Riders WiP

The Riders of Rohan are almost done. Have the hair, spear shafts, shields and quivers/bags yet to do. Painted the bows, helmets and most of the clothing done yesterday. Hoping to have them finished off this evening. After that, I had intended to start my Haradrim Raiders, but now I am thinking of starting one some of my unpainted heroes that are slated to take part in the next battle (Orc Captain, Haradrim Chieftain and Hasharin). I don't think they should take mroe than a few days to do all three, and then I can start some of the other warriors.

Battle Preperations

Got the army list from my opponent for our next battle, scheduled for next week Friday. It's going to be an interesting battle I think. We are playing a scenario I designed, basically defense of a river crossing and some structures. The river is made up of the pieces I posted about previously, with a ford on the northern and southern edges of the battlefield. Except for the fords, which are considered difficult, the river counts as impassable unless a model can pass a swim test. Each ford is worth 10 points, and behind the river line will be a structure worth 15 points, and then a larger structure (I intend to use my Dreadstone Blight) that is worth 20 points. Essentially the player who controls the most points worth of objectives wins. The battle ends on the roll of a 1 or 2 on the turns followin an army being broken.
Here are the breakdowns of the armies. We settled on 1000pts for the attacker, and 750pts for the defender:

                     Mordor & Harad                         Rohan & Fellowship
Warband 1   Cave Drake                                  Theoden /w Heavy Armor & Shield
                                                                          6 Warriors of Rohan /w Shields
                                                                          6 Warriors of Rohan /w Shields & Throwing Spears
Warband 2   Gorbag /w Shield                         Eomer /w Horse, Bow & Shield
                    12 Mordor Uruk-hai /w Shields   6 Riders of Rohan
                                                                          6 Warriors of Rohan /w Shields
Warband 3   Mordor Orc Shaman                    Gamling
                    12 Orc Warriors /w Spears           4 Warriors of Rohan /w Shields
                                                                          4 Warriors of Rohan /w Shields & Throwing Spears
                                                                          4 Warriors of Rohan /w Bows
Warband 4   Orc Captain                                  Gandalf the White
                     2 Spectres
Warband 5   Orc Captain
                     11 Orc Warriors
Warband 6   Haradrim Chieftain /w Bow
                    12 Haradrim Warriors /w Bows
Warband 7   Hasharin
                    12 Serpent Riders

The Cave Drake especially has me worried. Defense 7 and 6 wounds seems liek it can absorb a lot of damage, and I'll have to check the rules to see if it can still charge through difficult terrain. I am thinking the best course of action is going to be to focus missile fire on it to try and wittle down some wounds and then attack with as many warriors and heroes as possible. Either way, not really looking forward to fighting it. I figure Gandalf might be a bit of a gamble because of his high points cost, but I've been wanting to try a wizard for a while. Should be fun and exciting :)

New WiP

Started working on my six Riders of Rohan yesterday. Got the horses mostly painted, Scorched Brown basecoat with an overbrush of Bestial Brown. The horses are mostly done, painted the rider's cloaks, and have started on the leather bits of the armor (using Vermin Brown). I've got one box of riders, so two hand weapons, two bows and two throwing spears, but plan to use them all as mounted archers in the next battle (hopefully next week Friday). After these guys are done I'll start on my six Haradrim Raiders.

Mounted Rohan Heroes & Bonus

I finally finished the mounted versions of Theoden, Eomer and Gamling. I decided not to get too adventurous with Gamling's banner, mainly because my freehand painting isn't all that great, and I didn't want it to look like crap. ;) Anyway, here they are. Hope you enjoy :)

As a bonus, I managed to finish painting the first batch of Corsairs of Umbar over the weekend as well. I'm fairly happy with the color scheme, though faces continue to be the bane of my painting existence. Was nice to get some of them done though.

