The Battle of the Five Armies

 Here's a shot of James Morris' Lonely mountain with the only missing element...thousands of blood drinking bats. 

The Battle of the Five Armies at Partizan.

well...what a bloody marvellous couple of days I've just had. Taking all my figures to a show for the first time was a little nerve racking, but the effort really paid off. I had an excellent time and met some great new friends too in the process.

The board and mountain were excellent too, crafted by the talented James Morris. I had never deployed my whole army in one go before, so what better time to do it than on a set up like this. Everything seemed to come together perfectly.

I started my battle with the orcs at the bottom of the hill advancing across the mountain river. However, due to my terrible dice rolling and the luck of the Elves, I was cut and shot to pieces. It wasn't long before my tattered ranks were tumbling back through the freezing water. The Elves just had time to redress their lines before another dark wave of Goblin folk arrived.

I love the walled up gate that James made, the little gaps in the stonework were perfect. It really reminded me of one of Alan Lees illustrations. Also a very clever use of silver fabric for the river...very effective!

The Eagles arrived later in the game and swept the Goblins from the mountain sides. The game was masterfully run by David Hunter, who made sure the flo was just right.

My Eagles looked very realistic on the slopes of the mountain too, better than I had hoped for. The extra poses were well worth collecting over the last ten years. The flying ones on stands were a very recent purchase and they really stood out.

The game in full flo, it drew a big crowd and it was great to talk figures with people. A lot of people wanted to know where I got my Orcs from and of course the answer was...everywhere. Also the amount of plastic model kits used was very hard to calculate. Just about every Dark age and Fantasy box set all mashed up and mixed together.

I love my Wood elves after lovingly creating each one individually and got a huge buzz from seeing them in action. I didn't really care they were cutting my forces to ribbons, just seeing them used in anger was enough for me.

Hordes of Goblins still plagued the mountainside, their numbers were too much even for the Eagles.

Thorin was cut down by Bolg's bodyguard as he tried to cut through their great shields. Bard of Laketown too, fell to the hacking Goblin blades. Dain of the Iron hills was holding his own but was badly wounded. At last it seemed like the Free people's luck had run out. 

Then with a roar like a thunderclap Beorn burst onto the scene. He tore through the Goblin ranks and made his way to Bolg. Approaching the rear of Bolg's bodyguard he shattered their formation.

It was at this point the Orc's morale was lost and the game was called. The rules were Jame's new Midguard ones and were perfect for this Dark age epic clash of men and monsters.

I had a great couple of days and it was a real treat to get out and do something exciting like this. To my amazement I didn't suffer any spear snaps of breakages and everything survived intacted. I was expecting a few casualties and had even taken a little repair kit but didn't need it.

Dain's Iron hills Dwarves push the Goblins from the ridge, supported by a group of Lake men.

An earlier shot of the swirl of battle.

The nine Black riders with their Dark lord 

My beloved Silvan elves holding their own against ravaging wolf packs.

I said it once, I'll say it again, what a bloody marvellous couple of days!

 I'm sure I'll have some more pictures soon to post on here of the day...
 

Partizan set up

well, we made it safe and sound. James Morris has done a fantastic job on the Lonely mountain.

My figures are on the board and will be joined by many others tomorrow from other collections.

 The 'really useful boxes' certainly earned their name today.

The Armies march to Partizan

The last Dwarf base done just in time for the big weekend. It's the Other Partizan show this weekend and I'll be there with my armies. So if you fancy seeing a massive Hobbit battle...pop along.

The battle will be fought using the new Midguard rules by James Morris. It proves to be a great Sunday especially if you're a Tolkien fan.

Today I have collect everything together and pack it as best I can to stop any travel casualties. I have always painted my figures to play at home so have never magnetised them onto metal sheets.

 I'm going to rely on nonslip matting and bubble wrap to get them there...I'm planned for a few accidents by hopefully, touch wood, all will be okay. It's been a lot of last minute painting but I'm looking forward to it.

Most of these Dwarves are old sculpts from Nick Lund.

That Reaper figure jumped the painting que and made the last company to leave the Iron Hills.

A couple of last minute Bolg bodyguard bases. I had planned to do more but time caught up with me. At least all the important stuff is done, like Beorn and the Eagles.

A coat of gloss on weapon edges and armour helps to catch the eye on the metal work. Dwarves are master smiths after all, their armour and weapons would be of high quality.

 Come along on Sunday it would be nice to see you.

Finally the two meet, Bolg and bigger Beorn.

My old Beorn figure is dwarfed by the new addition. The new bear has a lot more presence to him and should look the part on Sunday.

Hobbit Production Line

Here is Beorn in his full fury. He has been given a Matt varnish that really helped. This proved even more effective once his mouth, eyes and nose was given a coat of gloss varnish. This brought him to life and gave him a sparkle in his eye.

I ended up putting more and more greenstuff on him until he was completely covered. It's good to have him covered in thick, shaggy fur as he looks more wild and rugged.

The Eagles are coming! Eagles and White wolves get their various layers of flock.

A lovely new Reaper miniatures Dwarf joins the latest group of Dwarves. Reaper make great 'hero' figures to adorn any warband. They can be quite large sculpts so it can be a risky business ordering them, this one is perfect though.

Beorn's base has to be 24cm wide for the game I'm playing, so two side bases were made. These bring the base up to the right measurement and allow for more bear carnage.

Beorn with his slobbering maw but cute adorable shiny eyes.

More goblin wreckage. Wargs too have not escaped the Bears fury and lie amongst the fallen. A few goblins still cling to life.

It was fun to sculpt great claw wounds in the orcs clothes and equipment. Everything has been torn and crushed to pieces.

Beorn's base with some Bodyguard of Bolg behind him. I'm not sure I'll have time to finish this big orcs before the weekend.

Bard of Lake town with his new fixed banner. This banner was a bit too tall for the storage box and the spearpoint snapped off, twice!. So using my flattened brush bristle technique, he's got a new much tougher one. The plastic used for brush bristles make them fantastic for super glue!

As Bard needs to be free to roam around, another replacement base was needed. Here is Bard with a fellow command stand. Bard is another Reaper Miniatures figure and is slightly bigger than most. This is fine as he is a hero and it suits his manly character.

More carnage, this poor Warg has been disemboweled. This is pretty grim but I did have fun sculpting it. Facing a giant werebear was never going to end well. Again, a coat of gloss helps bring it to life 

Another shot of the basing production line.

Bard of Esgaroth.

 The blue theme really helped to tie these militia type troops together. I tested the new banner tip and it comes below the storage box height, hopefully it won't get crushed again.