Middle-earth: Shelob and the Betrayer

Only three models finished this time around. Reinforcements for my Mordor army: Shelob and another named, the Betrayer.

Pict 950: Shelob

Pict 951: Shelob

Pict 952: Shelob

Shelob is such a lovely model! She looks great rearing up and ready to strike. When I painted the underbelly I pretty much went over everything I had done the last time I showed her as a WIP, but I'm pretty happy with the blend from black over grey to Rakarth Flesh. For the markings on the abdomen I decided to try stipping. The red dots may be to big to count as such but I'm very happy with the grey highlights and transition to the underbelly.

Pict 953: The Betrayer

Pict 954: The Betrayer

And here is another Ringwratih; he's named The Betrayer by GW and fits with the look of the Haradrim. I decided, however, to paint him in line with the other Nazgûl and keep to black robes and simple steel armour. I really like the horse mid stride and with the flowing saddle cloth.

Pict 955: Valten, Chosen of Sigmar (WIP)

I also started to paint a one-off figure: Valten, Chosen of Sigmar, who is clearly Warhammer's He-Man! I question his choice to stand on a beastman's head like this. I'd probably trip on the horn with the next step...

Mordor Uruk Hai of Cirith Ungol

This week I did some more work for the Cirith Ungol Legendary Legion I had in mind with Quest of the Ringbearer. Mainly I converted and painted some Modor Uruk-Hai, but I also had the time to get to a few more Orc models.

Pict 937: Mordor and Cirith Ungol

Pict 938: Shagrat

Pict 939 - Shagrat

Of course you need Shagrat to lead any Cirith Ungol force. The older model with the mithril coat wears armour surprisingly similar to the Isengard Uruk-Hai but I wanted to change up the colours to dfferentiate the armies. The model with the Shield of Cirith Ungol is very cool as well and the shield was a welcome template to make some more for my converted Mordor Uruk-Hai.

Pict 940: Mordor Uruk-Hai

Pict 941: Mordor Uruk-Hai

Pict 942: Mordor Uruk-Hai with Shield (Conversion)

Pict 943: Mordor Uruk-Hai with Shield (Conversion)

With 18 assorted Uruk-Hai, this is probably enough for any army I want to run. I painted up one set of six painted up as is, the other I converted with Green Stuff and plasticcard so that they all carry sword and shield.

Pict 944: Mordor Uruk-Hai with Bow (Conversion)

Pict 945: Mordor Uruk-Hai with Bow (Conversion)

The profile also offers the option to take an orc bow and with the Uruk-Hai shoot value being better than an orc's, I wanted six of those as well. So I quickly scuplted some chainmail over the banded mail of Uruk-Hai scouts. Looking at it now, it could be finer, but it works for my taste.

Pict 946: Kardûsh, Gorbag, Grishnák, Snaga, Zagdûsh

Pict 947: Kardûsh, Gorbag, Grishnák, Snaga, Zagdûsh

After so many Uruks, this bunch of Mordor Orc heroes was the next logical step. I got Gorbag out from the box of orcs and any other named Orc heroes I had along side him. They also painted up quite quickly and getting to use some more colourful skintones was fun as well.

Pict 948: Orc Trackers

Pict 949: Orc Trackers

Lastly I also painted up these three Orc Trackers. Even though Frodo and Sam are tracked by an Orc and an Uruk-Hai after escaping Cirith Ungol, the Trackers can not be taken as part of the legendary legion. But I'm sure, the miniatures will see some play in a pure Mordor force at some time in the future. The models themselves look a bit out of place with the rest of the Middle-earth range. But I find them endearing in an old school sort of way nonetheless.

Next up could be Orc Captains and Banners, but I will have to finish Shelob as well!

Rangers of Shadow Deep and Shelob's Lair

These past weeks I painted a bunch of the official Northstar models for Rangers of Shadow Deep - a Skeleton Knight, two robed skeletons as well as eight giant flies. Like many others, who are into the Middle-earth SBG, I was very exited by the release of Quest of the Ringbearer and painted up part of the Shelob's Lair box.

Pict 930: Skeletons of the Dungeon

When I first saw the Skeleton Knight by Northstar, I immedeately fell in love with the sculpt. Seen from the front the miniature has an elegant curve through the flowing robes. The diagonal of the sword follows this movement but gives it a hard and imposing edge.

Pict 931: Skeletons of the Shadow Deep

Pict 932: Skeletons of the Shadow Deep

The robes of the skeletons reminded me of the skeletons in the Capuchine Crypt in Rome and I had to paint them as such. Why catholic monks would have need of ceremonial daggers I don't know, but it simply fit! You can see that the sculpts were done digitally but they are still chunky enough to paint up nicely and have a unique feel to them.

Pict 933: Giant Flies

Pict 934: Giant Flies

These flies are also very cool models but sadly only availiable in one pose. I tought about converting them but when assebling them I was to lazy to do so. To make them somewhat distinguishable I looked at different fly species and painted the eight flies in differing colours. The Giant Fly miniatures are used in one of the Rangers of Shadow Deep campaings, but I will probably also get use out of them in D&D.

Pict 935: Sam and Frodo (Shelob's Lair)

With the new ME SBG book, my butterfly syndrome demanded that I start a new army. Quest of the Ringbearer has new rules for a Legendary Legion of Cirith Ungol with animosity between the Uruks and Orcs as well as the option to take Shelob. Obviously I had to go for that and painted up the Hobbits from the Shelob's Lair box and thus nothing to be used in this army... Sam and especially Frodo, however, painted up very fast.

Pict 936: Shelob (WIP)

I also started to wok on Shelob. I allowed myself a bit more time and looked through pictures of Shelob on the internet as well as the concept art for the film to do justice to this amazing Trish Carden scuplt. For now I simply established the base colours on the body and plan on blending them together to get a nice gradient from the belly to the back of the beast.