In the new The Lord of The Rings™: Battle of Osgiliath boxed set, you can recreate the running battles between the noble Men of Gondor, commanded by the heroic Faramir, and the vicious Orcs led by Gothmog, Lieutenant of Sauron.
This week’s episode of Battle Report launches us straight into the thick of it – Gothmog’s forces have overrun much of the ruined former capital of Gondor, and Faramir and his men must fight their way to the stables and escape to the safety of Minas Tirith.
Battle Report presenters Nick Bayton have a few words about how they approached this life-or-death scenario.
What was your plan ahead of the battle?
Nick: For this game, we wanted to rip open the new Battle of Osgiliath box and explore everything inside! The attack on Osgiliath is a thrilling moment in The Lord of the Rings™ trilogy. It seems all is lost for the forces of Gondor, but we know it will turn around.
Simon: We wanted to reenact this great moment, so we turned to the scenarios that come with the box. Fall Back to Minas Tirith sees Faramir and the Gondorians try to escape and, as it uses all of the models in the box, it was a great one to have on the show.
How did that work out for you both?
Nick: The game proved to be just as tense as the scenes in the movie, with Faramir having to make some really tough decisions throughout to ensure as many of his men as possible could reach the stables, grab a horse, and escape.
Simon: For the Evil side, it was a tough challenge to spread my forces out to block all of the Good models from escaping. I had to use the narrow streets as best I could to limit how many could get through. My enormous Mordor Troll really helped!
Nick: As did the fact that in this scenario, Orc reinforcements kept pouring onto the board, so I had to think fast, using some of my forces to hold up Simon's models while others ran to the stables!
What did you think about the Osgiliath board?
Simon: It was such a pleasure playing on that board. Our army painting team, James and Andy, made one of the coolest boards we've ever had on the show. It looks just like the city in the movies.
Nick: Playing through the streets of Osgiliath is a unique experience. You have to think ahead about where you want your models to be and hope against that hope your plans work out. It was really good fun!
The gorgeous Osgiliath board is a show stealer in this episode, and another triumph from the Warhammer TV Painting Team. We spoke to James Littler about how they designed and built it.James: We wanted to capture the atmosphere of Osgiliath, a city lost, full of despair and with danger around every corner of its claustrophobic streets.
To achieve this we decided to build the layout organically and without measurements, constructing one twisted building after another and seeing where it best fitted. This misalignment of streets and buildings makes the board look uneasy.
The Osgiliath scenery kits are the star of the show. They allow for disorderly building shapes and internal walls going nowhere that really impart the sense of the loss of a once-bustling city.
From a painter's perspective. An all-white city has many pitfalls – how do you avoid making it look boring, while not making it so vibrant that it loses that sense of despair?
We went for an overspray* of Grey Seer over Chaos Black primer, followed up by brown and green washes with a dry brush of Pallid Wych Flesh. The result is stonework drained of its former lustre.
Thanks James! You can watch the board in action right now on Warhammer TV. This Battle Report is free for anyone to watch.
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*This is spraying Grey Seer above from an angle, leaving some dark shadows and recesses.