COMPANY OF HEROES

My friends and I recently decided we'd try out the old rules for Battle Companies released a few years ago for experienced-based skirmish games. I've revamped the rules a little to add more depth to the old game, renamed it and added a few new special rules and items for characters. Here are the sheets for anyone wanting to follow a ready-made set of rules!

TOMB

At the moment I’m in the middle of building a pretty big Osgiliath board, but that includes quite a few parts which need to be left to dry, etc. In between these stages I decided to build a Balin’s Tomb board, just for fun. It was also spurred by the fact we as a small group have decided to start up a campaign of Battle Companies, or Company of Heroes. These small scenario based boards provide the perfect sized boards to stage small battles like that.

Anyway, to start the board off, I cut a piece of plywood to a 2 foot square. Next I cut blue foam into strips and created a perimeter around the board. The scenario calls for a board 18” square, so the lower ground fits this dimension. After cutting a hole for the doorway and a second, crumbled hole, I starting setting out the terrain pieces that came with the Mines of Moria boxed set. After gluing these in place, a scene was already beginning to emerge. To round off the edges where the terrain meets the wood, filler was used.This entire stage took around 2 hours. To secure the foam in place, black duct tape was used, not only to strengthen it, but I feel it adds a level of neatness. To create the weathered look on the walls, I just rolled a granite stone over the foam.

The next stage was to glue sand, grit and small stones to the wooden base, and sparingly around the upper levels to indicate rubble. The sand and grit can be bought cheaply from most pet stores, and the small stones were found on the roadside. Once this had dried, the entire board was painted dark grey, and drybrushed in three stages, adding more and more white to the mix.

Finally, the smaller details were painted. The doorway and well were painted black, greens and browns were drybrushed lightly in some areas to suggest moss and the like, and the dwarves, their weapons and their books were undercoated black. Various colors were used for the books, mostly dusty browns and blacks. The book that little Ori is holding I’ve painted as the LOTR rulebook. It’s the little touches. The skeletons break up the greys nicely. And the board is ready to use for battle!

FATE OF THE WITCH KING

Finally! I've managed to create a Witch King model with a little gravitas. I never liked the models they released for him as none of them looked as cool as he did in the movie. Personally, I think this new model is simply, badass. To start with, I decided early on that he'd need to be set on a larger cavalry base. I know this isn't strictly within the rules, but it isn't technically outside of them either, as far as I know. It just seems to fit better. I wouldn't do this for another run of the mill captain. To give him a little lift, I used another piece of slate from the garden to act as a podium. Green stuffed onto the base, I placed a few scattered skulls around it to add a feeling of dread. I started with the special edition Fate of the Witch King model, which you can still buy from GW. A quick sawing off of the limbs and hands, and he's ready.

To get the pose just right was the main aim for this model. I wanted him to be posed just as he falls off his fell beast, and openly chalenges Eowyn to a duel. He holds his flail in one hand, and his sword in the other. After repositioning his left arm, I could then give him his weapons. The flail was made using his left hand and flail, replacing the chain with a real chain I managed to get from a jewellers.

After I moulded his sword back into his right hand, and a black undercoat, he was ready for painting!

This model was very simple to paint, as there's only three colours really. Drybrush codex grrey over the black on his robes, leadbelcher for the metal areas and bestial brown for the skulls. A black wash was needed for the robes after this, and a wash mix of black and scorched brown for the metal areas for a slightly rusted, dirty look. The skulls were layered with snakebite leather then bleached bone. For the final parts, the metal areas were highlighted with chainmail and the skulls were picked out with skull white. The base was finished to a typical standard of my army, with the rock podium being drubrushed with codex grey, fortress grey and white... And here he is. Now for the fell beast...

And to go with him, I thought it'd be best to finish Merry and Eowyn too...

BATTLEFIELD & OBJECTIVE MARKERS

I built my scenery board years ago to represent Amon Hen in a way. I have no idea why I did this, as I had neither an Uruk Hai army or the Fellowship at the time… But it has served me well. I used simple techniques with MDF, polystyrene insulation sheets, pet store sand and grit and Dulux paints. I’m in the middle of making my new Osgiliath board, and I’ll keep that posted as it’s evolving. 

To go with any scenario I could think of, on this board or any other, I made a few simple objective markers; fallen heroes, campfire, strategic point, weapons pile and treasured item.

The strategic point was made using one of the statues that come with the small ruins box. This was just put onto a cavalry base and decorated with long grass and sponge.

 

The fallen hero was made using the scenic base that came with my Pelennor Gothmog. It didn't suit either of my new models so I thought it would be the perfect for a scenario.

The weapons pile was made for my own version of Escape from Goblin Town set in Ithilien. It can work for both good and evil, which is why there's a massive troll hammer wedged into the ground among some scattered Osgiliath bricks. The campfire was made using balsa wood and rocks from the garden. I'm working on a better one with actual flames and smoke.

Lastly there's the treasured item, which takes the form of The One Ring! I didn't have any beads lying around the house, so had to make it out of gree stuff. I also didn't have any gold paint at the time (not very prepared) so mixed sunburst yellow with chainmail. It gave the right sort of effect.