Mahud Warriors.

You can see I'm busy.

The metal parts of mounted Gamling with Royal Standard, after laborious clean up, await fixing together and lots of gaps filled.

Then primer and undercoat and a tricky paint job.

The other metal model is also Gamling.

There are three models at the next stage - Elendil, Isildur and Bilbo are primed and undercoated.

Gwaihir is only a little further on with his first coat of Rhinox Hide.


The Mahud warriors just await some dead grass (above) but here they are ready for the cabinet.

I followed the other Harad warriors as far as the bases were concerned with Tau Light Ochre painted onto 'Brown Earth' with a highlight of Bleached Bone.

The skin colour is Rhinox Hide with Mournfang added for highlights.

The cloaks etc are Mechrite mixed with Blood Red for highlights.

All are varnished to avoid paint chipping on these metal models but I realise that the varnish acts like a glaze in that it reduces contrast.

Rohan Warriors, Gandalf and Saruman.

These two fellows turned up recently, asking the way to Helm's Deep.

I considered adjusting the arm or hand position but there are others that have swords in various poses so there is little point.

I'd like to think that they are painted better than some of the originals but I notice they have no cloak clasp at their throats and the jerkin fasteners on one seem to lack paint.

These metal figures, Gandalf, Saruman and Plinth, have been sitting around in the company of Gwaihir for some time so they jumped to the front of the crew.

Gwaihir may have to wait till he has a couple of companion eagles which will warrant a can of brown spray.

Eomer's Troop plus 3

The lame horse, which at least had an ankle, was successfully pinned and glued with support being given by a small rise in the ground and a conveniently located rock for the front hoof.

I'd tried simply using super glue at the break point (didn't know they played tennis!) but the ankle wouldn't hold.

The other lame horse had its ankle missing (I expect it will be found with that cow's leg, down on Cold Comfort Farm)

I used pinning again and the lower end of the pin went into one of those unconvincing tufts of grass that GW supply to fill the second hole in their bases.

Then Green Stuff bulked it out.

Of course, the pin should have been longer and had two bends in it to give the shape of a horses ankle (or fetlock as we wellie wearers call it)

I will have to hide the result with something.

It has more the appearance of an item used by Long John Silver than trotting apparatus.




Milliput made up another rise and rather than fixing the fore-hoof to another rock, I had this perfect little dead guy lined up for the part.

Originally he was brown skinned but, despite the metal helmet, he looked more like a farm hand who'd found a shield in a ditch on the way home.















So first I painted face and hand with Fenrisian Grey (really pale blue) then gave it a wash with Orc Flesh Wash.

I think he came up rather well and his knee was in exactly the right position to be kicked as the horse leapt.


 There is no sign of a wound or death blow so I assume he was running off when hit.

He still managed to fall violently backward knocking a hole in the helmet and his skull.

All tricky stuff but fun to do.

I have a spare horse now but no Eomer but I picked one up on Ebay.

Hopefully it will arrive on Friday.

Eomer's Plus 2

Here's the first three.

Painted with some difficulty as the riders were glued to the horses.

That doesn't excuse the poor job on the shields.

Frequently dabs of paint would get in the wrong place as a shield, weapon or cloak got in the way.

Worse was to come on the remaining two which were both lame.

Eomer's Troop plus

The next small batch of Eomer's Troop is much more difficult.

Not only are the riders glued to the horses making painting fiendishly difficult but also, there are a couple of breakages.

I think I can cope with this one, providing some support for the broken ankle by glueing a front hoof to the rock.

(I've tried super glue on the ankle alone but it didn't hold)


The other one will require either a new ankle/hoof or a disguised end to the leg as the hoof is missing.

Tall grass should do it.

Eomer's Riders 2

Here are the next three.

The sixth horse has lost his rider.

I used the Ork Shade rather than Thraka for the shading on the cloaks.

I believe that Dark Angels Green is the more usual colour for the cloaks but I'd used that for Rangers or Dwarfs or something, so chose Warboss Green.

Eomer's Riders 1

The first pair of riders have leapt into the saddle and charge off to rid the Mark of a few more Orcs.

Colour scheme is pretty much the same as previous riders except that I have given them a red sash ( dark flesh with a blood red high light.

The usual browns for various leather-work with the hair of these two based with Steel Legion Drab and painted up with Yriel/Yellow/white.

As usual, I had trouble doing a reasonable job on the shields.

The white is always too thin and runs onto the green or too thick and stops dead.

Bows are Balor Brown and Mournfang, cloaks are Warboss Green, high lighted with Goblin Green and washed with Thraka but I may decide to go darker with a wash of thinned Orc Flesh Wash.

The sun failed to shine for the photos so they are a little grey but the lack of extreme contrast sometimes allows a little more detail to show.

Eomer's Troop 2

 Eomer's troop of greys all done with a few more to come.

They're gloss varnished as the one with only a tail varnished looked odd.

I've used some 'Warpainter/Army Painter' tufts on some of the bases as well as the usual live and dead grass.

I tried for a dapple (centre, bottom two pics) but he merely looks untidy.

It hardly shows in these pics.

I'll have another go on the next batch.