Clearing the Backlog, Part 17: The End of All Things (for 2023)

Another year of hobbying comes to an end, so it's time for the annual round-up of my hobby adventures over the course of the year, and see how much of a dent I've made in my backlog. Let's dive in!

January

January was a productive month for me in terms of hobbying - I finished off a few models that had been sitting around for ages, including my mounted Witch King and reinforcements for my Assault on Lothlorien army. I also started a new hobbying plan of pulling random models out of my backlog to help break up large painting projects - January saw me finish Golfimbul. Lastly, I made a start on my first army project of the year - my Army of Dale.

February & March

More progress throughout these two months - I painted up some more Men of Dale, along with King Brand and his son Bard II to lead them into battle. This however was where I ran into the painting obstacle that was the Knights of Dale - it took me forever to paint them because of all the detail on them - famously finishing the models at 1:45 in the morning the night before the Grand Tournament at Warhammer World...

I also continued the trend of random models, this time pulling Khamul the Easterling and some Castellans of Dol Guldur out of the backlog and painting them up. By the end of March, I'd painted nearly 50 models - good progress so far!

April, May and June

A mixed few months of hobbying here, as April and March saw little time for hobbying - May and June however were much more productive months - I continued progress on the Men of Dale, but also worked on a small cohort of Easterlings to join my Mordor forces. May also saw me working on a trio of Galadriel, Elrond and Celeborn, along with a display board for Seven Stones. By the end of June, I'd doubled my number of painted models for the year!

July & August

Here's where progress started to stall, all because of half a dozen models - my remaining Knights of Dale. Whilst being lovely models, the sheer amount of detail made them a very daunting prospect to paint - to the extent that I was painting anything and everything apart from them. However, after much procrastination, I finally got them finished, and at last, Project Army of Dale was complete!

Having finished the Men of Dale, I got through some pretty easy models I had lying in the backlog - some Ringwraiths - these provided a nice distraction in between the Knights. I also managed to paint up Erkenbrand to start a slow-growing Riders of Theodred force. I was up to 100 models painted, but it had taken a long time...

September

Here's where progress picks back up, and there's one race in Middle Earth to thank for it - dwarves! Throughout September, I smashed my way through over 30 models for my Army of Thror project, including Thror himself, as well as Thrain, Young Thorin, Young Dwalin and a host of Erebor Dwarves. I also painted up a small contingent of Dwarves, led by a repainted original Dain Ironfoot model, to join my army of Khazad Dum. In just one month, I'd taken my painted count from just over 100 to nearly 170! Progress indeed!

October & November

One main project occupied my time over these two months - my Thorin's Company army and display board for Throne of Skulls. I had a lot of fun painting both the Company and my display board for the event, and was thrilled to walk away from the event with a Favourite Army nomination - a great reward for all the work and effort that went into the project!

December

So, to December. A lovely time of year for hobbying, because with no tournaments on the horizon, I can just have some fun and paint any random model I feel like! I did however have a few projects that needed finishing, so I started with those.

First of all were the remaining models in my Army of Thror force - Young Balin and a warband of dwarves, plus a banner bearer I converted (the banner being a 3D print produced by Guardians of Wiltshire) - I stuck to the same techniques as before but again varied the colour of the cloth and beards in order to make them look different from the rest of the army - the end result turned out great, and my Army of Thror was now complete!

Next up, I painted the last few Ringwraiths to finish off the Nine. Nothing fancy, just layers of different shades of grey over black - simple, but effective!

I also had a few cavalry models I wanted to finish off, consisting of the mounted versions of Khamul the Easterling and The Dark Marshal, having painted the foot versions earlier in the year. I also dug my mounted Hurin the Tall out of the backlog and finished him off, given that he'd been sitting half-finished for ages.

My last models for the year were a few Uruk Hai scouts - I'd noticed whilst doing some sorting that I only needed to paint a few more models to give Lurtz, Ugluk and Mauhur full warbands in my Lurtz's Scouts list, so I grabbed the models I needed and painted them up. I also painted up a banner bearer, and the two Uruks carrying Merry and Pippin - I may well use these as banners going forwards as they suit the theme nicely. I even got my hands on the old captured Merry and Pippin models and painted those up too - they'll make perfect objective markers for the force!

So, to the final count - I am sitting pretty on 230 models painted for the year! Another excellent year of progress, and whilst not quite as many as I managed last year, it's still a number I'm very happy with. There's still plenty of models left however, so expect a few more posts throughout next year to see how I'm getting on. I must be getting near the end of the pile soon, right?... Right?

Hope you all have very Happy New Years, and happy hobbying for 2024!

Sam’s Top 10 ‘What the hell just happened?’ moments 2023

Last year, I had the idea to keep note of all the unfortunate moments I had that were just ludicrous/hilarious/incredibly bad timing. The best one last year being when Grimbeorn charged the Balrog, had his two assisting elves removed with a well place throwing knife, and then lost the fight and was torn apart with 4 wounds, before failing enough of his fate. All in the first combat of the game.

