War of the Ring Reference Sheet

Hello all - just a quick update today.

I've created the first version of my reference sheet for War of the Ring (WotR).  It covers everything except Magic at the moment - I'll be adding Magic soon, but for now it is still extremely handy to cover everything else about the game.

You can download the reference here (PDF with white background) or here (textured background).

Preview pictures below - got it down to 3 x double-sided pages.

War of the Ring (LOTR) - Quarantine Painting

I hope everyone is staying safe, healthy and sane during these exceptional times.

I'm heads down on LOTR projects at the moment.  My AWI project is in project - but I'm leaving that in the capable hands of my painters - the first wave of that stuff was shipped off for painting.

While that is going on, I decided to dive head first into my Isengard forces for LOTR.  Specifically, I'm going to be using all this for the GW War of the Ring (WotR) rules (yes, one of my QRS for this system is nearly done).

So, this past weekend I started painting my Uruk-hai ... and I finished a couple of companies (took me a 1/2 day of futzing around to get the process/result down that I liked ... involved some repainting).  Phone pictures below of the completed companies ...

I'm using a mix of GW and Wargames Foundry paints for these guys.

The 12 step painting process is as follows:

1. Armour - gw Iron Warriors
2. Belts - gw Steel Legion Drab
3. Hair - gw Rhinox Hide
4. Skin - Foundry Red Oxide 102C
5. Shoes/Gloves - gw Mournfang Brown
6. Wash everything with gw Agrax Earthshade
7. Cloth - Foundry Charcoal Black 34B
8. Metal Highlights/Buckels - Foundry Metal 35B
9. Belt Highlight - Foundry Rawhide 11B
10. Teeth/White Hand - gw Ceramite White
11. Hair Highlight - gw Mournfang Brown
12. Pike Pole - gw Abaddon Black

Some additional pictures below.  I'm happy with the results.

I have *a lot* more to do.  I'm planning on pulling in the amazingly talented Steve Dake in the future to help with this project once he becomes free again.

In other news, I've mustered my Rohirrum and found I can field 8 full units of mounted Rohirrum --- that is 1 x 18 figure Royal Guard (mounted) and 7 x Riders of Rohan Eoreds.  I have lots/tons of dismounted Rohan troops as well ... essentially everything I'll ever need.  That means my Rohan army is done.  I'm very close on my Mordor army from a painting perspective - but I'm currently short of clear bases - so waiting for Litko to reopen for production so I can order more.

I'm working with Litko to get my clear movement trays for WotR ... you can see the results of using clear bases and movement trays below ... I'm sold (note, those are 3mm thickness, which is important IMO for LOTR - I used 1.5mm thickness for my Star Wars Legion stuff - but these LOTR figures in many cases need pins - so the extra thickness is important for that)!

Finally, while not LOTR related, I've very close to being completely/entirely done with my ACW collection.  The most excellent Steve Dake took care of the last wave of ACW painting - all cav - mostly Confederate.  I got these on their bases and just need to finish the basing process.  Quick pic below of the in progress basing ...

While I've been busy with work - this pandemic has certainly given me a new focus and time to work on projects.  In fact, proper massed battle LOTR (ala WotR rules) has been long overdue for me.

Home Schooling for Wargamers (Bolt Action)

This past Sunday I decided to teach my 11 year old how to play Bolt Action WW2.  He had asked me last weekend but I needed to do some tidying up and such so I made him a deal.  If he read the core Bolt Action rules during the week, we would play a game this past weekend.  Sure enough he read all the core rules!

I wanted to keep this simple and somewhat balanced, but also include armour and infantry.  We played British airborne vs. German Fallschirmjager.

British OOB:

1 x Sherman Firefly
2 x Cromwell
1 x Para Infantry Section
1 x Para Officer (+ Rifleman)
1 x Para Medic
1 x Para PIAT Team
1 x Para MMG Team

German OOB:

1 x Panzer IV
2 x Panzer III
1 x Fallschirmjager Infantry Section
1 x Fallschirmjager Officer (+ Rifleman)
1 x Fallschirmjager Medic
1 x Fallschirmjager PIAT Team
1 x Fallschirmjager MMG Team

He elected to play the Germans, mostly because I think he liked the camo pattern on the tanks.

I also decided to use a 4 foot by 6 foot table with a simple setup of just trees and fences/hedgerows.  No buildings or built up areas.  You can see the setup below.

So off we went.  My dice were more terrible than normal ... I don't recommend facing off against the luck of kids!  By the end of the game I had only managed to knock out one of the Panzer IIIs --- yes, just 1!!!  He destroyed all three of my tanks, killed my PIAT team and my Officer.  Tis a sad day when you have to actually use your officer to try to kill enemy units, but I was throwing everything I could at him by this point!

So, massive victory for the offspring.  I think the seed has been successfully planted.

Crappy phone pictures below of the action ...

New LOTR Stuff

Hello everyone from "shelter in place" California.  Fortunately so far both my family and myself have stayed healthy.  I hope your families and yourselves are keeping safe and healthy during these unprecedented times.

The next wave of LOTR miniatures are now complete, in-hand and put on bases as of last night.  I took some pictures using my trusty phone.

Painted by the excellent Mark Brooks.

This will be used for my Charge of the Mumaks
and Battle for the Pelennor Fields games.

Helm's Deep versions.

Helm's Deep versions - these I plan to use similar to how
I used special characters for my Star Wars Hoth game
(on orders boards).

The Three Hunters.

The characters below will be used for the Warg Attack scenario.

A start on my project to do Goblin Town - Thorin's Company ...

There you go.  Lots going on ... starting to get some more time for hobby stuff now.