Painting update, Galadriel and Radagast

Merry Christmas everyone. I had a few minutes before heading off to family events so I thought I'd post up some pics of Galadriel and Radagast that I finished a few days ago.

 First up some WIP shots, Galadriel started, Thranduil Cirdan and Erestor based. Also I started on the new Tauriel. It is a really well done model. Thank god it's not Finecast.

Comparison shot, while waiting for glue to dry.

This is the old Radagast figure. I did a very minor conversion. I removed the bird he was cast with, which had wings closed. And took a hawk with spread wings from an old OOP citadel figure, Varik Birdmaster

Here is Galadriel done.

Honestly I didn't go nuts with this figure. I just wanted to get it done. I hate trying to shade white. The flash from the camera washes out the shading I did. It looks a little better in person.

I was very happy with her hair. And the new flower tufts I added. I picked those up at Fall In. They are MiniNatur Long Blossom Tufts

Radagast got some flowers too!

That's it for now.

Next up on the painting table, almost done. 20 Gripping Beast Dark Age Warriors.

And in the wings, Tauriel and her Mirkwood Rangers.

Xin

Fall In Battle Report, The Westfold is Burning, Part 2

Here's is the 2nd part of the battle I ran at Fall In, The Westfold is Burning. Uruk-hai raiding into Rohan. First part can be found here.

As we left it, The Uruks were assaulting the walls, while the Warg riders slipped into the village across unguarded walls. Ents are arriving to kill Uruk's as payback for all the trees killed. Leading 18 Riders of Rohan, Theoden, Eomer, and Erkenbrand appear on the table edge. The Uruk players know that something important is in this village, but not sure what and the Rohan players aren't telling.

 The Uruk assault on the Warriors hiding with the cows continues. Even the presence of 2 walking trees does not deter them. That one berserker attacking the Ent is about to die.

 Uruks are going under the tower and slipping into the village. The Riders maneuver for shooting. At some point, the Uruk Archers manage to kill one of the Rohirrim in the tower, but they continue to rain arrows down on anyone passing near the tower.

 On the right side(facing the village) The Warg riders are not messing with the Pig Pen, other than some shooting as they go by.

 The Wargs Riders and Uruks are in the village. The warriors in the field with the cows move to protect their rear. Some missile fire is exchanged with the fence getting in the way of most shots.

 The troll has finally ambled over to take on an Ent, joined by several Uruk-Hai, This might be more than the Ent can handle. The Warg Riders take the fence line and defend it. Now if the Rohirrim want to attack them, the Warg Riders are defending! Casualties amoung the Rohirrim are starting to mount.

 Ignoring the Pig Pen, Warg Riders just run passed. Thrown spears from the Rohirrim have little effect.

 This was the funniest moment for me in the battle. The Uruk-Hai man the barricade against the Riders! Now The Riders have to assault the defenses of their own village. Well played sir, well played.

 Ganging up on the Ent will be more than the Ent can handle. Also around this time, Uruk-Hai try to assault the tower, but are thrown back. One Uruk survived the fight on the ladder, but plunges to his death.

 The Warg Riders are content  to trap the Rohirrim in the field, while other Warg Riders move about the village. One Warg Rider gets near the Great House and detects more Rohirrim inside. More Wargs are sent to investigate.

The next turn, out comes Éowyn and 6 Royal Bodyguard! The Uruk and Warg players now focus on killing Éowyn. But she is not some helpless farm girl that the Uruks have been killing. She will not go down easily.... The Royal Bodyguards attack!

 The Rohirrim archers have had enough of shooting and charge the fence. Lurtz is there urging his Fighting Uruk-Hai forward.

 Out in front of the village, Erkenbrand and 6 riders run down the Uruk archers. But not without cost. Funny thing here, is they kill all but 1 and start to move on to other targets, but that one Uruk fights off the Rider left to kill him for the rest of the battle.

 One down, one to go. On the left side, almost all the Rohirrim are dead. I see 2 left.

 The Ent enraged at the death of his brother Tree Herder, goes on a killing spree. 2 shots on the Troll, and Uruk-hai are being crushed.

 It's now a mad rush for Éowyn. Uruk and Warg Riders want to kill her. The Rohirrim that were hiding...er protecting the Pig Pen now charge out. The Royal Bodyguards hold off the Wargs.

 Éomer leads an assault on the barricade. Théoden leads his Bodyguard around to try to break into the village.

 The Bodyguard are not going quietly but they are small in numbers. Éowyn pulls back behind the Great House.

 Back on the left side of the village, Erkenbrand helps relieve some of the pressure on the Ent. The Troll was killed sometime in here.

