From GregB: To The King! (Arda) (200 points)

Erkenbrand and Eomer lead the Riders of Rohan to war!

Having arrived on Arda, I now wish to present something "Tolkeinesque" - here are a group of Riders of Rohan from GW's "Lord of the Rings" figure line. The Riders are lead by Eomer, Marshall of the Rittermark, and Erkenbrand, Lord of the Westfold. They are mostly plastic, but there are a couple of metal castings in the lot, as well as one "Finecast" (which still sucks!) figure.

I can hear you asking "Hey, Greg, didn't you have these guys already? I mean, you painted Erkenbrand back in 2019, right?" Well yes...without making the story too long, some participants may recall I moved house in 2020. That was quite the process, it all happened a bit suddenly, and required some hard decisions when in came to my large collection of figures. Some parts of the collection had to go...and one of those was my Riders of Rohan, who were sold to a new hobby home.

Some of the regular warriors, mounted and ready to fight for Rohan!

The whole move was not easy, but it got done (and many friends, participants in this Challenge, were critical to that - thank you!). But wow, did I find that, as I unpacked my stuff, I regretted selling those Riders of Rohan. I had enjoyed so many great games of "Lord of the Rings" over the years with my friends, and I missed seeing those riders on the shelves. The ache was accentuated by the Painting Challenge, which would feature many great submissions of LOTR figures (this year being no exception). 

So, I cracked, did that dumb thing that we hobby people do sometimes, and this year I ordered replacements to re-start my Riders of Rohan collection! 

Erkenbrand, on foot and mounted - figure from GW.

Of course, things have changed over the years - GW still makes the figures, and broadly supports the game and the range, but many figures that were once metal are no longer available as metal castings. Erkenbrand is now "Finecast". The plastic-resin of "Finecast" was rightly reviled when it came out, and it still sucks @ss today - the sword on the foot version of Erkenbrand here was drooped like a noodle, and even after a LOT of effort and boiling water, the sword it still not fully straight. Let's hope the Lord of the Westfold stays mounted...

Eomer, mounted and on foot - plastic kit from GW.

The new plastic Eomer is tricky to assemble, but just a stunning figure.

Then Eomer, who used to be a metal casting, is no longer available as a metal casting - he is, in fact, a multi-part plastic model. This brings some challenges - the head was TWO parts, for a single 28mm figure, WTF??? But on the whole, this is really nice - because while I really like the previous metal Eomer, this plastic one is amazing. The pose is incredible, you get options for heads and weapons. The horse is customized, and because both horse and rider are plastic, you avoid another issue...

Generic Rohan command, mounted. These are metal figures on plastic horses, held up on the base by one leg...f*ck...

Generic Rohan command figures on foot. Note the finial on the standard was a mis-cast...oh well. These guys shouldn't be on foot too much anyway!

...and this will be familiar to many Challenger already. GW is prone to brain cramps, and they had a major one when they designed the plastic horses for the LOTR range. These horse are bound to the base by a single, thin leg! This is the height of stupidity, and makes things tough - for example, the generic command figure and banner-carrier are both metal figures, and the single, thing, plastic leg is holding them all up. This is idiocy...but it is all we have to work with, so, prayers to the hobby gods...

A selection of plastic Riders.

I also want to thank Curt for his help in figuring out Eomer's armour. It is pretty complicated, with leather patterns worked on to sections of plate...not sure how well I managed it, but it was definitely a Challenge and I am pleased overall with how he turned out. It will be good practice for when I turn to King Theoden, who wears armour with similar complications.

To the king!

Anyway, it is lovely to be back in the LOTR game again! It warms my heart to once more see the Riders of Rohan on my shelf! For scoring purposes, we have 16 mounted 28mm figures, four 28mm foot figures, and a one planet bonus, which should come to 200 points. This amounts to a nice jolt towards my points goal. To the King!

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Wow. Greg these are tremendous. I was personally shocked when you sold your previous collection, so I'm very happy to see you're beginning to replace them - they are such a lovely looking force, all arrayed and charging forward. Beautiful sculpts aside, I have to agree with you on GW's decision to utilize plastic horses, pinioned on one hoof, to hold metal riders. It just makes me cringe to think of it. Prayers to the hobby gods indeed. I'll let you handle those ones when we play. :)

Wonderful work, mon ami!

- Curt