Éowyn, Dernhelm and Merry

Then Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest. It seemed that Dernhelm laughed, and the clear voice was like the ring of steel. 'But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn am I, Éomund's daughter.'

JRR Tolkien, The Return of the King (1955)

Éowyn masquerades as the Rider Dernhelm, pulling the wool over the eyes of Théoden, Merry and the Witch King. This is a gorgeous 2019 plastic kit. You get a mounted Dernhelm and Merry- and Merry is detachable. He sits solidly without pinning or magnets and is easily removable. The join is not apparent. I enjoyed painting the cloaks, with a more grey tone for Merry's elven one.

sans Merry

avec Merry

You also get a dismounted Dernhelm and Merry.

"Her eyes grey as the sea were hard and fell,
and yet tears were on her cheek."

I also had a metal Éowyn - if I'm already painting two Éowyns, what is one more?

"... the helm of her secrecy had fallen from her,
and her bright hair, released from its bonds,
gleamed with pale gold upon her shoulders."

And I dug up an older metal Éowyn and Merry for completeness. I painted these over ten years ago, and was really happy with her face. I prefer my old Merry's underjacket colour.

"... maiden of the Rohirrim, child of kings,
slender but as a steel-blade, fair yet terrible."

War of the Ring epic game report with photos

I dusted off War of the Ring last weekend- I hadn't played it in three years. I printed out some excellent aide-memoirs from Universal Head as well as a 3D Mount Doom from Thingiverse, and set it up. I was The Shadow, Amnese was the Free Peoples.

The Shadow has to crush Middle Earth militarily or corrupt the Ringbearer, whilst the Free Peoples have to endure as the Ringbearer creeps to Mount Doom. It is an engrossing race against time, as concentrating on one aspect allows your opponent to get ahead in the other.

The pressure was on the Fellowship as the Nazgûl found them early, having taken the High Pass. Strider died protecting the hobbits.

Fellowship tries to sneak over the High Pass.

Saruman declared his allegiance with a successful assault at the Fords of Isen, following up with a siege at Helm's Deep.

Saruman seizes the Fords of Isen.

The Fellowship remained in dire straits, as both Boromir and Gandalf the Grey died. However, Gandalf the White then appeared in Lórien. Meanwhile, an evil army marched north from Dol Guldur to threaten the Woodland Realm.

Fellowship limps past Lórien.

The Fellowship broke, and Gollum led Frodo and Sam towards Gondor...

Breaking of the Fellowship.

... where a mighty horde bore down upon Minas Tirith. After a devastating journey, the Ringbearer rested here for several turns, giving The Shadow time to manoeuvre his armies.

Hobbits get only brief respite in Minas Tirith.

Helm's Deep finally falls after a bloody siege.

Saruman gloats as Helm's Deep is his.

Osgiliath falls, and Minas Tirith is besieged as Gandalf commands the defenders.

The hammer falls on Gondor.

Minas Tirith falls to the Witch King and Gandalf the White perishes.

Minas Tirith under siege.

But the hobbits sneak through the encircling armies...

Taking the Morgul path.

...and begin to climb Mount Doom.

On the slopes of Orodruin.

The Shadow pushes the Gondor remnants back to Dol Amroth.

Fall back to Dol Amroth!

Capitalising on a tactical error, Southrons seize Lórien. Edoras falls to Isengard. Shadow Victory is imminent!

Lórien is ravaged.

And then Frodo, aided by Samwise and Gollum, destroys the Ring of Power. Middle-earth is saved!

It is done.

Cue stirring music! I really like this game, and it is a pleasure to play with painted figures. Inspired, I went home and slapped paint on Mount Doom.

As the Shadow, I'm always aware that I can have certain victory ripped away from me by insignificant Shirefolk. I built up some big armies that took terrible losses as I drove them across Middle-earth. I put great pressure on the Fellowship, killing Gandalf and Strider and Boromir. The winning action was statistically unlikely but thematic- we worked out afterwards there was a 10% chance of Free People victory and a 90% chance of Shadow victory, hanging on a chit draw from a cup.

The unsung heroes were the defenders of Dol Amroth. They blunted the Witch King's offensive which, if successful, would have won me the game whilst Frodo was only halfway up the mountain.

The game took three hours. I didn't add in the expansions, because I'm not really familiar with the new rules. 

Highly recommended.

