Painting Dwarves for a Tournament

These past two weeks saw not to much progress, but I managed to finish the first two Erebor dwarf warriors to fit into an army concept for a tournament that I played yesterday.

Pict 1177: Azanulbizar Tournament Army

For this tournamet, I wanted to go with an Azanulbizar theme - partly to spur myself on and paint some Erebor warriors, partly so I could use Thrór as my army's leader and thus free up Dáin to go on a rampage unpunished.

Pict 1178: Erebor Dwarf Warriors (Banner Conversion)

I bought these Erebor dwarves used and one of them was missing his axe – a great opportunity to give him a banner made from plastic card. While I added strips to give the banner some structure, there was still plenty of space for a freehand of the ornament that holds the Arkenstone in Thrór's throne. I'm quite happy with the way it turned out, even if it could be a little bigger to fill up the space some more.

Pict 1179: Erebor Dwarf Warriors (WIP)

I really enjoyed the colourscheme and went along with the next ten dwarves. They are, once again alomst all basecoated and ready to be washed. I really have to do a few week where all I do is highlight miniatures. At this stage, there are quite a few of them now!

Howling Griffons Sternguard and Dwarven Heroes

These past two weeks, I finished four of the dwarven heroes from my last post: Dáin Ironfoot, King under the Mountain, Thorin III 'Stonehelm', Múrin and Drár. While highlighting, I also wanted to do some work with broader strokes and got on with the Howling Griffons in the form of a Sternguard Veteran Squad.

Pict 1163: Howling Griffons Sternguard Veterans

Pict 1164: Howling Griffons Sternguard Veterans

Pict 1165: Howling Griffons Sternguard Veterans

After last post's successful experiment in painting Space Marines, I dug out this Sternguard Veteran Squad and continued the streak. Instead of the combi-weapon the squad usually comes with, I pulled in another normal Bolter Marine so that they can double as a Tactical Squad in smaller skirmish games such as Combat Patrol or Kill Team.

Pict 1166: Dáin, King under the Mountain and Thorin III 'Stonehelm'

Pict 1167: Dáin, King under the Mountain and Thorin III 'Stonehelm'

The first two dwarves to get finished, were Thorin III 'Stonehelm' and his ageing father Dáin Ironfoot, King under the Mountain. The two of them will allow me to field my Iron Hills in the War of the Ring era – we will see, what the War in the North supplement will bring. Thorin III had his arm slightly reposed to prevent him from unsafely flailing his pick about and painted up very fast in my usual Iron Hills scheme. Dáin on the other hand took a bit more work. I only took out my Battle of the Five Armies Dáin to compare them after I had already painted quite a bit of the new Dáin. I subsequently repainted some areas and I am way more happy with him now.

Pict 1168: Dáin Ironfoot, Lord of the Iron Hills

And while I was at it, I also updated the face of Dáin on foot and riding his pig since the original paintjob from five years ago didn't quite cut it upon closer inspection.

Pict 1169: Múrin and Drár

Pict 1170: Múrin and Drár

These two Dwarves were ported over from the original Khazad-dûm line into the Iron Hills and they do look it. Still nice sculpts of adventuring dwarves always on the move, but a bit generic. Nevertheless, I look forward to trying them out in a game!

Pict 1171: Thrór and Thráin II (WIP)

Thrór and Thráin II are not quite finished yet, but should not take much longer – and after that, onwards to some more Dwarf Warriors for all these heroes to lead!

More Dwarves and a Space Marine?!

These past two weeks, I managed to finish my Iron Hills Dwarves in time for a tournement but also did a few more bits and bobs including my first Space Marine in a very long time!

Pict 1156: Iron Hills Dwarf Warriors

Pict 1157: Iron Hills Dwarf Warriors

Pict 1158: Iron Hills Dwarf Warriors

First up are the six Iron Hills Dwarf warriors, I needed for a 1000 points doubles event. We got to play the Iron Hills list twice, but lost both times – my Chariot only managed to drive over 5 orcs in total if I remeber correctly... Anyways, I'm very happy with these Dwarves. I find them to look better than the dwarves I painted, when I started the blog five years ago. This should not be surprising, but I might want to go back to the older ones and touch them up, esspecially their faces. Maybe in the runup to the next event?

