Size Comparison, alternatives to GW

So, I wanted some Men of Dale but I refuse to buy them from GW, specifically because Men of Dale only come 10 to a box.  Really?  Ten?  Were these for some kind of special set and then just sort of thrown into a  box, with the rules?  I am sure Peter Jackson probably screwed GW's plan for The Hobbit by changing from 2 to 3 movies, but really?  Ten?  Your entire army building rules revolve around groups (warbands) of 12 warriors lead by a hero.  Not even an option to build a captain.  Anyway, I wanted Men of Dale, so with a little help of another blog I found out about Thunderbolt Mountain.  You can read about them on their about us page, but I was blown away by their great miniatures, and I found my Men of Dale.  The byzantine warriors with spear and shield fit the bill.  So I ordered some up.  While trimming away the base is a little painful it really only takes about a minute with clippers.  So far I am happy with them, they are a little skinny but are the right height which to me is more important.  Below you will see a size comparison of some Games Workshop Lord of The Rings, some Thunderbolt Mountain, and a Red Box Games mini( soon to be my Men of Dale Captain).

So We are starting up a campaign

I tried to be creative, while keeping this not only simple but allowing everyone to play everyone else.  Basically not letting the map dictate who can fight who, but being a little restrictive to army lists.  I think I was successful (pats self on back).  I know there will be some kind of issue at some point, because, well I can not think of everything.

Campaign Proposal

Hero/Army selection

A player may pick an army from any of the currently available source books, with the following exceptions/additions(basically including The Hobbit armies into the sourcebooks profiles):

Angmar list: Azogs hunters, The trolls

Moria List: Goblin town

Durins Folk: Army of Thror

Eregion and Rivendell: Elrond's Household

Wanderers in the wild: Thorin's company, radagast's alliance

Rohan: Men of Dale

Once a player picks an army list, they may play any hero in that army and may ally with any other army list IN THAT SOURCE BOOK.  Ex.  If I pick Harad and Umbar, I may ally with any other list in the Fallen Realms source book, but not out of Mordor ( unless you have enough Kingdom Points, which we will cover later ).

The goal, like it is every thursday night, is to take over the world!  How do we do this?

Expansionism, Imperialism and Conquest!  The lands to the east and south of Mordor are ripe for the picking!  It is time to build your empire abroad and bring wealth and honor to your western kingdom.

The people who inhabit this eastern land are drawn to power, you must defeat your competition in combat in order to earn their trust, and more importantly their trade.  Every western lord is on a stealth campaign to gather as many trading partners as they can, without going to all out war with their neighbors back home.  To that end you are secretly fighting battles in the east, and, the politics in the western lands are tricky so neighbors come in and out of alliances as everyone strives to become the imperialist power in the east.

Each player starts out with a three hex area on the western side of “known” middle earth, these may never be lost to or annexed by another player.  To gain renown, and lands, your secret army must defeat your “friends” to gain hex tiles in the east.  Every hex tile brings one Kingdom Point, which are calculated every week, and are not cumulative.  You may freely swap tiles with other players,  negotiate at your own risk.

A win will allow players to claim up to three hex tiles that are unclaimed, a loss means you gain nothing.  If there are no free hex tiles that you wish to claim, you may annex up to 2 of another players hex tiles.   Players may also do both, a win will allow a player to annex 1 tile and grab 1 unclaimed tile.  That is it though, a ? v1(win) allows:

1)Grab up to 3 free tiles

2)Annex 2 of another players tiles

3)Annex 1 tile and claim 1 free tile

a 2(win)v ? allows:

1)The winners may grab up to 2 free tiles each

2)The winners may annex 1 tile

Hex tiles MUST be in groups of three or more to be stable.

But why annex then Jobu?  Well, if you win the next week after annexing tiles from another player, then you can annex another two or grab free tiles that connect to the annexed tile(s).  If the player does not win, or somehow negotiate a tile swap, those tiles revert back to free tiles.  Only tiles with some land on them may be claimed.  Open water may not be claimed unless it is an inland lake.

Each tile in your favor gains you 1 Kingdom Point (KP), at the end of the campaign the player with the most KP's win.  Kingdom points are calculated once a week, on friday.

What do KPs bring you?

They allow allies, they allow buying priority once a game, they allow an extra fate to be given to a unnamed/named hero, they allow you to deploy a specific terrain piece, and maybe something else if I can think of it.  You may only pick two of the following and they may not be from the same list:

1)A force of renown(based on # of models, no points values) allows allies outside the sourcebook, still limited to good with good and evil with evil:

Spend 3 KP's and you may ally up to 25% (or one warband, whichever is larger) with another force using only unnamed heroes.

Spend 9 KP's and you may ally up to but not over 50% with another force using only unnamed heroes.

