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Middle Earth2021-05-07T22:25:48+00:00

There and back again

I have been an avid reader of Tolkien since childhood, so it really doesn’t require much of an excuse for me to break out the paint brush and work on some middle earth miniatures. Having spent much of 2020 stuck in my hobbit hole, I’ve found hobby motivation elusive at times. So for 2021 I’ve decided to adopt a rather different approach and let the order of Frodo’s adventures guide my painting throughout the year.

The following posts are inspired by the events of Frodo’s journey to destroy the one ring as described in the “Lord of the Rings”.

Middle Earth Strategy Battle game in progress

Bringing the books to life

One of the things I really love about middle earth strategy battle is not everything has to be about building grand armies, it leaves plenty of room for indulgence with characterful miniatures and backwater settings. Hobbit holes, the folk of Bree, Gandalf in his cart or the three trolls Bilbo and Thorin’s party encounter early their adventure. The scope of the miniature range allows you to recreate narrative games as small as encounters in the wild right up to the massive battles like Helm’s Deep or the black gates. It spans different era so is easy to create a campaign from the early days of the war of the ring, the last alliance, through events of the Hobbit and especially battles only mentioned in the literature which I find especially interesting such as the war in the north or the fall of Arnor.

My first warband proper was based on a travelling caravan of Dwarves led by Balin set after the reclaiming of Erebor. This allowed me to explore all kinds of scenarios in games as they made the journey back towards the Misty Mountains in their ultimately doomed attempt to retake the halls of Moria.

For a hobbyist such as myself who is also avid consumer of Tolkien’s works this is a rich gold vein to mine. My only fear is to delve too greedily and too deep, who knows what may be revealed.

“A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.”

Gandalf the grey

“Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden! Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter! spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered, a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!”

Théoden - King of Rohan
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