A Whole Bunch of Uruk-Hai

I had quite productive weeks since I posted my look back at last year and my resolutions. I focused on getting paint on more Uruk-Hai and played two games with them as well. But I also got to some other odds and ends!

Pict 807: Uruk-Hai Army

Pict 808: Uruk Hai Commanders (Lurtz, Captain, Scout Captain)

Pict 809: Uruk Hai Commanders (Lurtz, Captain, Scout Captain)

First up are the Uruk-Hai heroes I had started in the old year and that were quite quick to finish. I'm pretty happy with the faces and how the eyes turned out, especially with the two versions of Lurtz.

Pict 810: Uruk-Hai Siege Troops

Pict 811: Uruk-Hai Siege Troops

The next thing, I started were some Uruk-Hai siege troops. The models aremade from plastic and came out in January of 2003 (!). Painted up like this and in a group, they still look quite good. You do have to guess at some of the details however and while they painted up rather quickly, I'm not looking forward to painting more Uruk-Hai plastics.

Pict 812: Feral Uruk-Hai

Pict 813: Feral Uruk-Hai

Pict 814: Mauhur's Marauders Command

Pict 815: Mauhur's Marauders Command

I then started to work on the next six Feral Uruk-Hai as well as a Scout Uruk with Banner and an Uruk Drummer. Once they had the base colours and washed applied I got to play two games with my Isengard army as it stands right now. Of course those games went against Rohan armies styled for Helm's Deep! I found myself slaughtered both times since that Rohan / Lothlorien alliance with lots of throwing spears really dishes out shots that I couldn't respond to. I had fun nonetheless and the games got me pumped to expand my Uruk Collection with some bow-wielding Scouts. And of course I found the time to finish the models since that might have been an issue too – I'm sure I'd have had more luck if all my models were highlighted and based as well!

Pict 816: The Ringbearers (invisible)

One fun little project I picked up while gaming are these invisible versions of some Ringbearers. The models are event exclusive by ForgeWorld and my opponent picked them up for me at the end of last year. Of course they were finished quite quickly since there is not much to be done exept for the bases, but they look quite nice and I look forward to using them in games when putting on the One Ring with the corresponding models.

Pict 817: Sekban, Naval Group (WIP)

And since I also want to get ahead with my painting in the Infinity universe, I started to work on the five Sekban. I really like the look of them even if I don't plan on using them in any games soon. Before putting them together, I didn't realise that (excluding the Rocket Launcher) there are only two types of bodies with differing weapons even though I had looked at pictures of them pretty much since I started playing the game!

The Butterfly's Tally 2019 - Haqqislam Army Showcase

This post will be mostly a look at the Haqqislam collection I managed to paint up last year. After that I will take a look back at what else I did for the hobby in 2019, adding in the last few models that managed to get added to the tally during the last two days of the year. And of course I will check back with my resolutions for 2019 and will formulate new ones for 2020.

Pict 796: Haqqislam Army 2019

Pict 797: Haqqislam Light Infantry 2019

Pict 798: Haqqislam Medium Infantry 2019

Pict 799: Haqqislam Heavy Infantry 2019

Pict 800: Haqqislam Skirmishers 2019

Pict 801: Infinity Characters 2019

Pict 802: Infinity Miscallaneous 2019

For this Showcase of the miniatures I painted for Infinity I started with an overview. Always nice to get a whole army out and take a group photo. You can't really make out any details however so I picked out some of my favourites to photograph in groupings according to their troop types.

Pict 803: The Hobby Tally 2019

And with those all added I can happily declare the Tally for 2019: I painted 204 miniatures in total and bought 254 new ones. I still managed to put quite a dent in my to do pile because I sold a bunch of projects that did not excite me any longer as well as some miniatures that didn't see the battlefield in some time (mainly 40k...). Thus my tally will also include 481 models that I sold or gave away to friends.

Pict 804: Dungeons and Dragons / Critical Role Miniatures 2019

I painted quite an array of miniatures for Dungeons and Dragons. Of course there are quite a few of Steam Forged Games' Critical Role Miniatures and Gale Force 9's Collector's Series. But the miniatures by Darksword are all pretty amazing and of course the Unicorn by Reaper was quite an achivement at the end of the year!

Pict 805: Middle-earth Miniatures 2019

And here is a selection of Middle-earth models from last year. I had almost forgotten that I painted Tom Bombadil, Goldberry and the paralysed Hobbits, but the set is really quite nice. Golfimul and Grishnák will have to stand for the Mordor Orcs I painted and Halbarad for the Dúnedain. And of course one more picture from Arda that stands out is the new banner!