Spend 15 KP's and you may ally up to 25%(or one warband, whichever is larger) with another force using a named hero.

Spend 30 KP's and you may ally up to 50% with a named hero.

2)I swear it was Deja-Vu:

Spend 6 KP's and you may automatically have priority for one turn, must be used before priority dice are rolled – NO EXCEPTIONS

Spend 30 KP's and you may do it after the dice are rolled.

3)Luckiest Red Shirt:

Spend 3 KP's to give an unnamed hero an extra fate

Spend 20 KP's and give a named hero an extra fate

May only be given to native heroes. i.e. no allies

4)Brick in the wall:

Spend 3 KP's and you may remove one piece of native terrain from the table before armies have been deployed.

Spend 6KP's and you may place one small ( about the size of a DVD) non-native terrain piece anywhere on the board.

Spend 9 KP's and you may place one medium ( about 2x DVD ) non-native piece of terrain in your deployment area.

Fortunes/Fates

Hero of renown-You may nominate one hero in your army, that hero now acts as a banner for native troops( not allied ones).

Heroic Intervention-One nominated hero may call heroic fights without using any might.

Courageous charge-You may nominate one hero, during the game all units who begin the turn within 6 inches of that hero will automatically pass all courage tests.

War Chant- You may nominate one hero, during the game all models who begin the turn within 6 inches of that hero cause terror.

Faltering nerve-Before priority and for the duration of the game you may nominate one enemy hero, if that hero wishes to use might the controlling  player must role a d6, on 4+ nothing happens and the might is used normally, on a 3- the might does nothing and is lost.  This is only effective on the first might that hero spends each turn.

Ancient Lore-If a model or hero is the victim of a magical power, any native or allied hero within 12 inches may expend will points to help the model resist, the dice are added to the regular resist roll.  This is only allowed to be spent to resist magical powers.

Good Counsel- Before priority and for the duration of the game you may nominate one friendly hero, if that hero wishes to use might the controlling  player must role a d6, on 3- nothing happens and the might is used normally, on a 4+ the might is free.  This is only effective on the first might that hero spends each turn.

Counterspell-Nominate an enemy spellcaster, during the game if a spell is successfully cast that caster must reroll all the dice used to cast.  The second roll stands.

Mithril Coat-At the beginning of a turn declare this fortune/fate.  All wounds during the turn may be rescued on a roll of 5+.   Use this before rolling fate on heroes.

Hobby stuff yeah!

A little bit of painting going on, still have not had a chance to play the new SBG rules yet. However I have had time to paint. First up is a figure from Red Box Games, which will be utilized as a black numenorean Marshall. The figure was fun to paint, it is a little warhammery skully but does stand out among the regular black numenoreans.
Next up is a Great Beast of Gorgoroth. This was a quick paint job, a true finecast nightmare. There were so many air bubbles in the figures that I lost count. The actual beast came out pretty well. Each figure is removable via a pin. I am looking forward to using this with the new monster rules. At some point anyway.

January releases and Red Box Games Kickstarter

The eagles will be released in January, thanks to those at Warseer for the pics of the 40k stuff that did not exactly cut off The Hobbit releases from the next page.  Looks like Gwahir will be finecast and the regular giant eagles will be plastic.   Based on pics from the hardcover rulebook the plastic eagles look pretty nice.
I participated in Red Box Games Kickstarter earlier in the year and just recieved my pledge packs.   They are very well detailed minis.   Cast in what appears to be something similar to finecast.  I will take some pics and post them up once I am done ....multitasking.  These minis are exactly the same scale as GW LoTr and would make excellent replacements for some elites from GW.
Below are front and back pics as well as pics of a size comparison.

Radagast in plastic

Thanks to some one ring members and a Russian site we have our first look at a new Hobbit mini. http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=23932&start=40#p292755
You will have to click the link until I get the pics up.

About those new paints-edit Now with names.....now with more speculation!

On the GW site today there is a teaser with the number 145, and a bunch of color splashes....hmmm, there are 145 items in the list below...coincidence....I think not.


Via Darnok at warseer,


-144 colours are in,
-lots of renaming of colours, nothing is leaving
-All in different catagories now, Shades (washes), bases, layers, glazes (thin washes) and textures.
-Prices are staying the same

So, what are textures?  Foundation paints?

That is a huge increase in the number of paints, holy paint rack batman!


Some more clarity on names of ranges.....
this info indicates that the drys are "goopy" paints for drybrushing (this is GW we're talking about, sounds more like them to release "drybrushing" paints than weathering powders). The source also stated that the bases are highly pigmented paints "halfway between foundation and current paints", I take this to mean not necessarily the existing foundation paints (so expect color shifts if that is correct). 


