Friday 27 December 2013

The dead in the marshes

Do you remember that wonderfully eerie scene in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers where Frodo and Samwise are walking through the dead marshes?





Well, ever since uncovering the fan-made Fimir army book and deciding to build a converted army to represent them on the tabletop, I've had that scene in the back of my mind. The Fir Bolg are the dead souls, abandoned in the marshes, unable to rest. Being a huge Lord of the Rings fan and reading about the Fir Bog, I knew that I had to take inspiration from that fantastic scene. I may not be able to do them justice, but I have had some nice ideas - using the Games Workshop Grave Guard models from their Warhammer Vampire Counts range.




I've tried to model some of them as though they are rising from the swamp to join their comrades, summoned by the Fimir Meargh to help protect the clan. Hopefully it will work nicely when all painted up. They were a bit of a pain to put together to be honest - very small ball and socket joints, but I think that their different aesthetic will look good combined with the Fimir, suggesting that they are soldiers from an ancient army, long dead and rotting in the marshes.

I wasn't really intending to be moving onto the Fir Bolg just yet, but on New Year's Day we are going to finally be playing Regiments of Renown. I have put a decent bit of planning into my small band - a combination of Fimir and Marsh Hounds, but I wanted one other model to round out the warband. Looking through the army list at the models that were a bit different, yet cheap enough to fit into the points limit, the Fir Bolg just seemed to fit the bill nicely. I'm not sure if they will contribute much success, but it they do I think that their 'join us' special rule could really help! ;-)