Thursday, June 27, 2019

Signs of Life, and Light at the End of the Tunnel (LOTR ruins)





A post in which, after 5 or 6 weeks (it was so long I can't remember clearly) of no hobby activity, hails my glorious return to the hobby desk.
5 or 6 weeks is not that much time away, in the big scope of things.  but it seemed like a long time to me, especially since my main form of relaxation is this wargaming hobby.
but house projects have been wrapped up to a 'good enough' state of completion, no more trips to southern CA. to get my fathers house sold.. and while life is still busier than I would have it, the happy day has arrived where there is time again to enjoy oneself quietly at the hobbydesk.

Good thing too,  because time was growing short...




Light at the End of the Tunnel Could Also be a Train


While there is time for hobbying in the late hours of the day, there are still enough obligations during daylight hours to prevent any gaming.  BOOO! 
But there is light at the end of the tunnel in the form of a small local convention near the end of July called Intergalactic Conquest.




I was officially able to attend the convention when the wife put it on her calendar, and so after being given the green light I signed up to run some games.  I might of gotten a little over enthusiastic thinking of how I was in a state of no gaming and that this might be the only convention I attend this year, so I volunteered to run 3 games, which is quite a commitment.  But the event list for the con is pretty sparse for miniatures and I like running games, so there it is.

you can check out the list of scheduled games here on the Event List.
See my name?

I'm running two LOTR games, one of Friday night and one late Sunday afternoon as per my original plan.  However, I just COULDN'T let a convention go by without an ACW game, because conventions without ACW are just a tragedy, So I'll put on the Barlow's Knoll scenario for Saturday night. 

Now the ACW scenario I've run a couple times before so that's easy.  But for the LOTR games I better get going on finishing some projects.  There's only a few weeks till the convention and there's still lots going on in the real life, so I'm slightly under the gun.

While I am looking forward to gaming again and happy about the light at the end of the tunnel, it also could be a train coming down the tracks as I rush to complete the LOTR projects.
Will I leap out of the tunnel at the last second like an action movie star or fall under the train and get smashed on the tracks?

Signs of Life at the Hobby Desk


Now where was I?  Oh yes, making some kick ass ruins for the LOTR table.
After some furious activity of gluing and occasional sanding to get the little blocks to fit right,
here are some WIP shots of the ruins I'm working on:





A 28mm Warrior of Minas Tirrith shows up to demonstrate the scale

Here we have the ruined wall section from the last post with some a little bit added to the top for extra prettiness.  This is completely assembled with ground texture added and ready for painting.
Next!












Now here we have a piece that I'll call the Statue House because you know, it's a building with a statue in it.  The name is nothing if not accurate.  This has higher door arches than necessary just to give it a little more height than other pieces and provide some variation.  It still needs some ground texture in places.  This is actually one of the more complicated pieces I've made since it uses pieces from several different HA molds.



And lastly, here yet another ruined wall section of a basic design.  There's no base on this one, so it's ready for painting.

All together they make a nice little cluster


So lots to do in the next few weeks but it's nice to spend some time back at the hobby desk.
Too bad I was all rusty, and not to mention my blogging skills had collected a little dust.


Hopefully it won't be too long to until the next update.
Thanks for reading!

18 comments:

  1. A real pleasure to see you return with an update! Your ruins are looking good and I wish you the best in tackling the GM duties for three games at your con. Welcome back!

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    1. Thanks Jonathan, you make a mate feel good to be back to blogging again. 😀

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  2. Your rather splendid ruins will catch and please many an eye at the convention, they really do deserve a public airing.

    Looking forward to whatever you do with Barlow's Knoll.

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    1. Thanks Norm, I must confess that the vanity in me hopes the terrain will be a little eye catching. 😀

      The Barlow’s knoll scenario has already been featured on this blog so I’m just gonna copy myself.

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  3. Great looking ruins! Best of luck with the games,I'm sure they'll all go splendidly!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain. I’m more worried about getting everything done before the con than running the games themselves. Hosting games is just an excuse to play with my toys. 😀

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  4. Ruination! You make some excellent ruins. You must be able to put together quite a striking table by now with those. I've personally never run more than two games at a convention, and that was enough for me. I'm always impressed by folks who run multiple games on several days: looking forward to the report!

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    1. Thanks Ed. I do want to put on something close to a striking table just to satisfy my vanity. Lol.
      Two games is usually my norm as well; just enough to get into the convention for free. I might of gotten over excited but I’m fairly confident in myself. Also both of the LoTR scenarios use basically the same figures and terrain. 😀

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  5. Three games seems very ambitious! I agree with Norm, the ruins of Osgiliath will look great, and should attract attention.

    I really ought to drag myself out too.

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    1. Thanks Las, but not really all that ambitious as the LoTR games basically use the same figures and terrain. 😀

      If you do manage to make the convention I’d love to meet you in person and have you play in some or all of my games. Naturally I think they’ll be worth the price of admission. 😀

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  6. The ruins are shaping up very nicely. The Hirst Arts blocks seem to be made for Gondor's glory! :) I'm looking forward to seeing the ruins with some paint on them and I'm glad to hear you're going to have more time for hobbying as well. I'm looking forward to seeing more updates in the near future :D

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    1. Thanks Kuribo. I do think that several of the HA molds were designed with LoTR terrain in mind. Hopefully I’ll start painting these this week bc I’m starting to feel a time crunch. 😀

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  7. Great stuff Stew! Osgiliath is shaping up nicely 😀 Fingers crossed for you that you can get everything you want to get done completed, I've been where you are right now and it can get stressful in a real hurry. Looking forward to your game day reports!

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    1. Thanks Ivor. At least all I have to really worry about is the terrain as the figures are pretty much complete. I hoping that when these 3 items are done the osgiliath table will come together nicely. 😀

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  8. Nice work osgiliath is going to look spectacular when it is done 🙂

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    1. Thanks for the comment Matt, I’m sure hoping so. 😀

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  9. Looking good, I might stop by the 'con and check them out in person!

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    1. Thanks Barnes! It’d be great if you could as it’s been awhile for us. 😀

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