Ruins of Osgiliath

I haven't been too excited by much of Games Workshop's recent Lord of the Rings stuff as the further it gets from the films the less I am interested in it. I did buy the new plastic fell beast. however, and may start that this weekend.

Their latest announcement is much more interesting: plastic Osgiliath ruins and for the comparatively bargain price of £15 a set.

Guy and I like the Minas Tirith warriors and they are very quick to paint and even though Orcs take a bit longer we are both enthused about street fighting in the ruins so may start to get some more figures painted before the ruins come out in May.

Orc captains

Mordor Orc Captains

I got given these for Christmas by Guy and got them painted in a record two days. Particularly lovely figures to paint, I must say. Shortly after that we had a Battle Companies game and I realised the night before we were due to play that Guy needed two more Orcs for his Isengard battle company. I managed to get them all based and painted except for the metal work that evening and so could finish them off first thing before our game.

Two more Orcs

I really don't think it would take too long to finish the figures I need for an Orc battle company especially as I already have them based so will undercoat them this weekend.

Galadhrim Warriors

I continue single-handely to regenerate the economy of Nottingham

One thing I do not need at present is any more Lord of the Rings figures. I have hundreds to paint! However I couldn't resist this latest box set from GW of Galadhrim Warriors.

I love the scene in The Two Towers where Haldir brings his elves to the relief of Helm's Deep but up until now you have had to fork out a fortune (well £7.85 for three figures) to build this force. So the £20 for 24 figures is a bargain (by Games Workshop reckoning).

It's still pretty steep for plastic figures given that Victrix sell 60 Napoleonic French for the same price.

Interestingly, if you look at the scenes from The Two Towers (very much my favourite of the trilogy) quite a few of Haldir's Elves are women (see far left in the picture above). This is probably not reflected in the plastic models! GW no longer call them Haldir's Elves but just "Elves with bows" or "swords".

I might take them on holiday with me to paint but will try and ensure that they don't look too bright but more Peter Jackson (or Weta) muted. Guy is keen that I build a Helm's Deep model but all those curved walls may be beyond my capabilities!

GW do captains and a banner bearer (at an eye watering £5.85) to make a War of the Ring unit. I suppose it's less than half the price of a Martini at the Langham Hotel down the road. I have a GW exactly 170 paces from where I work and it's a good thing I took this new job last year with its threefold salary increase or I'd be stuffed!

Rohan Horn Player

Here is the new War of the Ring Rohan horn player, which I finished today. Now all I need is to paint the standard bearer to make my first Rohan command unit. The standard bearer in the three figure box is also a nice figure although I can't say the same about the Captain who is modelled with a captive Orc. Fine if you are playing against Orcs but I won't be so it's annoying that they turned it into a diorama. Never mind, as they makeother Rohan Captains.

Uruk Hai scouts

I had sort of missed the fact that there was a second plastic set of Uruk Hai. Having only glanced at the box I thought that they had just changed the name of the original figures. This second set, of course, represents the creatures who've "taken the Hobbits to Isengard"! They should be used for the Amon Hen and Wrath of Rohan scenarios.

I painted them slightly differently from my other Uruk Hai using the colours from the original costume designs.

Uruk hai Scout Helmet

I've got another ten about half way finished so may have a go at them this weekend. I certainly need to complete a few more figures to get back on my painting target.

War of the Ring movement trays

It was a block of Uruk Hai pikemen that sold me on the idea really.

These have been hard to come by and I couldn't even get any infantry ones at Salute but I picked up some today in the GW Oxford Street branch. It's weird that the existence of the trays in advance of the rules is getting me back into the LotR again but it is!

Anyway, here are some of my Rohan figures entrayed.

War of the Ring

Guy and I are very excited about the new War of the Ring mass combat rules from GW. They don't come out until April, it seems, which is just as well as we will need to get a lot more figures painted! I don't know much about the rules yet although having asked a few Games Workshop guys they are not based on Warhammer.

A few interesting things I have picked up. They use units of eight figures which you can combine into bigger units but that effects their manoeuverability, which is an interesting one I haven't come across before but seems perfectly logical when you think about it. There is a one stage wounding process; not the Warhammer hit followed by wound sequence. Heroes are very important in effecting the fighting abilities of the unit they are with. There will be new command figures and special bases for the figures. The book is really thick, apparently, and contains all the army lists. Can't wait!

Having painted 12 Uruk Hai in a day yestarday I am thinking that this must be an army to go for and possibly Gondor, who are equally quick to paint. I have also wanted to do the Last Alliance Second Age battle between Elves and Men and Sauron's orcs on Mount Dooom.

I wonder whether the reason for the whole thing (other than selling a lot more figures, naturally) is the imminent arrival of the two new Hobbit films and the ability to do the Battle of Five Armies?