LoTR: Eastering Warriors (HW/S x8-1)

[caption id="attachment_422" align="alignleft" width="58" caption="Fallen Realms"][/caption]

With having like the way my sample model came out for the Easterling Warriors, I moved on yesterday to complete the remaining 7 models to finish up the first company.  I have roughly about 100 models I need to paint up in Easterlings, 55 of those will be needed for my 600 point LoTR army.  I decided that I will be painting them up in blocks of 8 for two reasons.  One, 8 is a good number to quickly get them done (not too many to handle, and not too few).  Second, in WoTR, Companies are in models of 8.  So by finishing 8 at a time, I will be finishing 1 Company at a time for WoTR.

I decided to start with the Easterling Warriors with Hand weapon/Shield, I will then paint the next 8 with Spear/Shield.  When these 16 models are done, list "B" for Gathering in the Desert will also be completed.  Again my goal is to have list "C" completed which is all 55 models.

Here are the first of my Easterling Warriors completed.

[caption id="attachment_455" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Easterling Warriors: Hand weapon/Shield"][/caption]

Painting Points: 8

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LoTR: Easterling Warrior Sample

[caption id="attachment_422" align="alignleft" width="58" caption="Fallen Realms"][/caption]

Now that my Morannon Orcs are done, it was time to move on to painting a new army for Gathering in the Desert 2011.  I decided I wanted go with an Easterling army.  I had purchased 2 of the army boxes a few years ago at Games Day, it was time to finally start painting them.  At the same time I am also working on my WotR army "Fallen Realms".  The nice thing about LoTR SBG models is, it can be used for two games.  As I mentioned the other day, this army is what I am shooting for to complete.  I also have a two backup lists I can go with if this army does not get completed in time.

With the Easterlings, I've been debateing if I am going to wash the models with Games Workshop wash, or dip the models with Min-wax.  The Orcs I wanted to look "dirty" so I went with the "dip" method.  This army I was unsure about, so I painted a test model.  For the test model, I decided to go with the GW wash "Devlan Mud" (they use this wash as an example in the WoTR rulebook).  After I applied the wash, I went back over the model with some "Chainmail" highlights over the "Gold".  The benefit of using the wash over the dip is, I do not have to wait 24 hours to finish up the model.  The wash dries much quicker and I can move onto finishing the bases then.  I was quite happy on the sample model, that I decided that I will finish the army using the washes.

Below is my test model I used.  Obviously the base is not done yet, nor has the matte spray been applied.

[caption id="attachment_445" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Easterling Warrior"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_446" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Easterling Warrior"][/caption]

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LoTR: Morannon Orcs

[caption id="attachment_407" align="alignleft" width="50" caption="Mordor"][/caption]

More, More, Morannon Orcs.  This past weekend I was able to finish up the remaining 12 Morannon Orcs.  With the Orcs done, my list "C" for Gathering in the Desert 2011 is now complete.  List "C" is my fail safe army just in case my other two choices do not get completed in time.  List "A" has 54 models I need to paint up.  List "B" has 17 models I still need to paint.  I'm shooting for list "A" which will be a new army for me.  Hopefully they will get completed in time.  I did manage to paint up a test model for list "A" and so far I am happy with the results.  I still have the wash/dip to apply to the model, but I'll wait on that step for now.

Anyways, here's  a picture of the 12 Morannon Orcs I completed.

[caption id="attachment_440" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Morannon Orcs"][/caption]

Painting Points: 12

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Battle Report: LoTR Cirith Ungol vs. Erebor

[caption id="attachment_430" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Games Workshop©"][/caption]

A new gamer to Lord of the Rings SBG has been contacting me about possibly getting a game in sometime in the future.  He happened to send me an email yesterday afternoon saying that he was going to be at our local flagship (Empire Games) to get a practice game in with the Manager there.  It's been a few years since he has played last so he wanted to shake off the cobwebs.  I thought it would be a good time for my son and I to show up and introduce ourselves and possibly throw down a small game with each other.

So we decided to bring 2-350 point armies with us.  My son always plays his Gondor armor, so I decided to leave that army at home and let him choose another army to play.  He decided to choose Erebor led by Gimli and I brought along my Cirith Ungor list with Shelob.

The armies consisted of the following:

Cirith Ungol
Shelob
Orc Shaman
Orc Captain
Orc Banner
4x Orc Warriors w/ Bow
2x Orc Warriors w/ Two-Handed Weapon
8x Orc Warriors w/ Spear
8x Orc Warriors w/ HW & Shield

Erebor
Gimli
Dwarf Banner
8x Khazard Guard
8x Dwarf Warrior w/ Bow
6x Dwarf Warrior w/ HW & Shield
1x Dwarf Warrior w/ Two-Handed Weapon

With the armies in hand, we randomly rolled a scenario from Legions of Middle-Earth.

