War in Rohan
Rise me an army worthy of Mordor!
Last year me and one of my friends decided to start playing Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game. We were both Tolkien fans since childhood so it was always somewhere there in our heads. He was coming back to hobby from a long absence so we looked for something to play together that would have low entry cost in money and skills and would also be something new for me too. MESBG fit all those requirements nicely. Rohan was one of my friends favourite forces so it was easy for me to decide on Isengard. Now one year later i already have a quite large force of around 100 models, but painted mostly Uruk-hai scouts so far, a troll and a lot of Crebains (but more on that later).
At some point i got a plan into my head to collect and paint this army in a way that was coresponding with events from the books. So to start with the scouts and then build slowly through the invasion on Rohan. There are some fun scenarios in War in Rohan book and i want to give them a go. They do require some extra models i didnt originally intended to get but otherwise it appeals to me as a hobby project.
This is a start of a project log so let me first show what i have
I have a lot of those guys now. Not going to post all of them now. It was a very quick paint job as i wanted to start playing as soon as possible. I got 50 of those guys in a weekend or so.
I also got a troll from the new edition starter. I magnetised every bit on it so i can also reuse him in the future in a mordor army. That was one of first things ive added to my scouts. It should come much later but i wanted to paint some interesting centerpiece model and also have some actual fighting power in this army to also play some games outside of campaign.
Attack on Rohan has begun. I played first scenario from the War in Rohan campaign. It was bloody and it was fun. Cant wait for more.
Ive painted some Dunlendings especially for this campaign. Wasnt really planing to get them when i started with Isengard but idea grew on me after reading those first scenarios. I had some extra spare vikings from my Saga army so it was not that hard to implement. I also found some nice model alternatives online and so the decision was made.
Having a force suitable for pillaging it was time to set Westfold on fire.
I like how the campaing represents the story from the books and beyond. Some of those battles were only mentioned in Lord of The Rings but also described in other books with more detail. I liked the idea to collect and paint my army along those events.
Burning of the Westfold scenario is, as you probably guessed, about burning. Rohan village is attack from all sides by angry Dunlendings who aim to set on fire as many buildings as they can. Rohan defenders on the other hand can fight them off, but also put those fires out.
First few turnes looked pretty bad for Rohan as most of the village was in flames. Brave defenders put quite a fight though and managed to fight off those savages and save enough houses in last few turns to secure victory.
In overall this game was great fun. Narrative scenarios can be sometimes random and not suited for compatitive play but they excel at immersion and fun. Next stop its the firs battle of Isen.