Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Bastogne Church Fail - GF

I was excited to finally receive the Bastogne Church ordered from Battlefront so long ago. I opened the package and found it had arrived broken with neither of the missing pieces inside the box. Ugh. Hopefully Battlefront will fix this sooner than later.

Disappointed,
GF



Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Red Box Games: Robert of Carlisle Wall - DS

aka Sgt. Freiderich the Halberdier:  ready for battle.

   
Red Box Games is sculptor Tre Manor's fantasy miniatures company.  I first became aware of, and was impressed by, his work with his Reaper Miniatures.  I was really blown away by his own Red Box line. His previous work has really honed his crafting skills to his present level.  The figures are detailed, the casts are crisp and clean.  The are a little bit slighter than most "heroic scale" fantasy miniatures and will be noticeable standing next to even his own Reaper sculpts.  When I first got them I was a bit taken aback by this, and not sure how I felt about the scale.  After cleaning one up and getting some paint on it I decided:  these figures are great.  I like the realism and detail, and Tre Manor and his Red Box line are among my favorite figures.

Red Box Games does not have items numbers.  The miniatures pictured is from his Aenglish line (fantasy medieval humans) and is name/ID  is Robert of Carlisle Wall.  I received it as a part of a Kickstarter Red Box had going. 

The figure is going to represent Sgt. Freiderich the Halberdier in some fantasy rpg games.  The character was originally a follower for a paladin character of mine.  The model really fits the character as it is a grizzled, no nonsense veteran fighter.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

SAGA Vikings - GF



Up next, Vikings for SAGA!


Gripping Beast Warlord, 4 Hirdmen (Hearthguard), 4 Berserkers (Hearthguard), 8 Bondi (Warriors), 8 Bondi (Warriors).



Wednesday, January 8, 2014

LotR Barrow Wights - GF



 Barrow-wights are wraith-like creatures in J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth, based on the Old Norse Draugr. Barrow refers to the burial mounds they inhabited and wight is a Middle English word for "living being" or "creature", especially "human being". It does not necessarily mean "spirit" or "ghost"; it is cognate to modern German "Wicht", meaning small mythical creatures (also "Wichtelmännchen"). Tolkien borrowed this concept from Norse mythology, see e.g. Waking of Angantyr and Hrómundar saga Gripssonar. The name Barrow-wight itself was first recorded in 1869 in the Eiríkr Magnússon and William Morris translation of Grettis saga, which features a fight with such a creature.

Evil spirits (perverted Maiar or possibly spirits of Orcs, fallen Avari, or evil Men) were sent to the Barrow-downs by the Witch-king of Angmar in order to prevent the restoration of the destroyed Dúnedain kingdom of Cardolan.


They animated the dead bones of the Dúnedain buried there, as well as older bones of Edain from the First Age which still were buried there.


After leaving Tom Bombadil, Frodo Baggins and company were trapped in the Barrow-downs, and nearly slain by a barrow-wight. It was mentioned in The Lord of the Rings Appendix A that Frodo was trapped in the cairn of the last prince of Cardolan; Merry's exclamation on waking from his trance suggests this. Frodo sliced off the wight's hand; then, when the wight extinguished the dim light in the cavern where the company was imprisoned, Frodo called upon Tom Bombadil, who expelled the wight from the barrow.