“Muster the Rohirrim!”

So the other army that I’ve begun working on for the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game is the Muster if Rohan. Théoden’s riders, that arrive in the nick of time to save Minas Tirith, and gallop heroically into battle with Orcs, Nazgûl and Mumakil.

What?

Yes, I said ‘riders’. The Riders of Rohan.

Yes I know I’ve said previously, and quite vociferously, that I hate painting horses, but...well...it’s complicated...

My issue with painting horses is mainly that the horse increases the painting time of the individual model quite significantly. What’s more, when doing an army with a unified colour scheme, doing horses individually (because them all being the same colour wouldn’t look right) breaks the flow of any batch painting you’ve got going. Painting the rider on the horse is a faff, painting them separately is a faff, and the prospect of doing them in large numbers is quite distressing.

However, these aren’t just any cavalry. These are the Riders of Rohan. These are the cavalry of my childhood imagination, sweeping the forces of evil before them with a thunderous charge.

I’ll cope with this chore because the end result is more than just a unit of cavalry. It’s a goal worth the faffing.

This little batch of troops were actually given to me by Aneurin a long while ago, when I was bemoaning my Saga Vikings lack of ranged threat and the difficulties I had in chasing down the Welsh in particular. He gave me eight archers and a few riders.

So these became my testing ground for how to paint the Rohirrim, and I think it’s turned out well. I’ve had to raid my bits box for a suitable shield for one of them, but I think it looks okay.

I’m aiming for a mounted force (although refighting Helm’s Deep is tempting), but the archers and other foot troops that I do will serve well enough a dismounted riders...until I have enoyght for a siege, that is.

This army is going to be slower going than the Uruk-Hai, there’s much more to paint on them, but now I’ve worked out how to go about them, the others I’ve bought should come together slightly more quickly.