If there are any of you on here. I am making plans to umpire a large Pelannor Fields battle on Memorial Day weekend, 2015 at Kublacon.

I'm looking for 6-8 players. At least six to captain 3 hosts on each side:
Mordor-Morgul Vale / Easterlings / Southrons

Minas Tirith / Fiefdoms + Grey Company / Rohan

Ideally I'd like to have one additional, and fairly WotR "first captain" on each team who is fairly experienced and who can run the Lord of the Nazgul and Gandalf the White, respectively while respectively browbeating or helping the other three.

I am working on getting my models painted and playtesting balance of the hosts as well as the overall scenario, which I envision will be a staggered meeting engagement, with the initial engagement between Mordor and the Minas Tirith garrison for a couple turns, followed by the other hosts crashing in in subsequent turns.

The intention is to design and umpire an EPIC LotR table top for a few gamers who love LotR.

Having just in the past month re-entered the LotR SBG modeling and (hopefully) gaming hobby after a hiatus of many years, I LOVE this idea.

I really want to get back into the game and such, so let me know if you need help playtesting, etc. The last time I played, though, was around the RotK release, so I have a lot on which to catch up for the rules (basically re-learning the whole game, having never actually played the WotR rules).

In terms of armies, I can front Minas Tirith. I would also be interested (though the army is currently non-existent) in fronting or loaning Fiefdoms. Suggestions for about how many troops are needed per army, if doing some of this scale?

These are just one guy's thoughts but here's my thinking and based largely on what I have with a few odds and ends that wouldn't be too costly to plug - with one big exception.

I haven't costed out the the formations with command and heroes but here's a rough sketch:

Minas Tirith (center)
- 24 infantry companies in 7 formations
- 12 cavalry companies in 2 formations
- Gandalf, Imrahil and, maybe, Faramir (he returned from the Rammas unharmed)

Mordor/Morgul Vale (center)
- 27 infantry companies in 7 formations
- 5 companies of cavalry in 1 formation (Morgul knights) no wargs at the Pelannor!
- 3-4 trolls
- Gothmog and Lord of the Nazgul on Fellbeast

Second Wave

Rohan
- 42 companies in 7 formations - Riders, Royal Guard, Sons of Eorl, Redshields, Outriders
- Theoden, Eomer, Eowyn, Merry, Gamling, Erkenbrand

Southrons
- 22 companies in 6 formations - Haradrim, Far Harad, Half Trolls, Corsairs
- 16 companies of cavalry in 3 companies - Haradrim and Mahud Camels
- 2 Mumakil
- Suladan and Nazgul

(to be continued...)

24 companies?! (of WoMT)
So that is around 192 actual troops, give or take?

Yes. A LOT of little mans.

A breakdown would look like this, though...

2 formations of 4 companies each of WoMT
1 formation of 4 companies of Osgiliath Veterans (WoMT with archers in the back row of each company)
1 formation of Men at Arms of Dol Amroth
1 formation of 3 companies WoMT archer
1 formation of 3 companies of Citadel Guards (backfield reserve)
1 formation of 2 companies of Guards of Fountain Court (proxy for Wardens of the Keys) final reserve in the gate of MT

The only unit I don't currently have at full strength are the Citadel Guards.

Of the above 60% are painted. So, work there too...

That is an impressive lot of minis.

Had a thought...pity that they are not the right size, because alternate/less expensive alternatives for Clansmen of Lamedon would be Warhammer Bretonnians. Ebay has a couple large sets of Bretonnian foot and archer infantry.

I acquired most of them quite favorably after WotR fizzled and before the Hobbit movies when many had lost interest. I traded off a bunch of WFB and other hobby detritus to get what I wanted.

Actually, I'm using proxies for most of my Fiefdoms (excepting Dol Amroth)
- eBob's "Rebellion" highlanders for Clansmen visually appropriate even though they dont all have 2HW.
- eBob's Welsh archers for Blackroot Vale
- Claymore Castings English billmen - they're actually more like volge or a halberd
They're all much more reasonably priced than even the plastic rangers (as Blackroot Vale archers) from GW.

How does it work/look in terms of the scale? I was taking a look at the eBob and Claymore Castings, and it seems like those are all 28mm.

Scale was something that was important to me in finding proxies. On very close examination, eBob are less robust but the height is right on. Claymore is right there in both height and bulk.

Excellent!

So, in terms of the overall battle, in what areas are you lacking troops?

What am I lacking?

Mordor:
- Finish converting 3co's of Black Guard of Barad Dur (modified Isenguard Uruk Hai with new weapons, shields and cloaks)
- 2 catapults (if I incorporate an artillery duel with a front gate structure for Minas Tirith)
- Maybe an additional troll drummer

Easterlings:
- 2 Khand chariots

Southrons:
- Maybe another box of Haradrim infantry
- Maybe another formation of Haradrim raiders
- One formation of 3co's from Far Harad (Mahud) maybe using Zulu's proxies

Minas Tirith:
- 2 trebuchets (again, optional)
- Maybe 16 Citadel Guards if I can get them in trade or at a reasonable price on eBay
- Some command groups (buy or convert)
- Castle walls and gatehouse (buy or convert)

Fiefdoms:
- Axemen of Lossanarch 3co's. (Claymore castings)

Rohan:
Maybe one more box of riders. I have to tote up the points I have.

White Tower, are you still planning on this happening? Any other interest?

In addition to this epic battle, any interest in a pickup game at KublaCon?