Near the White City...

... a peaceful village gets back to work after being visited by a patrol of Rangers and Warriors.

What's this!? Middle Earth when the Western Front seemed top of my list? Well, dear reader, yes and no. I have been largely focussed on WW1 but then on Friday my youngest discovered a box of LotR Elves and asked if we could paint them and play some games! ... Certainly, was my reply.

So, on Saturday I quickly painted up an Elf warrior so as to show what they might look like when painted. On Sunday morning Katie started painting her own Elf archer. Whilst painting she asked if we could play a game and use her figure. Crumbs but it's been ages since I last ventured in to Middle Earth on the tabletop but how could I possibly refuse?

I asked her what sort of game what she'd like to play. "Don't worry" she said, "I'll explain as we go along" and she set to thinking up a scenario and back ground. Here's the small village she arranged.


Her idea was that a small village near the White City had been host to a patrol of Rangers and Warriors, but after the men of Gondor had left, the village was attacked by a roving band of Orcs. However, the Orcs were being tracked by a pair of Elves who helped the farmer fend off the villainous creatures of Mordor. But the sounds of battle drew yet more Orcs to the fray. The Orcs were not the only ones the hear the fighting; the men of Gondor returned to the village as quickly as they could to save the day. I must say that she thought all this up by herself and, after raiding my store of scenery, arranged the table as she wanted. Not bad for someone barely in to double figures eh?

She even drew out a rough sketch of the table before explaining the scenario to me!

Here's the village.

The farmer and his daughter.

The first group of Rangers return to the village as the Orcs begin their attack.

Hurrah for Faramir!

Yet more Orcs close in on the village. Woe! The first round of Orcish archery claims the Elven archer (so recently painted by her loveliness - I did explain that newly painted figures always kark it first!!). I'm pleased to report that she displayed superb sportsmanship throughout the game.

But wait! Are they reinforcements for Gondor?

The Orcish horde continue their relentless advance.

The Rangers try to hold the village.

The fighting is fierce with no quarter asked or given,

The Orcs are given a thrashing but their weakened morale holds.

Finally, their losses prove too great and the Orcs head for Mordor. Hurrah for Gondor, the Elves and the West!

Here are the two newest additions to my collection. On the left is my based coated, inked and highlighted sword warrior, whilst on the right is Katie's base-coated Elf Archer. Given that this is her 4th or 5th painted figure, I hope you'll agree that she's made a fine start.

I'm so thrilled that she came up with the background story, the scenario and the table layout herself. I simply applied a basic version of the LotR rules make the game work very nicely.

Enjoy your gaming!

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