 1st age campaigns/projects but after reading "Hurins children" I found at least one story that actually has some more details to work with.
For me Middle-Earth will forever be THE fantasy setting of my choice as the Lord of the Rings was my first fantasy book I've ever read at the tender age of 10 or 11. I can only encourage you to go ahead with Middle-Earth. There is a lot of room for your own stories while the background is extremely vivid and detailed.
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Every time I read one of your updates I get the urge to have a go at some LotR stuff. It seems that I am not alone.
For me Middle-Earth will forever be THE fantasy setting of my choice as the Lord of the Rings was my first fantasy book I've ever read at the tender age of 10 or 11. I can only encourage you to go ahead with Middle-Earth. There is a lot of room for your own stories while the background is extremely vivid and detailed.
^^^
This...
...just about sums it up for me too, although I was abouth thirteen when I first read it. Hooked ever since. In fact I read it again every five or six years or so since.
I must be due for another go sometime soon.
Not yet, though, or that will tip me over the edge and all other projects would be out of the window...
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For Middle Earth there are a few more projects I have at least thought about (some of them former role-playing campigns of mine):
- the fall of Fornost (where the original Ashandar tried to save as many civilians as possible...)
- the coming of the Balrog in Moria
- Sauron's war against Eregion (2nd age)
- the Dunlending invasion of Rohan at the time of Helm Hammerhand
Interesting! The War of Sauron & The Elves in Eregion in the 2nd Age is in my mind too - it was the other era I thought about before going for Angmar for my own project (as my own forces are mainly Orcs and Elves...) I do fancy the idea of an Orc battle standard with a dead Elf Lord nailed to it... :D
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Hooked ever since. In fact I read it again every five or six years or so since.
Isn't that all of us? ;)
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I'm nearing the end of my 'every five-six year' reading now. Just started book six, Sam's got the ring, the Orcs have Frodo, and we left the rest of our heroes having a real bad day at the black gates.
I've got to say that reading them again has left me with more respect for Peter Jackson's interpretation.
That along with Doomhippie's work has gotten me back into the LOTR minis, which I never should have gotten away from anyway.
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Thanks for all the nice comments.
Well, I have been working a little bit on the next scenarios. I have finally started to build the river bank additions for my gaming table. Still WIP but at least I got something. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos. Will do that next weekend, hopefully I will have finished by then or at least have something almost finished to show.
Things are a little busy around here again with lots of school stuff and my mom's birthday coming up (meaning I have to be available to drive her here and there and everywhere - but then again nothing she wouldn't do for me either).
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Okay, the the next few pictures. I have finally managed to finish my banks of the Anduin scene. Well, finished might be a little too much but basically there's just a little cleaning up to do and add a little detail here and there.
I decided to build them as three seperate 40X40cm pieces so they would fit alongside a 1.2m board. Typical of me not to think about building four 30X30 cm pieces which would have allowed me to put them on the short side of a 1.2m board. Oh well, that's me and planning. There is a reason why I'm just ateacher and not the principal in our school... :D
Anyway, the idea is to have a little dock where ships can unload their cargo. Now all I have to do for the next scenario is building a few smaller houses such as a toll station or maybe a strage facility. Then it's up to Ashandar to secure the ship moored there to ferry the survivers from last scenario across the river. Let's see how long building those things will take me... :(
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01607_zps67fe2d92.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01608_zps4a098e52.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01609_zps87226b22.jpg)
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I haven't read this one in ages and boy did I miss out! A fantastic report and superb pictures of wonderfully painted miniatures and well-crafted scenery. To paraphrase in the words of Spinal Tap - this one goes up to 11.
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Terrific thread. I look forward to hopefully some more reports
cheers
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That looks smashing Lars! And the boat is beautiful :-* I look forward to the continuation of the story :)
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Great painting! The ship turned out nicely too :)
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Great - love the boat.
Keep up the good work - can't wait to see how this scenario plays out!
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Great work as usual :D
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Looks great and quite different than the normal lotr scenarios often played. ;) Also love the civilians!
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Great stuff, Doomhippie!
Those river sections look great.
Love the water!
:-* :-*
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Thx for the nice comments.
Anyway, it's time for the next little report. Today I was at Bjoern's place for some gaming and we more or less spontaneoulsy decided to play another battle for the Ithilien saga. This is not the Ashandar plot line but a look at what else is going on in the country...
