Update on last week's projects (Tyranids, Arnor) and new stuff

This week was a little better in terms of hobby time. I managed to finish the Tyranids from last week and progressed the Arnor Warriors somewhat. I also got to prime some more miniatures and I got some more paint on some of those.

Pict 371: Pyrovore and Ripperswarms

And here they are: The remaining Tyranids from my new New Year's pledge. The Ripperswarms look great with that many bugs on one base but they are really fiddly to get to all their claws when they are glued down like that...
Let's see what I'll go to next 40k-wise... Right now I'm pretty focused on LotR and D&D miniatures, but I hope to get together with one of my 40k friends to paint and I suppose I'll be getting to more Tyranids by then.

Pict 372: Arnor Warriors (WIP)

These Arnor Warriors are coming along as well. They have all their washes done and I'm now in the process of highlighting the colours back up. The faces are done already and they shouldn't take to much longer.

Pict 373: Giant Spiders (eBob)

And here are some new figures. Well, not entirely new since I already showed them when I had assembled them. Now that the weather was good enough to get some priming done, I also put them on my table to paint. Thankfully they painted up really fast and I very much enjoyed differentiating them.

Pict 374: Noldor Captain

And lastly here is another miniature for my Noldorim. I got him of eBay just this week and I painted him up quickly to use him in my battle company since I'm using the armoured Celeborn as one of my warriors and he doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the company since I introduced some other colours to differentiate the Sindar Celeborn from my Noldorim.

With all those minis painted up, my ratio of painted to new miniatures is barely in the green again! Let's see what I get up to this coming week - as stated above, I'm pretty into the Middle-Earth SBG and D&D and there are some great miniatures in boxes that just wait to get some colour.

Starting the Arnor Battle Company and kreepy Gribblies

Time was at a premium this week and thus I only finished one miniature. But I also prepared some more figures to paint in the coming weeks.

Pict 366: Warrior of Arnor

Pict 367: Warrior of Arnor

The miniature I painted this week is this Warrior of Arnor. He'll be a proof-of-concept to test out my colour scheme. It was a bit difficult to get to grips with the creative freedom for the livery - Tolkien didn't say mutch at all about them and so I was able to come up with my own. I used the established Númenor and Minas Tirith schemes and also used mainly black. To add in a splash of colour I went for a dark red - I really like the combination and use it in many of my armies such as my Noldorim. I experimented with this one as well and tried my hand at the woodstructure on the back of the shield. I like the effect I achived, but the surface should be really smooth - here I had to work on a moldline before adding the lines. The warrior was converted a little bit and got himself a single feather on his helmet to denote that he'll be one of the Sargents of my Battle Company.

Pict 368: Giant Spiders (eBob)

On the modelling front, I built three more Giant Spiders by eBob. Two out of the three went together really well, but the last one was a pain... I broke of five of the legs during posing it on it's rock - one of the legs even broke twice. But with patience, I got there in the end.
They'll see use as Mirkwood Spiders in SBG and I'll hopefully will get to use them with Dungeons and Dragons in the future as well. My group kinde fizzled out, but I'm to blame for that as well as the shortage of time to prepare adventures. But I hope to get back onto that horse as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

So much DnD, also Goblin Mercenary Conversions

 I had quite the productive week full of painting, converting, cleaning up and priming miniatures. The start of the week saw the arrival of a box full of DnD-miniatures and I just could not help myself and started painting some of them, even though I really should be working on the Dwarven cavallry for the tournament at the end of the month.

Pict 122: Owlbear and Cubs (Darksword Miniatures)

I searched quite long until I found a good owlbear miniature. So when I found this one made by Darksword Miniatures I was overjoyed esspecially because of the adorable cubs that came with it. The three were part of the order that came this week and as you can see, I simply had to paint them. I chose to paint them purple as the owlbears are shown in the Monster Manual - it showes that they are magical creatures - rather than using pictures of real bears and owls.

Pict 123: Goblin Mercenaries (Conversions)

Pict 124: Goblin Mercenaries (Conversions)

Next up are the Goblin Mercenaries I mentioned in the title. I wanted to convert some for my Azog's Legion to have them for the tournaments to come. I made a mold  of a Moria goblin's shield and after I had about 15 copies I cut them up and used them, to put armour on some Goblintown goblins. The goblin in front of the others standing a little higher will be the Captain to lead this warband.

