Many Mithril Pages @ Faerylands

Thank you gentleman for instructing me that the Isengard shields are intended for a Isengard army.

I have idly wondered about equipping a couple of Rohirrim regiments with Isengard shields, in accordance with an article in issue 2 of the old "Tengwar" Fellowship magazine in which John Treadaway (I assume) proposes the notion that Saruman gets the One Ring, defeats the Rohirrim and obliges them to join forces with him in his own War of the Ring against Sauron. An interesting "What if?" scenario!

Saunters in, sits and pats dusty clothes to the annoyance of other patrons Hello Everyone, I'm back after extended time studying with Ioreth in the Houses of Healing.  Did I miss anything?  Just kidding, I tried to read up on some of the scumpy fuelled chats.  Hello to all the new members.  Armies of Isengard is it?  You'll have to visit FB to see mine;)  Dwarves, then?  Still waiting for mine to come.  I will try to pop by more regulary over the next 3 months!  I the mean time, a very large flagon of that scrumpy please!

Last edited by Kenakko (Sat, Apr24 2010 7:57pm)

Huoommm ... yes, welcome back again here, Master Kenakko ... rhuom ...

as for your question, Master Barliman, the PtPP-campaign means "Promoting the Prancing Pony", of course ... huoommm ... I'm relieved to hear that you have enough "treefolk" to thwart those some hundred Isengarders ... huoommm ... about twenty Huorns should be sufficient, methinks ... hoommmm ...

Master Kenako, welcome back!
It looks like your head is still smoking from all the information pressed into it!

Hello Master Barliman,
Can you quench my thirst with a pint of your finest ale please ? My business got me so busy last days I could not manage to visit your place since ages (Fri, Apr9 2010 8:24am if I remember well) .

Thanks Nob to be so thoughtful. My tongue was getting dry.
Arhhh, I feel very good now. Almost as good as when Grand'ma was cooking her special mustard rabbit.

Wolf riders are best when on wolves (or wulfs as I like to say) and the Mithril ones are my personal favorites.  But so few!  One has to convert (cut and paste) and give them round shields.  I have done this, but they're not quite ready to show (read: no time for painting recently).  But soon my precious...in the mean time I do have time for scrumpy!

Think nothing of it Master Tree, it is simply my way of apologizing for my long absence!  Someday, I may even settle the bill at this fine establishment!

Last edited by Kenakko (Tue, Apr27 2010 6:00pm)

shadyt wrote:

Converting other wolfriders to Isengard wolf riders would be easier if I had the proper shield to work with, I do not feel that the heavy infantry shield is suitable for wolfriders on a scouting/ raiding mission. They should have a smaller shield. Also I did look at the Vendel wolves, they do not meet the quality standards to join my army, I have painted a few GW riders,although I do not like them either.

It's all in the eye of the beholder of course. The Mithril range isn't 100% perfect any more than anyone else's visualisation is, because we all see the characters and races in the books differently in our own minds (or at least, we did until the movies came along to pollute them). Personally I'm perfectly happy with the Vendel wolves - there's usually nothing wrong with the casting quality, though I do remember getting one dud batch a year or so ago. Admittedly they're a bit tubby, cuddly even, but perhaps they've just been well-fed...

As for the Mithril shields, they look good, and who's to say how easy or difficult it would be to ride a huge wolf while carrying a large shield? Has anyone ever tried it? Cavalrymen in the 'real world' have certainly carried truly massive shields without the aid of stirrups or sometimes even saddles, so what's the diff? There's no reason at all to believe that Wolf-riders should necessarily have "smaller shields". Let's face it, if we're prepared to accept that any wolf could ever actually be big enough to seat an orc of any description (a pretty absurd notion from the outset, if you stop to think about it), then we should also be ready to let our imaginations wander a little further.

It's also worth mentioning that wolfriders weren't solely used for scouting or raiding. Unfinished Tales states very clearly that though they were used mostly "to destroy isolated groups or to hunt down fugitives", they were also prepared to mix it with cavalry at need, "slashing at the bellies of their horses", in which circumstances they would have needed as much protection as they could manage. I've always assumed anyway that they were more akin to dragoons than cavalry, and would dismount when necessary so that they and their wolves could operate independently.

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about that. I blame the scrumpy ... both for our trying it in the first place and for having forgotten about it afterwards - but they made good rugs, didn't they?

While we are on the topic of what one can or cannot do with a large shield, regarding Gamling's rally. "Orcs had crept like rate through the culvert through which the stream flowed out." The wall was described as thick enough at the top for four men to walk abreast behind the bullwark, so that makes the culvert a fairly long tunnel flowing with water. Try crawling through that with a helmet, large shield, spear, banner and a long sword sheathed at your waist! These orcs should have been the smallest of the attacking forces, light infantry with short swords and small shields. There is a reason that armies equip some troops as heavies and some as light, each have there rolls to play. The same with wolfriders, some heavy some light.