Lord of the Rings: Helms Deep (1) - A Project

Update: I've already decided against printing the whole thing. It's just way too much of an investment at the moment. I'm leaving this up as a reminder to not get too ambitious.

I often find myself starting new projects and not exactly following through. To that end I'm hesitant to even post about this one but I figure if I do end up following through, it will be fun to look back on the starting point.

For as long as I've been a wargamer I've had a love of Lord of The Rings. It was the first game I played on my own, and one of the only games I've played consistently in my whole time as a Tabletop Gamer. As a huge fan of the UrukHai I've obviously had a huge interest in Helms Deep. For me this is the magnum opus of gaming Lord of the Rings. Years ago I found this blog HERE and thought the ever elusive "maybe someday"

Fast forward to yesterday, I discovered the Dark Realms Patreon and was blown away to discover that july's release was an entire 28mm model of Helms Deep.

This is one of those big dumb things I start and then never finish.

After scouring through the comments section across both the patreon and the currently running kickstarter for halfling houses, it appears someone has estimated the build to need somethign rediculous like 17 spools of filament.

I've started printing from the left with just the first part of the curtain wall.

This is easily the largest single piece I've printed and obviously the largest over all project. I can't really wrap my head around how long itll take to complete in its entirety but I've decided to start with the front "section" as it were and see if I can't get a playable "facade"

Some Musings

I wanted to take just a moment to talk about where I am in the hobby these days. I know I'm very prone to the wargames butterfly syndrome as we so affectionately refer to it. In the last month I think I've started (and then stopped) a dozen or so projects. I'm not sure if this is a "real-life" thing or a "quarantine-life" thing this time. I've been spending more time outside of the hobby lately and just enjoying the hobby when I can but I don't know if that's because of the strange times or not. Theres two games in particular that have inspired a lot of thoughts. Throughout all my ups and downs in the hobby lately, one thing has been consistent. I've been painting a lot of 40k stuff.

40k

Way way back in the day, my very first introduction to the hobby was a Games Workshop in the mall. Back in middle school a friends parents took him and I to the mall and I got to try out 40k in a demo ran by the store. I loved the hobby immediately but never got a chance to get in to it until I was an adult with a disposable income. Throughout the years, games have come and gone and I've tried what feels like thousands of games but I keep coming back off and on and collecting Games Workshop games and models.

Anyone who knows me knows my obsession with Lord of the Rings but I've also held on to my 40k stuff, buying selling and trading things here and there over the years. When 8th edition rolled around I had more or less stopped playing with gw stuff but had dipped my toes with bloodbowl and shadow war. 8th edition opened a floodgate and I bought quite a few boxes in that time. Like all game nights, we played heavy for a few months than waned away and moved on to other games. With stuff like necromunda Ive bought a few boxed of things that I thought could do double duty (Genestealer Cults) and a few things just to paint up (Tor Garadon)

With the recent announcement of ninth edition and the more recent article talking about combat patrol (the small points format) I wanna get back into 40k again. The new starter box has necrons in it and thats something I flirted with back when 8th dropped. I'm basically starting from scratch here but I've got a smattering of models painted already (thankfully they paint so quickly) and have been chipping away on them here and there. We've got a group that wants to get meeting soon, so barring some state-wide shutdown, when the new edition drops we'll be starting with some Combat Patrol.

Historicals

I've been weaving my way in and out of historical gaming for years, lately on the "out" of things. I've talked quite at length over all of my mediums about my love of the Punic Wars and my eventual desire to run some sort of grand campaign with them. It's still something I really want to do, to that end I ordered the last wave of stuff (celts mostly) and build a couple of army lists and then sent them off to be painted. I'm expecting the second half of things back at some point and then the arduous task of basing begins but I'm really excited for a multitude of reasons. In short, aside from being an era I love, the collection was purchased, painted and will be based with one stand being a unit. So for games like To The Strongest, it should play out on a kitchen table. 

The other big grab for me lately has strangely been dark ages gaming. I don't have any idea why, I just dont know. Way back when I flirted with Dark Ages stuff with SAGA and although the game was a lot of fun in demos, I found once we began playing with the more tightly written book and trying to do a slow grow league, I lost a lot of interest. The asgard rising patreon I mentioned a few weeks ago has been slowly growing in the background and for some inexplicable reason I have just been so drawn to the idea of it. The girlfriend and I were talking about watching Vikings and The Last Kingdom and this huge spat between TMP and TooFatLardies has reminded me that not only do I have a copy of Dux Brit taking up some shelf space, I also haven't played it yet. Drew and I decided that would be the move next, to play through that campaign. To that end, I've been looking through the book and will probably attempt to sneak the models from asgard in where I can.

This is just another one of those, "I am alive, and the hobby is neat" style of posts from me, for the time being. I still can't get it together enough for a real showcase, project log or tutorial lately as much as I'd like to. Appreciate people bearing with me and hope everyones staying safe during this mess. Thanks for reading.

Kickstarters and Patreons

I used to say I didn't like kickstarter. I still don't think I'm in love with the concept or the service as a whole to be honest but my complete lack of impulse control has now made me up to my eyeballs in it. I recently wrote an intro type article over on Michtoy From the Front about 3d Printing that covers the basics and where I'm at with it which you can read HERE. Since writing that article I've discovered a few kickstarters I really think are worth highlighting as well as dived head first into the wild west that is Patreon.

