Couldn't help myself.

A brief post, to report though my blog has been blank for a long time, as has my Hobby activities, I am making a swift return to both, expect a proper post soon but I couldn't help but announce that I'm returning.


Apologies to all who had an interest in my blog, full explanation as to why I stopped soon.


Watch this space.

Quick update

That's right folks, I finally got my dunedain! I have pictures of them, but until I can find my USB wire I cannot upload them! Not to be too discouraged, this is only a brief update. Me and my friend played a good game of Lord of the Rings recently, and it saw a Cave troll barging forwards, picking up Legolas and hurling him at Aragorn and Frodo, making them both suffer a wound! Another notable moment was Boromir hacking down no less than 5 Goblins 1vs5 without Boromirs horn of Gondor! It was indeed a great game that I managed to snap a few photos of, and will upload in the next post!

So, keep your eyes peeled on this Blog, some juicy stuff coming soon!

Half Orc WIP

Hello everyone,

This week i've been painting. A lot. I've been working through my box of Wood Elves, and also started painting a few members of the Fellowship. I've been recently putting together an idea as mentioned in a previous post, involving the Half Orc/Southerners that where likely involved in the Ambush on the way to Weathertop Scenario. So below I present, my first half orc (before washes etc).


As you can see it is a very simple concept, i've snipped the end of the spear off and painted him with scruffy greens and browns to give him a rough look. The 'Spear' has now become a 2 handed club/large stick which will count as a 2 handed weapon. This should give them a bit of an edge when they win a fight against Aragorn!



Also planned, I will be attempting to convert a goblin shield warrior to be holding just his sword, with no shield to act as the 1 handed brigands! As well as painting up bow men in the same scheme (this I have already started). I'm even thinking of getting a model to be Bill Ferny, and giving it a special rule to make the scenario more interesting, after all, a greedy, cruel human being such as Bill Ferny is likely to do anything for wealth and / or power!

Two handed, stick holding Half Orc

And the back.

I think these make interesting little troops, as they come in to play quite a bit in The Fellowship, if I wanted to add multiple custom scenarios to my playthrough, or as standalone scenarios. For example, What is to stop these half-orc creatures impeding the Hobbits on their way from Maggots farm to the Buckleberry ferry? Or even later on as the Fellowship breaks and branches off in different directions, when the Rangers leave to find Aragorn, what is to step them, along with forces from Angmar from terrorizing Bree and the surrounding villages of Breeland, such as Archet in the Chetwood just to the East of Bree? And it was also mentioned in the books that some of these creatures in league with Saruman were present at the Battle of the Hornburg, along with Uruks and Wild men, so they can also come in to play there. So, as you can see they can come in to play in a variety of different situations. I'm going to paint up hopefully 10 with bow, 10 with sword and 10 with two handed weapons, this way there is enough of them for small scenarios, but also enough to act as cannon fodder for Uruk-hai, or whatever else, which I'm sure is what Saruman would of intended them to be once he had bred his superior breed of evil.


So watch this space, I have quite a few blog posts to put up, but the earliest will be atleast a week from now. Thanks for reading, any criticism welcome as always.

Until next time...

Birthday spendings and a spot of painting

So after receiving a lot of money, 85% of it went straight into the bank (safest thing to do in my opinion) and I took £20 of my spending money to town, where, after a swift pint or two with friends I managed to pick up 3 pots of paint i've been needing for along time, Karak Stone (Kommando Khaki for Aragorn) Bestigor Flesh and Ratskin flesh (for faces) and a new brush. There was however, no Lord of the Rings in store! Drat! But not to fear, i'm placing an order through them online today, Game Emporium do a nice 20% off retail when ordered through them, which makes it £12 for a box of 12 troops, £6.82 for a box of three, etc... so now i'm stuck for choice. either a box or two of Dunedaine for the FOTR campaign i'm gathering for, or Wood Elf Sentinals for my core army. I'll soon figure it out, i'm leaning towards Dunedaine.


