For Frodo?

It's amazing how motivation works for me.

I've had a little bit of a block on sitting down to get things painted over the past week, and then suddenly I'm struck by inspiration and get Merry and Pippin knocked out in about three hours.

The spur e of this inspiration was not actually anything Lord of the Rings related, instead I'm prepping for a 7TV scenario as part of the Night Terrors campaign in which a D&D session becomes all too real.

The youngest of the kids in this scenario plays a paladin, and so I needed a model that was both short and knightly.

Merry and Pippin were the best option.

This is the plastic version of Merry, Esquire of Rohan, that comes with the Dernhelm/Eowyn model released a couple of years ago. There is also a mounted version that slots on the horse in front of Eowyn.

I do have to admit that printing the newer plastic model is so much better than grappling with the 20 year old plastics I have for the rest of the Rohirrim.

Similarly, Pippin, Knight of Gondor, comes with the plastic Gandalf the White, again with a mounted version for the specific scenario from the movie in which Gandalf rides out against the Nazgul and for some reason takes Pippin with him.

Both models were very straightforward to paint, but Pippin was incredibly easy. Bring mainly grey black and silver. It's made me consider starting a Minas Tirith force.

Anyway, they're done, and that probably meant I need to turn my attention to mounted versions, along with Gandalf and Eowyn.

Acquired: 52

Painted: 119

Lead Mountain: 677

Ranger Danger

The other part of my 7TV Secret Santa gift was a sprue of Oathmark Human Light Infantry, clearly intended to go with the Norman Chest Bearers as outlaws intent on liberating the contents of the chest.

For the poor...obviously...definitely for the poor.

Anyway, I opted to take the lead that was offered and set about turning them into some soon to be merry men.

This was the first time I've had a close look at one of the Oathmark sprues, and they are really nice.

The cloaked figures can be armed with bows or a range of hand weapons and shields and there are a good range of characterful heads. Including three with hoods.

These models could easily be used as peasant rabble, loyal retainers or, as I have done, furtive woodsmen.

I've never been the biggest fan of multiparty plastic models due to the soft details that done suit my painting style. However, I did like how simple these models were, meaning that I could at least get them done without too much fuss.

I've opted for a uniform range of greens and browns - the main tunics are dark brown, rather than black, as they appear in the pictures - as I intend for these outlaws to pull double duty as Dunedain Rangers or even Rangers of Ithilien in games of Lord of the Rings.

As such, I armed one of them with a spear, as both types of Rangers are allowed to use them, and there was only one in the box. I did need to cut it down though as it was clearly intended for use with a banner.

I gave the last of the group a sword simply to allow him to serve as a captain if necessary. The sprue dies include a small amount of pouches, daggers and scabbards to be hung at the belts, but I opted to ignore these for simplicity's sake.

There's clearly a bit more work to do if I'm going to try to play any Robin Hood themed games, so I might look into pick up the 7TV feature pack to give me some guidance about where to go next.

I'll also have a rummage in the lead pile to see what I can turn up that could be used for either side.

Acquired: 15

Painted: 110

Lead Mountain: 649

What Can Men Do Against Such Reckless Numbers?

So, a new year and a new assault on the Lead Mountain, only this time, there's a slight problem.

More on that later.

For now, look! Men of Rohan!

Not an especially exciting start to the new year, but I'm still taking part in Arbitor Ian's Tale of Four Hobbits and these are more of my pseudo Men of the West list that currently includes Aragorn. Legolas and these five.

Mind you, that does make over 400 points out of 500 because Aragorn the King is a beefy boy.

I've gone with Men of Rohan as that's what I had lying around after my second hand purchases several years ago. I still have a few more archers from those lots as there always seemed to be more archers than were necessary...or allowed, with a 33% limit.

I've stuck with the same rather uninspiring colour palette I originally used simply to make these models fit in with the rest.

One of the reasons these models were likely out was due to damage. Both of these two required a bit of fixing up to deal with a bent sword and a broken spear.

Unfortunately, was not able to do anything about the somewhat static poses and large flat areas where the spear meets the cloak.