We remember that Gondor suffered a major defeat in the last encounter with Mordor's troops. As Gondorian troops fall back towards the River Anduin to guard the crossings orcs of all description are rushing after them, trying to crush any opposition and destroy what little manpower is left at the moment.
So we played one of the many encounters in which superior orc forces clash with dispirited Gondorians.
Here we see the battlefield, the abandoned ruins of some former settlement is situated near what could be a dried out creek. In the scenario a small group of soldiers is trying to defend the ruins in order to let some fleeing troops catch up and move further west.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01610_zps303d7f0a.jpg)
The Gondorians are rushing towards their comrades. All in all there were 22 troopers with a captain on the table, 10 soldiers rushing towards the centre, 12 holding the position to await and support them.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01619_zpsae09b84c.jpg)
However, orcish snipers have taken up position along the flight route, peppering the soldiers with arrows. Actually molesting would be most fitting as the arrows never managed to penetrate the superior armor of Gondor's finest.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01618_zps71d0164b.jpg)
And more and more orcs arrive on the scene prepared to deal with any resistance quickly and brutally.
As the orcs quickly outnumbered the Gondorian soldiers Captain Cuinor decided to rush from his position to gang up on one of the orc bands approaching thereby hoping to gain temorary numerical superiority on that flank in the hope of evening out the odds.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01623_zps12513549.jpg)
First blood goes to Gondor but overall the tired Gondorian trrops failed to make an impact of any significance. As can be seen the second orc group was very close. I tried my best to use whatever means to keep them at bay but my inablity to really smash the orcs meant that I quickly had to fight in two directions against a foe with superior manpower. Oh, and I screwed up with the rules thus giving the orcs actually a chance twice as good as they actually had to kill my soldiers. That's what you get for not knowing the rules. I tried to explain it away by claiming the Gondorian armor must have been in tatters after the recent battle and subsequent flight.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01626_zpsdb9d012a.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01629_zps096abf11.jpg)
Things didn't look too good but quickly became desperate when a group of 16 warg riders appeared on the battlefield. Bjoern and me just pooled our models and just wanted to see them all in action. Totally unbalanced scenario but we had fun. And the ide was that Gondor actually is really reeling back from the sledgehammer blows of Mordor's troops. So no quarter!
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01630_zps3d1657b0.jpg)
Luckily a group of Rangers had heard the sound of battle and appeared right behind the orcish archers (who even after 6 turns had to claim their first kill).
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01631_zps7e4298e4.jpg)
So here's a quick overview over the battlefield.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01625_zps7bc1ca9a.jpg)
The rangers quickly charged into the orc archers in order to kill them off and start sniping at the wargs. However, despite greater numbers and vastly better fighting capabilities Bjoern managed to roll an imprssive number of 6s and "gave as good as he got". For every archer the rangers hewed down one of their numbers was also killed - an absolutely unacceptable situation. Now of course this story plays 100 years prior to the War of the Rings but I swear I could hear Denethor's voice in my ear: "That's what my son has made of the elite of Gondor..."
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01634_zps489f46da.jpg)
Meanwhile the wargs were charging in. If nothing spectacular happened there would be a terrible outcome to this engagement.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01640_zpsb3b07d45.jpg)
Well, what do you expect? It was me throwing the dice for Gondor. And a better ally Mordor never had. Didi I tell you I once managed to throw 42 dice to kill off a termagant horde of 10, needing only 4s to wound and managing to roll not a single 4,5 or 6 on 42 dice? It wasn't quite as bad but there was just no beating Bjoern's limitless number of 6s. So even if I managed to drop the single orc here and there it was never enough and always too late.
After one last round of glory in which three brave Gondorian archers tried to alt least hold off the wargs for another few moments Mordor's cavalry just steamrolled over my men locked in a swirling melee with the orcs.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01646_zpsafc0de91.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01650_zpsc51a9312.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01654_zpsb7f32e19.jpg)
In the end morale broke and the rangers turned and fled from the field.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%20Battlereports/DSC01652_zpsc95695ab.jpg)
Last man standing was captain Cuinor. The game ended before he fell so there is a small chance that he survived... somehow.
