The Royal Guard of Tolfolas (Join the Glaurung)

When Prince Althérion of Tolfolas joined the heroes of the Glaurung, he also brought a small contingent of his household guard with him. Although young, these soldiers are highly trained, battle-tested, and above all, devoted to the protection of the Prince.

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As soon as I painted up the figure for Prince Althérion, I knew that I also wanted to include some soldiers of Tolfolas among the crew of the Glaurung. I wanted the figures to be distinct from the soldiers of Minas Tirith, but also, because they are mainly dressed in blue, I didn’t want them mistaken for soldiers of Dol Amroth either. After seeing what was available, I bought a pack of soldiers of Arnor.

  

The only thing I didn’t like about these figures was their spears. In general, I don’t like metal miniatures holding spears in one hand. They invariably get bent and never get straight again. (This happens to all metal miniature weapons, but looks worse with spears). So, I clipped off their spears and gave them each a short, heavy sword. I thought this weapon was a good fit with the heavy shield. I also gave the swords long hilts so they could be wielded two-handed, should a solder be caught without his shield.

These figures were relatively quick to paint, as they are predominately silver and blue, without too much detail. The only exception is the shields, which were a bit tricky to paint with their intricate decoration. I suppose these are symbols of Arnor, but they meant nothing to me, so I’m happy to have them represent the Princedom of Tolfolas.

With these guys finished and ready to sail, I’ve only got two figures left to paint to reach the full complement of thirty that I wanted for the Glaurung.

The ship is almost ready to sail. 

Painting Mahud

Since I had so much fun assembling my first two Mahud warriors the other day, I decided to move them to the front of my painting queue.

There is very little information regarding the warriors of Far Harad. Tolkien mentions that some fought at the battle of the Pelennor Fields, saying they were ‘black men like half-trolls with red tongues and white eyes...’ It’s not a lot to go on.

In the movie, we see a couple of men from Far Harad serving as drivers for the Mumaks. Both are dark-skinned, bald and covered with garish red and white face paint. It’s a rather effective ‘warrior look’ in my opinion, and I decided to use it as the basis for my own warriors.

For the most part, painting these figures was a little bit dull. Since they are mostly naked, there isn’t a lot of detail to pick out, which is my favourite part. It was only after I got the basic flesh and clothes finished that I really enjoyed it. With my red and white paint, I went to town painting little dots and lines on them, trying to give them that fierce warrior look. For awhile I didn’t think it was working, but when I put a couple of white dots under their eyes, the figures really seem to come together.

I think the key for me is to not paint too many of these figures at one go. If I space them out, I am actually more likely to maintain my interest. Anyway, these are the only two I’ve got constructed at the moment, and there are plenty of other figures waiting in the queue.

Making Mahud

Recently, me and a friend decided to create small, Lord of the Rings theme forces to play Lion Rampant, a new set of medieval wargaming rules, set to publish later this year in the Osprey Wargames series. After thinking it over, I decided on Far Harad for two reasons. First, I will be able to reuse all of the figures for the Glaurung campaign. Second, I liked the variety of troop types available: half-trolls, camel riders, lightly infantry, and, in theory, a Mumak.

There was only one problem with my selection. Assembling a Far Harad force of any size, using the official GW figures is tough. Not only are they expensive, but there are only three different basic infantry figures available.

So, first I sketched out what the core of my raiding force would contain:

3 Camel Riders

3 Half Trolls

18 Light Infantry

The good news was that I already owned 1 Camel Rider and 2 Half Trolls. So, I splashed a little cash and bought 2 more Camel Riders, another pack of Half Trolls, and one pack of 3 infantry. Those 3 infantry would serve as my sergeants, each leading a squad of five men. Then I turned my thoughts to acquiring the other 15 infantry.

I was pretty sure I wanted plastics, and the closest plastic figures to the Far Harad figures in look are Perry Miniatures plastic Sudanese (which isn’t that surprising since the Perry’s also sculpted the GW figures).

To my eyes, the warriors of the Mahud (as GW have named the people of Far Harad), have two distinguishing features, their wicker neck decorations and their large wicker shields. It is my desire to keep this as the common element of the force.

This morning I set to work on my first models. I started with the camel rider, because he was an easy little conversion. This figure came wielding a blow-pipe. I’m sorry, but I just don’t think the blow-pipe is really a war weapon. I discarded the arm and replaced it with a Sudanese spear arm. The consistent sculpting means it looks perfect.

Then I set about the harder work. I assembled a couple of Sudanese, using only the bald heads and the bare-chested torsos. I rolled a little noodle of green-stuff, which I wrapped around their necks, and did my best to texture. Hopefully, when I paint them, that texture will show through and make them look at least similar to the GW models.

