Elrond, Master of Rivendell

Only a few more miniatures finished this time around, among them Elrond mounted and ready to lead the Rivendell Knights into battle.

Pict 1704: Elrond, Master of Rivendell

Pict 1705: Elrond, Master of Rivendell

Of course, I started out by finishing up Elrond. The lure of cool heroes will always be stronger than the necessity to paint the warriors to follow them. I did struggle a bit with the finecast sculpt. Some of the details around the face and the folds at the hem of the cloak were muddy or even obscured. Nevertheless, I'm happy enough with the result. But I'm really looking forward to painting the new plastic model now!

Pict 1706: Rivendell Knight

Pict 1707: Rivendell Knights (WIP)

I only managed to finish one of the Rivendell Knights in time for this update. But the other four of this batch are not far of as well. It should really only take a few more evenings, but I was distracted by other fun stuff...

Pict 1708: Bilbo Baggins, Ageing Hobbit

Pict 1709: Bilbo Baggins, Ageing Hobbit

While he will certainly not be able to keep up with the Rivendell cavalry, Bilbo Baggins, Ageing Hobbit should make for a fun addition to the army. He is quite useful with his use of the One Ring, halving any enemies Fight value, even when in combat with other friendly models. That would make quite the tag team with Glorfindel or even Elrond.
In any case, painting this little miniature was great fun! Such a beautiful sculpt and a perfect tribute to Ian Holm. I had done the base for the clear resin version quite a while ago and sadly the resin has yellowed over time. I only added a few birch seed as leaves onto it and will still use it in game.

Pict 1710: Aeronautica Imperialis Iyanden Eldar Nightwing

Pict 1711: Aeronautica Imperialis Iyanden Eldar Nightwing

It seems I can never only have on project on the go at once. So I also started with the Aeronautica Imperialis Eldar that came with the Wrath of Angels box that kickstarted my Blood Angels flyers. I always liked the colours of Craftworld Iyanden, maybe because I learned about them first whilst reading the Tyranid Codex. Of course, the yellow is not the easiest to paint, but I'm quite happy with my plan. The first test flyer is done and the rest of the fleet is waiting for their basecolours. I'm especially happy with the magnetic connetion between plane and flight stand. I might have to go back and do the same for my Astartes flyers.

Pict 1712: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Rhinos (WIP)

And while prepping for a match of LI, I also slapped some quick base colours and decals on my Rhinos. Thirteen of them are built and marked for use with the Tactical Strike Force iconic formation. The fourteenth one was left over and might see use when I go for other formations.

A Whole Bunch of Uruk-Hai

I had quite productive weeks since I posted my look back at last year and my resolutions. I focused on getting paint on more Uruk-Hai and played two games with them as well. But I also got to some other odds and ends!

Pict 807: Uruk-Hai Army

Pict 808: Uruk Hai Commanders (Lurtz, Captain, Scout Captain)

Pict 809: Uruk Hai Commanders (Lurtz, Captain, Scout Captain)

First up are the Uruk-Hai heroes I had started in the old year and that were quite quick to finish. I'm pretty happy with the faces and how the eyes turned out, especially with the two versions of Lurtz.

Pict 810: Uruk-Hai Siege Troops

Pict 811: Uruk-Hai Siege Troops

The next thing, I started were some Uruk-Hai siege troops. The models aremade from plastic and came out in January of 2003 (!). Painted up like this and in a group, they still look quite good. You do have to guess at some of the details however and while they painted up rather quickly, I'm not looking forward to painting more Uruk-Hai plastics.

Pict 812: Feral Uruk-Hai

Pict 813: Feral Uruk-Hai

Pict 814: Mauhur's Marauders Command

Pict 815: Mauhur's Marauders Command

I then started to work on the next six Feral Uruk-Hai as well as a Scout Uruk with Banner and an Uruk Drummer. Once they had the base colours and washed applied I got to play two games with my Isengard army as it stands right now. Of course those games went against Rohan armies styled for Helm's Deep! I found myself slaughtered both times since that Rohan / Lothlorien alliance with lots of throwing spears really dishes out shots that I couldn't respond to. I had fun nonetheless and the games got me pumped to expand my Uruk Collection with some bow-wielding Scouts. And of course I found the time to finish the models since that might have been an issue too – I'm sure I'd have had more luck if all my models were highlighted and based as well!

Pict 816: The Ringbearers (invisible)

One fun little project I picked up while gaming are these invisible versions of some Ringbearers. The models are event exclusive by ForgeWorld and my opponent picked them up for me at the end of last year. Of course they were finished quite quickly since there is not much to be done exept for the bases, but they look quite nice and I look forward to using them in games when putting on the One Ring with the corresponding models.

Pict 817: Sekban, Naval Group (WIP)

And since I also want to get ahead with my painting in the Infinity universe, I started to work on the five Sekban. I really like the look of them even if I don't plan on using them in any games soon. Before putting them together, I didn't realise that (excluding the Rocket Launcher) there are only two types of bodies with differing weapons even though I had looked at pictures of them pretty much since I started playing the game!