Nothing New Yet

Still working on the mounted versions of Theoden, Eomer and Gamling, so here is a previously painted Sauron the Necromancer. Once the horsemen are done, I will add pictures of those :)

Rivers Finished

Here are the pics of the finished (largely) rivers and ford sections. Hope you enjoy :)

Rivers WiP

Put the first coat of paint on some of my river sections last night. Might have gone a little crazy with the sand, as I was wiping off quite a bit of excess, but I think the brown paint I used on the banks has done a decent job of cementing the remainder in place So long as it isn't abused at any rate. Painted the banks "Teddy Bear Brown" and the water "Liberty Blue". I think one coat will do the bank, but the water is going to need at least one more coat. So far I have two relatively straight river sections, and two straight "ford" sections. I glued some pebbles onto the bear tile on the ford sections to roughly mark out the location of the ford. If I feel adventurous I might try adding some lighter blue/white paint to try to indicate current/water flow around the rocks. Should be able to get the second coat on today sometime, and then hopefully be able to post some pictures.
The rivers are about 5" wide in total, with each bank probably taking up roughly 1/4", maybe a little more, so approx. 4" of water. A project for a later date will be to build a bridge.

Rohirim Heroes

Well, I started my river project, cut out some pieces of tile, added a bead of caulk along the edges and tapped some sand into it to texture the bank. Did that on Saturday, and apparently the directions on the caulk said it needed 48hrs to cure. Needing something else to do in the meantime, I finally bit the bullet and started painting some of my heroes of Rohan. Specifically Theoden, Eomer, and Gamling. I think they turned out fairly well, certainly not to compare with some of the paint jobs I've seen, but for me, I'm fairly happy with them. Enjoy :)

New Project

Decided to take a slight break from minis and try a scenery project: Rivers. I've got the Battlefield in a Box: Fords set, but I wanted to expand on it. Each set is approx. $25, which I feel is pretty reasonable for the conveniance and the product you get. However, I found the following link:
http://wargamesandstuff.blogspot.com/2010/02/making-rivers.html
Considering we already have some extra 12x12" vinyl tiles and regular art type paints, it seems a shame not to give it a try. Cut out the tile last night, probably see if I can find a tube of caulk to make the river banks otherwise I could find some at Lowes or any other home improvement type store for $5 or so. Not sure how the painting is going to turn out (very blue, I would imagine) but it's worth a try.

Rohirim Finished

As promised, here are some pics of the Warriors of Rohan with Throwing Spears. Hope you enjoy :)

Rohirim WiP 2

Almost done with my spear throwers. Really all I have left to do is the spearheads and the designs on the shields, so unless something comes up, I should be able to get them finished tonight, and should be able to provide pictures as well. I painted the spear shafts Snakebite Leather, and used Bubonic Brown for the hair (my standard paint for yellow/blond hair).

Rohirim WiP

Well, didn't get as much done last night as I had hoped, but still made progress. Went for a short run, and then had to check out Update 6 for Lord of the Rings Online, so that cut into my painting time. I did manage however, to get the cloaks and armor painted. We'll see what kind of progress I can make tonight. Painting the metal trim on the helmets and cheek guards will probably take some time, as will painting the shields. Still though, I think I should be able to have them done by tomorrow.

Haradrim Done, On We Go...

Got the Haradrim finished over the weekend. No pictures, but I'll probably post a pic or two of some models I had painted previously, as the Haradrim really would not be much different from the ones I had posted previously. Now on to eight Warriors of Rohan with Throwing Spears. Finished painting the skin, and most of the clothing and the leather parts of the helmets. Hopefully can get most of the armor/metal bits done this evening. That plus the cloaks and spear shafts and hair is about all that's left to do on them.

Here is a trio of Black Numenorean Warriors. The middle one I added a bit more decorative effects so that he could pull double-duty as a Black Numenorean Marshal as needed.

Haradrim WiP

Started a new batch of Haradrim the other day, another group of six each of archers and spearmen. Got the skin and red cloth painted so far, and starting on the Dwarf Bronze for the metal/armored bits. Will have to go back through at some point with Chaos Black and fix a few spots where the Mechrite Red ran over, but that shouldn't take long. Hoping to get the bronze done this evening, then will probably start on the Graveyard Earth for the arm/leg wrappings.

Easterlings Finished

Finished the Easterling bowmen this evening, got them finished off wit ha wash of Devlan Mud. I love that wash, it works for so many purposes :)
Here are some pics, not the best, but hope you enjoy.

