Sunday, December 31, 2017

Elves, Orcs, Bats and a Ranger

This past November to December was a wash-out for painting minis.  I was able to get some post-Yule painting time in and finished these few minis:

Celeborn - Mithril Miniatures

Painting Celeborn was an easy task, as I followed some on-line examples


Glorfindel - Mithril Miniatures, Bat Swarm - Reaper Miniatures
 Glorfindel was part of a two-piece package, battling a ring wraith.  The pack included a painting guide, which I mostly followed. I'm not mad about the Reaper bats, but they were inexpensive and easy enough to paint.  I might go back over them with a light tan highlight.

Ranger and Great Goblin - Mithril Miniatures
Rangers are always fun, at least you know the cloak will be green. Great Goblin has been sitting on my painting table for a year, partially finished. It was nice to finally knock him out of the queue.

Wood Elf Maiden - Mithril Miniatures
Wood Elf Maiden had to be repaired, as I've had this mini for two decades.  She broke off at the ankles, which was an easy fix. I might paint some leaf anklets to further mask the join.  The result was better than I expected - the picture doesn't do her justice.

These minis are all part of a Mirkwood/Dol Guldur Knights and Magick scenario I'm working on.  Still have a batch of Lothlorien elves to paint. Til' next time - Namarie -

Friday, June 30, 2017

A Small Woodland Skirmish

While painting continues for the larger, battle-sized project, I have been trifling about with some skirmish scenarios using the reprinted release of Knights and Magick from Heritage Miniatures.

Knights and Magick is a great, old school "nuts and bolts" rules set, where forces are assembled from the ground up, assigned quality level, armour class, and weapons and all paid for with points or credits. A unique '0 - 15" hit system is used, combined with some charts, to determine casualties. If a hit is successful on doubles, the result is a 'gruesome death' - no saving roll vs. constitution and any friendly troops witnessing must make a morale check.

With the amount of detail and customisation available, Knights and Magic fits right at the intersection of skirmish scale and role-playing game, which is where I'd like to be.

In our youth, my brother and I used to play the knickers out of Knights and Magic, and when a chance visit brought him to me door, we managed to get a game in...much to the dismay of my rangers.

Setup was fairly simple 105 points of five ranger "heroes" vs. 123 points of fourteen orcs, backed up by a single 23 point troll. The rangers would get to defend a hilltop ruin, while the orcish troops would have the benefit of attacking at night.

First turn or so, the rangers used their longbows to kill two or three orc archers, while the main orcish force advanced through some dense wood to hit the flank of the hill.




Orcish archery was mostly ineffective throughout the game, while that of the rangers was moderately effective. The troll was on the rangers before archery could make itself felt.

Turn three and four: The troll charged up the hill slope, while Ælfwina, the apprentice ranger, counter-charged the foul creature. Winnie actually scored a hit, but the troll rolled his save. Winnie was not so lucky, and she went down before the Troll's spiked club. 




Brandon, son of Brand, leapt to the side of the fallen girl. So to did Grÿsr, son of Gÿr. To no avail, though they hacked at the troll, both were slain (my brother's dice were afire and he kept making con rolls).



Finally, with Orcs were circling the hill, Crisagon, son of yet-to-be-revealed-in-this-picture, stood forth against the troll. My brother then uttered words that chilled me to the marrow, "You know, there has yet been a 'gruesome death' in this game."  I quailed as he reached for the dice. Double threes. Crissagon's head burst like a melon.  Ew...nasty.

The battle was over, all the rangers dead. The forest belonged to the Orc.

It was a pretty awesome game. And took about 90 minutes.

Post-game thoughts:
My brother called the game "brutal", in that his orcs had to cross three turns worth of killing ground. Once they closed to melee range, the balance would swing back to them. The troll was quite the wild card - in previous games, the troll had been dispatched by piling on the rangers. Best laid plans, and all that.

One point brought up was I had skint my rangers by only giving them a +1 weapon bonus with their favoured weapon. Bro pointed out if I raised it to +2 (for 1 point each) then all the rangers would have had +1 on their remaining weapons. 

Noted, adjusted, live and learn.

Friday, May 19, 2017

Repainting Mithril Miniatures

Súza Hey Dol!

It's been a few years since I began my LOTR/Arthedain project, but having settled into a new house and sorting out my miniatures, I've taken up the gauntlet again (as it were(.

I've been working on some skirmish forces and repainting some of the older Mithril miniatures that were part of the discontinued RPG line.

Removing the paint is complicated by the presence of the special Mithril undercoat - which I have never found to be all that special, and in fact am of the opinion it was a device to impede piracy (rather a good thing).

My first attempt was to follow a recommendation in The Miniatures Page, and use Simple Green as an overnight bath.


Mithril Miniatures
Mithril Miniatures

The results were mixed, with a lot of green paint left on the cloak and hair recesses. Possibly using a stronger solvent like Pine-Sol or Flash will give a better result...

Here's the same figure after an overnight batch of Pine-Sol. Even without the pine oil (removed from the product in 2012), the Pine-Sol did a much better job. Readers may note that the sword fell off - it seems the Pine-Sol dissolved whatever glue was used.


Mithril Miniatures
Mithril Miniatures

The figure will now be washed in dish soap, mended with epoxy, primed with metal prime, and painted, after which she will join my band of Arthedain Rangers for a skirmish game against the forces of Angmar.  Until next time - Namarie!