Don't bite off Mordor you can chew.

A couple of W.i.P. Mordor orc captains. I couldn't resist getting them, given how awesome the models look and that I had plenty of money-back on my Maelstrom Games account. I've continued to paint just über-basic highlights, followed by the beautifully contradictory "brush-on-dipping". The aim is really to get a quick Mordor force up and running (preferably in the direction of the enemy) at battletop standard. Mordor is ideal for this as orcs look filthy and are essentially brown, with various items of brown clothing, with dirty armour. These guys just need a coat of matt varnish and the odd detail here and there, namely on the shields.

Of course, I've gone for Cirith Ungol, but these chaps had the Eye of Sauron on their shields. Out came the industrial scale round file, followed by a spot of Green Stuff and that was that poblem sorted. 've decided to go with a blue colour scheme, which is somewhat unorthodox for evil forces in the L.o.t.R. game, but I felt like a change. After all, the films used a great deal of blue and green lighting to portray Mordor as a cold, dead place.

The force as it currently stands.

5 more spears on their way

So that's 186 points almost done... just 314 to go.

Joe the Barbarian, eager to bring night onto the world of men.

Cirith Ungol Uruks... no pun, alas!

Here we are then; the first converted Uruks for Cirith Ungol. A few minor touches still required, but they've got the overall look I was going for.

What won't be so easy is converting the ones which hold Isengard shields against their bodies.

I shalln't waste words when pictures can do the talking.

Joe the Barbarian, the pace on the road to war is quickening!

Russian around Mordor

Having recently croosed swords on the battlefield with 2 of m fellow bloggers, I was soon bent upon taking up work on my 2 companies once more.

My Cirith Ungol force being mainly composed of orcs and Morder Uruk-Hai, I was intent on differentiating the one filthy breed from the other, yet without clashing (pardon the pun) the styles. Another factor to take into account: a gauntelet thrown down by the Frog in the form of a box of plastic Isengard Uruk scouts with a "here, I think you'll be able to do something decent with them".

First on the agenda would be to replace the swords, shields and helmets of the White Hand with something a bit more rabble-like. I therefore set out on a search for nasty-looking weapons and shields. It was at that point that I came accross an army of medieval Russians... and WHAM! Lighting struck!

The orcs of Mordor are often represented with crescent-shaped shields which, as a humble neophyte, I would term as "a bit Turco-Persian"... After all, as anyone who's ever seen 300 will tell you (not the least Ahmadinejad), the Persians were basically represented as orcs.
"Now this is all fine and dandy", I hear you say, "but what's it got to do with Uruks and Russia?" This is where a scandinavian people of the VIIth-IXth centuries, known as the "Volga Vinkingr" or "Rus' " comes, both figuratively and literally, into play.

These ferocious warriors came from the North and occupied the lands around the Volga river, right down to modern day Iraq. Having besieged Constantinople in 860A.D., they then returned to the city in the XIth century to form the Varangian Guard, the elite force of the Byzantine army [Grant, R.G. (2007) Grandes Batailles: Les Plus Grands Combats de l'Antiquité à Nos Jours. Ed: France Loisirs]. So you've got XIth century Russian vikingr fighting along side bythantine troops against Muslim nations.

This may be stretching it a bit, granted, but it was sufficient to persuade me of the style I wanted to adopt for my Uruks; early-medieval Russian weapons, helmets and shields (perfect for fighting opposite my Saxon-style Rohirrim) , draped in plenty of scandinavian fur!

The order was soon put in with Gripping Beast: packs of Russian Medieval Weapons and Saxon bucklers (with nice pointy bosses). I took the opportunity to order a pack of Roman Gladius, too finish my converted mounted Rohan Royal Guards (I still haven't got the hang of scuplting swords from Green Stuff).

Some nice vicious weapons!

Un drawing of my vision of their helmets, conical, with spiky points and possible a bit of fur around the crest.

The type of shield I was looking for...

...and found!

Joe the Barbarian, glad to have found a new barbarian force to field!

Barad-dUrbama

Morannon?? Nah mate, it'll Barad-Dur for me!

