NumberNine - Mines of Moria

Hello, hello, I game with Mr. Helm here and have been invited to co-blog on his blog. As far as miniatures go I just play Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle game - so, I thought for my first quick post I would share some pictures and thoughts on the box set that got me into the gaming system in the first place: the Mines of Moria set.

What appeals to me most about the Strategy Battle game is the Lord of the Rings theme, so the Mines of Moria set was a great starting point. It has all the fellowship, a slew of goblins, and a cave troll, so you can set up an iconic scene from the story right away. My wife and I played some "Balin's Tome" scenarios to learn the system's rules and now we've moved on to other armies and more "normal" army vs. army matches.

Above is a bit of a mock-up of a Balin's Tomb scenario. The Strategy Battle game really lends well to small skirmishes like this.

For the gaming table I quickly cut off a square of particle board and spray-painted it with textured speckled hobby spray paint. Worked well, I think, and spraying the Mine of Moria pillars with the same paint helped bring it all together. I spent more time on the other little terrain pieces that came in the box set and actually painted them - Balin's tomb itself is a particularly cool little set piece.

With the highest Defense in the fellowship, Gimli is a tank and a lot of fun - it takes a swarm of Goblins to bring him down.

Boromir is another thorn in the side of the goblin army because of his high Might and his "Horn of Gondor" rule. If he is out-numbered (which he always will be if he's fighting the plentiful goblins), he can use the Horn of Gondor, which means one of the enemy must pass a courage test or else Boromir automatically wins the fight. And needless to say, goblins are not very courageous.

I am particularly proud of our paint job on Sam, Merry, and Pippin. Black wash did wonders here to brings out the details in their clothing and gear.

The hobbits are very weak compared to the rest of the fellowship. They're usually used in scenarios as figures that the good player has to protect.

Cave troll! Enough said.

When using my Mines of Moria army in normal point-based matches I like think having a couple of cheap anonymous captains for Heroic Moves is crucial. I did a simple conversion to make these two captains - I took archer models who are reaching back to grab an arrow and glued swords and shields in their hands for a dramatic pose. I named these guys Hellbash and Skullbash.

And here's about half of my Mines of Moria army in all it's glory. These guys are weak, so it's definitely strength in numbers with the goblin kingdom.