After leaving Rohan, I opted to head south to Gondor and paint up some defenders of Minas Tirith, specifically a dozen old school Knights of Minas Tirith, a mounted banner, 3 spearmen and 3 bowmen of the Citadel Guard, Beregond, Pippin from the Heroes of the West boxed set, a set of resin Gondor Commanders, a mounted Boromir, and Boromir as a Captain of the White Tower, all by Games Workshop.
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| "For Gondor!" |
The Knights of Minas Tirith and the mounted banner are the early version of these figures consisting of metal riders and plastic horses. They are a bit different from the more recent release from Games Workshop which have the riders equipped with shields, and pennons on their lances. The plastic horses come in two poses, identical to those of the Riders of Rohan, but with a different style of chanfron. I painted the horses in three different shades of brown using craft paints, changing the colours of the mane or adding socks to produce some additional variety. They were then given a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Quickshade. The riders' armour was painted with gunmetal followed by highlights of silver.
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| Knights of Minas Tirith with mounted banner |
Next is a group of Citadel Guard of Minas Tirith consisting of two 3-figure blisters, one of guardsmen with spears, and one of guardsmen with longbows, Beregond, a minor hero who can act as a bodyguard, and Peregrin Took, Guard of the Citadel. The Citadel Guard now come as a 6-figure set with three spears and three bows, rather than as seperate blisters. All of these are metal miniatures that were painted much like the Knights of Minas Tirith but with added gold trim, and cloaks that I painted using Payne's Grey acrylic paint. To do the bases, I covered them with a layer of squares made of thin card to resemble flagstones. This required trimming the strip at the bottom of the figure that is supposed to fit into the slot of the base to form pegs that would fit into drilled holes.
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| Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith |
Unlike all the preceding miniatures in this post, the next four are a relatively recent purchase and came as a set cast in resin. I can't say that I am a fan, especially when some of the poles, spears, or swords come out warped. They also required a lot of cleaning up, not just of mold lines, but all kinds of extra little wedge pieces that have to be carved away. The set is the Gondor Commanders box that consists of a warrior with a warhorn, a banner bearer, a Captain of Minas Tirith (stepping on a dead orc), and a Knight of the White Tower. They were painted using the same method as the rest of the figures. The bases for the warrior with warhorn, the banner bearer, and the captain are done up to resemble the rubble of Osgiliath or Minas Tirith during the siege.
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| Warhorn, Banner, Captain, and Knight of the White Tower |
The last two figures are different versions of Boromir, the first as a Captain of the White Tower in armour, and a mounted version dressed as he was for the journey to Rivendell. Both of these are metal miniatures, and they are still available from Games Workshop, although the version as a Captain of the White Tower comes as a three figure set that includes two models of Boromir on foot – one carrying a shield, the other with the famed banner of the White City – both of which are clad in heavy armour. The mounted version is also bedecked in heavy armour and comes with the option to assemble him with sword or banner held aloft. I bought mine as blisters many years ago when you could still get them separately. The armoured version of Boromir was painted much the same as the Gondor Commanders, while the mounted version used a lot of browns and washes on his fur cloak, and I tried to match the colours of earlier versions of Boromir that I had painted.
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| Boromir, son of Denethor |
This finishes off the last of my Minas Tirith minis. Thanks for reading. More to follow.
Grest figures Frederick!
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