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

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!

Objective Markers - Flag Bases

   For my game at  Gateway 2012 coming real soon now, I needed some objective markers for the 1st scenario, the First Assault on Cair Andros. Depending how many of these are secured by either the Good or Bad side will effect troop set-up in the 2nd game. So what to do....

  



 These are 30mm plastic round bases. I glued in a length of brass rod.  as the centers were recessed, I wanted to add some short of texture help it look good. So a friend of mine, Harold, who is far and away better in using that 2 part epoxy stuff than me, offered his services to make a textured base for not only these but for the bases of the statues.

 

 

   I added a Gondorian shield to one and a spear point (of shorts, I told you I'm not very good) on the other. Then black primed them and painted the stones gray & white, poles brown and the Gondorian shield it's usual black & white.

    You can see one of them finished in this photo of what is going to be the ruined keep area. I just printed the flag in color, touched it up with some paint and it's done! The other one will be finished soon. And in my next installment I will cover the statues.

TTFN

The Assault on Cair Andros

Very soon now, it will be time for the last Strategicon Game Convention for this year, Gateway 2012. And I am running Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Games on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday will be The First Assault on Cair Andros for the Seige of Gondor supplement and on Sunday, the Second Assault.  Here are som photos of what the baord will look like, the area is only 4' x 4'.

One corner of the board has the one remaining intact keep at Cair Andros. Instead of making a keep, a friend suggested just using part of the Minas Tirith set to make it. And it looks good and I believe it will look very good on the table. After all, it has that "Gondorian" look about it.

 Another view of the layout. I like to do a set-up before the Con in order to see have things look and if any corrections are needed. The wooden wall is a fortress I got at a earlier Strategicon Flea Market of all places! I can be set up as a wall or square fort.

 Another view showing the rocks shown in the Layout map. I don't have alot of these but I don't know how important they will be.

 This shot shows the intact and ruined keep (in the other corner) which has one of the objective markers in it (more about these in another bolg). Also visiable is a statue, which is another objective marker,

 Back of the wooden wall. They will be ladders up during the game for the defenders to use.

"Knock - Knock"! Who is it?

 Part of the ruined keep with objective marker. I plan to add more to the area when running the game, like rocks, etc. as this area is "difficult terrain".

The objective markers and the statues are going to be the subject of a "How I did it" bolg real-soon-now. I just have to get the photos, etc. together.

TTFN

What's Done for June!

I'm back! After beginning out of comission for awhile due to a bad back, I am getting better and getting back to work on stuff..

Finished WWI German Infantry & NCO's - Figures by PULP Miniatures German Seebataillon

A close up of the same figures - one guy has glasses!

APE-X Super Villain by REAPER Miniatures - To be used with AE:WWII rules

I am getting more stuff done now that I can sit in a chair for awhile. I am getting started on the few figures I need for my Lord of the Rings Game at the September Game Con. I have started painting Faramir and Damrod, more Morannon Orcs and I need a couple of banners for the Gondorians. I also need several "objective markers" for this battle. A friend of mine has offered to do the terrain on the marker base.  I will be posting pictures soon of the wooden fortress I have that I am going to use for Cair Andros.

TTFN

Gamex May 2012

Now that Strategicon - Gamex 2012 is over, it's time for a brief report and some photos of the games! But first, a little background - at Haleth's Steading (farm) a group of Rohan Warriors are trying to fend off an attack by forces of Isengard (Uruk-hai and Orcs).  If they can kill 50%+ of the the attackers, that will force them to roll each turn for the game ending, on 1-2 on a d6.

At the rear of the steading, some of the forces of Rohan await the attack of the forces of Isengard

First Blood to the Rohan archers!

Orcs prepare to assault the wall

After several rounds of melee -The Orcs are rolling hot for melee, the Rohan, not so good, even with wall in the way.

WE ARE THE FIGHTING URUK-HAI!!

After many turns of melee, the Uruks manage to get over the wall...

The courage of Rohan is no match for the Uruk-Hai. One of the farmers comes out to help..too late!

By the way, the Rohan figure in the foreground survived this attack (once) losing the fight and was hit with 6 attacks (!!) , all of which failed to wound! Had he survived, Captain material for sure.

   These are all photos of the Saturday game. The Forces of Isengard won both days, but it was a much more drawn out game on Sunday. Photos for the whole game con can be seen at:

http://s207.photobucket.com/albums/bb44/juggernought57/Strategicon%20Game%20Convention%202012/Gamex%20May%202012/

   The Sunday photo also show Erkenbrand (Rohan figure with a white base) at last falling with a ring of dead foes around him surrounded by Uruk-Hai and their captain Gogdush (both had NO Might left during this combat). I have my Good Forces Captains, etc. painted with a white base edge and of course, Evil has a black edge. The Sunday game also had a LOT of tied rolls for melee. As it was just myself and one other player (a great player who has played in my games before) we just rolled of, one d6 each, as opposed to how it is done in the rules. We matched dice rolls on one combat's dice-off  3 times and I stated "If we tie again, our dice will implode!"

  Even tho it was only one player both Saturday and Sunday, they had both played in my LOTR many times before and I had a great time! Quality can be better sometimes than quantity.  My plans for the next Strategicon in September, Gateway 2012, is to run the First and Second Assault on Cair Andros from the Siege of Gondor book. I now have a wooden fort that can be made into a wall I bought at the February con. I just need to see if I have all the figures I need and get/paint those I don't.

SAY TUNED...

TTFN