Now that my folks visit has come to an end, and they have continued their holiday trip on to Australia, before heading back to ol' Blighty, ... and that things have calmed down a bit at work after Audit issues were attended to... I have found a little time to pick up the paint brushes again... though saying that, there was much intervening time, assembling new plastic kits - WWII stuff for Bolt Action. It's now all assembled and I have steadily started painting my way through it... which allowed me to get another entry in for the painting challenge... as submitted below... "Well the plan to paint loads of LOTR figures has become slightly derailed with the arrival at Chez Bowman of the Bolt Action starter set, and a pair of tanks; a Panzer IV H, and a M4 Sherman. So far I have them all assembled and have been trying out the rules with my son Chris. It certainly seems a lot of fun, and its 28mm WWII after all - so what's not to like?! ;-) And Chris is really enjoying it too, and doesn't need much coaxing away from his 'devices' to play a game with his ol' man... Thus far I have painted up the Panzer and Hanomag Armoured carrier for the Germans... I am going with my soft tri-colour camo pattern as I have done before with my FoW stuff, but I have this time tried to accentuate some of the details and tried to include some weathering of the paintwork along the raised edges of the vehicles. I thought about buying chipping fluid and weathering pigments, but in the end I just wanted to get them done and played with, so just did everything by hand with regular acrylics. First time I have painted such vehicles at this scale, other than 40K stuff many many years ago... A selection of pictures for your enjoyment... I hope you like them...
The 15mm scale bocage hedges I made for FoW, works nicely for regular to large hedges for 28mm...
... complete with sheep, and cows - out of picture!
Nice number plates decals as part of the set... front and rear...
For those not in the know; the German tank numbering system went; company, platoon, tank... so this wee beastie is the 3rd tank of first platoon, of 4th Company...
Divisional markings for Panzer Lehr...
The Lehr Division was one of the better fighting formations the Wehrmacht had, typically with a high level of material and resources for a non-SS formation... Formed in '43 from elite troops who had seen action on many fronts, they subsequently saw action in the west, facing the western allies...
To speed up painting - I'll have to admit, I didn't do the eyes... my own eyes are getting a bit tired now, so this might be a stretch to far... I haven't varnished the vehicles so I might got back and do them later - but probably wont! ;-p
Right off to paint 12 German Grenadiers..."
And a nice response from Millsy; one of Curt's Co-Admins for us southern hemisphere guys... "Wow Scott, that's quite a wonderful result considering they're your first 28mm vehicles in a long time AND that they have a most convincing tri-colour camo scheme to boot! Having painted this scheme myself a few times I can attest to just how hard it is to execute so kudos for doing such a wonderful job. Please so varnish them though, I'd hate to see that effort ruined by handling... 30 points seems a mean return for the effort so I'm throwing in another 5 for the camo. Good too see you back on the tools mate! Cheers, Millsy."
Must admit I am rather excited by this whole Bolt Action thing - like I said, it's 28mm and WWII - whats not to like? I've always preferred painting 28mm to 15mm anyway... and sadly the way things have gone with Flames of War after the company's 'global re-shuffle' and the largely pathetic effect this has had and continues to have for the supply chain... many players seem to be looking to take their WWII interest elsewhere - and Bolt Action seems to be grabbing a lot of players interest and attention...
I attended ValleyCon a couple of weekends ago and found several of FoW players were choosing not to partake in the FoW Tournie there (Early war setting may also have had something to do with that), but were actually playing Bolt Action... I also dropped down to our local wargames club; KWC, discussed the game there with the guys, found some were already interested and/or already had armies, ...and there already seems quite a groundswell of interest after that first chat, with half a dozen or so players looking to play and/or buy armies - or indeed have already started purchasing troops...
Since this post I have got the German troops about half done and started blocking in some colours on the yanks. Having not painted yanks before I had to order in some colours for them...
So this year looks like it will see a lot of Bolt Action, and I foresee my German and American forces from the starter set I got, steadily increasing... terrain building options offer lots of opportunities too!
My second entry for the painting challenge was for the Nostalgia Bonus theme round - I decided to paint up Gandalf...
