Litko Bases

As you know I'm using the Warmaster system to play my 2nd Age LOTR game. Warmaster was discontinued by GW in 2013. That's ok as I'm not using GW figures or even using 10mm figures. I'm using 15-20mm figures from all sorts of sources. But I am basing all my units on the standard warmaster 40mm x 20mm base so I needed a source for those. I chose Litko where I can get bags of 50 laser cut plywood 40mm x 20mm bases and 30mm round bases to base my generals & heroes on.

And We're Back

After a hard winter I'm returning to this blog and my Lord of the Rings 2nd Age project. After careful scrutiny of the now impossible to get BOFA (Battle of the Five Armies) rulebook I realize that this will have to be gamed with the Warmaster rules by Rick Priestly. What! that's out of print too! Well actually yes and no the Living (as in further updated) Warmaster rulebook is free to download here. I suggest you also check out Rick's Warmaster page for more goodies. So ladies and Gents you can follow my little project complete with rules and at some point LOTR style army lists. I'll have to make those up in good time I'm afraid.

I will be updating this blog every Sunday from now on thanks for reading.

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.