So, with no new models to paint that night, I started to work on an old, that has been sat in neglect due to fear of ruining it with an incorrect paint scheme. It's a simple enough to paint model, but I think it has to be done just right to do it justice. It is none other than the Nazgul. So I set to work, basing him with Abadon Black, and a very (very) light dusting of Codex Grey (I forgot the new name) and so far i'm impressed. I'd say I need another dusting perhaps, to give the model a shine, and a dusting of brown at the bottom of the cloak, to account for the miles and miles the Ringwraith travel. So below, is some shots of my Nazgul as it is now.

The Front. 

And the back

Back Again

And compared to the pre-painted one.

I don't think it has turned out to bad to say it's my first time painting metal, and I managed to drybrush a little better than usual, but we'll see when it's done.

I've also started a minor conversion. I remember an old White Dwarf Lotr Sbg scenario depicting Aragorn, and the four hobbits ambushed on their way to Weathertop by some rough men, spies/brigands of Sauron. Obviously this doesn't happen in the book or the film but I think it's an interesting little scenario and I'm going to add it in to my Fellowship of the Ring run through. Now, deprived of Ruffian minatures, instead I've cut off the tip of a Moria Goblin spear, and painted him with regular Fleshy colours, grey hair, and matted, scruffy greens and browns as clothing. Pictures to come in following post.

Thanks for reading,

And until next time.

Brandon's birthday bash!

So today, is my 18th birthday! And to celebrate, i've been out for a nice meal at Frankie and Bennies (can hardly move now, let me tell you). And i've got two Lord of the Rings related gifts! A map of Middle Earth for my wall, which shows EVERYWHERE! From the Trollshaws to Midgewater Marshes. This was from my girlfriend, and I am very pleased with it! I can see myself pouring over this map quite often! Amongst the other gifts were a Batman arkham Origins poster, a 'Top Dog' cup! (useful for holding tea whilst I paint!) and a bag of deodorants and body washes (hint hint, I assume!).


Below, a Bag End themed cake, showing Frodo and Gandalf stood outside, I am very very impressed with what my mother managed to make,and it is delicious!

I didn't receive any Hobby goods, however I asked that I didn't receive any, as i'd rather have a few surprises instead! So tomorrow, i'm off with a nice sum to pick up some paints and figures! So stay tunes to see what I manage to buy. Ah yes, I almost forgot! The other Lord of the Rings gift was The Return of the King PS2 game, which i've been after for many a month! very happy indeed!

So watch this space and expect a post tomorrow, with the goodies I've bought, and my painted Ringwraith shall be on show!

I return... Empty handed.

Well, I'm back from Cornwall, and what a holiday! It was great fun, and it only rained one day out of the 12 we stayed, so most of the time was spent surfing, and swimming in the ocean! Whilst down there, I visited three major shopping places; The Wharf side shopping centre in Penzance, Falmouth's main street, and St Ives which has many shops on the way down to the beautiful sandy beach. However, search as I may I could not find a single hobby shop! I had intended to spend at least £20 on hobbying things for when I got back, but couldn't find a thing. With terrible signal and internet where I stayed (The Lizard) I was forced to go to an Internet cafe next to the campsite we stayed at, to search for a nearby Gamesworkshop. The odd thing is, I could only find one, 53 miles away... very strange. Oh well, all is not lost. Now I'm back, I intend to get a move on with the hobby, and paint up the remaining models I have, which means I must force myself to not give in and buy more models! My new tactic, is to make sure I have as much paint as possible, allowing me to always be sure I can paint my new minatures to at least a table top standard.


With builders coming and going in my parents house at the moment (Having the kitchen, and bedrooms redone) I've managed to finally get hold of some of the sacred, elusive material that is Extruded Polystyrene, which means I can crack on with making some terrain at last.


And the next few weeks, before college returns, Bethen has agreed to play a few scenario's with me, such as Balin's tomb, and the Flight to Buckleberry ferry.


And that is it really! Though it may not be Wargaming related, I will post pictures of my holiday for those that wish to look.


Watch this space,

Until next time...

A bit of a battle report

With the weather being so beautiful today, I thought, why not get the board out and have a game on the garden?

So me and my girlfriend did.

We took the board onto the grass, through on some bits of flint, and some clumps of grass to make a makeshift board till I get round to making a proper one. 

Bare in mind I didn't take pictures of every turn, as the pictures would simply look repetitive, and I did not set out to destroy my girlfriend, as she is still new to the game and requires a bit of help now and then. I am however, very impressed with how she did!

