Sunday 27 September 2015

Haldir & his Galadhrim Warriors

Haldir and the Galadhrim Warriors.
Minis a mix of GW plastics and blister.

In the War of the Ring, evil picks up momentum after Sauruman’s betrayal became known, and his forces swamped the villages of the Rittermark. The assailed people of the Westfold under King Théoden, had to leave their homes and take refuge in the old Hornburg castle in the ravine of Helm’s Deep. Here, heavily outnumbered against the Uruk-Hai, they would make a desperate stand at the Battle of Helm’s Deep.

Haldir and his 400 Elves awaiting the onslaught
of the enemy at Helm's Deep.

As preparations for the ensuing battle intensified, a glimmer of light appeared in the despairing darkness. Thinking themselves forsaken by the other factions of Good, Théoden and Aragorn were more than relieved to receive the help of Haldir and 400 Galadhrim Warrior Elves. 

The command stand with Haldir and improvised Elvish banner.

Haldir had persuaded Elrond of Rivendell not to abandon the people of the Rittermark in their hour of need, and thus he was allowed to gather a contingent of the elite Galadhrim Warriors, rushing to join Théoden and Aragorn just in time for the coming battle.

According to Tolkien, Haldir spoke the "common tongue" of man.
Thus he would help guide the Fellowship out of Lorien, as they commenced their might quest to destroy the One Ring.

During the Battle of Helm’s Deep, the skilled Elves would prove decisive in slowing down the advance of the Uruk-Hai sufficiently, allowing Gandalf the White to arrive with reinforcements to flank and defeat the Forces of Sauruman. However, the hard-fought battle would see all but a few Elves slain, including their leader, Haldir.

Galadhrim Warriors from the GW plastics sprue.

Interestingly, the movie-version of Haldir’s actions doesn’t correspond with Tolkien’s original book-version. In the books, Haldir and the Galadhrim never joined in the Battle of Helm’s Deep. Lorien was too hard pressed after the onslaught of Dol Guldur. Thus, in the books, Haldir has an unknown fate, perhaps taking him across the Great Sea with the rest of the Elves as they eventually leave Middle-Earth.

Thank you very much for reading!

26 comments:

  1. Very nice painting and basing Soren!

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    1. Thanks Chris! The 3-2-1 basing is adapted after inspiration from fellow gamer and blogger Michael "Dalauppror" - so cred to him for this flexible system.

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  2. These are just stunning! Fabulous work Sir.

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  3. Wow. They look fantastic. Very striking. And the 1-2-3 basing works really well for those miniatures as they look very dynamic together in small, well posed groups.
    /Mattias

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    1. Cheers Mattias - yeah, I like this basing system too. Its a perfect balance between the scenic qualities of multi-basing and the casualty flexibility of single basing.

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  4. Well don't those look just lovely!! Wonderful!

    Christopher

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    1. Thank you very much Christopher! Lets hope they do well on the gaming table too.

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  5. Striking brushwork, Soren! As Mattias points out, excellent composition.

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    1. Thanks Jon, again I have to credit Michael for coming up with the 3-2-1 system. ø40mm has three minis. ø30mm has two. ø25mm contains one. Characters/leaders like Galadriel are based on a ø60mm base.

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  6. Amazing clothes! Another fantastic post, no doubt...

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    1. Cheers Phil - these GW minis are fun and easy to paint. Mirkwood Rangers left to do, and then off to the gaming table.

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  7. Lovely colors, Soren. I like the multi-figure basing too.

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    1. Thanks Dean - like I wrote to Jon, the system has three steps (a fourth incl. commands), and offers flexibility without sacrificing the decorative notion of the multi-based systems.

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  8. Stunning paintwork matey!

    Love the basing :)

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    1. Haha, thanks for tuning me into the 3-2-1. Really like the feel of this system. Will probably adopt this for many of my future collections in 28 and 15mm.

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  9. Great painting, basing and grouping! Everything combines well for some dynamic looking figures. Well done Sir!

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    1. Thanks Steve - I totally agree, the 3-2-1 basing system offers a dynamic, flexible but also very esthetic result. Not the last collection this have been used for.

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  10. Really nice! Got me a set of Galadhrim elves when they were realeased. One of the hardest set too paint I have ever done. That load of gold armour almost killed me :P

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    1. Haha, I feel you brother - this is a real mouthful to work at. I'm happy I limited my initial unit to 6 minis. Will perhaps do a second unit though, one armed with Elven bows ;0).

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  11. That's some truly first rate painting again. I love your work on the armour.

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    1. Cheers M! The GW minis are quite pleasant to work on. Thanks for dropping by - enjoy your holiday!

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  12. First, your figures look great! Love your page.

    Second....I'm on the fence about getting the plastic galadhrim. To my eyes they look a little....bloated, like they ate a bit too much lembas. How do you feel they look?

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    1. Hi, and thanks for the nice comment on the blog :0)
      Regarding the sculpting/casting of the Galadhrim, I can only agree. They are a little dated, probably have some 10 years on their back now. I recently bought some Mirkwood Rangers from the new Hobbit range, and man what a difference! I'll be posting them sometime soon, so you'll be able to see for yourself. But, if you're starting a elvish army from scratch, I'd probably go with some of the Hobbit range elves, they are lightyears better.

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    2. I would if the Wood Elf army figures had been done in plastic. 3 guys for 25 makes them prohibitively expensive :(

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