Gimli

 

In truth, this isn’t quite the Gimli I wanted. I wanted a figure that was closer to the Angus McBride depiction – but, after much searching, I couldn’t find anything that worked for me. So, I just decided to go with a dwarf model I really liked, as long as it had an axe!

At first, I passed over this dwarf model, sculpted by Werner Klocke, because his heavy plate armour didn’t seem fitting. Then, it occurred to me that I could paint the metal as leather, and if I painted it as a kind of red leather, it would tie the figure closer to the film interpretation of Gimli.

All-and-all, I think it worked out pretty well. The painting process was a bit strange. I had a lot of fun painting the top half – lots of big detail – but the legs gave me all kinds of problems. For whatever reason, mostly my eyes I suspect, I just couldn’t see the detail on the legs that well. Thus, the legs aren’t painted a well as the rest of the figure. Still, they are not that easy to see most of the time either, so I’m not going to worry about it too much. 

Size-wise, he’s a good mach. He stands just a bit taller than the Hobbits, but shorter than everyone else!

So, this brings me up to 8 members of the Fellowship and smack into a problem…  You see, my three Hobbits are all Bobby Jackson sculpts from Reaper.  I love them, but they have a very particular style that doesn’t really match well with other hobbit/Halfling figures out there. That would be fine, except to-date, Reaper have only released three of them! (Okay, there is also a Hobbit cook and a barmaid in a similar style, but that’s not really useful in this situation). So, I’m not sure what I’m going to do about it.  I'm not even sure if I'm missing Frodo or Pippin, as that will depend on whatever figure I end up with. Anyway, here are the 8 walkers so far!

Boromir, Proud Son of Gondor

 

I’m pretty excited to show this one off. After a long delay on my Fellowship of the Ring progress, I have painted up my Boromir! It took me a long time to find a figure that came close enough to my personal vision of the character – most of which is based on the Angus McBride depiction from the cover the Middle-Earth Role-Play Rulebook.

The figure is a relatively old Reaper figure, sculpted by Sandra Garrity. Although Boromir is a great warrior, I wanted him dressed primarily in his travel clothes. I thought this figure fit the bill rather nicely and – bonus – he is wearing a horn. There were a few problems though. First off, I very much wanted my Boromir to have a shield. So, I cut and filed the off-hand dagger and replaced it with a shield. I also cut the figure off its integral base and mounted it on a GW base. 

I was a bit concerned that the figure was too baby-faced. When I got round to painting him, I tried giving him the long mustache, as in the McBride, but that just didn’t work. So, drawing on the film, I gave him the full goatee. In another nod to the film depiction, I gave him purple sleeves with gold highlights – although they are hardly noticeable. Most of the rest of the colour choices go back to the McBride painting.

By far the hardest part of the paint job was the shield. If Boromir is going to carry a shield, it is hard to imagine it not having the white tree on it. I’m no expert when it comes to free-hand painting, but I think I managed well enough, at least for tabletop distance!

Painting the figure was slightly bitter-sweet as on the day I was painting it, I had originally been scheduled to go to the Royal Albert Hall to see The Fellowship of the Ring accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra. I’d had tickets for over a year and was greatly looking forward to it. But, like so many things this year, it has been 'postponed indefinitely'. 

Such is life at the moment. At least my little metal Fellowship continues. I’m now only missing Gimli and one Hobbit.

Rangers of Shadow Deep - Official Mats!

 

I'm really excited to announce that Cigar Box Battle is now producing official play mats for Rangers of Shadow Deep. As you can see in the image above, their are four types available, representing the different terrain types. You can even order them with, or without, 1" squares overlaid, as some people prefer squares for movement.

I've actually been using Cigar Box Battle Mats for several years now and have quite a collection. I love them for the high-quality of the graphics, the softness of the cloth material (seriously, they cushion your miniatures!), and how easily they can be folded up for storage.

In fact, the only downside to these mats is that they are so nice, my children occasionally swipe them to use as blankets!

Swan Knights of Dol Amroth!

 

I’ve been feeling the Middle-earth excitement again, lately. I’ve been re-reading The Return of the King, and I’m expecting my new, illustrated edition of The Unfinished Tales to arrive today!

Fuelled by that excitement, I thought it was time to expand my Gondor army. So, I ordered up the Knights of Dol Amroth on foot from Forge World. It’s an expensive set, but it’s also a very nice one. The kit includes six knights, and while all of the poses are fixed, it does come with options for 4 un-helmeted heads, a banner-bearer, a trumpeter, and the ability to mix the shield choice. Now, I didn’t take most of those options because I just wanted a straight unit of knights, but it’s good to know should I ever want to expand the unit.

