

MS455 - Mithril Gold Status Vignette figures
'Beorn Battles Bolg' (primed).
Mithril has made a batch of only
225 of these miniatures available to members.
Brief History:
The Battle
of Five Armies was waged between the Goblins
and the Wargs against Men, Elves,
and Dwarves on and near the Lonely Mountain, after
Bard the Bowman killed the dragon Smaug.
The hobbit Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf,
Beorn, huge bats out of Mirkwood, and the great Eagles
also took part but are not included in the count of five armies.
Prior to the battle, the Men of the Lake
and the Wood-elves had laid siege to the
Dwarves in the Lonely Mountain, when the 13 Dwarves in Erebor
under Thorin II Oakenshield refused to share
any of the treasure they had recaptured from Smaug.
Thorin's
company was then trapped in a bloodless siege, with Thranduil
and Bard hoping to wait him out. However,
Thorin had sent messages of his plight to his relatives using
talking messenger Ravens that lived on the Lonely Mountain.
These reached Dain II Ironfoot of the nearby
Iron Hills, and he marched to Erebor with 500 heavily armed
Dwarves, most skilled veterans of the War of the Dwarves and
Orcs. When Dain's forces arrived, battle was almost joined
between the two sides (now three armies were on the field)
but at the last moment Gandalf intervened between the two
and revealed that while they were bickering amongst themselves,
the Orcs of the Misty Mountains and Grey Mountains under Bolg
were using the opportunity to march against them.
Soon
the Orcs and Wargs arrived (and now five armies were on the
field), and they were lured into the choke point by a thin
line of men of the Lake Town and took heavy loses. However,
due to their superior numbers, the allied Free Folk did not
hold the advantage long. The second wave was even worse than
the first, and now many Orcs scaled the mountain from the
opposite side, and began to attack the arrayed forces from
above and behind, as the main wave pressed forward.
As
the battle was turning fully against the Free Folk, a large
force of Giant Eagles of the Misty Mountains arrived, led
by the Lord of the Eagles. Bilbo was the first to spot their
entrance on the scene and began shouting that "the Eagles
are coming!", a shout that was then continued among the
other troops of the Free Folk. At this point Bilbo was knocked
in the head by a large stone thrown by an Orc from above on
the Mountain, and he passed out. With the support of the Giant
Eagles, the battle turned back against the Orcs. Then Beorn
himself arrived at the battle, apparently having heard news
that a large army of Orcs was on the move. This time he did
not appear in his former shape of a giant Man, but had changed
his skin to that of a gigantic Bear. Beorn drove through the
Orc lines, but paused to carry the wounded Thorin out of the
battle with his paw. Beorn then returned to the battle
with even greater wrath and smashed the ranks of the Bodyguard
of Bolg, ultimately killing Bolg himself. The Orcs
eventually panicked and scattered, to be picked off by hunting
forces from the victors later.
Dimensions:
Base measures 58 X 58mm and it is about 45mm from bottom of
base to Beorn's raised claw.
This Vignette is blister packed
and primed in Mithril's special undercoat. It is in 9 pieces
and so does require some assembly.

Mithril Vignette painted
by A. Ziarkowski (above)

Mithril Vignette painted
by Herbert Lukaszewski

Mithril Vignette painted
by Herbert Lukaszewski
Send in photos of your
painted examples of this miniature and we will show them in
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