Crazy for Khazad-Dum!

[The Bibliophile]

The standout game at Barrage Con for me this year was Matt Kirkhart's mounting of "The Bridge of Khazad Dum" from The Fellowship of the Ring. Rather than using other manufacturer's miniatures or terrain, Matt built everything from scratch, including all of the figures. His aesthetic is a fully formed one that is fun without being too playful, almost primitivist yet somehow sophisticated in execution, like a really cool folk art version of a wargame. It has a minimalism and tone that is the utter antithesis of the Games Workshop's self-serious, slavishly realistic Lord of the Rings range of figures and terrain, and that alone endears Matt's work to me. If there was a way to purchase a set like this, I would do it in a heartbeat, even if it isn't necessarily what I've been drawn to in the past. But I can't buy it and neither can you, and there's nothing else out there even remotely like it, which makes it a special treat to get to play a game with Matt's cool handcrafted creation. I understand he has also crafted a set up for a battle in Balin's Tomb. I hope to get the chance to play that one day, too!

Read my full report at the link: https://miniaturescrum.blogspot.com/2019/09/crazy-for-khazad-dum-barrage-2019-con.html





Full report and many more photos at the link: https://miniaturescrum.blogspot.com/2019/09/crazy-for-khazad-dum-barrage-2019-con.html

[Captain Blood]

Love the Balrog 

Interestingly, these primitivist interpretations still take their design cues from the Peter Jackson movie versions of LOTR - judging by the exact shape and colour of Gandalf’s wizard hat and Gimli’s helmet... So maybe not quite as far from GW’s LOTR miniatures as you may think 

[Elbows]

Very cool, and I concur that it's charming and simplistic without being overly silly (or chibi-esque, etc.).  Reminds me of the really cool prologues to some films where they use heavily artistic puppet shows, etc.  Things like the Harry Potter film where they discuss the three...hallows?  The really slick puppet-esque portion, etc. 

[Quendil]

Great stuff. The balrog was outstanding

[aircav]

Just Brilliant 

[Arundel]

I love seeing projects that are outside of the box and new takes on our hobby. The workmanship on those figures is amazing. Funnily enough, I think I like them more than our usual figures! Thanks so much for sharing this.   

[andyskinner]

Sometimes that style of doing the eyes looks great.  Sometimes it does not.  It isn't just that close-up they sometimes look like headlights.  Some look fine close.  I think some have the two dots closer together and they give the pupil effect better than two separated dots.

Wonderful overall, though.

andy

[meninobesta]

look & feel reminds me of south park! 

Frodo: They killed Gandalf! You bastards!
Boromir: Screw you guys! I'm going home!

congrats to Matt for a great looking game 

[has.been]

Definitely Southpark meets Jackson, I love it, especially the Balrog.
For a silly Christmas game I once made personalised Snowmen
for each of the players. That was easier than this, but still hard work,
so applaud the work needed.

[Bloggard]

love it.

[Dentatus]

Laugh-out-loud delightful. Really cool.

[The Bibliophile]

I was definitely caught off guard by how charming and fun the entire set up turned out to be. Hoping he can run this at my convention, Scrum Con 2020.