Welcome back to Master of Magics ‘Hobby Workshop’, our series of articles looking at what myself and our little community has been painting over the last month. This month I have had a real fire lite under me with the announcement of Age of Sigmar 3rd edition, and as a result I’ve managed to get my ‘Stonecast’ Eternals from a meagre 500 points all the way up to 2,000 points. I mean, it’s not a competitive 2,000 points, but at least it is all painted and ready for 3rd edition. I have also been working on something else with a bunch of my other local hobbyists, which works in real nicely with this week’s #MonthlyModelMelee theme of ‘Leaders and Heroes’. So, let’s not waste any time and get right to it.
First up we have an addition 5-man unit of Liberators to get me to the 3 unit minimum I need for a 2,000 point force. My original two units were from the Thunder & Blood box set, which also came with 3 Retributors and my Lord-Relictor. I also ended up picking up the old Storm of Sigmar box to give me enough Retributors for a legal minimum unit, and this left me with 3 spare Liberators. So, I headed to eBay and found a couple of the tester models they give away with the 1st edition start collecting magazine to flesh out the squad, and after modelling a bit of battle damage on each I had myself another battleline unit.
I also got myself a box of multipart Retributors, which added together allows me to take two 5-man units or a single block of 10, depending on the needs of my army. I also ordered a few back issues of the Mortal Realms magazine, mainly the ones that came with the Knight-Questor, Lord-Exorcist, and Stormsire’s Cursebreakers. Not only were these magazines great value for money, but they allowed me to fill out my hero’s options quite nicely. I made sure to give them the same damage stone statue treatment I did with my other units, and also swapped Averon’s head for a helmeted one (which makes them look more like a stone golem than the bare head would have).
I also needed someone to lead these stone automata from the front, and so I added a Lord-Celestant as it is probably one of my favourite miniatures from the entire range (not to mention his command ability is not too bad either).
Lastly, I added some good old pups with a 6-model strong unit of Gryph-Hounds, to add some much-needed speed to my as of now quite slow force. “But that is only 1,420 points” I hear you cry, and yes you are right. So, to finish of my army, I would need to add over 500 points, even if a did take an additional Command Point to start the game with. Luckily, I had a miniature that I have been wanting to paint for quite a while now that just so happens to come in at around 500 points.
That right, I went and added the legendary Gotrek Gurnisson to my army of Order. Not only is the model and excellent piece on the tabletop, but it’s probably one of the hardest hitting units in the game. While I am yet to get him on the tabletop for a proper game, I have done some Gotrek vs the World mini games and the results have been spectacular. His greatest deed to date is slaying a Dread Saurian in two rounds of combat, and that was with subpar dice rolls. I doubt he will stay in my list, as when my collection grows, I’ll probably end up dropping him for more Stormcasts. But for now he will have fun slaying all he comes across in the Mortal Realms.
But Age of Sigmar wasn’t the only things I worked on this month. For you see, a group of us in my local wargaming circle have decided to start of own “Tale of X Warlords”. But we won’t be heading to the far future or the realms of fantasy for this particular tale. No, we will be heading to Middle Earth as we all build ourselves a 750 points Lord of the Rings force.
Now I know there are those among you who probably disliked the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, seeing it as the least popular of GW’s current gaming systems. But I for one used to be a huge fan of this little game. Not only was it a different and unique gaming system compared to Games Workshops other titles, but the miniature range was absolutely beautiful. Seriously, go look at the model range and tell me they aren’t some of the best sculpts GW has ever put out for their size. I played quite a bit of LotR back in the day, but ended up letting my collection go to waste in storage for the last 10 or so years.
So, when Jack from our local hobby store Patriot Games in Sheffield suggested we build up some armies for a Tale of Four Warlords project, a bunch of us all jumped at the task (myself included). There were so many of us in fact that we quickly had to drop the ‘Four’ from the title. Each of us would pick a faction, then over the course of the next few months build up and paint a 750point forces, while also hopefully meeting up for some games now that lockdown seems to be easing. The first stop on this adventure was to try and paint up around 250 points by the end of the month.
I decided to do something I always wanted to do and run the entire Fellowship, as an army of elite heroes. Heroes had always been a big part of LotR, so it seemed fitting that at least one of us went all in on the Fellowship. For this month a painted Gandalf and Aragorn (as well as digging up an old exclusive see through Fordo for the collection). Gandalf was from the plastic box set but I wanted a different model for my Aragorn, as I wasn’t the biggest fan on the plastic version. As the future king of Gondor I wanted a more heroic pose for him, so I dug up my old metal one from the old Ambush at Amon Hen kit, which I think cuts a more imposing figure.
As for my fellow Warlords, we have Jack and his Lothlorien legion of elves. So far, they are only few in number, but these ancient warriors are more than a match for any of the other forces in Middle Earth. I expect these woodland elves to grow fairly quickly over the next month and can’t wait to see them completed.
We also have the stalwart warriors of the dwarfs, commanded by Gareth Mosley. Gareth has decided to show all of us up and paint far more than the 250 point target. However, I can’t fault him, as when the hobby bug bites it’s hard to stop yourself. Apparently, he is getting himself a ballista for his next 250 points, which I’m sure has nothing to do with my Aragorn.
Richard Skelton on the other hand has chosen to put his faith in men. The men of Rohan to be exact. With a whole host of horse men ready to trample over his enemies, I’m expecting Richard to be quite the successful Warlord in our future games. Maybe taking only nine heroes was a bad plan!
Next we have James Searle, who is one of only a few players to throw in his lot with the dark lord. James’ army of Warg Riders promise to be a real pain to deal with, and they aren’t coming alone. Yes, they are bringing the monstrous Shelob along for the ride, which I’m sure will be a terror on the battlefield. Maybe I need to get my Sam painted if I’m to stand a chance.
Finally today we have Philip Roberts, and his warriors if Isengard. These brutal looking Uruk Hai look like they are ready to tear into some man flesh, which has me more than a little bit concerned. I remember how hard hitting they used to be, and from what I have read they are still quite able to dish out some damage. Here’s hoping I’m ready for the slaughter when we meet on the battlefield.
And that will do it for today. I’ll be back next month with next Hobby Workshop of 2021. This month’s #MonthlyModelMelee theme is Creatures of the Mortal Realms, so have some fun painting some deadly critters this month. If you want a chance to have it featured in the next article, make sure to share it with us either of on Twitter @TenguPlaysGames, or via our Facebook page. If you don’t want to miss out on that or any of the other great content we do here at Master of Magics, please like and subscribe to keep up to date.
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