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.

Mean Mind Flayers and Happy Hobbits, and another Dark Lord

I managed to get along with last weeks pojects rather quickly so that I had time to sneak in a little bit more progress.

Pict 417: Hobbit Archers

First up are the colourfull Hobbit Archers. The basic colours were almost done when I showed them last week, and after I completed that stage, they had a wash of Agrax Earthshade all over them. Once the wash dried, the highlights went really fast, since the Hobbits are rather small miniatures. Since I completed all the miniatures for the Arnor Battle Company, I went ahead and varnished them all. I usually skip this step, since I don't play that much. But even with the little handling they had to endure, I had to patch them up.

Pict 418: Illithid

Pict 419: Illithid

And here are the finished Illithid from last week. That Mage is somewhat tricky to photograph, but I hope this one is a bit better than the previous. Other than that I'm happy with how they turned out - I can't wait the get them to feed on some hero brains.

Pict 420: Sauron, the Necromancer of Dol Guldur

Pict 421: Sauron, the Necromancer of Dol Guldur

After finishing all of these miniatures, I highlighted Sauron the Necormancer of Dol Guldur. The black cloth / smoke looks fine enough - had I been braver, I had tried to do a blend from yellow to red to black starting at the armour. Like this he was ready faster to chill the souls of some enemy warriors. The base fits in with my other Dol Guldur miniatures even if it looks a bit blad.

Pict 422: Malbeth and Arvedui (WIP)

Lastly here are some work in progress pictures of the projects I'll be working on next. The conclusion of the Arnor warband are these two heroes - Malbeth the Seer and the last king Arvedui. I'm considering to expand the company into an army but for now these should be enough.

Pict 423: Gnoll Warrior (WIP)

And here is what will be the conclusion to the Illithid Raiding Party: a lowly Gnoll Warrior. As last week, I hope to get on with these projects early next week, so I can work one some more things.

The current Projects

This week was rather crowded so that I had virtually no time to paint. But to show even the little bit of progress I managed, I took a photo of my painting table.

Pict 400: The State of my Painting Table

As you can see, there are several projects I'm working on right now. The Dúnedain look the same as you last saw them, the Skin Wolves should be done quickly since I decided on a polarwolf as the refence and Sauron the Necromancer is mostly wispy smoke and cloth. In the background are  (among other things) parts of the Fellowship of the Ring, another Théoden and a Duergar as well as my seasonal watercup.
Hopefully (and presumably) the coming weeks will be better for my hobby.

The Dark Lord repainted

The past two weeks were mostly spent painting the Iron Hills Chariot, but I also made some time to repaint Sauron, the fallen Elendil and Isildur. Once I had started on painting black, I wanted to keep the train going and painted a Witchking.

Pict 233: The Dark Lord and friend

Pict 234: Sauron

Pict 235: Sauron

I painted Sauron sometime during the last two years, but I had planned to use him and the fallen Númenoreans in a diorama and thus had put them on a large base. Now that I want to use Sauron in scenarios and maybe in games, I ripped him from the old base, stripped the paint of him and started anew.

Pict 236: Elendil, Isildur

 Elendil and Isildur got the same treatment as Sauron and will now be used as objective markers. Some of the new scenarios for the Hobbit SBG will require six markers, so I will have to be creative. Maybe I'll chop up a Gil-Galad and some orcs?

Pict 237: The Witchking

Pict 238: The Witchking

This particular Witchking of Angmar comes from the Final Fate of the Witchking Diorama and in my opinion it's the best footmodel for the Witchking Games Workshop ever produced. I really like the pose with sword and flail in hand. I decided against using the dioramabase (similar reasoning as with Sauron) and put him on a normal GW base. At first I had him on a usual 25mm one, but since the miniature has slightly bigger than the other LotR miniatures, it didn't look quite right. Thus I went with 32mm base that matches his bulk in the end.

Pict 239: Iron Hills Chariot (WIP)

Lastly here's a WIP picture of the Iron Hills Chariot so far. The base is almost finished, it's only missing the snow. That will have to wait until the Chariot is mounted on the base. The Iron Hills Captain that's going to be the driver is done, but the rest of the crew is still mainly basecoated in Boltgun Metal. The work on the Chariot itself is also far along with the washes and the first highlights done. The main thing missing are the goats. Those I am dreading a little since I really didn't want to paint more goats after I had finished the goatriders.