And it seemed people enjoyed my suffering, so I did the same again this year, hope you enjoy my misfortune and, some of others too.

Please note that the rankings are not necessarily by odds, but how dramatic/funny/out of the blue, I feel them to be.

10. Seven Stones (Vs. The Farbrothers (May))

Scenario: Lords of Battle

Radagast the Brown was in my crosshairs the entire game, and was relentlessly pursued and charged most turns by Elladan, a High Elf Captain and several elves. Despite this, Radagast insisted on winning most of the fights and only lost his sleigh in the penultimate turn, meaning that he survived the game. Not only that, but also Sebastian had personally slain 3 elves.

9. Practice game (Vs. Ash (Jan))

Scenario: Retrieval

The Witch King charges a lone High Elf warrior. To everyone’s mild surprise, the elf wins and kills WK’s horse. Annoying, but not the worst odds ever. 

What was unexpected, however, was when WK rolled a 1 for his thrown rider roll, then took a wound from the fall and ended up burning all his fate to avoid death!

8. Siege of Edoras Megagame (Vs. James/Jon/Will (Dec))

Gorulf is first upon the walls, as I had wished for the drama. He heroically cuts down a couple of defenders and allows some of his friends up.

Then he takes a throwing spear, the next turn he takes another, but saves it with his fate. In the combat against a Royal Guard, I had a banner to assist him with a reroll so went for a piercing strike. To my horror, he managed a 3 high with his reroll included, while his opponent scored a 4. I did however, breathe a sigh of relief when James rolled a 4 to wound…until I remembered my piercing strike. Naturally, this is when my 6 appeared, bringing him to D2 and meaning that he was very much dead.

7. 7th City Grand Prix (Vs. Carl (Feb))

Scenario: Retrieval

Carl’s Breaking of the Fellowship LL has rightfully holed up on their objective to allow me to break my army against them in the effort to get it and win.

Unexpectedly, things went well and I pushed them apart fairly quickly and took away a lot of might. Suddenly, in the dominant position, I had my Witch King charge Aragorn while mounted, immobilise and surround him with 3 orcs assisting. 

I called my Heroic Strike and won the fight, I then announced that I would be using my Morgul Blade and had a lot of confidence that Aragorn (being D6) was, to put it scientifically, buggered. I rolled my 6 dice for the orcs first, trying to take away some fate. But they got a 3 highest. 

Ok, it happens, guess the Witch King will take his swing with his 8 dice…only to also get a 3 highest also…Aragorn had escaped the toothless jaws of death.

6. Desolation of Stowmarket (Vs. Ryan (April))

Scenario: Divide and Conquer

After a few lucky turns and some careful setup, I had Hurin down to 1w, 0f. Boromir was being his usual dangerous self, when I managed to surround them both with goblins and get my Cave Drake to charge a lone Minas Tirith warrior, ready to hurl through both, dismounting them and potentially killing Hurin, if I was lucky.

Sadly, I wasn’t lucky and Hurin survived, not because the Str 3 hits failed to wound him, but because they never happened. That warrior triumphed over the Drake, despite her charge bonus and might point. I didn’t get another chance to line that hurl up as perfectly.

5. Throne of Skulls (Vs. Tom (Nov))

Scenario: Clash by Moonlight

My Dunlendings braved the hailstorm of arrows from Dale and launched themselves into a headstrong charge. After a few turns, amongst this fight, Gorulf and my Chieftain managed to get 2v1 against Bard II. I went for the Heroic Strike and hoped to win with my larger amount of dice and potentially one shot him.

Bard obviously called a counter Strike, we both went to F8, we both rolled a 6 and Tom won the roll off, nevermind. 

Thing is that Bard then proceeded to kill both heroes…and even though I killed Brand myself in the same turn, the advantage helped Tom to claim the victory…rats!

4. Practice game (Vs. Will (Sept))

Scenario: The Imp’s Curse (Unique scenario for Lord of the Imps, that deploys both leaders in each others board half in the centre. VPs were essentially for killing the leader, the lieutenant (leader of the secondary force) and breaking.

Turn 1, Prince Imrahil under Wills control decided not to fight the Balrog and ran backwards to hit my army at full force. Will is shocked when the Balrog manages to pull him back with his whip, through 4 in the ways and out of combat.

Imrahil calls a Heroic Defence, but then shocks us all. When he not only wins, but successfully wounds the Balrog on a 6/4. He then seized the chance and pulled away for the rest of the game. I ended up in a dominant position, killing his Lieutenant Boromir and breaking him, while broken myself. The Gondorians completely on the backfoot and retreating. However that one wound caused, ended up getting me a draw!

3. The Fog of War (Tom vs. Will (Jan))

Custom scenario

This one was ridiculous, I wasn’t even playing as I was the TO. However, as I wandered and watched various games, I got to the game between Tom, who notoriously hates elves, against Will, and his Rangers of Mirkwood LL.