Easterling WiP 2

Finished off the Shining Gold last night, along with the Calthan Brown on the shoes/boots and the belts/straps. Painted the quivers Vermin Brown, so all that is really left is to decide on a color for the arrows/bows and then paint the fletchings (thinking of using Kommando Khaki) and the arrowheads on a few of them. Finally I'll give them a wash of Devlan Mud. Hoping to have them done sometime this evening, and I will try to get a pic or two posted.

Easterlings WiP 1

Finished painting the Red Gore onto the easterlings (before I realized that I usually use Mechrite Red, not that it appears to make a big difference) now onto the Shining Gold for the armor. Something I've thought about, was that the armor on the easterlings seems slightly impractical in ways. For instance, the armor appears to be a kind of stylized 'splint armor' which is all well and good. However the armor on the torso only appears to cover the abdomen, and leaves the chest unprotected. Not a big deal for a soldier that is equipped with a shield, but why not cover the entire torso, especially for the archers? I don't know, just something I was thinking of.
Either way, they still look cool and sufficiently imposing.

New WiP

Well, all done with the Army for another month. Decided to start a batch of eight Easterling Warriors with Bows as my next project. I figure they will complement the eight easterlings with swords, and the eight with spears to make things nice and symmetrical. Plus, they are relatively simple to paint, so hopefully will go quickly :)

Battle Report:22Feb12

Here is the most recent battle report from late Feb. I apologize for the lack of painted minis, the backlog caught up to me more than usual on this one. There are also some Warriors of Minas Tirith standing in for Warriors of Numenor with the appropriate weapon (spear/bow) as I'm a little short on WoN. As always though, the game was a lot of fun, and I figure that is the main point. Hope you enjoy :)

Moria & Dwellers Below vs The Army of the High King

Scenario: To Kill a King
(* denotes the leader of the army)

Good:

*Elendil, High King of Gondor and Arnor /w Shield
18 Warriors of Numenor /w Shield
12 Warriors of Numenor /w Spear & Shield
10 Warriors of Numenor /w Bow

502pts, 41 models, 3 might

Evil:

*Druzhag, the Beastcaller (Durburz standing in)
Moria Goblin Shaman
Wild Warg Chieftain
10 Moria Goblin Warriors /w Shield
5 Moria Goblin Warriors /w Spear
2 Bat Swarms
4 Giant Spiders
6 Wild Wargs

498pts, 30 models, 4 might

Turn 1:
Priority – Evil
The two armies began to advance towards each other. The Numenoreans  maintaining an inward curving formation with Elendil in the center and the archers following. The evil army had Druzhag surrounded by spiders, the bat swarms on their right flank, wargs on the left and goblins in the center.

Turn 2:
Priority – Evil
The armies continue to advance, the wargs skirting a patch of rocky ground with the bats staying in place and the goblins and spiders moving forward. The men of Numenor continue to advance, with the archers making a half move. Claiming first blood of the battle, a volley by the Numenorean bowmen kill a goblin /w shield.

Turn 3:
Priority – Evil
The advance by both sides continues. A second volley by the archers strikes down a warg.

Turn 4:
Priority – Evil
The evil army continues forward, the wargs clearing the rocky ground and moving closer to a copse of trees. The Numenorean force begins to spread apart slightly, splitting the main group of infantry into two groups. A third volley by the Archers gets two hits on Goblins, but causes no casualties.

Turn 5:
Priority – Good
The two groups of Numenorean infantry slightly widen the gap between themselves, allowing the archers the opportunity to apply direct fire archery to the enemy. Evil continues their advance, the Wild Wargs and their Chieftain beginning to race around the perimeter of the copse toward the Numenorean right flank. Arrows leap from the bows of the archers and succeed in causing two wounds to one of the bat swarms.

