Monday, December 31, 2012

Goodbye 2012!

Finished ruins (small pieces) for my Osgiliath board





Ruined terrain pieces I plan to use on the Osgiliath - gotten from E-Bay - Drzu's Treasures and I believe they are Scibor Monstrous Miniatures

   Well, another year is over. I need to plot & plan for what I want to accomplish in 2013 as far as painting figures and doing gaming projects. I want to concentrate on a single project at a time and finish it, but I know that's not realistic. But having half-a-dozen going on at a time has made me not get anything done. So NO commission painting for 2013. I just need to get those 15mm ACW done for a friend and really buckle down and get my 25mm plastic Russians for Bolt Action done as well as the larger ruined terrain pieces for Osgiliath. THEN start/finish something else. Easy to say, we will see if I can do it.

  This coming Sunday (1/6/2013), I plan a play test of  LOTR Siege of Minas Tirith at Aero Hobbies (2918 Santa Monica Boulevard Santa Monica, CA 90404) for Historical Miniatures Gaming Day (Yes, I know it's NOT a historical game!) to see if my re-written forces list works. Photos and more will follow.

Happy New Year to all my Followers!

TTFN
Larry



Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Where did November go?

The real world ate it, along with a 2 week cold and Thanksgiving and my wedding anniversary, etc. So on to my brief update.
  Why what's that you say? It Minas Tirith! Yes it is. Due to time and monetary issues I will have to postpone Osgiliath to a Con later in 2013, May or September. I just need more ruined buildings than I thought and to construct or buy them is not an option right now. But, having a clever thought now and then, I always save a copy of the scenario and all other notes to a disk plus hard copies of rosters and such in a folder. So I have a copy of everything I need should I wish to dust off an old game and run it again, which I will do in this case.

                                             "And I will be there to defend the city!"

   "AND I WILL BE THERE TOO!"
      Indeed you will, oh Lord of the Nazgul! As will be Gandalf. This scenario I have found to be a popular one, as you have Gandalf, a Nazgul, Troll, and lots of other fun things to run. And using seige towers and trebuchets to knock down walls is a hoot too! In the mean time I plan to figure what to do about the ruined building problem.


    And now for something completely different, 2 plastic 28mm Russians from Plastic Soldier Company, part of a couple of squads I am doing for Bolt Action, which has taken off at the local hobby store. The quality of the figure is OK, cost is good and they look aright. I just need to finish some 15mm ACW figures I am doing for someone so I can fully concentrate of getting these done so I have my own squad to play will.

TTFN

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

So What's the Plan for Osgiliath in 2013?


   My plan is to do Osgiliath. But which one? There is a small scenario in the "Siege of Gondor" (SoG)book, which is part of the Siege of Gondor. This can be played as a "one off" game or as part of a campaign. But in going back through older LOTR Books, in the "Return of the King" (RotK) there is a scenario based on the movie, where the Ringerbearer and friends must get to a entrance to the sewers with the help of Faramir, Damrod, etc. The scenario from the SoG is done on a 4' x 4' table and objects must be taken & held. The scenario from RotK, is on what appears to be a 4' x 6' table. HHHmm...

                                              "So which scenario are we doing Mr. Frodo??"

   Well, I came up with the idea of combining the two to a degree. So my plan, for the moment is....

  "Faramir and his men have been summoned to help reinforce the defenders of Osgiliath. However, the forces of Mordor have moved against Osgiliath quicker than expected. Gothmog and strong force of Orcs and Uruk-Hai (and rumor has it, a troll) have crossed the river and are on the attack. This makes Faramir plan to get Frodo, Sam and Gollum to a secret entrance to the sewers and continue their journey to Mordor much more difficult".

   So I will use forces based more on the SoG and the table will be like the scenario from RotK. I am working on the numbers of Good/Evil troops on the table and I have to start getting the ruined buildings I will need, mostly from Gale Force 9.

   Stay Tuned!

TTFN

Sunday, September 30, 2012

2nd Assault on Cair Andros - Sunday

   On Sunday at Gateway September 2012 the 2nd Assault on Cair Andros occurred. The end result of the Saturday game was that the Gondorian defenders fell back to the remaining keep and lost control to all but one of the objectives they needed to hold. Thus the Forces of Mordor were allowed to set up on the other side of the wall anywhere but no closer than 6" to the keep's wall.

   The Forces of Good were 1 Captain of Gondor (Cerik),4x  Rangers of Gondor -  4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with bow,  4 w/ spear and shield and 4w/ hand weapon & shield plus one banner

   The Forces of Evil were Gothmog (on warg) - 10  Orcs with spears  - 9 Orcs with Bows - 10 Orcs with 2 handed weapons - 1 Mordor Catapult with 3 crew - 2 Morodor Seige Bows with 2 crew - 1 Orc Shaman

         The forces of Gondor manning the walls of the keep, hoping to keep the Forces of Mordor at bay.

