Minifigs Mythical Earth Lord of the Rings Warbands (Picture heavy)

[Rob Dean]

I expect this is going to be a long-running WIP thread.  My intention is to convert this heap of vintage lead into war games armies to allow me to field forces for a variety of Tolkien situations, using only vintage Minifigs.  For those who are younger than me, Minifigs produced this line of Tolkien-inspired figures starting in 1972, and, as far as we've ever been able to determine, it was the first range of specifically fantasy miniatures ever produced.  They were the first that I bought as well, and I will freely admit that this is a nostalgia project.

 

I posted a batch of finished elves this morning.  Here's what I have left to do: two elf riders, an elf king to form a second command stand, 14 elf swordsmen, and 9 elf bowmen (three of whom have lost arrows and one who's been redone as a standard bearer for the command stand.)

 

 

For the era of the Battle of the Five Armies, they have some dwarf allies.  Here's a dozen, representing all three stock numbers that were produced.  Each stock number was a strip of two.  I have a batch of seven already finished and based.

 

 

Minifigs did not issue any specific Lakemen, nor, for that matter, any specific Rohirrim on foot.  For the Five Armies-era humans, I'll have to reach into the historical and use some figures from their NS (Norman/Saxon) range with round shields.  I've got about three dozen available with which to work.  They should also serve as dismounted Rohirrim when needed.

 

 

Beorn and Gandalf are also available, and a token eagle...

 

 

To continue with the good guys, there were two catalog numbers of actual mounted Rohirrim.  I have two completed so far, and about 22 available, including a few Later Romans or similar Dark Ages figures which blend well.  A few spare horses remain to be found.

 

 

The Gondorians were represented by five different figures, a citadel guardsman, two rangers of Ithilien, a spearman, a swordsman, and a foot knight.  I've got at least a dozen of each, plus a total of two dozen of ME53 and 54, Rangers of the North.

 

The Dark Lord's forces can be lead by the imposing squadron of flying Nazgul, of which I have four:

 

I have 18 wargs (plus a few already finished), but only two of the goblin riders:

 

 

Large orcs came in three poses, with sword, axe or spear.  I've got about 85 to be done:

 

 

Smaller orcs came in four poses, a bowman, a swordsman without shield, a swordsman with shield, and a well equipped armored goblin with shield, spear and bow.  Of that latter, I've only got a handful, all completed.  Of the first three, I've got about seventy from a recent purchase:

 

 

There is also one pose of little goblins.  I finished a few of them last month.  I've got more, but they are sitting in paint stripper at the moment.

 

 

Sauron's human allies were represented by four poses of figures; there was a Haradrim spearman and a mounted lancer, of which I've got about 30 and 5 respectively:

 

There was also a Southern spearman and a mounted swordsman.  I only have a token 3 of the spearmen, so they won't be a unit on their own, but I do have nine of the mounted swordsmen, so they can be.

 

Last, I have a hobbit militia of about a dozen, plus a couple of mounted hobbits.  The foot hobbits came in strips of three, and one strip is much easier to find than the other...

 

 

My basic plan is going to be to play these with Dragon Rampant, which generally uses units of six mounted or twelve foot figures, with provision for heroes and large monsters as exceptions.  However, some of the teams will be big enough that I could use Chaos Wars (also in sixes and twelves), and I expect that an actual Battle of the Five Armies game my brother and I have been discussing will take every orc/goblin that we have painted.

 

 

 

 

 

Edit: Ooops!  Forgot the Dunlendings; there are enough of them to make a unit, and given Saruman's forces a bit of distinctiveness...

 

 

 

Edited March 4, 2018 by Rob Dean
Comment on a picture

[Glitterwolf]

Cool project!

[Rob Dean]

I brought a stick of five goblins to work on at lunch today; as you can see, most of the basic colors are on. Next session is faces and shields for the most part. 

 

 

[Rob Dean]

And on to basing...

 

[Rob Dean]

And here they are based, along with one “true orc” done at lunch yesterday. 

 

[Glitterwolf]

Well done!

They look ready for battle!

[Rob Dean]

Except for them being low fighting value figures that come in hordes (to be done), yes...

[Rob Dean]

It’s been a slow weekend, but I have the next batch ready to glue to sticks for priming. I did some calculations on Dragon Rampant lists and concluded I could field my northern allies if I got a unit of humans, so I set them up. There remain a couple dozen orcs to go...

[Rob Dean]

Moving gradually along with the orcish fellows...

[Glitterwolf]

Those wargs look kinda goofy but I love them!

[Rob Dean]

I agree. They look a little better painted in plausible wolf colors than my original 1975 solid brown. 

 

Today it’s some of the generic humans. 

[Rob Dean]

I finished the basing on those six yesterday and gave them a coat of spray varnish this morning. Next up will be six second rank spearman with spears raised. At that point, I will have the first deployable warband for Dragon Rampant:

 

Leader, elf heavy foot (reduced model unit) 4 points

Two elf light foot with mixed weapons (i.e. including bows) at 5 points each

Dwarf elite foot (6 figures) at 6 points

Lakemen light foot at 3 points

with one point left to give the dwarves enchanted weapons. 

Total: 45 figures

 

24 points is a typical game level for these rules. 

 

My orcs of the Misty Mountains are

lagging, but at least I now have 6 wolves for a unit. 

[lowlylowlycook]

Interesting project.  Lion/Dragon Rampant is a pretty cool game.

[Rob Dean]

Thanks. By the rules all of these bands will get the victory point bonus for old figures.  I’ve enjoyed the DR games I’ve played, although you don’t want to get too serious or competitive about them...

[Rob Dean]

Taking advantage of the snow day today, I have done the other half of my generic human light spearmen: