The Silmarillion

Being a serious Tolkien fan, having read all his books several times, watched every movie made, and looking forward to Amazon Prime's new series, its time to return to the gaming table.

I collected LotR miniatures as far back as the 70s and 80s and still have them. Watching the Tolkien Biopic inspired me to reread the biography I had as well as the Silmarillion. That naturally, lead me to wanting to put one of the great battles of the First Age on the table. Because it has it all, Elves, Orcs, Men, Dwarves, Trolls, Dragons, and Balrogs, the choice was easy. It is the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, or the Battle of Unnumbered Tears.

Of course a major stumbling block is there really aren't many figs out there made for the First Age. Well, I decided to go back to my original collection of figures to fill in some needs, while diving into GW's collection of LotR for some more, and finally just grabbing up some High Elf types from various manufacturers. GW Age of Sigmar became my source for Elves of the six sons of Feanor. Granted, this isn't perfect, but so far it is providing me with the miniatures to stage this incredible battle.

To give a brief intro into the project, here are a few photos to wet the appetite.

Filling in for my Elves from Nargothrond, are some figures that are so old, I don't even remember where they came from, but I had just enough to fill out this contingent. A new paint job, inc the kingdom's symbol on the shield, and they're ready to go.

The leader of the above force was the Elf Gwindor, and here is my rendition. It is an original Mithril miniature (before they were even Mithril!) I think he was a city guard of Tharbad, but what the heck.

This fig I picked up from Bones I believe, and is filling in for my commander of the Elves from the Falas (perhaps even Cirdan himself)

This and in the next photo I picked up from NorthStar's Oathmark Elvish warriors. Both of these are the Elves from the Falas

The Falas image I downloaded from the internet and then attached it to the shields. You will see other examples later. Now, a few images of the enemy:

Since the need is for countless Orcs, I dipped into my earliest collection. These are ancient Minifigs mounted in groups (again, because of numbers needed)

These are again, I believe, Minifig,  goblins this time, but again needing vast numbers, they get pressed into service.

Some more 'ancient' figures. Bit of a mixture here, with some "Snaga" orcs with the grinning faces, Der Kriegspielers,  (a couple of orc characters from Minifig, and more Minifig as earlier illustrated.

Well, that's it for now, more will follow. Hope you will enjoy the tour.