FIRST OF THE HARADRIM

 I'm making all posts on my phone at the moment, so apologies if they come out wonky.  Here are some of the Haradrim infantry for the Minas Tirith '84 project. 

All Hinchliffe Yonderly Men from their fantasy range with the exception of the standard bearer who is a Citadel illusionist. There's another unit of these guys with spears to come. 

WADING THROUGH BASING

 One of the things I find a real chore with old school projects, is the basing. I've disciplined myself to spend a few days slapping wall filler onto MDF bases so I can then crack on with the fun part of painting. 

Here we have the Riders of Rohan almost finished. A mix of Hinchliffe and Heritage figures. To make the whole process bearable, I'm listening to The Lord of the Rings read by Rob Inglis.... 

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EASTERLINGS OF RHUN

 36 hours after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine and I'm feeling pretty ropy.... less ropy than if I had Covid 19 I daresay, so mustn't grumble.

Here are the Easterlings of Rhun. Described by Tolkien as being bearded and bearing axes, which is conveniently vague. Once again I've opted for Hinchliffe figures at 90p each, rather than Citadel figures at £5 plus each. These are Sarmatian axemen, soon to be in production again from Lancashire Games.

Ten Thousand Apologies

I crave your pardon one and all. For some reason, Blogger had decided to moderate all comments made without telling me. This was flagged up by Major Mike in a Facebook chat. I'm so sorry I haven't replied to them, but at least they are visible now. More shiny LOTR coming soon.

An Anti-Paladin in hospital

 Some time ago I acquired a large lot of old Citadel figures, some of which had the dreaded leadrot. The seller wasn't a mini collector and I got them at s good price so I didn't make a fuss. They languished a few months on my desk looking folorn until this morning when they were sent to a spa bath of Mineral oil and pure Turpentine. Here they are recuperating before being undercoated. The mix of oil and turps had a very distinctive smell which instantly reminded me of going brass rubbing as a child.

Season's Greetings from Run Dingill.

 

A long overdue post, I really had to show my latest piece of  terrain , handmade for me by the very talented Geoff Solomon-Sims of Oakbound Studios. It is a model of Dun Ringill, an Iron age fort on the Isle of Skye. I've wanted to make this more many years, but something always got in the way of starting it. Happily, Geoff volunteered to make it, and in record time it was winging it's way to me. It's going to be called Run Dingill and is the headquarters of the Stormwatch led by Admiral Sirius, pictured here mustering outside the walls. The attention to detail is mind boggling and is fully documented here in one of Geoff's weekly videos which are well worth tuning into each Wednesday. So many many thanks Geoff... I'm sure I'll be asking you to make more terrain for me in the future, a frozen lake perhaps and some towering ice pinnacles.

It's been a very strange year of course, and I have been incredibly lucky (so far) in that the pandemic, really has had a minimal impact on my life. My work carried on as normal, my wife was furloughed on full salary and oldest son started Forestry college as planned. Having said that, my old Mum passed away just as the first lockdown started (at 93, non Covid related), and at the start of the year I was being knocked about by Hypo-Thyroidism, now thankfully under control, so 2020 is a year I won't remember fondly, but as things go, I think I got off pretty lightly.

I've got too many projects on the go of course. As always in the winter I get back into Dungeons and Dragons, and am determined to get some more figures finished for Monster Manual Monday and Fiend Folio Friday. My Joe Dever Minas Tirith collection is under way and I hope to be able to show some results soon, starting off with some Haradrim and Mumakil.

I've found I've had a lot less time to look at other peoples blogs and comment on them, so for this I apologise. Partially due to me wasting time looking at facebook groups. I really do prefer blogs rather than fleeting facebook posts, but they are more time consuming to put together. A happy medium may be Instagram....

Anyhow, I hope you all have as good a Christmas as you possibly can and we all look forward to a year without Trump, endless Brexit cock ups and perhaps even Covid-19.

TO CATCH A THIEF

Last week, I had a comment from a reader called Yaztromo's Confectioner , informing me of a battle report in the magazine GM, featuring Joe Dever's collection. Needless to say I was on eBay in seconds and found the correct issue April 1989 for a couple of quid. It arrived yesterday and I quickly flicked through to the correct pages. The first thing that struck me was the truly stunning mullet sported by one of the participants, but once I overcame my shock at seeing that I settled down to read the article called To Catch a Thief. The scenario appears to be set in the world of Lone Wolf, ie. Magnamund, but in most other respects it's a direct copy of the Thistlewood scenario in White Dwarf 45. We have a thief called Dal Khordas ( in Thistlewood he's Foro Malas) who has stolen a magic sceptre (TW a chalice). The good king Alin (TW Amias) has mobilised a small force to hunt it down aided by his ally Prince Pelethar (TW Baron Galen). The villain Kraagenskul ( TW Vassago) is keen to find the sceptre which the thief has hidden somewhere in the village of Marshbury ( Thistlewood). The forces have to hunt through the village looking for the magic artefact. There's even a teleporting tomb/ crypt and a magic sword which attracts undead just as there is in the Thistlewood scenario. Sadly there are no maps or army lists in this article, but several tantalising pictures where I can see stalwarts of Joe's collection as well as newer slotta based figures. This really is a great find and I'd like to thank Yaztromo's Confectioner for bringing it to my attention.

The resin church in the centre was in the last report I found. I have one of these, but don't know the manufacturer.

The unit of red cavalry was in the last report I found, and I believe they are Minifigs Cataphracts.

To the left we have an entire unit of LOTR mounted Nazgul...I can only assume Joe had access to cheap figures from Citadel.

Left foreground some Riders of Rohan from the 1985 Citadel range... behind them are Knights of Dol Amroth which featured in Joe's later games as Knights of Durendor from Lone Wolf.

Pretty sure I can see a big unit of Lone Wolf Giaks in the right foreground. Far left midground are the Red Minifigs knights that crop up in many of Joe's games, including Thistlewood.