The Lord of the Rings: Armies of Middle Earth: July 2014

Tuesday, 29 July 2014

The Battle of the Five Armies

So, we have our first glimpse of the battle of the Five Armies and it has, as you would expect lots of Orcs who are, also as expected, not as disciplined in traversing the ground as Uruk Hai.

There are also, as you would expect, armoured Elf archers.

However, what I wasn't expecting was what looks like armoured dwarf cavalry riding armoured ibexes! Dwarf cavalry? Riding mountain goats? Surely not? The big question is, how many of these troop types will actually appear as Games Workshop figures or will they just produce a few characters at £25 a time?

One thing I suspect will be released is this enormous chariot!

The trailer is here.

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.