Middle-Earth awaits....

My order arrived today. Can't wait to dive in. I'm gonna make an effort to find others in the area to game with.

Unfortunately, just buying the box set doesn't make it magically paint itself. I've been trying that for 25 years. Damn.

Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game

Games Workshop is updating the Strategy Battle Game. The new version is getting renamed to Middle-Earth, Strategy Battle Game. There will be a new rules manual, a new starter box set and new figures. It can be pre-ordered now, and I think shipping next week. This is a major commitment from GW for SBG which has been on life support for years.

The Starter box set comes with 84 models and 2 brand new sculpts, Theoden foot and mounted. The rest of the box contains, Army of the Dead and Rohan vs a Troll, Nazgul and Orcs. You also get the full hard backed rules manual. Not some skimpy mini version. 

There will be 2 books covering the armies. One for the LOTR era models. and One for the Hobbit era models. The LOTR book will be available on launch day, and the Hobbit one will be out later this year. There is a PDF to tide you over till the Hobbit army book.

Even though I have most of the figures in the box set, I have already sent in my pre-order for the set and the army book. Can't wait.

Xin

Making some Easy Peasy Movement Trays

I am play testing a set of rules. It's a big battle set, with blocks of troops on square bases. The figures I will be using are my Lord of the Rings figures, which are all mounted on round bases.

The first game we did was a little cumbersome trying to keep the lines of troops with all the round bases, so I thought maybe I could make some simple movement trays. Since this is a play test I needed quick and simple given I might not use them very many times.

 I had some scrap foamcore lying around, so that's the base. I took a piece of balsa wood and cut 1/4 inch(about 6mm) strips.

 It was pretty quick work just to Hot Glue the strips onto the foamcore. Since these were semi disposable I didn't worry about exact fit, as you can see the gaps.

 Here are my Amazons on one of the trays. Worked perfectly.

 Now just to crank out a bunch more.

 The rules use 5 man frontage for units, with 25mm being your standard base size. The LoTR cavalry are mounted on 40mm base so I have to fudge that a little.

 I'll put 3 on a tray and just call it 5. For a play test it will work.

 I make 16 trays. That is enough for a small to medium engagement. One tray is 10 guys. A unit is 10 or 20 guys. I can have about 8 units or a few less if I go double strength units, per side.

Slap on some green paint and call it a day. About 2 hours worth of work on a Saturday afternoon. I'm pleased with the results. If the rules get published and I can get some other players, I will dive in with Laser cut sabot bases for all my round mounted LOTR figures.

Cheers, Xin

Gnoll Cavalry for Dragon Rampant

Back in December I finished my Frostgrave Gnolls and posted them on Facebook. Someone suggested making Cavalry with them and I thought that was a hell of an idea. So I bought a 2nd box of Gnolls from Brigade Games and I found a Warg Rider box in my unpainted LOTR box(really 2 or 3 boxes but lets not go there). So I was set.

Lead fishing weights glued to bottom of base for stability.

Wargs, sans goblin riders.

Bark chips as rocks. I wanted a rocky wild terrain look.

Gel Medium with sand for texture

I do the bases about 95% of the way first, then start on the Wargs

Wargs Done, expect for tufts and paint touch ups.

I used a painting guide from Scouring of the Shire sourcebook. Easy peasy and looks great.

Picked a few body's that had wide leg stances. Even then I had to use a Dremel on both the Warg and Gnoll.

Painting underway. Using the same colors I used for the other 20 gnoll warriors.

 And done.

So now I have a good start on a Dragon Rampant Army. I will use the rest of the 2nd box to fill out other units. So as always more work to do.

Cheers, Xin

Strategy Battle Game, Redemption

A few months ago, Games Workshop announced a new commitment to continuing support for the Strategy Battle Game(SBG) rule set. New figures, new rules, new terrain, and best of all, re-release of out of production models.

If you are a collector of these figures you know the OOP ones go for crazy money on eBay. I think I paid $30 for the mounted Gandalf above. Well the good news is now that figure has been re-released! As well as a lot of other figures.

Of course they renamed the rules as the new movies came out, but still the same rules. The lastest book they are releasing is to cover the 2nd and 3rd movies of the Hobbit triolgy.

New Dwarves released from GW's sister company, Forgeworld. They are spectacular if not a little pricey. I will eventually get a box or two.

There has been pictures of a Laketown building since the 2nd movie, but it was never released. Today it just went up on GW's site for preorder.You can get a single building or a 3 pack. I ordered the 3 pack.

Once I get them painted up I will post photos and some game reports. Can't wait!

Xin

Statues for Frostgrave

I recently made some statues for Frostgrave. From a flea market, I picked up 6 High Elves from the Combat Hex game. They are larger than 28mm figures so are good to be large statues.

With wire cutters the hex base comes apart very easy.

The spear on the figure is very flimsy and bendy. Actually it's glued in and with pliers I just ripped out the spear. I had left over spears from GW Skeletons that are large and fit nicely with the figure.

 Mounted to 7/8 inch fender washers.

 The pedestal is from Hunger Games Wizkids Collectable figures. The base is what the kids stand on when the game starts. I bought a bunch when the first movie came out, thinking the figures would be good for Zombie games, but really they are too big. Here's the funny thing, I tried to sell these off at the last Historicon Flea Market. The Hunger Game figs pop right off.

 The pedestal is glued to a few MDF round bases, to give it a little more height.

 Scale shot, next to a Frostgrave soldier.

 I wanted to figures to be able to animate, but not just fall of the pedestal. I drilled a 1/8 inch hole and inserted a rare earth magnet.

 A drop of glue, push it down flush with the base and we are good to go.

 Now the figure is fairly secure on the base

 It also can jump down and kill unsuspecting explorers in Frostgrave.

 All painted up.

 Fireforge and Frostgrave figures for scale

 It animates!

Ready to kill intruders in Frostgrave.

Every once in a while I try to clear my basement of junk. Those pedestals were in the clear pile, but they did not sell. The spears where left over from plastic sprues. Sometimes it's like magic, the pieces come together almost on their own. This is why I need a bigger basement. Sadly the wife doesn't understand...

Xin