One Third of a Wood Elf Arrmy

A Bit Slow Going

After a break of a couple of months, I finally managed to finish three wood elves on the last day of the month. To bring the army to just past the one-third mark. I still have to convert the Elven Lords but at least I have the models! On to the next two thirds. 

I have decided to paint up one the characters next to try and get a bit more momentum. 

More Tolkien Stuff from the Exhibition

I have to admit this is the first time I have seen this Chris Archilleos picture. 

Rob

Bilbo Wanders Off

I am Calling this One Done

As mentioned before it was a real struggle to get Bilbo finished which is why he has been sitting on the paint table for so long. The first three miniatures from the set practically leapt of the paint table finished to a standard I was quite happy with.  Anyway this just leaves Sam to complete the 80s ME-34 Hobbits from the Shire set.

Meanwhile at the Local Museum

The local museum in Chichester has a Tolkien exhibition on at the moment and I finally managed to pop in and take a look. The theme of the exhibition was really centred on how Tolkien's works have been portrayed over the years. I have tried to pull out a few items that stood out as new to me as much of the stuff I had seen before in various forms.

First off a few nice replica props

Proving that even Leonard Nimoy must have done a few drugs in the 60s - The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. 

Some classic Grenadier halflings.

A few action figures for the cartoon 'The Lord of the Rings'. 

Of course it makes me want to get the Fellowship figures out and try and get them out of Moria again. 

An actual first edition of the Hobbit

Rob

Return to Orcs Drift

Captain of Elf Guard at Orc's Drift

In between painting up Magua from Last of the Mohicans, I also found time to finish of Brommedir. Captain of the Elf Guard at Orcs Drift

Obviously had to include the excellent picture of Brommedir from the Orcs Drift boxed set by Gary Chalk. The character of Brommedir had a special instruction during the final scenario which is pretend to be deaf and make the Dwarven commander repeat any commands. Just to wind him/her up!

Copyright Games Workshop

Brommedir alongside some contemporary high elves.

I popped these two figures in this post, because I was impressed by the smoothness of the zenithal highlights and they fit the Oldhammer theme.  It might be a fairly basic airbrush but the results are pretty good. 

And finally got round to working on Bilbo, from the Hobbits of the Shire set. Some figures seem to almost paint themselves. This is not one of those miniatures. I couldn't paint one bit without getting paint on another bit!

Rob 

Matilda I & Comet

Size Does Matter in Tanks

I was lucky enough to go Tankfest at Bovington Tank museum yesterday and the exhibit that stood out to me. Was the comparison between the Matilda I and the Comet tanks and stark contrast between them. You can see the similarities between the Centurion and the Comet, which only serves to highlight the huge advancement in tank design during the war.  And when you think about the difference between the Panzer I and the King Tiger the contrast is even more stark. More photos to follow. 

Rob

Magua - Huron War Chief & Entwife

Finishing Stuff on a Friday

Finished off both the figures I have been working on this week. First is: Magua - Huron war chief and chief antagonistic from Last of the Mohicans. This model is with his war paint and tomahawk ready for battle. Hunting for Colonel Munro and his daughters. 

Second was the Entwife, which needed the base finishing off. After the leaf spiral around the dryad from last month, I decided to go for a similar effect as if she is summoning a whirlwind around herself. 

'When the Grey Hair is dead, Magua will eat his heart. Before he dies, Magua will put his children under the knife, so the Grey Hair will know his seed is wiped out forever.'

“God gave him enough, and yet he wants all. Such are the pale-faces.”

Entwife of the Dreadwood

Rob 

You Always Take It Too Far

And It Was All Going So Well

Overall  I was quite pleased with the progress on Magua but I though the skin colour was too light, so I had added a series of washes with Reikland flesh shade to try and darken the colour. After highlighting I decided that I needed one more light shade. So, added a 50/50 wash of Reikland flesh shade and clean water. And yes it did darken the colour a bit but also left these ugly white patches. Which I then had to cover up. Obviously the wash separated, I have diluted other washes before without incident but had pushed the dilution too far this time. 

Post white patches

'Magua understands that the white man is a dog to his women. When they are tired, he puts down his tomahawk to feed their laziness.' - Magua

With white patches

Magua against an original zenithal 

highlighted Huron brave

Rob 

Entwife of the Dreadwood

A Very Quick Finish

This Salute purchase only just got onto the paint queue today. As I was doing the next batch of airbrushing, and I decided to add her at the last minute which is why the base isn't even prepped. I usually do the airbrushing in batches to cut down on paint mixing and cleaning etc. This miniature is from Conquest miniatures and the mould is very crisp with very little flash (Unlike the Last of the Mohicans from Warlord games). 

Anyway, she looked really great after even the zenithal highlight and I was tempted to stop after I put the contrast paint on the leaves. 

Ok, so I did add a couple of washes and a bit of highlighting but she was done in about 45 minutes. Just the base left to finish. After doing the leaf storm on the last dryad, I have a couple of ideas. 

The Entwife alongside a Grenadier barbarian shaman. As you can see she is about 80mm tall. So stands above the rank and file.  And she will join the ever growing army of the Fae Queen. 

Rob