Vexed Again

 And It was all Going so Well

Well it was obviously to good to last  and the next figure I tried to paint with Hexwraith flame went horribly wrong tonight. I have been trying different colours as base colours. The greys and buff colours seem to work well as base colours with this type of technical paint. 

So I tried more brighter under colour, yellow. Which I thought would work well with the green of the Hexwraith flame but just seemed to lose any contrast. Ironically the more stark grey has kept the contrast and taken the paint better.  I will let it dry and before I decide what to do next. 

Looks better in the picture!
Trust me on this one. 

On the High Seas

On the other hand, at least the Scale 75 Cobalt Alchemy metallic paint has come out better this time. I didn't use any silver in the highlight and as a consequence the metals have retained their bluish tint. These vintage high elves seems to be going a sea elf direction but this fits the shell style helmet and nautical dress style. 

Ahoy Captain!

Rob 

Evil Minions, Glowing Undead & Auroch Hunts

 Skeleton Champion

After really enjoying painting up the Dead Men of Dunharrow, I did have a look around the lead/plastic/resin pile for something else to paint in the same style. And came up with the Prodos Games Fae – Skeleton champion, I am not really how he fits into the Fae set but is a really nice figure which I have been puzzling about how to him paint for some time. Anyway after the Dead Men, I thought he would be be a suitable candidate. 

I also tried a bit of source lighting from the green skin (which is the first time I have tried this technique) but I don't  think it really shows up in the pictures. But was much more successful that my attempts at Zenithal highlighting (Zenithal Highlighting). Still enjoying using this technique so will have to find some more figures to paint. 

I think he could end up being an undead or chaos champion for either army. 

Evil Minions of Lord Vassago

I thought it was time to have look at these guys on mass. I still have about the half of the Oathmark Goblins to complete and forgot to add the Wyvern. But Lord Vassago's evil horde is nearly ready for Thistlewood. 

The First Hunt

Also managed to complete the first hunt with the Crow tribe as they hunt an old Bull Auroch. In a game of Paleo Hunt - Eat or be Eaten. Quick battle report to follow.

Rob 

ME-72 Dead Men of Dunharrow - Finished

One of Those little Most Wanted Projects Done

As expected, a quick session was enough to finish the bases. 

 Now back to the Thistlewood goblins (or maybe something else)...

Rob 

ME-72 Dead Men of Dunharrow

 Its Time to Get Technical 

My classic Dead Men of Dunharrow arrived today and they pushed their way immediately to the front of the painting queue. This is one of those sets, I have been after for a while and never seemed to get one at the right price until last week. I was reminded to start looking again after reading Goblin Lee's post (Goblin Lee's Dead Men of Dunharrow Horsemen. It also got me thinking about colour schemes after I won the auction. 

So rather than go down the zombie route, I decided to go for a more ethereal look. Plus I wanted to give the Hexwraith Flame technical paint another go. I have only it used a couple of times and have not really been impressed by the outcome. 

So they ended up with a very quick (but pleasing) paint job with Hexwraith Flame for the non-metallic parts, Agrax Earthshade on the metallics. With other Citadel shades applied directly over the Hexwraith flame to add contrast on items like the hair and cloth. Once dry, I lightly dry brushed  from the top down with an off-white.  The shabby (and patchy) buff colour which was already on the miniatures provided a very good undercoat. 

Stage 0 - As they arrived

Stage 1 - Washes and shading

Stage 1 - Armour detail

Stage 2 - Lightly dry brushed with off white

Since it was an evening to use paints I haven't used much recently, I used Stirland mud on the bases (instead of my usual coarse sand and Agrax Earthshade. Obviously I couldn't finish the bases tonight but I probably will want to add a second coat of Stirland mud as I don't usually find one coat has enough definition. 

The Dead men along side a classic Barrow wight

The Barrow wight is painted using the Citadel instructions for Dead men of Dunharrow from the films!

In fact I really liked the end result and so might have to get some more Dead men to paint up. Finally learning to like these technical paints. 

Rob 

One Question Answered (Sort of)

 One Upness with High Elves

Following my earlier comments Nike Elf Maid, it only seems sensible to get some more of these excellent Aly Morrison high elves and check them out. And as you can see both the race and the character type is stamped on the base. Now I still haven't seem this double ID on any other early Citadel minis. So I assume they just did for the high elves and gave up. But was a thing on the high elves. 

High Elf Thief

Rob

Rusty Chainmail

The Low Standard of Goblin Kit Inspection

Back to a few more goblins after the caveman hunters. 

I have been trying a different technique to distress goblin's armour to make them look suitably poor quality. I have been painting the armour with Citadel's Warlock Bronze followed by a wash of Citadel's Agrax  Earthshade and finally dried brushed with chainmail. I think this gives them a rusty look without making them too dark. 

Sorry not a great picture!

