[Warfork Fantasy Battles] New Year's resolutions 2025 - The Battle for Arduthrond Glade


[Warfork Fantasy Battles] New Year's resolutions 2025 - The Battle for Arduthrond Glade



It is the time for the New Year's resolutions. Mine for 2025 ist to get Battle for Arduthrond Glade done.


What is that?


Well, it is a throwback in time for me, to my start of Warhammer, and then even a bit before that.


Let me explain.


I started playing miniature wargames (excluding a couple of games of Epic Space Marines and Space Hulk at friends places, which brought me into contact with the hobby in the first place), when I got the Warhammer 4e boxed set for Christmas in 1992. The Battle for Maugthrond Pass (as published in a leaflet in that box set) is a well known battle from Grom the Paunch's invasion of the High Elf Realm of Ulthuan, a key battle of his march towards the great city of Tor Yvresse.


I think we never played that actual scenario back in the day, but I flipped through that leaflet again about 2 years ago, and had the sudden urge to re-live (well live for the first time, actually, as we never played it) that scenario which stands for my beginning in the hobby.


I am very good at making plans, scouring the internet for miniature ressources etc. so I quickly had a list of stuff I needed.


But I was playing Warfork Fantasy Battles now, my modified version of 3e Warhammer Fantasy Battles. So I designed the two forces of the scenario using the 3e core rules only, not Warhammer 3e Armies and slighty adjusted my list.


For most of the miniatures I wanted to use the ones from Mirliton because:


  • all metal models - old school vibe

  • using minis from non-GW sources to play Warhammer - old school vibe

  • need to get some miniatures from other manufacturers as they don't cover all my needs - old school vibe

  • need to do some conversion - old school vibe


Because my wife was asking me about that time what I wished for for Christmas, I provided her with the Mirliton list. And when she can do one thing good in my hobby, it is ordering stuff from lists I provide her with. And she is very generous, too, she just ordered everything (which is not detracted from by her saying "You would be buying all that crap anyways.").


The rest of what I needed comes from Reaper Miniatures, Knightmare Miniatures and the bolt thrower even from Games Workshop themselves; the chariot I am planning on scratchbuilding from wood.


So I got all the stuff for two years now. But there was always something else high up on the priority list (still is in fact).


With setting this project as my new year's resolution, I have something I can fail against, which I don't like to do, so I hope this will finally make me start on this project.


I am putting the finishing touches on the scenario details, so that will be posted in the coming days, too. It is basically a shameless copy of Nigel Stillman's 4th edition classic, ported back to 3rd edition force lists and with renamed characters and places.


Well, that amount of minis should be managable within one year, right...?


 
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For the project, I also need two unit of spearmen. The two units are assembled and based (on metal bases from Products for Wargamers). The models are all from Mirliton's Goblin range. In good old school fashion, there aren't that many different models, so I mixed spear and hand weapon armed models, and then did some minor conversions (mostly weapon swaps).


Despite the different equipment, the unit is considered armed with spears and a 6+ save, which I bought points wise as shields. Not all models actually wear spears or shields, but there is also a lot of light armour to be seen (same basic save), and I go with the 3e apporach:


Many players prefer to assemble a force in which every model is different, which means every model is differently armed and armoured of course! This is acceptable – it is simply assumed that every model has an average amount of armour and carries the weapon most commonly represented.




For most of the converted models, I still need to hide gaps and bare paper clips, or strengthen the connection of paperclip and weapon heads, with putty.


 
Also part of the project, I have a troll(s, is it the body or the heads that count...?). This troll(s) is also from Mirliton. As base, I used a 40mm metal base from Products for Wargamers.


I like the model, the pose though is a bit linear for my liking.






So I made an incision, to disconnect the club from his (their?) right leg, then cut off the wrist. The arm was bent forward. After drilling holes in both the arm as well as the hand, I used a bit of paper clip to pin the hand back in place at a different angle.








I like this pose a lot better now. Still need to fill the gaps in the right arm with putty.
 
Also part of the project, I need an Orc stone thrower.


The thrower itself is the trebuchet from Knightmare miniatures. I built it without any modifications, except replacing the the rather weak looking joint of arm and hand with a metal pin.


The goblin crew I replaced with two models from the Orc Command Group from Mirliton. One is the leader with a whip, and the other repositions the engine of war by using a tree branch as a lever. The piece of wood dowel I glued in place so it fits below the engine of war's frame. The other two models are from The Fire of Tarkaa from Mirliton pack, orignally carrying a brazier. When I saw them I immediately imagined them to carry a big rock betwen them, so choose them for the crew. First I contemplated to hollow out the brazier and glue a rock in there, but then decided to build my own stretcher from wood, which looks more makeshift.


The engine itself will be mounted on a 50mm base, the (purely decorative) rock reservoir base is 40mm. The rock carriers are on a 25mm x 50mm base, so eactly the size two orcs on 25mm bases would take up. All bases are metal bases from Products for Wargamers, again.




For the whip I used floral wire, wrapped in twine.






Still need to sculpt a proper handle.
 
The goblin force includes an Orc Shaman on Wyvern. Making it more difficult than it would need to be, I want to model the Wyvern with a removable rider, and the rider as a foot model; after all it might happen, that wyvern or shaman get killed in a game and the other fights on alone.


For the wyvern, I choose Blacksting, Wyvern from Reaper Miniatures, mounted on a 40mm base.


For the shaman, I choose Orc Wizard Wolf Rider for the mounted model, and Orc Shaman for the model on foot, both from Mirliton. The crew of the Da Skull Crusha was built from Orc Command Group 2, where I had a back banner moon left over, which I used on the model on foot's staff top, as the mounted model had that type of staff head as well. They don't exactly fit size wise, but are close enough.


Both bases are metal bases from Products for Wargamers.




The wings I pinned in place with two paper clips on each side.








To be able to remove the rider, I plan to drill two holes into the top of the shoulders of the wyvern, to insert two magnets. These will be hidden by a thin layer of putty. On top of these, I will then build a saddle.
 
The goblin force is lead by Scak the Beanstalk of Foggy Valleys, accompanied by his assistant and bearer of his personal standard, Zrok.


For Scak I choose Goblin Personality 1, and for Zrok Goblin Personality 2. While for Zrok I only exchanged one of his two swords with the banner pole and slightly repositioned the arm, the conversion on Scak will be more substantial; after all I need to make him look the beanstalk part. Both were mounted on metal bases from Products for Wargamers.




I started by cutting out his legs, inserting paper clips between his body and his feet, to give him overly long legs. The left arm was cut off completely and replaced by a paper clip; arm, hand and Horn of Urgok to be sculpted. The puny axe the model is supplied with of course cannot represent the mighty Axe of Grom, so I replaced it with brass rod and an axe head from my bits box (from a Black Tree Design orc, IIRC).


The top of the banner pole came from one of the command set standard bearers.




First sculpting layers added with miliput.


 
The legs seemed a bit too bulky, so I cut off most of the miliput again, and gave it another try. At this stage I switched to a green stuff / miliput mix, about 50/50.


I bent the left arm where I wanted the wrist to be. Then, the general form/length of the horn was added by supergluing a bent piece of paperclip below, before wrapping putty around it to fix it in place.


The axe handle got covered in putty, to hide the smooth surface of the brass rod.




Next, I bulked out the general form of the horn. Is it vastly oversized? Yes. But it is a magïckal horn, so it cannot be a tiny little thing.




On the axe, I started to add some details.




Considering I am not much of a sculptor and hardly do this, I am quite pleased with the results so far.
 
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