Pict 806: Infinity ToDo 2020

Well if I want to measure my success in accomplished resolutions, I have to say that 2019 was not that great. I only managed to fullfill two: I painted 32 D&D miniatures and I go ahead and count the Haqqislam army as a success as well. I did not paint the armies for the Middle-earth SBG I wanted to (Rivendell / Evil Men of the East / Osgiliath Ruins). And I once again bought more models than I painted... Still, I am quite happy with what I did this last year. I'm quite proud of my Infinity Collection and the varitey I painted for Dungeons and Dragons. ME SBG was not really my main system and thus I did not have the impetus to paint the models I thought were next on my to-do pile at the start of the year.

As for resolutions for 2020, I want to finish to paint all of the models I currently own for my Infinity armies (right now that's 40). For the Middle-earth SBG, I want to paint up some more Uruks, say to a playable level of 600 points. For my D&D collection I want to concentrate on the Critical Role miniatures and paint 25 overall. And of course I want to try again to paint more than I buy...

As far as blogging goes, last year I already had the idea to go for one post every two weeks. However I went for a more erratic schedule. Sometimes posting every week while other times missing three weeks in a row. For 2020 I want to stick to a regular schedule of a post every other week in order to not stress me out to much during those streches where there is little time for the hobby.

And with that I wish every reader a happy new year and a good year to do some hobbying!

Uruk-Hai Sledgehammer

I got to painting the Uruk-Hai Berserkers this past week and after having finished them I went right ahead with some Feral Uruk-Hais. I then finished Avicenna and the Hassassin Ragiks I had left over from the week prior to last.

Pict 787: Uruk-Hai Sledgehammer

Pict 788: Uruk-Hai Berserkers

Pict 789: Uruk-Hai Berserkers

These Berserkers have a really iconic look to them. You instantenously know that they are the ones responsible for blowing up the Deeping Wall of Helm's Deep. And you know that they are going to wreak some havoc with those two-handed swords. I'm not quite sure how this menacing look translates to the battlefield, but I'm keen to try! The models painted up rather quickly since they are not much more than some metals and leathers and quite a bit of skin. I'm really happy how the different symbols of the Hand of Saruman turned out. They add to the repeat poses and make them a bit more unique.

Pict 790: Feral Uruk-Hai

Pict 791: Feral Uruk-Hai

After finishing the Berserkers so quickly I got to work on a batch of Feral Uruk-Hai. They are quite similar to the Berserkers but wield two handweapons instead of one big one. Since they are a creation by GW, they feel somewhat out of place in the Lord of the Rings line with their bolted on armour pieces and their piercings. But incidentally the former design choice foreshadows Bolg's and the Keeper's weird armour.
The Ferals and the Berserkers both have two attacks a piece and should destroy anything once close up and since they are the start and core of my Isengard army, I decided to name it the Uruk-Hai Sledgehammer!

Pict 792: Avicenna, Mercenary Doctor

As for Infinity the Game, I finished Avicenna the Mercenary Doctor who is playable in several NA2 armies as well as the Hassassin Bahram. But I think she will only see play once I get more Govads for her to join in a linkteam.

Pict 793: Hassassin Ragiks

Pict 794: Hassassin Ragiks

And here are the four Ragiks I was missing from my collection. They were painted in the usual way and as ever I'm quite happy with the result. They should be pretty much the last few miniatures of 2019 and I'm planing to do a showcase of my army for next week's post to recall what I painted and make plans for the new year!

Pict 795: Uruk-Hai Captain and Lurtz (WIP)

Last but not least, here is the last WIP for 2019 - two Uruk-Hai Captains and two versions of Lurtz. The latter really got a nice boost in this last edition and I look forward to using him!

Old Maghariba Guard (Herbie the Love Bug)

This past week I managed to finish the work on my Maghariba Guard model (naming him Herbie the Love Bug). But with the new expansion War in Rohan by GW for the Middle-earth SBG, I just had to get started on an Isengard army that I had planed for some years now.

Pict 784: Maghariba Guard

Pict 785: Maghariba Guard

I really love this old model for the Maghariba Guard - the round shapes and the bodyplan of a bug are a unique design. I went for a rather simple paintscheme with my usual colors but with lots of the glowy bits. I'll count it as a finished model even though the base is still missing - the 70mm diameter is a bit unusual and I'll have order one but haven't got around to it.

Pict 786: Uruk-Hai Berserkers (WIP)

And here's a quick WIP of a start on an Isengard army. As I said in the first paragraph, the new supplement has given me a good excuse to finally go ahead on this army after some time of planing and collecting the models. The Uruk-Hai Berserkers are some iconic models and felt like a good (and easy enough) start to test out how I want to paint them.

Silverhorn the Unicorn on Displaybase

This week I managed to finish Silverhorn the unicorn on it's display base from last week and started to work on some more Haqqislam miniatures including a few Ragiks as well as the big bug.

