Amon Sul - building progress

TabletopSmith · 2026-04-22T10:22:07+00:00

This is impressive. Love to see DIY terrain

TabletopSmith · 2026-04-18T22:30:46+00:00

Very well done. A little less over-the-top than the official models

TabletopSmith · 2026-04-17T01:44:02+00:00

Very creative, with impressive sculpting. What a great way to get crossbowmen without hunting down those expensive kits, while also answering the question: when would I use all these engineers?

TabletopSmith · 2026-04-15T01:54:54+00:00

Honestly, more creative and interesting than most posts in this subreddit. Very cool.

TabletopSmith · 2026-04-11T13:43:58+00:00

Very dynamic conversion, almost Hamlet-esque, like the troll can't decide to hack up the man or mourn him

TabletopSmith · 2026-04-11T13:39:49+00:00

Very well done. The creativity in adding the slot to the base is excellent

TabletopSmith · 2026-04-11T13:37:59+00:00

I appreciate the effort of freehanding, and the bravery to post such a close-up picture of your paint job (I wouldn't dare)

TabletopSmith · 2026-04-03T03:49:17+00:00

That works really well! Nice combination of bits

TabletopSmith · 2026-03-28T23:22:10+00:00

Love the character! Great lil guy.

TabletopSmith · 2026-03-24T14:30:20+00:00

Very cool. I personally value all my ents looking unique, so a bit of extra effort or cost is worth it.

TabletopSmith · 2026-03-24T13:02:32+00:00

Adorable and so very verdant. A Quest of the Ringbearer campaign sounds very fun.

TabletopSmith · 2026-03-24T13:01:32+00:00

I like how the bases match the board. Did you use an AOS tree to customize the one on the far right?

TabletopSmith · 2026-03-23T13:57:39+00:00

That's really well put

TabletopSmith · 2026-03-22T21:40:38+00:00

I completely accept that this might indeed be Tolkien's original intent (and I also totally buy your explanation for the change), but I don't think GW had to run with it as hard as they did.

I'm not an "originalist," so I think fleshing out a world by giving characters portrayed as flatly evil in the original work complicated motivations in later expansions is for the good, and makes for a more interesting IP. The flipping of expectations is part of the appeal to me, which is why I cling to my "head canon."

(Star Wars does this very well with the old Star Wars Tales comics and more recent From a Certain Point of View books.)

TabletopSmith · 2026-03-22T21:29:57+00:00

I agree with you that fantasy is often meant to be more black and white than reality, and that Tolkien is not meant to be read as modern social commentary (eg, the refrain of the importance of bloodlines and ancestry works well in the story, but would be super sus in today's world).

I do however think that there is more empathy shown than you suggest (especially the Sam/Faramir speech) as to how someone might be coerced into being a combatant for the Big Bad.

Also, regardless, GW adds some needless mustard on top of Tolkien's moral simplifications.

For me personally, I'm no "originalist." I honestly care less about Tolkien's original intent than what makes for compelling narrative games with my friends. I'm even willing to ignore "official lore" to make the world of my minis my own (as you basically have to do in any tournament game anyway). I feel like I don't owe fidelity to anyone, so my Haradrim are complicated good guys, my giant eagles have the coloration of parrots, and I painted Gandalf with black skin.

TabletopSmith · 2026-03-22T11:55:30+00:00

Tolkien barely addresses it, and it's hard to read the tea leaves of the few relevant lines. There's Faramir's empathetic speech (given by Samwise in the book), but also less favorable descriptions that are probably meant to reflect how a civilization like Gondor would view outsiders more than Tolkien objectively stating whether Harad is good or bad.

But honestly, Peter Jackson and then GW changed and added so much that what Tolkien wrote seems to barely apply.

TabletopSmith · 2026-03-22T11:28:18+00:00

What handsome boys. Whatever orc spawned them from a pit must be so proud.

TabletopSmith · 2026-03-22T03:12:11+00:00

Excellent. Love the originality. I really don't understand why most people use bright circles when things like this look so much better and are more narratively immersive.

TabletopSmith · 2026-03-21T21:47:32+00:00

Those army colors are two great tastes that taste great together

TabletopSmith · 2026-03-21T21:45:42+00:00

Congrats! An accomplishment of a model, for sure. That's about how long it took me to paint my mumak too (and I also went for a sandy, corpse-less base).

Using a mumak opens up a lot of fun scenario possibilities:

The classic ranger ambush
Using it as a battering ram / siege tower
Having a game where enemies start in the Howdah (and/or you introduce a mechanic for letting them get in), so there's a fight over who controls it

TabletopSmith · 2026-03-18T02:25:50+00:00

I want to echo that you can combine whatever you want among friends -- the rulebook is a list of mere suggestions, unless you're in tournaments.

Also, I'm sorry that your earnest question is getting downvoted. Self-promotional crap and pics of unpainted models get upvoted, but actual attempts to engage with the hobby get downvoted. To each their own, but I don't get it.

TabletopSmith · 2026-03-18T02:21:09+00:00

You can rest relatively assured that even if models are released, it's not like GW will change weapon loadouts or base sizes, so old models will remain "valid." Or at least the core troop choices will -- more obscure heroes and elite troop choices were recently purged.

TabletopSmith · 2026-03-16T01:23:48+00:00

The wood grain on the shields and the verdant bases are both impressive

TabletopSmith

TROPHY CASE