A Load of Old Toby - Musing on Miniatures, and Middle-earth.

The Shadow Lengthens

From Dol Guldur to Minas Morgul: Mobilising the Host of Mordor

Minas Morgul Full Legion

The Grand Host Assembles

Welcome back to A Load of Old Toby! Over the last three posts, we’ve looked at individual units, paint schemes and methods, the organisation of the Host, and now the result from cutting of the growing pile of plastic, resin, or lead that was on my workbench. But a dark lord doesn’t conquer Middle-earth one warband at a time, he unleashes a tide. Today, I am incredibly excited to showcase the entire hosts layout, fully assembled and organised for war.

Gorgoroth Legion

With the iconic clash at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields serving as the thematic anchor for this project, I wanted my forces to feel less like a uniform monolith and more like the vast, terrifying coalition of evil described by Tolkien. To achieve this, I just threw paint at everything to be honest. However because I love order in chaos I’ve broken the entire collection down into four distinct legions, or hordes, each representing a key theatre or stronghold answering the summons of the Dark Tower.

The Four Legions of the Eye

Dol Guldur Horde

The Horde of Dol Guldur
- The Vibe: Light screening units venturing south or just scooped up by other commanders. Horde or large Tide in size.
- Components: 2 Warg Rider, and 2 Archer Warbands led by an Azog type Orc. I leaned towards an eerie feel so they have purple rags along with a fortress emblem. They represent the lingering, festering malice of the Necromancer's old haunt scouting south and across the fords.
The Legion of Mordor - Gorgoroth
- The Vibe: Industrial, brutal, and ash-choked core of the host.
- Aesthetics: Lead by a few non descriptive Orcs Commanders and One Wraith on horse. This is the iron core of the army, 3 Wrag, 6 Archers, 6 Light Infantry, 3 Heavy Infantry Warbands. Organised into three Hordes. Dark iron armour, black banners and Red rags with shields bearing the Lidless Eye. These are the main-line Orcs bred purely for total war.
The Garrison Horde of Cirith Ungor
- The Vibe: Scavengers, watchmen, and cobweb-laced subterranean fighters.
- Aesthetics: Lead by a white Wizard. To capture the feel of the pass guarded by Shelob, this Horde features 1 Warband of Spiders, supported by 2 Light Infantry and 3 Heavy. Blue ragged uniform scraps, stony mountain bases and a general feel of creepiness.
The Terror Legion of Minas Morgul
- The Vibe: Eerie, dread-inducing heavy Artillery and Assault Infantry.
- Aesthetics: Led by the Witch-king as overall General, and his Lieutenant Gothmog. This contingent features, 4 Warbands of Artillery, 3 Light Infantry, 1 Heavy, 2 Assault Hobgoblins, 2 Warbands of Troll, and one base to represent Grond. Pale ghostly greenish rags. They look exactly like a host marching out of the city of sorcery to break the gates of Minas Tirith.

Cirith Ungol Horde

The Design Choice: Basing for Two Systems

Beyond painting four distinct themes, which is just the change of rags colour, the biggest challenge of this project was practical: How do I play multiple wargaming systems without re-basing hundreds of miniatures? My solution came down to a modular design choice balancing 10mm/12mm Warmaster scale logic or a stylised small-base mass look, with larger-scale rank-and-file blocks for such as Midgard.

Three Warmaster bases 'Swarms' to one large 'Warband' base
Here is how the system works:
Three Small Bases (The Warmaster Element): I base my miniatures across three small, distinct bases. When arrayed side-by-side or in column, they function perfectly as a standard unit for Warmaster or other small-scale mass-battle systems, keeping the tactical flexibility and specific frontage intact, 3 x 40x20mm bases.
One Large Base (The Midgard Unit): To switch to a system like Midgard or other fantasy mass rules, I don’t pull the models off their stands. Instead, I doubled up the base size to 80x40mm and painted one for every three above. Therefore the three small bases are designed almost as tokens to remove or casualty markers.

Artillery Warbands and Swarms

By unifying the texture, tufts, and gravel across both the small unit bases and the larger master base, the entire unit looks like a singular, coherent horde once fielded together as can be seen in most of these pictures. This gives the models a heavier, more imposing footprint on the tabletop, perfect for the sweeping, narrative battles Midgard excels at.

Massed ranks of Hobgoblins and Trolls

The overall feel is one of sheer scale and volume of the mass Host at the gates of the city.

Shelob and three 'Swarms'

Closing Thoughts
I have a fair few random spares painted up, mainly of the Wargames Atlantic Orcs. I like the Copplestone Spears/Pikes so much that I might do another unit, plus I am eyeing their bat swarms…. I also hear tall tails of Goblins and Trolls in the Classic Fantasy Battle range, so there may well be another arm to this host yet!
Grond and Pikes lead by Wraith
However seeing the entire host arrayed as it is together makes all the hours hunched over the painting desk completely worth it. Whether they are marching under the walls of Minas Tirith in Warmaster or fighting an epic narrative campaign in Midgard, these Legions are ready to bring fire and shadow to the tabletop.
The Witch King of Angmar - General, and Lieutenant Gothmog
What do you think of the modular basing approach? Which of the four regional themes is your favorite? Let me know in the comments below!
Evil Wizard
Until next time, keep your pipes lit and your brushes wet.