Starting a pure Dunlending force

Darthvegeta800 · **Posted:** Sat Jan 11, 2014 8:15 pm

The father of my brother's fiancé got me hordes of Lotr sourcebooks, the rulebook and i think pretty much everything ever published.
I used to play a bit of War of the Ring but it never really started locally.
And so my Easterlings never saw much use.

My painting skills having drastically improved and seeing lotr mini's (not popular down here) at a massive discount i browsed through them.
Being an historian i was quickly pulled towards the Dunlending Warriors due to their Viking/Saxon edge. (and potential use in historical wargaming!)
I got:

Dunlending Warrior with axe and shield 6x
Dunlending Warrior 'Chieftain' 4x
Dunlending Warrior with Greataxe 6x
Dunlending Warrior with Bow 6x
Dunlending Warrior with Banner 3x

I basically picked up the 10 man box and some blisters of Dunlendings leftover. I like to go thematic hence my choices.

What should I best add to reach the typical force value (pts wise in sbg)?
I also noticed not all is still in stock? Like the 10 man box and archers are no longer on the website?

Furthermore is it worthwhile investing in the Hobbit SBG book?
I plan to play casual games with one or 2 friends at the store who once collected lotr.

whafrog · **Posted:** Sat Jan 11, 2014 11:34 pm

It sounds like you have the older rules and sourcebooks. Army configuration has changed to a warband configuration in that you now need a hero to lead up to 12 warriors...no more single-hero-plus-horde-of-troops. That said, those games were fun and if you're just playing with friends and are tight on cash there's nothing wrong with it. But getting advice will be more difficult because you're out of sync with most other people. From what I've seen, most people appreciate the slight rule changes in the Hobbit book...

Dunlendings and Isengard are thematic allies, and Isengard is probably one of the most straight-forward armies to build, so you might go in that direction. If you want to stick with Dunlendings then there isn't much variety. Add Thrydan as a hero, and maybe Saruman to give them an edge, maybe some warg riders for cavalry...after that you can really only add more troops of the type you already have. They don't cost a lot of points, so you'll need quite a few of them. Making an alliance with an army that has plastic warrior options will be cheaper on the pocketbook.

Creaky · **Joined:** Thu Nov 07, 2013 9:26 pm **Posts:** 424

GW are phasing out metal, and if it's not already in finecast it's essentially only available while stocks last. That would be why the dunland box set isn't there.

If your friends are okay with it (and I see no real reason why they wouldn't be), you could consider expanding and adding variety to your army with other manufacturers viking style models, in the same vein as the GW minis. The Gripping Beast plastic Vikings are quality models - http://www.grippingbeast.com/webpage.php?PageID=90 and I've been eying up some of these for heroes of any future Dunland force http://red-box-games.com/index.php?main ... 20a&page=1 .

If you want to restrict yourself to 'official' minis, then your only real option at this point would be to ally in other armies - in which case Isengard is the most thematic option.

Personally I'd reccomend the new rulebook for the new rules and army building stuff - but if you and your friends are happy playing the older editions (not much has changed, just refinements and changing Monsters to make them very, very useful) then just go for that. If you can get a copy of the small 'goblin town' paperback (perhaps from ebay or something) then that's a good cash saving way to get the new book without investing in the hefty and expensive hardback book.

Darthvegeta800 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 8:44 am

To add variety to the bunch.
Would Grimbold and Gamling be good to proxy as 'unique' looking captains? That way I could also add in the Dunlending Captains of which i have quite a few to bulk out units. Their equipment and look does not seem that drastically different with some filing and a good paintscheme I might be able to put them in also.

mertaal · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:33 am

www.grippingbeast.com may be worth a look for some inexpensive and unique looking models that could easily be Dunlending characters. For example:

http://www.grippingbeast.com/product.php?ItemID=2665

http://www.grippingbeast.com/product.ph ... =268441702

Or even troops too:

Darthvegeta800 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 11:44 am

Do the SAGA ones scale well with the Dunlendings? As sometimes one type of 28mm is far more 'clunky' looking or larger than others.

mertaal · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 6:45 pm

It does depend on which ones- the scale itself is fine. GW's 25mm is somewhat like most historical companies 28mm. The difference is that in theory at least, GW is using realistic scale, whereas some saga minis edge towards the heroic (big heads and hands). But you can tell pretty easily from the pictures which.