Now, the scenario was just, set out to destroy every part of the enemy force. I did not bother with testing for breaking for this scenario. The backstory:

After fleeing to Lothlorien, The Fellowship all get a chance to rest their aching bones. However, a few hours later Aragorn and a small band of elves are leading a counter assault, in an attempt to deter the Goblin's vicious hunting instinct, and thus prevent an assault on Lorien.

I played as the Wood Elves, 2 with Elven blade, 2 with Spear and 2 with Bow, 

As well as Aragorn. For the purpose of this being a sort of friendly match to get my girlfriend more acquainted to the rules, and with their being more models for her to manage, I didn't use Aragorn's mighty hero rule.

Bethen played the ravaging, roving horde of goblins which consisted of:

An assorted number of goblins with shield and sword, around 4-5

An assorted number of goblins with spear, again around 4-5

And 3-4 Goblins with bow.

Layout is as below:

The layout

Woodelves

Goblins

Turn one, priority: Goblins.

The Goblins continue their reckless hunt, as the goblins on all sides bolt forward, apart from two lonely spearmen who stay back.

The horde chittering forward, nasty black speech filling the air.

I moved my Elves forward and had an archer attempt to climb a rock, but to my dismay, the Elf failed his climbing test! And plumets backwards, and landing in the grass. How embarrassing.

Falling to the 'Anything but a one!' trap

However else where, the other Elf goes to the other extreme, and leaps up the rock with ease, readying an arrow as he sings songs of Elbereth.

Showing up the other elf!

Onto the shooting phase and the Archer rolls a 4 to hit, but only rolls a 2, when a 3 is needed to kill a goblin spearman, the arrow clattering off the crude armour.

Close, but no kill.

Turn two and the front lines clash as the Goblins gain priority again, a Swordsman being charged by a goblin, and Aragorn being charged by three. An Elven spearman moves in to support the swordsman, as a Goblin archer takes position on a rock. The two Goblin Spearmen at the back move forward, ready to engage next turn.

Battle is joined

Aragorn, his skill far surpassing that of mere Goblins, whirls his sword about and dispatches three Goblins. However, the lone goblin beats back the two Elves and manages to dispatch the swordsman!

Elven Casualties

Goblin Casualties.

From here, unfortunately a few of the photo's went missing, so I shall do my best to fill in the gaps and explain what transpired over the next few turns:
Aragorn continues his rampage and fells a few more Goblins, curses from foul language penetrating the air as they fall.

The Goblins wipe out the right hand side of Elves, and the left Elven Archer on the rock is shot down, but not before the combined might of the two Elven archers dispatch all of the Goblin archers and a few spearmen.

And then we come to this:

This, this is how it looked by turn 5.

Goblin casualties.

Elven Casualties.

After this, the Elves were felled in combat, and all but one remained, along with Aragorn, who had one wound, no fate, no might left. Three Goblins were left on the board, and what happened?...

Aragorn fluffs his rolls! and is quickly dispatched.

How things looked on the last turn.

And with that, Bethen wins the game! A fun scenario, and I will definitely never underestimate goblin archery, or up close fighting again! I do not come away from the game with nothing though, as I definitely have a better understanding of what the Wood Elves are capable of, and thoroughly enjoyed playing as them. Next time, I would be less hesitant to charge in, due to that low defence of 3, if you lose a fight then you're in for a rough time.

Bethen did very well, and though her losses were great she managed to make short work of me over time. She employed a very sneaky tactic towards the end, where I expected her to charge Aragorn, but instead went around him and into the Archer, killing off my last ranged supporter for the game, which played a part in hammering the last nail into my coffin.


It was a very fun game to play, and we are already discussing a larger scale game, with High Elf support, and Cave troll + Warg support. It looks to be a fun game, which shall be played when we get back from Holiday.

That's right, I'm off on Holiday to the beautiful Lizard Point of Cornwall tomorrow!. It is a nice spot, and has easy access to all the best beaches and shopping towns in the area! So whilst I'm soaking up the sun rays, I shall be re-prioritizing what I need to get hobby wise!

Thanks for the read, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it, and until next time...