Mordheim: Elf Mage

These past two weeks saw me finishing up the highlights on the Mordheim Elf Mage for my Highelf Army as well as building the miniatures for a new project: Halflings, Wild Elves and Monsters from ArcWorlde.

Pict 966: Mordheim Elf Mage

Pict 967: Mordheim Elf Mage

I took my time with this model to really paint it up to a high standart for me and do it justice. The sculpt is from 2004 and really holds up well - you'd expect nothing less from a Juan Diaz scuplt. With the staff and the right hand outstreched, he looks like he can hold his own on the road (and also a bit like a Jedi...). As planned, the colours are similar to my Shadow Warriors, but I added more red to the lining of the cloak to tie him in with the rest of my High Elves.

Pict 968: ArcWorlde Forest Dragon

Pict 969: Wild Elven Warrior with Bow

Pict 970: Mjowls

I also got myself a nice little package from Warploque Miniatures, a small business around Alex Huntley, who designs the miniatures as well as the rule to use them with: ArcWorlde - The Narrative Fantasy Battle Game. I fell in love with the style of the miniatures, which are all hand-scuplted. You can really feel the human touch they have! Stand outs have to be the big Forest Dragon, the creepy and lanky Wild Elves and of course the Mjowls – relatives of gryphons but put together from owls and cats; amazingly cute!

Valten, Chosen of Sigmar

I spent these past two week finishing the highlights on Valten, the Chosen of Sigmar. Other than that I also converted some metal Warg riders for my Mordor army and built a few other models.

Pict 961: Valten, Chosen of Sigmar

Pict 962: Valten, Chosen of Sigmar

As I said in my last post, Valten clearly is the He-Man of the Warhammer World, screaming "I have the power" and letting Sigmar's might flow through him. I really enjoyed painting him - he has a great balance of flatter areas and mor detailed ones. The Beastman on the base doesn't really make that much sense, being cut in half right through the torso and the smith's apron is seemingly not fastened in the back...

Pict 963: Warg Rider (Conversion)

Pict 964: Warg Rider (Conversion)

Pict 965: Warg Rider (Conversion)

And here are my metal Warg riders - the three on the right are unaltered and the three others are converted. I hacked them up not only to get more poses out of them, it also is not that sensible to have so many of them armed with bows. Cutting of these arms and quivers was a bit cumbersome but I like how they came out. So much that I considered getting more of them, but for now I was able to resist.

WHFB: Alith Anar and Shadow Warrios

This week I finished highlighting the Shadow Warrios and Alith Anar for my growing collection of painted Warhammer High Elves.

Pict 956: Alith Anar and Shadow Warriors

Pict 957: Alith Anar

Alith Anar was painted right alongside the remaining Shadow Warriors but of course his armour has a lot more bling to it. With the teal arnoud the runes on the sword I introduced a new colour into the scheme. I think I like it so that similar runes will also be this colour from now on.

Pict 958: Shadow Warriors

Pict 959: Shadow Warriors

I really like how these Shadow Warrios came out. I would have been cool to have five unique sculpts in the 7th edition box, but they look great as a unit nonetheless. I might buy a unit of the 6th edition sculpts as well. But that will have to wait until next year - for now I will have to look towards my numbers and paint a few more models to and not buy more...

Pict 960: Mordheim Elf Mage (WIP)

After finishing the highlighting on the Shadow Warriors, I started with the base colours on the Mordheim Elf Mage. He will wear similar colours to these stealthy warriors as I imagine him to be self reliant on the road as well.

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.

New Bases for Mordor

Just a quick update post to show the new bases I put onto my Mordor army. Not that much work but a great distraction for one quarter of an hour every evening.

Pict 929: Mordor Army (new bases)

My Mordor originally had all black bases with a bit of grey drybrushed ontop to create some interest. But with the Dark Marshal of last week, I tried a new basing scheme. They should be closer to the other armies I have, especially Isengard, so that I have the option to mix in some Orcs into Sauruman's army. And having grass on the bases just feels right. In any case they are less bland.

