500 Under 50: Ents! (April Fool's article)

It's been a while since I wrote one of these, and with the fantaSTICK new Treebeard model having just been released I figured why not release a new 500 under 50 dedicated to Fangorn Forest?

Of course, the new Treebeard model will set you back £45 from Games Workshop directly, so as we normally do, we're going to suggest a much cheaper way to start the army.

We're going to tell you how you can get yourself a 500 point Fangorn list, with 3 Ents, Merry and Pippin for under £50! I kid you not.

First off we have the list:

Treebeard with Merry and Pippin
Quickbeam
Beachbone

A pretty simple list for sure, but one that will certainly pack a punch. 3 big trees all with Might points, you'll certainly be no slouch in combat!

Okay, so how are we going to put this list together? How are we going to get all of our three of our Ents for under £50? Normally, we'd tell you to go to your local game store, support your club and buy them from them with the usual 10-15% discount you normally find in those store, but today we're going to suggest you venture somewhere that may be unfamiliar to us gaming folk. The great outdoors!

Simply take a short walk to your local park and look for any twigs and sticks that have fallen from trees, careful not to break any off the trees that are still alive, else feel the wrath of the mighty Ents yourself.

Once you've collected up enough sticks, about 5 per Ent, make sure to grab a handful or two of grass and leaves too, they'll come in very handy later! Make sure you make a small offering to nature too, and simply throw some crisp five pound notes to the wind, letting nature take them as a thank you for providing you with such a bounty of building materials.

When you get back home, make sure not to dry the sticks out in the oven or anything like that, a lot of websites and guides will tell you to do this to avoid letting the sticks get mouldy and rotten over time, but if anything, this will add to the sheer realism of your army and details will effortlessly add themselves to your model over time, at no extra effort to you! 

Of course, you're going to need a few essentials, some glue and some blue tac will go a long way to aide in the construction of these mighty tree herders. You're also going to need a base, Ents come on 60mm round bases, and these aren't to expensive online, but if you really wanted to set these models in stone as being a legal Games Workshop model, you'll need a Games Workshop box, like the afore mentioned Treebeard. Simply cut up the box of the new Treebeard model into 3 bases and throw the weird plastic frames away that come inside it... You wont be needing those anymore!

When you have your bases it's time to start constructing the Ents.

For all of them we're going to stick to of the shorter sticks onto a small ball of blue tack to form their legs. Add a long stick to the top of the blue tac to for the torso, then simply stick the other sticks to either side of their torso to form thearms. Depending on how many sticks you collected, you may want to add joints into some arms to give them more realistic posing. This is entirely optional however.

This is the basic construction of all 3 Ents, there are just some details we need to do to really sell them as being each of the characters.

Treebeard, known for his impressive facial hair is easy. We're going to add a big dollop of PVA to his face, then stick a big handful of the grass to it. This gives Treebeard his mighty beard! Our list included Merry and Pippin to, you'll need to source these models yourself, eBay is full of them. You don't need any special models or anything, just a ball of blue tac under their bases and stick them to his shoulders. Easy!

Quickbeam, the fastest of all Ents will require a bit more modelling prowess. You'll need to make a pair of trainers from blue tac and stick these to the base of his legs... You can't run fast without running shoes! A classic Nike style tick will really sell these as “run faster shoes”, so your opponents will be able to recognise him instantly!

Beachbone needs to live up to his name however so slap on some of that good PVA and give him the trip to the beach that he's always wanted. (Are we sure we've got his name right here? Just want to double check so we're not called out on this - Slob)

Once your models have dried and are all glued together, stick them to their bases, plenty of glue should help here, but if you're having trouble a small ball of blue tac or green stuff will help.

When you have the models stuck to their bases, use the rest of the grass you collected to cover each base for a really natural realistic forest look. Feel free to raid your spice rack too, dried herbs and spices make for excellent basing materials! We've used a little Paprika (smoked, of couse!) to give the impression of flowers on Treebeards base... As well as a delicious smell!

Don't forget to paint the rims of your bases too, we've opted for black for that classy, Golden Demon winners look.

And with that your models are done..... Wait a minute... they look pretty dead and lifeless, not a problem at all! We're going to add some googly eyes! Why spend ages trying to perfect painting eyes? Simply glue two eyes to each model. Perfection!

And with that, your 500 points of Fangorn is complete! Be sure to let them models age to really get that natural look to them before you get them on the table!