Getting ready to hunt

   Everyone who's into fantasy still knows of and likely adores the Lord of the Rings movies.  Peter Jackson's trilogy is so good that we seek out the longer versions of the move to waste half-a-day per to fall into.  And from that came many great things for us nerds, not least of which is the Lord of the Rings game for GW (yes, my bar-code is showing again).  

  I constantly rant and rave about the unsung greatness of this game, especially when played in tandem with the story itself.  Years ago, GW's Lord of the Rings SBG was based wholly on the movies.  Eventually, the blue-book expansions came out and focused on the Ringbearer's quest and made the scenarios to follow the books more closely.  These scenarios reflect the best part of the game.

  My DnD group is on hiatus right now for the holidays, but my buddies within are still willing to gather and nerd-out with me.  Since we're not playing DnD and I don't want to destroy their enthusiasm by dumping a wargame and overloading them, and they like the Lord of the Rings...  One of my buddies has all the extended edition movies and we have comfortable seating to sit back for hours.  Oh, and I have the LotR SBG for the scenarios that we're watching!  Well, I think that makes this decision easy.  

  It turns out that I no longer have the ready resources of my old gunship and now have to rely on my personal collection.  That personal collection has some holes (such as no Moria army or Balrog because I'm so used to have one, fully painted, in the figure case right there!) or unfinished models.  That means I have to do some work.  As I poured over the collection and thought about the movies we were watching, I tried to find the most exciting scenarios that showed off the Fellowship the best.  I chose Amon Hen.

from Zorpazorp, of course!

  I have all the Uruk-hai Scouts built and painted (it was my very first force in 2001), including Lurtz.  I obviously had the Fellowship fully painted (for probably the 30th time as I had run 5 shops and we put out at least one new 're-imagining' of that movie's hero group every time), but I don't have a couple of things.  I need a ruined stone throne (the famous Chair of Seeing or something like that) for Frodo to hide in, and I need a boat.  Amon Hen is exciting because it's very scenic (it is the woods and next to a river with an ancient ruins- beautiful!) and the ambush is actually difficult (it did result in the death of Boromir, after all).  Which reminds me- now I need to paint up dying Boromir too!

Ah, metal miniatures, how I miss thee!

  Of course, the Ambush at Amon Hen breaks the Fellowship, seeing Merry and Pippin kidnapped, Frodo and Sam slipping away, and Boromir falling.  Oh, and Lurtz (from the movies) being killed.  That left Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli with the choice of folling the Ringbearer or trying to save the troublesome hobbits from Saruman's legion.  They chose to "Hunt some orcs!"  Some of my favorite LotR models were for that scenario and that provides a great bridge between the first and second movies.  Naturally, that means I have to paint the three hunters, and Ugluk (the Uruk that slew the Orc that tried to eat the hobbit).  Painting's back on the menu, boys!

Basecoat done, now to decide on technique...

  Right now, I have a few projects to complete pretty quickly.  In one week, I will have the terrain, miniatures, and scenarios ready for my buddies, and the ability to show off this underrated game.  I will definitely post more to show off the finished models and terrain and even share the results of the scenarios and if it would have changed the story at all.  Let me know if you've ever tried the SBG from GW and what you thought!  

  As always, happy hobbying!