The Forge World Nazgul of Dol Guldur are bad

As I've been getting back into the newly re-branded 'Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game',  I've been digging out all my old LOTR miniatures and really enjoying getting them ready to play with. While doing this I began contemplating starting a Hobbit-era force and my first thought was to do a 'Dark Powers of Dol Guldur' army as it would be fairly small, I love the Nazgul, and I'd get to use the Necromancer miniature I already own. So I went to look at the Nazgul miniatures that would make up the bulk of the force. It was the first time I'd really looked at them in any detail and I found myself really disappointed.  So much so, that I felt the need to write a long, rambley post about it on my blog complete with hastily thrown together diagrams.

Thoughts after the jump:

Thinking about Inquisimunda/Inq28

For the first time since I've been at uni (which is getting to be quite a long time now), I've been going along to the wargaming evening that the Tabletop Society runs on a Friday and there has been talk of a possible narrative campaign some time next year using the Inquisitor or Inquisimunda rulesets. I've never played in a campaign like that before but I've always wanted to really go crazy kit bashing a bespoke little war band for 40k and creating a story with them. Many years ago I had a great time doing something similar with Mordheim and I'm getting that itch again. I've long been an admirer of the guys over at Iron Sleet who have churned out some glorious projects over the past few years, The Pilgrym in particular being absolutely stunning and exactly the kind of modelling and gaming experience I'd like to have with some fellow minded hobbyists.

I've always been amazed and inspired by the Navigator projects done by weirdingway (Found here on DakkaDakka) which have always made me want to explore the Navigator houses myself in a modelling capacity.  Though it may be a while before I have the chance to do some converting, I have started to do some sketches roughing out ideas and thinking about parts I might use to create a unique-looking Navigator war band.

Hopefully in the next few months people will start coming together and the campaign can get organised. I'm getting rather excited at the prospect of such a project so I really hope it gathers enough interest to take off. Even if it doesn't, I may do some of these conversions anyway as a fun little side piece to the other projects I plan on undertaking next year. Much like how I briefly worked on a Kill Team alongside my Custodes this year. We shall see, if things go ahead I'll make sure to try and document my work and the campaign as best I can on the blog.

Servath Reznik, the Wrath of Ages

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've kinda decided to just quit Warmachine now unless Privateer Press really shake things up. I repainted my army last year after getting a few more things for it, but I found the process of doing so quite draining and not the most enjoyable of hobbying experiences for a number of reasons. In 2016 I tried to renew my interest in the game and had a few battles with my brother, but the Mk3 rules and a new focus on themes didn't really invigorate me. I've just ceased to have any interest in Warmachine at all, and after having having some really great experiences with GW recently as well as getting into Malifaux; I've decided that I'm no longer going to buy new miniatures for Warmachine or try and get games in.

This is the first time I've really fallen out of love with a game and its a strange feeling. I think its been a slow process and probably happened a long time before I realised it. I have however decided that I'd like to end on a high note by purchasing and painting two miniatures I've always wanted to get for the faction: the Harbinger of Menoth, and Servath Reznik, the Wrath of Ages. I had more of a preference for the latter so managed to get one cheap on eBay a few months ago.

Just the act of assembling Reznik reminded me of nearly all the problems I have with the miniatures themselves. The use of metal, the ungodly combination of metal and resin parts, the weird mould lines, lots of clean-up, the pieces that don't fit together properly, details that aren't as sharp as one might expect... the list goes on and on. After some tribulation I managed to finally get him assembled into sub-assemblies for painting. Still though, I live in fear of him shattering into his constituent pieces should I drop him (indeed bits constantly kept dropping off during painting without the need to drop him, and despite all the superglue I used), a fear I'll no doubt share with the all-metal Harbinger.

I've elected to paint him like the rest of my army, and he forms a nice centrepiece for that force. Similar to the other war casters I have painted him in slightly more highlighted colours than the rest of the army but to contrast his lighter blues I've added extra grunge and bloodiness to represent his malevolent character. Though this post is quite negative I would like to make it clear that I do quite like the miniature, even if it was a paint to put together. I think its very cool aesthetically and thematically, and I am a sucker for having an army general mounted on a suitably impressive monster or war-engine.

Just as a quick note, I did buy this second-hand on eBay as I think that PP pricing on some of its miniatures is ridiculous. Though I believe the Harbinger to be more sensibly priced than Reznik (who costs as much as Nagash here in the UK and is nowhere near the same size or possessing the same quality in my opinion), I will be getting her second hand as well. If indeed I decide to get her at all as despite me liking the miniature I'm not sure if I want to deal with a large all-metal miniature. We shall see...

Re-painting Isengard (Nov WIP)

"Build me an army, worthy of Mordor"

Though I began earlier this year working on my Easterlings, the first army I am planning on getting painted up fully is my Isengard force. This is mostly because I'm quite happy with the base colours (it just needs highlights and touching up), I don't need to buy anything else for the force as its around 1000 points already, and Saruman is one of my favourite characters so he kinda gets preferential treatment.

The previous incarnation of this army (with some really awful blurry photos to boot) had a slightly different composition to how it stands now. Notably missing is one of the trolls and the unit of orcs which I have moved over to my fledgeling Mordor army. However, I have replaced them with some Uruk-Hai warriors I fixed up, a demolition team I forgot I owned, and a while ago I picked up a version of Saruman on foot and Grima Wormtongue. While I have no plans on expanding this force, if I were I'd probably want to add some Warg Riders for cavalry, possibly put some orcs back in there for cheap bodies, and crossbowmen for more shooting.