Journeys in Middle-Earth: Heroes and comparison to GW

I succumbed to its dark call, and got Journeys in Middle-Earth, a cooperative campaign boardgame. I had a lot of fun painting the miniatures- here they are on my criminally underused Realm of Battle:

Journeys in Middle-Earth heroes

 I really enjoyed painting their cloaks.

Aragorn

Legolas

Gimli

Bilbo

Beravor, female human ranger

Elena, female elf musician

The miniatures quickly grew on me. They're not identical to the wonderful Peter Jackson/ Alan Lee/ John Howe/ Weta Workshop visions, but are certainly similar and recognisable. I had thoughts of using my large-ish collection of gorgeous GW figures, but they are more fragile. And there's a significant size mismatch:

GW and FFG

Next week: the baddies!

Bilbo Baggins

I think I'm quite ready for another adventure. I'm being sucked towards FFG's new Journeys in Middle-Earth game, and realised I can fill most of the figures using GW's old range*. I don't have a painted Bilbo, and so took the opportunity to paint up this little guy.

And he really is little; I'm sure I've got bigger 18mm figures! I need to redo the base rim.

I wasn't alone in being disappointed by The Hobbit film trilogy, but you can't deny Martin Freeman was perfect casting. Here he is, in fine form:

*Except the females- there's only three women in Middle-Earth, and FFG adds two more...

Eucalyptus Bowl 2018

Last weekend was the 14th Eucalyptus Bowl. I took my new Khorne team (Hardcore Khorne) for a run. I suffered my first casualty in transit, as one of my pitfighters lost an arm... I'm not a fan of fiddly multipart metal figures. I used some coloured bands to help denote different skill choices- I've disliked this previously but it was quite handy..

Overview: 6 games, 2 days, regen, ~125kgp including skills.

Hardcore Khorne

Day 1
Match 1- Aaron's Orcs, Bigteef's Bruisers

I felt I was the stronger player here, but could not roll dice to help myself. I sustained a meaty six casualties (causing none myself), allowing Aaron to come back and equalise 2-2. This game was played on a thematically illustrated chaos pitch.

Khorne ploughs into Orcs on the line

Match 2- Joekano's Chaos Dwarves, the Sky Bullocks

I was just able to scrape a 1-0 win here, with both of us on 2-2 casualties.

Locking horns! Minotaur vs Bloodthirster

Match 3- Dean's Wood Elves, the Maverick Renegades

I was looking forwards to playing a squishier team, but was wary of the Elve's ability to perform impossible plays. My Bloodthirster finally got revved up and rampaged about the pitch. Despite causing him 4 casualties, Dean came back to equalise 2-2 and almost pulled out a win!

Wardancer knocks over the ball carrier, but is now next to the Bloodthirster...

So, at the end of Day 1 I was doing better than I had anticipated with two draws and a win.

Day 2
Match 4- Glen's Chaos Dwarves- The Masters of Pain

Another Chaos Dwarf team! Joy! Glen played this team well (he came third overall) with a textbook grinding, attritional play to win 2-1. Again, I suffered six casualties... Very nicely painted side.

Chaos Dwarves blunt the Khorne offense

Match 5- Creature's Halflings- Viva la Carnage

I've know Creature for years as a strong player, and I certainly don't misunderestimate the 'Flings. I was 2-1 down and had a chance to equalise but couldn't.

Khorne tries to stop the Flings.

Match 6- Andrew's Ogres- The Dancing Clowns

I really struggled against this fat wall of meat, and again suffered 5-0 casualties. Andrew got his revenge for my cheeky win against him in January by throwing a Halfling in the last turn to win 2-1. Pure Blood Bowl!

Too many Ogres! Can't run through or around them...

Day 2 was nowhere near as enjoyable as Day 1, with three losses. But I didn't have high expectations and my opponents were great fun, so all in all it was another memorable tourney.

Winning team and also Best Painted- Slann

The Bloodthirster, when it gets going, is terrific fun. But if (as happened to me a lot) it is out of action or not performing, then the rest of the team have to lift their game and they don't really have it in them.

Blood Bowl for the Blood Bowl God!

Overall, there were 50 coaches and I came 37th- down from 6th last year! This now means I have played 24 of the official 26 teams- #NerdGoals

Halflings get thumped at Blood Bowl

I took place in a mini-BB league recently, six progression games in six weeks. I could only make four games, and thought (foolishly) it would be good to take my halflings for a run. Ouch.

My starting roster was two Treemen, ten Halflings, one reroll. My strategy was to induce Deeproot and a Master Chef each game, which I was able to do.