First of the group bases

Rob 

Two Fellowships

More Oldhammer & Modern Fellowship Figures

Boromir is not the first Fellowship figure where I have both Oldhammer and modern versions.  

Something Old

Something New (ish)

Something Elvish

The paint job on the modern Legolas is definitely my favourite of the two (although is about fifteen years old and battle worn) and the Oldhammer one may end up in the paint stripper. 

And Two Gandalfs

Two of my favourite Gandalf's, the modern one is a classic from the battle of Balin's tomb and the Oldhammer one shows Gandalf as the wandering wizard. Very different styles but each with really skilful sculpting. 

Rob 

Boromir of Gondor (Again)

Captain of the White Tower

I have been looking for this version of Boromir for some time  and my previous Oldhammer Boromir (Boromir of Gondor) was bought as part of my attempt to put together an Oldhammer fellowship. As I am not very keen on all of the the actual Oldhammer fellowship figures in the set. I think they were done by different sculptors working in very different styles. 

So had stopped looking for this version of Boromir after I got the previous one and then came across him on unrelated search at a reasonable price.  Work on the Thistlewood goblins also continues. 

Clan of the Cave Bear

Finished off the first of the hunters. The cave bear was a Poundshop special (Cave Bear). Which at first I thought was a bit big. However a quick search online uncovered the North American short-faced bear.   Which is an extinct bear genus that inhabited North America from  ~2.5 Mya until 10,000 years ago (So present in the time of modern humans). Considered to be one of the largest known terrestrial mammalian carnivorans that has ever existed. Rangier and longer legged than any bear today, it was about five feet at the shoulders when walking and stood as tall as 12 feet on its hind legs. It was thought it could run at up to 40 mph. So even running away would be a problem!

Rob 

More Paleo-Hunters

 Conan's Ancestor

Work continues to alternate between painting the goblins  and creating a small tribe of paleo-hunters. With two archers (no conversion needed) plus the three I have converted. I now have enough for a hunting party. 

This figure has obviously been down the pre-historic gym quite a bit. So I wanted to tone him down a bit, so gave him a poncho along with a larger fur loin cloth to hide some more modern items. However, he is still head and shoulders above the leader from the first post. 

The problem with the Grenadier barbarians is that a lot of them have shields making them difficult candidates for the pre-historic life. But I did manage to convert this one. I chopped a little bit off the bottom of the axe shaft and added it to the top to give the axe a paleo make-over. 

Rob 

Let the Hunt Begin

 Mammoth is Back on the Menu

I was recently gifted a (Grenadier) barbarian horde by a generous friend who is downsizing his collection. However, a number of  unpainted barbarians lurked at the bottom of the box and I thought they would make a fun caveman hunting party for a game like Paleo-Hunt : Eat or be Eaten. Which is a little game that I have fancied at having a go at for a little while. I would only need a small hunting party (such as five hunters). Prey may be a bit harder to get  but I could use some 2d cardboard ones to give the game a try.  

Anyway, here is my hunting chief. A quick bit of chopping to remove the sword and metal parts of the horn. Plus a bit of green stuff to hide the chainmail loin cloth and tidy up the horn. The metal wire came from a Champagne bottle last Christmas (It is important to always spot these Hobby opportunities). 

Rob 

Boromir of Gondor

 Alternate Colour Scheme

Definitely not a copy of the film colour scheme. But I am quite please how he turned out. I may add a design to the shield. But I quite like it plain at the moment. 

It's a great sculpt and  it wouldn't surprise to find out that it was sculpted by Mark Copplestone or Perry twins. 

"...You Did What I Could Not."

"It Is A Strange Fate That We Should Suffer So Much Fear And Doubt 

Over So Small A Thing."

Doing what Boromir does

The Two Elephants in the Room

When talking about Boromir, two topics are likely to come up: 

Boromir on Film 

Sean Bean - Obviously!

An excellent choice for Boromir on screen in my view obviously. One of the key casting choices that convinced me at the time that Peter Jackson could do a good job  and got the source material. The other great casting choice was Christopher Lee. Most of the rest of the main cast at the time were relatively unknown. So it was hard to tell what the direction the films would take before the first film came out. 

An older modern Boromir. 

My Boromir was painted shortly after the figure came out so I suppose nearly twenty years ago .  With 6 points of Might and 3 Attacks, he saved the day on many occasions. As Citadel's LotR game has been a regular feature of my gaming since the films came out. 

The 1978 version by Ralph Bakshi

Never got the pseudo-viking look. But the film was a valiant attempt to do epic in animated feature. 

The Death of Boromir

Its hard not to mention Boromir and not to think of his final battle at the breaking of the fellowship. 

The Last Words of Boromir by Ted Naismith

The Death of Boromir by Inger Edelfeldt.

The second picture is from the 1985 Tolkien Calendar which I had (have?).

And finally my favourite  quote:  "What is this new devilry?" 

Rob