The Lord of the Rings: Armies of Middle Earth: Orc Tracker

Monday, 27 December 2010

Orc Tracker

I found this at the back of the workbench and gave him a quick and rough paint job earlier this month. Somewhere I must have his two fellows and as he didn't take long to do I must try and dig them out. It's not that important to paint Orcs nicely; you just need to get them done as you are going to need a lot! I am not too keen on the non film-based figures as they usually have a completely different style to the, mainly Perry sculpted, ones that were representations of the film originals. These aren't too bad though.

In one of those GW oddities the Orc trackers cost the same as an Orc bowman but have a better shooting value. They hit on a 4, 5 or 6 rather than a 5 or 6. They lose a point in defence but archers are less likely to get into hand to hand combat.

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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.