Aragorn, You Need More Men (Backlog Clearing: Mar-Sept ‘25)

Hey all, it’s been a while.

I haven’t posted since March, as I had to pack my modelling and painting equipment back in April, expecting to move later than month. A move, which is yet still to happen. 

I intended to post this when I did, as a way of refreshing myself before I get back on the painting in the new house. But with nearly five months now having past, I need to do something hobby related to break up the limbo.

So back in March, I had an event looming in April for my Army of Edoras. I had six rohirrim left to finish from my Battle of Edoras starter set. And I managed to get them polished off, completing the good side of that box.

Next up, with all distractions aside, James and I had seven stones looming in May. With the move looming all year, I had suggested we do something low key and fun. We had a small collection of spitballed ideas, and we settled on one I had dubbed ‘How am I supposed to trust you!?’ This was an army entirely comprised of those in Middle Earth, who betrayed, backstabbed or cheated those who trusted them. As the idea developed, James suggested that we blend in the BBC series ‘The Traitors’ into the theme. I went away and watched a series as research…then another, and soon had watched all of them and all the other countries too as I painted. It was a little addictive.

Having assembled our horde of scum and villainy, we set to getting them sorted. First up for me, Ted Sandyman. Fool that I am, I had one from when I got Lotho for my Fantasy Fellowship…but parted ways with him because ‘when will I ever have a need of him?’ Less than two years later, as it happens.

Rather than scour eBay and hope to get one for an inflated cost, I took the opportunity to build my own. Since I would also need a handful of hobbit ‘traitors’ to follow him, I bought a cheap second hand pic of militia and chose one to Frankenstein. Below is the model i chose and my planned conversion (no, I simply cannot take any more graphic design requests).

 

I manipulated his hammer arm and cut the hand off to reposition it. I also cut off his other arm and moved it to a nice, accusing point, with added finger of justice! 

The idea being that he can stand on the display, accusing a fellow traitor of…well being a traitor, in typical traitor fashion. So to highlight it, I also added a traitors cloak, which I painted in a nice vibrant green.

I then quickly did up his militia buddies to join him.

Next traitor up for roll call, was Boromir. Using his Breaking of the Fellowship pose, as it illustrated him just after his weakest moment, seemed fitting. And not at all because I needed him to be done from the paint queue. He also got a nice green traitor’s cloak.

Next up, I did a couple of quick repaints on Grima and Saruman, as they both had old, chipped paintjobs that I felt I could improve upon. It was also a nice chance to practice my variations of whites on the wizard. I had ordered a better posed Saruman for the Traitors feel.

 

Luckily, I wouldn’t need the old Saruman, as the new one did arrive in time and I got him sorted out. I felt the pose was perfect for a dramatic round table shouting match.

 

With him, my half of the army was done, with some rebasing on old models to give wooden bases to fit the display board. 

 

We got the nomination that we wanted and six losses in all our great games with plenty of silly revelry. James had done an epic job of his half and a class display board for a truly hectic round table! Another successful Seven Stones! #Milk #Moretickets

 

With all events that needed models all ready, I was free to just paint what I felt like. I opted to do my Rohan Traitor banner for Lord Thorne’s warband. 

I wanted to do a different colour scheme for mine, as I’m a special little flower. And liked the feel of purple and black together, which seemed fitting for Lord Thorne, who seems to be a well dressed and equipped man. And plan to do his warband and himself in similar style, when I get to it.

 

As April started, and packing was intensifying, I decided that I had time to paint one more small project, and opted for the newest Gandalf the White.

This was partly as I wanted to strike while the iron was hot from my experience of doing Saruman’s whites. I should credit the faintly varying shades of white to Will Poynter, who advised never going white, but always an ‘off white’. Meaning always mix a tiny bit of another colour into the white, to make it a more natural colour and help avoid blending all layers into one solid. I used a variation of light greys, creams and browns to give slight distinction to each white I used, and was really happy with how it came out! 

