The Fellowship of the Ring Scenario Project Pt2: Five of The Nine – Nazgûl on Foot (June-It ’18)

Citadel Miniatures Lord of the Rings Nazgûl on Foot

They are the Nazgûl, Ringwraiths, neither living or dead. At all times they feel the presence of the ring…drawn to the power of the one..they will never stop hunting you.

Here’s the first update of sorts for The Fellowship of the Ring Scenario Project. I’ve been working on Nazgûl this week, in-between everything else. When laying things out last week, I thought I had more fully-complete Ringwraiths than I actually did have. So I thought I had complete 4 regular wraiths on foot, plus The Witch King on foot, plus The Witch King mounted, plus three wraiths mounted. Turns out none of them were in 100% ready to go complete shape.

Citadel Miniatures Lord of the Rings Nazgûl on Foot

So I thought that these figures had all long been completed. That was until I got them out of a figure case and looked at them. None of these foot models or even the original trio of mounted models ever had the weathering powder applied to their robes, nor had the tufts been added to these, or the slate finished (or added in some cases) to the mounted models. The mounted Witch-King on the other hand, hadn’t had his slate painted, and had suffered some damage to his paint as a result of a base jump from a table. (Watch those waving arms near models reared up like that!) One of these regular foot Nazgûl also had fall damage that had to be repainted. FUUUUUUUUUUUU

Citadel Miniatures Lord of the Rings Nazgûl on Foot, Witch-King

I do have to say, though – these Ringwraiths are some of the nicer models in many ways that the Perrys ever sculpted. Just look at the Witch-King above and how threatening he looks, slowly unsheathing his Morgul-blade.

Citadel Miniatures Lord of the Rings Nazgûl on Foot

Similarly, look at how evocative this pair of wraiths look – and those aren’t even the “golden angle” of either model.

Citadel Miniatures Lord of the Rings Nazgûl on Foot

Even these “action” poses show a really effective understanding of movement and anatomy often missing from regular Warhammer models – including those sculpted by the Perrys.

So now these are done. I do have a few more models that I intend to get painted in order to make up The Nine. Unfortunately, some (most) of them are doubles of these existing models as GW only released five different sculpts initially as part of the Attack on Weathertop boxed set. It was not until quite a few years later when they released a full set of nine unique Ringwraiths, by which time they wanted at least AU$100 for it. Now AU$124. Also known as bwahahahahhahahahahhnofuckingwayforninemodelsletalonefoursculpts. No matter how nice those additional four are. And they’re pretty nice.

(Out of interest, I wonder why they don’t send me free copies of Age of Sigmar 2.0 and other product?) 😀

Next up, I guess I need to finish another four Ringwraiths on foot to complete this unit. Will I be able to “June-It” the last few? Stay tuned to find out! But first, there’s a few of their mounted versions to sort out…


Oh, and for some BTS of the process of these posts – Right now as I type all of this, it’s actually Monday Night – here’s tonight’s timeline:

Get home from work. Sit down for a bit, do some work emails (getting a quote). Send an email about some missing spray paint of my own. Realise that it’s still 11.9C degrees and maybe I can fit some spraying before it gets really way too cold.

Go outside, and look at all the crap I’ve got on the spray stocks in various states. Give the things that need a next layer/side a spray, which included the Satin coat for the OtherWorld gates (sprayed gloss for protection yesterday), as well as black on some secondhand foot Nazgul that I found, as well as Matte on 4 other models for another pair of units I want to try to get finished for June-It, and a Satin mid-spray for another 5 models for those same units. There was probably something else as well, but I’ve forgotten.

Come inside, and eat dinner. Listen to some Steve and Larson podcast. Do some basing work on both foot and mounted Nazgûl models.

Realise that the OtherWorld gates are probably dry by now, and I can probably write up a post and get it up tonight if I don’t leave it too late. So I get the camera, head out, snap some shots, then come back in and write up a post, using the Mine Gates post as a template.

Start writing up a post for the Mounted Nazgûl, before realising that I only glued slate to three of their bases this morning before work, and I’ve got to paint and varnish those fucking things before I can post them up. So I save that draft and then start a new one using that as the template. It’s (most of) the post you see above. Except.. none of the figures are actually ready yet.