I have, however, done something about the lack of a banner in my Rohirrim with this very simple conversion: a hand swap, a metal spear and a Wood Elf pennant did the trick.

I have had a go at free-handing a sun motif on the banner. It's not amazing, but it's not awful either. I'm never fond of free-handing, but this is fine.

Anyway, onto the other issue.

I mentioned before Christmas that I wanted to do a recount of my unpainted miniatures as I was sure that over the last couple of years, there have almost certainly been accounting errors and I wanted to see how realistic my running total of 240 actually is.

And so I got everything out. All of it. We'll apart from some Carnevale miniatures I was undercoating and some Dropzone Commander models I forgot about, but almost all of it.

It turns out my numbers were wrong.

Quite a bit wrong.

My current total is, minus the Rohirrim I've painted, 756.

There are several reasons for this disparity:

1) I've included boardgames like Star Saga, which contains 71 minis, that I had intended to sell but have recently changed my mind about.

2) I actually counted things in my bits box which I didn't last time, and I think I've been deducting painted models from bits box from the overall total.

3) When I received the motherload from Will, there are things that were up for sale that aren't now.

4) I've counted things like Flames of War tank crew that aren't getting used unless I buy more tanks...which I won't.

5) I clearly can't count.

Despite the shock this has induced, I have actually been able to tidy things up and get a better handle on what I have. I already have plans for how to use models, and I've tacitly decided to part company with a fair chunk of it.

Let's see how we get on.

Acquired: 0

Painted: 5

Lead Mountain: 756...good grief!

"Let go of him, you filth!"

I know I might have said that I was sorting of doing a Men of the West force for the Tale of 4 Hobbits series, but as you can see. I've gotten a touch distracted.

I've wanted the Shelob miniature for a long time, but have never gotten around to buying it. It has dutifully sat on my Christmas list each year and been steadfastly ignored due to Mrs Cheaphammer's profound arachnophobia.

However, with the impending arrival of a new plastic version made me realise that I did want the classic metal model before it disappeared and so we cut a deal that as long as Shelob is never left lying around, the last child of Ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world could enter the house.

To put it bluntly, this beast is an absolute swine to assemble. Spindly legs, a bulky metal body, indistinct sockets and no instructions combine to make for a frustrating experience.

Throw in the fact that trying to slightly adjust to stance of the back legs caused me to snap them and gave to pin them on again and I was left wishing I'd waited for the plastic model.

I found painting equally frustrating as there's not actually much to work with on what is pretty much just a big black spider with tiny eyes.

I've seen plenty of people, including Games Workshop, lean heavily into real world spider colouring (particularly black widows) or more exotic patter choices to make Shelob more vibrant.

However, I went for something more film-based which seems to be patches of more fleshy coloured areas, especially around the head. I'm satisfied with the end result, but I feel I could have been more ambitious.

The In the Clutches of Shelob set comes with Frodo all wrapped in webbing. Although there is a separate base provided, I decided to use him a scenic detail on Shelob's base as I can't think of a meaningful reason for having a separate miniature apart from as terrain in a single scenario.

The set also includess Sam armed with Sting and the Phial of Galadriel, which is a miniature I'm not massively impressed with, as the face is a bit janky (on the other side) and there are quite large blocked in sections between the cloak and Sting.

I will probably stick with my original Sam for most purposes.

Am I happy to have finally added Shelob to my collection? Yes, but...in hindsight I might have been better off all round waiting for the almost certainly significantly more expensive plastic set, which would be easier to assemble, have clearer details and include a better version of Sam.

Ah well...

Acquired: -95

Painted: 524

Lead Mountain: 212

We Don't Need Another Hero

I've already painted two versions of Aragorn and Legolas, so why on Earth have I done another version each?

Well, a couple of reasons really.

The first is simple, I have the models. I still have about a dozen Lord of the Rings miniatures knocking about unpainted after I lost impetus when Matt ruined everything by drowning Frodo in a swamp.

To address this issue I've joined in another 'Tale of four...' series on Arbitorian's YouTube channel, with the aim of putting together a 500 point force for the newest version of the game, culminating in an event in February.