Turn 6:
Priority – Tie, Evil
Seizing the initiative, the evil army begins their assault. The two bat swarms fly over the front ranks of the men of the west to attack Elendil. The goblins continue their charge, but cannot quite reach the line of men. Two of the giant spiders scuttle through the patch of trees, the difficult terrain proving to be no hindrance to their many legs. Rushing back to help their King, Elendil is joined by several of his warriors. Some of the Numenoreans on the left flank charge into the goblins, leaving the rest of their number to re-orient their line. Druzhag attempts to cast Enrage Beast on the uninjured bat swarm but the spell fails. The Shaman in turn fails in his attempt to cast Transfix on a Warrior of Numenor. Four Warriors of Numenor engage the injured Bat Swarm and and bring the last flitting bat crashing to the ground. Elendil darkens Narsil with the first blood of its enemies as he and four other warriors slay the second Swarm in a glitter of flashing blades and spears. Elsewhere a Goblin is killed by two Warriors of Numenor. Despite being outnumbered and alone, a Goblin turns the tables on his mannish opponents, managing to kill a Warrior of Numenor. A pair of Numenorean swordsmen and a spearman kills a Giant Spider, their blades crunching through the thin exoskeleton. A second Giant Spider takes its insectoid revenge and kills a swordsman.

 

Turn 7:
Priority – Good
Having dispatched the threat from the flying mice with overactive pituitary glands, the Numenoreans try to reform their lines and take the fight to the enemy. Elendil leads the charge into the goblin front rank followed by his loyal retainers. The archers hurry to form a line facing the wargs, giving all of the bowmen an opportunity to fire at the evil wolves. On the Numenorean left, the separated warriors close in on a lone goblin. Denying the archers an opportunity to fire on them, the wargs joined by a spider charge into the thin screen of warriors guarding the right flank, while a lone man engages the Chieftain. Combat is joined with a flurry of furious action. Elendil brandishes Narsil and leads his men in a Heroic Fight against a pair of goblins. Easily defeated, the goblins give ground, but prove to be quite agile, dodging the hungry blades aimed at them. Elsewhere two goblins are slain in trade for two Warriors of Numenor, one by a goblin blade, the other by the venom of a Giant Spider. On the right flank the wargs tear into the men of Westernesse, killing two swordsmen, while two others are saved by the skill of their blade work, but fail to kill their opponents. The lone swordsman manages to survive the onslaught of the warg Chieftain, despite being driven back.

Turn 8:
Priority – Evil
Once again charging into the fray with Narsil held high, Elendil leads his men in a Heroic Fight against a pair of goblins. This time however, the goblins fall before the wrath of the High King, who proceeds to join his men in another fight slaying an additional two goblins. With a path cleared, the wargs charge into the rear of the main Numenorean line. The dunedain archers throw away their bows and draw their swords, three of them charging a warg. The swirling melee in the center continues to go poorly or the forces of evil, as four more goblins fall before the swords and spears of the determined men of Westernesse. A second spider is crushed as well, but the Warg Chieftain finishes the job he started by mauling the lone warrior of Numenor to death. A spearman also falls to the ravening teeth and claws of a warg. Druzhag summoning a cloud of dark power casts enrage beast on another warg, who then in a flurry of ‘roid rage turns a Warrior and Archers of Numenor into tiny bits of Purina Warg Chow. Having exhausted his possibilities for slaughter, the warg then explodes.

Turn 9:
Priority – Evil
Following the carnage of the previous turn the evil army now broken and courage tests are in order. Apparently feeling that discretion is the better part of valour, both Druzhag and the goblin Shaman flee the field. The Warg Chieftain and his wargs stand fast, but with the evil general having fled the battle goes to the triumphant Men of the West.

Casualties:

Good-
6 Warriors of Numenor /w Shield
3 Warriors of Numenor /w Shield & Spear
1 Warrior of Numenor /w Bow

Evil-
9 Moria Goblins /w Shield
3 Moria Goblins /w Spear
2 Bat Swarms
2 Giant Spiders
2 Wild Wargs

Rohirim WiP 3

Well, here is my first batch of Warriors of Rohan, I think they turned out fairly well, for me anyway.
Hope you enjoy :)

Rohirim WiP 2

Finished the cloaks, weapons and armor last night, now mainly left with the hair, boots and shields left to do (as well as any touch-ups of course). Hoping to have them finished tonight, and will try to get a picture or two of the finished models. After that will have to think up what to do next. I am planning a Rohan based army for the next (hopefully) upcomming battle, so I may do some Rohan archers or spear throwers to go along with the hand weapon warriors. I could possibly also do some of my Rohan heroes. We shall see.