Defenders of Mirkwood

With the release of The Hobbit by GW, we've rekindled interest in Lord of the Rings skirmishing at our local store. That seemed like a good reason to reduce the stash, starting with a force that could be completely assembled and painted in a reasonable time (so, not the Dwarfs, of which I have well over a hundred figures that need painting).

First up are the Wood Elves of Mirkwood, led by king Thranduil, his son Legolas and captain Amarthon. They are leading a force of 24 warriors with bows, elf blades and spears (this used to be the contents of a single box, for the princely sum of $25. Oh, how things have changed), a standard bearer and 3 sentinels, who lurk in the shadows and distract unwanted visitors with enchanted music.

Avanti Savoia!

After a short gap (about 2 years) my brave carristi are getting some support in their struggles against the Inglesi for control of Egypt and Libya.

I decided to assemble and paint all of my desert Italians, so I could claim that a complete force was finished. Progress was good at first, with all the models being assembled and primed, ready for painting. Alas, best laid plans and all that...I discovered that I did not have enough motociclisti for the 1940-1941 lists, so an order was placed with Eureka (on a Saturday, models arrived in the post on Monday). Then Christmas intervened, then we started playing The Hobbit at the store and, well, there are some Italians in a tub, waiting for colour to be added.

Anyway, the tally before Thranduil's Elves invaded the paint bench was: one battery of 100mm howitzers; one battery of 75mm cannon; five AB-41 armoured cars; a platoon of four Semoventi di 47/32; four field cars (transports for elefantino anti-tank guns); the fourth 20mm AAA gun with truck or ground mount for the Bersagliere AAA platoon and a test piece each for the elefantinos and the motociclisti.

And now the pictures - first up, the assembled miniatures:

the armoured cars:

the Semoventi:

Fiats:

Howitzers and cannon:

test pieces:

Paints came from White Ensign Models, Tamiya, Vallejo and Andrea. I brushed on thinned Army Painter Dark Tone dip, which shades everything and also gives a very hard protective coat. As far as I can see, the stuff is just rebranded solvent-based wood stain, which is what I will be buying when the tin dries up.

And now, back to Thranduil and company.

Kill The Dwarves!

Fresh from the workbench...the Goblin king and his minions swarm onto the throne platform, ready to rend the hapless Dwarves of Thorin's company limb from limb.

Closer shots of the king:

And the scribe, who evidently lives in this swing contraption:

These are the scenery and goblins from Games Workshop's new "The Hobbit" boxed set. The boxed set is fantastic value for money and the models are, as one would expect from GW, first rate and a joy to paint.

Where's that Labyrinth?

This is a minotaur from Reaper Miniatures' new Bones range. The plastic is fairly soft and slightly flexible - not as much as the "army men" we grew up with, but close. Detail is good and price is even better. I created some shading effects with layers of paint and then used Army Painter's Dark Shade to blend/tie together/ add more shading.

Dwarves!

Several years ago I purchased two of the "Battle For Skull Pass" Warhammer boxed sets so my son could play with bunches of goblins. Well, that left the Dwarves, so I started painting and added a few more units.

The first Dwarves were painted in a scheme very similar to the one illustrated by GW (my son loves blue), but I wasn't happy with that, so a quick bath in Simple Green ensued, followed by another trip across the painting table for fresh uniforms.

I've played a grand total of one game of Warhammer Fantasy with the version 8 rules and the Dwarves won. They still added a new grudge to The Book, however. Those darned vampires shouldn't have been in our mountains to start with!

Anyway, on with the show. The current theme was inspired by roleplaying with friends using the old, old Chaosium system "Runequest", set in a bronze age world. So, Dwarves as hard as the stone they're associated with and dressed primarily in bronze...

The chieftain, his standard bearer and assorted junior officers, including a rune master:

The immovable front line, two units of warriors flanking a unit of longbeards:

Fire support provided by Thunderers with their mastercrafted firearms:

and Quarrelers with the finest, dwarf-manufactured arbalests:

Turning up (hopefully) behind the enemy's lines should be the Miners:

All these "fighting" Dwarves are ably supported by the Guild of Engineers, lead by the Master Engineer and his apprentices:

The engineers have brought along an organ gun:

A pair of bolt throwers:

A pair of cannon, for when big, solid balls are needed:

And a grudge thrower (catapult being such an unseemly human word):

Last, but not least, the Royal Dwarfish Air Arm is represented by an engineer in a gyrocopter:

The force assembled:

T-34s and Ukrainian Orcs

Final shots of the detailed T-34s. One has new owners:

This pair have been given officially sanctioned graffiti (important in Uncle Joe's day):

This is a pair of orcs from Zvezda, 28mm(ish - they're bigger than GW 28mm orcs) for their not-a-Warhammer-table-top-fantasy-battles game:

I decided to experiment with kin colours, hoping to gain ideas for when I get around to my collection of injuns and african-american "go west, young man" types.

DAK Attack

I put this platoon together some time ago to support Fallschirmjager in North Africa. The platoon needed rebasing and repair, so here are a few Panzer IIIJ (early) from 21. Panzer Division, Libya 1942.