When I get nostalgic about my gaming, and think back to those early days and where it all began, there is always one character that shines out above the rest... and that character, is Gandalf.
I think it was back in 1982, when I was 12, that I first read the Hobbit... and that book, not surprisingly fired my imagination and set my feet firmly on the road to eventually becoming a gamer...Gandalf was there in that story, and remained with me as I subsequently read my way through the Lord of the Rings... and those inspirations eventually lead inexorably to the world of D&D and starting to collect and paint miniatures... and back then in the 80's GW brought out an LOTR range long before the movies were ever made... and I started collecting and playing with those figures... found memories, even though those figures are long since sold off, largely due to the recent movie matching range that GW subsequently produced. And now I find it quite comforting in a way to have come along the gaming road some 30 years later and I am still as enamored of this character as I was back then... the Movies from PJ, and the casting of Sir Ian McKellan could not have personified a Gandalf better that matched the figure my mind had imagined. I still recall tearing up as I saw Gandalf ride his cart into Hobbiton that first time... and again when he fell from the bridge at Khazad Dum, even though I already knew he didnt actually die then! I guess I have remained affectionately bound to the character of Gandalf, as these years and still remain so now, and still enjoy watching Sir Ian's portrayal of the character every time I re-watch the movies... For me there is no better definition of Nostalgia, as Gandalf. The figure I present is the mounted pose, from the recent range of LOTR figures from GW, matching the movie characters. This pose is relatively rare, and now sadly long OOP. So getting your hands on one is not an easy task, and they still command quite high 2nd hand values subsequently.
I was very fortunate in acquiring this figure last year in way of a trade online, with none other than Tim Kulinski - he of authorship fame of the Legends of the High Seas rules - a wonderful pirate skirmish set, based on the Core LOTR SBG game. Due to GW's strange business practices... the withdrawal of Warhammer Historical, loss of the product range, and subsequent poor treatment, and lack of any apparent real support to the LOTR/Hobbit games system, Tim had understandably decided to wash his hands of GW, and no longer play LOTR, and thus sell off his collection... and subsequently he offered me his Gandalf, as part of a large bundle of figure trades... and consequently two parcels winged their corresponding ways across the Pacific... and so, there I had in my hands, finally, a mounted Gandalf the Grey. But with a typical backlog of figures I was working through, Gandalf found his place in the lead pile and patiently waited his turn... And thus in summary, now I am pleased to have finally finished him and the Nostalgia round was the perfect excuse to get him painted up and finished! A relatively simple paint job as matches the grab colours the character is named for! Getting the face right was a little tricky under the brim of his large hat, and sadly doesn't show well in the pictures due to the angle of the pose. But its there I assure you! ;-) I do look forward to giving him a try out in the game, a mounted wizard gives the character better mobility, raised line of sight for spell casting and a bit of a buff to his meager combat prowess, gaining the bonus of a cavalry charge... the 10pts spent on the horse are well worth it! And though he may have taken what seems an age to grace my game table, I guess I can sum this by quoting the character himself; "A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins!..Nor is he early... He arrives precisely when he means too!" ;-)
I am still working away with several models, but my folks are visiting with us at the mo', so hobby time has come to a halt until they leave next weekend. I'll hopefully get back in to the swing of things after that...
My first entry for the painting Competition this year: (as copied across from AH blog)
"Just a quick post to say I am alive and well and contributing as best as I am able...
I 'break my duck' with a couple of 15mm Flames of War German half tracked recce vehicles, the SdKfz 250/9...
A recce vehicle mounting a 2cm main gun, backed up by Co-ax MG, on a small half-tracked chassis...
I 'picked these up' about middle of last year when my son bought these 2nd hand from the bring and buy stall as a prezzy for me, at the Panzerschrek tournie in Palmy North here in NZ... he's a good lad :)
Quick and easy to paint I figured I would lash some paint on them to get some points rolling in the challenge... a meager start but at least I am still breathing...
Funnily enough it wasn't until I had undercoated and base coated the vehicles that I noticed one had lost part of its front mud guard. This was quickly painted up as battle damage as I couldn't be bothered to try and correct it then!
More ambitious things in the pipeline, so watch this space... I've got a Mumak on the go, and am half way through assembling Smaug... fingers crossed I get them done in time..."
