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.

Challenge Submission #13 - A Handful of Special Challenge Targets

 One of the features of this year's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is the Challenge Quadrant, consisting of three rings of planets surrounding a central star, each planet representing a special theme for the figures to be painted. Here are some of those special figures that I completed in late January and early February.

 The figures of Gandalf the White on foot and mounted on Shadowfax are the older Games Workshop Lord of the Rings castings. I have included Gandalf the Grey in the photos for the 'Before' and 'After' comparison.

A Canadian Churchill tank at Dieppe -Churchill Mk III T68696 'CAT' is a repainted 1/50 Solido diecast model I acquired from a friend. It was originally painted in a desert yellow/olive green striped camouflage pattern for service in Tunisia, but I wanted it to match another Solido Churchill that I had that depicted 'Cheetah' (shown in the background). So the 'tank from Tunisia' was repainted using Vallejo Dark Earth, and then the vehicle name, numbers, etc. painted on freehand.

 A legionary of early Imperial Rome, equipped with lorica segmentata, gladius, and scutum. This is a 28mm plastic figure that came as a sample years ago with an issue of Wargames Illustrated. I was never sure what to do with it, and thought I might use it as a gladiator in our 'local arena'. I'm glad I had it on hand for one of the stops on the Challenge Quadrant.

 A Eurasian Solar Union SAW gunner from Ground Zero Games and a Rebel Commando from West End Games. Both date from the mid to late 1990's. I have painted them up in the colour scheme for the Ral Partha Galactic Grenadiers figures I use as 'Planetary Militia'. In the past I have used both GZG and WEG minis to augment the variety of poses and weapons in my squads.

 

 A 54mm miniature from the Scale Link Ltd. WW1 Grand Guerre range, which depicts a British or Canadian infantryman advancing at the 'Trail Arms' position with fixed bayonet, and his Small Box Respirator worn at the 'Alert' position. He is identified as a member of the 27th Battalion CEF by the blue circle over a blue rectangle on his shoulder. The figure was painted using Vallejo acrylics, followed by some Games Workshop washes. Finally some AK Interactive Spattereffects 'Wet Mud' was applied to areas like knees and elbows. 

  Two 'old school' 25mm Star Wars figures from West End Games depicting Princess Leia Organa as she appeared in 'A New Hope' and 'Return of the Jedi'. Again, these are painted using Vallejo acrylics with GW washes on the faces and hands, and to produce the camouflage pattern on the poncho.

 These special challenges have been very useful in clearing out some of the miniatures that have been lingering in the 'PENDING' box for some time.

Thanks for reading.

Painting Challenge Submission 13 - To The King!

Erkenbrand and Eomer lead the Riders of Rohan to war!

Another Painting Challenge submission. Recall that, in terms of the "Challenge XII Quadrant Map", I had arrived on Arda. The theme for this planet called for something "Tolkeinesque" - here are a group of Riders of Rohan from GW's "Lord of the Rings" figure line. The Riders are lead by Eomer, Marshall of the Rittermark, and Erkenbrand, Lord of the Westfold. They are mostly plastic, but there are a couple of metal castings in the lot, as well as one "Finecast" (which still sucks!) figure.

I can hear you asking "Hey, Greg, didn't you have these guys already? I mean, you painted Erkenbrand back in 2019, right?" Well yes...without making the story too long, some folks may recall I moved house in 2020. That was quite the process, it all happened a bit suddenly, and required some hard decisions when in came to my large collection of figures. Some parts of the collection had to go...and one of those was my Riders of Rohan, who were sold to a new hobby home.

Some of the regular warriors, mounted and ready to fight for Rohan!

The whole move was not easy, but it got done (and many friends, contributors to this blog, were critical to that - thank you!). But wow, did I find that, as I unpacked my stuff, I regretted selling those Riders of Rohan. I had enjoyed so many great games of "Lord of the Rings" over the years with my friends, and I missed seeing those riders on the shelves. The ache was accentuated by the Painting Challenge, which would feature many great submissions of LOTR figures. For example, last year Dallas did an awesome run of LOTR stuff. This year, a number of Challenge participants are continuing the trend. 

