Adventures on the Wargames Table

I found this in a box recently and thought “Hello old friend!”. Haven’t listened to it for many years so I’m currently really enjoying it whilst I get on with a bit of hobby fun. Originally recorded by the BBC in 1981 (though subsequently remastered for better sound quality) it’s a little dated in some ways but I rather think that just adds to the charm. A few of the sound effects definitely remind me of Monty Python! Anyway, if you like LotR and haven’t listened then I certainly recommend it. Here are a couple of pictures of some of the cast during recording sessions. More info here .

Having seen Jenny and I play some Chain of Command recently, my youngest - Katie - asked if we could play some Lord of the Rings games. A superb idea indeed! As we hadn't played for ages I decided to keep it to a simple scrap between Thorin's Company (with some Elves helping out) and a variety of Goblins. The Company, pursued by angry Goblins, have taken shelter in an abandoned farmstead in the wilderness. Here they are. Here come the Goblins! Thorin had directed Fili and Kili to set some traps, so Katie was able to set up three hidden traps that would be activated at the end of any Goblin movement phase if they were close enough. She really enjoyed using these! Having made their way across the table - being shot at by Dwarf bows, a few spells and the traps - the Goblins close in on Thorin and Company. This was also the point at which both sides reinforcements were activated. Here come the first wave of extra Goblins ... "They have a Cave Troll!" At ...

Quite a few years ago these figures were partially painted then went back in to storage. But alas the box they were in somehow got rather squashed and many of the figures were quite badly damaged, especially the plastic models. However, with all this renewed enthusiasm for LotR I decided to have a go at repairing them and finishing off the painting ... and I'm rather pleased that I did! (To think that I nearly threw them away at one point too!). Anyway, here they are. They are mix of the plastic and metal boxed sets that GW brought out some years back. The metal figures just got a bit 'bent' with the odd arm breaking off. The plastics really needed some TLC to get them back in shape. As you can see, one of the bases had to be replaced. They took quite a beating!? The paint scheme is deliberately simple, keeping to a small palette of mainly browns and greys. I'm looking forward to getting them on the table for a game.

... a peaceful village gets back to work after being visited by a patrol of Rangers and Warriors. What's this!? Middle Earth when the Western Front seemed top of my list? Well, dear reader, yes and no. I have been largely focussed on WW1 but then on Friday my youngest discovered a box of LotR Elves and asked if we could paint them and play some games! ... Certainly, was my reply. So, on Saturday I quickly painted up an Elf warrior so as to show what they might look like when painted. On Sunday morning Katie started painting her own Elf archer. Whilst painting she asked if we could play a game and use her figure. Crumbs but it's been ages since I last ventured in to Middle Earth on the tabletop but how could I possibly refuse? I asked her what sort of game what she'd like to play. "Don't worry" she said, "I'll explain as we go along" and she set to thinking up a scenario and back ground. Here's the small village she arranged. Her id...

After reading (a) James Morris' article in WSS, and (b) Andy Hawes' blog about playing Lord of the Rings, I was inspired to get back in to playing wargames in Middle Earth. I picked up a copy of this rulebook (after selling mine a few years back!?) for a bargain price in Ebay last week. My girls were delighted with the idea of playing some Lord of the Rings (not on the Wii) so a game was clearly in order. So I spent about 30 minutes digging through boxes (we're getting ready to move - possibly) to find the necessary forces; Minas Tirith and Mordor. I decided to keep the game fairly simple. I left out lots of the advanced rules such as Might, Will & Fate, different weapons, etc. The result would have been a straightforward encounter, but I decided to make things a little more interesting... the premise of the scenario was that some of the outlying farms near the White City were being attacked by roving bands of Mordor Orcs. Gondor must strike back at the enemy! ...

Years ago I bought quite a few of the LotR range of figures from GW. I never really got that in to the so-called "Strategy Battle Game" as I found it quite unrewarding... However, now we have SAGA, plus the forthcoming Hobbit movie has once again piqued my interest in gaming with these figures. Here's a couple of test figures for a paint scheme for my Dwarfen force. I think the deep red plus the white linen effect go quite well, especially with the gold edging. What do you think? I have a large Moria Goblin force already complete, not to mention a whole heap of Orcs. Initially I'd use the standard SAGA boards for Vikings (Dwarfs) and Welsh (Goblins - apologies to any Welsh readers I can assure you it's nothing personal!). The next step would be to get my own dice made by Warbases and then create my own battleboards for each side. Some close ups. I've just noticed that the bases need tidying up with a bit of black around the edges!? Ooop...