Play Along Toys AOME LOTR - Weapons and Warriors #48200 Uruk-hai Siege Ballista - Pt 4 (Final) Ballista

Finally, the Pièce de résistance, the ballista. I've got a lot of toys and this is absolutely one of the coolest. It is accurate enough in its portrayal of a real ballista that it could be used just as well in a Medieval battle scenario as well as a LOTR attack scene.

As I said in an earlier post, this thing had been banging around out in The Cave for many years and along the way, one of the wheels broke off. The repair was simple enough: take a short piece of safety wire, drill a hole in the axle and in the wheel, insert wire, and attach wheel. That said, I have yet to glue the wheel to the axle and I may not want to - by allowing the wheel to be removeable, this thing could be placed in a scenario where it got damaged. There is one really odd design feature though. Look at the wheels. They're not round, they're scalloped! This must have been a bear to transport!!! If I were to draft this into any of my Medieval armies, I'm afraid those wheels would have to be rounded off.

The height/angle of fire is adjustable, the release levers turn, and as stated in a previous post, this thing can be made to fire the bolt.. It measures:

-Ballista: 8.5" (21,59cm) L x ~5.25" (13,33cm) H

-Carriage: 3.5" (8,89cm) W 

-Bow: 6.25" (15,87cm) W

-The bolt = 7.625" (19,36cm) L

A bit of safety wire inserted into a hole drilled in the axle. The wheel has a hole drilled into it allowing placement over the nub of wire

Lido Pontoon Bridge - Olive Green SP

Another series of old photos waiting to be posted. Like many toys out in The Cave, this was bought years ago and a few snaps taken for a post I never got around to making. It's a nifty pontoon bridge made by Lido and is great for anything up to Tim-Mee / Processed Plastic sized vehicles. The modular construction means that if you buy enough of these you could make one long bridge - although by Little Green Army Man standards, this is pretty decent length bridge. It measures 24" (60,96cm) L x 7.25" (18,41cm) W (end-of-pontoon to end-of-pontoon) x 1.625" (4,12cm) H. Useable roadway is 3" (7,62cm) W. The holes on the top of the bridge are meant to accept guard railings which are, unfortunately, missing from my example.

Ed

Tim-Mee / Processed Plastic vehicles - fit okay

MPC - too big!

Play Along Toys AOME LOTR - Weapons and Warriors #48200 Uruk-hai Siege Ballista - Pt 3 Uruk-hai Pose 2

The second of two Uruk-hai figures included in Play Along's Siege Ballista, this guy is apparently meant to be firing the projectile, although he could be used to adjust the thing as well. I couldn't lower his left arm enough for him to properly engage some of the gear on the machine - either his arm isn't designed to lower or it's just stuck really bad. I didn't want to risk breaking him while photographing the set - which has already happened to me a couple of times with other toys the past few weeks!! 😠😞

Ed

Sometimes Junk Happens - 45mm Infantry Pose 3

Unlike the other two poises, which were gray, this one is in olive green. At first I thought he was Marx, but now...

...I just don't know. It are what it is.

That said, overall he's not too bad, only the rifle/MG(?) has a clunky look to it.

Ed

Pose 3

Play Along Toys AOME LOTR - Weapons and Warriors #48200 Uruk-hai Siege Ballista - Pt 2 Uruk-hai Pose 1

I do like these Uruk-hai figures - they are totally cool. Here we have the squad leader of Team Ballista directing the fire. There probably would have been more soldiers as part of the squad as they were needed to load the bolts, maneuver the contraption around to its firing position, adjust it for firing, wind back the rope, and finally firing the projectile. My guess is that a ballista squad would have at least five members. However, Play Along Toys only included two Uruk-hai which were already included in other figure sets. Being the tallest form of Orc, these are 70mm in size this one includes gear: a sword and shield.

Ed