Actual Hobbying

Considering the original point of this blog was to record my hobbying progress, most specifically for Games Workshop's Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game, I haven't posted anything of the kind in a year... and five months. January 2021 seems both forever ago and relatively recent. It's not like I haven't done any hobbying, but what I have done and what I could've done in that timeframe are vastly different.

For MESBG itself, the progress is minimal, mostly me purchasing new models. The next planned stage, Deorwine and a quartet of Royal Guardsmen with a banner got undercoated. And that's it. They're next on the paintbench. I promise.

 

After them, the plan was to build a unit of Helmingas. I have Grimbold's command unit, and also picked up a few 3d Printed "Hengstland Warriors" from Etsy. These, with a few converted standard warriors should give me a solid unit of axemen. In game terms, the Helmingas upgrade plus axes gives them an optional Strength 5, making these guys amazing can-openers for tough targets. (For reference, the average soldier is Strength 3, and has a hard time hurting anything in heavy armour, or things like Trolls).

 

This wasn't the only purchase, I also picked up this female archer model to go with my block of Outriders (or Outwalkers I guess). Along with Eowyn, she helps to balance out the sausage-fest that is this army, and I imagine she was someone who lived on the frontier. When Saruman's raiding parties hit the Westfold, her husband stayed behing to give her the chance to escape and bring word to Edoras. In the madness that followed, she kept on wearing his armour and joined the fighting.

In game terms, the model having that horn can be turned into a piece of wargear. The horn gives the army a bonus to courage, useful for fighting enemies that cause terror, or for staying in the fight should the army be broken.

 
Shieldmaidens of Rohan

I do plan on adding some more foot soliders to my Rohirrim. Potentially have Eowyn leading a few spearmen to support Grimbold in some alternate version of Helm's Deep where she fought.

Outside of MESBG, I've been puttering with other things. The first is yet another 3D print, this one from Neckbeardia. The Mandolorian is one of the better parts of Star Wars to come out of Disney, so it's nice to have a model of his original look, and I'm happy with how it turned out.

Aside from that, I also practiced clay modelling, throwing together this Squirtle. I was inspired to do this by the Youtube channel North of the Border. It's been a hot minute since I've done this, but it hasn't turned out too badly, so I'll be doing Charmander next and rounding out the trio with my favourite, Bulbasaur, right after.

I redid his legs after this pic.

That's me for this week. Let's hope it's not another 17 months before the next lot gets done...