Archers of Rohan (The Painting)

I finished painting these guys a couple of weeks ago, but, with my parents visiting from the States, a wedding, and all of the various baby-related business, they have remained tucked away in my Troll Cave.

These are the two archers I converted from Musketeer Miniatures Goths. Both gained beards and longer hair. One also gained a leather breastplate, while the other got some fur trim on his tunic.

When I came to paint the figures, I realized I had badly overdone the beard on the archer with the fur trim. These are Rohirrim after all, not wild Dunlendings. Since re-sculpting the beard would have been a major operation, I decided to cheat and paint the bottom part of the beard as though it were a scarf. The result was a partial success. I’m not sure it stands up to careful scrutiny, but I don’t think it will be noticed on the tabletop in the midst of a battle.

I’m actually much happier with the leather-armoured archer. Although the armour still looks a bit  rough, I think a bit of roughness is worth it for a unique figure. While I'm still not that comfortable with freehand painting, the tunics on these figures contain so much flat space that some detail needs to be added. On this one, I painted a simple row of arches running along the bottom of the tunic. Arches for archers!

Taken together, I’m pleased with the first archers to join my slowly growing Rohirrim ranks.