Curt's kind response... Nicely done Scott and welcome back for this year's journey. As usual your muted camo looks fabulous. I've always had a soft spot for WWII German recce vehicles - they always looked so much more modern and nasty than most of the clunkers the Allies used. 12 points for you as we await your Mumak (the Tiger of LotR).
Its that time of year, and once again I find myself taking part in the annual painting frenzy that is Curt's wonderful Painting challenge. 3 months of painting figures commencing 20th December and ending 20th March, or there abouts...
I must confess my blogging, painting and hobby time has taken a dent this year, with new time pressures of work, and that will continue through the challenge. Plus the fact my folks are visiting from the UK in January so that will put a further dent in my available painting time... but I will plod along and see what I can get done...
I have a side challenge lined up with fellow challenge compatriot; Ste. We are going to see who can get the most LOTR stuff done, and then have some kind of final duel game at the end using all the models we've painted... should be interesting...
So I've managed to get a reasonable amount of stuff prep'd, and its not just LOTR stuff, there's some FoW stuff too... a mix of old and new... trying to get paint on LOTR stuff that has sat in my stash for several years of collecting and trying to get some newly acquired things done too.
I do also have something that still needs assembling and hope to be able to complete it before the end of the challenge... a small clue... starts with an 'S'... ends in a 'G'... will be interesting to see how Curt scores it! ;-)
And so without further ado, I wish all participants the best of luck, and must now wonder what am I doing here... there's painting to do today... once I get back from movies and seeing Star Wars!
With the Analogue Hobbies painting challenge deadline of 20th March virtually upon us, I managed to sneak one last entry in at the last minute.
I had been waiting for more ANZAC Diorama figures to do, but again there were gaps in the time-frame of the 'supply chain', allowing me to get back to some of my own stuff...
So, here's a platoon, or 'Zug', of five Panzer III Ausf M, in 15mm scale, by The Plastic Soldier Company.
I love the PSC kits, great value for money, and easy to put together.
I have painted them up in my usual three colour German camo scheme, to match my existing FoW forces... I also used GW 'Rust effect' paint on the exhausts... Decals by DOM.
The Panzer III may not be as 'sexy' as the big cats, but it was a workhorse of the mid-war period and was still seeing action later in the conflict, so this platoon will be complimenting my existing Mid and Late War forces...
The Ausf M was just about the last incarnation of the PzIII, and had seem increases in armour thickness, size of main gun to 50mm and addition of Side Armour skirts or 'Schurzen'.
In the game, it has FA6 SA3 TA1, has a range of 24" with main gun and ROF3, AT9, FP4+, plus the usual MGs. That makes it quite a useful infantry support tank, able to knock out infantry, gun teams and lighter armoured vehicles, like half-tracks and suchlike. Its still a threat to the side armour of heavier tanks and will certainly hold its own against most tanks in the MidWar setting...
This platoon has been part of my background hobby work, which has gone under the project name of 'Operation Midnight Panzer'... with me typically ending an evenings hobby work, gluing together one of these little tanks before heading to the 'woodhill'... more of those to follow in a subsequent post...
The final Bonus theme round of the Painting Challenge was entitled "Anti-Hero" and was the theme of this years event.
I wanted to keep to my overall LOTR theme for the year and at first had in my mind to do Gollum... but he struck me more of being a plain old villain really, and after a brief chat with Curt, about what an Anti-hero would really be... it was decided that Boromir's character would make for a good entry...
An Anti-Hero is basically a Hero, but perhaps is not the most, shall we say, 'ethically minded' in how he gets the job done...?
In this case, since Boromir tries to take the Ring from Frodo, having no doubt succumbed in some way to its malign influence, even though he was never a 'ring-bearer' himself,... and albeit with overall good intentions - to save Gondor from the threat of Mordor, by using it himself, or gifting it to his father... he fails perhaps to see the bigger picture and the real threat, that is the Ring itself...
He of course, pays ultimately with his life in the end, regaining his honour somewhat in defence of the weakest members of the Fellowship, when the party become scattered at Amon Hen during the attack of the Uruks of Isengard...
