Monday, April 13, 2015

Orthanc and Rohan

I mentioned last post that I also been busy painting the rank and file forces so that I could try and fit a game in with the figures to try and keep the momentum of the project going.  One of the joys of being off work is that I have had a little more time to paint and so have made good headway.  I have always thought that the success of this project would depend on how much I enjoyed painting the plastic sets available for the bulk of the forces as, in the past, I have not painted plastics well or consistently.  This time, however, things appear to be different!.
I have plastic figures from a few factions ready to paint but have chosen to start with a few from Rohan and Orthanc.
Below are the results.  These three riders of Rohan were a bit fiddly to paint but I am pleased with the way they have turned out.

The horses were all painted the same colour as I have a few more on the painting table and batch painting the horses will give me a mixture of colours with the minimum of fuss.
I also found time to paint some dismounted riders, armed with a mixture of bows and melee weapons.
Again, I have to say that they were a joy to paint and I am now getting the beginnings of a usable Rohan force
I have tried to give some variety of colour of tunics and shields while keeping a common green cloak

The figures were bought second hand and already built and this has lead to some of the shields being already glued on at the wrong angle.  Nothing too upsetting though.

Rohan so far, lead by Eowyn.
I also found time to paint some Uruk Hai.
The main arm of this force is the pike armed heavy foot.
They were quite easy to paint once I had worked out how to do the armour in a way I liked.  I used gunmetal followed by strong tone brown ink to give it a rustier/dirtier look.  It didn't look quite the way I was expecting but I was happy with how they turned out.
I painted 10 pike.  I have found a couple more and these will be done as soon as I get to them, which will hopefully be soon.
I also painted a few sword armed heavies as well.  These also have shields and so I thought that I would try and paint the white hand design.  I turned out to be a lot harder than it looked!!

I ended up with 10 of these as well.  I think I mentioned in a previous post that I have run out of static grass and am awaiting fresh supplies which is why the bases are not quite finished.

I obviously needed a hero to lead the fighting Uruk Hai and who better than Lurtz.  He is a metal figure, like many of the character models.  Again, nice and easy to paint and I was pleased with the end result.

The Uruk Hai all together.  I have already ordered a few extra bits for this force.  I have another captain to paint and am waiting on some trackers (lighter armoured foot) and wargs (to mix in with my already painted warg riders)

Now, technically, a cave troll is not part of the 'official' Uruk Hai list but he is now.  This is the plastic model from the 'mines of moria' box set.  Unpainted, he looked a little bland and was unsure as to whether even paint him as there are much nicer armoured trolls available.  However, I don't have any of them and I and him so I put some paint on him.   I am glad I did as he is quite serviceable and a heavy hitting addition to the Uruks.

Here he is about to squash a Rohan royal guard and Aragorn.  No loss really as I have more Aragorns than I really need. :)
I did have a game with them the other night.
I played Uruk Hai and Kelly played Rohan defending a village.  It was a fun game and I ended up winning when his moral collapsed when Eowyn died charging an Uruk.  It was a close run thing though!
Most of the Uruk Hai steamrollered into town....
Flanked by warg riders and the troll
The defenders can be seen lining the hedge rows.
However, working through some newly kitbashed skirmish rules, I forgot to take any more photos.  I will take more next time we play.  The rules turned out to be fun and quick play, allowing for my growing megalomania with middle earth to manifest in ever growing armies!!!!!

8 comments:

  1. This GW range is very beautiful. The paint job is up to the miniature. I wish to see them in action.
    For Rohan!

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    1. Thank you cedric. I am really enjoying indulging in my tolkien obsession! It shows no sign of letting up as I look at buying more figures....
      I will definitely take more pics next time and hopefully there will be more figures by then :)

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  2. Thats Lovely looking rohans and orc´s.... cool troll :)

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    1. Thanks :) The troll came out well considering how bland it looked before I started. Just goes to show you can never tell how a figure is going to paint up. I have real trouble painting confrontation figures and they are beautiful sculpts!

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  3. They are indeed lovely miniatures. I do like the painting job you've done on them; very good indeed!

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    1. thanks C6 :) I have to say that I am really enjoying this project, however long it lasts.....

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  4. Terrific stuff CW. Absolutely terrific and what a large turn out too :-) You've certainly got the LOTR bug my friend. Anyone would think you lived in Middle Earth or something ;-)

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    1. although I do now live in nz, and the kiwis seem to have claimed middle earth as their own, I did grow up in staffordshire (which is meant to be part of the shire). The only wonder is that the bug has taken so long to bite!!! I feel that I am being quite prolific at the moment but as sure I will slow done a lot when I start back to work next week:( Hopefully I can keep going though!!

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