"Find the Halflings, find the Halflings"

That's right I've now completed everyone's favorite Middle Earth movie creation - Lurtz. I've got two of these models, this version and the one with the bow and I'm not sure which is my favorite.

In the game he's got no particular special rules, he's not even that good with the bow however he's nice and cheap, he's an Uruk (and therefore hard as nails) but more importantly he has 3 might points which makes him mighty useful (did you see what I did there?)

Anyway seeing as I was painting an Uruk I thought I'd better give him a warband to lead. Unfortunately I've still to source enough metal scouts so Lurtz will have to settle for some regular Uruk tanks. So now I've only to finish off some Warg riders and a few outstanding random models and bits I'd scenery and I've cleared the decks ready for the start of the painting challenge!

Arghhh the Apocalypse is Coming!

Before you all go running for the hills with your canned goods and firearms let me clarify that it’s only coming to the kitchen table in my house. You see I’ve been working on my significantly better half for a while on the idea of gaming. Now I know I will never (ever, ever, ever) get her into true tabletop wargaming and all that involves (list building, a lead/plastic mountain and the ridiculous pursuit of the ‘perfect’ ruleset) I have finally achieved some buy in and recently bought the below:

On a whim a few birthdays ago I requested the first season of The Walking Dead which someone duly provided (wrapped in nice shiny kids wrapping paper with lovely little toy cars on it!). My wife was a little perplexed as neither of us had seen any of it or heard anything about it however I was having a few apocalypse gaming urges and thought this may provide some much needed inspiration. So we popped on the first episode one night and settled down with a cup of tea and a biscuit (not those crazy Rich Tea ones though as they dissolve if you try and dunk them!). 15 minutes in and we were both riveted. 3 hours later we’d devoured the first disc and a full packet of Digestives and three cups of tea. And so the obsession began.

Unfortunately we also moved to the other side of the planet at the same time so have been unable to keep up with developments in the world of The Walking Dead and have only now acquired the season 4 box set and seen none of the currently airing season 5 (so keep your mouths shut!!!)

And so we arrive at Zombicide. I’ve played it a few times and really enjoyed the Prison Outbreak version, so a quick chat after a really brutal episode of Walking Dead and my wife says “hell yeah I’ll play a zombie game”.

So I called in to a local hobby shop and acquired a copy of said game and a few days later we cracked through the first scenario, my wife having her doubts. However within half an hour she was punching the air as we cut down a fattie and two walkers to clear the path to one of the objectives.

I’ve also ordered a copy of Across the Dead Earth as I’ve been watching the development quite closely (thanks Simon – brummieswargamingblog.blogspot.co.uk) and like the mechanic as well as the setting (gun fights in a ruined Tesco – hell yeah!). I’m hoping they manage to get the zombie add on up and running and then I can pretend to be a British Rick Grimes charging about looking emotionally tortured whilst kicking butt!

“They’re taking the Hobbits to Isengard!”

Ah, poor Orlando Bloom, his part in the Lord of the Rings movies being encapsulated in a comedy song built solely around this phrase. Oh hang on, he’s managed to turn it to his advantage securing his place in two of the subsequent 3 Hobbit films (and there is an excellent clip of him mocking himself in full Legolas costume on YouTube).

Anyway this is my favourite model of Legolas that GW produced and is the second to last one of the Fellowship for me to complete (the last being Gandalf). I decided to keep the same style throughout and have done him in muted tones with a slightly grubby look, perhaps not in keeping with how an elf should look but I think it works.
Now I just need to get him on the tabletop in a suitably comedic scenario that involves shield surfing and Mumak trunk riding!

Gimli: Never thought I'd die fighting side by side with an Elf
Legolas: What about side by side with a friend
Gimli: Aye I could do that!

Oh no, I entered the fifth analogue hobbies painting challenge!

Image courtesy of Curts Blog!

Well I did it, I decided to join in with one of the most challenging blog events of the year - the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. This is a yearly event hosted by Curt on his aforementioned blog and runs for roughly 4 months, commencing in December, with the only requirement for entry being submission of a painted miniature to Curt in the annual theme (this year being anti-heroes, rogues and ruffians). For every model completed Curt awards points, in addition there are themed bonus rounds, all of which contribute to your total, the winner being the participant with the most points (the only prize being bragging rights! After all you've painted a whole host of minis, what else do you need).

