Unboxing: Ambush at Amon-Hen

For about two years now, I’ve been building up a small collection of original boxes for "The Lord of the Rings", which, in my opinion, remains Games Workshop’s best game.

I was just five years old when the system was released, but I still feel a strong sense of nostalgia whenever I see the old green, red and blue boxes and blister packs.

Inspired by the recent games from our "Quest of the Ringbearer" campaign, I’ve decided to open one of the boxes for the first time and paint the contents. Of course, they could just stay on the shelf forever, but I think the miniatures look much better in a display cabinet!

 

Just look at this wonderful box design. A great still from the movie, wonderful earthy colours and just an overall great presentation. 

 

On the back, we see another magnificent image, featuring some truly beautiful scenery that used to appear on almost all White Dwarf articles and the boxes back then. This combination of a relatively simple grass mat, rocks and bushes is still very lovely to look at today and has aged very well. 

Wonderful! 

 

The box wasn’t sealed anymore, so I couldn’t breathe in the air from 2001, but everything’s still in brilliant condition.

We’ve got the plastic box containing the figures and a small promotional booklet.

Let’s start with the little booklet:

I think it’s simply brilliant! It’s really beautifully presented again, with the map of Middle Earth in the background, the wonderfully painted figures and the lovely green boxes… It really makes you want to buy more immediately.

What’s quite interesting, though probably already known to most people:

The "plastic" figures pictured here are actually the metal prototypes that were presumably used to get the models approved by New Line Cinema or simply to develop a concept for the box sets.

I find it really fascinating that these prototypes existed and that they were used on the back of all the boxes and in Games Workshop’s promotional material, in fact almost exclusively. The proportions, differ quite significantly in some cases from the actual plastic figures, and some details look nicer and sharper.

I’d give a lot for a few of these figures! As well as these two sets for the Fellowship, they also appeared on many other boxes: the Warriors of Minas Tirith, Uruk-hai Warriors or Warriors of Rohan, for example, to name but a few. But perhaps we’ll come across a few more as this series progresses.

Be that as it may, it’s a brilliant little booklet that I wouldn’t want to be without in my collection, even if it is just a nice commercial. 

But let’s move on to the miniatures themselves:

Inside the box we find the three companions Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, as well as Boromir, who has been mortally wounded by arrows.

On the evil side, there is a very attractive model of Lurtz, leader of the Uruk-hai scouts, armed with bow, three Uruk-hai scouts with swords and shields, and two more Uruk-hai, each carrying one of the hobbits, Merry and Pippin.

The latter two models are probably my favourites from the whole set, simply fantastic sculpts.

The figures in this box were sculpted by Alan Perry, Michael Perry and Brian Nelson, by the way.

What struck me straight away: Aragorn isn’t wearing an elven cloak!

I’m not entirely sure why not, and that’s probably my only criticism of this set. I find the model itself only okay, and then there’s the missing cloak… If my analogue sculpting skills were a bit better, I could probably sculpt the cloak myself, but I am not sure I can do it to be honest. 

But the rest is fantastic: Gimli swinging his axe in a very dynamic pose, Legolas in his classic pose as he fires an arrow, and our heroic Boromir, struck down by arrows, kneeling on the forest ground. The arrows are separate, as is his broken horn! What a lovely detail.

On the heartless, Hobbit-hunting site, which, according to film lore, is only a few months old at this point, we have a fantastic selection of figures with absolutely no flaws. 

Three Uruk-hai scouts with swords in very dynamic poses that go perfectly with the box’s cover image, the two Uruk-hai figures with Merry and Pippin mentioned earlier (also incredibly dynamic figures with superb folds, and the Hobbits are sooo well sculpted), and Lurtz with a bow, just as he’s about to draw a final arrow from his quiver to deliver the fatal shot to Boromir.

Brilliant figures, and I can’t wait to paint them.

There’s really nothing more I can say! It’s a great feeling to open up these old boxes and marvel at the beautiful miniatures.

I still believe that the miniature design back then with The Lord of the Rings was far ahead of its time, and for me it remains the benchmark for a good tabletop miniature to this day.

I hope you enjoyed this little unboxing, there are more to come! 

 

All the best

Lucas  

90 minutes Lurtz and two Amon Hen games

Yesterday, the next two games of our Quest of the Ringbearer campaign took place. 

My opponent's Uruk-hai were painted by him, I just added my captain with the two-handed axe and my 90 minute Lurtz to the force. 

It turned out that my opponent’s Lurtz figure was nowhere to be found, so just after work I painted one of my many Lurtz poses in a record-breaking 90 minutes!