Aragorn's final "Be at Peace, Son of Gondor" is always a very moving moment...
I have painted this model once before as part of my own collection, some years ago now, so this example will be gifted to Curt, as my "Curtgeld" fee for participation on this years Challenge. Hopefully it will find a welcome place in Curts growing collection!
As the Painting Challenge draws to a close, there is a frantic rush to get models completed, that have undergone work over the last couple of months...
As has been previously posted, a 'Turkish Invasion' has scuppered some of my originally planned painting output for the challenge... but when a hiccup occurred in the arrival of Turkish reinforcements... it allowed a few days where I could get back to 'my own stuff', and I am happy to have found the time to complete 12 more Riders of Rohan, to add to my growing planned all mounted Rohan force...
I have always liked these models, and they are looking even better en-masse... I usually go with white socks or stockings as they are known for the horses lower legs as this gives a good contrast to the brown... but this time I decided to use much darker tones for a change (dark grey over a black base), as I have seen many horses with darker socks and stockings too... so these will add a bit variety over my overall force...
So that brings my mounted Rohan force up to 24 Riders of Rohan and 6 Royal Guard. But I only have Eomer and Theodred mounted to lead them all, so I am going to have to get a mounted captain done too...
My local Painting Challenge compatriot; Ste, has been getting a load of orcs and uruks done too, as part of his Painting Challenge entries, so we are going to have to have a post Challenge battle and get these forces in the game!
Expect more shoot and scoot tactics from these mobile troops, and once the enemy is at a manageable size, ride in to finish them off... just need to be cautious of any sneaky 'dismounting' spells and abilities...
Back to the Challenge, and these 12 Riders netted me 120 points to add to my total.
The end of the Challenge is in sight and the race to the finish has begun... The Turkish reinforcements finally showed up so I'll need to get these guys done in time to earn a few more challenge points...
To break up the slog that has been finishing 12 Riders of Rohan (nearly done now), I have been slipping the odd EotD figure into the painting queue... sometimes you just want to paint something different for a mo'...
So I have managed to get another couple of Empire of the Dead Gentlemen to add to my Sons of Empire Faction; the Pall Mall Patrons... I give you, Jeeves and Mortimer... seemed good names for a duo...
Here they are guarding the entrance to the Cemetery, with shotguns loaded..., one double barrel, the other pump action?
Shotguns are useful in the game as they ignore the terrain cover modifiers for shooting... oh, you're hiding behind that hedge? Boom! Ha Ha!
I only have two more Gents to paint up now... both with volleyguns :)
But they may have to wait... as I have just taken delivery of another shipment of 54mm Gallipoli figures on Friday, and I have recently been reminded, the deadline for completion is actually the end of March! Eek!!
Back to Jeeves and Mortimer, and hopefully these two figure may see me reach my 600pt target for the AHPC, earlier than expected, thanks to the bonus points for the Bonus theme rounds... so I suppose I better add to my target... there's still points to come for the Comedic bonus round, and I hope (or need!) to get 20 more 54mm figures done for end of March, so lets bump the target up to 900pts and see if I can get near it!
Fingers crossed!
Keeping an eye on the various painting deadlines I have at the mo';... 20th March for AHPC, and end of March for Gallipoli stuff... I have decided to try and get my outstanding 12 Riders of Rohan finished off. Finished the paintjobs on Tuesday night and got them all varnished last night. Just basing to do now which I'll hopefully finish tonight. I'm also halfway through doing my 'Curtgeld' AntiHero due by Saturday, so will hopefully finish that off over next couple of days too.
After that, its probably Turks all the way till the end of March... though I may slip the odd thing in, in between... if I have time and inclination!
Radagast the Brown, one of the five Istari, and a wonderfully characterful friend and ally to Gandalf the Grey.
This was my entry for the "Comedic" Bonus theme round of the Painting Challenge...
Radagast's portrayal by Sylvestor McCoy was simply inspired I thought. Certainly not how I first imagined him, but a brilliant rendition none the less.
He brought drama, and also a slight comic relief, to the grim tale of the dwarves of the Company of Thorin Oakenshield in their Quest for the Lonely Mountain, in The Hobbit.
