Middle Earth Campaign

Our first game in the campaign, The Battle of the Last Alliance, already seems like an eternity ago, but i've been beavering away on bits and pieces over the last six weeks that will all, eventually, contribute to the campaign. First bit of news was that a kick starter that I backed some months ago, Stormguard, providing files for 3D printing, has been completed.  The terrain pieces looked perfect for Arnor/Gondor so I took the leap and backed the full range at a cost of £75.  Fortunately I have a friend, Richard, who has a decent 3D printer and very grateful for him printing off the first two pieces which I am supremely happy with, here they are based coated grey: I wanted to see how this new stuff stood up against the only official GW kit for Middle Earth scenery, the Osgiliath Ruins.  I put one kit together and based it on MDF and added in a cobble stone interior by using clay and the rolling pin I bought a few years ago.  It's a really nice kit and...

The Battle of the Last Alliance. At last after fevered painting, scenery making, bouts of man flu and general real life shenanigans we were able to set a date and begin our campaign, well the gaming side, the hobby side started some time ago. Forgive the slightly amateurish video, another part of the campaign that will hopefully improve in time.  Just remembering to film the ending would be a good start!

It's all been about Dwarfs recently.  They will make an appearance early in the campaign futilely trying to defend against the awoken might of Durin's Bane, Smaug then serving them an eviction notice and then the three linked scenarios representing the Battle of Azanulbizarl.  So they are at the top of the need to be painted list. Ive had an army of Thror tucked away untouched for a few years now, always on the eternal 'to do list'.  I mainly picked them up because one, I loved the sculpts, and two, because they were the cheaper Dwarf army option.  Both those reasons remain valid and they will serve as the main bulk of any Dwarfs we need for the campaign.  I love the other two Dwarf armies, Iron Hills and Kazad-Dum, but both are expensive and in some cases are hard to get hold of. Although the army of Thror lacks a lot of variety compared to the other two armies it received a significant power boost in the new army book.  The main boost...

Gaming matts.   I like gaming matts.   They are a really good way of having variety of playing environments which don’t require weeks/months of building boards in your garage.   Unfortunately, by the time they were becoming main stream and more affordable, around 2014, I’d just invested in two sets of the citadel realm of battle boards and spent weeks building a lava board.   I didn’t feel I could justify the outlay on gaming matts. Embarking on the campaign has changed that, we are going to need different settings and the most immediate environment we don’t have is a city board with cobblestones to represent Dale in the short term and in the longer term Osgiliath, Minis Tirith, Bree etc.   I don’t have the resources, desire and dare I say it skill to build one so I immediately thought of Deep Cut studios, a Lithuanian company well known for its good quality matts.   We also need a matt to represent the Dwarf Halls of Erebor and then later on Moria. ...

In the words of Theoden ‘so it begins’. Fortunately, the first scenario, The Battle of the Last Alliance, is one of the easiest to prep for.   Although requiring a large model count on both sides the foundation, model and painting wise, was set down over the last few years.   My Mordor army is largely painted (including Sauron) from many moons ago, and I spent most of my painting time in 2018 on a large Rivendell High Elf army.   Liv is bringing the Numenorians via proxying her Minis Tirith army but has the correct models for Elendil and Isildur.   Particularly looking forward to seeing Elendil in action, his new profile makes him an absolute beat stick.   However, I have found that I am short of 15 painted Mordor Orcs for the scenario, so I’ve had to spend the last few weeks with the functional, but a little uninspiring, Mordor Orc sculpt on my painting table.  does give me an opportunity to update my Mordor army as I think my painting has improve...

With the re-release of Middle Earth SBG, I think, after many years of dreaming, I may now be in a position to at last embark on a re-telling of the story of the One Ring and the downfall of Sauron via the medium of miniature table top gaming.   A feat involving over a hundred scenarios from the Battle of the Last Alliance right up until Frodo casting the ring into the fires of Mount Doom.   A campaign requiring a vast model collection and terrain, covering every battle field imaginable, from the depths of Kaza-dum to the glittering spires of Minis Tirith, all will be rendered in plastic, resin, cardboard or when desperate pringle tubes. There are plenty of others who have attempted this and documented it on the internet but none better than this:   https://celevue.wordpress.com/models/lotr/games/   If we can achieve anything close to what this guy and his friends have done I will be a happy man. My partner in jewellery destruction storytelling, Liv, has ju...