From MichaelP - Vendel Fantasy Barbarians For Isengard (110 points)

Continuing from my last Challenge post, here are the rest of the Vendel fantasy barbarians I will be using to represent the Wild Men of Dunland in my Lord of the Rings project.  This final batch of 22 figures includes:

Four archers.  The chaps dressed as teddy bears are adorable.  They can only don the fur after they have killed their first Ewok in hand to hand combat.

Eleven spearmen.   While most of the shields are sculpted as hide, I chose to paint the metal ones as bearing the White Hand of Saruman.  Perhaps Saruman's quartermasters have been equipping some of the Dunlendings from the arsenals of Isengard.

Stab for Saruman!  As I envision things, the Dunlendings would stay in their hills and wilds, only coming out to raid exposed Rohirrim settlements for plunder.   They wouldn't want to engage the Riders in the open, but if they had to, having a lot of spears wouldn't be a bad thing.

However, all spears makes for a dull barbarian horde.   I decided to outfit these next six chaps with GW orc swords from the bits box, though one fellow gets an axe from a Gripping Beast sprue.  There's also a fellow with a horn to go with the command group.

I tended to use a variety of yellow, yellow ochre, and reds for the hair, on the theory that the Dunlendings are ethnically similar to the Rohirrim, whom the orcs in TT call "straw hairs" but obviously the Dunlendings never developed as a civilization like the Rohirrim.

The full 22 figures.   While there's not a lot of detail to pick out, the project took some time because I wanted them to have a motley, scruffy look to them, with some varieties in hair, furs, etc, which took some thought and effort.  It was a lot like painting ACW Confederate infantry.

 I have two more personality figures to finish as the leaders.  Both are from Heresy Miniatures in the UK and are quite lovely.  I hope to show them off in next week's Challenge post.

22 X 28mm foot figures at 5 points each should give me 110 points.  Tomorrow the leave beard comes off, the uniform goes on and it's back to work, so my output may slow now.

Thank you looking.  Blessings to your brushes!

Michael (the Mad Padre)

Very fine work on the proxy Dunlendings, Padre!  They do fit the scruffy look very well and most certainly have the wild look down. My favorites are the striped trouser fellows who add even extra character. The white hand symbol just cements their loyalties! 

From MichaelP: Vendel Fantasy Barbarians (20 Points)

I get on the AHPC scoreboard with some 28mm fantasy barbarians from Vendel, which are now carried by Sgt. Major Miniatures.

While I would like to claim all twelve, the truth is that I started 8 of these figures before the beginning of the Challenge, so I can only count four, but I've forgotten which four they are.  Thus, you get to see them all.  My friend James and I have both been working on Lord of the Rings armies for some time, and we recently decided on Vendel as a cheap way of fleshing out our forces in addition to the pricier (and sometimes OOP Games Workshop LOTR line).

These figures, which Vendel calls "Hillmen", will stand in for the human enemies of Rohan, the wild men of Dunland: "All Isengard must be emptied; and Saruman has armed the wild hillmen and herd-folk of Dunland beyond the rivand these also he loosed upon us" (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers).

With their fur capes and clothes, the Vendel figures seem ideal for the Dunlendings, who are clearly far below the Rohirrim in terms of civilization.

The Vendel figures are clunky and fairly simple sculpts, but they do paint up quickly and with some simple shading look good en masse.  Here their boss Saruman looks on in approval as they march on Helm's Deep.

Using Dragon Rampant, the fantasy rules of choice for my gaming group, these can either be a 12 man unit of light archers, or two 6 man units - in DR I would give the Dunlendings the ability to skirmish and evade and treat them as rangers in terms of moving through rough terrain without penalty.  I wouldn't rate them very highly otherwise - their main use for Isengard will be to locate, fix and harass the enemy while the Uruk Hai move into position for the kill.

Four 28mm figures gets me 20 points to get me on the scoreboard.
Thanks for looking and blessings to your brushes!

Michael the Mad Padre

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Great to have you aboard with us again, Padre! 

These are excellent proxies for Dunlendings. Their fur cloaks (and the odd plain helm) really make them fit the part. I like that last shot of Saruman sending them off to steal lunches and push other kids into puddles. 

20 points to mark your entry on the points roster, Michael. Well done.