Seeing him scampering about on foot was wonderful... but then to see his transport, was a bewilderment!
When I first heard the rumors before the movies release, I shook my head in disbelief... but as soon as I saw it in the movie... it just worked! Hilarious, fun, inspired, novel. Great stuff...
It quickly became one of those must have models upon its release... not that I envisage using it in every LOTR game I play, even if it is remarkably effective on the table top!
The model itself is a 28mm scale multipart Finecast resin kit, from GW, and took some trimming, and greenstuffing to have it ready to paint. I decided to paint the component parts, then assemble the the whole and base it at the end. It would have been just too awkward to do otherwise.
The minor niggle I have is that some of the rabbits have the void between them and the next rabbit in the line, filled... I trimmed away as much of this as I could, but for a couple of the connections it was just a necessity to leave them as is, as with just the sides reigns joining otherwise, they would not have been strong enough to support the model. But if you can see past these minor effects its a great model :)
It is mounted on a large oval base, that lends itself to a little diorama work in its own right, and the kit includes two small side features; broken tree stumps, one with a small spider at the base, the other with a bird, looking startled into flight as Radagast zooms past, to add to the overall effect.
The bird I decided to simply paint black with a little dark grey drybrush to represent a Raven as these birds are mentioned throughout the tale, so it seemed appropriate to use. The thrush is also in the tale, but the bird on the model looked far too big to be a thrush.
So there you have it...my Comedic bonus round entry... if a nutty old wizard riding a sleigh through the woods pulled by giant rabbits doesn't make you grin, nothing will!
"The way is shut!… It was made by those who are
dead…and the Dead keep it!"
My submission for the Cold bonus theme round, for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is the Army of
the Dead, from the Lord of the Rings, lead by the King of the Dead and his
banner bearer.
I felt that you cannot get much colder than the icy chill of
death itself so what better than an Army of the Dead!
The Army of the Dead
There are twenty 28mm miniatures here from GW's Lord of the
Rings range, plus the King of the Dead and his Banner bearer., making twenty
two in total.
They were also known as the Dead of Dunharrow… men, cursed
by Isildur when he called them to his service, at the battle of the Last
Alliance, against Sauron in Mordor and on the slopes of Mount Doom. They would
not heed his call and fled cowardly into the mountains…
And thus Isildur cursed them, never to rest or find piece
until they fulfilled their Oaths.
It is Aragron, last of the bloodline of Isildur, who now
stands to command them to his service, and this he must do, to swell the ranks
of his forces, to face the might of Sauron once more…
Back to the Dead above, and painting was relatively easy.
Black undercoat was followed by an airbrushing of Vallejo US Flight Lt. Grey . This is a very pale grey, more on "off-white"... and as it dried over the black undercoat, it appeared to take on a greenish hue. Might have just been my eyes or a trick of the light, who knows!
Once dry I picked out the metallic areas in Chainmail silver. Then the Kings golden crown and clasps in Shining Gold. Finally I used some shades of very pale yellows and browns for their hair.
Finally a wash of green, and this was going to make or break the paintjob! I wanted a very translucent shade. I had some left over GW Thraka Green Wash and also got some of their new Coelia Green wash. They are noticeably different colours, the newer shade a much darker tone than the older Thraka colour.
Having painted Barrow Wights a long time ago I knew how to get the thin wash to work..., although back then it was a blue colour...
I decided to mix the two green colours 1:1, about five drops of each, then added a drop of dish wash liquid, then a drop or two of water... The surfactant property of the soap reduces how much the shade wash 'gathers' producing a more translucent wash effect...
I'm rather pleased how it turned out. Varnish and basing to finish. I kept the basing minimal that reflects there sparse "lodgings"!
For the challenge they should score me 110 points, plus the bonus for the theme round which I think is a further 50pts, making 160 in total :)
-----o0o-----
In the game the dead are sadly probably not the best troops to go for, and are arguably much less effective than they appear in the movie! They do have high Defence which makes them rather resilient to damage, but have weak strength. The flip side to this is they strike against an enemy's Courage value, not their Defence. This makes them quite useful against low courage foes like Orcs, but less effective against braver troops....
