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.

Picking up a few things throughout Middle-earth

I used the past two weeks to pick up a few projects and finishing others with a focus on Middle-earth. I managed to paint Eorl and a few Warriors for my Rohan army, the Moria Goblins of a few weeks back as well as some more heroes. I also painted two more models for D&D and started on a few more.

Pict 859: Rohan vs. Moria

Pict 860: Grôblog and Armoured Moria Goblins

Pict 861: Grôblog and Armoured Moria Goblins

First up are the armoured Moria Goblins. I really like the models - the mail coifs are an element that didn't extend towards the plastic goblins and makes these stand out.
With Grôblog, the guy with the tactical dwarven ruin, I particularly enjoyed painting the flowing cloak. But as is tradition with finecast, before priming I had to carve out the detail on the pillar because it was to washed out. I was very pleased however how the whole batch turned out and what was at first meant to be a small group to be played as hobgoblins in D&D might now get turned into an army? I already stripped the paint of about 70 plastic goblins, so that might be a reality...

Pict 862: Eorl, Warriors of Rohan with Horn and Banner

Pict 863: Eorl, Warriors of Rohan with Horn and Banner

After having painted Eorl on foot, of course I had to paint him on horseback as well. Intrestingly GW painted their version with a brown horse while Felaróf is clearly described as white. So that's what I went with. I also painted two more warriors - a bannerbearer and a hornblower. The banner will surely see play while the horn is a bit on the expensive site pointswise.

Pict 864: Gildor Inglorion, Gandalf the White, Aragorn

Pict 865: Gildor Inglorion, Gandalf the White, Aragorn

I then pulled out some more Middle-earth heroes from various armies and simply painted what took my fancy. The three poses of Aragorn were painted at the same time and now put me at nine painted Aragorns - only five more left to go and I painted all of the official poses that GW put out!
Of Gandalf I also showed a WIP. I'm not perfectly happy with the eyes, they are sculpted to be rather small on the model and now he looks a bit surprised. But after several tries, that what I ended up with. Gildor Inglrion was painted with the scenarios of the Fellowship Journeybook in mind. The colourscheme combines elements of my Highelf and Woodelf miniatures, since he's able to include the latter in his warband.

Pict 866: Dragonborn Rogue, Halfling Ranger

Pict 867: Dragonborn Rogue, Halfling Ranger

And to make a few steps outside the Legendarium, I finished up this Dragonborn Rogue and afterwards painted this Halfling Ranger. Once again, the miniatures are made by Darksword and a joy to paint!

Pict 868: Morgul Stalker (WIP)

And lastly here is a WIP of some Morgul Stalkers that I just started. The miniatures are a bit comical but I like the design choice to have spiky hoods and gauntlets. The faces with the big teeth just scream for a skull-motive face paint. I'll see what I can do!

D&D Hill Giant, Planetar and more Uruk Scouts

These past two weeks I painted more Uruk Scouts and then went onto paint some Moria Goblins. I struck some motivation issues with batch painting them however and thus distracted myself by painting some monsters for D&D.

Pict 842: Hill Giant Smash!

Pict 843: Hill Giant

Pict 844: Hill Giant

Pict 845: Hill Giant

Pict 846: Hill Giant

Pict 847: Hill Giant

Man, this was just the best distraction. It didn't really take to long since it's pretty much just fur, some leather bits and a whole lot of skin. I'm really in love with the miniature - the face is amazing, the different textures are a joy to paint. The pose is a bit exaggerated but I like it. As with the unicorn I painted at the tailend of last year, I went for minimal use of washes. Instead I drybrushed the boulder, the hair and the fur and layered the skin with translucent paint.

Pict 848: Uruk-Hai Scouts, Uglúk, Captain

The Uruks this time around are mainly Scouts - seven with shield, three with bow and the two carrying Merry respectively Pippin. I also painted Uglúk holding an orc head and his twin brother, an unnamed Captain. Lastly there is a single warrior with a crossbow. I'll have to get some more of those to play the Assault on Helm's Deep Legendary Legion, but for now, I'm staying on track with the scouts.

