A small scout force...

I was thinking to myself only yesterday, "Why haven't I uploaded any pictures of my miniatures yet?"

Well the first answer that comes to mind is, compared to a lot of other people's I see, mine pale in comparison. I think I've got the hang of a few basics, layering, drybrushing, washing etc and I'm able to paint my miniatures up to table top standard. I'm happy with this, and I'm happy with how fast I've made that improvement from getting paint in the wrong place, or getting the right consistency of paint onto certain parts. It's very daunting for a new painter like myself.

That being said, I find the wargaming community (most of it, anyway) to be encouraging, kind and great at constructive feedback without leaving the painter/modeller leaving feeling downtrodden.
So with that in mind, I'm going to start posting what I've painted. If nothing else, I can look back on it as I improve and see just how much far I may have come.


For the past few months on and off, I've been painting my uruk-hai scouts. After speaking to a friend who's played for years, back in December last year, I decided that Isengard was a good force for me to go for. At the time my reasoning was that I really enjoy uruk-hai, especially mixed with orcs and wild men. They'd be easy to paint, and they're beginner friendly, with a higher than average fight, strength and courage for the forces of evil.

So that's theme, painting and playing ticked on the check list, and the only deviation I made along those three points was opting to choose scouts over fighting uruk-hai. They're both a bit more difficult to paint, and slightly more squishy in game than their armoured counterparts, with less defence. I can say without a doubt I made the right choice though, as the scouts have some nice sculpts, and the fight at Amon Hen is one of my favourite scenes in the trilogy...

These are no mere orcs!

Apologies for the picture quality. I'm still trying to figure out the focussing on our new camera...

Find the halfling!

I can definitely improve, and one day I would like to be able to consistently paint eyes and facial details etc, but have left them blank and let a wash shadow those details instead for now as I lack the skill to do much else.

The Uruk Scouts themselves aren't too difficult to paint. I started off with a prime of Abaddon Black, before heavily drybrushing the boots, swords, shields and anything else metal with Leadbelcher. I then very lightly drybrushed parts of the metal with Runefang Steel to highlight various parts that would be reflecting from the sun or other sources of natural light.

Sitting at defence 5 with a shield,

the scout can still be rather

tanky to those strength 3 armies

I then painted the leather straps with Doombull brown, and the skin Mournfang Brown. Some of the lower belt portions I painted Zandri Dust, like the one pictured above without shield or helm. This is to differentiate any "marauders" I use, an upgraded variant if taken in Mauhur's warband...
any bows or quivers were painted in Rhinox Hide, a nice darker brown to stand out from the leather armour.

One of my "marauders" as evidenced by

the different coloured belt section

of his armour...

Zoomed out version of the above.

Finally, I gave the models a wash. So far, I've given most of them the Nuln Oil treatment, but the odd few get Agrax Earthshade, to represent the more dirty, worn leather of the uruks fleeing to Orthanc, with Merry and Pippin (I plan on sourcing these models to add to that particular collection).

Not where you want to be if you're a hobbit.

I do of course need to add white hands, and I'm still practicing this. Of the 10 attempts I've done so far, I've been happy with the last three that I've attempted to paint on shields!

Finally, I based them (which I'm new at, and found quite difficult to be frank! painting the smaller stones to look like dirt, I had trouble with.) in the usual manner, a bit of bird sand, the smaller coarse type and the larger type to represent the larger stones, suitable paint scheme and a bit of static grass mixed with a bit of static hay to represent the many small villages of Rohan.

Overall, whilst pretty basic True I still have a long way to go, and a lot I can improve on, but I think I've done a fairly good job, at least to a tabletop standard that I can enjoy playing with them, and ultimately that's what matters isn't it? whether we like what we've painted. If we're satisfied with them personally, and enjoy their look and playing with them, then it's a win in my books!

So whilst this is only a small section of my scout force, I do have Lurtz, Ugluk, Saruman, Grima and a fair few other scouts to paint up. I even have around 10-15 of them already painted, ready to be based. I'll post an update on them as and when I get them finished.

However, whilst the scouts are out shouting about halflings to be found, a few Moria goblins have sneaked into my painting queue, namely for Battle Companies... so plenty to be done.

Hobby Catch Up

So, I just posted about the Battle of Pelennor Fields "Mega-game" we had the other week. But what have I been doing in the months between the last post and the new one?

Well, I've found time to go to club days and play a variety of games, mostly Lord of the Rings and Warhammer but also a bit of Flames of War.

Playing these systems have made me realise I've done what I said I wouldn't do when I first got into the hobby, namely being pulled in many different directions by all the brilliant games and systems out there. I've been rationalizing what priorities I have within the hobby and I've come up with a fairly decent plan for moving forward.