Tom had got King Thorin into a fight with 3 rangers and offered me to roll the combat for him. I took the 3 dice and promptly gave him a triple 1. I quickly took one back reminding that Thorin is a banner to himself, and got another 1. Thorin lost his goat. 

These were my first rolls of the new year.

2. Escalation of the East (Vs. Tom (Feb))

Scenario: To the Death (I think)

My elves are engaged in a tough battle against the Iron Hills, when I spot an opportunity. Thranduil could call a Heroic Combat with his warriors and trap Dain Ironfoot, who is out of might and held down by Tauriel. This comes off successfully and Tom is nervous as Thranduil has a might point still, as well as Tauriel and 3 warriors fighting against him for a total of 10 attacks with F7 from their king. When they win, Thranduil and Tauriel will have 14 strikes between them needing 6s and the warriors will have another 6 needing 5/3 due to their army bonus and Thranduil's proximity. Essentially, he may not die, but he's gonna take a good hiding. 

The small issue was that it wasn't 'when' but actually 'if'. As Dain rolled a 6 with his attacks, and I got a 5 highest. Ok well I have a might point, so no problem right? Well good ol' Thranders rolled a 4...hmm.

Suddenly, I was the one taking the beating as Dain smacked 3 wounds on our king, who promptly failed 2 fate, going to 1w, 0f. 

Special mentions

These are for the astounding moments that I witnessed, but were not my own misfortune. As I simply couldn't not mention them.

3. A Time of Heroes (Me Vs. Rob (Aug))

Scenario: Clash by Moonlight

Rob was using Lothlorien and I had Champions of Erebor. Knowing that I was in for a tough match against dangerous bows made more potent, I simply ran using terrain towards them. I called Heroic Combats to close the gap and launched Gloin forward towards Haldir as his friends dealt with some elves.

Gloin was isolated and surrounded the following turn by Haldir and several elves. We both called Heroic Strike and somehow, Gloin won the roll off and one shotted Haldir, before cutting down the only Galadhrim knight with his 3rd blow. Rob was left gobsmacked.

2. Siege of Edoras Megagame (Me/CJ/Josh Vs. James/Will/Jon (Dec))

Custom Scenario

The game was in it's dying embers as time was running out. Good wanted to attempt to retake their walls as it was one of the objectives.

With this in mind, James had a Rohan archer in a watchtower. Earlier in the game, I had got a Dunlending to leap from the wall to the watchtower ladder, and later Legolas had leapt from another onto the wall.

Emboldened by this, James' teammates pushed him to take the leap of faith 'For the team!' James went with it, although clearly not certain. The man of Rohan ran and leapt, he flew through the air and his foot caught the edge of the wall...before slipping and smashing his face into the floor. The stunned man fell over the edge and plummeted to his doom.

Evil claimed the walls.

1. The End of All Things (Jonny Vs James (Nov))

Scenario: Assassination

This one was incredible, and I was so tempted to make it number 1, despite not being mine.

I was TOing and so just milling around and watching games. As I sat and watched their game, Haldir ended up isolated and had Madril, along with several warriors surround him. Unsurpisingly, Haldir failed to roll his 6 on two dice and lost the fight. As the strikes were made, Madril got the killing blow. 

Haldir had been Jonny's assassin target and Madril had been his assassin. And since either force only had two heroes, a leader and another, then excellent! Great success, Jonny has clearly won, having claimed the 7VP swing.

However, this is where the water gets muddied again, as Haldir fell. His special rule came into play and he swung his blade up, and killed Madril... So James ALSO gets the 7VPs for his assassin killing his target, as they both just killed each other! I can't think of any other way that's possible, without Haldir.

Sadly, for James, Jonny had claimed the other VPs available to win 12-7, but still...

My Best of the Year- Lord of the Imps (Vs. Seraj (Sept)

Scenario: Seize the Imp (Seize the Prize with a few small changes)

My Balrog-led Moria force is up against the Fellowship. They have taken the Imp (the prize) and I am pushing hard to keep them back. The Balrog has a turn of being pummelled by 4 heroes and takes 4 wounds, nothing too unexpected.

The next turn, I decide to not charge with the Balrog, which means that they can't pile him. So instead, they pick on goblins. My goblin archers spy Legolas behind the Balrog and a handful shoot, they naturally hit the Balrog and 1 rolls the 6/6 to wound! 

Later on, Frodo is before the Balrog and fails his Ring roll. He runs up to the Balrog and gets charged. It's time for some vengeance....but then the Hobbit overcomes the fiery demon and wins the combat in a one on one. The next turn, the Balrog had to let goblins deal with him, for the shame was too unbearable. It hadn't been a good day for him, wounded by friendly archers and losing a combat to a passive Halfling!

Hope you all enjoyed this little list, I’ll repeat it next year and might also include my most fortunate moments since I actually had some this year!

Merry Christmas all!