Assembly was very easy. All of the connections and joins have been well designed and cast. The figures are a little smaller than their metal counterparts, but fit in well enough with the Gondor range. 

Really though, they are just gorgeous figures. I know a lot of people don’t like the idea of plate-mail armour in Middle-earth, but, when The Lord of the Rings was first read to me, this is very similar to how I envisioned the Knights of Dol Amroth – they are knights in shining armour!

Anyway, I was so pleased, I had to break out some forces of Mordor just to give them a nice action shot!

 

Tabletop World Townhouse

For a couple of years now, I have been aware of Tabletop World, a producer a highly-detailed, fantasy wargaming buildings. From what I could tell, they were the best resin pieces on the market. However, I was always put-off by the high-cost of shipping to the UK. Well, now there are a couple of places to get them in the UK, notably Zealot Miniatures and Element Games, so I decided it was high time to see if they were as good as they looked. So, I ordered Townhouse I.

When I first pulled it out of the box, and viewed it in its yellow resin, I must admit, I wasn't hugely impressed. It was nice, but didn't look special. Then I started to paint it...

This piece was an absolute dream to paint. All of the detail is sharp and heavy. And what detail. If you look closely, you can see a lot of the nails in the roof tiles and support beams - not that I bothered to paint them. I mainly just dry-brushed and washed, and the results were fantastic.

It also has a detailed interior, which I didn't paint, because I find doing so awkward and not much fun, and I never end up using the interior anyway.

Really, I can't praise it enough. I like it so much that I immediately ordered another cottage to go with it! 

The only point I'm not sure about is the height. The miniature it is pictured with is on the smaller side of 28mm, and it looks a fine. Bigger figures look a bit tall. This is mainly because of the GW bases I mount most of my figures on, so I might need to put a piece of wood or something on the bottom of the house to give it a bit more height. (Or maybe not, it's not that big a deal.) 

If you want top notch fantasy buildings, these are them.

Drakar and Darts

 
I am continuing work on my Silent Death project. Up to now, I have been mostly painting ships at random, but I have decided that I will focus my goal on collecting the fighters that were released for the first edition of the game*. So, the fighters presented in the original rulebook, and the two expansions Overkill and Black Guard**. This includes a total of 24 different fighters and gunships, which seems like more than enough to get started on, especially since I'm painting up two sides. I'm going to knock up a spreadsheet to see exactly how many of each I want. 

This week, the red team gained some new forces, a pair of Drakar gunships and two Dart light fighters. The Drakars are metal, while the Darts are plastic. The difference in quality is noticeable, but not so much that it is likely to bother me on the table. 

I really enjoy painting these fighters as breaks between other projects, because they are quick and easy. 

* The physical appearance of many of the fighters changed between 1st and 2nd edition (which is actually the biggest difference in the editions). I'm just using whichever design I like better or happen to have.

** The first edition of Silent Death also saw the release of the Night Brood box set, which introduced alien 'bug' ships. I have this box, and would like to add those forces someday, but it is beyond the scope of my project at the moment. 

The Ruins of St. Mary’s Church, Eastwell

In an effort to get out and enjoy the last few days of summer, my family went searching for the mostly-forgotten church of St. Mary’s, Eastwell, that we saw mentioned in a book. Despite all of our modern technology, we did manage to get briefly lost and accidentally drove onto private property. However, a kindly security guard set us on the right road.

The road was long, narrow, overgrown, and didn’t seem to go anywhere, until it ended at a small gravel lot, right next to the ruins of the church. It’s an enchanting place. Only one side of the church actually remains, consisting of the main tower, a small chapel, and the wall between. A few other fragments of wall are scattered about. Of these, the largest chunk contains a stone plaque, marking it as the supposed resting place of Richard ‘Plantagenet’. According to legend, this shadowy figure was the illegitimate son of Richard III, who went into hiding after his father’s death (probably a good call).

The ruins are bordered, and often overshadowed, by numerous ancient yew trees, and the site sits right next to a lake, populated by a large flock of extremely noisy ducks. There are a few graves scattered around the place, mostly broken and completely overgrown.

The site is owned and maintained by The Friends of Friendless Churches, an intriguing charity.

The whole place definitely feels like the setting for a fairy-tale or Arthurian romance.

We had a lovely time exploring, playing hide & seek, and eating our lunch. From the church, we were able to join the ‘Pilgrims' Way’, the path that runs from Winchester to Canterbury, and briefly walk along that ancient trail.

It’s always a good day out when you can explore some medieval ruins!