Review: BGiME #1

The first issue in the legendary Battle Games in Middle Earth magazine collection, this issue is a great start to the hobby. The paint sections are great for beginners, the scenery is great and the rules are easy to learn.

Guide to Middle Earth: This section is great for introducing new hobbyists into the world of Middle Earth and introducing them to the savior of men, Aragorn. Although this magazine was written before The Return of The King came out cinemas and doesn't have Aragorn's complete stories, it still has some inspiring images of his most epic battles. 8/10.

Playing the Game: This section is not really that informative, it just tells you what you need to play the game. Probably better for people not knowing how to play the game. 5/10.

Battle Game - Goblin Ambush: This is really quite a small, but quite great scenario that not only fits into what could have happened to Aragorn, but is great to play with the basic rules, as you have seen in my previous blog posts. Having the basic rules written into the scenario is absolutely fantastic. It seems a little one sided most of the time, but still fun to play. Using the goblins that you get in the pack is really great and makes the game very entertaining. I would wait until at least Issue 6 to play this game, because then you are not playing it with a card miniature. Overall, pretty excellent. 9/10.

Painting workshop: It's a really good guide to start your journey in painting Games Workshop's miniatures, and a beginner's guide to painting goblins, but I would not use this as a reference to painting goblins at all, I would use the Fellowship of The Ring Journeybook. 2/10 for actual hobbyists, 8/10 if you only own this book.

Modelling Workshop: Very inspiring pictures and great for showing you what very few hobbyists play with, but that's about it. No tutorials, just pictures. 5/10

Miniatures: A great start to the magazine, you already have a small army and 4 paints. Very good for the first issue, and for the entire series for that matter. 10/10

Overview: Great start to the series, and great to see the potential of this hobby. 7/10

Battle report #1: http://batmanoftheshire.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/goblin-ambush-1.html
Battle report #2: http://batmanoftheshire.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/goblin-ambush-2.html

Goblin Ambush #2

Well, here's the second part of the goblin ambush scenario. With every battle report I do, it will always be in two party, where I play as both good and evil. This is so I can play as both sides and get a glimpse of the tactics used for each. Also every time you play a scenario, the outcome is different so this is to show you the different outcomes to the scenarios too, as you will see in this battle report.

This time it's me as the goblins and Adam as Aragorn. I'm sure you will enjoy this one!

Turn 1

Aragorn, hunting in the wild, spots a small group of goblins charging towards him. As soon as he spots them, an arrow grazes his arm. This is going to be a tough charge through and Aragorn would be lucky to get out of there alive. He begins his long trek through hostile territory.

Turn 2

The goblins fire four more shots at the ranger, hitting him twice. From what the goblins could see, no arrows were penetrating the machine that is the heir of Isildur. Aragorn draws his bow and sends an arrow straight back at his attackers, bouncing straight off one of the goblins helmets. Frustrated, he continues on. Meanwhile, the snarling goblins form up in the middle of the battlefield, with the archers ready in waiting.

Turn 3

The goblins charge in and swarm the lone Dúnedain. The goblin archers cant seem to get a clear shot (Editors note: remember, we haven't learned the rules for evil shooting into combat yet). Read and prepared for anything, Strider charges straight into the goblin horde. Hacking and slashing at the goblins, none of his attacks manage to connect. The goblins soldiers surround him, ready to pounce.


Turn 4

They all raise their swords at once and bring them down on his head. Aragorn, surrounded, raises his sword to counter the fell goblins. Unfortunately, two goblins sneak behind him and stick two rusting daggers into his back. Aragorn collapses and screams out in pain, the Ring of Barahir slipping off his finger. Bloodied and tired, hope seems lost.

Turn 5

Strider stands up, picks up his sword from the ground and looks each goblin in the eye. He swings his sword right around his head, chopping off three goblin heads in a row. The others manage to duck or dodge out of the way. They can see the rage in his eyes, the passion of his attacks and the sweat of his brow. perhaps there is hope still.

Turn 6

The goblins retaliate and swing their swords back at him, but the the heir of Gondor blocks their attacks with ease. Angry, he stabs the nearest goblin in the chest, grabs the goblins spear and pierces it through another goblin. With the goblin ranks thinning, they raise their shields and spears and prepare for the wrath of the Dúnedain.

Turn 7

The goblins are in fear of their lives.Kick! Stab! Slice! Down goes another three goblins (rolling three 6's, I might add). In the attempt to leave with his life, he has surprisingly succeeded. Little did he know, the goblin archers like in wait...

Turn 8

Aragorn turns on his heel and escapes fro the goblin archers. Arrows whiz past him, one grazing his thigh. With all the might he can muster, he contines on.

Turn 9

He didn't think he could do it, but Aragorn, heir of Isildur, escaped from the evil of the goblins. However, the goblins have manages to seriously wound one of the north's rangers for a while and their hordes may have their chance to move further south, maybe even to the borders of Buckland. Strider will definitely need aid before he goes scouting the plains of Eriador, but at least he escaped with his life. This deserves a drink at The Prancing Pony.

Verdict: Evil minor win

Adam thoughts: 'I seriously thought I was in trouble there, but with a few lucky dice rolls, Aragorn sliced and diced his way to victory. Oh wait, I lost!'