Thus ends another installment of the invasion of Ithilien. Mordor is still winning and Gondor has yet come up with a way to counter the push towards the river. And Bjoern had so much fun today that he really wants to play another battle soon. Hopefully I can come up with a scenario that is a little more challenging for Mordor...
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Another excellent write-up and wonderful pictures of a truly superb battle-board and figures. I am enjoying watching the fall of Gondor in Ithilien play out, and your named characters certainly add to that narrative. Congrats and keep up the excellent work.
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Unbalance or not, that made for a great report.
Well written, and I love the idea of just throwing everything you have into the fray.
8)
Plus, of course, all the eye candy is a great bonus!
:D :-* :-* :-* :D
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What a great game that was. It is always a joy to play with Doomhippie. I love to play the evil part and this time it was even better. I won... because of my genius and Lars forgotten rules knowledge.... :)
Anyway...I really like to continue Lars campaign and already found my old LotR miniatures in the basement... Time to battle again ... Sir Lars !
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Great stuff :-* :-*
The board looks well suited to LotR and playability 8)
cheers
James
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Lovely stuff chaps. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading The reports of all the goings on in Middle Earth. Can't wait to see more. ;D
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Can't wait to see more. ;D
You'll see some at first hand later this year :D
cheers
James
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Looks like great fun :D
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On the visual aspect alone that is a BEAUTIFUL & INSPIRING report...VERY WELL DONE!
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It's quite lovely, the scenery is inspiring. Love the ruins.
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Having finally actually read the report after ogling the photos...GREAT READ as well!
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You'll see some at first hand later this year :D
cheers
James
Oh goody, are we doing it then ???
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ftp://
Oh goody, are we doing it then ???
Don't see why not :D
cheers
James
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Spendid battle and board :-*
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Glad to see this back up and running. Hope Gondor can find somewhere to hold the line!
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I love the troop movements in the pictures. Are you a fast photographer, or do you use a timeout to take photos between turns? With four of us bouncing around our model table, I often find my tripod in jeopardy.
Jev
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Well, since we were only two guys playing and hadn't seen each other in a while we did take a little time out in between turns. And we both liked the idea of taking some photos. These are actually only the ones to make it in the end. I actually took over 40 pics but sorted most of them out as either redundant or being either too dark or too bright. When I play solo games I take a lot more time for the pictures, experimenting a little with foreground, background, moving miniatures around a little more to compose a better looking picture.
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Just a few more pics. Mind you I didn't paint these but got them from a bring and buy at Bjoern's wonderful Do or Dice convention last weekend. I will touch them up here and there but basically work with the way they've been painted. I'll try to get the bases closer to the way I do them.
These models were painted for the War of the Rings battle system as the bigger multibases were included in the deal. And for that system the painting quality is actually very good. As I said, I'll touch them up a bit to make them fit better in my collection. This whole batch cost me 50 Euros which is very cheap compared to what I would have to pay if I bought them new.
This troll has been converted I believe. As far as I remember he (or it) originally carries a huge warhammer.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01658_zps4512ae31.jpg)
This next batch of 16 Uruk Hai has also been workd on. All uruks have been given long chainmail coats. While the sculpting is a little rough I won't complain - especialy if I think about my own abilities with green stuff. Furthermore, lots of weapons have been changed into cleavers and the like. All models have been given a shield and both the banner carrier and the drummer have been converted. Overall a good job.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01659_zps1f1369eb.jpg)
The last one a group of 10 warg riders. All down to earth, nothing big changed. So now Bjoern and me can really call in the cavalry if needs be.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01661_zps4fe0b3e7.jpg)
I will work on them a little and they'll be a nice addition for Mordor's host. Looking forward to some action.
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What a result!
:D
Sounds like a great deal for some perfectly acceptable, pretty good, paintjobs on some nice subtle conversions.
Well done!
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nice result- I like that mossy boulder the troll is picking up. All in all a good buy.
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Yeah those Mordor uruks are simply great models! Lucky you!
I'm currently very unhappy about wargs after having gotten a thorough beating by the Rohan with my warg force. (OK it doesn't help not bringing named characters.. but still!) lol
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A few new pics. I've been rather busy with work related things and didn't get too much done. However, the following two miniatures are a by-product of my weekly painting sessions with Mr. Vikotnik.
