Lord of the Proxies

I've a week's holiday and a few projects ahead of me. My son wants some 6mm 100-Years-War armies for his birthday. An unusual 8th birthday present, but *shrugs* apparently dad's superior wargame 'toys' have kinda spoiled his interest Bakugan, Transformers, Ninja Turtles and such. He found some old DBA bases from my teen years, hence the interest. He seems interested in mass battles as he loves the look of ranks of troops - the opposite of me, who dislikes painting endless duplicate models who act as hit counters. I wonder who will end up painting them? Hmmm.  In the same Eureka order I'm getting a few dozen gasmasked 1980s USA and Soviet for a homebrew Pripyat/STALKER game.  My son likes my LotR dungeon crawls so I might do it with moderns. Tyrannids might make good Alien-style monsters to hunt...

 Obligatory LotR models painted:

I was very impressed by these Wargames Atlantic spiders. A bit fiddly to assemble but very poseable and extremely creepy. The wrapped hobbits (complete with hairy feet) on the sprue makes them perfect for MESBG. They even come with lasergun arms for alien arachnids.

 

A king's champion, standard bearers and the two minor Moria heroes. Finally affordable as a 3D print.

 

Some dual-wielding Iron Guard. Dwarves being split into several factions in MESBG means the original dwarves don't have much variety. They got a bit short-changed compared to the new Hobbit dwarves...

 

I think there is an actual original metal Khazad Guard in amongst the proxies?

 

 

Two new vault wardens along with an original. 

 

 

...and some freebies included in my order - what I presume are recasts: which I cannot tell apart from the originals. 

My LotR paint total sits at 291 for 2023. I thought I was done last year, but 3D prints have allowed me to 'fill in' and complete armies I would not have bothered with. Harad and Corsairs are next to investigate - they have almost no models currently available from GW but I'm sure there are good alternates out there...

The Workbench

Besides the pending STALKER and 6mm medievals, I've got a few things sitting out - to finally paint my Dropfleet Commander starters (some of the nicest, best fitting minis I've ever owned) as well as finally tidying my Cruel Seas MTBs (coastal forces is one of my interest areas but I'm not sold on the rules). I've also got an Imperalis Aeronautica box which I keep procrastinating on. (I can never make up my mind what fighter variants I want to build). 

I'm also building some 40K kill teams from my 15-year-old models (but have no desire to play the eponymous rules... so...) and have also been eyeing off Necromunda mostly cos the kitbash-style of the terrain suits my propensity to repurpose dollhouses etc. I just never enjoyed the actual miniatures which kinda stifles my interest. Apparently my opinion of 1980s fashion kinda extends to miniatures. Also, GW seems to have figured out how to monetize Necromunda - how many books did you say?

More left field, I have troops of quar I dug out of a box last Christmas as well as some Gripping BNeast vikings I started in a burst of enthusiasm prompted by Ragnarok (then I kinda realised I didn't actually want to play the game). Hmm - I wonder if they would work as Dunlendings? (I reckon Victrix vikings suit better though).

Shower Thought

Tradition tends to sequence wargames move-shoot-melee-record keeping/tidy-up. Usually moving first.  I'm trying to think how things would change if this order was altered - i.e. say shoot, then resolve recording, then move last after everything else is done. Would it change appreciably, change tactics-wise? Modern tactics are called 'fire and maneuver' after all....