Lord of the Rings - Priority status: Low-Middle.
I've played enough of SBG to know that this game will be one that I enjoy for a very long time and that nothing short of GW butchering it (Which is always on the tables... though props to the current Middle Earth team, who I have very good faith in, means this hopefully won't happen) is likely to stop me playing it. Recent forays into the world of Battle Companies has even further cemented this, as it makes for a fun, short alternative and the progression options for your company heroes/soldiers are thrilling. In terms of "purchasing priorities" though, they remain possibly at the bottom of the pile. I have a decent sized "Sacking of the Westfold" list (though it is missing wild men, until GW hopefully bring them out on a made to order.) that is both a theme I enjoy and competitive enough to win at least half of the games I play. I also have plenty of Moria goblins lurking around which I'm using for my battle companies. True I'm missing a good army and though I have The Fellowship which can be a decent force, I would like to begin collecting for a themed Rangers of Ithilien legendary legion. But since I have all the models I need right now to play the game regularly, it will stay at the bottom unless I find a hard pressed reason to purchase more.

The Fellowship begin their journey -

Much like mine into Wargaming!

Bolt Action - Priority status: Middle.

My British army is quite small, composing of two full infantry squads and a full commando squad with upgrades, a medium mortar, a HQ team and a Cromwell. It's something I'm looking to expand and begin painting, but it's also something that isn't played as often at the club. I know of at least two people that would be down for a game of it, should I ask however. So whilst there may not be a mad rush to get the army built up to full strength, it is something I'm hoping to do around Christmas time. I'm thinking of adding some more armoured power perhaps in the form of something heavy like a Sherman Firefly, or perhaps a more subtle approach, relying on some Bren carriers or an AEC armoured car.

A unit of British Commandos

Warhammer Fantasy 8th Edition - Priority status: High.
I've had so much fun with this game so far. The random elements, such as your cannon potentially blowing up on turn 1, or an enemy cavalry unit hilariously failing the charge to then be swarmed and defeated by lowly goblins, they all add up for a fun time. I've currently got 3 Orc lords/heroes and a rock lobber as well as 16 handgunners, 16 spearmen with musician and banner and an Empire cannon, as well as the Core rule book and the battle magic cards for the 8 standard lores of magic. I DID plan on purchasing a block of night goblins and orcs from the local "bring and buy" at a flgs… but this deal fell through as the seller is unable to make it. I will be purchasing them from him at a later date but this has thrown all my plans into the air, as I'm now sorely tempted to just buy the rest of the Empire forces instead, with many companies out there selling miniatures that easily pass as swords men/ spear men/ cavalry... time will tell!

Flames of War - Priority status: Low.
I've only played the one game, and whilst I like it, I do enjoy Bolt Action a lot more. I might dabble in getting a German force just to play the few games here and there, but not for a while. The only way I can see myself getting an army of these before any of the above would be if I run across a bargain or split a starter set with a friend.

One of the many Flames of War starter

forces available.

And that's pretty much the list! I do have some other games I have a vague interest in (because I refuse to let myself get pulled in yet another direction) such as Star wars legion and Empire of the Dead. But it will be a fair while indeed before I

choose to dive in to these games with both feet.

And yet, the best laid plans can always change!

The Battle Of Pelennor Fields

After a long delay in part due to a house move and various other "real life" problems, I finally found myself able to take part in a game on a grand scale.

August the 4th, many of us met at the club to partake in the Battle of Pelennor Fields, using the War of the Ring system and scenario...

It was a great day. A few people came from quite far away to play, and in the end we had 3 players controlling Mordor, Harad and the Easterlings whilst myself and Adam controlled Rohan, Gondor & Fiefdoms and the Dead of Dunharrow.

It was a mighty game, and it wasn't clear right until the end who would win (Evil sneaked a victory at the last minute.)

Pictured below, a few high lights of the game...

The Host of Mordor, mid-siege at Minas Tirith

Rohan to the rescue!

With an Earth Shattering charge for the first 2 turns, Rohan can really hurt those orc battalions!

Dol Amroth and Minas Tirith knights ride out

to face the threat

The Witch King swoops unwittingly into the unit that

contains Eowyn!

Horns blow as the Mumak war host arrives!

It was a long game. We finished setting up at about 10:15 and ended up finishing at around 8:45pm...

Of course, with visits from family and friends and plenty of cakes and snacks going around we inevitably spent a lot longer talking than playing the game. It was however an extremely fun game and I can't wait to play the next scenario next year, with Gondor and Rohan making a last stand outside The Black Gate of Mordor!

The sun shines as the riders of Rohan smash into, and skewer

two trolls!

From the black ships, the dead swarm onto the fields

accompanied by the Three Hunters

Me on the left, with Richard and Darrel (controlling evil, boo!) in the middle

and right respectively. 

And as a final note, I am returning to my blog periodically. I'd like to say with at least a weekly post but realistically I'm not sure I'll even manage that until at least October, when I've settled into university properly and can manage my work load effectively. I am however going to be picking up a WFB  Orcs and Goblins army this coming Saturday, at the Bring & Buy in Sanctuary, so I'll be making a post on that. I'll also be making a post on an upcoming Fields of Glory game, so keep an eye out for that! and one final thing I'm planning on making a post about shortly is the new Battle Companies campaign we've started, with the new LOTR Battle Companies rules!

Thanks for reading folks.

Until next time...