25mm Minifigs Elvish Reinforcements

I've decided that the next couple of months will be devoted to painting a few pending projects.  One of these is the vintage Minifig Middle Earth bands.  I inventoried all of my carefully gather stocks recently and concluded that I have about three hundred to paint, so I hope eventually to have a game like the one I wanted in 1974 when I first bought these.

I had a team of 15 elvish reinforcements in process, and finished them up over the weekend.  I am anticipating that they will be used for Dragon Rampant, but I am trying to keep the basing fairly flexible.

So, after that, I have two 12 figure units, a six figure scout unit, a command stand, one lone individual, and a stand of three:

The stand of three is an anomaly.  I stumbled into a handful of ME figures at Cold Wars in 2015, including three elves and seven dwarves.  Having not seen any in years, I did not anticipate that I would be able to find any more, so I gave them special base treatment.  With another twenty or so on hand, awaiting painting, I now expect that I will end up with a second base done to match that one (and to form a Dragon scout unit), a second command stand, a pair of mounted elves, and a handful of singles.  The current two and a half units of twelve should become four.

I'm working on some goblins and orcs this week, but I think that I will set up a dozen human spearmen (really Saxons but ready to stand in for Lakemen, Rohirrim, or Dunlendings) next, so that I can field a basic 24 point Dragon Rampant war band of the northern allies after the Battle of the Five Armies.

Elvish Reinforcements

Back around 1990, I had the opportunity to pick up about 8 packs (48 figures) of Ral Partha elves from their 1976 Wizards, Warriors and Warlocks range. These figures were some of the first that Tom Meier sculpted for Ral Partha, and I've always felt that they had a certain rustic charm, as well as matching the general style of a lot of the other early figures in my collection better than the beautiful highly polished Collector Series elves that he sculpted just a few years later.  I've always wanted more of them, and I recently successfully petitioned Iron Wind Metals to remold these.  My brother and I are starting some planning to do a Battle of the Five Armies scenario next year,  to cap our fatnasy revival project, and I now have the army of the elf king.

A Shortcut to Mushrooms, as fought

William and I sat down to fight the encounter yesterday. Unfortunately he needed to get back to his summer job, so we rushed a bit and I didn't take as many pictures as I had planned.

William took the elves, and I took the goblins. After one false start, in which the entire group of goblins entered on the mushroom grove side of the stream and were unable to catch the fleeing elves, we started over, dividing the goblins into three groups and randomizing the entrance for each group. I ended up with one team of two goblins (one an archer) and a wolf entering near the mushroom grove, and all of the other figures entering near the boat.

I decided that I would try to use one wolf to attempt to reach the ford on the boat side ahead of the elves, and sent a few goblins to back him up. The rest of the goblins made an (abortive, as it turned out) rush for the boat, hoping to overwhelm the three boat guards.



The raiders attempting to reach the boats were swiftly shot down by the carefully aimed archery of the elves.

However, one wold did reach the ford ahead of the elves, and stood blocking the exit. An elvish guardsman came forward to scuffle with him, the princess crowding close behind.
After dispatching the wolf on the grove side of the stream with a well-aimed arrow, Orman the hero ran to assist the guardsman. Unfortunately for him, his uncertain footing in the stream was his undoing, and the wolf swiftly ripped out his throat...

Gamely, the guardsman fought on, but the fall of the heroic Orman must have unnerved him, as he too was slain in turn. At that point, the princess fled back to the safety (?) of the grove, pursued by the wolf. Hearing her cries for help in the distance, two of the boat guard leapt from the boat and raced toward the ford. The fall of another goblin put the raiders below half strenght, and their morale was not good. Two more goblins fled immediately rather than face the wrath of the avenging elves, and the wolf released the princess and fled as well.


The princess hurried across the ford, only to be accosted by the one remaining orc. With a swift kick, she drove him back for long enough to resume her flight to the boat.


The two guardsmen turned on the orc, and swiftly lopped off his head. With that, the remaining goblin and the wolf fled, considering it a moral vicotry that they had brought down a hero of the elves, even if the princess did escape unscathed with the mushroom spores.