Points: 350
Scenario: Contest Of Champions

To achieve a Major Victory in Contest Of Champions, your leader must inflict twice as many casualties as your opponent's leader or your leader has made one or more kills and your opponent's leader has made none.  A Minor Victory is to have your leader inflict more casulaties than your opponent's leader.

Once we rolled the scenario Contest Of Champions, I knew it was over for the Orcs.  Gimli was going to start counting down the kills.

The beginning turns were pretty standard.  Move up and try to setup counter attacks while trying to get some kills with bow fire.  Orc shooting is terrible (hitting on a 5+ and killing a Dwarf on 6) so my chances of any kills from bows were unlikely.  The Dwarfs did manage to kill a few Orcs with bow fire.

Once the two lines hit for combat, the tides were turning.  Miraculously the Orcs where winning combat and killing the Dwarfs (lucky 6's).  Having the Orc Shaman and casting Fury also saved me 3 Orcs with rolling 6's for them to stay alive.

Gimli got within range and charged into my Orc Captain (my leader, since Shelob cannot be used as a leader) and we tied or combat with both of us rolling 4's.  With Gimli having the higher Fight Value I knew he was going to win the fight.  I thought to myself, should I use Might Points to win the fight and make Gimli burn up Might Points also.  I decided to use both points of my Captains Might and change my die to a 6.  Gimli thought long and hard and also burned 2 points of Might to change his die roll to a 6.  Since combat is still tied, with the higher Fight Value, Gimli win the combat.  The dice were not with Gimli.  Gimli managed to do 1 wound on my Orc Captain.  With the Orc Shaman near by, it was time to try and save that wound.  The Shaman rolls a 6.  No wounds on the Captain but all his Might has now been used.

The next turn, Evil had won Priority and I managed to retreat the Orc Captain away from Gimli and setup Shelob for the charge into Gimli.  It took a few turns, but Shelob managed to slay down Gimli with Gimli causing no kills on any of my Orcs.  All I need now was 1 kill from my Orc Captain and I secured a Major Victory.

Well that 1 kill took a long time.  Quite a few turns.  The rest of my Orcs managed to kill more Dwarfs and even managed to cause the Dwarfs to become Broken, but the Orc Captain still could not get any kills in, even with spear support all I could muster was rolling 5's on the dice.  Now I wish I still had Might Points left over.

Finally with just a handful of Dwarfs left on the table, my Orc Captain managed to slay 1 Dwarf and secure a Major Victory for Cirith Ungol.

This was actually a very fun game.  Having killed Gimli early on in the game, I thought it was going to end fast, that obviously did not happen.  It was awesome to see just an Orc Captain win the game over a named a hero.  I'm sure it will not happen again.

Another nice thing was, with my son and I playing, and the Manager and newcomer playing right next to us, a lot of other people came by to watch the games.  It was nice to see LotR drawing some attention.

LotR vs. Wotr, as of right now I like them both.  Having played my first real WotR game this past weekend, I actually enjoy playing both games.  They are two different games, just using the same models which is always a plus.  When I want to play with more models and some of the bigger characters, it will be WotR, but for these small quick games, LotR is nice.

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Painting Points: July 2010

July has now come and gone.  Last month I stated that I had hoped to reach 50 Painting Points for the month of July, well that did not happen.  I was able to manage to achieve 26 points for the month.

Here is a quick recap of July:

W40K:
Eldar Biel Tan Guardian Sample
Salamanders Razorback

LotR/WotR:

Morannon Orcs

Sauron
Khamul

Now that I am painting more infantry over the next few months compared to vehicles, my Painting Points will probably be low.  That's OK, as long as I keep painting and completing projects.

Total Painting Points for the month: 26
Total Painting Points for the year: 598

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LoTR: Khamul

[caption id="attachment_422" align="alignleft" width="58" caption="Fallen Realms"][/caption]

Friday night I decided to add another model to my LotR collection. 'Khamul'.  Since my son and I are going to be playing a little bit more of WotR and LotR, I choose to go with The Fallen Realms for my WotR force.  I already had 2 army boxes of the "Eastern Invaders" (the Easterlings) some Harad and Corsair models and I thought the Fallen Realms would be a good start for me.

Last week we had also picked up the new Battlehosts Expansion for WotR and I choose to build my army around 'Khamul's Easterlings'.  After reading what is required for the Battlehost I already had all the models minus Khamul.  We already have 5 Ringwraiths and I could have used one of them as Khamul, but I decided to actually purchase the model since my local store had him in stock.