The Wild Flings

Match 1. The Mariners (Human). 3-1 loss. I always enjoy playing my old opponent, Vimes. I got a hilarious TD at the end of the first half where the ball bounced from player to player before I caught it next to the end zone. After that, the league went downhill! I suffered 5 casualties and handed out 3.

Mariners vs Wild Fling

Match 2. The Queens of Lorien (Wood Elves). 4-2 loss. Despite their relatively weak armour, I lost this game to attrition against the Woodies, suffering 6 casualties.

Halflings try to stop the agile Wood Elf play

Match 3. The Zharr-Naggrund Bankers Union (Chaos Dwarves). 2-1 loss. Halflings struggle against Chaos Dwarves- they're faster, tougher, hurtier, and ignore your Dodge skill... I suffered 6-0 casualties, including two deaths, so I think I did OK to only lose by one TD!

Brave Halflings try to stem the Chaos Dwarf onslaught

Match 4. Ursurer's Guild- (Chaos Dwarves). 4-1 loss. What's worse than a Chaos Dwarf team? Two Chaos Dwarf teams! This match was a slaughter. I was so close to conceding, and I don't think I've ever done that before. I suffered 9 casualties... thankfully, the league ended!

Desperate Halflings run the gauntlet

CanCon 2016- Halflings play Blood Bowl!

The Wild Flings!

I took my new Halfling team, The Wild Flings, to CanCon for the Blood Bowl tournament. Pics of my team can be found here.

(Eight games over three days, progression, 1 000 kgp, full inducements except no cards, Swiss)

My starting team was two treemen, nine 'flings, one reroll. My intent was to keep my team value very low to allow me to induce Deeproot Strongbranch and a Master Chef every round.

Day 1:

Game 1: Peakie's Chaos Dwarves, The Mad Hatter's Tea Party. I lost 2-0 and sustained 5-0 casualties, luckily nothing serious.

The trees punch a hole for the 'fling with the ball to waddle forwards!

Game 2: Wesdrum's Lizardmen, The Lounge Lizards. An interesting match up, which I managed to lose 2-1. Memorably, Deeproot threw one of my 'flings into the crowd...

Can the 'Flings score from here? (No)

Game 3: bor1s's Dwarves, The Nuffbar Nutpunchers. Two dwarven teams on one day? I only suffered 4-1 casualties, and lost 2-1 again.

The Nutpunchers strike down the wide zone

Day 2:

Game 4: Devil's Reject had his incredibly unlucky Pro Elves, The Turquoise Turtles, but was still able to beat me 3-2. That's four losses in a row now...

A stoic 'fling line faces down the elven passing game

Game 5: I played against Freckle's Halflings, G.N.O.M.E. 'Fling on 'fling action! She went for a bigger team, but I was able to induce Deeproot and the Chef, and cracked out a 2-1 win! Woot!

Timber! A mechanical tree takes down Deeproot Strongbranch

Game 6: I played against Big A's intimidating Khemri, but was able to hold him off to a 1-1 draw.

A tree catches the ball!

Day 3:

Game 7: Another Dwarf team! I did well against Dreadful Dan's Bola Profrandas, having him 2-1 down, but then he scored in the very last turn to equalise- I was robbed!

'Flings move into the dwarven half of the pitch

Game 8: Against Vimes' Nurgle, The 48th Legion. This time, I robbed him of a likely 3-2 win, coming away with a 2-2 draw. Vimes say's he'll put up a special report on this truly tense, fun and exciting match on his blog in the near future.

One 'fling stands alone against the horrible Nurgle

Overall results:

One win, three ties, four losses. The Wild Flings came 28th of 36 teams, which isn't last! Woohoo!

The overall winner was Chopper and his Undead, The Immortals.

The champion's trophy

Thoughts and conclusions:

I really enjoyed playing the 'flings. The pressure to win is off, and you can just enjoy yourself. I'd have loved to get another win in there, but I can be happy with their performance.

I was pleased with my starting roster, which worked perfectly as intended. I was (just) able to induce Deeproot and the Master Chef for every game. Three trees are very hard for an opposing coach to overcome. I got Puggy Baconbreath out a few times as well, and he shone in my last game.

Puggy Baconbreath

I acquired the Grab skill on both my treemen, which was useful as they often Took Root, but I do wonder if Break Tackle would have been more flexible despite their movement of two.

I will definitely play the 'flings again!