So I’ve got to apply the weathering for the almost-finished foot Nazgûl, and (if they’re dry enough) start to base the other four that I just sprayed, then move them to the laundry overnight because freshly sprayed figures fucking reek of degassing propellant. Assuming that all goes well, I’ll photograph the five that are (will be) done tomorrow after work, upload this post, and then see what I can do on the other four. Also get to work on the final touches on the three almost-complete mounted Nazgûl, so I can photograph and post them on Wednesday evening. if I manage to find a pair of mounted Nazgûl that I may or may not own, I’ll be trying to complete those in time for June-It as well, not to mention the other two units I alluded to when I was talking about spraying earlier…

So when you read something like “Stay tuned to find out!” here, it’s not a hyperbolic statement based on holding back on showing a completed unit. It’s because I don’t know if I will actually have it all done or not at the time of writing – and probably at the time of posting, as well for that matter…

The Fellowship of the Ring Scenario Project. Pt1: Planning.

So this afternoon I asked Marouda what miniatures games she’d like to play if she could choose anything that I (we) have – any force, any game, any scale or scale of conflict. I even used the example that if she decided that she wanted to play WW2 Finns or Hungarians or French (I don’t have any of those) then I’d just buy them. She came up with two answers:

Gaslands, and Lord of the Rings SBG scenarios. Since I’m still waiting on the Gaslands rulebook to arrive in order to have some idea on what things to chop up and add to the little Matchbox collection that we picked up last week, I’ve started to look through the scenarios to see what we (I) need to get painted to run through the scenarios from the Fellowship of the Ring book (plus Moria Starter)

So I’ve created a list of the figures needed for all of those scenarios, then subtracted those that I’ve already painted, leaving a list of things that I’ll need to paint up at the end. I’ll also no doubt need to scratchbuild some terrain, that should vary from pretty easy (Buckleberry Ferry & Docks) to really quite painful (Amon Hen, the internals of Moria).

So here we go! (feel free to skip this post if you’re already bored. I’ll pepper it with painted examples, but there ain’t anything new here if you’ve been reading for years.

Scenario 1: The Hunt Begins

9 Dunedain

The Witch King of Angmar

2 Ringwraiths

 

Scenario 2: The Trust of Arnor

9 Dunedain

The Witch King of Angmar

8 Ringwraiths

Aenur will be my Gildor.

Scenario 3: Short Cuts Make Long Delays

Frodo

Sam

Pippin

Gildor (Subbed by Aenur)

3 Ringwraiths

 

Scenario 4: Buckleberry Ferry

Frodo

Sam

Pippin

Merry

3 Ringwraiths

Scenario 5: Fog on the Barrow-Downs

Frodo

Sam

Pippin

Merry

Tom Bombadil

Goldberry

4 Barrow-Wights

 

Scenario 6: The Grey Pilgrim and the Black Riders

Gandalf the Grey

The Witch King of Angmar

8 Ringwraiths

 

Scenario 7: Pursuit Into The Wilds

Gandalf the Grey

6 Dunedain

4 Ringwraiths

 

Scenario 8: Amon Sul

Frodo

Sam

Pippin

Merry

Aragorn

The Witch King of Angmar

4 Ringwraiths

*The Witch King of Angmar (Twilight)

*4 Ringwraiths (Twilight)

Scenario 9: Flight to the Ford

Frodo

Sam

Pippin

Merry

Aragorn

Glorfindel Mounted or Arwen Mounted

Glorfindel Foot or Arwen Foot

 The Witch King of Angmar Foot

8 Ringwraiths 

The Witch King of Angmar Mounted

8 Ringwraiths Mounted

 

Scenario 10: The Hounds of Sauron

Frodo

Sam

Pippin

Merry

Aragorn

Gandalf

Boromir

Legolas

Gimli

Warg Chieftain

18 Wild Wargs

I had this exact use in mind when I painted these.

Scenario 11: The Watcher in the Water

Frodo

Sam

Pippin

Merry

Aragorn

Gandalf

Boromir

Legolas

Gimli

6 Tentacles

 

Mines of Moria Scenario 1: Into the Dark

Frodo

Sam

Pippin

Merry

Aragorn

Gandalf

*Moria Gandalf

Boromir

Legolas

Gimli

4 Moria Goblins with Bows

 

Mines of Moria Scenario 2: Ambush!

Frodo

Sam

Pippin

Merry

Aragorn

Gandalf

*Moria Gandalf

Boromir

Legolas

Gimli

4 Moria Goblins with Shields

4 Moria Goblins with Spears

 

Mines of Moria Scenario 3: Surrounded!

