Galadriel and her mirror

A 3D Sculpt from The Printing Goes Ever On. A quick paintjob- I tried adding an eye of Sauron, and it really sticks out. I may darken the edges of the bowl. I don't know if the 'water' needs some gloss varnish.

Journeys in Middle-earth: even more heroes

Heroes from the 'Spreading War' expansion for Journeys in Middle-earth. I used a fair amount of Contrast on these. I tried painting the eyes but it is far from my best effort there. The LEDs are quite unflattering!

Dwalin

Fréahild, Rohan Shieldmaiden

Calaminth Took, hobbit

Boromir

Beorn and The Great Bear

Rénërien, daughter of Círdan the shipwright

Spreading War

The Great Bear is an underwhelming sculpt. I  can't explain how Fréahild became a Shieldmaiden of the forgoil, but I do think she could have got a bigger sword. It's not a miscast; there's a tiny scabbard on her left hip.

The matte varnish is still drying in these photos, with a greyish residue in the crevices.

Journeys in Middle-earth- more heroes

These are the heroes from the Shadowed Paths expansion. They took me many more weeks to get done than I had anticipated.

Shadowed Paths heroes

You've seen Gandalf before:

Gandalf the Grey

Arwen Undómiel, the Evenstar. A beautiful name that rolls off the tongue. I always try to emulate the breathy way Hugo Weaving says "Ahhhhr-when".

Arwen

Dís is a character named in Tolkien's legendarium. She's the sister of Thorin Oakenshield and the mother of Fíli and Kíli. I don't really like her sculpt; it doesn't fit my vision of Middle-earth. I still don't know how to pronounce her name- I think it rhymes with 'geese', but I suspect it may rhyme with 'this'.

Dís

Eleanor is a made-up character; a Gondorian noble.

Eleanor

Balin is the famous Balin from The Hobbit and the ill-fated expedition to reconquer Moria. I think he's my favourite of this bunch. He has his iconic red hood and white beard, and is accompanied by a raven. I painted this dark blue (like Arwen's hair) as I think blue looks better than shades of dark grey.

Balin

Battle of Five Armies- photo battle report!

I dusted off The Battle of Five Armies after a six year gap. This is a boardgame from Ares Games about the climactic battle of The Hobbit. The Shadow forces are sweeping down onto an alliance of Men, Elves, and Dwarves at the foot of the Lonely Mountain. There are a number of key areas to be controlled, but they are too far apart to support each other. If the Free Peoples can hold on, more help will arrive. Bolg, the leader of the Shadow force, must press the attack in a battle of attrition...

Read on, and click to embiggen! The vantage point is from over the Eastern Spur looking south across the valley, as the Shadow (played by yours truly) sets its eyes on the Front Gate to the west...

The Shadow vanguard pours towards the Running River from the broken lands.

Warg riders sweep towards the lightly-held fords.

The Lakemen are pushed back towards the ruins of Dale.

Dale is captured but a force including Dain counterattacks.

The counterattack is successful but costly as Dain falls.

Dale falls to the orc vanguard a second time.

\

Gandalf and Thranduil attack from the south and retake Dale.

The next orc wave threatens Bard's position on the Eastern Spur.

Can Gandalf's blast of magic save Bard and Bilbo?

Bard dies at his post after inflicting heavy casualties. Bilbo escapes using his Ring.

The Free people regroup at the Camp, and Dale is threatened again.

The ruins of Dale fall to the Shadow a third time.

Gandalf and Thranduil sally forth to save Dale again.

A desperate new wave of orcs approach.

Bolg himself attacks Dale as a splinter group take the Lower Slopes.

The southernmost orcs take Ravenhill.

The strong elf counterattack is temporarily repulsed.

Bold manoeuvers on the Eastern Spur as Gandalf
retakes the position and the Camp is threatened.
Dale has fallen to the Shadow a fourth time!

Thranduil dies but saves the Camp.

Gandalf retakes Dale as the last orc assault runs out of steam. The Shadow loses!

Having not played this for many years, I was impressed with how much fun we had. The clashes are many and mostly predictable with enough room for chance, while cards and action dice add thematic events and uncertainty as to your opponent's options. Combined arms attacks and choice of terrain give you a slight advantage. Meanwhile, reinforcing an area or pressing an attack leaves other areas denuded and inviting for counterattacks. The ruins of Dale exchanged hands so many times!