Pict 125: Henry Goatleaf and Barliman Butterbur (eBob)

Next are the other two townspeople made by eBob. I really enjoyed painting the cloth; the folds are very well modelled. I had my difficulties with the hands and the faces but I think are alright now.

Pict 126: Gor and Bestigor

Pict 127: Woodelf Sprites (Boggles)

On the AoS front I finally painted another Gor and a Bestigor as well as two Woodelf sprites. The former were simply done as the ones before. With these two finished I have five and thus half are painted. The latter really are only markers, but I think I will use them in DnD games as Boggles to annoy the players with chaotic fey.

Pict 128: Mimic (Reaper Miniatures)

Pict 129: Mimic (Reaper Miniatures)

Pict 130: Gelatinous Cube (Reaper Bones)

Pict 131: Gelatinous Cube (Reaper Bones)

Speaking of DnD: I also completed two Reaper minis - a Mimic and a Gelatious Cube - two of the really iconic DnD monsters. With the Mimic I hope to keep my players on edge with every treasure chest they encounter, while the Cube will serve to trap and dissolve them. (Well, hopefully it wont be that bad, I still want to get a good story out of the game and prefer to not loose friends.)
The translucent cube was really something new for me and I'm not sure if it needs a litte more work.

Pict 132: New DnD Miniatures

Pict 133: Umber Hulk (DnD Collector's Series)

Pict 134: Eye Tyrant (DnD Collector's Series)

And with the last three photos I present you the other DnD miniatures that came in this last box. I loved the Eye Tyrant as soon as I saw a picture of it in 2012 when it was released. Now I finally own one! But it still needs some more work with the green stuff. The other miniatures of the DnD Collector's Series by Gale Force 9 are amazing as well and I hope to get to them once the Hobbit SBG armies are finished.
Also pictured are two Grells made by Ral Partha quite some time ago and a batswarm made for Armalion. I also got myself Lem the iconic Halfling Bard made by Reaper for Pathfinder. I really like the character the miniature radiates and do look forward to painting it.

Another Iron Hills Captain, Objective Markers and a creepy fellow...

So it seems the last few weeks have been quite good for painting. And this week was no exeption. Satuday I had a few more games with the Iron Hills Dwarfs and a Gundabad Army. The latter will change a bit more, but I'm quite happy with the Iron Hills Dwarfs. The only problem seem to have is rolling 2s with the Ballista and then have the dilemma wether or not I spend the two might of the Captain within the first rounds.

Pict 112: Iron Hills Captain

Pict 113: Iron Hills Captain

Pict 114: Iron Hills Captain

Pict 115: Iron Hills Captain

First up today is said Captain. He painted up rather fast - I think I spend two evenings. Other than that not to mutch to say here. Only that I look forward to getting the other Captain and painting him up.

Pict 116: Iron Hills / Gundabad Objective Markers

Up next are the objective markers I build and now painted for the Iron Hills army. I'll be using them for the Gundabad army as well, but they don't quite fit, since I the bases for the Gundabad Army are more like a ruin. At first I wanted them do be Dol Guldur but I think now they might get some snow and be Ravenhill. So once I get the inspiration I might build other markers for the Gundabads.

Pict 117: Bill Ferny (eBob)

Pict 118: Bill Ferny (eBob)

Pict 119: Bill Ferny (eBob)

Pict 120: Bill Ferny (eBob)

To sum up the miniatures I painted this week, here is the creepy fellow mentioned in the title. It's the scoundrel miniature of eBob's townsfolk and not at all a Bill Ferny, resident of Bree and collaborator with Sauron in the Shire. I started with the other townspeople too and hope to use them in DnD since they don't really have a use in the Middle Earth SBG. Especially Butterbur will be usefull, when the party think they should start a barfight.

Pict 121: Gundabad Ogres (WIP)

And lastly for today: a work in progress picture of the two Gundabad Ogres. I really like them in game although I need some more practice with them - they are great to throw warriors around, but once a hero gets to them, they are pretty much done for. The best thing about them by far is the character the miniatures posess. I tip my hat to the sculptor! I think I might get two more (as they are needed for the scenarios) and the thought of having four of them in one army is as bad as it is hillarious.