Pict 849: Planetar

After painting the Uruks, I finished up the Planetar, I showed last week. As I said, the pose is quite cool but I'm not that happy with the detail on the wings. I tried drybrushing and it looks all right, but compared to the Hill Giant there is a remarkable difference in quality.

Pict 850: Grôblog and Moria Goblins (WIP)

These Moria Goblins again are very nice miniatures and hold up despite being from the first batch of Lord of the Rings miniatures from 2001. Grôblog, the goblin chieftain on the pillar with the cloak is from some later time and only was released in Finecast. It took me quite some time to go through the basecolours but I finnaly managed to get to the wash stage. I hope to finish them next, but since I let myself be distraced by D&D miniatures, I might do some more of them...

Pict 851: Watcher in the Water's Tentacles

While I was on a stroll in Moria, I fished out these tentacles, I had started a long time ago. They were released by GW to play a scenario with the Fellowship of the Ring against the Watcher in the Water on the western door to Moria. Now that they are painted, I'll have to play that scenario sometime!

Pict 852: Dragonborn Rogue (WIP)

And lastly here is a WIP of the next D&D hero. As always, I very much enjoy Darksword's miniatures and this Dragonborn Rogue is no exception. Right now I don't have any plans to play this miniature but as with the Hill Giant I simply wanted to paint a cool miniature to distract myself from batchpainting...

Grimmhammers and a whole lot more done!

This last week was really quite productive. I managed to almost double my tally of painted mininatures from 34 up to 60! I finished the Grimhammers monday evening and had the time over the following evenings to get to some minions for my DnD game.

Pict 107: Grimhammers

So as advertised, here are the Grimhammers. I was rather happy to have them done - now I can field a full warbad with either young Dwalin or young Balin. I'm sure I will paint some more to play the scenarios from There And Back Again. The other heros for Thror's Army are primed in a box and I want to do right by them, so I will wait until inspiration strikes to start with them. Once I paint more Grimhammers I might try and highlight the metals individualy and not drybrush as I did here - I am not convinced that the drybrush saved me that much time.

Pict 108: Reptus Skullbasher

Pict 109: Reptus Skullbasher

Next up is one of the Reptus Skullbashers. I painted him up as a bronze dragonborn and I'm really happy with the bronze scales. The orange for the loin cloth was chosen by chance, but I do like the contrast with the rest of the miniature.

Pict 110: Skeletons (5. ed.) and Giant Spiders

Pict 111: Giant Snakes

And the last two pictures show the minions I painted for DnD. Most of my sunday was spent running a great group of friends through a dungeon filled with goblins. Sadly I overprepared (as ususal) and none of the above actually saw the tabletop.

Other than the painting I spent my hobby time with basing, filling gaps and priming the stuff I build during the last two weeks. With a Hobbit tournament at the end of april fast approaching, I will most likely focus on the rest of the Iron Hills and the Gundabad Army.

The Iron Hills Cavallry arrives (Dwarfs riding Goats!)

So this week was not as succesful for my painting as I only managd to drybrush leadbelcher on the Grimhammers. I wont bother taking a picture because the is hardly a difference to the picture form last week. But as I expected I was distracted by the order that arrived from Forge World.

Pict 093: The Forge World Order

Pict 094: A Bunch of Resin

So here is a picture of all the resin goodness; first still in packaging, second everithing unpacked and ready for a soapy bath. Once everything was scrubbed down with a toothbrush and some dishsoap water, I started building.

Pict 095: Iron Hills Captain and Banner Bearer

Pict 096: Iron Hills Goat Riders

At first I straggled a bit with the Iron Hills Command pack. While the miniatures are amazing, I had to once again get to grips with my super glue. And once I got to the Goat Riders everything was in full swing. They went together like a dream - almost no moldlines, only a little bit under the hindlegs. I will have to sillin some gaps that cant be avioded but I can't strain enough haw amazing these miniatures are! I really looking forward to getting some paint on them and ger them on the tabletop.

Pict 097: Reptus Skullbreakers (Conversions)

Finally I will have to add three more miniatures onto the pile of miniature bought - I got myself three Reptus Skullbreakers from Reaper and converted them a bit to give a litte variety to weapons. My Dungeons and Dragons party got reinforcements in form of a Dragonborn Warlock. I look forward to test those eldritch powers against my minions!