I used a box of Wargames Factory (saga's viking/saxon plastics are rebranded and repackaged war-games factory) saxon theigns for my Sons of Eorl- the scale is close enough that they look great, even mixing and matching components on the same model (rohan waist and legs, saxon head, torso and arms).

Simple fact is, among GW's own range the scale is pretty variable, so I don't think you'll notice slight differences between different companies.

I'd avoid 32mm heroic though

.

Pindergorn · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:06 pm

Gripping Beast models generally fit well with LOTR. Looking at the models on my shelf, they tend to be noticably 'chunkier', with thicker weapons. Alongside early LOTR releases, particularly old plastics like Warriors of Minas Tirith, they are larger, but its not too bad. Alongside the chunkier LOTR models, particularly metal, or miniatures from more recent years (the scale of LOTR models has crept up slightly over the years) the difference is much less noticable. Any disparities in height can be explained as natural variation in individual heights.

Wargames Factory uses a scale their Dark Age Saxons and Vikings thats much closer to LOTR than Gripping Beast. If scale is your priority, then WGF may be best, though I generally wouldn't reccomend them as Gripping Beast is better quality and cheaper.

Zarathustra Suicuine · **Joined:** Sun Nov 17, 2013 7:24 pm **Posts:** 183

Once got a bow of those vikings/saxons to use as Chaos marauders, but gave up on them as they seems to have a really messed up join around the neck, meant you had to cut some of them neck and head away so it did jut out, any way to assemble looking normal?
Any advice on allying in a warband of Dunland warriors with shields led by Wolf's bane into an easterling's force?

IntLemon · **Posted:** Mon Jan 13, 2014 4:46 am

Corsairs converted to hold Uruk-Hai swords make good Dunlendings. If you want to add some variety, you could ally the Corsairs instead (not sure how that would work lore-wise). Or you could ally Uruk-scouts.

LordoftheBrownRing · **Posted:** Mon Jan 13, 2014 6:57 am

The Dunlendings are sweet looking but their stats are completely pedestrian. I wouldnt go with them. But if you do want to get cool looking guys those are good suggestions^

Also, I bought a set of these:
http://www.wargamesfactory.com/webstore ... g-huscarls

You can make 32 for 22 dollars, and it has spears, axes, swords, bows, war horns, flags, everything to make 3 solid warbands. Where can you buy that elsewhere?

Honestly, and they look cool to me....and you can use them for Rohan proxies as well. I dont know the exact size comparison(yes theyre 28mm but who knows about body structure) but I think they will suffice.

Thermo · **Posted:** Mon Jan 13, 2014 3:02 pm

I think a pure Dunlending force would be incredibly cool and would love to see more of them!

Might convince Jamie to go in with me on this for the channel in the future, after we've nailed Laketown

Good luck, I'd love to see someone persist with this for theme, past the usual "Uruk-Hai are better/cheaper" comments that tend to come up!

Darthvegeta800 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 13, 2014 5:43 pm

For my baddies i'm going Dunlending.
Already got em. May add something in but not sure what.
I already have pure Easterlings for WoTR.

-> getting a huge box of miniatures from a family member... including even a Nazgul on Felbeast and lots of Elves, Gondor and Orcs so... may pick Gondor as 'opponent'.

I take it playing pure Dol Amroth is impossible and highly ineffective?

whafrog · **Posted:** Mon Jan 13, 2014 6:43 pm

Darthvegeta800 wrote:

I take it playing pure Dol Amroth is impossible and highly ineffective?

IMHO it would be very effective, mostly because of Imrahil's banner effect, except you have no bows (Blackroot Vale archers are Fiefdoms, but not Dol Amroth), and no way of getting into combat more quickly except by spending Might.

You could always ally in a Grey Company force.

Darthvegeta800 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 13, 2014 7:59 pm

Thanks for the unfo. Am cleaning up my Dunlendings. After i finish repainting a horde of boardgame miniatures i'll get to painting them up and putting up pics on the forum

Starting a pure Dunlending force

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