Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin (and a Bloodhawk)

This week saw the completion of the four Hobbits Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin. I also painted one more miniature from the Diablo II line.

Pict 467: Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin

Pict 468: Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin

The Halflings were a quick paint since the colors were already decided upon and I only had to do the highlights. As ever the faces proved to be difficult and the impending end of my usual detail brush's  life, didn't help that either. I like them a litte more colourful than my usual Hobbits esspecially Pippin since he's from a rich family and sould be able to afford the red dye for his cloak. Having one colour for each also makes it easier to distinguish them during play.

Pict 469: Bloodhawk (Diablo II)

Pict 470: Bloodhawk (Diablo II)

I also went ahead and painted this Bloodhawk. He's a neat little miniature with his devil-face instead of a bird's beak and I'm pretty happy whith the reds on his wings. Other than that I didn't have to much time, so that other projects that came along are not even ready for WIP pictures.

More D&D Monsters and Adventurous Hobbits

Riding the wave of D&D miniatures, I finished some more monsters for my menagerie: one Diablo II Goat Demon and two Displacer Beasts by WizKids. I also got started on the four Hobbits in Balin's tomb.

Pict 461: D&D Monsters

Pict 462: Goat Demon

Pict 463: Goat Demon

Pict 464: Goat Demon

I wanted this Goat Demon to be different from the Beastmen I have and thus opted for black fur. I'm rather happy with the contrast between these dark areas and the lighter skin. The demon is part of the same set of Diablo II monsters as the skeleton I painted in march. The complete set consists of only four more, so maybe I'll try and complete it within the next few weeks?

Pict 465: Displacer Beast

These two were rather quick to paint since the main area is simply black, highlighted with a very dark blue-gray. The casts themselves are ok, but you could improve them by smoothing out the seams where different parst meet - and you do have to clean up quite a few moldlines. But they are alright as gaming pieces and with the paint and bases, they are ready for some action.

Pict 466: Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin (WIP)

Lastly I made a start on the Hobbits from the original fellowship for the Balin's tomb display. I have put down the main colours and washes and after they have dried, I hope to get some highlights and details on them today as well.

More Gnolls and Revisiting my New Year's Resolutions

This week's progress consists of two more Gnoll Warriors. I started them when I did the one last week, but then they were not far enough along to warrant a picture. I kept the coulors pretty much the same as before but these miniatures by WizKids do stand out since they are bigger.

Pict 454: Gnoll Warriors

Besides that: With this week, half of the year is over I wanted to take the opportunity to check in on my New Year's resolutions. I know that I didn't get to all and I hope this post will maybe help me to priotise them. At the start of the year I wanted to get to a few of last year's projets: the Tyranids, the Iron Hills Dwarves and the Hunter Orcs.

Pict 455: Tyranids

Pict 456: Iron Hills Dwarves

Pict 457: Hunter Orcs (WIP)

I'll count the Tyranids and the Iron Hills as sucesses, but I'll still have to finish twentyfour Hunter Orcs on foot and five mounted on Fell Wargs. I also still have a whole bunch of Termagants in a box and I'd be happy to get to them in the second part of the year but I don't see them as a necessity.

Pict 458: White Council in Dol Goldur

Pict 459: The Fellowship in Balin's Tomb (WIP)

The dioramas however will have to be finished. The White Council in Dol Guldur was completed at the end of May but Balin's Tomb still looks way to pale. At least I finished Aragorn; but Boromir, Gimli, the Hobbits and the base itself are still left to do.

Pict 460: Hobbit Archers

Lastly I spoke of plans to put together a Battle Company of Hobbits. I'm not sure if I still want to do those now that I completed the Arnor company. I think an evil force might be more interesting... But I guess my fancy will take me to new and different projects anyway.

Something's breaking through the Trees!

I had this particular Dragon standing on the back of my desk for some years now and with the Carmine Dragon screaming to be painted, I decided I really should finish the green one first.

