For Gondor! (part III)

"The rule of Gondor is mine!"

I made some more progress on my Gondor force. I painted up the new Denethor and Irolas together with some of the citadel guard.

For Denethor I tried a new effect and tried to recreate a glow from the fire:

Mumak War leader

"Grey as a mouse
Big as a house
Nose like a snake
I make the earth shake
As I tramp through the grass
Trees crack as I pass
With horns in my mouth
I walk in the South
Flapping big ears
Beyond count of years
I stump round and round
Never lie on the ground
Not even to die
Oliphaunt am I
Biggest of all
Huge, old, and tall
If ever you'd met me
You wouldn't forget me
If you never do
You won't think I'm true
But old Oliphaunt am I
And I never lie"

I painted the war leader and his mumak. Already started in december and it obviously took a while to paint ;). Happy with the result. The forgeworld upgrade kit adds a lot of detail to the model.

This is the start for my Far Harad side project. A warband of warriors is sitting on the desk.

For Gondor! (part II)

"Here was one with an air of high nobility such as Aragorn at times revealed, less high perhaps, yet also less incalculable and remote: one of the Kings of Men born into a later time, but touched with the wisdom and sadness of the Eldar Race." 

I finished Faramir and some old metal warriors of Minas Tirith. Good old sculpts and a joy to paint. With them finished my Minas Tirith army is nearly complete. Next up: Denethor and Irolas!

For Gondor!

"One day, our paths will lead us there and the tower guard will take up the call: The Lords of Gondor have returned." - Boromir

I made some more progress on my Minas Tirith force. I painted up two of Gondors finest warriors: Aragorn en Boromir:

I even managed to win the best painted trophy with my Gondor army at Belchop 2019. The latest tournament from the Flemish Hobbit League.

Gondor at war: Defence of Osgiliath

"Something is about to happen, wich has not happened for an age..."

We finally have our first new source book since ages, I can't even recall the release of the last one. And what a supplement! New models, new profiles, legendary legions and a grand new campaign. 

I started this game with the release of the return of the king starterset and the battle of the Pelennor fields is my favorite piece of lore ever since.

I always wanted to play a major battle with thousands of points of models and already painted up large Gondor, Mordor, Fiefdoms and Haradrim hosts. I checked all the scenario's and I still need to paint about 30 models and a corsair army to play through all the scenario's. 

(With the support of my friend Jaspers Rohan army and a few proxies for half of the 24 clansmen ;) )

So my targets for this year are very clear now: paint up all the models needed and play through the grand campaign.

We already started with the first scenario: Defence of Osgiliath

I will command the legions of the White city for this campaign.

A few pictures of the battle:

Turn three: the orcs advanced on the right flank and I decided to give up the flank instantly, focusing my small army on the center. I figured a strong defence position could give me the upper hand.

Turn 5: Gondor stood firm, slaughtering wave after wave of orcs 

 

Turn 8: disaster struck. Orcs advancing from the left flank where reaching the objective there. Meanwhile some orcs made it to the fountain and destroyed the objective.

The last two turns where a race towards the last objective. Eventually Damrod saved the day with a heroic move consolidating the objective for the last turn.

Faramir survived granting the forces of good a first victory.

Next up: Retaking of Osgiliath!

2018: recap

2018 has come to a close! I accomplished for the second year in a row my yearly goals:

• Painting more lotr models then I buy 
• Buying more lotr models then Games workshop releases.
• Painting at least 100 models

In total I painted 168 Lotr models, 68 more then in 2017. The fact that I just bought a house which I'm renovating makes this figures even more strange. although I cheated a bit with a quickly painted goblin town army :p.

In total I have 2283 models in my collection and 1351 of them are painted. I'm still 70 models off a complete collection. 

This year I will once more set the same goals as last year but add another one: finishing the mancave!

I already started with cleaning it up a bit:

Some display cases, I still need to arrange them and buy some more shelves:

View from the other side. The table in the middle is multifunctional. It has a billiard golf table inside or I can turn the tabletop and it is just a normal table.

Still need to sort some stuff out and fix the lightings.

Some extra storage:

And my compact painting station. I paint downstairs because the wife doesn't like it if I would spend all spare time in the mancave 😛.

And as you can see at the moment  I'm working on a new Mumak.

Dol Amroth for Gondor!

Dol Amroth for Gondor: Part 2/2

I still had a lot of cavalry laying around and I decided to finally paint them. 

The first four plastic knights:

Their older metal friends:

And the last two plastic knights. I magnetised their arms so the can change their equipement. I can swap the lances for a banner or a trumpet.

With them finished, my fiefdoms collection is all painted up (for now!). I used the army quite succesful at the lasted tournament. Winning two out of three games. But I don't think they can be tournament winners on their one.
And I'me still trying to figure out how to use the mounted knights to their fullest. I have a couple of ideas that will need playtesting first.

Dol Amroth for Gondor!

Dol Amroth for Gondor: part 1/2

I've been buzy the last few weeks. I ame still renovating the house so my hobby time is limited.

But finally I made some progress on the next project.

I bought these awesome Dol Amroth models at Ardacon. They are just perfect. A lot of possibilities and so many details on the models themself. A real joy to paint!

The first two without helmet so I can always use one of them as a captain if I have to.

The banner and the trumpeteer. They will be the perfect dismounts for their mounted twins.

And another two knights:

One last group picture: