Swords of the Noldor!

Turgon, son of Fingolfin and High King of the Noldor, said to his brother in-law Eol, “I will not debate with you Dark Elf. By the swords of the Noldor alone are your sunless woods defended. Your freedom to wander there wild you owe to my kin and but for them long since you would have laboured in thraldom in the pits of Angband. And here I am King and whether you will it or will it not my doom is law. This choice is given to you: abide here or to die here and so also for your son.”

My Elven host took the field last week as allies of Cyborg's Elves. We went to throw the Swamp Horde of Bad Daddy and and the Kid's Mercenaries back into the fetid swamp where they belong. The battle was as even as we've ever seen. All of us had units destroyed or driven from the field, but many of them were miraculously refielded through powerful magics or brilliant leadership. I must say that my Elven hero, Mithelpiffelel (that is the effeminate name the He-who-must-not-be-named uses for nancy Elves... and Mithelpiffelel is a good name because the hero wears white tights) did kill two Turtle heroes and a Salamander shaman twice... Yes, Bad Daddy resurrected him.

The most important development is that the guys want to create a Facebook page to display their armies. I'm a big fan of anonymity regarding this hobby of mine, to wit, I call myself Boaz. True, the Elven knights on winged tigers deserve a pic or two... I admit, flying tigers and white pants (especially after Labor Day!) are not representative of true Noldor. But as Cyborg likes to point out, there aren't really any true minis that do exactly replicate Tolkien's concept of tall, graceful Elves in lofty helms... The minis out there have too many feathers and too much overall poofiness. (I might have just invented a word.)

Sincerely, Boaz

p.s. Mythological Romans are my next project.

I came. I saw. I painted.

I am painting Elves, but I have a few other future ideas in mind. I envision a fantasy Roman army based upon the wolf myth and priests looking for portents. It would feature Republican infantry with lots velites in wolf skins. I can also see allied Gallic or Numidian cavalry... and Romano-British cav riding giant wolves. The Copplestone 28mm huskies might work out well for this purpose. The army would also have Roman priests, priestesses, and Sybil.

The other army I am contemplating is a Khalasar. It's is the name of a Dothraki horde in ASOIAF. HBO does a good job of representing the Dothraki. At most, their warriors wear leather jerkins while many of them ride bare chested into battle. One slight problem to painting a Khalasar is that no 15mm manufacturer makes appropriate figs. Asiatic horse archers, such as... Huns, Mongols, Alans, Parthians, Arabs, Khurasanians, Tuaregs, and Turks are produced by a plethora of companies. I've also seen Sioux, Dakota, Apache, and Comanche mounted archers. But all of these, except for the occasional Plains Indian, have shirts, helmets, and various pieces of armor. My best bet might be to find some break waist riders and replace the upper bodies with unarmored Gauls or Britons.

By the way, The Kid suggested I change the name of the blog to Paint Is Thicker Than Water. Mayhaps, I might use the title of this post as the new name... Veni. Vidi. Picti.

I must figure out how to do photos. This blog needs them.... immediately, if not sooner.

Sincerely, Boaz

Edit: So the button to publish this post does not seem to be working... I'll try it again...

Dragnet.

Ladies and gentlemen, the post you are about to read is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Sooooooo..... I have finished multiple units of Elves and some characters over the last few days... All figs are from Demonworld and Mighty Armies lines. When I only have the MA minis on the table they don't look half bad. But when they are set down next to Demonworld... Oh, boy. Multiple units of Spearmen from Chariot and archers from AD&D Battlesytem are also primed and ready for paint. And I'm waiting for Ral Partha Europe to send me more Demonworld Elves. The reason I'm painting Elves, after only one game with my Kong army, is that our next home cooked Fantasy Piquet battle will be before the year's end. And my partner for the upcoming disaster... uh, battle, Cyborg, will be bringing his noble and puissant elves. Cyborg, does not call them Vanyar, but that is who they are. If you are reading this and you don't know who the Vanyar are, then turn in your nerd card immediately if not sooner. In Professor Tolkien's stories, the Vanyar are the High Elves. They are rarely mentioned even in The Silmarillion. I do not have time to discuss the authorship and the canoniciy (I sure hope that's a word) of The Silmarillion. Anyway, this is Cyborg's favorite army. He painted it decades ago. He's a better painter than me. So we'll field Elves against whichever armies Bad Daddy and The Kid bring. Bad Daddy has everything... I mean almost every army you can think of in 15mm fantasy. Frogs, Lizards, Hindus, Undead, Orcs, Goblins, Centaurs, Fairies, Dwarves, Elves, Demons, Teknowmancers (sic), Ogres, Zulus, Da Vinci, Medievals, and Romans, plus a smattering of every conceivable miscellaneous troop type ever made. Bad Daddy may coordinate with The Kid to give us a themed opponent... and then again maybe not. The Kid will either bring fairies or Dwarves. But he might pull out the Dragonkings or the Atlanteans. But he won't bring the Ratmen because they are undergoing an overhaul.

For the record, I should state that Cyborg, Bad Daddy, The Kid, Azael, and He-who-must-not-be-named are not actually the names that their parents gave them. Mayhaps I should also note that Bad Daddy and The Kid are not related... but paint is thicker than water.

I really hope this post does not appear as one giant paragraph as the last one.

Namarie, Boaz

Hey, Hey! We're the Monkees!

Well... It's been a while. You know how enthusiasm waxes and wanes. I kept waiting to figure out how to set the parameters of photos... but I failed. Perhaps I'll give the task to my niece. She's twelve and should not have any problems.

On a positive note, I have managed to get in five or six games of my friends home rules which are based off of the Piquet system. The latest of which was just last Saturday. All of us painted many new units for the battle... And of course they performed miserably. My newest troops represent a Kong/Lost Jungle army. They consist of six units of Zulu Spearmen (including a unit led by Belit and Conan), two units of Numidian Javelinmen, three units of Pygmy Skirmishers, a unit of Lions, an Ape unit with Tarzan, a unit of wolves featuring Mowgli, and finally three monstrous Gorillas... Kong, Son of Kong, and Joe.

Sincerely, Boaz

Edit: I wonder why the text blended into one big paragraph... How irritating!