And they still have to move around terrain, when you would imagine it wouldn't affect them ... to my mind they should move freely through all terrain and troops should get no defensive bonuses for defending obstacle etc. against them...
They are also fairly pricey in points costs.
And sadly one aspect of the new warbands rules mean you would struggle to get more than one warband on the table in a regular game as there is only one hero of the Dead - the King, to lead them. There are no 'captains of the dead' to lead other warbands. Real shame. You can lead them with Captains of Dol Amroth, but I think that would look odd!
So in most regular games you would be limited to field the King of the Dead with a warband of 12 models, as an allied Fiefdom to other Gondor troops.
But for all that, they do look cool and no LOTR collection would be complete without them!
... and summer is just around the corner here, so that means its Curt's Annual Analogue Hobbies Winter Painting Challenge!
I must admit, this year I feel rather pumped for it, and feel I have my painting mojo well and truly back :)
Since the switch back to LOTR as my primary gaming interest, my paintbrushes haven't stopped working. And of course the current Hobbit movies are enthusing my interest in the period even more...
I have had a massive sell off this year, and continue to do so... getting rid of models and rules that I am no longer interested in playing or pursuing any further... these funds have liberated LOTR figures to fill gaps in my collections and further add to my LOTR forces...
Unlike most games where you decide, OK I'll play that game and I'll collect that army for it... LOTR has me well and truly by the short and curlies and that means I want everything for it! And its a fairly pricey product range to boot, thanks to GW pricing, hence the sell off! My favorite UK based suppliers have been helping out with supplies alongside and in addition to a friendly network or 'spies, agents and collaborators'! You know who you are and have my heart felt thanks, with Facebook tradegroups often coming to the rescue for those hard to find discontinued models...
So with good ol' Curt continuing to widen the allowed figures for the painting challenge, I'm raring to go to get a load more LOTR stuff painted, much of which has sat trimmed and undercoated for some years now, from back when I was going to build armies for WOTR, and try out the rules with these prep'd and based figures...
So these have been pulled out of the 'lead pile' and placed alongside more recently trimmed and prep'd figures...
Trimmed , Prep'd and undercoated
So I have, ready to go 24 Corsairs, 24 Morannon Orcs, 24 Dwarf Warriors, 12 Riders of Rohan, 6 Knights of Gondor and 22 Army of the dead inc. Banner and King!
Corsairs, Morannons and Dwarfs
If I get this lot done in the allotted time I'll impress myself! This is probably beyond my abilities in the time available but I'll give it a red hot shot, and see how far I get.
Army of the Dead
Riders of Rohan
Knights of Gondor
So raring to go here and I wish to extend the best of luck to my fellow competitiors!
OK here's my entry fee submission for Curt, for the 4th annual painting challenge...
I'm rarely on time with these thing, but at least I keep my word!
I decided to go with a generic sandy base, to allow Curt to better match him up with the rest of his collection as required.
I tried photographing against a sandy background but camera seemed then have difficulty getting colour balance right - all shots came out too dark. Put him on green grass and all's well.
Oh, if I recall correctly he's a 28mm scale from Artizan... I think?
He'll be winging his way from NZ to Canada over the next few days...
I entered, just to be involved, but knew I was kidding myself that I was going to amass any points...
If it hadn't been for the timing of my few meagre entries with the bonus themed rounds I would have scored bugger all!
I started off well, or at least prepared well, and had a whole load prep'd and primed ready for the go, including stuff for Flames of War, Empire of the Dead and other bits and bobs, including The Hobbit dwarfs which were supposed to be completed for last years event!
But the wheels kinda came off early... I had a pretty naff game of FOW early December last year, which had me questioning myself as to whether I was going to bother to play the game anymore at all...
So when the Challenge kicked off, my enthusiasm to paint FOW stuff, was pretty much rock bottom... but I forced myself onwards, simply out of a sake of completeness...
I managed to complete a set of five Plastic Soldier 15mm Panzer IV F2s... for the Vehicle round.
A Begliet Tank escort platoon got half done, as did a sFH18 Howitzer battery... they are still annoyingly taking up space on my table... staring me down, taunting me; "finish us!"...