Overall, it took a little more than an hour to play out. We remain confirmed in our view that the SBH point system does not really balance two forces of disparate quality. The goblins were never able to achieve enough activations to make good use of their superior numbers, so a balanced version of this scenario would probably require more goblins, even with the elves' relatively difficult tactical situation. The mechanics give a nice fast game, though, so developing a tested scenario library would probably be the way to go.

A Shortcut to Mushrooms, Preview

I'm attempting to take advantage of a visit by William to get a few of the recently painted figures on the table. Therefore, I've set up a little encounter this morning between the elves and the goblins. The Rules will be Song of Blades and Heroes. Past experience has shown that the quality rating 2 troops, such as most of the elves, seem to be under-costed in the point system, so my thought today is to give the elves a problem.

So, the elves are sailing down the river, when they note that a special mushroom has popped up in a mushroom grove not too far from the river. Putting their boat ashore at the only practical landing point nearby, they leave a guard with the boat and send a team with the princess to collect mushroom spores.

Here's the order of battle with SBH ratings and abilities:

Elves

Orman, Elf Hero Q 2+, C 3
Hero, Shooter (long)
Erialla, Elf Princess, Q 3+, C 2
2 Guard Archers, Q 2+, C 3
Shooter (long)
2 Guards, Q 2+, C 3

Goblins and friends

2 Orc warriors, Q 4+, C 3
4 Goblin warriors, Q 4+, C 2
2 Goblin archers, Q 4+, C 2
Shooter (medium)
3 Wolves, Q 3+, C3
Animal, Long move







For deployment, the elf player will split his figures between the mushroom grove (A) and the boat (B), after which the goblins will roll to see where they enter. The stream is impassible except at a ford (just left of the nubmer 5 below). The goblins can capture the princess by defeating her in melee, after which she can be moved at slow speed by the goblin player as long as accompanied by a goblin. More goblins will arrive eventually, so they can also win by killing or driving off the boat guard and firing the boat.






We'll see whether that seems too easy or too hard after a run through.

The boat, by the way, is a Dave Graffam paper model.

Recent Fantasy Painting

In anticipation of Gencon, and of the eventual rerelease of the Ral Partha Collector Series fantasy armies, I have been combing eBay for a starter batch of old elves. I posted the first three wood elves a few entires back. I finished the next nine last weekend. I was a little delayed by the need to wait until it stopped raining for a day or two before I could spray the final varnish coat on them. So I had 20 or so figures ready by the time the weather finally cleared.







These sea elves are the vanguard of a force of about 25. I've got five more elves with greatswords primed and ready to start. That particular figure is not part of the first wave rerelease, so I'm going to be limited to what drifts in from eBay. I've got 11 elves with lowered pikes (i.e. front rank) in progress, with some hope of finishing them this weekend.







I've been interspersing the unit blocks with a few individuals, like the princess posted last night. The "Earth Demon" looked like he would be acceptable with a farily simple rock scheme, so here it is. (Original catalog identifier: ES-45.)







I've got one more figure I want to finish before I run a little elf/orc skirmish with Song of Blades and Heroes for a bit of encouragement.

Speaking of orcs, by the way, I've accumulated a lot of the Collector Series orcs from eBay, including a handful that were almost painted acceptably. I decided to go ahead and do a quick rehabilitation job on those, basing them like the rest of my figures and touching up the paint, particularly evening out the orcs' skin tones to something closer to what I intend to use when I tackle the never painted figures.

More Recent Painting

This is another catch-up post. I've mentioned previously that I have been inspired to work on a project using my older 25mm fantasy figures, which haven't seen much play lately.

I finished these four bases about a month ago, but haven't posted them here. Each one is from a different manufacturer of the 1970s.

First up is a Ral Partha ES-6, patriarch. He ended up looking a little Roman, in the white and purple color scheme. I used to use one of these figures as my cleric character back in the day, but the original has been lost to time. This one was acquired from eBay.