Looking at the motley assortment of heroes I have, I've decided that the best fit would be for me to paint up a 'Men of the West' list featuring Aragorn, Legolas, Gandalf, Merry, Pippin and a handful of Men of Rohan.

I'm not sure if I'll actually go to the event for several reasons: I don't actually own the newest version of the game (and don't intend to buy it); the event is in London; and I think this list is likely to be a bit rubbish.

This is a shame because otherwise there is absolutely no reason to have second cloaked version of Legolas.

At least he's painted.

There's a slightly stronger reason for having another Aragorn as this model is the armoured Battle of Helm's Deep version of the character.

I still intend to play through the Helm's Deep scenarios in the War in Rohan book, and so he will be useful then

The astute amongst you (which is both of you) will probably be aware that this is the wrong model for Aragorn at the Black Gate in the Men of the West list.

I don't care. He's incredibly unlikely to ever be used in that context and this flimsy excuse is getting things painted, which is something I need to do as I keep buying and printing new models.

Acquired: -94

Painted: 520

Lead Mountain: 218

Old Frenemies

Having worked my way through my 35 year old Dwarf collection, I decided to turn my attention to some Elves of a similar vintage.

I don't have many Elves in my backlog for reasons rooted in my many attempts to build different armies for Warhammer Fantasy Battles.

My Wood Elves, as regular readers will be aware, have been one of my go to armies since 6th edition. They were built from a variety of plastic boxes with a smattering of metal miniatures. Pretty much every miniature I could put into the army has been.

I've never owned many Dark Elves, although I did make moves towards an army at one point, painting up a small unit of Witch Elves and starting on some crossbowmen. However, this project never got off the ground and the last of them were sold last year.

I did actually have an army of High Elves (half of it painted), based around the contents of the 4th edition boxed set. Tyrion and Teclis led an army of archers and spearmen supported by small units of Dragon Princes and Phoenix Guard, with a Tiranoc Chariot and a Reaper Bolt Thrower along for the ride. But these also were all sold before I got back into the game after leaving university.

These four miniatures were bought to be part of that army many years ago. I stumbled across them in my local model shop and bought them to use as a squad of Shadow Warriors. However, I never found a suitable leader for them and so weren't with the rest of the army when it was sold.

I had recently intended to sell these as well, but when I was researching what the actual models were (I had never seen them in any other context) I discovered that there were actually Deep Elves (Noldor) from the Citadel Middle Earth range from 1985, and this was enough to finally pique my interest enough to paint them.

They are oddly posed miniatures and there are places where the casting was a little rough, I think they represent an early attempt by Citadel to manufacture miniatures that you could rank up easily.

Painting was simple as they are encased in metal. I've given them black hair to fit with Tolkien's description of the Noldor (except the House of Finarfin), and the dark blue shields felt right for the children of the stars.

The leader model isn't from the same range. In fact he's technically not even from the same manufacturer. He's a Marauder Miniatures High Elf from 1989. Marauder were a splinter company that were eventually reabsorbed back into Games Workshop later.

I think my holy grail of miniature projects would be getting my hands on either a Marauder Dark Elf of Dwarf army as advertised in the pages of White Dwarf. I so wanted to take advantage of the deals offered for buying a whole army at once.

This chap came to me via a friend but seems appropriate to lead this little unit, even though he's significantly less well armoured.

Again, I've leaned into the dark blue for his tunic and shield, and the design on the shield is a Space Marines transfer that reminds me a little if the Star of Feanor.

I've no idea what I'll use these for, as I have nothing much to add to them to form even a skirmish force. However, they may show up as a patrol in games of Five Leagues from the Borderlands or 7TV.

The final addition in this post is another plastic Dwarf from the Fantasy Regiments box.

I had two spare bodies and was delighted to find another head when I was looking for the Elves. As one of the bodies had a crossbow welded to its back and one had no axe head, I chopped them up to make a single useable model.

He was painted up just like the others, with a shield on his back to hide some damage to the model, and adds another body to my tiny force.

As well as getting these six painted (as well as disposing of what was left of the mangled Dwarf body), this puts marks some significant progress as I've been selling more than a few miniatures again.