I also managed to get a few bits and bobs done for Empire of the Dead, and entries being timed for the themed bonus rounds.., the Villains:
A vampire in humanoid bat form, the sculpt inspired, I presume, from a scene from the Gary Oldman Dracula movie.
And also...
...the hound of the Baskervilles... who's a nice doggy?
And finally...
Alluring, sensual?
... a conversion! My mate Brett bought me the figure, a Hasslefree pole dancer, for a fun birthday present (better than a bottle of wine!) a year ago or so, but I never got round to doing anything with it. Mostly because I had no idea what to do with it! Then I found the Empire of the Dead game, and the idea of converting her into a naked Vampiric Consort was too much to resist, so I cut the base off the pole and added a blade to make an ancient spear, and painted her as pale as I could manage.
Ahem, yes , well... eye popping no doubt!?
I think she makes for a rather alluring character! Perhaps her nakedness is a little OTT for the Victorian setting, but she is meant to be an Anti-Hero after all, and if the old Hammer Horror films were anything to go by, it seemed there was always just about any excuse to get their kit off! ;-) Which of course is why I watched them, as a teenager ;-)
Nice bum too! ;-)
Next up... the Non-Combatants;
'Nanny'
...Mrs Hudson, or as I like how Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock Holmes character refers to her as; 'Nanny'.
"Tea Mr Shifter?" - so who remembers the PG Tips Chimps?
But if anyone who has followed my blog recently may have guessed, things took a different tack about half way into the Challenge; the recent Hobbit movies have had my whole family excited to be enjoying Middle-Earth again, and a re-visit to Hobbiton (the now fully developed movie set in Matamata) seemed to crystalise this.
On top this, my young son was motivated to start reading the novel, The Lord of Rings, and in so doing, then wanted to play through the scenarios in order, through the GW LOTR 'Journey books'.
This for me has been almost a complete, yet much looked for, turn around, and has switched my gaming focus, to play games with him. He turned 10 middle of last year, and seems to have hit that 'golden age' where gaming with Dad is cool and his physical and mental faculties now mean, he can reach the gaming table, he can be trusted to handle the models carefully, respectfully without busting them, and is mentally well up on the play (though still learning the tactics of the game, much like me!), including creating his own army lists for other LOTR scenario games he's coming up with...
I have long loved LOTR but had few local opponents and so, have often collected other rule-sets and figures in the hopes of playing games with local adult folks... but in some way I feel I have been chasing my own tail a bit in this respect ...
And thus I feel I have had one of those epiphany-like moments, and jumped up and down in the shower crying Eureka!, whilst being mindful not to slip on the soap...
So having found I have come full circle, in my hobby, I have decided to focus back on my main love; Lord of the Rings, though now called, The Hobbit, SBG. With my son being 10, I figure I have six years ahead of me where we can enjoy gaming together, until either girls become more interesting or exam studies become more important, or both; life gets hectic at 16!
Consequently, I have enjoyed a major clear out of the Lead / Plastic mountain, seeing SYW, ACW , Naps, Ancient Celts, Saxons, and rule-books and supplements, and other bits and bobs sold off through Trademe (NZ's ebay), and thus winging their way off all round the country.
It has been like a breath of fresh air blowing through my games room... and relieved me of pangs of guilt and stress; wondering if I'd ever be able to paint all the figures I have amassed... More to follow as I get really ruthless, and start looking through all those boxes, shelves and cupboards...
With these newly liquidated funds realised, it has allowed me to source and order up on gaps in my LOTR collection, sourcing models via trademe, ebay and facebook groups, that have gone out of production, or likely to do so shortly... Or direct from GW where the items have become mail order only...
I had always hoped to field vast armies of my own to play Black Powder and Hail Caesar, but, whilst I genuinely like those rule-sets, I think the reality of me ever getting such armies painted seems to get more remote, the older I get, as time passes by, and the Lead mountain continues to grow... I hit 44 earlier in the month, and have already noticed a slight yet gradual decline in my insight, which kinda terrified me as to how many good painting years I have left in me...???
This again put me in mind of a wonderful quote from Gandalf; "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
So Gandalf, how much time do I have left....?
