Hey folks, I have just finished the last few Orcs for my Angmar army now, and finished warband no. 3.
Led by a Barrow-Wight, this warband has a few nasty tricks up its sleeve packing some archer Orcs, a mix of sword & shield and two-handed Orcs, as well as a Dead Marsh Spectre hidden among the ranks. There is also a Cave Troll for landing some extra heavy attacks in close combat, giving the warband some hard hitting backup.
I’ll aim to get a pic of the whole army now that it’s completed. I’m extremely tired from a busy day that culminated in a huge curry feast, so I need to go lie down haha.
A couple of things I wanted to put into a post this week, one of which is my nearly completing painting my Angmar force. If you didn’t see one of my most recent entries, I showed the 2 completed warbands of my Lord of the Rings Angmar army as I finish up the Orcs for my 3rd. These are coming along quite quickly, and I’ll get pics up soon as they are finished.
Secondly, I have been going back and forth about a certain faction in 40k for the past few months. I bought the Genestealer Cult codex a couple of months back as I liked the lore and the models, as well as the artwork. Funnily enough, I had no interest in starting a band of them, but recently it’s been on my mind, and after agonising over the Combat Patrol boxset, I decided to take the plunge.
The models are excellent, and I love the mining aesthetic they have, as well as the lore for the various cults. There is one that sticks out more than the others, and is the cult I am drawn to at the moment, but we’ll cross that bridge when it’s time to paint. I’m just enjoying building some minis again in the meantime.
Anyways, I hope you’re all well, and thanks for reading. Take care.
I’ve finished work on my Gimli miniature tonight, as part of my Lothlorien army. My main plan would be to include him as an ally as a thematic nod to the books, whereby he gained untold respect and admiration for the fairest Elf, Lady Galadriel. He is also my favourite character from the books (not so much from the films though, mind you), and as such there seemed little point in not slinging him in with the Elves.
In gaming terms, Gimli is as stout and solid as you’d expect. A sturdy defence of 8 due to his Dwarven armour, a choice of using either his two-handed axe (Master-Forged, so doesn’t suffer the -1 penalty to rolls in the Duel phase) or with a single axe in each hand (which would grant him 3 attacks instead of 2), and an option for an Elven cloak. He also has Heroic Strike & Heroic Strength, as his Heroic Actions.
Gimli gains a special rule if paired with Legolas, relating to their kill count game in battle. If I get the time, I’ll work on Legolas too. For now though, thanks for reading! Take care.
Here we are for another blog update. I haven’t actually had much time to paint in the last month, with work being busy, uni at night, and working on a novel that is becoming bigger in scope than it was meant to…
Galadhrim Warriors in progress
Today I grabbed some time while the house was quiet, and made some progress on a good chunk of models. I added the purple tunics to my Galadhrim Warriors, and shaded afterwards. They are quite simple to paint, and will just require skin and hair done next. I was also dry-brushing some highlights onto their armour and shields beforehand, to accentuate the edges.
Elrond & Rivendell Knights in progress
The mounted Elrond and his knights saw a bit of work today also. The armour colour I use for my Rivendell troops is a mix of Runefang Steel and golden paint (can’t recall the name- Liberator Gold?), so it’s a bit fiddly trying to nail down the correct tone. This is then dry-brushed over the base, which is gold with a black ink wash.
Gimli (still wet with ink, obviously)
Finally, I worked up the courage to tackle one of the Fellowship minis. Gimli is my favourite character from the books, and as such I wanted to do his miniature justice. He is also going to be a part of my Lothlorien army, considering how much love and respect he developed for Galadriel in the novels. At the time of the pic, he is soaking with black ink, but I wanted to include the shot anyway as I love the earthy colours that go into his costume.
That is all for this time. Thanks for reading, and I’ll try get another post in before too long. I also need to figure out why Jetpack is involved so heavily in WP now… Why have two apps do what one app used to fine?
Welcome back, folks. Today I managed to steal 10 minutes to finish the bases of some Minas Tirith miniatures, which is a miracle in itself. My kids seem to require proximity parenting at the moment, so it’s hard to actually do anything constructive or be anyone but a walking snack dispenser during the weekend’s daylight hours. But anyway…
I’ve painted up 3x Citadel Guards with spears, which leaves the 3x bowmen to do. These guys are going to be part of Denethor’s warband, or possibly Beregond’s. They are useful troops with the Bodyguard special rule to help with the hero they are protecting.
Pippin himself was painted in the same manner, sticking to a similar colour scheme as he had in ROTK. I am not even going to attempt to free-hand anymore white tree insignias, despite how well they might have turned out on Boromir’s banner. I consider that a fluke, if nothing else.
The mischievous hobbit is also going to be part of either Denethor’s warband or Beregond’s as he could really fit with either, based on the books and films, and brings a little visual addition to this army of Gondor.
Anyways that’s all for this installment. I’m hoping to post more frequently in the coming months, as that is now the bulk of my uni work done and submitted, and I’m starting to see a return to my free time in the evenings now.
With the last of the Elven archers done for this warband, I thought I would get a pic of Haldir and his group so far.
As it stands, the warband is made up of: Haldir, 8x Wood Elves with bows, 1x Sentinel, 2x Galadhrim Knights with bows. I probably mentioned in a previous post that there are some sword-and-shield Galadhrim to join this warband for a bit more armoured support, but they are still in the works. For the meantime, there’s mobile firing support from the Knights, and a Sentinel nestled amongst the bows with her bag of tricks.
This warband is to be the long-range harassment unit in my Lothlorien list, with my main warband being led by Lady Galadriel accompanied by a blob of Wood Elves with throwing weapons. I’m also intending on building up a unit of purely Galadhrim Warriors, led by a Captain, but we’ll see how that goes!