You might remember the Corsairs of Umbar from way back when I started this thread. So now finally I got the models for the captain and the first mate of the ship ready for action.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01667_zpsedc91f41.jpg)
I'm not alltogether happy with them for two reasons: Somehow the red of the captain's coat is too red. I should have gone for a more burgundese kind of color. And the second is my pet peeve: eyes.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01668_zps147e3005.jpg)
Painting requires practice and if you don't paint for a long period of time skills become rusty. And especially the eyes on the captain are really terrible. I'm thinking about repainting them but I think I'll need some support in the way of a lense. I'm in that age where the eyes are just not what they used to be. Ah well, any way, enough whining.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01669_zps45def8cf.jpg)
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01670_zpsacd31fe6.jpg)
Finally I have two officers for the bunch of raiders. There is a after all the "Ashandar is trying to steal a ship" sceanrio to come. At the moment I'm constructing a little building I wanted to use for the scenario. No pics yet of it. I'll post them once I'm finished.
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Awh man this is just brilliant!
I really hope to see it all IRL at some point.
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Great stuff 8)
Even thogh you didn't paint them they'd be a welcome addition to any LotR army.
Certainly agree on that boulder :-*
cheers
James
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Nice painting Lars :)
Isn't that figure on the right a model of the cameo character played by Peter Jackson himself aboard the Corsair ship?
If so, I wouldn't trust Thorbjorn with that figure, knowing what he thinks of PJ ;)
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If so, I wouldn't trust Thorbjorn with that figure, knowing what he thinks of PJ ;)
lol
Great stuff, as the others have a said 50 Euros looks like a bargain for that collection of figures. :)
I am really enjoying seeing this project keep up its momentum, its making me think about doing something similar (Must be strong...)
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Nice painting Lars :)
Isn't that figure on the right a model of the cameo character played by Peter Jackson himself aboard the Corsair ship?
If so, I wouldn't trust Thorbjorn with that figure, knowing what he thinks of PJ ;)
I'd say he is. Nice to have a more "paunchy" model once in a while. And it's really well done, looking a lot like Mr. Jackson.
Thanks guys for the nice feedback. I'll try to keep this thing rolling as long as possible. So far there are still ideas of things to come in my head...
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Nice work, Mr Viking, sir.
They should fit in well with the rest of the crew.
Even if you think the red is a little bright, the Cap'n get first dibs on the good stuff does he not?
:-* :-*
I am really enjoying seeing this project keep up its momentum, its making me think about doing something similar (Must be strong...)
Same here.
Between the Crazy Viking and the Doomhippie I have gone and gotten myself some Dark Ages numpties to convert into Gondorians..... :o
Strong?
Dont be daft!
Just cave in like the rest of us.
;)
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The eyes on the captain and first mate look fine to me! Nice work, Doomhippie :)
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The Corsairs look suitably rakish to moi. I like your choice of colors & your brushwork is always a treat to see. Like our Princess, I think you did a fine job with the eyes...& usually photos can be so cruel to the details. VERY WELL DONE!
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Fantastic!! Very nice corsairs but I especially like the troll!! It's great!!
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This thread just keeps getting better and better, please keep it coming!
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Just to prove I have actually been doing something for my projects here are a couple of new shots.
For my story of Ashandar to continue I want to play a scenario in which Ashandar and his group of refugees try to capture a corsair raider in order to ferry the civilians across the Anduin river. I really wanted to have something like a ferry station or maybe a toll station as a setting for this scenario. So I built this rather decrepit "thing". I originally wanted to have something like the platform at Amon Hen in the movie but usual my sloppy approach (I didn't even use a ruler to get the drawing straight) didn't allow for anything more fancy than this. Oh well, good enough for me.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01672_zps3e9ffcb6.jpg)
Nothing fancy really, just a flight of stairs running up to the platform. But I had fun building and painting and that's what Counts for me.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01674_zpsb2f2f5bd.jpg)
No more zooming in, it might be too embarrassing to find all the little nooks I couldn't reach with the brush.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01675_zps3ad30b24.jpg)
Another picture showing the ship and ferry station. I'm not sure when I'll be able to actually play the scenario but at least the elements are all here now.
(http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s321/doomhippie_photos/Ithilien%202901/DSC01676_zps3bf5459e.jpg)
That's it for today.
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This thread is the gift that keeps on giving!!! lol
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That's a great addition to the board, Doomhippie! Nice work :)
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Lovely work there Lars :-* Said this before,say it again the boat is cracking!