Looking at the Orcs again I really like the models and the colours I used... With Quest of the Ringbearer on the horizon, I might try and paint some more for an Cirith Ungol army? We'll see what takes my fancy.

MESBG: The Dark Marshall and WHFB: Shadow Warriors

 Just a quick post today - hobby time is somewhat at a premium these days. But I still managed to paint up another named Nazûl. This time the Dark Marshall. Other than that I did a bit more work on the High Elf Shadow Warriors, finishing one and starting on the base coats of the rest of the group.

Pict 924: The Dark Marshal

Pict 925: The Dark Marshal

Pict 926: The Dark Marshal

As you can see, he's very similar to the other Ringwraiths I already painted. They are all basically a humanoid form in a dark shroud with varying degrees of armour. I was happy to snatch this model up in metal to match my other wraiths that are also all in metal and not in Finecast.

I also decided to try out a differnt basing scheme for my Mordor army. It irks me that I can't use my Mordor Orcs with my Isengard army and so I'm considering to change up the bases on my Mordor. The grass is not quite the same - Rohan grass being a bit to lush for my Mordor taste. But this should my not as noticable.

Pict 927: Shadow Warrior

Here is the first of the Shadow Warriors finished. I quite like how he came out even if it's only the orange tabbard connecting him to the scheme of the wider army. The Shadow Warriors should be able to set themselves apart a bit.

Pict 928: Alith Anar and Shadow Warriors (WIP)

Lastly a quick WIP: the rest of the Shadow Warriors from the 7th edition box and of course Alith Anar to lead them into battle. Always great to have an infantry model shooting arrows using the bolt thrower mechanics in game.

Ten Years After: The Island of Blood

As I said in my last post, I wanted to participate in the Skaven and High Elves Painting Challenge and with a bit more time during this week's evenings I not only managed to finish Prince Althran but also my conversion of the Island of Blood mage as well as some other bits and bobs.

Pict 917: High Elf Heros in Lustria

Pict 918: Prince Althran on foot

Pict 917: High Elf Mage (Conversion)

I had quite a bit of fun painting these two and I'm looking forward to painting some more High Elves! Finishing Prince Althran did not take very long and I can see myself repeating the colours not only on heroes but also warriors. First I had to try and make the white work on a bigger surface - the converted Island of Blood mage seemed like a good enough test model. It was less masochistic than expected. I did the highlights on the white as the very last thing on the model and thus could smooth out any spots where I had not been quite as neat as I wanted.

Pict 920: Shadow Warrior (WIP)

I also started on a Shadow Warrior to implement the colours on a warrior instead of a hero. I don't plan on having a real army of high elves so I should be able to take my time and only paint the models I want to a high level.

Pict 921: Bandobras Tuk, Fredegar Bolger and Hobbit Militia

After so much time in the Old World, I wanted to get back to my usual Middle-earth. And what better way to do that then painting a bunch of Hobbits. I had a version of Bandobras on foot for quite a while but never got around to the Bulllroarer on horseback. With him, I also pulled out the remainder of the hobbit militia I had in a box and of course Fatty Bolger, with no weapon other than is girth.

Pict 922: Uruk-Hai Warrior and Raven

My friend over at smallthingsmodelling also donated a crossbow to the Isengard cause as well as a raven. The former was promtly used to convert a second Uruk-hai Warrior. And the latter might get used as an animal compaintion in Rangers of Shadow Deep.

Pict 923: Adult Red Dragon Base (WIP)

Lastly, I also did a bit more work on the Adult Red Dragon's base. With the gold on the coins, the next step will be  a lot of tidying up of the ground... After that: Only the gemstones and some other small details left now. The big problem will be the Dragon's paws - I haven't quite decided on how I'll paint the big scales and the claws...