I wasn't sure the forum this topic would best fall into, but this one seemed the logical bet. If it's wrong, could a mod please move it where it should be.

Rightyho, basically, I've been meaning to grab hold of some Dunlendings for years and never got around to it. Partially because of the cost of buying units that only came out in metal, partially because one of the two sculpts for hand weapon and shield is decidedly naff (the overhead arm stretched pose, very stiff looking) and partially because the armour and appearance of the sculpts always looked a bit, shall we say, off.

In the books, the Dunlendings were described as being much the same as the Rohirrim (there is even mention of Dunlending cavalry at the Fords of Isen) though with dark hair (they called the Rohrirrim 'straw-heads') with poorer cloth, as they were living in the hill country and had poorer quality flocks.

I always felt they were more like Anglo-Saxon Geburs or Ceorls compared to the Rohirrim as more Anglo-Danish or Anglo-Saxon Hearthguard or Huscarls. Certainly, none of this really gives me the impression Tolkien envisioned them as fur wearing demi-fantasy-vikings.

I've seen a couple of Riders of Rohan conversions around the net for Dunlending warriors, and was wondering;

If I stuck to using hand weapon and shield and bow armed miniatures only (Dunlendings have no options for spears or throwing weapons in the Fallen Realms sourcebook) would they be 'tournament legal' for LotR SBG? I'm planning to try and attend some of the new Hobbit League meets next year once the new season gets underway, with a suitably thematic force rather than power-gamey list, and Dunlendings along with my Uruk-Hai is definitely a large part of getting the theme feeling right.

Painted in reds, browns and tin, they should definately be easy to tell apart from the Rohirrim Greens, browns and silvers.

Does anyone know the current GW stance on proxying miniatures if they are from the GW line? I know that you can't use other manufacturers miniatures, but I'm figuring that their own should be kosher.

Thanks.

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Essex, UK based SBG/WOTR player!

My SBG WIP thread.

For GW tournaments it is no proxies. Conversions yes, proxies no.
For indie tournaments it is up to the TO. In most cases it is best to ask before hand.

On a personal note, I wouldn't be too impressed. Changing the paint scheme isn't enough to distinguish them as dunelendings. To me they'd just be red rohan. And to go by your logic, if I just take RoR with axes; can they be sons of eorl?

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12th GBHL 2013.
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Mid Sussex Wargamers

I don't see why not, the Son of Eorl model is another horrific GW miniature.

But if it's a straight no proxy ruling, I'd rather go without than buy their version of the Dunlendings. A pity.

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Essex, UK based SBG/WOTR player!

My SBG WIP thread.

I would just bite the bullet. Its not going to be cheap, and the axemen have been removed from the G.W. website and may take a while to re appear (which I am assuming that they will?). I wanted some recently to bolster my some what (modest force that I have enjoyed using as a colourful stand out contingent, (that usually does bugger all!) in the battle for the fords of Isen Scenario. I would have ordered more, but being presently unavailable stuffed my plans for expanding my contingent for the Battle of Helms Deep which I am working on at the moment.

It is worth noting that the Dunlending Axemen are available on G.W.s U.S. wetbsite! How this is related to their U.K. status I couldn't say. It would be a shame to loose them (though tactically on their own they are frankly appalling!) Also I would really like at least two of the axeman swinging his axe above his head, as you can see above that I am so far without!

I'm afraid not. Maybe in friendly or casual games (though I would urge that you seek your opponents permission before the game, and make it clear exactly what is what), but not in a tournament setting. The rules are very clear on this: No proxies.



That wouldn't be a Dunlending. That would be a Rohirrim painted in reds, browns and tin. Paint scheme does not affect statline.



See above.



Your models are beautiful.... *drools*



True. But equip them all with axes, support with pikes, and special strike.... I'm sure you can see where that leads... ;D

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Soon the Dark Lord Knighty shall have all he needs to cover the lands in an eevee-related darkness...

Good to see you posting again KK

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You don't have to be great to start. But you do have to start to be great.

Ditto UKFB, great to have you backK

Cheers fellas.

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Soon the Dark Lord Knighty shall have all he needs to cover the lands in an eevee-related darkness...

One of the issues is that many people do not paint their models in the 'offcial' colours, so a deviating scheme could just as easily mean a person painted them differently, but didn't intent for them to be used as anything else. The fact that they would be in the same force as Uruk-hai may of course give away their true allegiance, but I can see why many will still not find the different paint scheme an agreeable solution.

There is some resemblance between the two though, and some modification could quite easily make those Rohirrim into Dunlendings in fashion that is more acceptable to many people - not all though, but you can never please everyone. For example, add fur to the cloaks, add some longer beards, give them all axes, remove the shield patterns and add some damage to those, the cloaks and the armour, then paint them differently.

Sadly, a problem remains if you do not in fact like the way they look, as it will be tricky to convert Rohirrim to Dunlendings while not making them look like the usual Dunlendings and still make it clear that they are, in fact, Dunlendings.

I've got the same problem with Arnor: would love to start an army of those (and be able to use them in a competitive environment), but I absolutely dislike the models. That means that not only are the normal figures out of the question, their usual replacements (Warriors of Minas Tirith with some modification to make them look like those normal figures) aren't an option either. Leaves me with either modifying existing models so much that I might as well sculpt from scratch (and any resemblance lost, they will not clearly be Arnorians anyway), or getting replacements elsewhere (which I will, found three nice historical ranges to use), but that will probably never be able to be used in tournaments (I'll try and figure it out, but so far I've only come up with writing their name ('Warrior of Arnor'; 'Ranger of Arnor' etc) on the base rim, or making big signs to place next to or behind them, as to remind the opponent of their actual rules).