I was pushed into action by the unexpected appearance of a bunch of British Napoleonics in my backlog. Therefore I took the opportunity to clear out some models I'd never get round to: a number of WizKids D&D Miniatures, a box of Fireforge medieval cavalry, the remains of several Wargames Factory Zombie and Survivor kits.

Importantly, this takes me below 300 models left to paint, and given the progress I've made this year, raises the very real prospect of me finally achieving my long term goal of painting everything I own.

Acquired: -124

Painted: 463

Lead Mountain: 254

To me, Eorlingas!

Having let a veritable army of new miniatures through my defences at the weekend, I needed to mount a robust defence against being overwhelmed.

Who better to look to in my hour of need than the elite of Rohan, defenders of Helm's Deep and heroes of the Pelennor Fields, the Royal Guard of King Theoden.

Now, before we get carried away, I haven't painted all of the models in the picture above in the space of 24 hours.

Long term readers of the blog (both of you) with remember that Theoden, Gamling and a couple of Royal Guard have previously featured in posts and battle reports (I like to use Royal Guard as Captains of Rohan).

I have, however, painted three of them in 24 hours, which I feel is pretty good going.

All three models were bought as a gift a few years ago and have been staring at me accusingly since then.

Despite the somewhat samey pose, these models, like their sword-armed compatriots, have poseable arms, offering a degree of individuality which I think work better with spears than swords.

They found their way onto my desk when I was undercoating the Dwarfs in the previous post. I was going for a silver base to speed things up as the Dwarfs had a lot of armour on show.

This is something that was arguably more true about the Royal Guards, and so I got them done at the same time.

Once dry, I hit the whole model with a wash of Nuln Oil.

I then proceeded to match a paint scheme from several years ago, which is made easier by the fact that I have a blog detailing the process I use, I never change the paints I use and I'm quite lazy in my approach.

Flesh, beards, leather, wood, green cloaks, red shirts and gold details were picked out and then hit with a wash of Agrax Earthshade and the plumes were done with Black Templar contrast paint.

Job done.

Admittedly, three of them doesn't stem the tide of new purchases, but it's a start.

Acquired: -44

Painted: 449

Lead Mountain: 350

The time of the Orc has come!

It's literally only just occured to me that the first things I've painted in what, in gaming circles at least, has become somewhat commonly known as 'Orctober', are so Orcs.

How fitting?

This motley bunch are a group I cobbled together for spares and leftovers some time ago. I undercoated them but lost my mojo and they have sat unloved since Matt ruined Lord of the Rings by killing Frodo in my Quest of the Ringbearer campaign.

I was looking to expand my forces of Mordor for a potential foray into the Gondor At War campaign book, but wanted to do so cheaply (as is my way). 

Therefore I started by smashing together the remaining handful of dark ages warriors bodies I had left with some heads and weapons from the Wargames Atlantic and Oathmark spurs I'd used previously.

After that I did something similar with a sprue if Frostgrave warriors, although, if you look closely, I ran out of orcish heads and had to improvise.

I kept the painting really simple, just like I'd done with my other Mordor Orcs (let's face it, they're never the main attraction in an army). Just a black undercoat dryprushed, then leather, metal, skin, fur and bone picked out before an overall wash.

All rather unremarkable.

The only thing of any real note in this batch was the inclusion of this ugly fellow. I've no idea of the manufacturer l, but I know I've had him for a loooong time.

He's a distorted chunk of metal that lacks detail and definition, but he has a certain character that means he might serve as a captain.

If Peter Jackson can serve up that sponge-headed Goonies reject, Gothmog, this misshapen fellow can lead my forces.

I'm not sure if October will feature any more Orcs got me, but 10 is a good amount.

Acquired: -73

Painted: 433

Lead Mountain: 339

Cult Initiation

I've always thought of 3d printing as a bit of a cult. Online discussion of prices inevitably drawing out the intoned mantra of, "printer goes brrr," and any skepticism expressed towards the application of printing being the best outcome in every circumstance being set upon by a teeming horde of zealots determined to shout down (and probably burn) the heretic.

