Picking up a few Projects

This week I picked up a few projects I started this year and that still stood on my table. I finished the mounted Hunter Orcs, Alfrid and the Morannon Orc Captain and started to work on the Rangers of the North I primed this month.

Pict 548: Mounted Hunter Orcs

Pict 549: Mounted Hunter Orcs

I finally managed to paint all my Hunter Orcs. These ones and their mounts were rather quick to paint and I find myself wanting another box of them to round out the army. I'll see if can't find some the first week of the new year in one of the local stores.

Pict 550: Alfrid Lickspittle

Pict 551: Alfrid Lickspittle

Just like the Hunter Orcs, Alfrid was also only missing the highlights and thus was painted during one evening. I'm pretty happy how he turned out - The miniature really lends itself to do different things with all of the textures on the layers of cloth and leather. I'm only unhappy with the face - the eyes make him look sceptical...

Pict 552: Morannon Orc Captain

Pict 553: Morannon Orc Captain

Pict 554: Morannon Orc Captain

This one was a fun little minitature to paint. I really enjoyed doing the shading on the armour and of course the reds of the cloth. The severed head came out ok as well - it's gruesome enough but not to over the top.

Pict 555: Rangers of the North (WIP)

Lastly here's a picture of the next leg of my Rangers. I started doing the base colours and I hope to finish them this year so that I can add them to my tally. In the first post of the new year I'll add up all my painted models, take a look back and make some resolutions for 2019.

State of the Table: Many Metal Models

These last few weeks have been a bit slow paintingwise so that I can't show any finished miniatures. What I did instead was to put together the pieces for a few new projects that I want to tackle in the coming weeks.

Pict 547: New Projects

So as you can see, there is the first leg of my evil men army from Middle Earth: A host of Riders and Charioteers from Khand and a few easterling heroes. Other than that there are addtions to my Arnor, my Rangers of the North and some pieces for Rivendell.
The models are cleaned up and the basing is done. Right now I'm filling the smaller gaps with layers of Liquid Green Stuff and after that I'll get some putty to fill in the bigger ones. I hope to prime the models once the weather changes to a bit warmer and more arid, but sometimes you just have to wait a bit for the winter.

Again with the Orcses, eh Precios?

I did it! I managed to finish the remaining Hunter Orcs that I started in mid 2017 - so that's twelve more models added to the painting tally and a good step towards finishing my pledges from the the beginning of the year.

Pict 545: Hunter Orcs

Pict 546: Hunter Orcs

These Hunter Orcs now had to live in the plastic bag limbo of unfinished miniatures for far to long. To complete them I will only have to get a coat of varnish on these twentyfour of the last weeks. After that it's only the five Orcs riding Wargs to finish the Azog's Hunters I have around. To round out my Azog's Hunters I might get some more Hunter Orcs on Wargs and Wargs on their own but I'm very glad to close the chapter on the foot models!

Even more Orcs and some Converting for 30k

Sadly no progress with Alfrid but I managed to finish the six Hunter Orcs from last week. Other than that I went ahead with the rest of my Hunter Orcs on foot. I also managed to collect all the bits for a conversion I had in mind for some time.

Pict 540: Hunter Orcs

First up are the remaining six Hunter Orcs with the yellowish skin. Pretty much the same as last week - these don't have any aditional weapons, so no bows or quivers. Again, I tried for varied war paint but sooner or later I'll have to repeat the patterns.

Pict 541: Hunter Orcs (WIP)

And here is the rest of the Hunter Orcs on foot. I already did most of the work on the eyes do that the next step is the skin and then on to the highlights on the other surfaces.

Pict 542: Morannon Orc Captain (WIP)

I started this Morannon Orc Captain to get a bit of a break from the Orcs I'm painting right now. The over all darker colours are a bit of a respite. Usually I'm not to keen on miniatures carrying around heads but I'll see what I do with this one since I couldn't bring myself to cut it off.

Pict 543: Horus, Primarch of the Luna Wolves (Conversion)

Pict 544: Horus, Primarch of the Luna Wolves (Conversion)

And lastly here is the big guy himself - Horus, Primarch of the Luna Wolves and still untouched by chaos. I actually stipped the main body for some time now, but I knew I wanted him to use a Combibolter and a sword to show him at an early time of the crusade. The sword really had me thinking which bit to use and now that I bought a set of Legion Praetors pretty much for the swordhand up to the hilt, I finally had all the bits I needed and started to put him together. I might still go a little further on the right vambrace to make it even more similar to the original, but I'm pretty happy with the pose so far.

Hunter Orcs and Alfrid Lickspittle

Last Sunday I sadly didn't have anything to show, but this past week I got back into the swing of things and painted some Hunter Orcs as well as getting started on the coward Alfrid.

