GW LOTR Moria Cave Troll - Assembly

Along with, or apart from the Balrog, the most iconic "boss" monster from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, must be the Moria Cave Troll (see below, equipped with Hobbit hunting spear - be sure to pack your best "mithril" armour): 

He certainly is a chunky piece of lead, this being long before the resin Fine Cast 'experimentation' (aka disaster) and more modern injection moulding techniques replaced all the old metal "large monsters" (see below, from another angle you can see what a good pose the figure is in): 

I found it lying next to the Balrog and decided to slip it together and was pleasantly pleased at how well the pieces fitted. I toyed with the ideal of pinning the joints but (something I may well regret later) I used a bit of cheap to hold the pieces in place an d then applied a good quality superglue. It seems to have worked really well (so far)!

Chainrasps

They are dark evil spirits (see below, Arifix Acrylic Primer, Vallejo Black Wash, Vallejo Wolf Grey and Citadel Base Stegadon Scale Geen - gives a good base foundation layer)

Time to play with the mid-tones (see below, Citadel Technical Nighthaunt Gloom over the light bits and then shading up with Wolf, using Citadel Layer Thunderhawk Blue to highlight the Stegadon, base charred brown and gun metal on other areas):

A touch of of the lighter highlights (see below, make those candles shine):

Before I play with the Citadel Technical Mordant Earth (which gives a broken textured base) I was taught a top tip by a member of the GW staff - paint the base in a light colour you want to seep through the base (see below, I chose the haunting light blue - the first five):

I almost left the bases as they stood as I liked the unearthly feel they had to them (see  below, adding an extra bit of highlight to these as I went along - the last five): 

Thrown into a mock encounter (see below, maybe the Cleric would prefer the Doggelgangers now):

I like the look and feel of the recent GW undead range as them have an excellant fantasy feel to them, useful for generic dungeon fodder!

Dopplegangers .. Your Worst D&D Nightmare

After a long arduous night adventuring in the depths of a dark and deep dungeon the surviving members of the party gather round what they sense is the final door, behind which is either fabulous treasure or a hideous "boss monster" (see below, steel your girth Cleric, the Wizard and Fighter have your back):

The Cleric pauses, sensing something is wrong, but the moment passes and he steps forwards raising his magical mace (see below, but "facing dangers to the front"):

But when the real danger lies behind you (see below, your fellow characters are not at all what they seemed to be (see below, "evil hisses" give the game away): 

Attacked from behind, multiple times at advantage, perhaps casting a "Detect Evil" is a good deep cleanse precaution - something to be done whenever possible (see below, "so ends the Cleric's holy career): 

The Dopplegangers come from the new D&D primed resin range Deep Cuts/Pathfinder Battles/Wizkids range. Although I was initially frightened of a 'fragility' I managed to cut away the tiny bits of excess flash and paint them up rather nicely.

Still a nasty DM trick though! The other two PCs could have gone home hours ago ;)

Munchkins: D&D but not as you knew it ... Brilliant Family Fun

I am feeling really  happy that I finally "discovered how to play" this little classic board game. First, at the after-hours "Gamers Club" at work and then immediately when I brought it home and played it with the family. Certainly not a "cooperative game" but the fun is also in the 'sneaky thief' stab-in-back aspect to the game. It gets quite murderous in the "end game" phase as many tall-poppy fell making bloody scenes from "Game of Thrones" look like Kinder-garden Cop by comparison (see below, the iconic art work from Steve Jackson Games - note there are also many differently themed variants out there, such as Warhammer 40K):

Despite coming "a joint close second (just when I thought I was in with a chance a female warrior ran past me wearing 'slime armour' to ace it to Level 10)" in the friendly Work Game, I was roundly beaten by the superior wit and cunning intelligence of my eldest son in the no-holds barred "Home Tournament" game (see below, the game nearing its end phase - a two player duel for Alpha male dominance in which I duly lost, being a Dwarf Wizard with a "singing sword" was no match against a Munchkin multi-class [wizard-warrior], multi-race [Elf-Dwarf] tooled up killing machine with a sword in both hands and a scary bandanna, not to mention "the boots of butt-kicking"!): 

The Home Game: The final score card shows the hectic frenzied finale. To his credit it was a well earned victory with him overcoming many adversities as he was finally crowned House Munchkin Champion (see below, "First to Level 10 wins"): 

The game was so much rip-roaring fun (we made a lot of noise in retrospect, which included my son developing a Germanic accent for some unexplained reason), the wife even expressed more than a passing interest in playing; the eldest's Dungeons and Dragons school friends will soon be exposed to this D&D Lite event (the shouting from which I expect to be very loud and boisterous)!

Family Christmas Games Night will be fun this year!

Games Workshop LOTR Balrog Project

In tandem with my sons Duke of Edinburgh "model making" activity (he is doing a GW LOTR Dragon, no not Smaug, it is the smaller GW Dragon model) I have finally decided to go "Balrog" and attempt the iconic monster from the first movie (see below, the disassembled pieces "lying in state" but cleaned):

To those with "eagle eyes" a 'Moria Cave Troll with spear' is to the top right. The Balrog beastie took a good hour fiddling away with before the flash and lead channels were snipped, shaved and filed away. It had to be said there is a vicious 'lead bend' in the model affecting the tail and head, so Milliput or green stuff" will be required and copious addition filing to get it right. This is not a snap-and-fit model for sure and probably one of the reasons GW abortively experimented with resin FineCast.

A Great Wargaming Read: On the Xmas Bucket List for Sure!

This one goes straight on my "must have" wargaming bucket list (hopefully arriving well before Xmas). The long-awaited Graham Longley-Brown's, "Successful Professional Wargames: A Practitioner's Handbook" (the author is simply referred to as GLB in the professional wargaming community - but I bet its contents will be an avid read to all in the recreational side of the hobby too):

Available from:

History of Wargaming Project:

http://www.wargaming.co/professional/home.htm

Amazon Link (don't forget to "look inside" and see for yourself a glimpse of the material):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Successful-Professional-Wargames-Practioners-Handbook-ebook/dp/B07Y2FNPV8/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Successful+professional+wargaming&qid=1573725013&sr=8-1

GLB is known as the key driver behind Connections UK, he motivates, gets things done and inspires others to do the same. It is no exaggeration to say that GLB has forgotten more about wargaming than most people will ever know in a lifetime but his genius is that he humbly collates, assembles and assimilates 'best practice' from around the world and across disciplines. Then, bless his cotton socks, he disseminates it in a clear and precise manner. More importantly he is never afraid to return to the old texts, relearn the old lessons and implement them in new ways to facilitate better learning. His "keep it simple" infantry origins show through in spades, this is a man who can turn theory into effective practice which simply put, will save real world lives. Respect.

Don't take my word for it, judge for yourselves: You can listen to the man at Connections UK 2016 (High Engagement Wargames) here to get a sense of the enthusiasm he brings to the subject (also check out the PDF slide deck and video). 

Lest We Forget