And now I'm one of them.

It's clear that printing is on the rise within the hobby and there are some stunning creations appearing. Also, friends of mine were indoctrinated some time ago and I've seen what they've been able to do.

I'm not, and never have been, an early adopter, but my interest was definitely piqued at the possibilities.

However, as mentioned in my previous post, after a fair bit of research and deliberation I ruled out the option of a resin printer. Despite the fact that they are clearly the best choice for printing miniatures, the toxicity of the resin combined with the lack of proper ventilation in my workspace, made getting one a non-starter.

Which led me to looking at whether FDM printers could give me what I wanted, and it turned out that the answer was yes, with caveats.

Slower than resin printers and even the best prints being less clean than their output, the best FDM machines could get close to the quality of resin with a reduced cost and less chance of death.

It also turned out that there is a dedicated community of people online beavering away at getting the best results they could put of FDM, with most of them recommending the Bambu A1 or A1 Mini. Chief amongst these, and well worth a visit is Painted 4 Combat, who has a whole slew of videos full of advice.

After setting up my new printer and successfully getting the Gobsmasha printed, I wanted to test it's capabilities with miniatures. However, for my first test I decided to keep things simple and print something that I could still use if layer lines were visible.

Therefore I printed some troll bodies that I could use with the arms and heads I had spare from building my Mordor Troll. Not only would these be done quickly, but as the focal points would still be plastic, if detail wasn't good, I could still potentially use the models.

Therefore, I popped online to find a free file to use. I should point out the fact that the main site for this is suspiciously called Cults3d.

I told you it was a cult.

The Isengard Troll (on the right in this picture) was done with the standard 0.4mm nozzle I'd used for the Gobsmasha, and you can clearly see the layer lines. Although the plastic bits should do enough of a job to make this model passable, this clearly isn't appropriate for more detailed work.

The drummer (one the left...with the drums) was done with the 0.2mm nozzle I'd bought additional to the printer, and delivers a significantly better result. The main problem with this model is that I've stuck his arms on badly.

Both miniatures were printed with automatic tree supports which came away fairly well but need a bit of tidying up.

I next tried to print a Vault Girl miniature I'd got as part of a Humble Bundle deal of Fallout resources and discovered the limits of FDM printing.

The pose and spindly design of this miniatures caused it to snap in several places as I was removing supports, highlighting that I'd need to be careful in choosing which miniatures would work in FDM. Thin parts and extended extremities would be problematic.

What's more, I wasn't happy with the lack of detail on the Pipboy and hammer and so looked at improving my setting further.

This resulted in me downloading some specific settings for the Bambu A1 Mini from Fat Dragon Games which I tried with a different free STL of a cultist.

I chose this one as its robes gave it a more sturdy construction and it didn't have outstretched limbs. I also figured that of something went wrong with the knife, it would be easy to do a hand or weapon replacement from my bits box.

As you can see this experiment was a success.

And here he is painted up to serve as a Dagon Officiant for my Rashaar in Carnevale, and I'm really pleased with the outcome.

In truth, he's a little bit next to my other Officiant, but as that one is a woman, the size difference is excusable, also, scale in Carnevale is a bit all over the place anyway.

I was really pleased to see that facial features, fingers and even toes were picked out, producing a miniature that was easy to paint up and looks perfectly decent on the tabletop.

In terms of negatives, there are layer lines still visible in the robe, but these are exaggerated by the photograph and are barely visible in real life.

Also, although the knife survived, but in a reduced form, and I may still replace it.

Finally, the rim of the hood and the bottom of the robe are a bit chewed up. This works for the clothing of a Dagonite cultist, but would because problem on a less ragged character. However, this was mainly due to the process of support removal, a job I need to become more prrcise at.

Following this I tried something a bit more advanced and printed a Hellgate Cultist from Arbiter Miniatures, which is a free sample of their Advanced FDM range.

This uses supports more similar to those used for resin and prints the models in smaller parts. This allows for more dynamic poses and doesn't leave the same scarring as the tree supports.

This is a great model whose only flawd include the fact that printing it took much longer than my Dagonite and he's much too tall and chunky in his proportions to use in Carnevale.

