Beasts of War!

Last September, I took three of my redundant Warhammer Lord of the Rings beasts to our local book shop in Retford to form part of a display to encourage young gamers to get involved in the hobby. Having had them returned this weekend, I thought I would post some pictures of them on here. I'd forgotten just how much I enjoyed constructing and painting these models and, how much I used to enjoy our regular visits to Warhammer World in Nottingham to fight battles using the War of the Ring rules on Games Workshop's excellent gaming tables. Fighting large scale battles on brilliant terrain was part of the day, but retiring to Bugman's Bar for lunch was an equally important part of the day. If you've never spent a day at Warhammer World, I would definitely recommend it, but make sure you take your plastic with you, as it is very difficult to resist a visit to the shop and there are plenty of knowledgeable staff there to help you ease your wallet out of your pocket!

My three beasts are the Witch King, my army commander, mounted on a Fell Beast, a Troll drummer and a very menacing looking armoured Troll...

 

This version of the Witch King is the one I had before I re-attached the massive mace that he carries and wields to such devastating effect in the movies.

 

This is he, as he is now, with the weapon re-attached.

 

 

The main problem with this model was attaching it securely to its base. I believe the current version that you can buy from Games Workshop has a plastic stand to do the securing. I attached my beast by drilling up into the tail and feeding a piece of wire through the base and gluing it underneath. The tail of the beast also rests on a piece of stone. The Morannon Orc was attached to add a little extra drama to the base.

 

 

 

The other side of the base boasts three victims of the Witch King's wrath... a warrior of Gondor, a Rider of Rohan and a poor unfortunate horse. The wire securing device feeds through these figures before going through the base.

 

 

 









 A slightly wider angle, showing the fallen and the Morannon Orc.



This is one of my favourite figures of all time. A great many expletives were shed during the building stage, but it was all worth it in the end. The kit came with several alternative arrangements in weaponry and accessories, and I added the spear points to the back of his armoured gloves just to make him look a little more ferocious. The lump of masonry adorning the base is from a bag of Greek rubble I acquired from a trader at Partizan many years ago. According the War of the Ring rules, Trolls can lob stuff like that at their enemies!

 

Two more views of the armoured Troll.

 

 

 

As an alternative to the great armoured beast above, Games Workshop produce a much lighter plastic version which can be put together as a Troll drummer.

 



 

This is another of my all time favourite monsters! The kit fits together reasonably well, but requires a copious amount of green stuff to fill in gaps where the bits don't quite fit together properly. Having said that, it is an absolute delight to build and paint. Just look at the expression on his face... He is a drummer in the same mould as Keith Moon!

 

 

 

Happy Days! I really quite miss the days when my boys were into Lord of the Rings. Having been a strictly historical gamer for over twenty years, I never thought I would end up painting figures like these, but they are probably some of the most rewarding projects I have ever been engaged in. Perhaps if I wait long enough, my grandchildren will get into Lord of the Rings and I will be able to dust these off and get them stomping across the battlefield once more!!