Frodo

Sam

Pippin

Merry

Aragorn

Gandalf

*Moria Gandalf

Boromir

Legolas

Gimli

8 Moria Goblins with Bows

8 Moria Goblins with Shields

8 Moria Goblins with Spears

Mines of Moria Scenario 4: Battle in Balin’s Tomb

Frodo

Sam

Pippin

Merry

Aragorn

Gandalf

*Moria Gandalf

Boromir

Legolas

Gimli

8 Moria Goblins with Bows

8 Moria Goblins with Shields

8 Moria Goblins with Spears

Cave Troll

 

Scenario 12: Balin’s Tomb

Frodo

Sam

Pippin

Merry

Aragorn

Gandalf

*Moria Gandalf

Boromir

Legolas

Gimli

2 Goblin Captains

8 Moria Goblins with Bows

8 Moria Goblins with Shields

8 Moria Goblins with Spears

Cave Troll

 

Scenario 13: The Escape from Dwarrowdelf

Frodo

Sam

Pippin

Merry

Aragorn

Gandalf

*Moria Gandalf

Boromir

Legolas

Gimli

2 Goblin Captains

8 Moria Goblins with Bows

8 Moria Goblins with Shields

8 Moria Goblins with Spears

Cave Troll

Scenario 14: The Bridge of Khazad-Dum

Frodo

Sam

Pippin

Merry

Aragorn

Gandalf

*Moria Gandalf

Boromir

Legolas

Gimli

The Balrog

2 Goblin Captains

8 Moria Goblins with Bows

8 Moria Goblins with Shields

8 Moria Goblins with Spears

Cave Troll

 

Scenario 15: Lothlorien

Frodo

Sam

Pippin

Merry

Aragorn

??Gandalf

Boromir

Legolas

Gimli

2 Goblin Captains

8 Moria Goblins with Bows

8 Moria Goblins with Shields

8 Moria Goblins with Spears

Warg Chieftain

18 Wild Wargs

 

Scenario 16: Aragorn’s Stand

Frodo

Aragorn

Legolas

Gimli

Lurtz

1 Uruk-Hai Captain

6 Uruk-Hai Scouts with Orc bows

12 Uruk-Hai Scouts with Shields

 

Scenario 17: Borimir’s Redemption

Boromir

Merry

Pippin

1 Uruk-Hai Captain

6 Uruk-Hai Scouts with Orc bows

12 Uruk-Hai Scouts with Shields

 

Scenario 18: The Breaking of the Fellowship

Aragorn

Legolas

Gimli

Boromir

*Wounded Boromir

Lurtz

1 Uruk-Hai Captain

6 Uruk-Hai Scouts with Orc bows

12 Uruk-Hai Scouts with Shields

Painting List:

8 Ringwraiths on Foot.

8 Ringwraiths Mounted

The Witch King of Angmar on Foot (Robes) 

The Witch King of Angmar Mounted (Robes)

*The Witch King of Angmar (Twilight)

*4 Ringwraiths (Twilight)

Pippin

Merry

Tom Bombadil

Aragorn

Glorfindel Mounted or Arwen Mounted

Glorfindel Foot or Arwen Foot

Gimli

Boromir

*Wounded Boromir

Warg Chieftain

18 Wild Wargs

The Balrog

Lurtz

1 Uruk-Hai Captain

6 Uruk-Hai Scouts with Orc bows

12 Uruk-Hai Scouts with Shields

So… that’s “only” 48 figures (edit – 59 – apparently I can’t count when I have a headache!) needed to have the above ready to go. Unfortunately, a lot of them are essentially “hero” models, so they’ll need that extra amount of care and time to paint. I’ll probably also want/need to batch paint several of the heroes who have multiple alternative sculpts, to retain colour consistency across their many models.

I do have models I could sub in for quite a few of the “faceless” models there – for example I have about a bunch of wolves I could sub in for the Wargs for example, or use Uruk-Hai warriors/berserkers for the Uruk-Hai scouts – I’ve got the proper models for all of those, and so I’d much rather use this as motivation to actually paint those models instead. Gildor being the exception for that sort of thing as I don’t have the proper model, and Aenur makes a good proxy. Also, Goldberry, I guess as I don’t have the official model, but do have a RBG model that I specifically purchased to be Goldberry in LotR.