16 More Uruk-Hai Scouts join the forces of Isengard, this time plastic Uruks. Jeez, after painting those original metal scouts, the plastic ones are really awful to paint, even if they don't stand out from the crowd as poorer sculpts at any distance.
I have bought some Rohirrim ready painted, so I now have enough figures to do some skirmishing in Rohan also.
Here's a bunch of Uruk Hai I had as the original metal versions. really nice stuff to paint! I lamented online that I wanted the Uruks carrying Merry and Pippin to complete the set, and one generous hobbyist sent them to me for free, stubbornly declining me to even compensate for post <3
Then Boromir had come leaping through the trees. He had made them fight. He slew many of them and the rest fled. But they had not gone far on the way back when they were attacked again. by a hundred Orcs at least, some of them very large, and they shot a rain of arrows: always at Boromir. Boromir had blown his great horn till the woods rang, and at first the Orcs had been dismayed and had drawn back; but when no answer but the echoes came, they had attacked more fierce than ever. Pippin did not remember much more. His last memo was of Boromir leaning against a tree, plucking out an arrow; then darkness fell suddenly.
A mile, maybe, from Parth Galen in a little glade not far from the lake he found Boromir. He was sitting with his back to a great tree, as if he was resting. But Aragorn saw that he was pierced with many black-feathered arrows; his sword was still in his hand, but it was broken near the hilt; his horn cloven in two was at his side. Many Orcs lay slain, piled all about him and at his feet.
Aragorn knelt beside him. Boromir opened his eyes and strove to speak. At last slow words came. 'I tried to take the Ring from Frodo ' he said. 'I am sorry. I have paid.' His glance strayed to his fallen enemies; twenty at least lay there. 'They have gone: the Halflings: the Orcs have taken them. I think they are not dead. Orcs bound them.' He paused and his eyes closed wearily.
Here's some old Goblins that have been piling up for years. I thought this summer was a good time to finish them up.
`I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.'
The Balrog made no answer. The fire in it seemed to die, but the darkness grew. It stepped forward slowly on to the bridge, and suddenly it drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall; but still Gandalf could be seen, glimmering in the gloom; he seemed small, and altogether alone: grey and bent, like a wizened tree before the onset of a storm.
I've dreamed of making this diorama for years, but I've missed several pieces of the puzzle. I needed to get plaster molds for the rock faces, print out the pillars on my 3D-printer, get a texture roller for the surface.. and oh yes, learn how to do OSL effects with my airbrush. But in the end? Worth it! I'm really happy with the results, especially with my limited experience with the airbrush.
I found this brilliant piece of work on Thingiverse and had to print one for my Genestealer cult. What a classic!
And here comes the German infantry. Now there's a nice core of infantry for both armies and I think I can pull off more scenarios.
The grand total for both armies starts to look pretty nice!
More infantry into the fray! Once I complete a similar set to the Germans too, I should have enough for a decent Microarmor engagement. Infantry figures are Heroics and Ros based on 30mm squares.
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| All my soviets at the moment |
Although the Army of the Dead from Lord of the Rings wasn't on my to do list, I had these as expendable models and they gave me an opportunity to goof around with some Liquitex inks I got and practice doing some glowy effects on my airbrush. Good fun and really easy to paint. The models are surprisingly nice for lotr plastics, I bet they could be used as undead warriors in a whole lot of settings.
Here's some models I've finished after christmas. Now my table is empty of half-painted figures and I can start on new stuff!
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| Heinrich Kemmler and Krell |
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| Some test Russians for my Finnish War 1808 28mm project |
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| Nazgob the shaman. This had been on my desk for a long time! |
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| The remaining members of the Fellowship of the Ring. Now I have the full set. |
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| Cue the Howard Shore "Fellowship of the Ring fanfare" |
Time for another remote Kriegspiel, this time using Black Powder rules and on a lower level of command. Instead of the whole army the players commanded on the Volley & Bayonet Second Manassas game, they had a division each. The scenario I picked was the Battle of Kernstown scenario in the Black Powder second edition rulebook. Unlike last time, I'll keep the commentary brief this time, only offering a rough outline of the events.
For background on the scenario, I suggest you read the wikipedia article on the First battle of Kernstown, but in a nutshell it was a division versus division affair where Thomas Jackson attacked a Union force which was much larger than he anticipated and got beaten back in a rare loss for him.
I drafted briefing documents for the players along with a historical map of the area. The players drafted their plans and away we went. I would update them on the situation every turn or two and send them updated maps with incomplete intelligence.
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| Briefing map given to the Confederate commander |
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| Map given to the Union commander |
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| Union troops taking position on the hill north of Kernstown |
The Union commander set his forces up in a line centered on a hill north of Kernstown with one brigade in reserve. The Confederates started their day by scouting the Union positions with their cavalry, being generally successful in gaining intel, but not enough to realize their initial estimate of enemy strength was underestimated.
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| Confederate guns line up west of Kernstown |
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| Infantry lines up for attack |
The Confederates decided to push the Union center aggressively and take the hill. They massed their artillery in the center and sent their cavalry on the right to see if they can turn the enemy flank.
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| Confederate
map after initial deployment. Due to blunders on scouting rolls on the
right flank, the dismounted union cavalry brigade is seen as infantry
pickets. |
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| A Union cavalry brigade is mistaken for infantry pickets |
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| The attack on the hill begins |
The attack on the hill succeeds but only barely. The Confederates are pretty beat up, but manage to avoid breaking. The Union brigade holding the hill breaks and the Union commander has to relocate his HQ.
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| After an aggressive charge by the Stonewall brigade, the Union center breaks. |
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Union map after the Confederates take the hill.  |
The Union commander calls for reinforcements, but during this time his second brigade also breaks in the firefight. The Confederates have managed to take on two brigades in turn with a smaller force and concentrate fire well. Union cavalry moves to counter the Confederate cavalry flanking manoeuver, but neither cavalry commander commits to attack the other.
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| Union reinforcements arrive but decide to stay on defense rather than counterattack. |
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| The confederates keep the hill, but are in no condition to fight. |
In the end, both armies order their troops to defend and as the scenario clock is around 5 PM, I call the game. The Confederate division broke two Union brigades without having any of theirs break taking ground in the process so they win the day.
The Confederate success owed a lot to the Union commander being uncertain whether there were still forces forthcoming and thus didn't converge on the Confederate main attack. Also, he didn't know the attackers were close to the breaking point and so didn't opt to retake the hill. This is again a feature of a limited intelligence game. In a normal miniature game, the players would be a lot more decisive in their actions and immediately spot good opportunities.
In hindsight Black Powder wasn't the best set of rules for a game like this. The action progresses fast in Black Powder and I think kriegspiel is best played on a higher level of command. On the plus side, this was much easier to set up and run than the Manassas game.