So “what will you be painting” I hear you cry. Well I’ve got a massive pile of LoTR mini’s to paint, the main one being my Isengard force so expect to see Uruk Hai, Orcs, Warg riders, Dunlendings (although I’ll be using some wargames factory Vikings and some spares from my bits box!) and other assorted nasties. Alongside this I’ve prepped my models for the first Bismarck encounter so they should appear pretty quickly (I’ve no idea how Curt will score them!). Also I have a renewed interest in 15mm WW2 and piles of Plastic Soldier kits so that should provide some variety. Then once I’ve exhausted all that I can move on to my Perry 28mm DAK and 8^th Army! So plenty to do in a short period of time. I’ve already picked a target of 700pts however that may be a little ambitious considering I’ve never taken part before however I keep saying that I work best to a deadline so hopefully I should make this self-imposed milestone with a minimal of stress!

In terms of the entry fee I’ve already decided on a suitable rogue/anti-hero model, the arch nemesis of Sherlock Holmes himself – Professor Moriarty! Maybe he’s more of a villain than a rogue/anti-hero however I think he’s kind of cool in a very villainous kind of way.

Anyway the point of the whole affair is to reduce your lead/plastic pile whilst engaging in good natured banter, the issuing of challenges and more importantly having fun. Many of the well-known names in hobby blogging are or have taken part at some point. If you're interested or would like to see the results if all this frenetic painting activity head on over to Curts blog:

http://analogue-hobbies.blogspot.co.nz/2014/11/remember-remember-fifth-annual-analogue.html?m=1

And to all my readers who are also taking part, good luck and I'll see you across the bragging table!

The WRATH of Rohan

No, not the Wrath of Khan for all you trekkie or Shatters fans out there, but rather the very nice scenario in the Two Towers Journeybook for LoTR/Hobbit SBG. As my family and I are now firmly settled in a nice rental property here in NZ we finally have some free time, so in the interests of keeping my gaming skills up to scratch I’ve hooked up with Scott at the Kapiti Coast Wargamers a couple of times. Anyway as there’s a nice groundswell of support for LoTR/Hobbit SBG here in the Wellington area I’ve been able to focus my gaming and as such Scott and I agreed to play the above scenario, for two reasons mainly:

1. It makes me paint up my Uruk Hai a bit faster
2. It’s hilariously good fun and makes for a different game.

Anyway to cut a long story short we set up the table as below and got cracking. As Scott wanted to try out his Rohan Royal Guard we adjusted the forces to include 6 of these dashing handsome chappies, the result being that I ended up with a few less Orcs but some of the rather hard Uruk Hai Swordsmen in heavy armour and shield (affectionately referred to as “tanks”).
The game starts with the Uruks and Orcs in a 24” bubble in the middle of a 4x4 board, the hobbits being loose near the centre of this bubble. I win if I reduce the good force to 25% whilst also controlling the Hobbits (once they’re further than 6” from the centre the evil force realises they’re trying to escape goes and beats them up in combat and therefore controls them (until they’re beaten up themselves)).Good wins if it slays all the Uruks and the Hobbits escape into Fangorn forest the wooded board edge.

So what tactic am I going to use?Well having been a Rohan player for a while as well as having played against Scotts Rohan before I decided that I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of lots of bowfire while he continually danced away from combat with his greater move distance. Therefore I thought I’d force the issue and shove a whole bunch of Uruks down his throat as fast as possible!
Let battle commence!
As Scott had to deploy on two opposing board edges his force was split equally. Therefore as I dutifully stuck to my plan we were in combat by turn two, the Uruks and Orcs ably holding their own. I noticed that Scott had angled his attack therefore there was a little redeploying to be done which was actually beneficial as I then had a second wave to throw in.
By turn two we were both calling heroic moves to try and gain the upper hand (Scott kept winning the priority roll and therefore getting his cavalry bonus in almost every fight).
Ugluk and the Rohan Captain face off! Ugluk has a high Defence and 3 might points so can be a pretty effective fighter. He narrowly missed slaughtering the Captain and was a thorn in Scotts side for a number of turns.
Meanwhile Grishnak on the other flank found himself isolated against 3 enemies, one of which was the B##tard of the Riddermark himself, and in a spectacularly average display of fighting fell to their blows (Scott and I both made a suitably “Grishnaky” croak as he died).
Then suddenly the two Hobbits were off, as fast as their hirsute little feet could carry them. I launched their two Orc minders after them, who were obviously a little distracted by pretty butterflies or the nice daisies, which resulted in the brave little Pippin slaying one of them whilst Merry gave the other a good Brandybuck thrashing and fought him off.
“Balls” thinks I. Trying to rescue my now tarnished evil reputation in the next turn I order my Uruk scouts with bows to fire into a combat, as being evil I’m allowed to do that. Although this fight involved 2 Riders against one of my Tanks (Uruk Swordsman) I still managed to kill said tank leaving the Riders a little bemused as to what just happened (obviously the Scouts couldn’t shoot straight due to doubling up with laughter after what just happened with the Orcs and the Hobbits).
It’s not looking good for me, the casualties are mounting up and suddenly Scott and I realise that I now have to make a break test in the next turn. Cue some pretty poor dice rolls and off go the Uruks and Orcs, leaving the game to Scott. We played it out to the end, Scott achieving the victory conditions of clearing the field of evil whilst the Hobbits go on to their encounter with a giant talking tree!

