The Non-Movie Project

After the first new list (the Woodmen of Mirkwood), the whole thing just got a notch bigger: Make army lists for the races that don't appear in the movies (or change those that are just crap).

So, work has started on the Wilderland Army Book, for now only in German. These are not just alternate profiles, there's totally new armies to build: Beornings, Léofring, Woodmen, Wayward Elves and Orcs of Mount Gundabad. Dale and Lake-Town will get new lists, that work better with those towns in later years (and don't look as shit as in the movies).

Working with Dark Ages models, the whole thing transports a look that is a lot closer to the books.

Creating a new army list

Writing stats for the Woodmen of Mirkwood and testing them in a game got me thinking. Why not write a new army list? There are some unexplored people in Middle Earth (at least when it comes to SBG), mostly due to them not starring in the movies.

So, the plan is, to first create a list for the Northern Anduin. This is the home of the Beornings (the folk that chose Beorn as their leader after the Battle of Five Armies), the Woodmen of Mirkwood, the Léofrics (relatives of the Rohirrim who didn't follow Èorl down into the Riddermark) and even some Wild Hobbits (relatives of Sméagol).

So, for heroes, there's Radagast (who is considered a important counsel to the Woodmen) and Beorn (the leader and kind of chieftain to his people). But as the people of the Anduin Valley are living between the Misty Mountains and Mirkwood, there's certainly a lot of heroes that are not known by now.

But where to get miniatures? Now, as described by Tolkien, the people of Wilderland should look something like the various Germanic tribes of the Dark Ages. Therefore, historical miniatures like those for the SAGA system are a perfect fit (better than a lot of the movies, in fact).

Here, we have Gripping Beast Jomsvikings, perfect for the Woodmen.

Viking archers are perfectly suited to represent the rangers of Mirkwood.

Viking warlords can be used as the Hirth, elite warriors of the Woodmen.

Battle Report: Radagast's Alliance vs. Easterlings

After painting four different armies for MESBG and playing only a few games, I've finally got a game going that was worth a battlerep.

First, my better half wanted to try the Easterlings (OK, initially they were meant as an evil army for me, but ok...). Second, I finally got around to write a whole new army list for the Woodmen of Mirkwood.

Why an additional, unoffical army list, some may ask. Now, for one I don't like the look PJ decided on the Wilderland cultures. They are remnants of a Northmen culture, siblings of the later Èotheod - so, they should look more like Northmen.
GW neglected the Woodmen - the main allies of Radagast. They even founded a settlement around Rhosgobel, holding the Things there. The official army list has Radagast (in his cramp-causing incarnation from The Hobbit, mostly) and Great Eagles - point. I don't think anyone plays that army without allies ...

So, I picked profiles from Rohan and Dunland (being the closest cultural choices), and wrote profiles for my Gripping Beast Jomsvikings.

The Good army had 555 points with 17 models, the Evil one 562 with 27. The scenario was Secure the Area - and I placed a watchtower in the center to fight over.

I rolled for arrivals - and found it very handy that I had only two warbands, as I was rolling only for my opponent to decide upon the entering edge...

The Easterlings were commanded by Amdûr - and he underestimated the power of Radagast, sending his Cataphracts against him. The Dragonknight was unhorsed before he could even charge, his mount fleeing in terror.
On the other side of the village, the Woodmen, lead by Jarl Viglaf of Woodland Hall, cautiously moved forward.

The Great Eagle got wounded by two lucky bowmen, but ripped through soldiers like a whirlwind of death. Radagast got surrounded by the riders - and shook them out of their saddles with Wrath of Nature. The eagle came to his rescue and shredded two Cataphracts, allowing the wizard to move away.

On the other side, Amdûr charged the woodmen - a deadly mistake. He got surrounded, unhorsed and hacked to pieces by the warriors, while his shieldwall was pushed back.

The Great Eagle tore the Dragonknight down, charging the remaining Cataphracts, while Radagast cast a Healing spell upon him. Immobilizing one of the horses, the eagle came over the unlucky riders wiht claws and beak...

Viglaf lead his men to the tower, where three bowmen had practiced their shooting at his warriors. The Easterlings where pushed back, and broke under the charge of the Woodmen. Some fled the battlefield.

And then, felling two Easterlings with his mighty sword and axe, Viglaf routed the enemy. Screaming in terror, they left their dead behind and ran for their dear lives.

The Easterlings would have won the scenario, had they not been broken and the Woodmen still standing fast. So, they battle ended with a 5:3 victory for Radagast's Alliance.

A classical strategy won the day: keeping the cavalry occupied and using the narrow space between the houses to confront the infantry. I let the Easterlings get the tower too soon, though, so I had to kill their commander and brake them. Against a less aggressive opponent, this may have cost me the victory.

