Troll - Blake

Here's the troll I worked on from scratch so that there was little filler required on the arm joints.

I was working on both of these at the same time.

Because I left hands, head and drums till I'd done most of the dry brushing, I could go a little lighter but then there were other problems such as the head join being obvious and a colour change from body to arms.

Again I should have worked harder on all the seams before painting.

This one was going to be Lewis but Blake claimed him on account of the drums.

I'm thinking of working on the remaining three at the same time.

I'd like to do something extra with the bases as there's no way the body can be changed and so the stance is the same for each one.

Trolls - Henry

Here's Henry's Troll who was in a bad way when he first enlisted.

His arms were somewhat removed from his shoulders and he was distinctly grey looking.

That's right - no undercoat even.

I roughly followed the painting guide in the LOTR rule book (p205).

He refused to be parted with his armour making painting and, in particular, dry brushing, difficult.

The result is rather redder than is perhaps normal for a troll but, as I'm considering going for green on the next batch it's not so very far off the mark.

I've learned, when painting this one and 'Blake', to try harder on the body joins.

Perhaps thick glue?

I used a fair chunk of green stuff (actually Milliput) to join arms to body but realise that the body seams should have received some filler too.

Morgul Knights Squadron

So here's all twelve of them finished.

I did some touching up on the original six such as horses mouths as I was doing the new ones.

Just in case you think they are the original six with new arms attached with blue tack, I include a pic of the complete squadron of twelve.

I can see that they will be fragile, in the field.

In fact, the banner carrier has already met up with some troll trouble and needed some super glue when his banner snapped off. Worth getting brass rod?

Morgul Knight bases

Just to show that I'm not totally doing nuffink, here's the bases for the second batch of Morgul Knights.

The one on the right is from the previous batch for comparison.

I'm still not happy as it's tricky getting Milliput around but not touching the hooves and more so with the Dark Earth paint.

Next time, I'll try another way.

Magwitch Hill

I should have finished the next batch of Morgul Knights,by now but I've been elsewhere.

However, this hill which Henry and Lewis made a few years ago and never painted, came to light recently.

So Maggie, with a little help from Blake, did the grass work and some of the painting.

Meanwhile, the Knights are gradually taking shape.

Morgul Knights Ride

That's the first batch finished and I've learned a few things.

Most of them I should have learned ages ago.

They may lean a little, this way and that.

I found it tricky to avoid it with a pin for one hole in the base and the other fixing points out of kilter.

Things will slow down now as I'll be busy elsewhere but I think I'll go from the second batch to Corsairs of Umber or Wood Elves.

Then the other 23 boxes and the Hobbit starter set!

Then there's that box of Skaven and Elves from the Warhammer World to tackle.
Plus. Plus. Plus.

Morgul Knights 2

Progress!

The two on the right have bases coated in 'Dark Earth', the texture paint I bought for FoW.

I figure the area is coated with dust and rocks.*

I'll do the others though I'll paint them black first.

After the Dark Earth, a bit of highlighting and then the riders can doff spears and sheilds and mount up.

*In my head originally, I had the Morgul Knights hanging out in Mirkwood and created some cute little fallen branches, had my pot of mixed herbs ready for fallen leaves and I'd scrounged some Halloween 'spider's web' to use on the bases (giant spiders in Mirkwood). Oh well! It will all come in handy some day.

Morgul Knights

After sitting, staring at tank decal sheets for the past six weeks or so and fretting about placing them incorrectly, I decided that I really must do something about my 'modelers block'.

So, screwing up my courage and several sheets of toilet paper, I put decals, tanks and FoW paints back in the box and started on these Morgul Knights.

You could say that, at last, I'm back in the saddle but actually, that's not me - just a blob of Blue Tack.