LotR Gondor Army

Lord of the Rings Minas Tirith Army (Prepped and/or Undercoated)

Today I think we get onto the big one. This Gondor army has taken on a life of its own and been appended to with third party stuff that, to me, makes more sense.

I had a certain idea in my head about how I wanted this army to look and feel on the tabletop. I was kind of going for a Roman type feel with several branches of troop type that perform different functions on the battle field; after all, Gondor was fighting a war on several fronts against several enemies who all use different tactics.

No previous shot of the pre-prep army unfortunately so just the post-prep and mostly undercoated shot above. This army does look impressive on the tabletop I must say, even though much of it is unpainted and there are several miniatures that still need completing and undercoating.

Plastic:
72 Warriors of Minas Tirith
24 Ithilien rangers
18 Knights of Minas Tirith
12 Swan Kinghts of Dol Amroth

Metal:
5 Heroes (Denethor, Boromir, 2xFaramir, Pippin)
2 King Elessar
1 Gandalf the White (mtd)
1 Faramir (mtd)
14 Gondor scouts (Faramir, banner bearer, 12xscouts)
2 Prince Imrahil (ft & mtd)
8 captains and banner bearers
14 Citadel Guard (2 heroes, 12 guard)
3 Fountain Court Guard
6 Osgiliath veterans
6 Ithilien ranger heroes
4 warmachines
7 crew

This gives a total of 199 Gondor troops and 4 pieces of artillery.

Gondor, being the pinnacle of the mannish kingdoms, should rightly have all the cutting edge technology in warfare, although Isengard under Saruman's guidance with his cogs and wheels will come a close second.

I have a strong core of foot soldiers armed with swords and/or spears in heavy armour with archer support for the main body, plus artillery, and heavy cavalry in the form of the plastic Knights of Minas Tirith and Swan Knights of Dol Amroth to back them up. For skirmishing there are the rangers and the original metal Knights of Minas Tirith that I will be using as scouts. This faction has plenty of named heroes for leading the troops into battle and Gandalf the White for a bit of magical punch.

With regards the artillery, I was never keen on the Avenger bolt thrower or the trebuchet models offered by Games Workshop, so I went all historical and bought Warlord Games's onager, ballista and a couple of scorpions for battle field support. I am using the GW crew members for them though.

There isn't really much to add to this army list except maybe some fiefdom units. Again, I am not keen on the GW versions of fiefdom troops, so will most likely just give that a miss. They would add a little more colour and more tactical nuances but I think what I have is more than enough.

Dol Amroth for Gondor!

As mentioned yesterday, I decided to take a break from the Easterlings and move onto other factions whilst I worried away over what to do with the kataphracts. I decided to go for a quick win by making up a couple of boxes of Knights of Dol Amroth and their leader Prince Imrahil.

However, as per all my quick wins these took a lot longer than I thought they would. Again, I cut the minis off the sprues and did my usual filling the horse halves with Plasticene (didn't bother photographing that stage as I have presented it so many times before). I then added the riders in readiness for undercoating. I decided to go for a very uniform look and tried to get them as identical as possible to make them look like a faceless, remorseless killing machine...

Unfortunately, even though these models are really nice, they are going to be an absolute bitch to try to store - the lances stick out at all angles and are extremely long. They will look fantasic on the battlefield but storing them in my existing boxes will be a nightmare - I do have a couple of pick and pluck foam trays from Kaiser Rushforth (most of my storage boxes are made by KR along with several really Useful boxes for my paints, scenery and tools etc.) that I haven't previously used, so hopefully they will do the trick.

Next up is a suitable leader for the Swan Knights - Prince Imrahil. I think GW used to do a captain, horn blower and banner bearer too, but I was never too keen on their massively tall helmets - just not practical for the battlefield. Prince Imrahil though has his helmet removed so it does not look so goofy. I like the way that you get a foot and mounted version in the blister too...

Again, the mounted mini has a lance that sticks out at a weird angle, so he too will be difficult to house in my storage boxes.

Once painted, I think that these fellas will look awesome and stand out amongst their more sombrely hued Gondor knights brethren. I am so looking forward to getting a unit or two of these out on the tabletop and trying them in a variety of games (Dragon Rampant, Saga and SBG). It will be interesting what stats, traits and skills others have given them.


I have noticed that these photos are becoming a little samey - grey figures on a plain green background. It is just that the area I have put aside for my hobby time is quite limited and I am using what is readily to hand at the moment. Once I have completed this making and basing phase, I am hoping to be able to show off complete factions and units in a better way, and I can hopefully mix things up a bit so that the photos are a little more exciting. I may try to go back to my DSLR camera and try to set up a light box for better shots too.