Gathering in the Desert, or GitD, is the first tournament circuit event for Lord of the Rings this year. This is a premier event drawing players literally from across the country. I have the honor to get to play in this tournament and pit my skills against the best players of the last few years in Lord of the Rings.
As such, I wanted to bring a beautifully painted army to compete against these experts and as last year I played a Grey Company army, I wanted something different this go around. Over the last few months those of you familiar with my blog has seen my Dol Amroth army grow. In November I played them(Granted a smaller force) in the primer event, and have since been able to play them a few additional times against local friends. I hope this will be a force that will provide fun and strategy to my games in the GitD tournament.
Above is a full army shot off my Fiefdoms army complete with their display case. I had fun building my display as this was my first attempt and modeling rocks from foam. I think I did an adequate job and the painting came out much better than I expected. I decided to design my display board off of a charge of the Dol Amroth knights through a valley into the open battle field. I modeled the clifftops to hold my Rangers of Gondor and then designed a charging layout which has Imrahil on horseback as the lead of the charge.
Some items of note is the display board grass, which was modelled off my actual models to make it look as if the grass on the models is actually part of the display, providing a more seamless design to the overall layout.
Here in my closeup of Imrahil you get an idea of the grass effect on the display board. Also you get a sense of the scope of the army with the additional knights behind Imrahil charging forward.
Here is another shot of the army from the side. It gives a bit of a closer view of the gorge that the army seems to be erupting from. Also you get additional ideas of how the grass on the model bases and display board flow together to provide a full battlefield.
Above the battlefield you get a glimpse of the Rangers of Morthond Vale, which act as my advance scouts, rangers and archery support. With their solid fight values of 4 and their ability to shoot with a 3+ I look toward them to quell many a charge from my enemies during the tournament.
Last through the gorge are my secret weapon. The elite Axemen of Lossarnach. These mighty warriors are great as they provide needed spear support for my Knights, but also can move forward and battle side by side with the knights bringing their axes into the fray as mighty 2-handed weapons.
Watch for a future update at the end of the month to detail my exploits during the tournament! If you are planning to attend I would love to hear what you are bringing, additionally, I look forward to comments and criticisms, so please let me know what you think of my army.
Above is the final model as a complete picture. I felt close-ups of the base alone wouldn't put the entire model in the right perspective. I also included shots of the front and back of the model's base to show the dense forest growth and the narrow paths that I envision to be part of traveling through Fangorn Forest.
So. As a final update prior to my display base being completed (Hopefully before next Friday) I hope to get your final thoughts on my entry and what you all think my chances are if this was entered into a GT painting competition. I know its always an unknown on who will enter, but in general what are the thoughts?
I also wanted to get the eyes done. This was completed using a slight dab of Red with a highlight of thinned Yellow paint. This allowed the red to show through and not be over powered by the yellow color. See the close-up of the face below.
I also added a 50/50 mix of Ceramcoat Green with Americana Lemon Yellow to get a Lichen/Moss color that was applied to various locations of the Ent model. I think this goes to highlight him better and lends more credence to the 'tree' look and feel.
Last I wanted to complete the base. So far I just have grass added after multiple coats of various shades of Browns. I will probably add some slate rock and give that a little highlight colors as well as I feel the base is still a little bare imho.
Here are some additional final close-ups of the leaves and bark that I painted. I think these look great and hope that the extra effort helps in the upcoming painting contest. As this will be my first ever entry into a painting competition, I think I have done a solid first time job.
So again, I ask for your thoughts on the painting and modeling of the Ent. I am very happy with the model, while I know many have expressed dislike over this model, I found it to be fun to model. In fact, I wouldn't mind picking up another model, which given the extra parts would allow me to create it plus have extra limbs for when the plastic Ents are released in the coming months.
After the touch up was dried I added a all over base coat of Delta Ceramcoat ' Burnt Umber' I felt this gives a nice dark brown base color that I can then build up from with lighter browns. Also the darker color should give me a richer color in the shadows. Hopefully we will see this in later color applications. I also used this as a base coat for the base itself. Later colors will not match though as I want a contrast between the model and its scenic base.
After the base coat was fully dried I applied a heavy dry brushing of Delta Ceramcoat 'Brown Iron Oxide'. This is the first of a few lighter shades of brown to give the wood grain nice definition.
Well. So far I think I am getting along quite well. There is nothing like having to catch up on painting and having a looming deadline coming up soon. Hopefully I will get this done and be happy with the final finished work.
That's right. It's not exactly a 'Red Dragon' but it IS my Red Dragon entry. Or hopefully will be! Basically, I am getting a very late start on this, but am optimistic that I will be able to rise to the task and finish the work on my Red Dragon entry prior to the GitD event.
So far I have completed the assembly, greenstuff and base. He IS NOT coming off that base either as I have pinned and greenstuffed him to it. He is very secure. I think I will be going with a color set that is more in the darker shades of brown and am planning to use Woodland Scenics material for foliage.
Gathering in the Desert, or GitD, is the first tournament circuit event for Lord of the Rings this year. This is a premier event drawing players literally from across the country. I have the honor to get to play in this tournament and pit my skills against the best players of the last few years in Lord of the Rings.
Here in my closeup of Imrahil you get an idea of the grass effect on the display board. Also you get a sense of the scope of the army with the additional knights behind Imrahil charging forward.
Here is another shot of the army from the side. It gives a bit of a closer view of the gorge that the army seems to be erupting from. Also you get additional ideas of how the grass on the model bases and display board flow together to provide a full battlefield.
Above the battlefield you get a glimpse of the Rangers of Morthond Vale, which act as my advance scouts, rangers and archery support. With their solid fight values of 4 and their ability to shoot with a 3+ I look toward them to quell many a charge from my enemies during the tournament.
Last through the gorge are my secret weapon. The elite Axemen of Lossarnach. These mighty warriors are great as they provide needed spear support for my Knights, but also can move forward and battle side by side with the knights bringing their axes into the fray as mighty 2-handed weapons.
First my army: Aragorn’s Return. Basically, I designed this off of a pure Grey Company list using Aragorn with Anduril as the returning King to unite the Northern people of Arnor to his banner.
Oops, first good/good fight. Turns out I will play the ‘evil’ side this time. I guess it was bound to happen. Actually, Carl and I had squared off before and so were pretty familiar with each others strengths and weaknesses.
Ok, Finally I get to the match I should excel in. A match made for Aragorn. How could I not want to do this battle? Here is how, my opponent is fielding Aragorn also. So unfortunate.
