Author Topic: Sukhe's Armies of Middle Earth (Read 25183 times)

LordOdo · « **Reply #30 on:** April 12, 2016, 02:18:33 PM »

To be honest I really like your "policemen on horses"! They look fantastic and really suit the image (at last mine) of Gondorian riders.

Actually everything looks really great! Im pretty curious though to your characters

sukhe_bator · « **Reply #31 on:** April 12, 2016, 02:27:35 PM »

Mr J..

Quote from: Mr.J on April 12, 2016, 02:12:48 PM

I keep toying with the idea of doing similar in 15mm but can never see to find suitable figures.

May I recommend the very characterful 15mm feudals designed by Josef Ochmann sold by Black Hat
http://www.blackhat.co.uk/product-category/15mm-miniatures/15mm-miniatures-feudals/
The Minfigs 15mm ranges also paint up very well. While the majority of my Feudal Spanish 15s are Minifigs there are some JO sculpts in there. I had a Teutonic DBA and Prussian/Lithuanian tribesmen DBA almost entirely JO sculpts. The knights and men at arms are great while the Pruzz and Liths in particular would make fantastic Dunlendings or Easterlings...

The slingers and peasants on the far left are by JO

While the two stands of mounted knights between the Hospitallers on the L and the Templars on the R are also JO sculpts

sukhe_bator · « **Reply #32 on:** April 12, 2016, 02:36:19 PM »

LordOdo...
The Gondorian peelers were far too late in armour design for my liking though they had a charm of their own but lacked the gravitas I was looking for...
As for characters I'm using the various GW Boromir, Faramir and Aragorn variants as stand alone characters, with a Prince Imrahil in foot and mounted versions, while my CinC (seen in pic 12) is the free Richard Lionheart figure from Salute 2003 sculptured by Mark Copplestone.

Gangleri · « **Reply #33 on:** April 12, 2016, 02:48:14 PM »

I'd missed this thread. Wonderful stuff. You managed to get quite a bit of variety out of those three orc poses. And it was a treat to see those old Bretonnians, which I agree are more fitting than PJ's tin-can version (although I did like the helmets). How you can pump out miniatures on that scale is beyond me - I barely get through two or three figures a week.

sukhe_bator · « **Reply #34 on:** April 12, 2016, 02:57:17 PM »

Quote from: Gangleri on April 12, 2016, 02:48:14 PM

How you can pump out miniatures on that scale is beyond me - I barely get through two or three figures a week.

Gangleri,
This is the product of about 30+ years modelling, put under one banner by popular request, and I reckon in a good week you'd probably beat me on the painting front. Of all the other wargaming projects I've undertaken (and I suffer from the butterfly effect as much as the next person), this is the one genre/period I've stuck with the longest...

LordOdo · « **Reply #35 on:** April 12, 2016, 03:09:22 PM »

Quote from: sukhe_bator on April 12, 2016, 02:36:19 PM

LordOdo...
The Gondorian peelers were far too late in armour design for my liking though they had a charm of their own but lacked the gravitas I was looking for...

Should you ever want to get rid of them...

Dilettante Gamer · « **Reply #36 on:** April 12, 2016, 07:35:00 PM »

Quote from: LordOdo on April 12, 2016, 03:09:22 PM

Should you ever want to get rid of them...

I will cage-match you for them!

Mr.J · « **Reply #37 on:** April 12, 2016, 10:19:35 PM »

Quote from: sukhe_bator on April 12, 2016, 02:27:35 PM

Mr J..May I recommend the very characterful 15mm feudals designed by Josef Ochmann sold by Black Hat

Thanks I'll check them out. Who are the other infantry figures by in that pic? They look spot on for what I am after.

I've also found I lack suitable opponents, particularly 15mm scale orcs, there are lots of 18mm stuff out there but it towers above most 15mm ranges.

sukhe_bator · « **Reply #38 on:** April 13, 2016, 08:29:52 AM »

Mr J

Quote from: Mr.J on April 12, 2016, 10:19:35 PM

Who are the other infantry figures by in that pic? They look spot on for what I am after.