Pict 537: Hunter Orcs

Pict 538: Hunter Orcs

Somehow the end of the year is already looming and with that in mind I wanted to get some more work on the Hunter Orcs done since they were on my list of new year's resolutions. I'm happy enough with the highlighting so far - you could go even further but since I'll still have to do another 18 after these six, that's how far I'll go. I'm rater proud of the eyes and the different facepaint.

Pict 539: Alfrid Lickspittle (WIP)

I got this Warhammer World exclusive Alfrid Lickspittle through a competition that the guys over at the SBG fanzine ran - you had to count up all the instances that Alfrid hid himself in a picture in their fifth issue - and apparently I found the sneak most often!
The sculpt is great - so many different textures of cloth and of course so much character! I'm pretty happy with the layout of colours so far and I already started the highlighting. I'll have to do the face from scratch because right now Alfrid looks even creepier than I intend to!

Living Ghosts they were become, Terrible and Evil...

... And after his going they took Minas Ithil and dwelt there, and they filled it, and all the valley about, with decay: it seemed empty and it was not so, for a shapeless fear lived within the ruined walls. Nine Lords there were, and after the return of their Master, which they aided and prepared in secret, they grew strong again.

Faramir - The Two Towers, p. 905-906

Pict 533: The Nazgûl

Pict 534: The Nazgûl

Pict 535: The Witchking

Pict 536: The Witchking

I finished up the Nine this week. After last week, I pretty much 'only' had the highlighting of the black robes to do. The process was quite fun and quick since I could mix up a particular grey on the palette and go through with every miniature in turn before mixing in a bit more white and repeating. Lastly I deepened the shadows around the fingers and around holes and frays in the fabric with a black wash.



Up next I hope to get to some more Infinity miniatures, but there are so many amazing miniatures vying for my attention.

Finishing Barrow-Wights and Restarting Infinity

Five more models added to the tally this week: the Barrow-Wights and a remote for my Haqqislam.

Pict 529: Barrow-Wights

Pict 530: Barrow-Wights

I love putting in the splash of colour with the Hawk Turquois on the tarnished bronze and getting the white robes right was not that bad after all. I'm debating wether I should pick out the eyes in turqois as well - the glow might be nice, but I don't want them to be White Walkers. But for now they are ready to menace some hobbits!

Pict 531: Nasmat Remote (Doctor)

Pict 532: Nasmat Remote (Doctor)

And this cute little robot is the (re-)start of my Haqqislam army for Infinity. My friend over at Out of Curiosity intends to run an escalation league and has persuaded me to join in. Just at the right moment as well - I was thinking of selling them off to make some space! When I first painted them about seven years ago, I went for a colourscheme of earthy colours and reds but I pretty much only worked with a basecoat and a wash. Now that I stripped them all, I wanted to go for something similar but with more definition and this remote is what I came up with.

Quick Update: Nazgûl and Barrow-Wights

This week was another with not to much hobby time but I managed a bit of progress with the Nagûl and the Barrow-Wights.

Pict 528: Nazgûl and Barrow-Wights (WIP)

As you can see at least I got the first layer of black on the Nazgûl and the Barrow-Wights are awaiting their highlights after they have been washed. I also build a few miniatures, but they'll have to get some green stuff, before it's worth showing them of. We'll see what the next week brings...

I also played a few rounds of Battle Companies the saturday with the new rules - it was really fun to try out the Rangers and we are thinking about doing a hex-campaign. I'm looking forward to it and will repport on how it goes.

Théoden and Éomer, Defenders of Rohan

This week, I finished up the Rohan heroes, on foot I had started for that tournament a few weeks back - Théoden and Éomer, both from the Defenders of Rohan box are added to my tally. I then started work on a palette cleanser: black and white ghosties for the Lord of the Rings.

Pict 522: Théoden and Éomer on the Lookout

Pict 523: Théoden, Defender of Rohan

Pict 524: Théoden, Defender of Rohan

Pict 525: Éomer, Defender of Rohan

Pict 526: Éomer, Defender of Rohan

As you can see, the eyes turned out ok. I'm not a hundret percent on the eyebrowns but they will do. I like the more static poses - quite often you are on the lookout for dynamic scuplt and the result is (a bit overdramatised) a dwarf prancing on one foot, hacking at an unseen foe. Don't get me wrong those have a time and place as well. The Defenders of Rohan however manage a resting pose that still is interesting - for exemple the slight contraposto for Éomer and the asymmetrie of sword and helmet in Théodens hands. I might have to do the rest of the box, now that I started it...

Pict 527: Nazgûl and Barrow-Wights (WIP)

I have, however, started with something different first: the nine Nagûl on foot and four Barrow-Wights. I started with the metals (mainly Warplock Bronze and Leadbealcher) since they tend to be a bit messy when you drybrush the highlights and right now the different miniatures look rather similar. With the next step however they will go in opposite directions. The Nazgûl will get their black coats (I'm looking forward to blending in the greys) and the Wights will get the same treatment as the Twilight-Ringwraits did (I'm not looking forward to blending up to white...)

