Chris Dann's Survivors of Lake-Town and Mirkwood: January.

"Death! That is what you will bring upon us. Dragon-fire and ruin. "

I know, I know I'm super early, The Tale of Many Gamers has already motivated me beyond belief. I doubted I'd paint much at all this year, but with not even a month past I have already completed a full warband!

I aimed to complete Bard the Bowman Girion's Heir (foot AND mounted) leading 12 Lake-Town militia (4x shield, 4x bow and 4x spear).
I can gleefully confirm my goal has been accomplished!

Bard (above) and his follwers (below) sit upon the spray shelf in my manshed.

My troops awaiting battle and paint. Many I know always base after painting the model. I always sand my bases before spraying as the spray really solidifies the sand on.

Chaos black spray is applied.

Both foot and mounted version base coated.

I always seem to start with a hero. It would make sense to leave them until last as a sort of reward for completing the bog-standard troops and give me something to look forward to. But if I ever play practice games with my army I don't mind having unpainted warriors, but I'd much rather have a completed hero...I feel they perform better.

Bard the Bowman is a terrific character in the books and perfectly portrayed in the movies by Luke Evans. Usually a good reason for myself taking a hero in an army is because of their part in the movie. I love how influential the "non-main" heroes are. Like Haldir, for example, coming to the aid of Rohan and triggering a chain of events that saves Middle-Earth. Bard is no different. Killing Smaug the magnificent, literally single handedly, is not only a seriously awesome scene but is crucial, again, to the survival of Middle-Earth.
So, not only is Bard cool, he also has a profile within the game to match. The men of the Lake are rendered almost useless without the leadership of Girion's Heir. His army buffs are too brilliant to ignore, and the range of said buffs make him an auto include for me. He grants his warriors re-rolls in duels, a fight value bonus and keeps them in check when they begin to rout!
He is also brilliant in combat, getting 3 attacks, and at range, potentially getting 3 shots per turn at strength 4! What's not to love about this guy.

Bard is the first to be completed in this months challenge.

First 4 Lake-Towners base painted in traditional fisherman colours.

6 fully complete.

Obviously with my troops I put no where near as much effort into them as I do my heroes. But at £5 per model I'm not going to do a half hearted job. I'm happy with how these guys came out. At a distance they look great, but when you get up close they appear dirty and the armour and weapons rusty. Just as I feel they should having just been assaulted by a Serpent from the North.

A full warband and month 1 mission accomplished!

I have gone for a mix of greens and blues for the men of the Lake's clothes: Watery type colours. I painted them in three batches of four so it wasn't quite so daunting. Having said that, these guys are no where near as much of a chore as previous lotr era warriors. Quite often warriors that come in a box of 12 (or 24 if you go really far back) had duplicate poses, but these guys are quite different and easily interchangeable. I would base paint the basic colours to start, then wash in agrax earthshade. Step 2 would be to dry brush highlight their clothes and then pick out any remaining details. Nothing too fancy, I'm not the best painter in the world but I'm happy with the effect I create.

The finished article.

I look forward to moving on with this project next month and in months further ahead when I begin introducing the Mirkwood contingent.

What's next?

February I will be putting together my 400 point force ready for a battle with a fellow Tale Gamer.
With Bard and his warband already complete my original plan was going to be to add in Gandalf and just 3 more militia, which didn't leave me with much to get painted in a month where I have quite a bit of free time! My new plan is to paint up the title character: the Master Burglar himself, Bilbo Baggins. In the new rules he can lead Lake-Town militia and so my February target will be Bilbo Baggins and another full 12 Lake-Town milita. Madness!

Bard the Bowman, Girion's Heir (armour/horse)
- 12 Lake-Town Miltia (3x shield, 3x bow, 6x spear)
Bilbo Baggins, Master Burglar
- 12 Lake-Town Militia (3x shield, 3x bow, 6x spear)
389 Points.

Will the Barrel-Rider and friends be ready for battle come the end of February, we will find out in a month or so...

Until then,
Happy Wargaming!