A great game with some highs and lows, lots of laughter and a good story. We totted up Scotts losses and I was only 3 riders short of making his force take break tests, so it could have easily gone the other way. I’d probably play it the same way again and see how it went.

Uruk Hai – Ouch!

For anyone that has played a certain sci-fi wargame where in the future there is only WAR the next phrase will make a lot of sense:

Uruk Hai are the Space Marines© (1) of LoTR SBG

Let me elaborate.

With a high starting Defence value of 5 which can be bumped up to 6 with the addition of a shield
they are nigh on impossible to kill by most races basic trooper. They are also the only race (I think)

that has access to the pike. Therefore if you adopt the turtle approach of 3 swords men backed up by 2 pikemen each you have a rock hard infantry blob that has 3 dice for each duel. That puts the bejesus into most Hero’s, nevermind your regular Rohan militiaman that a week earlier was harvesting his crops and wondering where his sheep had wandered off to.

So to put it bluntly they’re hard! I have often been on the receiving end of these walking tanks and unfortunately Theoden doesn’t issue tin openers as standard to his Rohan warriors so I have usually come off worst in every encounter. Anyway I recently played a game against Scott up at Kapiti Coast Wargamers, for which you can find a fine write up on Scotts blog here (.........link.......) and suffice it to say the Uruks performed as expected, walking around in their impenetrable blob staring angrily at the Riders of Rohan, who quite rightly stayed out of charge range and chucked all manner of pointy stuff at them.

I thoroughly enjoyed the game however its now got me thinking about how to beat them with
my own Rohan force, therefore stay tuned as I may come up with some stunningly original tactic ......(yeah right).

Anyway on the painting front these guys are sooooooo easy to paint. Black undercoat, chainmail
drybrush, brown skin, highlight red, pick out a few fabric and belt details and then wash. Easy! After all you really aren't trying to get a really neat and tidy finish on these guys and I've got another 30 to paint, and thats not to mention the 20 or so scouts I want so I may as well develop a nice fast paint method that looks good (ish).
Oh and I decided to deviate from my tried and tested brown basing with flock as I wanted to give the idea of these guys spreading their "industrialise nature" attitude so went with the scorched grey earth look.

(1) For obvious reasons I don’t want to confuse people with the use of this copyright as you may think I’m referring to a children’s story! For those of you who are now even more confused google ‘Spot the Space Marine and GW’.

Painting again - LoTR Orcs

Now that I’m up and running with my paints and hobby supplies I’ve been able to actually produce
some painted figures and in keeping with my current Lord of the Rings theme I present some pretty
naff Orcs. The history around these is that they were part of my “Lord of the Rings on a Budget”
project prior to moving to NZ. I managed to source these through eBay for £3.50 for 35 which is a
pretty good deal. However much like many things found on eBay they weren’t very well described and it turns out that only 10 were actually undamaged, the remainder having various elements broken off (spears, swords, arms). As they were described as “Orcs for LoTR” in the description without any mention of damage I politely contacted the seller prior to giving feedback and pointed this out. I’m not sure they really cared what I thought however they did care about their positive seller rating and promptly refunded me £2.

Luckily for me I have a big pile of goblins that can be used for spare parts, the mix and match nature
of the models will definitely suit the imagery of an Orc. And even better it meets my “Lord of the
Rings on a Budget” requirement of costing me £0.042p per model!

In the game they have an average Fight value of 3, 5+ shoot which when coupled with the poor strength of an orc bow means you don’t tend to kill much when shooting. Strength 3 is average, Defence 4 isn’t too shabby however a Courage value of 2 means that these guys will probably leg it at the first sign of trouble (which is to be expected of an Orc!). However at 5 points basic you can have bucket-loads of the which is very useful!

Next up in the queue are the Uruk Hai who recently had an outing against Scotts Rohan
and all I can say is sorry Scott!