And it was here that I left my painting, packed it all up ready to move. And nearly five months later, sadly, still awaiting my paint revival. But hopefully soon…as Throne of Skulls is calling, I don’t have a lot to paint, but a fair bit to build…and if I don’t, I don’t just let myself down…

Clearing the Backlog, Part 22 – Can you build your way out of a backlog?

No. As much as we would like it to, building models doesn't take them out of your backlog. At the same time, building models can be seen as a way of helping to better manage your backlog. 

Let me explain – if you're like me, and you end up collecting multiple boxes of models, eventually you're going to run out of space for those boxes. So, much like those adverts you used to see on TV about consolidating your debts, I set about consolidating my multiple boxes into one single, manageable [I hope!] box of models. 

My starting point for this building extravaganza was the Battle for Edoras boxed set. I’d been meaning to put this together for a while and, fresh from Seven Stones, I wanted to do some more leisurely hobbying. Along with a couple of others who'd also bought the boxed set, I donated the two Rohan house kits to a friend, so they could put together a table of terrain for the EAHC, so they were one less thing to worry about. 

I started by assembling the Rohan half of the box. Now, I've read a lot of comments that the newer plastics are fiddly models to build, and they are correct. However, as someone who has put together a lot of multi-part warrior models previously (and anyone who has played 40k or Fantasy might also say similar), I didn't necessarily find them as challenging as someone who is new to the hobby might find them. Of course, this isn’t intended as a boast – I'm simply saying that experienced hobbyists who are used to fiddly kits (in theory) find them easier to build. As I was building them, I did appreciate the level of detail, even if you're living in fear of dropping a piece and never finding it again. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. 

The two heroes, Haleth and Hama, were also fun to put together – ever since GW started making the multi-part plastic hero kits, the quality and level of detail has improved exponentially – really excited to see what else they might have in store down the road. With the heroes done, the Rohan half of the box was assembled!

Next up were the Men of the Hilltribes. The two heroes, Wulf and Targg, are lovely models with lots of detail – I'm really looking forward to painting those when I [eventually!] get around to them. The Hilltribesmen were just as fiddly as the Rohirrim, but the most impressive thing about the kit was the variety of options – the models can be given different wargear and have optional shields. The poses are also quite dynamic, albeit that converting them is trickier due to the uniqueness of the poses. Having said that, I don’t really do that much converting when it comes to my armies – maybe the odd weapon swap here and there for a bit of variety. As I kept building, I gradually got into a rhythm, and a few evenings' work later, the Battle for Edoras boxed set was assembled!

Next in the queue was a model I'd been looking forward to building for some time – the Snow Troll! Forgeworld models always take a little longer to assemble, given you have to give the model a soak and a scrub first to remove any release agent – the individual parts also need a fair amount of cleanup. However, the quality of the miniatures is superb. After another evening's work and a little bit of Green Stuff, the Snow Troll and his handlers Shank and Wrot were assembled!

With those models done, I quickly realised I was well on the way to having a sizeable Besiegers of the Hornberg force. A quick bit of list writing later, and I'd worked I only needed to buy another box of Hilltribesmen, plus two boxes of Crebain, and I'd have an 800 point army. So that’s exactly what I did!

Next up, I turned my attention to the rapidly growing collection of unassembled Rohirrim in my backlog. I'd picked up a number of them through various eBay and Facebook Marketplace trades, and decided the time was right to assemble them. Fortunately, all of the warriors were the original Rohirrim sculpts, so it was simply a matter of clipping them off the sprue and tidying up the moldlines. This turned out to be quite laborious, as over the years I'd managed to collect four whole sprues, giving me a total of 48 Rohirrim, plus the 24 in the Edoras boxed set – 72 Rohirrim warriors!

