A few Grey Wizards and progress on the Uruk-hai Pikemen

I spent these past two weeks mainly on the remaining Uruk-hai Warriors but I managed to sneak some Gandalf miniatures in to save my sanity!

Pict 899: A Gaggle of Gandalfs

Pict 900: Gandalf

Pict 901: Gandalf

First up are the only models I actually finished: The four Gandalfs I still had lying around – and in one fell swoop I doubled the different Gandalf miniatures I painted. I very much enjoyed layering the different greys and give the miniature likenesses of Ian McKellen a good try. Mostly this went well but especially the sculpt on the right with the hat posed some difficulties. And of course there is that plastic Gandalf from the Mines of Moria starter box - pretty much the worst sculpt of Gandalf GW produced. Luckily, I painted him now with the other three so that I actually did it.

Pict 902: Uruk-hai Warriors (WIP)

And here is my progress with the Uruk-hai. I finished the base colours and put down the washes but the punted the issue of starting the highlights. I now will have to break the group up into smaller, more managable chunks because otherwise I'll never get them done.

Legions of Isengard

These past two weeks, I spent some more time with the Legions of Isengard and built and painted a batch of Uruk-Hai Warriors.

Pict 893: Armoured Uruk-Hai

Pict 894: Uruk-Hai Captains (Conversions)

First up are the two commanders I put together to lead the warriors into battle against the Rohirrim. They are both converted – the armoured one is a simple headswap of the Uruk-Captain I painted I february with the Battle Games in Middle-earth conversion sprue supplying the helmeted head. The scout captain is a bit more involved and combines parts from both a cut up Uglúk and a cut up Lurtz that were left over after my Mauhur conversion. Even the head is Uglúk’s – I clipped it of and thought about using an imprint of the official scout captain’s helmet. But after removing most of the hair I liked the remaining top knot and put the head back on resculpting the leather around the shoulders and the back of the head.

Pict 895: Uruk-Hai Captains (Conversions)

Now since the captains wont win Saruman the keys to Edoras alone, I also needed some more warriors. And in fact I managed to paint up twenty Uruk warriors with shields in only one week! That’s not only great news for Saruman but also for my tally that now is back into the green numbers!

Pict 896: Uruk-Hai Warriors

As a big group, the models really hold up quite well considering they are from 18 years ago and some of the first plastics of the range and the individual poses are great for basic warriors. They had some very obtrusive moldlines however and getting the whole posse ready for priming took about a week’s worth of hobby time.

Pict 897: Uruk-Hai Warriors (WIP)

And because painting 22 Uruks at the same time, didn’t break my spirit, here are another 37 Warriors, this time armed with pikes. For now, they are still a bit shiny with only the #metal# applied, but they already make for an imposing phalanx.

The Uruks really are not painted to the highest standard I could achieve. But they do look great as a group and they are predominantly meant to be played with. After finishing the warriors with pikes, I’ll have to get myself a batch of crossbow wielding ones as well. With them, I pretty much have everything, I need to assault Helm’s Deep!

Pict 898: Otherworld Packbearer

And to get a bit of respite from Uruk-Hai, lastly here is the finished Packbearer by Otherworld Miniatures. Once again a beautifully characterful miniature that will be used in D&D or even Rangers of Shadowdeep.

Eclectic Painting for Dungeons and Dragons

So another quick post today showing what I painted when I needed a break from the Blacksmith Forge from last week. I focused on painting an eclectic bunch of miniatures mainly for Dungeons and Dragons, but I may use them with other systems such as Rangers of Shadowdeep as well.

Pict 891: Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures

Pict 892: Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures

First up I want to talk about two models on the right made by Otherworld Miniatures. They really have some amazingly characterful faces and were a joy to paint up. That Rat-chatcher has such a grat face while the Were-tiger simply has an amazing pose.
The guy secend from the left is another Critical Role miniature - the Gentleman. I debated whether to put a gloss varnish on his skin since he's supposed to be a Water Genasi. In the end I didn't because I could not imagine it turning out great.
And the last guy in the group is a Dwarf Fighter made by WizKids. I already painted the first iteration from that set pretty much two years ago to the day! This one is slightly converted - I added spikes to make him into a Battlerager - basicly a dwarf barbarian weaponising their armour.

Pict 893: Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures (WIP)

And here is what got started during the same time: Two more Reptus Skullbreakers by Reaper Miniatures to be played as Dragonborn. A Packbearer by Otherworld - again I love the face! And the last CR miniature from the Steamforged Games Vault - Caduceus Clay. This last one is not to far along since the colourscheme is quite different to what I usually paint.