Unfortunately, the figure had already been primed and poorly stripped, so there were still lots of thick layers of paint on it... I thought it was going to be a disaster, but you can salvage a lot with the final edge highlights.

And then things really got serious!

Unfortunately, the fellowship were unable to secure victory in the first two scenarios (Amon Hen is split into four games in the campaign).

In the first, Frodo has to escape whilst Aragorn holds off the frenzied horde. But just before the end, Frodo was overpowered… Gimli and Legolas arrived too late to help.

And in the second game, Boromir had to protect Merry and Pippin from being kidnapped by the Uruk-hai, which also failed. I think I used the wrong tactics here!

The games were still a great deal of fun, though, and I’m looking forward to the last two games at Amon Hen.

Uruk-hai Scout Captain

As I was so pleased with the first colour scheme test, I’ve now painted the second Uruk: the Scout Captain with the two-handed axe.

What a model!

Back in the day, owning one was like finding the Holy Grail… until Games Workshop simply brought it back into their regular range (for which I’m very grateful).  

I seem to recall that this figure was sometimes sold for 150 euros, and that was even before everything on eBay became so expensive in general!

All the better that I now have him in my collection and on display in my showcase.

I’ve been away from The Lord of the Rings for quite a while now, because I was so incredibly motivated by Warhammer… I reckon that’ll stay that way for a while yet, but a small squad of Uruks can’t do any harm if I fancy it.

The Lord of the Rings is just always good! It always feels like coming home (even though I paint them at home anyway… strange saying).

I hope you like him!

A little distraction: Uruk-hai scout

This week we’re finally continuing our Lord of the Rings campaign (Quest of the Ringbearer), and we’ve now reached Amon Hen.

The only figure my gaming partner is still missing is the once very rare Uruk-hai captain with a two-handed axe.

But before I could paint him, I wanted to test out the colours a bit. I’ve had an Isengard force in mind for quite some time now, featuring Uruk-hai scouts, Wildmen of Dunland and warg riders.

So here’s a first test! I’m not 100% satisfied yet, but I think that’s mainly down to some of the areas being painted a bit sloppily… Perhaps I should use black rather than brown as a base coat in future for such dark figures. That might help to increase the contrast a little more.

More city guards!

Hello everyone,

I’ve finished a few new figures: three new members of the Malko City Guard.

Among them is Captain Erwin Moretti, the son of a descendant of those who were forced to flee Reikland with the first Lord of Malko, and a Tilean merchant’s daughter.

He has been leading the City Guard’s halberdiers for many years and attaches great importance to appropriate attire (and good food too, from what one hears...).

Somewhere in the Border Princes...

As I promised earlier, I’d like to establish a sort of overarching story or plot for all my future and past Warhammer projects. Hopefully, this will, on the one hand, motivate me to keep developing these projects, and on the other, give the units and heroes more character.

I’ve chosen the Border Princes as the setting because there’s still a fair bit of freedom there to ‘make things up’ or not have to take the existing lore entirely at face value. 

I don’t want to give everything away just yet, but a lot of it will revolve around the city of Malko, which lies a little north of the Black Gulf on the River Treblecz. 

 

In the official lore, the city is described as relatively large and well-fortified, though with wooden palisades, which I’m not too keen on. 
In my imagination, the city is a bit larger and has strong walls, a bit like a northern Italian town.

Given the Black Mountains to the north, I imagine the Tilean influence on the region to be stronger than that of the Empire, which will be reflected to some extent in the local buildings, customs and clothing. 

In the existing lore, there is also only a mayor as leader of the town; I’ll turn this into a baron or count whose ancestors were forced to flee the Empire long ago. Through marriage to a Tilean princess, the ties to Tilea are very strong, which will become important later on.

Malko is renowned for being the breadbasket of the Border Princes. It appears that the lands surrounding the city are very fertile, and the grain is exported far and wide across the Old World. Its relative proximity to the Old Silk Road further enhances the importance of trade and accounts for the city’s wealth. 
Malko’s wealth is arguably exceptional for the Border Princes and must be adequately protected.

Thanks to his connections with Tilea, the city’s lord has many mercenaries under contract. Furthermore, the city militia and the small standing army – some of whom have been trained by Tilean military personnel – are inspired by Tilea and represent a force to be reckoned with in the Border Princes.

Due to the frequent orc attacks, the city’s troops are experienced fighters led by outstanding officers. 