Aaron thoughts: 'I should never have had those archers so far away from the fight. They could have charged in and maybe killed Strider. Still, I did win, but I could have definitely done better. Very fun game though'.

Well I hope you liked the opposite side to the previous battle report. Tune in for more updates soon!

Batman of The Shire.

1000 views!!!!!

As of today, i have had over 1000 views. I have to say I was not expecting that. I'd just like to say a big thank you to everyone for following my hobby and giving me inspiration. Can't wait to show you guys more stuff.

Sorry :(

Hey guys, I know I say sorry a lot in my blog posts, but I am sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have a lot of blog posts in mind and I am getting back into sorting them out. Stay tuned for more.

Goblin Ambush #1

If you didn't guess it from yesterday, today's post is the BGiME Scenario, and my first official battle report. This scenario pits Aragorn against 12 vicious goblins. This is definitely a challenge for Aragorn, as you will see.

Side Note: Because this is in the first issue, I will be playing with the rules that the game has taught me through this issue. This means no might, will and fate, no courage, no trapping, no break limit etc. this will be the same in every BGiME battle report that i do and every scenario from the original rulebooks.

This game has your faithful blogger, Aaron as Aragorn and his brother, Adam as the goblins. We set up as per the scenario and prepared to start the game.

Turn 1

The first turn saw both Aragorn and the goblin archers moving up and shooting, while the rest of the goblins moved towards the ranger. Aragorn gets out his bow and fire at the goblins, the arrow whizzing past a goblin archers head. The archers, seeing the oncoming arrow-fire retaliate with arrows of their own. They open fire, hitting Aragorn in the arm, but not enough to wound him.

Turn 2

Aragorn musters up the courage and charges the goblins head on. Meanwhile, the rest of the goblins charge Aragorn and surround him. Aragorn fights the goblins with ferocity, killing 2 of them. With Aragorn still fighting, and the rest of the goblins moving up, things don't look good for our favourite ranger.

Turn 3

The goblins move closer and closer to Strider. Aragorn keeps chopping through the goblins one by one. While fighting, Aragorn looks up to see his doom coming to him as the rest of the goblins get ready to pour into the fight.

Turn 4

As predicted, the goblins charge and surround the mighty Aragorn. They easily win the fight, but Aragorn manages to block every blow. Strider knows that his strength wont last him long though

Turn 5

The rest of the goblins pile in and challenge the ranger to fight. His strength is failing by the minute, and just as he raises his sword, one of the goblins sliced his chest. things are not looking good.

Turn 6

With only 2 wounds left, Strider seems to be taking a turn for the worst. He works up all his might and cries "Elendil" into the air. Swinging his sword with the ferocity and power of a Dúnedain. He strikes down 2 goblins with ease. Still with 7 goblins to kill, maybe he can charge through the goblins and reach the safety of his encampment.

Turn 7

Seeing their dead companions on the floor underneath their feet fills the goblins with rage. With one fell swoop, they stab Aragorn 4 times in the back, leaving Aragorn dead on the floor. The victory of the goblins did not come without it's casualties.

Verdict: Evil major victory

Adam thoughts: 'Was a pretty good game, but I think not a very fair game. Seeing as how I slaughtered Aragorn, it doesn't look like there is an actual was for aragorn to win'

Aaron thoughts: 'I agree, it is a very hard game for Aragorn to win, especially without might and fate points. For a moment, I really thought Aragorn might be able to win it with the amount of goblins that he was able to kill. Unfortunately, being wounded 4 times in a turn, I cant really argue with that. Good game though'.

Well, I hope you like my first battle report. Come check out the blog tomorrow, where I will be playing as those crazy goblins and see if I can do a better job.

Batman of The Shire

Goblinsss

Good evening! This blog post will be about my goblins, as well as a preview to tomorrow's blog update.

One army that i have been working on getting ready for quite a while are the goblins that dwell beneath the mountain in the halls of Moria. Ever since watching The Fellowship of the ring, I always got such an awesome feeling watching all the goblins fighting the fellowship in Balin's Tomb and chasing them through the Chambers of Marzabul. So here they are, ready to take on dwarves and any other intruders who enter the mines.

To paint these, I used the painting guide shown in The Fellowship of The Ring book as I had done a test model and they came out as I wanted them. Sure i added some layers with lighter and darker colours, but that was pretty much the base of it. For those looking at BGiME issues 1 and 20, there are painting guides for goblins. Unless you are really awful at painting and need something fast and easy, I really suggest you don't follow them. If anybody would like a detailed summary of the colours I used, comment below.

Leading my force at the minute is a converted goblin captain, as seen in BGiME #22. He is one of my favourite models in my army, an easy conversion and a great leader (that is until I get the moria goblin command set in finecast).As a side note, sorry my pictures are a little bad, i'm using my brother's iPad and i don't think the macro settings are too good.

To end this blog post, I will leave you with a picture from tomorrow's post. See if you can figure out whats gonna be happening. Anyways, have a nice night and enjoy.

My collection thus far

Well, I thought I would give you guys another post today, seeing as the last one was soo bad. This is my collection at the minute (sorry for the bad lighting). As I am collecting every army, there are miniatures here from all across the range. In the future, I will be showing you all of the finished models in my collection in their own posts. So here it is.