Sukhe's Armies of Middle Earth

[jthomlin]

I know you are entitled to interpret it any way you want, but to my eyes the Tolkien illustration shows a free standing fortress where the outer wall doesn't intersect the cliff and the right hand side wall is about a third the length of the of the left hand one.



Cheers!
Joe Thomlinson

[SotF]

One thing you might consider doing is loading up Lord of the Rings: Online and wandering around Helms Deep a bit there, it's a quite interesting take on things and could work well for ideas.

[sukhe_bator]

I know interpreting other people's sketches etc. is fraught, but I think jthomlin may have overlooked the rear curtain wall (see highlighted area) which extends from where the Deeping wall reaches the summit of the Hornrock, back around the rear edge of the rock and joins the cliff face to the rear of the Hornburg. This cliff face appears to have been scooped out creating a kind of amphitheatre shape into which the Hornburg was constructed, but as a free standing structure. I know the proportions of my sketch are off...

This is how I read the sketch with the additional wall marked 'X'.

The junction between the Deeping Wall and the round curtain walls of the Hornburg is more pronounced than my original sketch (Phase 2). This suggests the Hornburg circuit was freestanding and the Deeping Wall abutted it, rather than merely being an extension of it at the top of the Hornrock.

I'm not altogether convinced creating a bespoke Helm's Deep is necessarily going to work for me. Since I'm likely to go down the modular route (for storage considerations as much as anything else), I may follow Doug Larsen's route and model a freestanding castle that is broadly representative of Tolkien's concept, but with mods that mean I can morph it into a freestanding castle for GoT.

[jthomlin]

I know interpreting other people's sketches etc. is fraught, but I think jthomlin may have overlooked the rear curtain wall (see highlighted area) which extends from where the Deeping wall reaches the summit of the Hornrock, back around the rear edge of the rock and joins the cliff face to the rear of the Hornburg.

Sorry I can't see that, it looks like the near bank of the stream and the slope of the cliff behind the main tower. If it was a wall I would have thought there was at least a tower or two along it like the others and it should hit the cliff face at a similar height to right hand wall.

But hey, based on a fuzzy enlargement of quick sketch of a fictional location, either way seems more accurate than most previous interpretations  ... 

Cheers!
Joe Thomlinson

[Bunny]

So if there's anyone out there in the UK who wants to stage a mega Middle Earth or fantasy based bash at Salute 2017?.....

I love fantasy mass battle and have a massive 15mm collection....would enjoy a large demo game at next year's Salute.

there are pictures of some of my collection on my blog

www.warrenswargamesrantings.blogspot.com

[sukhe_bator]

As part of my 2017 initiative I have temporarily switched focus from Westeros back onto my armies of Middle Earth.
I have a huge backlog of minis waiting to be organised and painted up. A large portion of these are GW LotR minis rebased for mass battles. I am concentrating on basic army building - finally addressing the hordes of the unwashed... 12 figures at a time.
Top on my bucket list is a mass battle refight of Pelennor fields. To this end I have amassed several armies worth of baddies, siege engines etc. Time to roll my sleeves up and crack on...

[Dilettante Gamer]

Keep crackin' Suk!

[Belgian]

Keep crackin' Suk!

What he said, simply love this thread!

[WimVdB]

As part of my 2017 initiative I have temporarily switched focus from Westeros back onto my armies of Middle Earth.
I have a huge backlog of minis waiting to be organised and painted up. A large portion of these are GW LotR minis rebased for mass battles. I am concentrating on basic army building - finally addressing the hordes of the unwashed... 12 figures at a time.
Top on my bucket list is a mass battle refight of Pelennor fields. To this end I have amassed several armies worth of baddies, siege engines etc. Time to roll my sleeves up and crack on...

Very much looking forward to new pics!

[sukhe_bator]

Thanks to Andym's magic wand, the veil has now been lifted over the images on this thread...