Pict 1159: Uruk-Hai Captain (Helmet Conversion)

I also did some scuplting for a good friend I was going to see at the event and put a helmet on this Uruk-Hai captain. Always a good idea to wear one, if you ask me! And of course its a great way to make sure your miniature is different from everybody else's.

Pict 1160: Howling Griffon Badab War Veteran

Pict 1161: Howling Griffon Badab War Veteran

As far as I can tell, this Howling Griffon is the first Space Marine I painted in over four years! I recently was inspired by ArbitorIan's video on the Badab War and a collection of metal Space Marine Veterans primed and ready to go. I always liked the quartered livery of the Howling Griffons, but I also wanted to try and go for a more grimdark / blachitsu style of painting. Fortunately the Howling Griffons wore a darker night world camo variation on their stark yellow/red livery during the Badab War.

Usually I prefer bright and clean colours but I wanted to push my techniques and my horizon a bit. And so I got to experiment with oilwashes and sponging for the weathering. I have to say I'm very pleased with the outcome! I might have to print some decals for the chapter symbol, because I don't want to freehand a griffon on every shoulderpad...

Pict 1162: Múrin, Drár, Thrór, Thráin, Dáin, Thorin III

After my succes with the Iron Hills warriors, I got on with the Dwarf heroes I had started at the same time. For now they have their basecoats and washed done and are awaiting highlights.

The Greatest of Trolls

My main focus in February was to finish my big old Mordor Troll Chieftain crushing Aragorn underfoot in the duel at the end of The Return of the King. Finishing the conversion took me quite a while and painting was not that much quicker...

Pict 1139: Mordor Troll Chieftain vs. Aragorn Elessar

Pict 1140: Mordor Troll Chieftain vs. Aragorn Elessar (Conversion)

Pict 1141: Mordor Troll Chieftain vs. Aragorn Elessar (Conversion)

Pict 1142: Mordor Troll Chieftain vs. Aragorn Elessar (Conversion)

Pict 1143: Mordor Troll Chieftain vs. Aragorn Elessar (Conversion)

At some point, I just had to declare this conversion to be finished. It seemed like I could have pushed the putty around for forever... It just looked like I found another missing detail whenever I picked him up: straps to hold the armour on the fingers of the left hand in place, defining the armour on the back a bit more or a piece of swordhandle for Andúril lying just out of reach for Aragorn...

The final conversion uses parts from a number of different kits: The main body and right arm come from the Mordor Troll Chieftain, the head and left arm from the plastic Mordor Troll. The offhand mace uses the Troll drumstick hand as a base and adds in bits from the plastic Warhammer Fantasy Black Orcs. Aragorn consists of the lying Isildur's legs, the Aragorn Elessar of foot torso and arms, the head and Andúril come from the mounted Elessar and the elven dagger (including the hand) were donated by a Lurtz – whittling and the Uruk blade until it fit the bill! And of course there is a load of green stuff tying it all together.

Pict 1144: Mordor Troll Chieftain vs. Aragorn Elessar

Pict 1145: Mordor Troll Chieftain vs. Aragorn Elessar

Pict 1146: Mordor Troll Chieftain vs. Aragorn Elessar

Pict 1147: Mordor Troll Chieftain vs. Aragorn Elessar

Pict 1148: Mordor Troll Chieftain vs. Aragorn Elessar, Detail: Troll Face

Pict 1149: Mordor Troll Chieftain vs. Aragorn Elessar, Detail: Aragorn

Pict 1150: Mordor Troll Chieftain vs. Aragorn Elessar, Detail: Aragorn

Pict 1151: Mordor Troll Chieftain vs. Aragorn Elessar, Detail: Aragorn

And here is the big boy all painted up. I used the same colours I already used on the first Mordor Troll Chieftain but I had to look up several references for Aragorn Elessar. I'm very happy with the conversion all together and the paintjob and I can't wait to use him in a game. I entered the duel into heroichighlights' diorama contest - we'll see how he does!

Pict 1152: Ghoul

Pict 1153: Ghoul

This Ghoul here is the next leg in my journey to paint up more miniatures for my Undead collection. I used a paler variation of my Zombie Skin recipe. In preparation of painting the Ghoul at the start of February, I got around to noting down the recipies for my AoS Undead - while it does not cover every possible detail, the broad strokes are there to remind myself of how I painted things when I want to add to the collection.

