"Build Me An Army Worthy Of Mordor." - Fighting Uruk-hai

"Build me an army worthy of Mordor"

My last blog post has been almost three weeks ago. Since then I have been working on a Lord of the Rings mega-project consisting of over 100 Isengard Uruk-hai. Some of the figures I purchased new. Half of these I had already based and primed years ago, while the other half were still in their blister packs. The majority were used figures I bought off of eBay from multiple sellers. A few of these were individual figures such as an Uruk-hai Captain, but a lot were a mixed bag of the Games Workshop boxes of plastic Uruk-hai Warriors and Siege Troops with many missing figures. I like to think of them as the survivors of some hard campaigning. All of these required some cleaning up of mold lines, while a lot needed the removal of some of the ground work where it partially covered the feet of the miniatures. A smaller number were going to require some repair to replace missing pikes, swords or shields. Here was my starting point.

In total I had 3 Captains, 1 Standard Bearer, 11 Berserkers, 18 Siege Troops, 40 Warriors with Sword and Shield, 30 Warriors with Pike, 7 Ladders, and 2 Demolition Charges. I originally had 2 Lurtz figures on the workbench, but put them aside until I start working on my box of plastic Uruk-hai Scouts.

Twelve of the swords had cracks near the hilt where they had been bent but not broken off. These were repaired by the application of some super glue into the crack which made it as strong as new. Three of the sword were missing completely. I replaced these with some hammered floral wire. I also used floral wire to replace the missing part of three pikes that had broken off near the warrior's hand. One warrior was not only missing his pike, but also his right hand and left forearm. These are cast as a single piece and designed to be glued in place. I made a 'right hand' and 'left forearm' from fine wire wrapped around the heavier floral wire of the pike. I drilled out holes in the miniature, glued the fine wires into place, and covered them with epoxy putty. The last repair involved fabricated two missing shields from an old plastic gift card, bending them to shape, and gluing them on. 

 

Once everything was cleaned up, and all the repairs were done, all the figures that were not already primed were sprayed matt black using a rattle can. I originally thought I would then paint them all the way through with each colour, but after doing all the skin areas (Vallejo Cavalry Brown) and all the loincloths (Vallejo Leather Brown), I found while doing the gunmetal on the armour that it was getting to be a bit mind numbing. From that point on, I worked on them by subunit, such as a company of 10 pike, 10 sword and shield, and 1 captain. I also arranged the miniatures within each subunit by pose, so that I would not miss painting a strap, or a piece of armour. 

When all the painting was complete, all the miniatures were given a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Quickshade. This darkened all the colours, and gave some definition to the muscles on all the arms, legs, and torsos. It also gave the armour a bit of a grotty look. While I like what it did in these areas, I didn't like the shiny finish that it left on the figures. After doing all the ground work, all the figures were sprayed with a light coat of Rust-Oleum Clear Matt. This took off the worst of the shine, and it also helped to seal the ground work. Here is the final product outside the walls of Helm's Deep.

 

 

Here are close-ups of the individual sub units starting with Uruk-hai Siege Troops with Ladders.

Uruk-hai Siege Troops with Demolition Charges and Berserkers with Torches.

Uruk-hai Berserkers. Five of these are metal miniatures, while the four running berserkers with the two-handed sword resting on their shoulder were converted from the plastic figure running with a torch that comes with the Uruk-hai Siege Troops box. Just to mix things up a bit, I gave the one in the center a severed head to hold. This was done by converting a head taken from a Bandai 1/48 scale tank crewman.

A group of ten Uruk-hai with sword and shield. Some of these had already undergone some repair before I bought them where their sword arm had been replace by one taken from an unidentified metal figure. These got a little treatment from the metal file to take off any detail on the vambrace so that it would look closer to the armour worn by the rest of the Uruk-hai.

 A group of six Uruk-hai armed with crossbows.

And finally three units of 10 pike, 10 sword and shield, 1 captain, and for one of the companies, a standard. All of these were marked with the 'White Hand of Saruman', some on their shield, some on their helmets or armour.

I am really happy with the final results. The first five days were spent sorting, cleaning, repairing, assembling, and priming. Then 10 days of painting, followed by a day each for the Quickshade, the ground work, and the matt coat. The total came to 109 figures, plus the ladders and demolition charges. Now to march to Helm's Deep.

Thanks for reading. Stay safe and healthy until we can meet again across the wargames table.

The gate and walls in the background is a three-piece resin set of Helm's Deep Fortress from Games Workshop. Its footprint measures approximately 60cm x 23 cm. Alas, it is now OOP, but occasionally available in the aftermarket. I have no idea what the current asking price is, but I would be curious to know if anyone has that information.

Painting Challenge Super Post!

 I haven't posted here in a while due to the analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. I kept meaning to copy my posts from there to this blog, but I kept putting it off until there were too many entries to get through. I decided to create one super post with all my entries to this date, plus a bonus entry that doesn't qualify for the challenge because they were partially painted before it began.