Over the next several months, it is my intention to go back and paint my way through the early Ral Partha ES series figures, with a cutoff of ES-64, the last figure listed in the 1979 catalog.

Next up is an Archive pixie, catalog number 650, which has been floating around in my junk box for decades. I pulled it out after Cold Wars, when the acquisition of a handful of old figures prompted me to sift what I still had left and unpainted. I based him on the rock to give the figure a total bulk similar to that of a human.


















This Heritage sorceress, one of four from set number 1206 (in the Dungeon Dwellers line), was obtained some years ago when another HAWK was cleaning out his backlog. The Heritage figures were a bit cartoony, but that's probably why they were fairly easy to paint. I enjoyed working on this one, and the other three will be along eventually.

























The elves on this base were part of the group I brought home from Cold Wars, and are Minifigs ME-5s, from their original Mythical Earth range, one of the earliest (if not the earliest) fantasy ranges produced. I've posted my few survivors before, some Ents and Huorns, a pair of mounted Ringwraiths, and a pack of three wolves. My Huzzah flea market haul included more than a dozen Dunlending spearmen, and I'm painting a small group of dwarves from Cold Wars, so Minifigs will be a little better represented when we start running the Aurora Project games next year.

























As long as I was working on older figures, I decided to have a go at a Prince August homecast figure, an archer from the Heroes and Fighters mold (669). While they are from the early to mid-80s, as far as I can tell, they mix better stylistically with the earlier figures than they do with the figures I was buying in the mid-80s, let alone the ones I've bought lately.

More Classic Figures

I've got a couple of posts worth of things to write, but time has been scarce lately. I have, at least, been able to do some painting, some gaming, and have made it to Huzzah in Portland, Maine since the latest post.

So, in the interest of getting *something* up, here are some recent painting shots, all old Ral Partha figures:




These fellows are wood elves (CS-2), from the Fantasy Collector series armies.







This is a CS-15, high elf with greatsword (which has never looked like a very practical horseman's weapon to me...). I'm practicing new horse colors, with this being a buckskin.







And, lurking in the shadows is an ES-13 assassin. I used to have one, in a bright Humbrol enamel version of the same color scheme, but he's been lost to time.

Rehabilitated Minifig Wolves, and an Elf

I mentioned earlier that I had started posting picture of old miniatures to the Reaper forum. I have three wolves from the Minifigs Mythical Earth range, ca. 1974. All of them had a very undistinguished ancient paint job on them, and none had seen play for a long, long time. (The original goblin riders, sold separately, have been lost in the mists of time...)




As I thought about the idea of putting on a game to show off the old figures, it became clear to me that it would be respectful if I could at least try to make them look a little better. So, I quickly stripped the old paint, pulled up a good timber wolf picture from the net, and went to work. Just adding some real wolf coloration helped considerably, although the noses remain strangely long. I finished the basing last night, and put on the final varnish this morning.





The wolves are seen here with another repaint, an early Ral Partha Wizards, Warriors and Warlocks range wood elf. Despite the case of macrocephaly, these remain among my favorite early fantasy figures. I tried to do this one nicely, with the traditional green cloak of the rest of my wood elves, but with the white tunic in an effort to brighten up the whole presentation a bit.

Early Ral Partha Group

I mentioned the retrospective pictures I've been posting to the Reaper forums in the previous posting. Here's what I've been working on this week, now completed. The two fighters are both from my Cold Wars shopping; the sorceress has been sitting around in a box of unpainted older stuff for a long time.

The fighter on the left is a dismounted knight from the Ral Partha All Things Dark and Dangerous line (02-915), sculpted by Julie Guthrie around 1982. The fellow in the middle was seen earlier, in progress, and is a Tom Meier sculpt from about 1977, "Foregum", catalog number ES-24. On the right is another Meier sculpt from about the same time, ES-29, a sorceress.







These are now slated to join my latest brainstorm, the Aurora Project, a fantasy game to be run entirely with early miniatures...