"'ere, put this in ya army, do a force with a good mounted unit. I'm not usin' 'em.", says my brother BarbarianJ, showing me 5 wargs riders.
"We'll form an alliance and get quickly to 1000pts of Mordor."

Interesting.

I made a first order: a box of Morannon warriors and 2 captains.

I've always had a soft spot for Skully. He looks a bit of a chinless wonder in his demeanour and physique. No? Clear skin, quite smooth, rather delicate really. A-ny-waaay...

I can tell you all is assembled and ready to paint!



My first thought was to avoid red. It can look a bit kitsch, and I wanted a bit of a change. But after a trial of grey, ooh no! It would not look right with my plans for after.
I wanted quite rusty armour

My main idea was: dirty is more important that dark.

My colour scheme may surprise you.

After using red, beige, grey-brown on 6 figs, I stepped back to check my work. Hmm, not bad. Funny, from the back they don't look like orcs, they look a bit [A BIT!] like bretonnians actually. Hu.


In that case...

Why not try a more original paint scheme that goes with it!





And now with a sepia wash. I chose this because it's the colour of the liquid that runs from the muck piles on farms. You can't get dirtier than that!
I use it over the whole of the model and leave lots of liquid in the dips.





It's subtle, sure. The only thing that shows up like a sore thumb in painting, my friends, is a mistake.

I didn't really know what to do for the shields.

Eye of Sauron and Mount Doom?



FAIL!

Eye of Sauron on a background of Mount Doom? Well, let's say it looked more like a dot in brackets, on a black triangle.
No! It needs to be bolder, brighter, like fascis- wo wo, steady, not quite that far.
But bloody red! Nick something from the Mordor book. Alrighty then.









And a month later, Bob's your uncle. Dusty, dirty and stoned [tough weekend!] stands painted reddy-browny-black.

I tried them out this weekend against Shizzle and Barbara. T'was a very small victory, even being modest about it would be over-doing it! But it confirmed the tenacity of their armour.

Need to paint the wargs now.

Autumn Warfare 2010: The Armies Muster Anew!

Ahoy! After an almost unforgivable absence from the wargaming scene, linked to starting a new job in Paris, I finally gave myself some much needed me-time and sat down to finish a figurine. And my my, doesn’t time fly! It turns out that, during my 5-month break from wargaming, G.W. brought out a new edition of the Warhammer boxed set, L.o.t.R. dwarves and gobbos, Warlord started selling Crimean Brits, E.C.W. highlanders and dragoons, and my brother put together a Russian F.o.W. batallion (see the French language version of this blog… I’m still trying to get him to write in English as well)!

But give in not to fear, my friends! As the oppressive heat of summer gives way to the gentle breese of autumn, so our new campaigning season begins. Kicking it off, Limey’s assembling a force of orcs from Morannon. I’ll be carrying on with some E.C.W., trying to catch up on the F.o.W. front with my German infantry company, as well as picking up where I left off with orcs from Cirith Ungol. I’m hoping to hassle the Kraut into finishing his Minas Tirith company and I’ve not yet given up hope of finally seeing an L.o.t.R. company rising up painted from the vast mounds of grey plastic in the Frog’s pond.

Without any further ado, here is my take on Grimbold of Rohan!

I decided, following a discussion with the Frog (always useful when seeking a theme), to opt for a less conventional colour for this fellow's cloak. Green, brown and red are all very good and proper for Rohirrim, but Grimbold had to stand out! A bit of a gamble, of course, but one which might have worked. I'll let you be the judges of that.

I really love the dynamic posture of this figurine; sheer power! The style is no undoubtedly that of a Saxon thegn, which is much to my liking. I had already tried, by way of the shield designs, to 'Saxonise" my infantry of Rohan.

I had great fun using various techniques on the cloak, and I'm rather pleased with the end result.

To war!

Dylanon Morannon

The Haggis is set to start a Morannon army.
A new chapter is beginning, a new story to follow, only in your, well our favourite blog!

Mortarfied

Sorted. 600pts. Ready.
Sorry, in the cabinet rather than on the lawns but it's all you're getting, you ungrateful sods!
The mortars are behind.

And where be the Germans? Blitzkrieg, my arse. Ha, that shut their von trap!