Wednesday 18 March 2015

Look at the trees, they're moving!

      This post is going to be yet more proof that I should stay away from all other hobbyists and never utter a single word online about the hobby, because yet again, a conversion with a gaming mate has lead me down the slippery slope of yet more projects, and yeah, this time I think it could be multiple projects.
       Back last August when I had a game of Lord of the Rings with my old regular opponent (Matt), I said something about LotR being one of my old favourite games, and this got us thinking.Why had we fallen out of the habit of organising games? I know the answer is going to be real life and priorities, but still, there is nearly always a way to organise something, even semi-regularly. So a mere 6 months later we had another couple of games, that I forgot to take photos of, and we started planning. 
       I think part of the turn off with the game that we were having, is even though the random scenarios are some of the best and most varied of any other game system, when both players armies are variations of the same theme every time, games are going to get a bit stale. I was always solid blocks of Uruk Hai, Matt was always a mix of Rohan, with the occasional Minas Tirith mixed in. So first plan, new armies. 
       Second plan though is probably my favourite; Story scenarios from the back of the books. First up will be 'The last march of the Ents'. 500 points of Isengard forces vs 3 Ents and Treebeard. As we only had the one Ent between us and that belonged to Matt, it meant we had to do some serious ebay scouring, and I have to say I am really pleased with the result.

Lotr lord of the rings ent ents treebeard gw game

       The 3 new additions to our Ent army(?), an old metal GW Treebeard, a current plastic GW Ent and a long out of production Warhammer fantasy Treeman.

lotr treebeard model miniature ent

      First up has to be Treebeard. This was an ebay find and one of my better ones, a really nicely painted Treebeard for about a third of the price of a new one in GW, and all I had to do was re-base it so it matches the rest of my models.

converted lotr ent warhammer fantasy treeman oop metal willow

       Second is the old warhammer fantasy treeman, who I have tried to make it look like a willow tree ent. The willow tree branches are wire, stuck into holes drilled in the top of the body, and covered in the flock that I saved from the box my order of scenery from the Last Valley came in, so that he matches some of my scenery collection.

lotr ent plastic kit converted conversion

      Lastly is the current GW plastic ent kit, who hasn't escaped a bit of conversion either. As I orginally thought the 3 normal ents were all going to be based on the same kit I wanted my first to look different, so I cut down his thighs so that he stands slightly shorter than normal to give a bit of height variation, then I cut every single branch off of the spare limbs and stuck them around the body to make him look much bushier than the normal kit.

Thanks for reading

6 comments:

  1. Great job Mike! Sorry I haven't been visiting much, still having trouble with my blog roll.

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    1. Thanks Bob. That's fine mate, I've been so busy with work that I have basically stopped commenting on other people's blogs, I am reading them all, but not always commenting.

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  2. Nice one.

    I've always loved that old GW treeman.

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    1. Thanks Roy. Yeah same as me, that's why when I realised I could make it work I just went for it.

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  3. Brilliant! I do love LOTR, and the ents on the warpath is one of my favorite parts in the books, looking forward to your write up of the battle.

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    1. Thanks Spiderweb. Hopefully it'll be in a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to it to!

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