I took a break from painting Warmachine after I did my War of the ring retrospective. I remembered I still had a fair bit to do to finish off battles of the third age.
First up, let me say that I think Battles of the Third Age is a truly mediocre expansion that doesn't do a lot for me.
Why you ask? Because I only use 10% of the expansion and the other 90% sits on a shelf being neglected. I tried the scenario games and I really don't enjoy them. Not gonna comment much more on them asides to say I would have preferred to have paid half price for the expansion and only got the stuff used in the core game.
That being said, the stuff you do get for the main game is all pretty cool. Siege engines, trebuchet, Dunlendings, Corsairs, Ents, the Witch King on a Wyvern, Galadriel and the goddam BALROG.
Its 5/10 as a full expansion, 9/10 if I could have just got the stuff for the main game.
Ok, I normally paint these models in a very short amount of time, but I spend a bit of effort on the Balrog. He's a suitable epic character to spend time on and painting red is easy and fun. This was a fair few stages of highlighting up from black to yellow as i really wanted to capture the "Fire and Shadow" look. I think he looks pretty cool and look forward to bringing him out next time we play. Something about a colossal fire breathing monster rampaging over the shire and eating hobbits fills me with glee.
Next up is Galadriel, the model the good guys get to balance out the Balrog. She doesn't leave lothlorien but can do an awful lot to help the free peoples with her magic, shes very good when you are focussed on getting the ring to Mordor. I painted her blue and white to make her nice a crisp, also gave her flowing blond hair. the pool in front has the eye of Sauron in it as well for a bonus.
Finally, the hunting Witch King on a Wyvern. This is a variant Witch King and you can only have one, this guy focusses in on the hunt for the one ring and makes getting that thing to Mordor a right pain. It doesn't show up too well in this pic but the Myvern is a deep scaly green colour, the beak was done in bone to give the model a nice contrast and make it more threatening. Just point the beak at the fellowship and your opponent will get the idea.
Ents are awesome. The last march of the Ents was my favourite scene in the books and the films. Something about angry trees smashing stuff up makes me smile. Simple paint jobs on these guys, deep brown and brown ink with a touch of green. Treebeard gets the special character base and a grey beard.
The new rules for Ents are far better than the abstractions in the core game. Still menacing and a real threat to Isengard. It's just more visceral when you actually place Ent markers on the board.
Next up, Siege engines. I had taken some photos of the Trebuchets as well but they seem to have gotten corrupted and .... well.... they are very simple models. Brown and tin/bronze are the main colour employed here. Very simple jobs, but anything more than this is a waste for a model that's essentially a giant blob.
I like Siege engines and Trebuchets as they add an extra dynamic to sieges, which are a major factor in this game.
The Dunlendings join the Isengard faction and are cheap fodder infantry. They seem quite useful but I'm still not 100% sure why I would take them over regular troops. Something I'm missing I guess. These guys suffer from bendy plastic syndrome and the pitchforks are all over the place.
To break up the tedium I did 3 different colour outfits and 4 different colour beards. No two Dunlendings have the same outfit and beard colours. Fiddling and annoying to paint.
Next up are the Corsair Ships joining the Harradrim and Easterlings faction (aka everyone bad asides from Sauron and Saruman). I've played a few games with the expansion and so far these guys haven't made a big impression. It's a pity as I like the Corsairs as a concept.
Very simple paint job, bone on the sale and some flesh ink in the recesses. The bases are the result of picking up a water effects bottle for half price at a "going out of business sale". I think its a nice effect and was pretty painless to do. Just get water effects from your local store (GW stocks some) pour on the base.... and leave to dry.
Finally I'll look at some custom work I did. My strider model has a chunk out of the back of his head, I also had some damaged components in my core game (The tokens to select which member of the fellowship dies) I sent of to FFG to ask for a new Strider, some new components and ..... and extra north elite.
I made a crown to cover the head hole and BAMM! Aragorn the King figure. I also took the north elite and sculpted a beard on to him and BAMM! Gandalf the white.
This will be so much better than the cruddy little tokens you get in game when these two upgrade.
Anyways, that's all for War of the Ring (And I mean all, i'm not painting up the rest of the models in 3rd age)
BONUS PICTURES Game fully setup .... with some additions.
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