Pict 445: Breaking through the Trees

Pict 446: Forest Dragon

Pict 447: Forest Dragon

Pict 448: Forest Dragon

Pict 449: Forest Dragon (Head)

It wasn't that much work to get him finished, but I never got around to it. Since he's got very large flat areas he was one of the first miniatures I tried my hand at wet-blending. The result wasn't the greatest which discouraged me at the time. Now, more than four years later, I only had to higlight the greens and get to the details like the horns and teeth.I'm pretty happy with the result as it stands but of course the blends could be better in some places. Thankfully the Carmine Dragon has more sculpted detail so that the big surfaces are broken up and will be easier to paint.
The miniature will most likely see play as an Adult Green Dragon in D&D, but if I'm ever able to play a Storm of Magic game I'll be happy to field him. Originally I had planned to do a conversion of Naestra and Arahan to ride the beast but right now I like the classic model for them better.

Pict 450: Gnoll Warrior

Pict 451: Gnoll Warrior

Pict 452: Gnoll Warrior

Pict 453: Gnoll Warrior

The second figure I painted this week is this Gnoll Warrior. He's the last piece of my Illithid Raiding Party set. The cast is quite detailed but in some spaces I had to resculpt parts after the fragile pieces had come loose when washing the moldrelease of. I used the picture in the 5th edition Monster Manual as a guideline - it's virtually the same Gnoll - and I liked how they introduced the red cloth as a splash of colour. I then added some verdigris to the bronze in order to contrast the red.

Grimhammers and a Dragon

Whelp... Sometimes (read: pretty much always) getting back into the swingg of things for me equals getting distraced by new and exciting projects. On the downside, I didn't get that much painting done on the Nazgûl but on the upside I now have a painted Grimhammer Captain. Other than that I also did some building and finished filling in the gaps of my Carmine Dagon and built her a base.

Pict 440: Grimhammers vs. Gundabad

Pict 441: Grimhammer Captain

Pict 442: Grimhammer Captain

Pict 443: Grimhammer Captain

I'm pretty happy with this Captain - I highlighted the scales of his skirt individually and that shows in contrast to the drybrushed warriors. The tattoo on his head is a little crooked but I like it as a first attempt. I don't think he'll see that much playtime since the profile is not that strong and it has to compete with Young Balin and Young Dwalin - both better and more characterful options. But I might need him for scenarioplay and simply for completion's sake.

Pict 444: Carmine Dragon + Base (WIP)

And to show a bit of my building progress here is a picture of the Carmine Dragon. I went with a selfconstucted base of 100 x 100 mm. The figure itself has a sculped basepiece that is just a bit to big for the screaming bell base and I didn't want to cut anything of. I'm really looking forward to getting some paint on this dragon but I might have to finish some other projects on my table first to make some space.

Hunter Orcs and Ghosty

This week I got a little time to get to some of the Hunter Orcs from last week. Other than that, I got started a Twilight Ringwraith to play as a Nazgûl of Dol Guldur.

Pict 438: Hunter Orcs

These Orcs are finished for now - the first twelve of thirty-six. I pretty happy with some of the war paint but I'm starting to run thin on ideas for new ones. Maybe I'll have to repeat designs in a different colour. Could be a way to tie the red of the banner back in. But I fear that it could be to flashy.

Pict 439: Twilight Ringwraith (WIP)

I had the Twilight Ringwraiths for some time now but painting them was always a bit daunting. I'm not quite sure about the colour choice. I'll see how it looks once I put down some washes.

Getting back on the horse

I had a bit of a dry spell of painting since I had pretty little time to hobby. I missed last weeks posting because I hadn't done any painting nor modelling that week. But this week I tried to get back onto the hobby horse and started by finishing my conversion of Narzug mounted on a Fell Warg.

Pict 434: Narzug

Pict 435: Narzug (mounted)

Pict 436: Narzug (mounted)

I converted this Orc hero last year to be a part of an evil all-hero army but I didn't finish the painting before the tournament I built the list for. And as it so often is, after the event I just didn't get to him because I got distracted by new and shiny projects. Thus it feels even better to having finished Narzug.

Pict 437: Hunter Orcs (WIP)

After getting to Narzug, I got a taste for Hunter Orcs. I have some thirty Orcs lying about that up until now had a similar fate to Narzug. I'm not taking on all of them at once but have limited myself to a first batch of twelve. Right now I have painted in the eyes and I have started on the highlighting. I'll try and give them all differing warpaint - let's see how that goes...