Bored of the Rings?

   There's been lots of painted S.M.H.I.T. happening this week, including some Copplestone Castings figures as well as the old Legions of Steel by Global Games. Just need to apply some finishing touches and get some photos done. In the meantime here is the third part of my The Lord of the Rings collection.

   First up we have Gandalf the Grey(ish) and the hobbits, including Bilbo. I was very pleased with the way the hobbit figures turned out. Gandalf is, obviously, too lightly coloured, but in my defence I painted him before I'd actually seen the first movie, so I was kind of winging it for the colours. I like to think of it as Gandalf in his summer best.

Gandalf and Bilbo

Pippin, Sam, Frodo and Merry

   Next up is the troubled family of the Steward of Gondor. I found the broken, painful relationship between Denethor and his sons Boromir and Faramir to be one of the most moving aspects of The Return of the King. So much so that I chose these three as the basis for my tournament army back in the day. It was a strong force, and the addition of the mad and chaotic Denethor gaveit  lots of theme.

Denethor, Steward of Gondor

Boromir

Faramir, armoured to face the hordes of Mordor

   Here are my Treebeard and old edition Radagast the Brown. A note about Radagast... while it is beyond a doubt that the 'new' Radagast from The Hobbit films is more characterful, he's also a bit... well... silly. And kinda bird-poopy. This version of Radagast may bee less colourful, but he also looks more like the kind of Istari who could stand up to and defeat The Necromancer.

Just sayin'.

Radagast the Less Silly Brown and Treebeard

   Finally Legolas, and one of my favourite miniatures from the range, Legolas and Gimli on horseback. Being a dwarf guy I felt Legolas had far too many flash moves in the films, but the ladies love him. One thing I could never understand was Wood Elves are notorious drinkers, so how was it that Legolas himself was so unaccustomed to alcohol? More elvish sneakiness, I suspect.

Legolas (and Gimli)

   Thanks as always for stopping by. More soon!

-Andrew

Ever just lose a Balrog?

     Have you ever just lost a Balrog? Turns out I have. Digging around in the darkest recesses of my hobby room closet I came across a lonely, unmarked box. Curious, I cracked it open. Inside was a pile of long-forgotten models and accessories -- including a Balrog. You think you'd remember something like that.

   Seeing as how I have my photo studio set up for LotR right now, I've decided to keep subjecting you to my The Lord of The Rings miniature collection. No, no Balrogs -- He's still unpainted. Instead we have, first up, a real favourite of mine. The Army of the Dead. These were a challenge for me, as I chose to do them in green only. Starting with a very dark green, I slowly lightened the base colour with bright green and applied many thin layers. Eventually the highest highlights were in white. I think they look particularly ghosty.



The King of the Dead and some of his warriors.

   Next up we have Tom Bombadil and Goldberry. Tom is a silly character, and not well liked amongst many. I've always had a soft spot for him because my dad would sing Tom's goofy songs as he read The Lord of The Rings to my brother and I, when we were kids.



Tom Bombadil and Goldberry

   Next is Elrond's daughter Arwen Undómiel. That is, of course, little stabbed Frodo hunched over on her horse. Most of my Games Workshop friends know this story, but for those who don't, apparently the actress Liv Tyler was very difficult when it came to approving her miniature. She kept sending it back with the vague instruction to 'make it look more beautiful'. After four or five goes of this the GW studio finally sent the same figure again, without any revisions, and it was approved.

   Oddly enough, if you ask me I think the figure is in no way a good representation of Liv Tyler's beauty, and I've always agreed with her complaints.


Arwen Evenstar (and Frodo).


   Here we have Arwen's scruffy and ill mannered boyfriend. Strider or Aragorn or something. I don't know, nor do I really care. The guy has an immortal girlfriend but he can't even bother to shave and bathe for her when he goes to see her. No wonder her dad thinks he's a flake. Also there's something fishy in Aragorn's past about his ancestor dooming the land to a third age of darkness -- I didn't catch the details.

Strider the Hippie-King.

   Just to prove that not all elves are sleek and graceful, here is the wood elf Haldir (sometimes known as the Fat Elf), and a retinue of elves of Loth Lorien. Haldir's the one with the sword, and the chubby cheeks.

Haldir and some Wood Elves.

   And rounding out our showcase today is Haldir's boss and other boss, Galadriel and Celeborn. Not too much to say here, except that I saw the actual Mirror of Galadriel bowl at Casa Loma when the props of the Fellowship movie came to town. I didn't see anything in the mirror.

Galadriel and Celeborn seek wisdom in the Mirror.

   Thanks as always for checking in! See you soon...

-Andrew

Axes of the Dwarves!

   Today Jay Griffiths and I had a chance to play a game of The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game -- my first in almost a decade! It was great fun, and my mighty dwarves squared off against his elvish, umm... hordes? Whatever -- they were the bad guys. In any case we fought to a draw, which is typical elf sneakiness, but I thought this would be a great time to showcase my dwarf force.

 

   Jay gave me these two dwarf ballistae a few years ago, so I painted them up and used one of them against him in our game. What else are friends for?

Ballistae - rock out!!

   Drar is not only the only dwarf character with a bow, but you can't even give bows to dwarf captains. Probably due to some long-forgotten arms limitation treaty with the elves.

Murin, Gimli and Drar.




   If you look closely you can see the 'gold crazy' gleaming in the eyes of these kings.



Kings of the dwarves.

   Old school dwarves. I love the way these two look.


Dain and Balin -- Lords Under the Mountain.

   In our battle I used volley fire to great effect, even though half of Jay's elves were wearing sneaky elven 'can't-see-me!' cloaks.



Warriors with dwarf bows - volley fire!!

   In updating and adding to my older miniatures I realised I had too many Gimlis. Two too many, in fact. Taking a chance I painted them up in the colours of my dwarf army and gave them blonde beards, and I think they make great dwarf captains. 

Standard bearer and two Gimlis captains.

  In the battle my Khazad guard, lead by one of my two captains, did a great job of chopping up elves in a tough melee. To his credit, though, Jay had one elf captain who just would not die, no matter how many dwarves I piled on top of him. More sneakiness, to be sure. 


Khazad guard - tough and (mostly) fearless!

   My warriors did yeoman service screening the archers as inviso-elves fired arrow after arrow into my main formation. 


Dwarf warriors with shields.

   My two-handed axe troops didn't see any action today, but they're patient. Sooner or later those elves are going to show up with an ent or two -- Chop!!


Warriors with two-handed axes.







   So there's my force - 1400 points of bearded glory. Jay and I are looking at fighting through the Shadow and Flame scenarios, so next up I'll be working on some appropriate scenery.

Thank you again for stopping by! See you soon...
-Andrew