The new edition of the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game arrives for pre-order tomorrow. There’s a palpable drum-beat of excitement coming from the Uruk-hai who live in the carpark, matched only by the anticipation among staff. One of the guys who helped playtest the game has already assembled a sizable force from the Usurpers of Edoras.
When the opportunity to paint some of the stunning new miniatures for The Lord of the RingsTM: The War of the RohirrimTM presented itself, I couldn’t say yes fast enough! I’ve always leaned more towards Evil armies than the forces of Good, so after blagging myself a copy of the new Battle of Edoras boxed game, I began painting up a horde of Hill Tribesmen to accompany Wulf and General Targg – two of the new plastic Heroes from the boxed game – in preparation for the new edition.
Once I had finished painting the contents of the boxed game, I was able to acquire a few extra bits to bulk out my army, including a few more Hill Tribesmen and two of the stunning new resin miniatures – Freca, Lord of the West-march and Lord Thorne of the Wold. The latter lets me bring in a warband of Rohirrim Traitors, giving me a wonderful excuse to paint up some of the new Warriors of Rohan as well!
This force was painted primarily using Citadel Contrast, before carefully applying some highlights with a light drybrush of Ushabti Bone – just enough to catch the very edges of the raised areas. Every model in the force was basecoated using Zandri Dust, over which I used my ‘core four’ colours of Wyldwood, Gore-grunta Fur, Snakebite Leather and Cygor Brown for the cloth, leather and hair. As I was batch painting in groups of four, I spent time making sure that no two models of the same pose were painted the exact same way – giving the force a rabble-like appearance whilst still having some uniformity.
I’ve been a diehard Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game fan for nearly two decades and this might be the most excited I have ever been about the arrival of a new edition. The combination of the impending release of The Lord of the RingsTM: The War of the RohirrimTM and the changes to the rules have revitalised my love of the game, and I cannot wait to command Wulf’s forces in his quest for vengeance on the battlefields of Middle-earth!
Thanks for sharing! Remember – pre-orders open tomorrow, when you can pick up the fantastic The Lord of the RingsTM: The War of the RohirrimTM– Battle of EdorasTMboxed set, the full rules manual, and two Armies books containing dozens of lists each, for the forces of both Good and Evil.