I realize that I am ripping from peoples posts on other forums, I take no credit for any of this, it has come from dakka dakka and warseer.




BASES
Ceramite White
Averland Sun
Jokaero Orange
Mephiston Red
Khorne Red
Naggaroth Night
Daemonette Hide
Kantor Blue
Macragge Blue
Caledon Sky
Stegadon scale green
Incubi Darkness
Caliban Green
Waaaagh! Flesh
Castellan green
Death world forest
Zandri dust
Steel Legion Drab
Bugmans Glow
Ratskin Flesh
Mournfang brown
XV-88
Rhinox hide
Dryad bark
Mechanicus standard grey
Celestus grey
Abaddon Black (the only black in the range)
Rakarth flesh
The fang
Screamer pink
Leadblecher (metal)
Balthasar Gold (metal)
Screaming Bell (metal)
Warplock brown (metal)




LAYER
White Scar
Yriel Yellow
Flash gitz yellow
Troll slayer orange
Fire dragon bright
Evil sunz scarlet
Wild Rider red
Wazdakka red
Squig Orange
Xereus Purple
Genestealer Purple
Warpfiend Grey
Slaanesh Grey
Alaitoc blue
Hoeth blue
Altdorf guard blue
Calgar blue
Teclis blue
Lothern blue
Sotek green
Temple guard blue
Kabalite green
Sybarite green
Warpstone glow
Moot green
Warboss green
Skarsnik green
Loren Forest
Straken green
Nurgling green
Elysian green
Ogryn camo
Ushabti Bone
Screaming skull
Tallarn sand
Karak stone
Cadian fleshstone
Kislev Flesh
Bestigor flesh
Ungor flesh
Skrag brown
Deathclaw brown
Tau light Ochre
Balor brown
Zamesi brown
Doombull brown
Tuskigor fur
Gorthor Brown
Baneblade Brown
Dawnstone
Administratum grey
Eshin grey
Dark reaper
Thunderhawk blue
Skavenblight dinge
Stormvermin fur
Ulthuan grey
Pallid wych flesh
Russ grey
Fenrisian grey
Pink horror
Emperors Children
Ironbreaker (metal)
Runefang steel (metal)
Gehennas gold(metal)
Auric Armour(metal)
Hashut Copper(metal)
Sycorax Bronze(metal)
Brass Scorpion(metal)
Runelord Brass(metal)


SHADES
Casandora Yellow
Fuegan Orange
Carroburg Crimson
Druchii Violet
Drakenhof Nightshade
Coelia greenshade
Biel-tan green
Athonian camoshade
Seraphim Sepia
Reikland fleshshade
Agrax earthshade (Devlan Mud)
Nuln Oil


DRY
Praxeti White
Hexos palesun
Kindleflame
Lucius Lilac
Etherium blue
Skink blue
Hellion green
Underhive ash
Eldar Flesh
Tyrant Shell
Terminatus stone
Longbeard grey
Changling pink
Necron Compound
Golden Griffon


GLAZE
Lamenters yellow
Waywatcher Green
Guilliman blue
Bloodletter


TEXTURE
Mourn Mountain snow
Stirland Mud
Blackfire Eath
Astrogranite
Armageddon Dust
Lustrian Undergrowth


TECHNICAL
Lahmian Medium
Ard coat
Imperial Primer
Liquid Green stuff

The Heroes of Rohan

Rules Changes

From what I have heard, I do not have the Feb issue of white dwarf yet but apparently there is a 12:1 ratio of soldiers:heroes now, which is not too bad unless you are goblins, but then again a dragon probably counts as a hero.  There is also no type of alliance restrictions like in Legions of Middle Earth, at least not yet, that may be in the new rulebook.

Certain heroes allow certain units to be upgraded for a points cost, ala Grimbolds Helminggas and Mahurs Marauders.  The upgrade depends on the hero, I don 't know if there is the possibility to add two upgrades with two heroes.

Not crazy about the lack of list restrictions as in LoME, especially if there is not a bow limit.

Since we are in the rumor business-update-update again

The reboxing of mini's has been essentially confirmed.  Multiple sources citing an email from GW.  GW stores have been requested to make space for more LoTR inventory.  I am truly curious to see the new packaging and how that will coincide with a new/updated rule set.  Others have pointed out that the repackaging will make WoTR  more expensive.  Current plastics come on sprues that contain 4 shield/hand weapon, 4 bow and 4 spear/2 handed or some similar combo of 4/4/4(except harad and fighting uruk hai).  What will future plastics be?  If one follows the WoTR rule of common formations being plastic, then we can speculate the following to become plastic at some point: IMHO of course

Most Likely
Knight of Dol Amroth on foot
Men at arms of Dol Amroth
Citadel Guards( mix of bow/spear?)
Rohan Royal Knights( mounted rohan royal guard?)
New High Elves( including knights perhaps?)
Great Eagle
Mordor Uruk Hai
Wild Men/men of carn dum
New warg riders
giant spiders

Easterling Kataphrakt haradrim raider

Less Likely
Warriors of Arnor
Numenorean archers
Rohan Royal Knights/guard on foot
Orc Trackers
Dunlendings
bats
prowlers

Serpent Rider/guard Khandish Mercenary Which may seem like a lot but there have not been any new release in over a year.