Purchased Khamul Friday night, had him primed and painted yesterday.  Boy I love painting the easy models.

[caption id="attachment_423" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Khamul"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_424" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Khamul"][/caption]

Painting Points: 1

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Tides of War 2010: Desert Assault Shirt Design

Folks Tides of War: Desert Assault 2010 is just over a month away on September 11th & 12th in Mesa, Arizona

Desert Assault is a 2 Day, 5 Game Independent Tournament with 5 custom scenarios that are based around Primary/Secondary and Tertiary objectives.

We just got back the t-shirt design for this years Tides of War: Desert Assault

I'd like to thank Chris Miller (designer of the Storm Warden's project logo) for designing the graphic for Desert Assault.

Remember, REGISTRATION is open for Desert Assault.

Please visit http://www.tidesofwaraz.com/ for more information and registration.

Dean

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LoTR: Morannon Orcs & Sauron

[caption id="attachment_407" align="alignleft" width="50" caption="Mordor"][/caption]

Well yesterday I was able to complete the remaining 6 Morannon Orcs with HW/Shield.  Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of them, I played a game of LotR last night and had to use these Orcs in my list.  I still have 12 more Morannon Orcs with Spear/Shield to complete and these will be done.

I also was able to quickly paint up Sauron.  I wanted to actually try him out for awhile......  he was well worth it......  (Battle Report to come later).

[caption id="attachment_410" align="aligncenter" width="229" caption="Sauron"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_411" align="aligncenter" width="223" caption="Sauron"][/caption]

Painting Points: 8

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LoTR: Morannon Orcs

[caption id="attachment_407" align="alignleft" width="50" caption="Mordor"][/caption]

As mentioned earlier today in my "Daily Chronicle" I decided to break out some of my Lord of the Rings models and start painting these.  For some reason this past week I had the urge to re-open my War of the Ring rulebook.  I only played 1 or 2 demo games early on, but I think I may give it another shot for some fun/friendly games.

When War of the Ring first came out last year I purchased a box of Morannon Orcs, got them assembled and played the 'Quick Start Rules' for WotR with them.  Since then they have been sitting in the box.  Well the other day I broke the box open and got the models primed.  There are 24 models in the box (LotR is still the best value of all the Games Workshop games) and I decided to start on 6 of them to get a feel for the color scheme.  These guys were painted really really fast.  They are Orcs and I wanted to keep them looking dirty.

Here are the first 6 Morannon Orcs:

[caption id="attachment_404" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Morannon Orcs"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_405" align="aligncenter" width="285" caption="Morannon Orcs"][/caption]

Our vacation starts this weekend, so I'm not sure how many more will be done beforehand.  I'm hoping to get at least another 6 painted before we leave.  Then when we get back, we'll play-test WotR again.

Painting Points: 6

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Daily Chronicle: 7/21/2010: Time To Catch Up

Wow, 2 weeks since my last post.  Sorry for the delay in between posts.  2 weeks ago I stated July will be a slow month for painting, and sure enough it is.

I haven't been doing nothing the last 2 weeks, just a few different items.

First, my family and I started playing some more board games on the week nights.  We picked up a few new games for us, 'Smart Ass', 'Sequence' and 'Family Business' and we have been having a blast playing those.  I also finally cracked the seal on Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition Risk and my son and I played a game of that.  After playing LotR Risk, I had to go out and buy the new version of Risk (with the objectives) and we played a game of that.

Secondly, I have also played a few games of W40K during this span also.  A few league games and a few friendly games.

Finally, I have broken out some more of my LotR models.  My son has been begging to get more games of LotR in (honestly I have not played LotR in a very long time).  I probably have more unfinished models for LotR than I do for any other game system, so it is probably time that we get some of those finished up.

On that note, I also cracked open the rulebook for War of the Ring (WotR) this past week.  I played one or two games when the book first came out, but never really played anything seriously.  I heard stories on all the forums about all the broken combination's that can be done and this distracted me from the game.  Now with the release of the new version of Warhammer Fantasy, the 'fantasy' in me is starting to stir.  I really do love the 'world' of 'Lord of the Rings' so I think I am going to give WotR a chance for friendly games with my son.  The games between the two of us will not have all the broken combination's, so I think it can be a fun game.  While I'm painting my models to expand my WotR armies this will also expand my armies for LotR SBG.

So the other day I broke out some Morannon Orcs and threw them on the painting table.  I have 24 Orcs to paint for now and I decided to start with 6 to see if I like the paint scheme.  A separate post later today will show the Orcs.

It looks like the itch for LotR/WotR is slowly coming back.

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