Limited Edition Vax'ildan

This week was another slow one. I pretty much only managed to finish the Vax'ildan miniature I started last week.

Pict 519: Vax'ildan (limited edition)

Pict 520: Vax'ildan (limited edition)

As I saif last week, I really like the scuplt. Painting the face really was a joy - the pronounced cheekbones made the eyes really easy. I also enjoyed putting in colours into the wings and the dark green for the Deathwalkers Ward and the Boots of Haste. The latter also got some silver filigree to denote them as a bit of a different item to the rest of the armour.

Pict 521: Uruk Hai Siege Ladders and Bombs

Since I've got scenery projects on my mind, I also painted a few bit I had laying around that fit. The Uruk Hai siege ladders will probably never really see use in an acutal siege game but they'll add plenty to my Goblintown and my Osgiliath terrain. And since it was such a quick paintjob, I also did the two Uruk bombs.

Building Osgiliath: Progress with the Putty

This week I was furthering my Osgiliath project, but I also got around to swing the paintbrush around a bit. Nothing completed but some progess nonetheless.

Pict 514: Osgiliath Ruins (WIP - Putty)

Pict 515: Osgiliath Ruins (WIP - Putty)

Here is a first look at what I want to achive with the putty on my ruins. I have gone over pretty much all of the seams and the bigger one on the edge of the building had some structure added to completely hide it. I'm not perfectly happy with how the flagstones on the upper floor came out, but I'll try and blend it in. It was my first time using Miliput and I have to say that I really like the rigid feel of it, now that it cured.

Pict 516: Goblintown Plattform (WIP)

I also mashed together the leftovers wooden floors from the Osgiliath ruins. I cut into the flat edges, put the three pieces together and glued on some remaining stilts from the Goblintown set. Once the plattform has been sprayed I will start to paint it and the walkways.

Pict 517: Defenders of Rohan - Théoden and Éomer (WIP)

Here are some miniatures I'm working on at the moment. They were started along with the mounted versions last week, but I didn't even have the time to get the basic colours down. They now had their first layers and the washes done. As you can see the eyes are in that comicly clownlike stage when I haven't cleaned them up around them with the skin colour.

Pict 518: Vax'ildan - Limited Edition (WIP)

And since I'm a butterfly I couldn't just stay with these projects and thus started work on this Vax'ildan by Steamforged Games. Since I backed their Critical Role Kickstarted but since we will have to wait a little longer I also got this limited Vax'ildan. The sculpt and casting are great, I only had to clean up little bits. I followed the scheme they put out on their website - the washes are down and like with Théoden and Éomer only the highlights are waiting to be done.

Arise, arise Riders of Théoden!

Putting the Osgiliath scenery on hold for a week, I painted up some Riders of Rohan as well as Théoden and Éomer in their Pelennor garb.

Pict 504: Rohirrim

Pict 505: Théoden (Pelennor)

Pict 506: Théoden (Pelennor)

Pict 507: Théoden (Pelennor)

Pict 508: Éomer, Knight of the Pelennor

Pict 509: Éomer, Knight of the Pelennor

With the new rules Théoden seems to be a must-take in any Rohan army so that I had to paint this mounted version of the King of Rohan. Since the Éomer, Knight of the Pelennor miniature is rather similar, I painted them in tandem. I really like the two sculpts - the only complaint I have is that Éomer does not have his sword Gúthwinë with the signature curved horseheads as the crossguard. Fortunately I had a spare and quickly replaced it.

Pict 510: Riders of Rohan

Pict 511: Riders of Rohan

And here are a few more warriors - I started two of the normal riders and the banner bearer back in 2015 so that I only had to finish up the eyes and the highlights. It went rather quickly considering I had put it off for over three years...

Pict 512: Rohan Army (555 points)

After painting these riders, I dusted off my Rohan army to patch them up a bit and give them all good coat of matte varnish. I used a contigent of normal Riders and Royal Guard led by the newly painted Théoden, Éomer as well as Éowyn as my army for a tournament on Saturday.

Pict 513: Weta Sideshow Collectibles Legolas Bust

The Riders perfomed very well - even though I lost the first battle (against Morannon Orcs and the Witchking - points for style!), I absolutely destroyed my second opponent (Morannon Orcs again with Gorbag, Shagrat and a Great Beast of Gororoth) and managed to eek out a small vicotry against the last (he played Isengard with some Berserkers, Lurtz and Vraskû with a contingent of crossbows). With that I made second place which is nice; but more importantely, I was voted the fairest player and awarded with this very nice Legolas bust by Weta. All in all an amazing day!