One of the troops’ most important tasks is to keep the River Treblecz clear to ensure the free trade in grain. 
Small outposts and watchtowers have been erected along the river, all the way to its mouth at the Black Gulf, to provide early warning of raids by Orcs, pirates or envious princes, and to hold out for a time until reinforcements arrive.

So far, so good – more to follow soon!
I plan to build the bulk of the army using standard Imperial miniatures, but capture that Tilean flavour through a few conversions and the colour schemes. I also have a few mercenary regiments that are finally due a paintjob!
 

And here’s a first test miniature. It’s a brave warrior from the Malko City Guard, which will form several units and are called upon to deploy relatively often.

I hope you enjoyed this little excursion; hopefully there’ll be more of the same soon!

Gotrek and Felix will also play an important role....

Gotrek and Felix - Finally done!

I know it’s hard to believe, but: Gotrek and Felix are finished!

It really has been a very long journey, almost as if I’d trudged all the way from Altdorf to the Chaos Wastes on my own, without an airship to take me there.

I started on sculpting Gotrek over a year ago and thought I’d be able to finish the project in a couple of weeks. We’d even planned to do a presentation with the figures at the Szenario Con 2026! That didn’t work out in the end, but at least the figures are finished now.

Gotrek was painted a bit quicker than Felix, there aren’t that many different colours on him. The skin and, above all, the hair were quite challenging, though! I hate painting hair. But with dwarves, there’s really no getting round it.

The tattoos weren’t exactly a walk in the park either, but it turned out all right in the end. Don’t look too closely – they’re not identical on the left and right arms! Maybe they’re supposed to be, but I’ve no idea :D

It also turned out that I’d sculpted the intricate decorations on the axe too finely, which made painting them almost impossible. I ended up just using loads of washes, and didn’t show that area very clearly in the photos! 

I have to say, these have been a few productive weeks. Lots of projects that I’d been dreading for months are now finished.

Next, I think I’ll spend a bit of time fine-tuning my next project, my Border Princes campaign. Watch this space!

Gotrek and Felix are currently staying at a rather nice coaching inn somewhere on the southern edge of the Vaults, with a bunch of shady characters nearby...

Felix Jaeger

Like I promised: after the Austrians and the Prince on Griffon, I’ve finally got round to work on Gotrek and Felix.

I started with Felix this week (and actually managed to finish him – with the current heat outside, there’s nothing else to do anyway but sit indoors..):

 

I really enjoyed painting him, probably the first ‘normal’ 28mm figure since my Steel Legion tests I did a while ago. 

It didn’t turn out perfectly; unfortunately, I much prefer the back of the cloak to the front (mainly because of the dirt), but what can you do! Now he’s finished, and I can get on with Gotrek.

It really has taken long enough for me to get round to painting these figures.

I’m currently sketching out a little backstory for all my current and future Warhammer projects by the way!

This much I can reveal: it’s set in the Border Princes. 

And Gotrek and Felix will, of course, play a crucial role…

Prince on Griffon - Part 3 - Finished model!

And finally, finally, finally, it’s done and the prince is all painted up!

Goodness me, that was a job.

This is probably the most complex model I’ve ever painted. And also the most difficult to paint. The rider is moulded onto the body of the griffin; only the wings can be removed... And that made it very, very difficult to hold the piece and paint the fine details. The prince’s face and the fabric parts in particular were really hard to reach.

The glowing runes on the sword were also a major challenge. I’m still not entirely sure whether it looks good or not; I think I repainted them three times, at least on the back. I think it’s quite alright now; I certainly couldn’t have done any better :D

I must also say that I’m not 100% satisfied. The armour could have been a touch darker/less yellow and had more contrast, and the face was just incredibly difficult to reach... But now it’s done, and my army finally has its leader!

What’s more, after almost exactly nine years (I checked again – I bought this box in 2017), I’ve finally finished painting the elven half of the starter box. Unbelievable :D 

 

 

 

 

In total, my High Elves army now has 1200 points. With an eagle and 10 silver helms, I could expand it to 1500 next, but I think that’s enough for now.

Besides, the Ellyrians aren’t finished yet apart from one figure, so there’s still work to be done anyway.

I hope you like it! Soon I’d like to write a short post about the character’s background and take a few scenic photos of the army so far.

 

All the best and see you soon

Lucas  

Prince on Griffon - Part 2

Once again it's been a while since the last update, but I did not have a lot of time for the hobby lately. But I managed to finish the griffon!

Very proud of this figure so far. It was a lot of work, especially highlighting all the feathers... I am glad that it's done now.

Can't wait to field this figure in a battle!

Now on to the rider, I hope it does not take another two weeks.