Pict 767: Silverhorn, Unicorn

Pict 768: Silverhorn, Unicorn

Pict 769: Silverhorn, Unicorn

Pict 780: Silverhorn, Unicorn

Pict 781: Silverhorn, Unicorn

As I said last week, I went back to the shadows especially around the chest and the belly but also where the head meets the neck. I also lightened the rocks and treestumps on the base to set them apart from the substrate and the black plinth. But what really gives the miniature it's live is the greenery. The leaves threw a last wrench into my progress since at first they were way to bright. I now toned them way down and am pretty happy with the result!

Pict 782: Avicenna, Hassassins Ragik (WIP)

These Ragiks are the next few miniatures I want to paint for my Haqqislam. The hacker option seems really great since it is able to achive a majority of the classified objectives that are quite important in the current mission we play in our league. Avicenna might not get played much but I wanted to add a new mercenary as well.

Pict 783: Maghariba Guard (WIP)

 And here is my start on the one TAG Haqqislam has available to them, the Maghariba Guard. It's the old model that's inspired by the shape of a beetle. The new one is awsome as well and I'm pretty sure I'll get it sometime but I imagine there will always be a place in my heart for this cubby little six-legged mech.

Doing something different / Pushing myself

This week I went ahead with a different sort of project: painting to a high standart and pushing my skills as a painter.

Pict 764: Silverhorn, Unicorn (WIP)

I picked a unicorn made by Reaper Miniatures they call Silverhorn. I decided on a unicorn early on to practice shading and highlighting on the larger areas but still paint a fantasy miniature and not just a horse. Nevertheless I spent quite some time looking at pictures of horses, especially eyes of horses... I also knew that I wanted to try and do a display base to frame the miniature and decided to go for a forested area.

Pict 765: Unicorn Display Base (WIP)

And that's how far I've gotten with the base for now. I'm pretty happy with the forest substrate - I wetblended three different browns, keeping everything darker towards what's going to be the back of the base. To pull it all back together I drybrushed some brighter colours and added spots of a green wash. The rocks look ok, but I think I will have to brighten them some more.
The trees however will have to get completely reworked. I want the rest of the base to be black which I hadn't considered when painting the trees. And now they don't stand out at all... I might just got for birch trees but I fear that this might not achive the framing effect I had in mind for the unicorn. And of course I will have to put on some greenery and model leaves!

Pict 766: Silverhorn, Unicorn (WIP)

Pict 767: Silverhorn, Unicorn (WIP)

The unicorn itself is also pretty far along. I wanted to use very limited amounts of washes since I usually depend on them rather heavily. I only used a wash on the longer hair like the mane and the tail. The main parts of the fur were done using many layers of very diluted paint. I'm pretty happy with the effect of highlights and texture I managed but I still want to deepen the shadows some more and after that I assume I will have to touch up the other blends a bit.

Ghulams and Bounty Hunters

I spentmore time painting some rather old Infinity miniatures: four of the earlies Ghulam Infantry figures that were released for the game. I also managed to finish the Halfling Quesnef and then got to work on some more Mercenaries for my foray into the NA2 – Domovoi, the Dogwarrior from the Outrage manga and a start on the Authorized Bounty Hunter on bike.

Pict 753: Ghulam and Mercenaries

Pict 754: Ghulam Infantry

Pict 755: Ghulam Infantry

The three Ghulam Infantry with rifle and light shotgun are from the first Haqqislam Starter set realeased sometime in 2007 (?). They are part of the game's history and still look all right but as I said in my last post the faces are pretty comical ad the poses are a bit stiff. The doctor with her MediKit falls in the same category but I like the pose of her reloading.

Pict 756: Domovoi

Pict 757: Domovoi

Vania 'Domovoi' Nevsky is a Dogface from Ariada and thus I hat the chance to again go for different colours. I incorporated the beige kneepads as a nod to my Haqqislam but overall went for a more contemporary look. His face really shows what you can do in digital sculptig - I love the angry look barring his teeth and it was a joy to paint. He's not on the base he comes with since I don't like the way he overlaps the 25mm size and thus was promoted to a 40mm base. He might get some playtime as McMurrough but I really want to paint that model as well so that Domovoi might be only a character piece I painted for myself.

Pict 758: Authorized Bounty Hunter (Bike)

Pict 759: Authorized Bounty Hunter (Bike)

Pict 760: Authorized Bounty Hunter (Tactical Rock)

Pict 761: Authorized Bounty Hunter (Tactical Rock)

And here is my start on the first Authorized Bounty Hunter. I'm going to need quite a few of them to play Dashat, since they can mix into any fireteam. Corvus Belli sells this one with a bike but I separated and magnetised them since they are not certain to get the bike on the Booty Lvl. 2 table. Additionally I now have a cool bike for the next time one of my Ghazi finds one in a panoply!

Pict 762: Quesnef, Halfling Form

Pict 763: Quesnef, Halfling Form

Since I showed a WIP in my last post, there was not that much left to do with this nice little halfling. With his green coat he now looks a bit to much like a leprachaun, but I'm happy with him nonetheless.