Two more Dwarven Royals and a bunch of Spooky Scary Skeletons

Only a little update today – I only managed to finish painting two miniatures, the missing Dwaves from my last post and then put on the base colours on some more Age of Sigmar miniatures.

Pict 1172: The Battle of Azanulbizar

Pict 1173: Thrór and Thráin II

Pict 1174: Thrór and Thráin II

Thrór and Thráin II will be the leaders of my Erebor dwarves. I have already experimented with allying Thrór with the younger Dáin and his Iron Hills dwarves for a hard-hitting Azanulbizar army and I'm looking forward to using Thráin as well.
Next up will have to be some more Dwarf Warriors!

Pict 1175: Sepulchral Guard and Wight King (WIP)

I also started once again on some more Undead miniatures, this time the rest of the Sepulchral Guard as well as the Wight King that was released at the tail end of Warhammer Fantasy. Again, they use the same colours as the Ulfenwatch, but the Wight King recieved a black cloak to set him apart from the normal warriors.

Pict 1176: Glaivewraith Stalkers (WIP)

At the same time, I also put the base colours and washes on these Glaivewraith Stalkers here. They might technically be from a different faction within the Death army, but I thought they should also fit in with my colour scheme. The spectral tendrils I found somewhat difficult, but for now the plan is to keep them mainly black and maybe even give them a coat of gloss varnish. We will see, how that turns out!

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.

Completing the Cursed City Box!

While the output of the past two weeks of painting is not that big in absolut figures, I finally managed to paint Dagnai Holdenstock, the last missing piece for my Cursed City box. This warrented a longer photo session to get all the models together in one place. I also painted my Troll Chieftain and even got to play some games with him.

Pict 1132: The Cursed City Completed

I really love how the set looks when all the models are put together. Seeing a coherent collection like this is really one of the joys of the hobby! I also took the time to collect the basic recipes I used on the Undead from the box into one of my recipes.

Pict 1133: Dagnai Holdenstock

Pict 1134: Dagnai Holdenstock

Pict 1135: Dagnai Holdenstock

And here is Dagnai – I'm very happy to have him at a stage where I can call him finished even if he's not quite up to par with the other heroes. I found the steampunk aesthetic not really to my liking for a fantasy setting. Selecting the areas to paint different shades of metalics was quite hard but now he's ready to loot the Cursed City!

Pict 1136: Mordor Troll Chieftain (Repose)

Pict 1137: Mordor Troll Chieftain (Repose)

Pict 1138: Mordor Troll Chieftain (Repose)

I also painted the Mordor Troll Chieftain. He was a really quick paintjob and already has two games under his belt. Of course I did not quite know how to use him most effectively so there will have to be a few more games still!

New Year, New Projects

These past two weeks, I spent pretty firmly in Middle-earth. Not only did I paint a lone Rohan Royal Guard, I also started a new branch of my Mordor army following a Black Gate theme. I painted up the Mouth of Sauron and started converting two Mordor Troll Chieftains.
After all that I did also have some time to finish the ArcWorlde Mjowls and Brutogg the Ogre from Cursed City.

Pict 1116: The Mouth of Sauron attacked by a Rohan Royal Guard

Pict 117: The Mouth of Sauron

Pict 118: The Mouth of Sauron

The Mouth of Sauron painted up very fast following my usual Nazgûl scheme and adding different highlights to the cloth. He seems like an interesting character to play. He'll be the magic user for my Black Gate force and I hope for some good synergies with the two big monsters!

Pict 1119: Mordor Troll Chieftain (Repose)

Pict 1120: Mordor Troll Chieftain (Repose)

Pict 1121: Mordor Troll Chieftain (Repose)

Pict 1122: Mordor Troll Chieftain (Repose)

Continuing on with the Black Gate army I converted these two Mordor Troll chieftains. The first one (really just a repose) was a raffle prize from the christmas stream of Battle Strams in Middle-earth and kickstarted the whole project.

Pict 1123: Mordor Troll Chieftain Conversion (Duel with Aragorn Elessar)

The second one is a bit more involved. He's an eBay rescue and was missing the left arm and his head but came with replacement bits from the plastic Mordor Troll. At first I wanted to have him standing on the rock from the Wild Warg Chieftain I still have from my White Warg. But when heroichighlights' diorama contest came up on Instagram, I decided to replicate that duel from the end of The Return of the King and have Aragorn Elessar crushed underfoot! Right now the main pose is sketched out – Aragorn is alredy lying down but I will still change both his arms to have him stab the Troll's toe with his elven dagger. And of course there is quite a lot of gap filling and sculpting of armour plates left to do!

Pict 1124: Rohan Royal Guard

This mounted Rohan Royal Guard was a quick project for a bit more than and evening. He was painted during the first Battle Stream of the year. The stream was themed around the 40th issue of the Battle Games in Middle-earth magazine. Incidentally you got a mounted Rohan Royal Guard with the issue if you were subscribed back then and that was a good excuse to paint up one more from my drawer of Rohan cavalery.

Pict 1125: The White Council

Pict 1126: Amon Hen

Since I was in build mode after converting the Trolls, I also put together some new models that I want to paint within the next few months. Among them are the beautiful White Council, that was made to order late last year as well as the ForgeWorld Amon Hen (too big for my lightbox of course!). Once again gap filling to do, but I hope it will paint up quickly since it's mainly just ruined stone and ground texture.

Pict 1127: Brutogg Corpse-Eater

Pict 1128: Brutogg Corpse-Eater

Pict 1129: Brutogg Corpse-Eater

Brutogg Corpse-Eater was one of the models I looked forward to the most out of all the Cused City box. He's not only an amazing Ogre miniature with a great pose but really tells a story with all the additional bits he's lugging around such as a procelain jug (what could be in it?) and substitude weapons (you can never have to many!). The best details have to be his face and the shoulder pad making him look right at home in the Old World as a Maneater.

Pict 1130: ArcWorld Mjowls

These cute little cat/owl chimeras named Mjowls were started back in April shortly before Cursed City took over my painting projects. Now they finally got the highlights they deserve and can get up to some mischief annoying the Wildelves and Halfings in the ArcWorlde shelf of my cabinet.

Pict 1131: Dagnai Holdenstock (WIP)

And lastly here is another WIP picture. Dagnai Holdenstock is the last hero from the Cursed City. I was not really inspired by the steam punk dwarf aesthetic and found it quite difficult to decide on the colours. Now he's had the washes done, hopefully I don't take to much time highlighting.