Arise Eorlingas!

As part of a forthcoming wargames weekend at Micks in March, one of the battles we will be fighting is the Fords of Isen. Just what is needed to get the painting juices going. Also started re reading 'The Lord of the Rings' yet again.

Arise, arise, Riders of Theoden!
Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter!
spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered,
a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!
Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!

One of the best speeches in the Return of the King, really gives you a sense of the Rohirrim about to charge. Even the film did it justice.
To the pictures, first up heroes and the Royal Guard. I've got Gamling, 2 Eomer's (1 converted to carry a spear, Theodred and Eowyn. Of the Royal Guard, one is a banner bearer, just need to sort out something suitable. Theoden himself is still on the painting table.



Next up a couple of shots of the mounted Riders. I've used a black wash method to get a nice worn and rugged look to the figures. Turned out not too bad and also makes the figures quick to paint. So far all told I've managed 28 figures in just over a week and only have 2 to do.

Gettysburg refight

A practice game has been arranged for the 19th and 20th of March. A chance to get the forces onto a table with everyone elses'. Looking forward to seeing both full armies on display. We will be have a dry run of using the Fire and Fury rules but on hexes. I know Mick has been doing some work on such things as calculating Enfilade. Can't wait.

On the painting side, haven't done anything for a while. I've 4 Reb brigades I picked up off EBay that need touching up and re basing. I've also got 3 union brigades undercoated. Struggling at the moment, putting this down to completing the figures for Gettysburg and the rest are extras for club games (yet never had a chance to use them at the club)

Pictures

Just some pictures of the various models I've been painting over the Christmas period. First up is an old GW Nightmare dragon, really enjoyed doing this.



Next up 2 old Grenadier barbarians, originally sculpted by Mark Copplestone (I think!)Picked these up from EM4 miniatures


Lastly some old GW Chaos Beastmen, ungors, gors, minotaurs and Chaos hounds. These are from various beastmen ranges that GW produced, some are from the days before GW changed all their beastmen to look part goat. The herd stone in the background is made from polystyrene stuck to an old CD. Textured with a few broken bits and pieces added for decor.

Quick update

No pictures with this post. Just an update on my plans for 2011. So far I managed to finish my 15mm ACW forces for Gettysburg http://therebelyell-scotty.blogspot.com/ We have a practice game arranged for mid March to have a run through of the rules. Mick and Mike have been working on adapting Fire and Fury to hexes, so looking forward to that.

So far this year I have been digging around in some of my old figures that never got painted. Many of these are GW fantasy figures from anything up to 20 years old. I've been picking out random figures and giving them a lick of paint.So far Skaven Beastmen, Minotaurs and Imperialist have received my attention. The latest figure is an old GW Nightmare Dragon. I painted this when I was about 15, not the best, but it was then broken after a fall from the shelf. I had stripped the paint but never got around to re building it. Bits of green stuff later and voila.

Projects for 2011

Greeks - I've got some figures from 1st Corps and Immortal Miniatures. Approx 70 figures, will look good as a mercenary force. Always loved to have a hoplite force.

ECW - Got a box of the Warlord plastic infantry, along with some other figures I've got lying around, this should give me 1 infantry regiment, 1 horse squadron, a dragoon company, backed up with 1 cannon and a mortar. Not huge amounts but the original plan was for a number of club members to each paint up a small force which could then be combined for larger games (you fought with what you had)

ACW - I want to paint up the last of my 15mm ACW figures for the Western Theatre. There is enough for a division each of union and rebs.

EL Cid - I've already got quite a large force already of Christians and Andalusian (6,000pts for WAB). The thought was to put on a display game at the Border Reiver show in Newcastle. Mainly putting together the boards and other terrain.

No doubt their will be numerous new goodies that will be released this year and tempt me away from my plans.

Addtional forces

First up a couple of photos of the completed Revenants. I'm very impressed with these figures. Even did a simple conversion on one figure, adding scythe from a GW sprue.




Next up my Undead Champion and a sorceress. The Champion as a GW Grave Guard Champion and the Sorceress is an old Dark elf model.




Finally some of the good guys, local militia. These are predominately GW mordheim figures with a couple of the old Bretonnian archers added in for more variety.

Terror of the Lichemaster

After reading the Jervis Johnson article in the latest White Dwarf It brought back fond memories of the Terror of the Lichemaster scenario pack and the follow up Revenge of the Lichemaster in a Citadel Journal. Although both items are no longer in my collection I still have part of the monastry hidden in my loft. It got me thinking about putting together some forces for a re fight. It also helps that Mantic Miniatures have produced some lovely figures recently especially their undead figures and so a first purchase was made for some of the Revenants, to act as an elite unit. I also dug around in my old collection and manged to scrape together a few useful figures from Citadel, namely their original Skeleton horde plastic figures.

First up the original Mouth of Sauron produced by citadel miniatures. Luckily I still had both the foot and mounted figures. They look suitable as Liche. (much prefer these to the newer version from GW LOTR figures)

Next up I've managed to paint up 8 of the Mantic Revenants, must say these are lovely figures and well worth the price. I've settle on a dirty red,wanting them to look as uniformed as possible to represent an elite unit.

Lastly the remnants of 2 versions of the GW plastic skeletons. The first unit I've managed to paint the bones the same as the Revenants, I've also got another 4 on the painting table with a metal GW Grave guard champion to finish the unit. The second unit were painted many years ago and I feel rather nostalgic about them and cannot bring myself to re paint them (did manage to re do the bases)

Next up I've ordered a skeleton regiment from Mantic to boost my undead forces, will possibly add some zombies and ghouls.

From the Revenge of the Lichemaster I'm going to replace the Skaven with Beastmen, just because I've got a whole load sitting in a box looking for an excuse to be painted and in these times of austerity don't want to be seen frivolously buying more figures be she who must be obeyed.

Ramblings

While browsing through my camera I came across these 2 photos that I took at the Fiasco show, cannot now remember which Napoleonic battle that it was.

On the wargaming front things have been a bit quite, not really been in the mood. I've joined in with the clubs roleplaying group and you can follow our progress here http://forgottenrealmsparty.yolasite.com/ It has inspired me to dig out some of my old figures that I painted over 20 years ago. Boy some of those were not good. I've spent some time touching them up and re basing them. Couldn't bring myself to strip the paint as I came over rather nostalgic.

I also came across about 30 Black Orcs produced by Nick Lund in the 80's that need painting up along with some of the Citadel Melniboneans. Can always be used in the roleplay games.