The Fellowship of the Ring – 20th Anniversary of the Movie

Today is the 20th anniversary of the theatrical release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. To celebrate the occasion, I painted a new set of the four Hobbits: Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybock and Peregrin Took.

Pict 1107: Ambush at Amon Hen

Pict 1108: Frodo, Pippin, Merry, Sam

Pict 1109: Frodo, Pippin, Merry, Sam

These four Hobbits were great fun to paint – looking up screenshots of the film, looking at models I painted before and just getting to be in Middle-earth again. The models all come from the Breaking of the Fellowship set sculpted by Juan Diaz. They might get used in some scenarios (especially the Ambush at Amon Hen). But for now, they were a great little project to celebrate a hugly influential film!

Pict 1110: Jelson Darrock

Pict 1111: Jelson Darrock

I also got to the next Cursed City hero with the Witch Hunter Jelson Darrock. I feared differentiating the browns but I'm very happy with the way he turned out. I migh even be tempted to get some more of the modern Witch Hunters.

Pict 1112: Qulathis the Exile (WIP)

I also made some good progress with Qulathis the Exile and should be able to finish painting her soon. (Please don't mind the eyes – it's all part of the process!) I really would like to finish the Cursed City box before the end of the year. But to do that, I will have to focus on just those three missing heroes over the christmas holidays.

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...

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.

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 Illithid! (and a few Hobbits, all WIP)

This week was slower than the last one again and I didn't finish any miniatures. Instead of completing projects, I started new ones again.

Pict 415: Illithid (WIP)

These two creepy tentacle-humanoids will add to my D&D monsters once they are done. Right now however, I'm not to keen on the skin-mantle the Alhoon (Mind Flayer Spellcaster) has and I might change it to tattered pieces of cloth instead. Since I haven't yet put on washes, this should be a quick fix.

Pict 416: Hobbit Archers (WIP)

The second project are these Hobbit Archers. I'm painting them mainly for my Arnor Battle Company since they are on the reinforcement table and I only had one painted so far. They don't count against the bow limit so that you will get more of them once this limit is reached and you roll another Ranger. I really like the these sculpts with the unique little details and look forward to finishing them. Right now they have almost all of the basic colours on them - let's see how long it will take me to finish them.

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.