Although this miniature is not quite right for me, it dies show the direction FDM miniatures are going in and suggests that significantly better results are possible.

My final experiment was looking into printing base toppers for the 30mm round lipped bases I used for Carnevale as I realised I'd run out whilst painting the Dagonite.

This allowed me to learn about resizing files as the files I found were all fractionally too big. Again, this turned out to be relatively simple thanks to some short tutorial videos made by 3d Print Dood, and although I haven't found a file which looks like the bases I used for my Guild, Rashaar and Vatican forces, the one above will serve admirably for my and hoc Strigoi miniatures, instead of the resin ones I've been buying off eBay.

All in all, my initiation into the world of 3d printing have been a success, and I've learned a lot.

Printing miniatures with FDM is not fast enough to makes printing armies viable, although I view this a a good limit on my backlog, and the quality doesn't match resin. However, the ability to print individual miniatures for a specific purpose, make use of spare sprue bits and save me money on bases are all things that will suit me.

Obviously, vehicles and terrain are also on the agenda, but I'm happy to discover that, with a bit of care in my selection of files, I can produce tabletop quality miniatures at a fraction of the cost of buying new or even second hand.

Acquired: -79

Painted: 123

Lead Mountain: 450

Howdah You Do?

Obviously, having painted a Mumakil with a massive howdah, I needed to paint up some guys to ride in it.

Enter the Haradrim.

The War Mumak of Harad kit comes with a sprue of Haradrim warriors to act as the crew, as well as an officer figure. Additionally I had a single Haradrim warrior knocking about my bits box (I was sure I had a few more) and one extra special addition to the force.

I was pleased to discover that I could fit all 15 of them in the Howdah, meaning that I don't have to find extra storage space for them and they can live in my display cabinet.

Mind you, they are not exactly models that I am massively proud of. The sculpts (and their moulds) are showing their age.

There was quite a lot of clean up to do on the mould lines and some of the archers have smudged blobs for hams where they are reaching back to their quivers.

Therefore I decided to not get too worried about the paint job and just aim for table ready - like I've done for the other old plastic sculpts in my Rohan and Mordor forces.

I used a red base coat and added the flesh tone, wood, leather and gold before giving the whole model a wash in Agrax Earthshade.

After this I used contrast black to add variation. I actually used images from the films and cosplayers to guide what to paint black on individual models, ensuring that I avoided being too uniform.

I didn't bother with adding any purple (which some paint guide go mad for) as from my research there's only a handful of warriors in the ambush scene from The Two Towers with any purple on them.

The captain model is a bit of an odd duck as he has a bird helm which I can find no reference for in the films. It's one of those designs which would feel more at home in Age of Sigmar and is indicative of what happens when the Games Workshop design team start inventing things - it all gets a bit over the top.

It also seems an odd choice to include in the kit when the Mahud, who are featured relatively heavily in The Return of the King is right there.

Mind you, Games Workshop did turn him into an individual model you can buy (currently at the bargain price of £16.50), so the omission is easily explained.

But why a bird helmet?

Anyway, whilst we're on the subject of models that don't fit in, I've also done this guy. He's the Saracen character from Talisman and was one of my favourite characters to play in the game because his artwork looked cool.

It being the eighties and me being very young meant that I didn't really think about his handy ability to sell people into slavery, something that was changed in the only later iteration of the game he appeared in.

Anyway, with the addition of an old plastic shield which handily features a snake (the emblem of Harad) I've added him to this force as another captain because he's a close enough fit I can't imagine what else I'd do with the model.

There is a bit of a scale issue, but I could argue that he's from Near Harad and the plastic warriors are from Far Harad...sorry.

I'm really pleased to have got this whole kit done so quickly and it's made for a strong start to the year, which has been added to as I've begun another round of selling off some old models.

This time it's some second edition Bloodbowl miniatures that I've decided I'll never get round to. I have kept a couple of teams in case the urge to play Bloodbowl ever returns, but I already have four other painted teams so I should be fine.

Acquired: -18

Painted: 16

Lead Mountain: 625