Red Arrow of Gondor

Turbine's ability to reskin old cosmetics has been hit or miss the past couple of years. Festival robes. War-steed caparisons. Various crafted items from the Eastfold and Westfold tiers. Sometimes there have been amazing successes, like the Robe of the Five Rivers featured in my previous entry. Sometimes there have been complete and utter failures, like the aforementioned 2013 and 2014 festival robes. Then there have been those that leave you feeling neither impressed nor unimpressed, but somewhere in the middle. Forlong's Ill-fitting Armor, another skin earned from multiple quests in Eastern Gondor, fell into that third category.

Essentially, this chest piece was a reskin of the crafted Eastemnet Battle Armor, which was featured in my 2012 outfit, Return of the Shield-maiden. Certainly, it's a far more vibrant and detailed reimaging of the original. However, when you dye it, most of it dyes that color. That made it difficult to use, considering how much potential this had for outfits. If I had the chance to redesign it, I would have made the sleeves and pants an undyeable grey or black. Since that's impossible, I used black and gold (perhaps even chrome or bronze-colored) accented pieces for color balance. The cloak choices, however, were deplorable. Not many fit the criteria. I considered the cloaks bartered for in any of the Eastemnet cities, but they all had an unchangeable strip of green. In the end, even though I used it in my last outfit, I chose the Eastemnet Cloak. Feel free to suggest or use a different cloak!

Despite my mixed feelings for this outfit, I had to step back and realize that Material Middle-earth is a blog for outfit ideas. I decided to post this, hoping that someone could take it and craft it into their own battle-ready attire. I've had a mix of successes and failures in the past. Then there have been mediocre creations like these, which seems to be a theme in this post, that can fall into either category.

And as always, cosmetic weapons have been optional in these outfits!

Shoulders: Eastemnet Battle Pauldrons (Black, T8 Metalsmith Recipe)
Back: Eastemnet Cloak (Black, T8 Tailor Recipe)
Chest: Forlong's Ill-fitting Armor (Crimson, Eastern Gondor quest reward)**
Hands: Steel Gauntlets of the Norcrofts (Black, Eastemnet Armor Quatermaster token vendor)
Feet: Eastemnet Battle Boots (Black, T8 Metalsmith Recipe)

Main-hand weapon: Veteran Master Guardsman's Blade of the Adlan (Medium Armor skirm camp vendor)
Ranged: Yew Javelin (T3 Woodworker recipe)
Shield: Esquire's Warden Shield of Naillan (Medium Armor skirm camp vendor)

**Multiple Eastern Gondor quests reward this skin.