Thundercloud has signed up to leave the house again, and this time it’s for the 500 point Middle Earth event in Warhammer World.
Planning
If you are going to an event you have to choose an army. Do you pick the almost completely finished army like Khazad Dum where you’d have to paint a couple of models for the new edition? Do you pick the elite monster list like Ents where you have to paint a total of six models? Do you pick a faction where you’ve already painted a dozen core troops like the Morannons I got done earlier in the year?
Or do you do what I do, and dig out a completely unpainted force, order the few models you need, and paint a whole force before the event?
Come on, you know the answer. You paint a complete infantry force with a one month deadline with no progress already made.
The List
I chose Lurtz’s Scouts. This is an infantry list with good numbers and mobility, a fairly tough hero, a named captain and reasonable legion rules. It does lack the big centrepiece that you like to see in armies (trolls, some sort of monster, impressive cavalry) but it’s a solid list at lower points, like 500, typically seen in Middle Earth one day events.
I have to take Lurtz. He clocks in at 100 points, and is a solid mid tier fighty character made even better by the Legendary Legion rules (move becomes 8″, gains General Hunter, able to declare a Heroic Combat every turn). He’s a good leader for a 500 point force.
Ugluk clocks in at 75 points, and is a tuned up Uruk Hai scout captain with an extra point of might, access to more heroic actions and a couple of special rules around murdering friendly models that almost certainly won’t come up in a Lurtz’s Scouts list. Head Taker is situationally useful, and since Lurtz’s Scouts have a 66% break point, the situation is that things are going very badly where it’ll either make no difference or keep all the survivors in the game for another turn. He also comes with a whip, for whipping.
Uruk Hai Scout Captains are 55 points, and come with a two handed weapon, which is not a great choice on a Fight 5 hero who is already strength 5 but it is what it is.
Uruk Hai scouts come with either hand weapons, hand weapons and shields or hand weapons and bows, and have strength 3 uruk hai bows. Fight 4 means they outclass standard Men and Goblins, and equal some factions elite infantry, and strength 4 means they can wound things reasonably reliably.
Overall the faction is a solid choice in the 4-600 point range, but above that starts to struggle against the monsters, big heroes, war machines or infantry hordes that other lists can bring.
My list comprises the following.
Lurtz
- 8 Uruk Hai scouts with shield
- 4 Uruk Hai scouts with bow
Ugluk
- 6 Uruk Hai scouts with shield
- 4 Uruk Hai scouts with bow
Uruk Hai Scout Captain
- 6 Uruk Hai scouts with shield
- 2 Uruk Hai scouts with bow
This is dead on 500 points, and gives me 33 models and 11 bows.
The high speed of Uruk Hai scouts combined with the decent number of bows means I can skirmish against opponents to wear them down before moving in. While there are no spear armed models in the list, an Uruk Hai is an Uruk Hai, and they’re fairly scary in melee.
The Painting
I checked my pile of opportunity, and I had 24 plastic Uruk Hai Scouts, 6 metal Uruk Hai Scouts, the Uruk Hai command blister, Ugluk, Mahdur and Vrashkur. I couldn’t find a Lurtz, though inevitably he’ll turn up in about six months time where I least expect to find him. I purchased a Lurtz and some metal scouts four weeks before the event, giving me plenty of time for him to arrive, and set about painting the plastic models as one big batch.
I painted the plastic Uruks up in the first week, setting a scheme of using two colours for the leather (Corvus Black for the black leather, Thondia Brown for the lighter leather), dark metal for the armour with Vallejo Chrome highlights and the skin as a 50/50 mix of Doombull Brown and Khorne Red. The non-armour sections were washed with the new formulation of Nuln Oil, and the armour was washed with a 50/50 mix of Agrax Earthshade and Athonian Camoshade.
The highlights were drybrushed XV-88 over the Thondia Brown, Khorne Red on the skin and Eshin Grey on the Corvus Black.
I found some White Hand transfers on ebay, as I’m not going to freehand 20 shields at 25mm scale, and the finished model looked like this.
This army is very much painted to a tabletop standard, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Disaster Strikes
I varnished these with Games Workshop Munitorum spray varnish. It was a pleasant and sunny day, and the front coat went on fine, the back coat went on fine.
The top down coat fuzzed.
I tried to fix this with brushed on gloss varnish, and partially saved them, but some of the colour is leeched off them.
I didn’t have another 24 plastic Uruk Hai scouts lying around, so I have to keep going as is.
A Second Disaster (Almost) Strikes
You know how when you order something weeks in advance and then it doesn’t turn up, and the event day gets closer, and closer and closer. Well that was the case with the Lurtz I ordered, and you sort of need him for Lurtz’s Scouts. He’s the only compulsory model.
I rewrote my list for Ugluk’s Scouts, because I had Ugluk and Mauhur and the Orc captains for the list, and two dozen orcs. I cleaned the models up, sprayed them and started painting.
Fortunately the tracking then started updating on the ebay lot I bought and I received the models, so instead of painting 20 Orcs I could paint 4 more Uruk Hai instead.
This only served as more evidence as to why I sometimes buy models months or years ahead of when I’ll need them.
Conclusion
While I don’t recommend painting an army from scratch in the month leading up to the event, for a 500 point game it is doable.
The Uruk Hai figures are generally solid sculpts, even the single piece plastics, and if you had the time and a magnifying glass, there is plenty of detail to bring out.
However this is very much a tabletop army painted to give me the models I need for an event, and I’m happy with what I’ve done.
I finished them off with Gamers Grass tufts from the Dry Starter Box and with gluing extra magnets to the bottom of every metal model to stop them sliding around the night before the event.
So with a 500 point Uruk Hai scout army done, what’s next? The logical thing to do is paint the Mordor Orcs I started so I could take an Ugluk’s scouts list as well, and then use those Mordor Orcs as the basis for any of the dozen Mordor Orc lists there are.
So I’m probably going to paint Ents or buy an ill advised Beornings army while I’m at the event tomorrow. I totally, definitely, should get started on the models for the Boarding Actions event I’m going to next month, while I’m at it…
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