A Tale of Three Middle Earth Wargamers- Part 4: The Finished Armies

 

Here we are- after 4 months of building and painting, we've all completed our armies! The only thing left to do now is to get them on the table (tune in next month for a battle report!)

In the meantime, let's take a look at our completed armies, and reflect on the process of building a force, and what doing a project like this is like:


Isengard- Onod


Onod: Another 10 Orcs painted, and 3 Crebain bases to round off the force, and it's done. I'm not going to dwell too much on the painting this month- the orcs were just more of the same, and I've already spoken about creating and painting the Crebain on the Blog. I will point out the 2nd Orc Captain and Banner though.


I wanted a bit of variety, and to stretch my Orc Commander pack a bit further, so I actually turned the Orc Taskmaster into another Captain. This was a really easy conversion- simply snipping off the whip from the Orc's hand, and then using an Isengard shield. I think this ties him in well to an Isengard force- a bit of a mix between Orc and Uruk. The banner, fortunately for me, doesn't have any sculpted detail- so is perfect for use outside of a Mordor force. My freehand isn't great- but as it's art done by Orcs, I didn't get too bogged down with trying to get the brush strokes too smooth or incredibly neat. It does the job for me!

How has this challenge been then? I think it's been really good motivation and a great way to build a new army, or potentially get into a new game. Each month never felt too daunting, and I knew I could achieve my target. Having friends doing the same as you was great too- we've been sharing progress shots and keeping each other posted on how it has been going, and this was really helpful for the motivation. I usually struggle with projects like this. Painting 24 Orcs is quite monotonous for me- and I've ended up not finishing projects like this before. But, even if it meant some frenzied painting on the final days of a month, or models being just to a tabletop standard- it was really great to actually get it all done, and ready for the table.

A new power is rising. Its victory is at hand.


Mordor- Old Toby


OT: It’s done, 36 models, 6 cavalry and nearly a whole pot of Leadbelcher. The army has actually come together really nicely in my opinion, especially for a first effort. The grind of painting almost 30 Orcs has killed some of the initial excitement but when the whole army is out on the table it does look pretty much how I hoped it would. High points: the witch king and the banner. The Witch King is just a really nice and rewarding model to paint. The options when constructing him are fantastic and he definitely looks the part as the leader of the army. The Morannon banner also came out really well, the dramatic red on black (enhanced with some Nuln Oil as per) along with the skull along the top fits really well with theme of my army.

Low points: Kardush and Morgul Knights. For different reasons these were extremely frustrating to put together. Starting with Kardush, the majority of the model was fine and I’m mostly pleased with. However I just could not get the fire right and given it is such a key part of the model the result is definitely not what I’d hoped for. The Morgul Knights were just such a hassle to construct and, while the sculpts are detailed, it’s not easy to spot how they go together. Don’t do cavalry models kids (Ed: this view may have been influenced by me constantly complaining about cavalry I've done in the past...) All that’s left now is the great battle of our time!

Send forth all legions. Do not stop until the city is taken.


Rohan- Mayor Whitfoot


The Mayor: It seems that all the screw ups at the beginning of this journey haven’t managed to sabotage the final result. I’m well chuffed! Everything has come together nicely, and the bases have just put the Cherry on top.

By far my favourite miniature to paint this week was Legolas and Gimli on horse. I just love the model so much, and them as characters. Even though I’m not a massive fan of the Three Hunters models, they’re a bit cartoony for my liking, I still enjoyed painting them.

I finished the models off with some flowers and grass tufts on their bases, which I think really elevated the force as a whole.
The Mayor's complete painting haul- including the dismounts

One thing I wish I could do differently is add a few more highlights and detailing to the heroes. With a little luck, I might still manage to get some done before these hit the table! I’m very excited to see everyone’s armies in person, and I can’t wait to see how the Riders of Rohan do in the upcoming games! Since I’ve never fielded anything like this before, I’m not getting my hopes up, although I’m sure the dice gods will grant me a few spectacular moments.

Arise now, arise, Riders of Theoden!



There we have it- all the armies in their full glory. We'll be back very soon with how our armies do when they clash on the tabletop. This won't be the last of Middle Earth SBG on the blog- we'll be back with more. In the meantime, I'll be doing a small hobby project to fill the Fantasy hobby void on the Blog- stay tuned.


Thanks for reading our Tale of Three Gamers series. If you're interested in reading the other parts, they can be found here:

Introduction

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

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