Nice to see the BBQ too. You are a man after my own heart ;)
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Cracking stuff as ever Lars!
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I noticed the grill in the background as well. But seriously, if this is what you can do without measuring and without a ruler, imagine what you could do with those things.
Great work.
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Great stuff!
I like the platform.
All the better that it is perfectly playable as well as a piece of eye candy.
8)
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This thread is the gift that keeps on giving!!! lol
What he said.
More eye candy ;D
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Awesome boat! The proportions of sail-to-ship are visually pleasing. The water and ground look great too! I've started to notice some distinct similarities in our styles. It's fun to make stuff, but even more fun to play with it. Is that a signal fire on the waterside? Might be stealing that idea soon.
For my story of Ashandar to continue I want to play a scenario in which Ashandar and his group of refugees try to capture a corsair raider in order to ferry the civilians across the Anduin river. I really wanted to have something like a ferry station or maybe a toll station as a setting for this scenario. So I built this rather decrepit "thing".
Sounds like a fun scenario! I always enjoy having non-coms (is that the right term?) as major plot elements. Especially with bad guys breathing down one's neck.
Nothing fancy really, just a flight of stairs running up to the platform. But I had fun building and painting and that's what Counts for me.
If you're not having fun when your fingertips are covered in paint and superglue, when can you have fun? Well, I guess when the dice start rolling! Looking forward to your battlerep!
Jevenkah
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Awesome boat! The proportions of sail-to-ship are visually pleasing. The water and ground look great too! I've started to notice some distinct similarities in our styles. It's fun to make stuff, but even more fun to play with it. Is that a signal fire on the waterside? Might be stealing that idea soon.
Jevenkah
I guess that's why I like looking at your pics. :D
The signal fire is a little something I made for my first battlereport (the one with the rope bridge).
The ship kind of "just happened" to be built for the corsairs of Umbar. Again a "I have no plan, just a hazy idea, let's see what happens"-thing.
Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement. That's definetely the boost I always need to continue and come back to this project.
Now I'm off to watch the wonderful band "Kadavar" (a band that makes me feel good being from Germany :D) and get seriously plastered.
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Your Terrain is as LOVINGLY WELL DONE as your FINE miniatures. GREAT WORK!
It's a relief to find some one else who approaches their projects with the same bloody minded tenacity as this Old Man. May your GLORIOUS obsession be eternal.
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Alright, back from a really cool concert. Wow. Have a look (even though the recording is from last year)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzLBBDh2dJ4
Far out. How do I tell my wife that beards are dead sexy?
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Nice heavy riffage there, I like it. I'm a drummer and my husband is a guitar player. When we met, he had big gnarly beard and hair down to his arse. I thought he was dead sexy. But, and this is the critical thing, he had a guitar in his hands :D :D
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Another sweet piece, I could so use that model for our next adventure!
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That's a great song! Love their sound,will be adding them to my youtube account :)
Beards are cool,one day I'll grow a bushy viking thing; I'll look like a wolf crossed with a saga character,all grizzled (already a bit grizzled,too much blonde and grey hair lol) and crazy :D
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Beards are sooo last year!
Unibrows this year.
(http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Shave_748a17_348275.jpg)
Karsten did write me that he was going to see Kadaver. Glad he muddled you into it. lol lol
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Nice terrain.
:-*
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Doomhippie,
I'm dying for some updates to your Lord of the Rings campaign. Anything new?
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I hope to get down to something in two weeks or so... Sorry for the Long delay. :(
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Good news :D
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Yeah come on, hurry up! ;)
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I liked that song! I got a real 70's vibe from the band. Obviously pre disco 70's when many dudes had long hair and beards.
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Just re read this thread this afternoon as was impressed and inspired again. We need more updates though :D
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Yes. We do. I do. Yet the muse seems to have left me for the moment. I Need to go muse-hunting, I guess... :?
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Yes. We do. I do. Yet the muse seems to have left me for the moment. I Need to go muse-hunting, I guess... :?
You belong in a muse-um!
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You belong in a muse-um!
And with remarks like that, you should be sent for a lobotomy!
:D ;)
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But it was a muse-ing :o
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Just found this post thread and have enjoyed reading back through it. Very nice, well done!