Pict 1154: Ghouls and Crypt Horrors (WIP)

Here is where I've gotten to with the rest of the Ghoul tribe: five more metal Ghouls and three Crypt Horrors. I plan to use the same colours thoughout. The basecolours and washes went on quite quickly but highlighting the skin does take a surprising amount of time since it is the biggest part of the model.

Pict 1155: Iron Hills Dwarves (WIP)

Lastly, I started painting these Dwarves back in October but it seems I was distracted by some new and shiny thing. Anyways, now I will need them for an upcoming doubles tournament which is always a good motivation.

More Dahshat and Dwarves

A quick update once again since I was mostly in 'build mode' rather than 'paint mode'. But I did get some basecolours onto more Dahshat mercenaries and some Middle-earth dwarves.

Pict 1076: Dahshat Mercenaries (WIP)

These two Authorized Bounty Hunters, two Brawlers and Zuyong Invincible are ready for the clean up stage and their highlights. I managed to get one game in with them and of course they did not perform how I wanted them to. I blame the unfinished paintjob (not at all my lacking tactical prowess).

Pict 1077: Iron Hills Dwarves (WIP)

After redoing the bases of my Erebor dwarves, I had the itch to paint the rest of my Middle-earth dwarves. Some, like the last remaining Iron Hills dwarves have waited for paint for some time but there are a few new additions with Dáin, King under the Mountain and Thorin III Stonehelm. As you can see, these miniatures were just started and I'm still figuring out the colours, especially on the very detailed hair and beards.

More Gnolls and Revisiting my New Year's Resolutions

This week's progress consists of two more Gnoll Warriors. I started them when I did the one last week, but then they were not far enough along to warrant a picture. I kept the coulors pretty much the same as before but these miniatures by WizKids do stand out since they are bigger.

Pict 454: Gnoll Warriors

Besides that: With this week, half of the year is over I wanted to take the opportunity to check in on my New Year's resolutions. I know that I didn't get to all and I hope this post will maybe help me to priotise them. At the start of the year I wanted to get to a few of last year's projets: the Tyranids, the Iron Hills Dwarves and the Hunter Orcs.

Pict 455: Tyranids

Pict 456: Iron Hills Dwarves

Pict 457: Hunter Orcs (WIP)

I'll count the Tyranids and the Iron Hills as sucesses, but I'll still have to finish twentyfour Hunter Orcs on foot and five mounted on Fell Wargs. I also still have a whole bunch of Termagants in a box and I'd be happy to get to them in the second part of the year but I don't see them as a necessity.

Pict 458: White Council in Dol Goldur

Pict 459: The Fellowship in Balin's Tomb (WIP)

The dioramas however will have to be finished. The White Council in Dol Guldur was completed at the end of May but Balin's Tomb still looks way to pale. At least I finished Aragorn; but Boromir, Gimli, the Hobbits and the base itself are still left to do.

Pict 460: Hobbit Archers

Lastly I spoke of plans to put together a Battle Company of Hobbits. I'm not sure if I still want to do those now that I completed the Arnor company. I think an evil force might be more interesting... But I guess my fancy will take me to new and different projects anyway.

Iron Hills Dwarves with Mattocks

This week I had a little more time to paint and promptly got started on the Iron Hills Dwarves, I built the week prior.

Pict 405: Iron Hills Dwarves

Pict 406: Iron Hills Dwarf Warriors with Mattocks

These warriors were surprisingly easy to paint this time around. When I was painting the warriors carrying crossbows I tried to finish the chariot at the same time and painted myself into a metaphorical corner. With these I really enjoyed the differing poses and thus finished them quickly.

Pict 407: Iron Hills Dwarves Command with Mattocks

Pict 408: Iron Hills Dwarves Command with Mattocks

The Captain and Banner Bearer are amazing models as well - I am tempted to get the same Captain again to convert him into a hero for my battle company, but for now these will do fine. The Banner is complexer than the first one I painted. The prominent designs form not only a mountain but also a band that I interpreted as the ground and thus painted green resulting in a fetching contrast with the complementary red that I used as the main colour.

Pict 409: Duergar Warrior (WIP)

I got a little bit of work in with the Dúnedain, but not enough to warrent a new picture of them. Instead I'm showing my progress with the next D&D miniature. This Duergar is part of the same set as the Intellect Devourer so that I painted the base in matching colours. For now the base-colours and washes are down and I hope to finish this guy early in the coming week.