I then turned my attention to the Riders of Rohan I had still not assembled – fortunately, I only had 18 of them. I have a couple of armies planned that they can go into, such as a Fords of Isen list, as well as Eomer's Riders. To complement the forces, I also assembled the Eomer, Knight of the Pelennor model, as well as Grimbold and his Helmingas command. Last but not least, I managed to get my hands on Eorl the Young – with him put together, my collection of Rohirrim was finally fully assembled!

So, with everything assembled, I did a quick count up and realised I had condensed over 100 models from their separate boxes into one single box – it's slightly mind-blowing to realise just how many models you accumulate just by buying the odd random box here and there. However, both armies will be great projects to work on when I (again, eventually) get around to painting them.

Having assembled the two armies of Rohan and Dunland, I was finally ready to get back to some painting, and now that Armies of Middle Earth is finally here, I could at last turn my attention to an army I've been waiting to paint for ages – my Easterlings!

My collection of Easterlings comes in two parts – I have a contingent lead by Amdur, that fights alongside my Pelennor-themed Mordor list, which is fully painted. This portion of the army would be lead by the Dragon Emperor! I also added a number of Black Dragons, plus some regular warriors to be lead by Rutabi and Brorgir. Last but not least, I added a Dragon Knight leading a warband of Dragon Cult Acolytes. 

As for the colour scheme, I wanted them to look different from Amdur's cohort, and to try a painting technique I'd used previously and see if it could be applied over a whole army. Fortunately, when Battle Streams in Middle Earth hosted its Easterling week, I had the perfect opportunity to try it out. 

I started by painting the armour with Iron Hands Steel, before applying a drybrush of Stormhost Silver, doing the same to the weapons. I then applied a Sepia wash over the armour, trying to build up a gold colour over a silver base – it took about four layers of wash to get the desired effect, but I was really happy with how it came out – I then painted the red cloth in the same way as Amdur's Easterlings. 

With my test piece sorted, it was time to see if I could paint the entire army in the same way. I started with a warband of regular warriors, plus a captain  and standard bearer. The trick to painting turned out to be patience, as each painting session became a case of applying the layer of wash and then leaving it to dry, before repeating the process in the next session. However, once the armour was done, the rest of the model painted up very quickly – much like Warriors of Minas Tirith, Easterlings consist of two big blocks of colour – the armour and the cloth, plus a few additional details to pick out. A few painting sessions later, and I had my first warband of Easterlings! I based them to match my Erebor and Dale armies, and they were ready to assault the Lonely Mountain!

The captain, banner bearer, Warpriest, Rutabi and Brorgir were painted in the exact same way the warriors, apart from the banner itself, which I painted using actual gold paints in order to make it look different from the armour – I also used a brighter shade of red for the banner to distinguish it from the cloth. Brorgir and Rutabi also got some additional highlights, such as their armour, cloth and cloaks to help them stand out against the regular warriors – with those models done, my Easterling army was well on the way!

The next test were the Acolytes – these are slightly different to the rest of the army as there is much less armour to paint. However, I used the same techniques as the warriors, and the armour really looks great – I then painted the cloth and leather parts in the same way as the warriors, and I was left with some really unique looking models! I also did a bit of conversion work on the Dragon Knight, replacing the wonky Finecast swords with spares from the Black Dragon kit, which handily comes with a left-handed sword if you decide to give one of them a banner – win-win!

With those models done, I turned my attention to the Black Dragons. They were painted in similar fashion, with the exception of painting the usual red areas black instead - another couple of weeks’ work and they were done too. The Host of the Dragon Emperor was nearing completion!

So, with those Easterlings done, I've managed to pass 130 models painted for the year. This army is turning out to be a really fun project, although I know the Dragon Emperor is going to pose some challenges – at the moment, he's sitting in multiple sub-assemblies, some of which I'll need to paint together to make sure they're consistent. Fortunately, I also have the motivation of an upcoming EAHC event at the end of September – having a fixed deadline will be a great incentive to actually get these models painted, and I can't wait to get them on the tabletop. 

Now, if only GW would hurry up and send me those War Drakes I pre-ordered…