The bulk of the infantry and cavalry are Minifigs, with Tabletop Miniatures crossbowmen in the foreground and some Irregular Miniatures skirmishers. Both Tabletop and Irregular look far better painted up than as bare metal...(I wish makers would at least undercoat their figures to bring out the detail when they post pics on their sites) some can be quite offputting...

Quote from: Mr.J on April 12, 2016, 10:19:35 PM

I've also found I lack suitable opponents, particularly 15mm scale orcs, there are lots of 18mm stuff out there but it towers above most 15mm ranges.

I see Tabletop also do a Fantasy range, but for a good sense of what's out there I'd check out the other recent 15mm threads for figure advice and inspiration, in particular
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=83555.0
I did dally with 15mm fantasy in my Uni days and built up a fairly respectable Harad army using the Tabletop Arab ranges, but the choice of fantasy opponents (and lets face it you need buckets full of orcs) was pants back in the day...

otherwise just imagine what 30 years of collecting 15mm might have amassed by now?

Sunjester · « **Reply #39 on:** April 13, 2016, 09:05:21 AM »

This is looking great.

Middle Earth is also the one wargaming genre I have stayed with over the years, unfortunately a lot the really old minis from my teens are long gone now. With one of my regular gaming buddies we play an occasional (very occasional) big, all-day game with over 2000 28mm figures on the table.

Strangely, despite have having orcs, elves and dwarves from almost every manufacturer from the past 35+ years, I only have two GW LOTR figures in my entire collection!

sukhe_bator · « **Reply #40 on:** April 13, 2016, 09:16:49 AM »

Sunjester,
That must be a sight to see! Unfortunately I don't have the space to lay out my entire LoTR collection. I think I might just give myself a shock!

steders · « **Reply #41 on:** April 13, 2016, 09:23:40 AM »

Absolutely love this. I like the GW LOTR stuff but I prefer looking at threads like this. The Orcs are fantastic, really clever

sukhe_bator · « **Reply #42 on:** April 13, 2016, 01:59:10 PM »

Hold onto your hats...
Harad
I pitched my look for the Haradrim squarely in the possibly un-PC bogey-men of Medieval Western culture, the Moors and 'Saracens'. I was inspired by films like Ivanhoe, El-Cid and more recently Kingdom of Heaven. Since my Gondorians were drawn from C12-C13 inspired historical ranges it seemed natural to look to their Middle Eastern counterparts. I was aiming at a polyglot look, akin to the imperial armies drawn from the far flung satrapies of ancient Persia, with a medieval look as well...
The release of the Gripping Beast Moors was the starting point, but I soon added Middle Eastern troops from the Arab conquest, Sassanid Persia, Mughal and even Afghans. Historical proxies were readily available for the main bulk of troops...
GB Moorish infantry organised into regiments by shield type, to reflect the regional makeup of the Harad host...

Shield motifs were drawn from Islamic metalwork, tile and pottery decoration, with a serpent theme added. This meant I could go to town on the flag designs as well...

I always like Persian 'sparabara' and the 'immortals', so couldn't resist a regiment...

Further regiments were added for a more conventional Saracen look

Archers were drawn initially from the Roman Eastern Syrian auxiliaries, with a Middle Eastern makeover...

Skirmishers were at first composed of GB Desert Nomads, seen here in the foreground

but Perry Beja soon joined them

Cavalry with enough kick to match medieval knights in combat were drawn from the Sassanid era

supported by lighter Moorish types...

And what army wouldn't be complete without a unit of drug-psyched fanatics, complete with snake body-art, in this case filled by Perry Azerbaijanis from their crusades range...

This was the muster in 2010...

But what are Haradrim without oliphaunts? Not the gargantuan multi-tusked monstrosities of the PJ films, but super-sized (yes), but realistic looking and intimidating oliphaunts.
I decided to adopt armour and bardings as well as towers to make the elephants more intimidating and match the armour tech displayed by the heavy cavalry

The process was quite straightforward. Get a model elephant of suitable size, clad it in card as a foundation...

Add Milliput and green stuff and sculpt various different armour types

Add a balsa and card howdah suitable to take the maximum number of figures without it looking stupid... I liked the 2 tier version designed by John Treadaway back in the day and also used by PJ. With a 5 man crew in the howdah, and mahouts, they have enough oomph on the battlefield to be a powerful weapons platform... who needs siege towers?