Is this the 'Wargamers Mid Life Crisis' ??? Maybe I need to get out and ride my Harley more instead of worrying about it all!? ;-)
But, not to give up on the BP and HC rule-sets, I am going to use my LOTR troops for mass battles using these rules. I set up the Yahoo Group 'Hail Caesar-Fantasy' (originally named 'Hail Sauron'; far more catchy, but changed in case of copyright issues - I now wonder whether "Fair Use" would have allowed me to leave it Hail Sauron?) originally for this purpose, but have then done little with it. About time I changed that...
I have also decided to stick with the 'Pirates' gaming, as I find that tremendous light-hearted fun, and with Empire of the Dead, as I like the sinister setting of the game. I have all the models I need to play either game system, so its just a matter of getting them painted too, and making some more terrain...
In truth I think my gaming is very much motivated by good movies, I obviously love the LOTR / Hobbit stuff, then there's the on going Pirates of the Caribbean saga, and also the Sherlock Holmes movies and other Gothic Horror/VSF/Steampunk stories to inspire some fun gaming...
So that was my "Eureka!" moment, and where my head is currently at...
Now, back to the painting challenge, and the focus switched to Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit...
Chris and I initially had some fun playing through a couple of the missions in the Fall of the Necromancer supplement, as this was themed very well with the recent The Hobbit, The Desolation of Smaug movie, and I ended up painting up 4 Castellans of Dol Guldur to play some of these missions;
Castellans of Dol Guldur - I love these figures. I have another 4 I could paint, but think 8 might be too much for a regular SBG game? I had bought this many when I was going to use them in WOTR (GWs War of the Ring Battle game), which had minimum company sizes of 8 figures for infantry... but that game has fallen by the wayside...
I also managed to get some work done on the The Hobbit dwarves and got Balin done for the themed Hero Round;
Balin - the brains behind the Company?
Throughout this whole time, I have had various terrain interludes which have already been documented in prior blog posts.
Then it was time to crack on with terrain and models I needed to complete to continue our Fellowship of the Ring campaign...
This got the LOTR Casualty figures done;
Frodo, after being bitten by beastly Shelob!
And Shelob, just for scale! She's truly monstrous!
I was just about to put the following forward for the "Last Stand" bonus themed round , but cocked up the closing date for entries submissions, so missed my chance... Ah well, no worries, at least I have been painting something for my son and I to enjoy gaming together shortly...
Noro Lim Asfaloth!
So finally this weekend, too late for the challenge, I put the finishing touches to the "Last Stand" entry; Flight to the Ford, from the Fellowship of the Ring:
I loved the Ringwraith flying wedge formation scene, chasing down Arwen from the movie, I found it a moving sequence...particularly as Arwen urges Asfaloth on; 'Noro Lim' (Ride on!)
Confrontation at the Ford of Bruinen.
"Give us the Halfling, She-elf"
"Come and claim him, if you want him!"
I have had the mounted Arwen with Frodo figure for quite some time, but it had languished for some time in the lead mountain as its more a scenario or diorama piece than a gaming piece for the most part. Likewise, the mounted wraiths have been in my collection for a long time; an ebay win, but the motivation to paint up all the mounted wraiths was always fairly low priority - how often would you field 9 in a game?
But playing through the FotR scenarios in order, tied in nicely with the theme of the last bonus round for Curts challenge. So that was motivation enough! So ten figures to paint and a Ford Section to make.
I made the Ford section to match my existing river pieces, rather than the rocky film location...
Then right at the last minute I managed to source the discontinued mounted Witchking model, on rearing horse, via Facebook Wargames buy trade sell group, and it winged its way over to me from Australia...
TheWitchKing was the last piece to finish off...
So I ended up with ten mounted wraiths, but that's cool as it makes it possible to pose the two shots; "The chase", and "The last stand".
So that was my challenge for 2013/14...
And a complete, yet very welcome, turn around in gaming and painting motivation!
Last night we also had a rather large, and ongoing, Helms Deep re-fight utilising the wall sections I made, and resin gateway set, on long time loan from mate Mike...
Helms Deep
We played all last night till 11pm, and have had another hour this morning, and hope to finish this afternoon...
So tonight, its the Battle report for Flight to the Ford... report to follow...