The main things I have done in repainting this army is taking away nearly all the red that was previously there. I wanted to make my Isengard force quite dark and grungy, as well as making it distinct from the other evil armies that come more directly under the thrall of Sauron which will feature red quite predominantly. This included removing red from the clothes of my Dunlendings, and repainting the flesh of my Uruk-Hai to remove any reddish tint. The only other big repainting I'm doing is Saruman himself who will be much brighter with less severe shading as I think I can do a much better job at painting him now than five years ago.

There's still lots to do in order to achieve the look I'm going for, in particular I will have to spend quite a bit of time working on re-applying white hands to quite a few of the miniatures who previously had them on their faces. However, I'm hoping that this project wont end up taking too much time and I'm aiming to have it finished by Christmas whereafter my Mordor army will become my main focus. My Mordor force will be comparable in size to my Isengard army but requires much more work.

Here's a bonus quick pic of the small Rohan force that I'm cobbling together as well. As you can see from the range of different coloured bases, these miniatures have served in quite a few other projects previously and I was actually surprised at how many I was able to pull together for this project. I've got 5 riders, 12 warriors with a decent mix of weapons, 4 royal guard, and hero-wise I've got Eowyn, Merry, and Hama. With the addition of the contents of the Battle of Pelannor Field box and a few more heroes I think this should end up as a solid 1000-ish points force.

Non-LOTR stuff is taking up most of my painting time at the moment, but now my Kill Team is finished I hope to really get going on my Isengard and Rohan armies while I finish off my Talons of the Emperor who just need tidying up and basing now.

Starting a Kill Team

The new Warhammer Conquest part-works subscription thing looks quite interesting. If the armies involved were different and I had more disposable income I'd be somewhat tempted, but instead I just decided to just pick up the first issue because it was only about two pounds and you get three pots of paint and a brush with it which is an absolute steal. I also received a second one as a gift  and was then faced with what to do with the six Primaris Marines that came with the issues that I didn't particularly want. As everyone seems to be raving about the new Kill Team rules, I thought I'd use them to whip up a little team of my own.

The Iron-Mongers

These were quite a fun side project to paint up, despite the fact that I usually hate painting Space Marines and hate doing edge highlighting. I decided to paint them in colours that I don't use regularly, just as a way to do something very different from what I usually paint. I elected for blue and orange as they are classic contrasting colours and have never really been predominant colours in any of my projects.

I have written down all the paints I've used on these miniatures just in case I decide to add more to this little band. Its unlikely, but I must admit that there are a few Primaris miniatures I do like. In fact I'd probably say I am quite a big fan of the Primaris miniatures generally (barring the Repulsor Tank). I'm not a fan of their fluff, but I do like their design quite a lot and I like that scale-wise they embody what Marines are meant to be like in the lore.

Intercessor Squad

Basing-wise I really wanted to create a contrast between the bright armour, and the grim realities of war. So the bases were subtly decorated with skulls and bones, over which a liberal amount of typhus corrosion was applied to make it look like the marines were wading through a grungy hell-scape. I then applied some crusty-looking blood to the bases and splashed some on the marines themselves (This was a 1:3 mix of Rhinox Hide:Blood for the Blood God), reserving fresher looking blood for any injuries the marines may have sustained themselves.

Captain Obadiah Knox 'The Bruiser'

It took minimal conversion work to disguise the fact that I had two sets of the same three miniatures. For two of the regular marines; I just removed their purity seals, altered their arm placement and added un-helmeted heads pointing to the other side of their helmeted brethren. The second sergeant miniature I did more extensive conversion work so I could use him as a potential leader of my Kill Team seeing as in a 'Commander' expansion is coming out.

Interrogator Abraham Klaw

I've also quickly put together an Inquisitorial Interrogator and a Servo-skull to use as objective markers or other game pieces. Fluff-wise I think of the Iron-Mongers as Primaris Marines who were requisitioned by the Inquisition to serve as bodyguards and enforcers before they were gifted to a particular chapter. Thus, they've adopted their own unique identity bound to the Inquisition and have been nick-named by other Astartes as the 'Iron Brutes' for their thuggish behaviour and slavish servitude to their Inquisitorial masters.

I've always been interested by the Ordo Astartes, a minor ordo of the Inquisition that oversees the Space Marines. So I've decided that Klaw is a lackey to an Ordo Astartes Inquisitor tasked with ensuring chapters comply with the integration of Primaris marines (especially poignant as most of my regular opponents are likely to be playing Space Marines). I thought he'd make a good objective marker as perhaps he's gotten lost or separated from him Primaris bodyguards, or needs extracting from a situation gone south. Perhaps one day I'll convert his Inquisitorial master, who knows.

The three, unconverted easy-build marines

This was only a brief distraction from my Custodes which I'm still plugging away at. In fact I was painting these while I converted a golden dreadnaught for my army, doing edge highlights as I was waiting for pieces to dry. I've no idea if I'll ever actually play any Kill Team, but it will be nice to have some ready miniatures for it (even if grossly unoptimised) should I ever have the chance.