Warriors of Rohan

In the two-and-a-half weeks since the birth of my daughter, I have nearly painted one miniature. (Today could be the day!).  Partly this is time lost to diaper changing, cute cuddling, and sleep-seeking, and  partly it has been caused by the flood of visitors coming to see the little one. That’s all fine, and I don’t mind. It just means I don’t have as much to show off on the blog.

I did find time though, to take a couple of snaps of the figures I finished just before the birth. At the time, I was working on some warriors of Rohan, based on Musketeer Miniatures. These figures are a real joy to paint; both the sculpting and the casting are so crisp, and the detail so distinct, that it really compliments my painting style, which relies heavily on black-lining between detail.

The biggest challenge with these miniatures remains the shields. Except for the boss, the shields have no detail, so everything has to be painted  freehand. Also, my goal is to give every man in the force a unique shield design, while keeping a coherent look for the entire army. So, I’ve decided I will only use four different colours on the shields: green, white, cavalry brown, and black. Hopefully, this uniformity of colour will offset the different designs. 

As for the designs themselves, I’m going with a bit of trial and error. I think most of the shields will end up with some kind of four quadrant design as it is generally easy to paint, but looks very effective, especially from a couple of feet away (the distance you see figures when they are actually on the wargaming table). That said, I’m experimenting with some more complicated designs as well.

So, here is my force so far, one rider and a couple of warriors. I’ve got a couple more half completed, which will appear soon (baby permitting).