Blogs of War: Far Over The Misty Mountains Cold...

There are only two more sleeps until I see "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" at the cinema and I could not possibly be more excited about it, for to do so would run an extreme risk of spontaneous combustion.

The Goblin King interrogates Thorin's Company.

Firstly, I must apologise for the lack of updates on this blog. With "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Escape From Goblin Town" arriving in the store, and with me needing to get a whole board done, plus painting 36 goblins, their 4 characters, the 13 dwarves, 2 wizards and a hobbit, I've been just a little busy. More about all of that after the jump!
For those of you unfamiliar with the operation of a Games Workshop Hobby Centre, we have what we call "Intro Tables". These are a great little table for each of the games where we can show people what the hobby is about, and see if it is something that person would enjoy. When the "Escape From Goblin Town" box was announced, I just knew I had to go insane on our table for GW Epsom.

The Goblin King

I'm a HUGE fan of Tolkien. My fondest childhood memory with my Dad is him sitting on the end of the bed reading "The Lord of the Rings" to me, including different voices for each of the characters. This then continued when we went to see all three films, each year around Christmas. Historically, my father and I have always been a little distant; we don't always see eye-to-eye, but Tolkien's works have always been a fantastic middle ground for us - something we both deeply appreciate and can talk about. It's proven to be a great bridge between us. Naturally, we're also both very excited about the film!

"The Hobbit" was also always one of my favourite books as a child. I think it's honestly a deep part of how I became so immersed in the Games Workshop hobby (one day I really need to describe my journey!).

Goblin Town takes shape...

Because of all this, I knew that the Goblin Town intro board was going to be something I'd want to pour a lot of time and love into. It's still not done, but the shots scattered around here are some of the work in progress pics!

And some colour!

This business has kept me from having decent evening time to blog. I managed on Thursday to begin my campaign with David Browning (the unlucky sod whose Lizardmen army is featured in a previous blog entry, getting smashed by my Beastmen). We're both working our way through the "The Lord of the Rings" journeybooks, obviously starting with "The Fellowship of the Ring". More details of how it's going in a future blog.

Personally looking forward to getting to break out my Rohirrim again or to do a full Journey through the story again!
— Benjamin Kelly (@BKellyCS) November 25, 2012

...And that's exactly what David and I are doing - just as I had hoped! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy points match games, but ultimately, to me, that's what Warhammer and 40k are for. The Hobbit, and previously, The Lord of the Rings, to me, were more about getting to re-enact those scenes or to even re-tell them (turns out that if Gandalf was at Amon Hen, Boromir would have survived...).

"Roast Mutton"

It's unsurprising, therefore, that my first models painted personally of "The Hobbit" were the three Trolls - William, Bert and Tom - from the "Roast Mutton" chapter and scenario, and I am currently painting my way through the 13 dwarves of Thorin's Company and Gandalf and Bilbo.

"A... Burrahobbit?

It's clear that I love the models and the ideas behind it, but what of the game itself? I've played a fair few games already; the "Roast Mutton" scenario a few times, and several of the Goblin Town sequence, and the first thing that I have to say is that monsters have just become amazingly cool. In one fight, Bill the Troll picked up Dwalin, threw him at Balin and into the fire, killing both dwarves in one go! I've watched the Goblin King hurl Thorin off the side of Goblin Town (it's fair to say that hurling dwarves has become a new favourite pass-time for me). Bert has won fights against Dwalin and Thorin by sneezing on them. I've witnessed the dwarves fighting in perfect sync with each other. I saw Bilbo cut down the Goblin King in single combat.

The Witch King and two Nazgûl

In the games against David Browning, I've really enjoyed the new magical abilities, especially Black Dart, though in those I've yet to fully try out the new heroic actions as the first scenarios are all Ringwraiths with zero Might... But again, I want to save details of that for a future blog entry, so until then, here are some shots of some of the few "The Hobbit" models I've managed to paint!