 You can see the Warrior of Rohan, coming to attack the Wargs from the rear who were fighting the Royal Bodyguard.

 Théoden now comes around the back of the barricade. This was a messy fight. The Uruk-Hai are tough.

 Will they arrive in time?

 One Warg Rider chases Éowyn around the back of Great House. But she can't go too far, as there are Wargs on the other side. Nowhere left to go, she will make a stand here. Somewhere in here, The Rohirrim broke(50% casualties). The Rohan players started taking break tests, but it helped to have Erkenbrand on the table(+2 to roll). They lost some Riders and Warriors , but they did have the Royal  Bodyguard on the table who would not break.

 Uruk-hai, make it to the fight at the Great House, they start moving around the other side of the building to cut Éowyn off. The next turn the Uruk-Hai broke. With the Evil's side low morale things got ugly very fast for them. Lots of Uruks and Warg Riders fled the table.

The Evil players got 2 maybe 3 more attacks on Éowyn. The first was the Warg Rider. The Bodyguard and Éowyn manged to kill it. Then the Uruk-Hai came around the side of building. On the last turn they had one final attack on Éowyn. She had to use the last of her Might, but she won the fight and killed the Uruk-Hai.

A very climatic ending. This battle could not have gone better. We had friendly easy going players, and that really makes a differenc in convention games. As a Game Master running the game, you want the players to have a good time, and each side have a fair shot at victory.

I felt the balance of the game swing back and forth multiple times which means it was pretty balanced and dramatic. I knew the Evil players would get into the village, just too much wall, and not enough defenders. But I never saw them, then manning the walls to keep out the relief force. That was hilarious. And to have Éowyn chased around to the back of the village and be trapped was awesome. I could not have hoped for a better ending. Well played on both sides.

I highly recommend the LOTR Strategy Battle Game from Games Workshop. It is a lot of fun, and very versatile. It's a rule set that can go almost anything you want in small or large skirmish gaming, from tournament play to scenarios and campaigns. Also the figures made by GW incredible. Of course buying direct from GW can be expensive, but if you buy slowly on Ebay, you can find great deals.

Hope you enjoyed the battle report, Xin

Fall In Battle Report, The Westfold is Burning, Part 1

Here is a battle report of the second game I ran at the wargame convention,  Fall In 2013. The first was Fords of Isen. That Battle report can be found here.

Here's the setup: The Uruk-Hai are raiding across Western Rohan after taking the Fords of Isen. King Théoden has ordered all the villages evacuated and everyone to retreat to Helm's Deep. So the Uruk-hai take notice when one village, nestled in the shadow of Fanghorn Forest, is being defended. They are not sure why it's being defended, but they wanted to burn it down anyway, so they surround it and attack. Before being surrounded messengers escape from the village. Presumably to summon help.

 The village while the defenders are being deployed

Same shot, different angle.

 Rohan Guard Tower with Archers

 Village center, well made by Architechs of War.

My scratch built Rohan Great House.

 Uruk-hai and Wargs surround the village, oh and one troll

 Rohirrim you better hurry and set up.

Start fighting already.

 The village has too much wall to cover for the amount of defenders so they choose to make a few strong points. The pig pen on one side. I guess the chickens don't rate defending.

And the cows on the other side. Other than 4 archers in the tower, the village is wide open. It was a tough decision.

 One group of Wargs goes straight for the undefended barricade. The other skirts along the wall.

The fighting Uruk-Hai go straight in. One group of scouts with bows trys to kill the archers in the towers, no luck.

 On Rohan's turn, 2 Ent's come out of the tree line. They don't care about the Rohan Village, they are here to step on Uruk-hai. I had the Ent's in the tree line and didn't tell the Evil players, but they were too clever, and saw them anyway.

The Uruk player closest to the Ents decides not to mess with them and races for the wall defended by the Rohirrim. The other Uruk player is racing underneath the tower. The tower archers take a toll for passing by.

The Wargs attempt to cross the barricade, and the other group is moving along the village wall to pass the Warriors in the Pig Pen.

 A large body of Riders take the field. Led by Théoden, Éomer, and Erkenbrand. This is a pretty important village after all.

 The Uruk's slam into the Warriors defending the wall. This fight will go on for awhile. The Uruk's are better fighters, but the wall keeps casualties low.

 The Ent's close on the Uruks, and the Troll and 2 Berserkers head for the Ents.

 The Pig Redoubt is well protected, so the Wargs run right past for some unguarded fence. They are not dummies.

The Riders move as fast as they can but will not prevent the Wargs or Uruks from getting into the village.

This will later come back to haunt the Rohirrim as they have to assault their own village, to protect what's inside.


Part Two is here