[WM] Warmaster Silmarillion

[fredmans]

Thanks everyone for your kind words. After the holidays, we have decided for a new trial session in February. The aim is to play two small scenarios and I am bolstering the Dark Forces. We still explore our 4th Battle army lists and are looking at Fingolfin vs Morgoth and Sons of Fëanor vs Morgoth.

These are "Wyrms", fire-breathing beasts of lesser stature than Dragons. Rules-wise, they are armoured elephants, breathing fire of course.


And close-ups of two of them (the third came out too blurry).




Props for anyone identifying the models, since I only know one of them myself

Right now, I am painting six orc units: Looters, 2 x Scouts, Elite Orcs and 2 x Enforcers.

Thanks for watching,
Fredmans

[Stormwind]

Nice! Where did you get the little ferns / plants on those bases from?

[fredmans]

Hi, Stormwind. They are part of a model railway decoration set by Busch Models:

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Busch-HO-Scale-Fern-Mushrooms-Model-Train-Scenery-Detail-Kit-1203-/381165531292

[Tiberius]

Impressive work.  Those things look great!  I really like how the eyes pop.

[adamsg01]

I remember reading the Silmarillion  like 30 odd years ago (oh where has the time gone  ). Really inspirational stuff you have there. Warmaster scale really suits the period you are recreating. Thanks for the updates and sharing your efforts.

cheers

[jchaos79]

Your paint level is great!  and nice ideas.

[fredmans]

Thanks for your kind words. The february playdate was re-scheduled for the coming saturday instead. So, I had time to put the finishing touches to a few Orc reinforcements. Could not find the battery charger for my camera, so I had to make do with an old phone.

First, two more units of Scouts. I painted them in two colour schemes, one in scorched browns and reds, and the other in green/grays. These are the last archers from my Minifig treasure.



Then, an Elite Orc unit, Black Guards. In our army lists, there are some flavours. Elves have the upper hand in cavalry, so we figured it would be sensible for Morgoth to start equipping some units with pikes. The models are Minifig Black Orcs.


They actually came with spears, but a little plasticard work transformed them into pikemen. The other funny bit was that they had lions on their shields. With a little bit of greenstuff work, I changed them into Balrogs.


I will take plenty of pictures of the battles, as well as on my friend´s work.

Next up; orc brigade, orc irregulars, wolf riders.

/Fredmans

[werthor]

Great theme and great painting, did you used some Copplestone's minis?

[fredmans]

Thanks, I have not used any Copplestone minis yet, but I have eyed some of them. When work settles down, I'll upload pics from the battle. It was a great 1200 point's battle that ended in an agreed draw. The evil army was led by a balrog, facing a High Elf host led by Maedhros, son of Feanor.

/Fredmans

[marell le fou]

Blackorks are terrible ! The great spears really make them elite troops at first sight, and the painting job immediatly id them as bad guys. Really nice shot !

[fredmans]

Battle of the Eastern Marches

So, we managed to fight a battle over the disputed border lands between Morgoth's domains and the Noldor Princes of Fëanor. We picked a 1200 or 1250 force each and randomised a scenario. It was called "Time for Hero and Valour" where monsters, heroes and hirds were worth double VPs for victory conditions. Additionally, heroes and generals earned VPs for participating in battles.

The High Elf/Noldo forces:



The Balrog-led Orc forcs:


This hill was where most of the fighting took place and where most losses occured:


Maedhros led his noldo chivalry on a daring flank charge


The two forces get to grip with each other:


More to follow...

/Fredmans

[marell le fou]

Nice ! The angband warhost looks like a good old evil army. Very black and lead by an important characters. Armyes of the elves looks very colourfull in the oposite.

The theme is clearly light against darkness.

[Stormwind]

Some really beautiful models!

[fredmans]

Thank you. Here are some more pictures of my friend's models. We were too busy gaming to set up a proper photo session, but just to give you an idea:

High elves, Wood elves, Eagles and Dwarves




Giant vs Wyrm (Giants are part of a what-if random table: The model is a conversion of an old Rackham sculpt)

[fredmans]

And some more action photos:

The key moment:


In this "sandwich" charge, the remnants of the High Elf Cavalry charged two warbands in the rear as they were busy pursuing the sorry spearman in the lower right corner. The orcs were almost wiped, but the spearman was annihilated. In our ruleset, Hirds (elite units) as well as Dragons have the Triari rule (counts as two losses for the purpose of break point). We use this as Tolkien repeatedly equate death of hirds (leaders) with losses. Likewise, dragons fleeing/dying had a similar impact on Morgoth´s armies.

We promptly forgot this, so when in the aftermath, my orc warbands were properly annihilated in my turn, I conceded. But at least I unleashed the Balrog and the wyrms on some Human allies and Elven Warriors hiding behind a hill. The picture is taken after the slaughter. I was one unit from breaking my enemy and just broke.



But I was later counter-conceded when the error was caught. Both armies broke during the same turn. We had by then packed our things and a VP count was tainted with the possibility of error. It looked and felt like a draw so we ground our teeth and have started plotting a re-match in the near future.

Cheers,
Fredmans