Village growing

The Village of the Black Tarn begins to take shape on the table. Let me take you on a short walk through this young and upstriving settlement.

The palisades that will protect the village from the darker denizens of the Mirkwood are still in the process of being erected. They may be low, but they are thick and sturdy.

The typical houses are called Halls, as they house a whole family plus their livestock. Most have a roof made of reeds, but some are covered with straw.

The carved beams are typical for buildings in the north, providing a stable support for the roof.

The Great Hall is the heart of the village, the place where folk gathers to decide on important matters - or to feast.

The watchtower can withstand the onslaught of even a troll, with a fundament of stone and a roof made from hard wooden tiles.

In times of war, the village elects a war-leader. Being a veteran of many battles, Viglaf fills this role perfectly.

And then, there are allies - Radagast, the wizard may call upon the help from the Great Eagles of the Misty Mountains in times of dire need.

Painting...

I've been busy painting some new armies over the last weeks. While finishing my High Elves, I've got some Easterlings as a birthday present - so I had to build an army of them, too.

 My High Elves, lead by Glorfindel. They've already proved their worth against the hordes of Angmar.

The Easterlings have still to enter their first battle. The thought of an all-human evil army holds some interest for me.

But with the Easterlings came the idea of another army, one that's not even in the army lists - Woodmen. So I bought myself some Jomsvikings to act as Woodmen of Mirkwood - to be added to Radagast's Alliance. I'm still painting them up, but I've finished two other warriors.

I wanted my Great Eagles to look more like Golden Eagles, with the different colours of different age found in the birds of prey.

Building a Woodman village

The ancient kingdom of Rhovanion spun across all that is known in the Third Age as Wilderland. When the Shadow came to Dol Guldur, the kingdom slowly fell into ruin and finally collapsed into tribal villages, a lot of them disappearing over time.

Peter Jackson's The Hobbit is not only a bad rendering of the book, it also has some of the worst design choices. Lake-Town and Dale are especially bad, showing the lack of research into the cultures of Wilderland.
Tolkien based his vision of Lake-Town on a (later proven to be wrong) assumption of a Iron Age stake-village at the Lake Geneve. It was certainly not meant to look like a wooden Venice!
The people living there were descendants of the kingdom of Rhovanion - as are the Rohirrim. Why should they look like ragtag Italians or Turks?

As GW has to follow the designs of the movies, there`s not much to look for when it comes to miniatures of these parts. So, I decided to build an army of Woodmen (those folk that live right under the eaves of western Mirkwood) - and build a village for them.

You've already seen the first houses for them, but the center of every Woodmen village (following the Dark Ages theme) is a Meadhall, or Great Hall. It is used for gatherings of the village elders and the warriors in times of strife, for festivities and funerals.

As you can see, it is build upon a solid foundation of stone, with a roof over the entrance to the antechamber. Two wooden obelisks flank the entrance, carved with runes and pictures of revered (or feared) forces of nature.

The roof is detachable in this build, so the hall itself can be used for fighting (or retreating). There are four pillars holding the roof, the wooden throne of the village elder and the great fireplace.

The next phase of this build is a low hill, where the hall will stand, raised above the rest of the village.

Woodmen Buildings

When looking at the pictures in the GW army books, there's a lot of stone. Only the Rohirrim seem to build with wood, but that's due to the reliance on the movies. The books suggest a lot less stone, mostly ruins from earlier ages of the world. Gondor means "land of stones", which suggests that using stone to build is not that common.

For my first human buildings, I therefore took inspiration from Dark Ages buildings, adding some elements from later periods of the Early Medieval times. They would be built from wood, the roof covered with reeds.

We'll start out with cutting front, back and sides from foam. Additionally, we'll cut very thin riders for the roof. With a ballpen, we carve planks and woodgrain into the foam. On the riders, I drew carvings.

The next step is to paint everything up. Paint it brown, add a darker wash, than brush it up with lighter colours, up to a light grey to make it look like weathered wood.
The door is sculpted out of FIMO, which is actually easier than building it from foam or coffee stirrers.

Now, the whole thing is assembled and glued with PVA, adding a roof from cardboard, as we need a base for the reed.

There are several methods to du reed or straw roofs, the most popular seemingly being using teddy-fur. Now, I couldn't get my hands on that, so I chose foam again.
We cut thin pieces of foam, using a wire brush to do the texture of reeds.

These pieces are painted and glued onto the roofs. Some static grass adds a realistic touch to them.

After all, these houses are really easy to build and look really nice on the table. With palisades and a watchtower, those make a nice basis for a woodmen village...