Kickstarters First

Brave New Worlds by Printable Scenery

I've been a big fan of Printable Scenery for a while now, they have quite a few really neat designs that are already on my tables and after seeing the last kickstarter I told myself "whatever they do next, back the Kickstarter"
Brave New Worlds is a collection of 3 different Themed sets of Terrain. New Eden is an alien/aztec inspired set of jungle type ruins and temples. Sanctuary 17 is a moon base styled set of rooms and corridors perfect for sci-fi gaming. Wasteworld (pictured above) is a post apocalyptic playground with a ton of great options.
The pledges let you choose from any combination of the three, and the stretch goals have skyrocketed through the campaign, including all sorts of amazing scenery to print at home. I have a feeling te Wasteworld one will be the most printed for me, but the reasonable price (around 100 bucks) for the all in pledge made this one an impulse buy.

Ignis Quadrant by EC3D

I'm a big fan of Necromunda, Judge Dredd, and Star Breach. Ignis Quadrant is a pile of 3D printable files including figures, scatter terrain and vehicles. Having recently finished up the Death Ray Designs table and continuing to chip away on both the Zone mortalis Board and Hive City board, I thought there was enough in here to merit the all in pledge. When the campaign ended there were hundreds of files including all sorts of cool stuff to scatter around a table. The All-in pledge was a mere 40 bucks and was worth it solely for the vehicles that I'll add to my 28mm city to make it appropriately cyberpunk. This was the moment in the Kickstarter I was sold:

The creator has two more Kickstarters currently planned; one about sci fi ships and another one for 28mm sci fi figures set in this universe. I'm thrilled with how this was handled and am definitely keeping my eyes peeled for those.

Hexton Hills by Graven Guild

Like the others this is a digital file campaign. Hexton Hills is a collection of 3d map tiles perfect for RPGs, Wargame Campaigns, or whatever else. As a map nerd, I'm frankly excited for them even without a second use. The stretch goals and add-ons have brought the total tiles to over 200 designs and each tile is printable in fdm or resin. My plans include some sort of To the strongest map campaign among other things. Of their modest goal of 2k, theyve just passed 100k in total raised funds. This is a company and kickstarter to keep an eye on and I'll post more about these in the future.

Survivors of Serath by 3DartDigital

This one is a collection of figures and terrain with a fantasy theme. The company that did this had previously done a kickstarter for some really amazing fantasy busts. An early bird special for this caught my eye as at the price point, it'd be worth it for the terrain alone. The stretch goals in this one are a little ambitious but even at the base level I think the terrain alone was a good investment. Some of the figures look great to paint even if I can't think of a good use for them. At the time of posting this one has just reached 90k and most of the stretch goals that enticed me in are unlocked.

A modified version of this article appeared on Michigan Toy Soldiers News from the Front.

High Elves (1) - Project Plans

I've mentioned this a few times before but I've been struggling hard to get motivated through the quarantine. I've found it incredibly difficult to get the motivation necessary to shake the ever looming feeling of "sure, wargame figures are neat but what's the point if I'll never see anyone again." In the span of the quarantine, I've found myself motivated by exactly 3 things. Finally getting my High Elves Playable, a new fantasy skirmish game that's in the works, and 3D Printing Patreons. I'm gonna do some sort of write up on the other two motivators at some point down the road but for now my focus is on high elves.

I do this a lot if you haven't noticed, where I plan out a project and almost immediately lose steam. This is a project that I've been trying to accomplish for a long time. When I first got into Age of Sigmar, I had some left over High Elf stuff from my warhammer fantasy days, all unpainted of course. I slowly aquirred bits here and there through trades and ebay. I'm sure if I took the time to sort it all and point it out it'd be in the realm of 3000 to 4000 points but almost the whole lot is no longer usable in Age of Sigmar.

With the Arrival of  Cities of Sigmar, a lot of the models I fell in love with dissapeared. I was a little bitter frankly, but more importantly the motivation was lost. Most of the project was shelved and I set my sites on other forces.

Heres the new project all laid out. Using the Cities of Sigmar book I've made a 1000 point list, that uses all High Elf models as proxies.

Here's the list generated from the warscroll builder
Allegiance: Order
Cogsmith (60)
Battlemage (90)
Freeguild General (100) - General
Battlemage (90)
10 x Freeguild Greatswords (160)
10 x Freeguild Greatswords (160)
5 x Freeguild Pistoliers (100)
Helblaster Volley Gun (120)
Helblaster Volley Gun (120) Total: 1000 / 2000 Extra Command Points: 0 Allies: 0 / 400 Wounds: 64

The plan model wise is somewhat self explanatory, with the mage and Loremaster being Battlemages. The only model not pictured is the High Elf Banner Bearer who will act as the Cogsmith, rallying the two Volley guns in the form of Elf Balistas. The General will be the Leader from the Skycutter kit and the Pistoliers are going to be Reavers.  

Its a 35 model force all told and frankly I dont think it matters to me if it ever sees the table. I haven't played aos in months anyway but I've always had a soft spot for these models. With the other fantasy game in the works, I thought it made some sense to get some elf models ready anyway so here we are. 

So the plan.

The Lore master is painted but not based. The banner/cogsmith is completely finished.
The Swordmasters on the left are about 70% done, everything else is grey.

The plan as it stands now, is to get the whole army assembled, glued to bases and then painted. I'll do all the basing at the end. I figure in addition to games like Age of Sigmar, this will give me a good start for Oathmark if my copy ever arrives, as well as some models for a skirmish game.

Wish me luck