Challenge Submission #20 - The Final Stop of the Challenge Quadrant

 

My last submission for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XII was a gathering of Lord of the Rings figures, both Good and Evil. Some of these had been in the painting queue for several years, while others were recent purchases to add to the collection. All were painted in my usual style, starting with a coat of black primer, followed by Vallejo acrylics, and then a mix of ink washes and/or highlights until I got the look I wanted. May they be deemed worthy of the Final Challenge.

The first group is a trio of Orc Trackers that have been in the 'PENDING' box for a number of years. These appear in the Barad-dûr section of the latest version of the Armies of Middle Earth manual, but now seem to be out of production. In addition to their role as trackers, they will also be useful to depict dismounted Warg riders.

 

 

Next up are the three Orc Captains, Gorbag, Grishnákh, and Shagrat (holding Frodo's mithril shirt). Like the Orc Trackers, they have also been in the 'PENDING' box for a while. These appear in the army lists in the Mordor section.

 

Gorbag, Grishnákh, and Shagrat

Shagrat, Grishnákh, and Gorbag

The last of the Evil characters is an Orc Shaman, who also appears in the Barad-dûr section of the latest version of the Middle Earth army lists. He looks pretty badass with his collection of skulls. This is another metal figure that I have had for a while. A plastic version of the figure is available from Games Workshop as a boxed set which includes one mounted on a Warg.

 

The first group for the Good side are three leaders of the Ithilien Rangers - Faramir, Captain of Gondor, Madril, Captain of Ithilien, and Damrod, Ranger of Ithilien. These are a very recent purchase and came as a blister containing all three figures. They will be ready to command the company of Rangers that I painted last April.

 

Faramir, Madril, and Damrod

Damrod, Madril, and Faramir

 The last offering is Éowyn (as Dernhelm) and Meriadoc, Squire of Rohan. While I had already painted metal miniatures of Éowyn, I was so impressed by the newer plastic set of figures that another participant had submitted for the Challenge, I just had to buy a box for myself. I especially liked the way Merry can be placed in front of Éowyn, or removed as the scenario requires. Not having any contrast paints in my arsenal, I used my usual technique of starting with a black primer, followed by Vallejo acrylics, with highlights and washes as needed to get the final result. Since the metal miniatures I had depicted Éowyn without a helmet, I went with the 'helmet on' version with the plastic set.

 

Éowyn with Merry

Éowyn with Merry

Éowyn without Merry

Éowyn without Merry

Éowyn and Merry on foot

Merry and Éowyn on foot

New plastic and old metal mounted Éowyn

Old metal and new plastic Éowyn on foot

 

This concluded my first year of participation in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. Congratulations to all my fellow Conscripts who took part. I am looking for next year's challenge, but more importantly, gaming with all our collective newly painted minis. Thanks for reading.

Rangers of Middle Earth

Unlike the majority of my recent Lord of the Rings projects that were secondhand minis bought off of eBay and refurbished, this one involved all new figures. The 'Damrod' figure was purchased new, but I had already based and primed years ago. The rest were from an unopened box of Games Workshop plastic Rangers of Middle Earth, and three blisters of now out of production metal figures that were marketed as 'Faramir's Rangers'.

 

The plastic figures were fairly clean with only a few having flash or mold lines that needed to be filed off. The box comes with a total of 24 rangers divided into 8 firing bows, 8 wielding swords, and 8 carrying spears, although those not firing bows have a bow slung across their backs. The nine metal figures were fairly equally divided into the four sculpts that were done back in the day, two standing and two kneeling, with each of those either wearing a hood and mask, or not. The plastic figures required minimal assembly. One pose comes with a spear and hand as a separated piece, but the rest have no separate parts. All were glued to their bases using either plastic model glue or epoxy as appropriate. Then a layer of fine sand was glued to the bases with PVA. Once everything was dry, all the figures were primed matte black using a rattle can. 

Looking at stills from the movies for inspiration, I found the colours worn by the Ithilien Rangers had considerable variety, but consisted mostly of dark greys, greens, and browns. Rather than trying to make things completely random, I decided on four different colour schemes, but mixed up the poses so that no two figures that had the same pose were painted exactly the same. The only unique figure was Damrod, which I painted using the images from the Games Workshop website as a guide.

 

All were painted using water-based acrylics, mostly Vallejo, followed by a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Quick Shade. Once the Quick Shade was dry, I painted the sand on the base dark brown, dry brushed with a lighter shade of brown, and then added the flocking, shrubs, and tufts of grass. The last step was to spray them with Rust-Oleum flat clear to take off the shine left by the coat of Quick Shade. Here is the final result.

Here is a close-up of the four different sculpts done of  the metal "Faramir's Rangers" to show the four different paint schemes used to paint all the rangers.

 

Having spent many years fighting Sauron's minions alongside Faramir with the wilds of Ithilien, Damrod is an experienced Ranger in his own right. As Sauron's armies advance, Damrod takes up his sword and bow in defence of Gondor as the forces of Mordor invade the ruined city of Osgiliath, in a futile attempt to drive them back.

 

I am currently on the hunt of minis of Madril, and Faramir as a ranger, to added some more Ranger heroes/captains to the force. Most of the online webstores don't seem to have them in stock anymore, despite them still being listed on the GW website.

Thanks for reading. Stay safe and healthy.