Clearing the Backlog, Part 30 – Why do I keep doing stupid things?

As a hobbyist, this can be a question you pose yourself a lot. In my case, the stupid thing was painting a 750 point Legions of Mordor list in the space of just two weeks for an EAHC event. 

But first, let's add a little bit of context – if you follow Battle Streams in Middle Earth [and I highly recommend doing so!], you'll know that they have an annual Hobby Bingo challenge. Two of the squares consist of painting both a Good and Evil army of at least 600 points. The Good army was easy enough to complete this year, as it will be my Rohan force, and I've made good progress so far by painting up a full warband of Riders of Rohan, plus Erkenbrand, Grimbold, and a number of Command models – a Captain, a banner bearer, a hornblower, and the Helmingas banner and hornblower models that come in a set with Grimbold

The plan is to eventually add Theodred, Elfhelm, another warband of Riders of Rohan [which I'm excited to reveal will be the brand new sculpts] and a host of Warriors of Rohan, giving me a completed Fords of Isen themed army to counter the invaders from Isengard. As to the Evil army, this would be tricker, as I wasn't quite sure exactly what to paint. So, a quick delve into the pile of shame, and I found I had a sprue of Morannon Orcs, two Mordor Trolls, plus an old metal Ringwraith on Fell Beast. A quick bit of list building later, and I had my 750 point list:

Fortunately, I'd already painted one warband of Morannon Orcs as part of my display board for last year's Throne of Skulls, so it was simply a matter of gluing them to some bases and adding basing material. The orcs were all painted in my dirty metallic scheme (Leadbelcher basecoat, wash with Nuln Oil and then Agrax Earthshade and then drybrush Necron Compound), whilst I picked out the cloth with various shades of red and brown. I then applied Geek Gaming Scenic's Base-Ready City Rubble to the bases to recreate the war-torn streets of the ruined city of Osgiliath. A couple of hours work, and I had a horde of orcs ready to go.

For the trolls, I painted the armour in the same way as the orcs. As for the skin, I started with a basecoat of Steel Legion Drab, before applying a wash of Reikland Fleshshade. I then drybrushed the skin with Steel Legion Drab, Baneblade Brown and then finally Karak Stone. The cloth was painted with XV-88, before being washed with Agrax Earthshade, highlighted XV-88 and then Balor Brown. The last step was to pick out the scales and straps with different shades of brown, and I had two trolls to join the orc host!

As to the heroes, my obvious choice for an Osgiliath themed army was Gothmog, so I picked up the new plastic sculpt. The armour and cloth was painted the same way as the other orcs, except that I used Iron Warrior instead of Leadbelcher for the basecoat, giving him a darker look that helps him stand out from the rest of the horde. As for his Warg, I started with a basecoat of XV-88, before applying washes of Seraphim Sepia and Agrax Earthshade – I then highlighted the fur with Balor Brown, Baneblade Brown and Karak Stone, before using Basilicanum Grey contrast to paint the Warg's skin. I then based him to match the rest of the army, and he was ready to announce the time of the orc had come!

Another hero I decided to include was Guritz, who's special rules for reinforcements would definitely come in handy. However, I didn’t have a spare one to hand, and also didn't have the time to get hold of the resin version. What I did have, however, was a spare Morannon Orc and the Battle Games in Middle Earth conversion sprue, which has an orc head exactly like Guritz's, and his scythe-style weapon. A quick bit of snipping, gluing  and some Green Stuff later, and I had my discount Guritz – it was then simply a case of painting him in the same way as Gothmog, and my orc heroes were finished. 

The last model for the army was some air support – a Ringwraith on a Fell Beast. I'd managed to pick up the old metal version a while ago, and the Osgiliath style ruins on the base made it a perfect match for the army. For the Ringwraith, I started with a black basecoat, before using grey-blue colours for the highlights. As for the Fell Beast, I started with a basecoat of Corvus Black for the scaly skin, before washing the model with Agrax Earthshade. I then applied drybrushes of Eshin Grey and Skavenblight Dinge, before stippling Baneblade Brown and Karak Stone on the underbelly. For the wing membranes, I started with Stormvermin Fur, before washing with Agrax and drybrushing with Baneblade Brown and Karak Stone. I then picked out the spines and claws with black, before applying a light grey drybrush. I then picked out the teeth and saddle, and the Fell Beast was done. 

This left just one other model that comes in the Fell Beast boxed set – Frodo! He was fairly straightforward to paint, and fortunately the night before the EAHC event was the latest episode of Battle Streams in Middle Earth – painting Frodo was a nice way to unwind after a busy couple of weeks painting, and he rather conveniently ticks of the "Paint either a member of the Fellowship or Thorin's Company" bingo box!

So, here it is, my 750 point Legions of Mordor army in full:

This is probably one of the easiest armies I've painted, simply because a lot of it was just doing blocks of basecoats, washes and drybrushes. The base-ready City Rubble also meant I didn’t have to spend time painting the bases either – all I had to do was glue it on and then apply a matt sealant to hold it in place. I've not really used base-ready materials before, having normally relied on the old standard of applying sand to the base, painting it and then adding static grass, but I was quite satisfied with the effect, and I'm already planning a Gondor army to go alongside the Mordor one. I might also do an Osgiliath themed display board for them to fight over too!

The ease of painting the army also meant I didn’t feel under time pressure to get it done for the event, although I was admittedly a bit nervous about the deadline when I started painting. However, the frenetic painting paid off, as I won the Best Army award for the event, something I was delighted with! Unfortunately, despite being voted the best army, it spectacularly failed to perform on the tabletop, and I managed to lose all three games and went home with the wooden spoon [Oh well, at least it looked good!].

I also managed to get one additional model painted up, this time to tick off another bingo square, “Paint one of your five favourite Middle Earth characters”, and there was only really one character I could chose - Gandalf the Grey. This version is from the White Council boxed set that was released alongside An Unexpected Journey, and it really is a lovely sculpt.

So, to backlog progress - the Rohirrim, orcs, trolls and Ringwraith (plus Frodo and Gandalf) have helped me get my painting count for the year to 148 models! Only 52 to go to hit the 200 model target for the year, and I still have projects planned which should help me reach that total. Now, time to crack on with that Rohan army!