   One thing to know about this game is that it lasts 12 turns and the Evil Forces need to get 10 figures on the ramparts and/or within the keep on or before turn 12. Thus either the wall and/or the gate needs to be smashed before then. The Siege Bow were ruled to be unable to damage the stone wall but could shoot people off the wall (but the target gets a cover roll) or damage the wooden gate.

                         The Forces of Mordor set up next to the remains of the ruined keep

                                       One of the Mordor Siege Bows and the Catapult
                                       A Orc Shaman spires the orcs to move the battering ram up!
  The Forces of Mordor advance toward the keep under Gondorian archery. The rest of the forces have moved off the wall into the courtyard to await the orcs and keep from being hit with archery.
Still advancing to the keep - The other Siege Bow and a siege ladder, which is taking it's time to get up to the wall.
The ladder finally (!!) makes it to the wall and the battering ram is working on the gate. The chit with "2" on it is the number of batter points the gate has taken so far. The Gondorian have totally abandoned the wall to await their fate in the courtyard (see below)
"Who's knocking at my fortress door?"
The orcs are on the wall, battling with some defenders. Gothmog himself is also on the wall, cutting up Gondorian Warriors.
 The catapult has smashed through the wall! But for the Orcs, is it too little, too late as time (turns) have run  out. These last melees will be very important!
                        Gothmog and another orc with a 2 handed weapon try to clear the rampart's.
The other Orc has died in combat. Gothmog is alone facing 2 Gondorin Warriors (He's not worried at all!!)
The orcs attempt to enter the keep - part of the wall was removed to take this shot.
It's the end of the game - Turn 12 and the Orcs have lost by 2 figures!

  At the time the game was called it appeared the Orcs had only 8 of the 10 inside the keep, this included Gothmog on the rampart above. Thus it was a really good, close game. The Gondorian player was smart to pull everyone off the wall later to conserve his small force and avoid any lucky Orc archery.

Next year at the February con I hope to run OSGILIATH!

TTFN

Friday, September 28, 2012

1st Assault on Cair Andros - Saturday

     On Saturday at Gateway 2012 (presented by Strategicon) was the 1st Assault on Cair Andros.
   Here is a photo of what the board will look like. Upper left is the remaining keep and the gate is an objective. Opposite it is the ruins of another keep that has been destroyed. The flag inside is an objective marker. The statue in the middle is an objective. The wooden wall's gate is an objective. Whoever hold the balance of the objectives will win this game. And now, on to the battle!

The forces of Mordor have moved forward to place ladders on the wall.
                                          "FORWARD! Up the ladder you Maggots!!"
 The orcs start to gain a foothold on the wall. Archery on both sides was horrible and few casualties where caused, much to the Gondorian's dismay.
 Orc spearmen on the wall, engaging a Gondorian archer. Being supported by another spearman, it's a 2 dice to 1 melee.
 Damrod, Ranger of Gondor, combats each orc as they climb the ladder. For a couple of turns, this section held.
                       Too many orcs, not enough Gondorians to effectively man the entire wall.

     Gondor falls back from the wall and shoots at the orcs on the wall, now prime targets with no cover.
 A wide shot of the battlefield, showing the Gondorians falling back and the orcs climbing down from the walls to chase them down and capture the objectives.
                 The orc Captain Vrang helps cut down the defenders, not caring about his own losses....
                                                          Surrounded and fighting to the last!
                                    With nothing to stop them, the Orcs swarm over the walls!
                                                  MORDOR!   MORDOR!   MORDOR!
                                                    Trying to defend one of the objectives
                                     "Form around Faramir! STAND YOUR GROUND!!"

   The game ended a turn later. For the whole game the Gondorian player had horrible archery rolls and thus couldn't thin out the orcs as planned. The wall was defended as long as possible, losing Damrod in the process, then the remaining Good Forces fell back and at last retreated into the remaining intact keep. With this result the forces of Mordor won (held all but one of the objectives) and got to start inside the wall on the next game on Sunday.

TTFN

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Objective Markers - Statues


  Here is how I made two statues from the Games Workshop "Ruins of Osgiliath" into objective markers for my game at the Con (Gateway2012).

  First, I got what I would need, the statues, 2x 3" Grecian Pillars (for cakes-At the time I couldn't find 1" wooden dowels, which is what I wanted to use) - 2" washer for the base and a metal plate - 1 1/4", which I have have a lot for use as figure bases on occasion.

  I then attached the metal plate to the top of the pillar
The attach the pillar to the washer
Then I glued the state to the top and had a friend who is handy with "green stuff" add a textured cover to the washer


 Then a coat of grey primer and the textured base was given a heavy black wash to highlight the cobbles/rubble on the bases.


              Then both statues were sprayed with a color that matches what was GW's "Bleached Bone"

                       Then a dry brush 1st with Off White, 2nd with White to give it the look I wanted.
                                          The base was just given a dry brush with white.

 And "TAA-DAA!" they were done! Hopefully this has been of some help to anyone out there who wants to do their own objective markers for Lord of the Rings or any other games! I am not that great of a writer...

TTFN

Oh yeah....teaser photos from the Convenation games.....more next blog!