Wednesday, June 18, 2014

An Apology and a New Direction

Battle of the Five Armies Rule Book
I began this blog with every intention of painting up my Lord of the Rings armies for SBG but I've lost focus on that. It happened slowly but surely I couldn't understand why at first I'm all set to complete the Witchking's army a project I've been collecting figures for for nearly a decade. Then I realized it was GW, specifically their decision to make collecting their Hobbit miniatures an exclusive pastime for the idle rich. I know I want some of those Hobbit figures but I can't afford GW's ridiculous prices and then it him me they are simply waiting out their Hobbit contract now and I should be able to get some of the figures I wanted after the last movie when they finally go on a discontinued sale. So I'm putting aside 28mm LOTR until then.

There is another LOTR that I have long wanted to do and now seems the perfect time. That project is Warmaster LOTR or more specifically Warmaster 2nd Age in 15/18mm. Yes ever since GW released Warmaster in 2000 I knew it would be the perfect system for playing the large scale battles of the first and 2nd ages. I had a n inkling that it would be impossible for me to recreate them in 28mm. Then Battle of the Five Armies was released by GW in 2004 that confirmed my theory.
 
Back of the BFOA box.
Battle of the Five Armies or BOFA was a stand alone box set. It was quite literally a battle in a box. Its very clear from the rule book, (a modified version of Warmaster) that this was to be the first in a series title "Great Battles of Middle Earth" but like all great ideas it was quickly abandoned by GW. GW may have abandoned this idea but I haven't. I didn't like the 10mm figures that came in the box set at all so I cast around for alternatives and found a large selection of 15/18mm figures that I liked. I'll start posting pictures of my choices next Wednesday.
Warmaster Rule Book
Warmaster and BFOA are now OOP but anyone interested in getting a copy of the rules can find them on the author Rick Priestley's website.


6 comments:

  1. I played Warmaster for sa few years, several years ago...I recall BOFA coming out but didnt buy into it...I'm curious about the BOFA rules but couldnt find them at the link you gave?

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  2. I have the BOFA box. It was a gift from a friend. Painting 10mm is a real challenge for me. I hope to have the armies painted by December. Just having this on the painting table has inspired me to paint more of my unpainted lead than anything else this year.

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    1. I don't like the 10mm figures from the box set which was why I scaled it up, but I am using the BOFA wargs who where huge for 10mm.

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  3. Sorry Scott the BOFA rules where never made into a pdf it seems. For you I'll add the slight changes from warmaster at the bottom of each post for you as I get to that in the project. BOFA is 95% warmaster.

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  4. Good on you Robert, at least you admit when something doesn't feel right. I'd love to get in to BoFA and even have a pdf and hard copy of Warmaster, however I'd struggle to find anyone willing to play that scale. I will be watching your blog keenly though as you develop your ideas.
    Also I don't think you need to apologise, we all rethink things sometimes and at least you're still in theme!
    Good luck!

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  5. Let me tell you something Ste, I have the same problem getting others involved in this scale, but at $70 a whole army I'm simply going to collect all the figures myself so all I'll need after that is a willing participant.

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