This is just a quick update tonight, as I managed to get some painting time in this evening. I’ve been working on some of my Minas Tirith troops, progressing with the Citadel Guard, along with Pippin too. He’s been a fun miniature to paint so far.
Minas Tirith Citadel Guard & Pippin
I’m still bashing through the Orcs for my Angmar list. I only have 3 more to paint up and that army is complete. Until then, here’s 2 I got completed tonight. These are for my final warband, which is the only one to make use of Orc projectiles.
A pair of Angmar Orcs.
I painted the final Elf archer for my Lothlorien army. This fella will go in Haldir’s warband, which is going to be mostly archers, mounted archers, a Sentinel, and a sprinkling of armoured sword & shield Galadhrim. I aim to get a pic of the warband so far next time.
And also, I don’t know if I mentioned my sister got me Elrond for my Christmas. He’s the ‘Finecast’ version, and came with a mounted version, as well as Lindir. Here we have the on-foot Elrond, looking surprisingly like Hugo Weaving actually! I’ve been painting him up in the green and greys of the Rivendell scheme I’m using (which came from an old White Dwarf issue- don’t ask me which!)
So there you have it for this evening. Wishing you luck with your projects in the meantime! Take care
While 2023 has come out the gate with dual combos of tedious work and heaps of uni stuff on the side, I have been finding the time (here & there) to make little chips in my painting pile. This has been helped by my eldest daughter becoming interested in painting up her minis that I gave her last year (mainly a mix of LOTR troops for her to practice on), and it’s been fun sharing tips and advice while we paint.
On with this post: today we have Haldir, who is one of the leader choices for my Lothlorien force. He’s a hardy character with a decent price tag, even after being kitted out with a bow, armour, and Elven cloak (sitting at 90pts in total, at time of writing), and has the ability to shoot twice per turn thanks to Expert Shot. Haldir is also a Hero of Valor, thanks to a LOTR MESBG FAQ from a few years ago, meaning he can lead a band of 15 minis.
I figured in a Lorien force, Haldir was to be an auto-include. I like heroes with great shooting abilities, and this has led me to putting together the ranged Elf warband for him to lead, so that they can be a purely archery-based headache to their opponents. There will also be a Sentinel in there too, for extra annoyance!
His armour colour here is based on the Elves’ armour in the illustrations of the Fall of Gondolin, and is a scheme I have used on my other Galadhrim-armoured Elves in previous posts. The mini itself I believe is from an old Lord of the Rings Helm’s Deep mini set that was around in the early-to-mid 2000s, and was an eBay rescue for £3, which I thought was not bad at all.
Haldir himself will be the second hero of my Lothlorien Elves, the first being Galadriel, who was finished a few months back. Once I tidy up the last of the Wood Elves, I can assemble a shot of Haldir with his ranged warband. Then it will just be finishing the last of the close combat troops and banner bearer, and that army will be wrapped up.
Thanks again for reading, and hope you have had an enjoyable start to 2023. Take care.
I’ve managed to push a couple of models across the finish line, and in doing so, completing a warband or two in the process. Finally presenting 2/3 of my Angmar army!
The 1st warband is led by the ringwraith The Tainted, on horseback. Accompanied by 14 Orcs, they are equipped with a mix of swords & shields, two-handed weapons, spears, and one has a banner. Hidden amongst their number is the 15th member of The Tainted’s warriors, a Dead Marsh Spectre.
The ringwraith can be traded out for the Witch-King or the Dwimmerlaik, points depending. This initial warband was meant to be about taking the max Orcs allowed by the character (15 in the case of The Tainted) as a bit of padding for their protection, coupled with a re-roll in combat from a banner-bearer, and a nasty spell from the Spectre.
The 2nd warband is pretty straightforward: a Wild Warg Chieftain with a pack of 6 Wild Wargs. They give a little speed to the force, and if I expand on any aspect of the army in the future, it’ll be to add more of these Wargs to the list.
Anyways, thanks again for reading! I didn’t think I would get anything else finished in 2022, so again have a great New Year’s and catch you next time.
Hey, it’s been a bit of a while! I haven’t had much time for hobbying lately, mainly down to work, writing, and my Open University studies. I’ve been trying to make at least one night per week for painting or building, but this hasn’t been so easy to stick to.
For Christmas, my wife got me a box of Rivendell Knights to go with my Rivendell Elves. This worked out pretty well, as my sister got me the Elrond & Lindir blister, so we now have a solid mounted Elf section for my Rivendell army. And none of these guys count towards the bow limit of the army when Elrond is involved (yay!)
I love the Knights kit, with a few options to customise the unit. Shields are always welcome, and there’s a captain of sorts I’m tempted to use as a mounted Lindir alternative. There are also two or three dead Elf minis on the sprue that might make interesting base decorations for my Angmar models.
My only qualm with this kit, albeit a minor one, is that the Elves themselves come in three parts: left side, right side, and face/chest. This means in a couple of places I am going to have to use the modelling putty to fill in cracks where the face/chest piece hasn’t quite met the joining body segment. Very strange design, but I’m guessing it could just be due to the kit’s age? The Galadhrim Knights was a much more comfortable kit to assemble.
Anyways… A few goals for 2023:
-finish painting my Elves. This means all Rivendell & Lothlorien combined. -finish painting my Scions. Because it’s been taking so long. -finish painting my Devil Dog.
These aren’t mad goals by any means, but I am a slow-as-hell painter, and these days I’m lucky to get the time to do anything hobby-wise. It’ll be easier once OU is finished in the autumn, I suppose.
I wish you all great new years, and look forward to reading about your own hobby goals for 2023. Thank you all for checking out the blog in 2022, it’s very much appreciated! Take care for now.
Dreadaxe Games 