The Lord of the Rings: Armies of Middle Earth: Warriors of Erebor

Monday, 20 January 2014

Warriors of Erebor

I got these done comparatively quickly for me. I bought them on December 12th so to get them finished on January 19th was very rapid. I painted them in a very muted colour scheme, largely black, as that's the way they appear in the film.

I also didn't highlight the metal parts (of which there are quite a lot as many of them are basically wearing the same armour as the Grim Hammers) as, again, I didn't want them to be too shiny. I used Boltgun Metal for the armour and then gave it a black wash to dull it down.

The box contains 12 warriors but there are not instructions on how to assemble them so I just followed the poses on the box. With historical plastic sets I have got used to there being a lot of options as around interchangeability of heads, arms etc. I am not sure to what extent swapping around some of the arms is possible with this set (heads are attached to torsos so no options there) but when I get the next set I will look at this.

Here are the sprues from the set. Half the figures have, for want of a better word, polearms, and the others have axes and shields. Although there are no optional parts in the box there are 12 shields so if you don't attach shields to the figures with two handed weapons then you do end up with some spare ones. I am contemplating buying some of the normal Lord of the Rings dwarves and giving them the Erebor eight sided shields to add a bit of variety.

That said, the troops in the film have the polearms and shields but I think I prefer them as I have done them, which is the way they are done on the box cover. Incidentally, this behind the scenes shot gave me the only picture I have seen of the reverse of the shields: reddish brown wood with black radial bands going into the centre of the shields from each apex.

There have been lots of anti Games Workshop comments as a result of their poor profit announcement recently and although I did buy a few Warhammer and 40K figures I could never get into either the rules or the figures. The Lord of the Rings figures (despite their ridiculous prices) are very nice, though, (better proportions help) so I will continue to pick these up (not that I am short of LotR figures to paint. I can see at least 12 boxed from where I am sitting and I have many more that that).

Next I need to get some orcs but, because of the non uniformed nature of these they will take longer to paint.

1 comment:

legatus hedlius21 January 2014 at 12:00
Good point. It goes against the look of the other films to have everyone in the same helmet too. That's why I'm going to mix in some of the older LotR dwarves to my force.
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Wargaming Middle Earth

I confess that I had never been a fan of The Lord of the Rings until Peter Jackson's monumental films came out. I had never read the books and had, years before, given up on The Hobbit half way through. Now I have read most of them (I am still struggling to finish the Return of the King) and whilst acknowledging their influence and scope still don't think they are particularly readable.

No, for me , it was the fantastic images created by the film that inspired me. Oddly, when Games Workshop came out with their Fellowship of the Ring boxed set I didn't buy it as I couldn't see how you could turn a film featuring largely invincible heroes into a satisfactory game.

It wasn't until D'Agostini came out with their Battlegames in Middle Earth part-work that I got interested, at the prompting of my little boy, Guy, and subsequently subscribed to the magazine; eventually collecting every issue.

I painted the 12 goblins included in the first issue in a day and my little boy and I immediately played a game using these and the cardboard Aragorn included as well.

Since then I must have acquired hundreds of figures, although very few are painted. Most are designed by the Perry brothers and are, as a result, completely gorgeous. Some of them are truly remarkable portraits, in 25mm, of the actors who played the parts in the films.

Occasionally, LotR games are played at Guildford but the main driver for me in getting more figures done is Guy, who loves playing the game.

So over the next year or so I will see how many more of these splendid figures I can get onto the gaming table and even have a go at making some scenic items.