This one seemed juicy
Newest rumor about the new rulebook due next month along with repackaging for The Hobbit Movie release.......
There must be a constant ratio of heroes:troops.  This may vary by army, or it may not.  WE LOVE UNSUBSTANTIATED RUMORS WWWWWEEEEEEEEEE.

And yet we have MORE.....Games Workshop Price Increase and cutting box numbers!
Boxes of plastic infantry will be cut in half(i.e. 1 sprue per box instead of 2), and the price will go up per sprue by about 35%.  Example, a box of 24 dwarves currently is $33, a "repackaged" box of 12 dwarves would be $22, making 24 cost $44, a 33% price increase!!

At the moment I am not sure if this is true, however let me express my regrets for Games Workshop customers if this does turn out to be true.  I will certainly avoid purchasing Games Workshop boxed infantry for The Hobbit Movie.  There are plenty of alternatives available: Wargames Factory, Mantic, Gripping Beast, reaper, Red Box, caesar miniatures, and megaminis(classic grenadier for @1.50 per metal mini).

March of the Ents done in LEGO

Here is a link to the Flickr gallery.  Crazy stuff.

Interesting tool from Reaper on choosing color palette from pictures

It is called power palette and it allows you to upload a photo which includes colors that you want to replicate.  You can choose those colors and the tool will identify which reaper paints match in a best it can do color determination.  Neat tool, bigger the picture the better you will be able to replicate the color.

http://www.reapermini.com/PowerPalette

Greatest tables ever-Custom made gaming tables

http://www.geekchichq.com/index.html
All I can say is...want.

Feeling adventurous, check this out.....casting stuff...

So, I know I said I would post more pics, but I became distracted with this little ditty from Cool Mini or Not.

Watch the youtube video, seems kinda neet huh?  Well, I purchased some and will let you know how it goes.  If all goes well I may even do requests. :)

More of last years work-BFG

Review-Base Contacts Large Oval Base

So, I recently purchased the newly released LoTR cave drake from my FLGS.  While I was there I saw a base from a company that I had never heard of before, but was perfect for my new drake.  The company Base Contacts had several different styles of bases that one can choose.  I purchased the large oval rock base for $4.99.

Good basics videos from Lester Bursley

Two good videos covering brushes and paint selection.

Brush selection

Paint selection

Both are @ 25 minute long youtube videos

Good looking resin Battle Fleet Gothic type ship

Good looking like me,

Here is the order page. Made from resin, not like me.  Pic after the break

Pics of the Golden Demons from Games Day 2010

Here is a compilation of all the winners From Games Day 2010.

Amazing freehand work on that Knight of The Empire.

New GW models "snap together"?

So, I was looking at what was new today, and even though it was all WFB news I read about the two geedubbs assembling their models. I was shocked to run across the phrase "even though all the models snap together".....wait, did I read that right? They SNAP together. Holy Anti-Hobby Batman! Guess I will have to wait and see the models in that kit to really determine if this is a real decline in the hobby side if GW or not.

Here is a Link to the what's new section of GW site.

Edit:

It is just to make it easier for people starting the hobby to get things assembled.

Turns out a lot of the starter kits come this way, and have been this way for a while. Guess I have never really looked closely at the WFB/40K starter kits when they were on a sprue.

The joy and pain of painting miniatures....when you are 4

My daughter got into my paints this morning while I was in the shower. She did not pick up a color on my workbench(mostly greens/blues/browns) she got into my storage and picked out a purple vallejo model color (read very thick paint when used undiluted). Luckily she only painted one rohan royal gaurd(only primed but all detail was gone, it was more of a rohan royal purple blob after she was done) and one wood elf( fully painted just last night :( but she only got the arrows and the head) before I caught her. She emptied 90% of the paint bottle into various wells of my palette and destroyed one of my kolinsky brushes by crushing the brush onto my cutting mat to make stars. Nothing like puddles of purple paint to clean up, good times :).

I usually let her paint them when she asks me. I get out some mini that I am not concerned about, a palette , water and some paints. I then let her go to town with my only instruction: wash and dry your brush between colors. She usually makes a very cute multicolor randomly painted figure. I am pretty excited that she is interested. I am laughing about it now. I would have taken pics but I ran out of time.