I tried to shrug and say "oh, well, need to stick with my decision." But that didn't work...this year, I cracked, and did that dumb thing that we hobby people do sometimes: I ordered replacements to re-start my Riders of Rohan collection! 

Erkenbrand, on foot and mounted - figure from GW.

Of course, things have changed over the years - GW still makes the LOTR figures, and broadly supports the game and the range, but many figures that were once metal are no longer available as metal castings. Erkenbrand is now "Finecast". The plastic-resin of "Finecast" was rightly reviled when it came out, and it still sucks @ss today - the sword on the foot version of Erkenbrand here was drooped like a noodle, and even after a LOT of effort and boiling water, the sword it still not fully straight. Let's hope the Lord of the Westfold stays mounted...

Eomer, mounted and on foot - plastic kit from GW.

The new plastic Eomer is tricky to assemble, but just a stunning figure.

Then Eomer, who used to be a metal casting, is no longer available as a metal casting - he is, in fact, a multi-part plastic model. This brings some frustrations to someone like me. For example, the head was TWO parts, for a single 28mm figure, WTF??? But on the whole, the benefits outweigh the problems by a large margin.While I really like the previous metal Eomer, this plastic one is amazing. The pose is incredible, you get options for heads and weapons. The horse is customized, and because both horse and rider are plastic, you avoid another issue...

Generic Rohan command, mounted. These are metal figures on plastic horses, held up on the base by one leg...f*ck...

Generic Rohan command figures on foot. Note the finial on the standard was a mis-cast...oh well. These guys shouldn't be on foot too much anyway!

...and this will be familiar to many hobbyists already. GW is prone to brain cramps, and they had a major one when they designed the plastic horses for the LOTR range. These horse are bound to the base by a single, thin leg! This is the height of stupidity, and makes things tough - for example, the generic command figure and banner-carrier are both metal figures, and the single, thing, plastic leg is holding them all up. This is idiocy...but it is all we have to work with, so, prayers to the hobby gods...

A selection of plastic Riders.

I also want to thank Curt for his help in figuring out Eomer's armour. It is pretty complicated, with leather patterns worked on to sections of plate...not sure how well I managed it, but it was definitely a Challenge and I am pleased overall with how he turned out. It will be good practice for when I turn to King Theoden, who wears armour with similar complications.

To the king!

Anyway, it is lovely to be back in the LOTR game again! It warms my heart to once more see the Riders of Rohan on my shelf! Thanks for reading, and watch for more Painting Challenge content as we head into the final week! :)

Challenge Submission #6 - The Four Hobbits of the Fellowship of the Ring

 

The figures I painted for one of the Quadrant Challenges are the four hobbits from the Games Workshop "Attack at Weathertop" boxed set. When I bought the set many years ago I was primarily interested in the five Nazgûl, as I already had painted figures of the four hobbits from a different boxed set. As a result these minis languished in the 'big box of unfinished projects' until now. 

After gluing the miniatures to the bases with epoxy, sand was applied using Lepage PVA glue. All the figures were then primed black with a rattle can.  I looked online for stills from the movie to get the correct colours of the clothing for Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin. I used Vallejo acrylics for all the paints, along with some Game Workshop washes, primarily on the hair. They are shown with the scratch-built model of the ruined tower of Amon Sûl, better known as Weathertop, that I built to play the scenario with the Conscripts many years ago. 

 

I have included a 360° tour of the terrain piece. It was constructed over the course of a weekend out of a mix of different types of polystyrene, along with pieces of cardboard for the floor and to suggest stonework. The curved portion of the pillars are large plastic straws split in half lengthwise. The two statues were fantasy figures I found at the dollar store of a woman in long robes, and a wizard with a staff. I used latex house paints in black, and various shades of grey applied with a 1" brush with lots of drybrushing of the lighter shades to get the effect of weathered stone, Mixed green flocking and lichen was glued down after all the paints were dry.

 

Thanks for reading.