Something Wicked This Way Comes

It's Halloween. That means witches, ghosts and spooky scariness...or, all three at once.

'Witch' King

Ring'wraith'

And it doesn't get much more spooky and scary than a magic ghost with flaming sword coming at you on the back of flying terror chicken.

Although I'm a long way away from the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in my Quest of the Ringbearer, I've had this model built for months and been a bit intimidated about starting it; it's not only big, it's awkward to handle.

Two things have helped motivate me to finally get this baddest boy painted: I've built up a head of steam this week by getting lots done; and I've discovered the joy of dumping Basilicanum Grey all over models and they dry-brushing my way to victory.

There was very little other painting to do on the model once I'd found a way to address the majority of the model, and mist of that is washes and contrast paint.

Were I to do another of these (and in theory there is a need for at least three of them in the campaign) I would almost certainly not attach the reins and rider until after the model was painted.

My major gripes with the model (it's an older sculpt so it's got visible joins that I'm not massively worried about) are about the base.

Firstly, the plastic rod does not fit into the hole in the model and so getting it to stick was a pain. I ended up cutting off the ball joint an feed the rod into the body.

Secondly, the base features weapons from the War of the Last Alliance and as far as I'm aware the fell beasts ridden by the Nazgul were only ever seen in the War of the Ring...what a disgrace!

Despite this level of pedantic irritation, I'm enjoying The Rings of Power. 

Go figure.

One of the concerns I had with this model was an issue of storing it safely. However, recently I've gained a display case for my gaming room, which means I can can effectively store my larger models without worrying about them getting broken.

I probably need to sort the way I set them out, and I might have to get hold of some transparent stands to make things prettier.

For reference I have a shelf reserved for future giant elephants.

Anyway, that's my spooky Halloween post. I'm really happy to have got this model finished to a standard I'm pleased with and I'm continuing to build my confidence with bigger models as I have another winged lizard in the works.

No. It's not Smaug. This is Cheaphammer after all.

Acquired: -61

Painted: 368

Lead Mountain: 644