Jeweled thrones & sandaled feet

 Once upon a time, there was a time, when I made my miniature purchases unencumbered by the scourge of knowledge. I had to peruse printed catalogues devoid of all colour and the decadence of photos, running my stubby finger down line after line of figure codes followed by a very sparse descriptions. So I, for one, welcome our new information technology Overlords and may those barbaric times never return. Having said that, while photos are common now comparison shots are not. So as I can, and have enough examples to make it worthwhile, I'll continue to add to this post. First up some Orcs and Goblins, some figures have had their bases boosted to try and even out the differences in base thickness. Left to Right: Orcs: Chariot, Ral Partha, Rank & File, Khurasan, Eureka, Grenadier/Mirliton. Left to Right: Goblins: Chariot, Blood Dawn, Alternative Armies, Blood Dawn, Ral Partha, Mirliton.

A long time ambition of mine has been to fight the Battle of Five Armies in miniature, so long that I no longer remember when it began. No doubt sometime after discovering The Lord of the Rings amongst the multitude of books in the school library, Dungeons & Dragons and the drift from roleplaying to miniature skirmishing.  Somewhere along the way I eventually settled on 15mm for this ambition, though I have vacillated often towards other sizes over the journey and still do, and have been collecting dribs and drabs from various ranges for decades now, I've been painting dribs for decades now. Despite this less than coherent approach, we have somehow arrived at the point where, while not having a finished product, I am in a position to show something maybe worthy of a look. This is far from finished, it may never be finished. It is intended as a force pool of elements that I can draw on to organize armies for the miniature rules HOTT and TRIUMPH! and possibly DBM. I still have ma...