Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Arathorn, Chieftain of the Dúnedain

There is some building excitement and energy within our local club to get back to playing Lord of the Rings regularly. To get myself back into the game (and for a break from painting the ancient Iberians) I decided to paint an old metal figure of Arathorn, father of Aragorn, that I have had for awhile. I will be using Arathorn in a themed army with Rangers or Arnor and Treebeard. Setting aside other opinions of Games Workshop for the moment, their models are often very, very fabulous and this one was a real treat to paint.

Arathorn is the son of Chieftain Arador of the Dúnedain and a descendant through many generations of Isildur himself. He first appears in annals at the age of fifty-six, seeking the hand of Gilraen as his wife. Gilraen at that time was just twenty-two years old.

The following year, Arathorn's father Arador was slain by trolls, and Arathorn took on the title of Chieftain of the Dúnedain. Gilraen bore him a son, who was given the name Aragorn. Arathorn died at the age of sixty when he was shot through the eye by an arrow while hunting orcs. After the death of Arathorn, Gilraen took their son to Aragorn Rivendell, where he was fostered by Lord Elrond.





12 comments:

  1. Looks great. I really love GW's LOTR line even though I cannot stand their business policies.

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    1. Thanks. What you say is true... but great miniatures are great. :)

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  2. Very nice looking figure and very well painted

    Ian

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Ian and thanks for the comment.

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    1. Thanks! I typically very themed armies - having a bunch of woodland rangers and Treebeard stomping around is great fun! I'll try to get a photo of the entire army posted soon.

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  4. Love it! That's a very heroic and lively figure, with great shots too.

    I'm such a Ringie that I'd gladly paint & game LOTR if there were 1 other person to partner up on this. Until then, I'll get my fix looking at your stuff! I wonder if the Hobbit movie has rekindled interest in these rules?

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    1. Thanks Monty! I think the new Hobbit movie has rekindled some interest in the game. Up to about 6 months ago we had one of the largest active LotR player communities here in the Denver area... that slowly eroded, but with the new movie (and rules) there seems to be some movement back to the game (I am playing tomorrow night.)
      The local GW shop is also running a little "escalation" league for The Hobbit and they have had 20 or 30 brand new players sign up...

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    2. 20-30 new players. Holy cow! That's about 1/3 of some of our smallish local Cons! That will be a blast!

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  5. A very good paint-job !
    You're right about the GW's figures: they can great ones, even if I'm not a wargamer, I like to paint the "better" ones (in my point of view).
    If I want paint expensive but original figures, I have a good choice in the whole MITHRIL range.
    That's what I do!

    Nevertheless, it's a good fig and your painting adds it a great value!

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    1. Thanks Sam. Those Mithril figures are great! Welcome and thanks for following the blog.

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  6. Wonderfull painted figure!

    Greetings
    Peter
    http://www.peterscave.blogspot.be/

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