As the Shadow player, I was hoping to get goblins pouring out of hidden mountain passes in a bold flanking manoeuvre, but this never eventuated. I was keenly aware that if I dilly-dallied, powerful allies like the Lord of the Eagles, Beorn and Thorin Oakenshield would absolutely ruin my day. This meant that I had to press the attack rather than build up my forces. The outcome was never certain, and we both thought the other would prevail at different times in this desperate battle.

The Shadow's brief high-water mark was at 12 Victory Points after the taking of Ravenhill, but this was reduced to 4VPs at game's end. Holding 10VPs at the end of a turn will win the Shadow the game.

I hope you can appreciate what a fun story this refight told!

Postscript:

My opponent, Amnese, has published a 20 minute comparison of Battle of Five Armies and War of the Ring on his YouTube channel:

Check it out!

Journeys in Middle-Earth: Heroes and comparison to GW

I succumbed to its dark call, and got Journeys in Middle-Earth, a cooperative campaign boardgame. I had a lot of fun painting the miniatures- here they are on my criminally underused Realm of Battle:

Journeys in Middle-Earth heroes

 I really enjoyed painting their cloaks.

Aragorn

Legolas

Gimli

Bilbo

Beravor, female human ranger

Elena, female elf musician

The miniatures quickly grew on me. They're not identical to the wonderful Peter Jackson/ Alan Lee/ John Howe/ Weta Workshop visions, but are certainly similar and recognisable. I had thoughts of using my large-ish collection of gorgeous GW figures, but they are more fragile. And there's a significant size mismatch:

GW and FFG

Next week: the baddies!

Eucalyptus Bowl 2018

Last weekend was the 14th Eucalyptus Bowl. I took my new Khorne team (Hardcore Khorne) for a run. I suffered my first casualty in transit, as one of my pitfighters lost an arm... I'm not a fan of fiddly multipart metal figures. I used some coloured bands to help denote different skill choices- I've disliked this previously but it was quite handy..

Overview: 6 games, 2 days, regen, ~125kgp including skills.

Hardcore Khorne

Day 1
Match 1- Aaron's Orcs, Bigteef's Bruisers

I felt I was the stronger player here, but could not roll dice to help myself. I sustained a meaty six casualties (causing none myself), allowing Aaron to come back and equalise 2-2. This game was played on a thematically illustrated chaos pitch.

Khorne ploughs into Orcs on the line

Match 2- Joekano's Chaos Dwarves, the Sky Bullocks

I was just able to scrape a 1-0 win here, with both of us on 2-2 casualties.

Locking horns! Minotaur vs Bloodthirster

Match 3- Dean's Wood Elves, the Maverick Renegades

I was looking forwards to playing a squishier team, but was wary of the Elve's ability to perform impossible plays. My Bloodthirster finally got revved up and rampaged about the pitch. Despite causing him 4 casualties, Dean came back to equalise 2-2 and almost pulled out a win!

Wardancer knocks over the ball carrier, but is now next to the Bloodthirster...

So, at the end of Day 1 I was doing better than I had anticipated with two draws and a win.

Day 2
Match 4- Glen's Chaos Dwarves- The Masters of Pain

Another Chaos Dwarf team! Joy! Glen played this team well (he came third overall) with a textbook grinding, attritional play to win 2-1. Again, I suffered six casualties... Very nicely painted side.

Chaos Dwarves blunt the Khorne offense

Match 5- Creature's Halflings- Viva la Carnage

I've know Creature for years as a strong player, and I certainly don't misunderestimate the 'Flings. I was 2-1 down and had a chance to equalise but couldn't.

Khorne tries to stop the Flings.

Match 6- Andrew's Ogres- The Dancing Clowns

I really struggled against this fat wall of meat, and again suffered 5-0 casualties. Andrew got his revenge for my cheeky win against him in January by throwing a Halfling in the last turn to win 2-1. Pure Blood Bowl!

Too many Ogres! Can't run through or around them...

Day 2 was nowhere near as enjoyable as Day 1, with three losses. But I didn't have high expectations and my opponents were great fun, so all in all it was another memorable tourney.

Winning team and also Best Painted- Slann

The Bloodthirster, when it gets going, is terrific fun. But if (as happened to me a lot) it is out of action or not performing, then the rest of the team have to lift their game and they don't really have it in them.

Blood Bowl for the Blood Bowl God!

Overall, there were 50 coaches and I came 37th- down from 6th last year! This now means I have played 24 of the official 26 teams- #NerdGoals