For shields, I gave them Zulu shields from the plastic kit from Warlord Games. The only downside to this, is that most of the shields in the box are attached to forearms. For one figure, I was able to use a free shield and glue it straight to his Sudanese arm. For the other, I had to construct a shoulder out of green-stuff to fill the gap between the torso and the forearm. This is stretching my sculpting to the limit, but it doesn’t seem to have turned out too badly.

So far, I’m happy with my work, but the ultimate test will come when they are painted...

And After...

I realize I left the last blog post on a bit of a cliffhanger. Well, the carpet fitters showed up on time and quickly put in our new carpet. It looks fantastic, and it's like walking on a cloud. Of course now the rest of the house looks terrible by comparison...

For those of you not interested in carpet, please amuse yourselves by trying to spot the following items: the Moon Lander, the Batmobile, a copy of Children of Hurin.

New Carpet: Part 1

After a couple of hours last night and another hour this morning. My living room currently looks like this:

We are now awaiting the phone call to tell us when we can expect the carpet fitters. Hopefully soon, as the rest of the house is crammed with books and furniture, and I am completely blocked off from the Troll Cave where I keep all my miniature stuff!

Rymond the Breelander (Joins the Glaurung)

Despite the nickname given to him in Gondor, Rymond was actually born in the town of Archet some miles to the north of Bree. Orphaned at a young age, Rymond went to live with his great-uncle, a glassblower who had little interest in his nephew. As Rymond grew older, his uncle often sent him out on deliveries to many of the nearby towns. During these trips, Rymond took every chance he could to sneak off and spend a couple of hours at the Prancing Pony. Sitting by the warm fire with a cup of cider, Rymond would listen to traveller's tales and learn any foreign words that anyone would teach him.

When he was sixteen, his great-uncle died. Rymond took what little money his uncle possessed, packed a bag, and joined the first merchant caravan he could. For the next seven years, Rymond traveled with any caravan that would take him, as long as it was going somewhere new. At first, he signed on merely as hired labour, but eventually he learned enough skill with a bow to serve as a guard. Finally, his skill with languages was noticed and merchants began to seek him out to act as an interpreter in far flung corners.

Still a young man, Rymond can now speak seven languages fluently, not counting the numerous dialects he also knows. He can even stutter through conversations in Dwarvish and at least one Elven language.  

Rymond was actually in the Druadan Forest when the first announcements about the Glaurung were made, but when the news eventually reached him, he hurried to Minas Tirith determined to secure a place. By the time he reached the city, Breged and Madracoth had already departed for Dol Amroth. Taking the fastest ship he could, Rymond arrived in the city the week after Prince Althérion.

Presenting himself before Breged, the young man nearly begged to join the crew. Initially unsure of the stocky youth, Breged then learned about Rymond’s gift for languages. Such skill could prove invaluable on the quest, so Breged granted the young man a place on the Glaurung.

***

The figure of Rymond comes from the Blackroot Vale archer command pack. Originally it’s left arm was holding a horn up to its mouth. Although I thought it was a cool figure, I just couldn’t see having a hero blowing a horn through the whole campaign, especially one who was supposed to be my translator. So I once again put my (feeble) conversion skills to the test.

My first attempt to give him a new left arm failed miserably, and I ended up ripping it off and starting over. On my second attempt, I sculpted a new bit of tunic on his left shoulder. Then I cut the arm off a plastic warrior of the dead mini and glued it into place. That looked okay, except for the hand, so I cut that off as well, and replaced it with another plastic hand. I had to file the fingers down on the hand as it was a little large.

I’m mostly happy with the results. Rymond has a slightly strange pose. He looks a little bit like he has been caught off guard and is flinching away from something. The whole left shoulder is a bit crude, but generally passes a casual observation. Perhaps a bit of crudity is a small price to pay for a unique figure.

Rymond represents the tenth and last of the heroes to join the Glaurung. That said, I still have at least one figure left to paint to finish off the crew. Still, it is nearly time to set sail...

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore

I admit it; I basically bought Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore for its title. I doubt I’m alone in that. It is just such a perfectly targeted title for people who are shopping for books.

Regardless of why I bought the book, I sure am glad that I did. It’s a wonderfully quirky little novel that I really don’t want to say too much about. Basically, if you love books, are fascinated by the possibilities of modern technology, have read some classic fantasy and think fonts are cool, you might want to go out and get yourself a copy.

Heck, I barely even noticed that the book was written in the present tense, and generally, I hate that.

Good job, Robin Sloan.