Bilbo's Birthday Bash Results and Coverage

Well I can finally wrap up the Bilbo's Birthday event, FUBAD, and the entire month of November as apparently next week is Thanksgiving....

A big thanks to Brent and Chris for running this event and making a great venue happen with a great core group of players.

A little recap before the photo bombs.

FUBAD pulled through and I was lucky enough to be rewarded with Best Conversion on the aforementioned Shade model and Best Diorama in the painting contest. The judging was a little off the wall in that you selected a model for the standard painting categories but it could be part of your armies in use.

The overall battle for Dol Guldur was awarded "Best of Middle Earth" award. A new award this year and to most US events, but it qualifies for having the best total image, design, and painting. Where as the appearance award was for the hard core paint scoring alone.

It is bittersweet having finished such a huge project but that chapter is now closed. Photo bombs away. The first grouping is a couple of my games and then some general event photos.

 Game 1 was a securing 4 objectives and a central hill game. I faced off against a long time player from Colorado. The first of many flying wraiths.

 I got a couple lucky hits on the troll then just jumped into combat as that is more my style.

 Things were pretty bloody with most fighting occurring on the central hill and the witch-king and Elrond squaring off for most of the game. I have never won so many fights but failed to wound before....

 The game ended in a draw with a dead tie for models on/touching the hill. Elrond, Lindir, and the witch-king just kept slap boxing until the end.

 The 2nd game was the same scenario (you play once with your good army and once with evil). I played against a fiefdoms list from a long standing local and core mid west rings player.

My orc strategy was pretty easy, get into combat as fast as possible. Had a ranger wall trying to stop that. The "hill" on this beautiful goblin town board was the central square platform.

 Some bad dice by my opponent led to a quick death of Imrahil and his knights which allowed me to sweep the flank towards the center. This led to a stalwart defense down to the last fiefdoms warrior but failing to wound he kept me off the platform and secured a minor win.

 Even Gollum showed up...

 Pushing into a later game, saw the Knights going against another witch-king and the dwimmerlaik wraith. He was pretty much a nasty guy when trying to get any of my spells or heroics off.

 In this game you had to get more models off the board than your opponent and secure 4 buried treasures. The board was tough for my cavalry and they lost the recon objective but morally I got to kill both the wraith and Witch-king so I will take that where I can....

 The last game of the event was a straight melee in that you got points for every causality your army caused. The Knights squared off against a Minas Morgul force again led by a witch-king from Colorado. He was undefeated thus far and I was the last man standing from stopping the Miami Dolphins! 

This photo sums up the whole battle. We got stuck on the hill and if not for an unlucky miscast by his shaman, my elves eventually put the heat on the orcs and caused more fatalities. The Bears defense held. My opponent went onto secure "Best General" for the event.

He has got a youtube channel highlighting a campaign they are running in CO as well as event coverage from this event. http://www.youtube.com/user/lotrsbgbattles

 Meanwhile back on the wall. The FUBAD creator and my friends battle for the wall featuring the Starks, nights watch, and the wildlings.

 Great looking warrior of arnor conversions and custom shields.

 Awesome snow effects were on the ground here; a great product made by Secret Weapon.

 Ghost had his own smoke generator and LED lights from, of course, our favorite light provider, http://poweredplay.net/

Whew, if you made it this far more power to you. Thanks for checking it out .

Come back soon if you are interested in buying some painted armies, models, or unpainted figures from the older GW Rings line. Need to clear out some space before buying new stuff.... funny how that works.

Dol Guldur Rises: Pt 2

 Here are some more remaining shots of the castle and diorama before moving onto specific models and event coverage from this past weekend. Enjoy the shots!

 Hobbit models released: I hate the new orc look
Elf Cavalry: I love the new cavalry models
Army Planning: I plan elf cavalry and need a counter force.
Buying hunter orcs: I get my hands on them and things start to turn.
Finished army: These orcs maybe my favorite models to date in the GW model line.

They screamed Native American style when I was considering paint schemes. I heavily based the face paint on the movie, "The Last of the Mohegans" and some pop culture; braveheart, the joker, and Johnny Depp from that awful lone ranger movie...

 This piece of work was developing all the way through getting primer on it. The late addition of the lit hood in the center was possible by having some open space where the 3 models meet.

 Big props to the helpful hints I got from friends, the main one being the addition of that creepy hand busting out of the ground.

This is a public service announcement, thank you, and humble brag. If you have not seen previous posts, the lighting effects used were from a great company called PoweredPlay Gaming. They came to being from a successful kick starter and really deliver.

They got the product completed and shipped fast and it allowed me to get this lights in the diorama. If you have any projects or models you want to add light to, you have to look into these. Battery powered based, window kits, and light effects circuit boards are all great additions to standard lighting.

Finally, I wanted to thank them for giving my work a shout out on the website showing off completed projects. http://www.flickr.com/photos/poweredplay/

Lots of other great projects from hobbyists over there as well.

Check back for model close ups, event coverage, and more nonsense in the days to come.

Dol Guldur Rises

 "We could remain blind to it but it will not be ignoring us, that I can promise you. A sickness lies over the Greenwood. The Woodsmen who live there now call it Mirkwood. They speak of a Necromancer living in Dol Guldur, a sorcerer who could summon the dead."

I seem to take to building evil towers....should have that checked out... Here it is, in all of its glory, the finished Dol Guldur display board.

Many more photos and complete coverage of Bilbo's Birthday Bash will follow as it is this weekend, but this quick update should tease enough of you to come back for an in depth look at my armies, the castle, and the overall event.

Many references have been made of this project being FUBAD 2013. We came up with this at our last tournament. As hobbyists, we wanted to challenge ourselves and each other. We wanted to show case our terrain, conversions, painting, and going extreme. What follows represents the past seven months of work, cramming till 3am after working a regular 10 hour day, six days a week, and just crushing progress.

Freaking
Unbelievably
Big
Ass
Displays

I can honestly say that I have learned a lot of new paint techniques and styles that I never would have really improved upon had this not come along. 

Shall we ring the begin?

 You know what they say about billy goats and trolls under bridges....

A lot more in depth looks at individual models will follow but enjoy a couple of these close ups. I actually ran into an issue with space. Two feet by two feet just was not enough to convey the scale, engagement, or scene.

"Dol Guldur? But the old fortress is abandoned." ...

"No, Gandalf, 'tis not. A dark power dwells in there. Such as I have never felt before. It is the shadow of an ancient horror. One that can summon the spirits of the dead. I saw him, Gandalf, from out of the darkness. A Necromancer has come!"

 You are not prepared. FUBAD 2013

Tricky Treats

Merry Halloween! Well technically it is past, but who is to say we are not still in the hour of ghouls, trickery, and creatures of the imagination!

While my phone sits around downloading update 7.00124, I will post some hobby news!

Those may remember last years great pumpkin competition.

Unfortunately, last year it did not win and this year pumpkins were safe from my knife due to the crazy amount of work still left to do on this Lord of The Rings project.

 The battle of Pumpkins is over, but the battle for Bilbo's Birthday Bash has just begun...

So as we near the one week count down, here is a couple more teases of the board, army, and progress.

Why So Serious?

 Just a quick update here. I finished off the first warband of hunter orcs late into this morning. Time lines are beginning to become an issue so every hour is counting.

Played around with a couple skin tones and clothing variations amongst the 12 models, will continue the rotation with the other groups. Keep up the painting!