A Tale of Three Middle-Earth Wargamers- Part 2: Elite Warriors

 

And we're back- another month of hobby gone- how have we all got on with this month's challenge- Elite Warriors.

On our way to building a 700 point army, we're fleshing out our armies by adding some Elites to our fledgling armies from the first month. There is no definition for an 'elite' model in Middle-Earth SBG- with it being more relative to what else is in your army. With that in mind, lets see what the creme-de-la-creme of our armies is, and how we've painted them up...

Isengard- Onod

Onod: Elite models is something of a pickle for the list I've chosen. I'm theming my force around the Ent's attack on Isengard, and Saruman's forces defending the fortress from the wooden tidal wave of Treebeard and co. In the movies- this consisted of some regular orcs, doing their best with some axes and torches. In the books, it sees a few men running away, whilst a similarly useless group of orcs are killed by the Ents. 

This was something of an issue for the army- as an army with just Saruman and some orcs wouldn't be very effective, or particularly fun. What I was looking for was something with a bit of bite, that increased the fun in my list, whilst remaining relatively theme-y. The solution came from the books, where during the siege, Saruman had a few tricks up his sleeves- including machinery that Saruman has in the pits of Isengard- which spew liquid fire and foul gasses at the Ents. Such machinery that Saruman possessed was depicted in the films in the form of gunpowder at Helm's Deep- so I thought it wasn't unreasonable to include Demolition Teams into the army as a representation of this. And why stop at 1 Demolition Team, when you can have 2!

Now with a bit of bite (albeit an unpredictable one) Saruman's force will be better equipped to deal with the Ents they're going to have to face- and any other big heroes that get sent their way.

Alongside my Demolition Teams, I also painted up Grima, who will be accompanying Saruman into battle. Grima is very useful, with his infiltration mechanic alongside meddling with enemy heroes- he may be the key to giving this force some flexibility in a few scenarios.

Mordor- Old Toby

Old Toby: With the theme of this month being the elite troops within our army, it was always going to be the Morgul Knights. They fit really well with theme of my list, and actually give some variety beyond a big block of infantry.

Assembling these models was the worst part of the challenge so far and is 2 hours of my life I shall never get back. As a result I have sworn that they shall always be the first models do die in my army whenever possible and thus may slightly inhibit tactics when I use them in actual games. I was warned cavalry models would be trickier to build and paint, and I now understand why. (Ed- you might be able to tell that OT hasn't experienced the pleasure/pain of a really fiddly kit).

I wanted them to look vaguely scary so initially opted for the paint scheme from the army book, mostly black, silver and grey. The problem was, because I was also priming in black, I felt it almost looked like I was being lazy. So I tried a few experimental washes and shades on some sacrificial orcs and eventually settled on a significantly watered down Kantor Blue to add on top of the black primed layer. The result is still slightly brighter than I’d hoped for, but I think it provides a really nice contrast within the model itself, and with the rest of army (lots of black, grey and red).

Additionally I left the face portion of the helmets off and then finished the skulls in bone with a light Nuln Oil wash on top. The skulls' detail seems to come through really nicely and I think look significantly more intimidating than the normal helmeted model.

Bases continue to be my favourite part of the model, and I’m enjoying adding extra unique layouts and details to each one with piles of rocks and Mordor-appropriate grass tufts.

All this will hopefully help them really stand out for the 15 seconds they are on the board before they lead a futile charge.

Rohan- Mayor Whitfoot

Month 1 and 2 now complete

The Mayor: This month I was scheduled to paint a bit more than 3 additional Royal Guard, but seeing as I failed miserably last month, I decided to cut it down to something achievable. I still needed extra time, kindly granted to me by Onod.

Happily, however, I have managed to get everything done to a decent standard. As usual, the liquid skill found in Agrax Earthshade has elevated my models dramatically. I achieve a variety of horse colours by mixing various brown contrast paints. I’m particularly happy with Snowmane. The gold trim on the royal guard was the most laborious part of this month.

The bases are the minimum I’d expect from myself on this occasion. I’m planning on adding several grass tufts and flowers to finish the models off, and potentially some highlights if I have time at the end of the 4th month.

In conclusion, I’m happy with the models so far, but I know they can be made better with highlighting and additions to the base. Hopefully I’ll be able to add those by the end.

Next month, we're going to be ratcheting up the growth of our forces by adding a second warband- so stay tuned for new heroes and new warriors making their way into our armies.

If you're interested in reading more about our Middle-Earth project, the previous parts can be found here:

A Tale of Three Middle-Earth Wargamers- Part 0: Introduction

A Tale of Three Middle-Earth Wargamers- Part 1: The First Warband