I also slowly completed a tactical squad for my delayed, but not forgotten 9th edition Minotaurs project

 

From the Challenge: Bolt Action 28mm Flak 18/36 AT Gun Crew

My Bandai/Fuman 1/48 88mm Flak 18/36 plastic kit was one of those models that sat on my shelf for literally years. I'd opened the box, looked at all the tiny parts on the sprues, and closed it back up again. It was only due to the encouragement of fellow Conscript Frederick (who'd built and painted his own identical model) that I took up the challenge of this one. If you're interested you can check it out on the Fawcett blog here.

However, even though the gun was finished, to use it on the table you need a crew! Warlord Games came through (after a fashion) with an excellent 6-man crew set for the Flak 18. I say "after a fashion" because of the standard Warlord shipping faff... basically, although I'd ordered the models on 18 December, they didn't get into the post until well after New Year's... "we moved facilities, COVID-19 has disrupted the supply chain, there was another lockdown, etc...", but somehow they'd managed in the meantime to find the time to put together, promote on social media, and post out a bunch of their "mystery boxes" (unsaleable junk boxes?), which was annoying... but I didn't bother ordering one of those as I already have a laser pointer I bought at the Dollar Store, ta very much :-)

Anyway, the crew eventually arrived and paint was slathered upon them. I think they look quite good crewing the gun. The models came with separate heads so I used the ones that made the crew most flexible in terms of period.

Here are the lads lined up. I have to say the heads fit really well and the poses are quite good. All in all a great purchase for seven quid.

So that's the 88mm Flak ready for action, now we just need to find a game...

Stay safe all!

Painting Challenge Submission 15 - 28mm Byazntine Infantry

28mm Byzantine infantry stand ready to defend the Roman legacy! Figures from Gripping Beast.

My 15th submission to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is another element for my 28mm Byzantine collection. This is a mixed unit of spearmen and archers. They are metal figures from Gripping Beast's "Thematic Byzantine" collection. The spears are steel spears from Gripping Beast (with one exception - more to follow). The shield design is freehand painted. The banner is from LBMS. As with all of my recent 28mm Byzantine stuff, they are based individually.

Two ranks of spears at the front, two ranks of archers at the rear.

We all love this hobby, but we all encounter projects, or parts of project, that feel like a real drag. This bunch was one such project, and I am pleased to have them completed. While I overall really love Gripping Beast's Byzantine range, and I don't want to be too critical of sculptors (who, after all, have an incredible talent that I certainly do not), the metal spearmen are some of the weakest sculpts in this range. The arms sort of don't always add up, and the bodies are quite tall - these are big lads. Add to that some unfortunate mold lines on some faces and...well, it was not the most fun to paint these. Furthermore, I ignored common sense - the "attacking" pose with the spears looks dramatic, but it will be a right pain in the @ss to rank up properly with these individual bases. Not something I thought through properly...although that is hardly a big surprise. Anyway...

Dispersed view of the archers - they can also skirmish if needed.

But they had to be painted! The Byzantine army depended in many instance on their cavalry to deliver the decisive blow, but steady blocks of infantry, combining tough (and apparently very tall) spearmen in the front ranks with archers in the rear, were a rock for that cavalry to rally around. These stout fellows will perform just such a service for my steadily growing Byzantine forces!

This pose is dramatic, but also a pain when it comes to ranking up the models.

Very boring freehand patterns on the shields...but at least they are bright! I like bright sometimes...

The even split between spears and archers has an added bonus...they can break into two different 12-man elements for the game "Lion Rampant", while serving together in an infantry block for games of "Warhammer Ancient Battles", "Hail Caesar" etc. 

And here is is...the first Byzantine figure I had ever painted...test model from circa 2017. Now he has a unit to join, all these years later!

There is one fun bit of history in this submission...there are 24 figures in the photo, but only 23 of them were painting during this edition of the Painting Challenge. The 24th figure is older - in fact, he goes back a ways...it is the first Byzantine test model I had ever painted, back when I ordered a 4-point starter box for the skirmish game "Saga", circa 2017. I wonder if Curt can find the photo I sent him on his iMessage bragging "hey, I painted a test model". Some Conscripts may even recognize this as the lone Byzantine spearman on a single base sitting on my shelf for quite some time. Anyway, I've kept him for years, and thought it would appropriate that I paint this unit to match his colours. I left him with his original soft lead spear too. I'm hoping it brings some good luck with the dice when this bunch gets to see action on the table.

"Ready with those spears!"

Foot commander, ready to get stuck in with the rest of these fellows...that horn should inspire them too!

So there we go...a fourth Byzantine unit completed. We are nearly ready to tangle with Dallas' lovely 28mm Normans! Thanks for reading - stay safe and stay sane!