Warriors of Minas Tirith

 Trying to find a better 'Osgiliath look' with the bases of Minas Tirith Warriors, I bought some plasticard designed as brickwork for railway modellers, from the Cheltenham Model Shop.

The size discs required for the tops of bases is a little less that the diameter of a pound coin.

The card glues with plastic glue (I suppose it would, being plastic) and then the troops have to parade without their slot.

I cut them off with cutters and then cut and filed the bottom of their boots to glue them on the tiled roads of Osgiliath.

The surface of the card seems ok with paint as long as it's not thinned down too much.

A coat of Codex and a wash with Badab with a drybrush of Fortress Grey after glueing on some rubble from the ruins.


Plus a few weeds popping up, here and there.

Let the Orcs do the weeding when they arrive!

Knights of Minas Tirith

Here I've tried for the battered roads of Osgilliath with heaps of rubble and chunks of ruin littering the place.

I don't know where Faramir has galloped off to but he should be along soon.

These metal riders were tricky to glue on.


Again, Lilliput came to the rescue.

A lump of it beneath the bum works wonders.

As for those bendy weapons!

Warg Riders

To offset the cavalry component of a good army, the bad guys only really have Warg Riders until later in the book (film).

I've tried to retain some of the 'mane' on some thinking the flat featureless backs rather poor.

Perhaps Lilliput applied would improve things?

I tried for the look of the area round the deer park in Queenstown where they ambushed the refugees on their way to Helm's Deep.

Again I think manufactured rocks are an improvement on the real thing.

Riders of Rohan - Green Troop

 Now that the black horse with the poorly ankle has been rested awhile, he's fit for the fray again.




I have some more Riders of Rohan that will arrive in the field eventually so I'll arrange for fewer of them to be leaping over rocks, bushes and logs.

The log is actually an Ent's arm.



 The 'rock' under the black horse is Lilliput.

In many cases it looks better than a stone though cat-litter makes realistic smaller rocks.

OK. Perhaps not in this case.

I could do with a mounted leader now.

Ents

 Here's the second Ent.


Just as annoying to put together but fun to paint.


The legs have been swapped over, perhaps that's why he's a trifle knock-kneed.


Either that or too much 6X Ent water.


The left arm has become the right with a few mods and a number of extra branches have been added.


He's a charmer, don't you think?

However, the rock he's holding is pathetic and the pose is poor.

I think I'll make my own, next time, with Lilliput or Green Stuff overlaid on felt-tip pen cases.






The little touch added to the new Ent was Heather's idea.

I also removed one of the beef steak fungus.

Hobbiton

 Just to prove we were really there in Hobbiton, a few snaps near Bag End.


The front door was open but neither Bilbo, nor Frodo were in.

 At the bottom of the steps, that famous notice about the party.


Note we took our own map with us, wrapped around Rebecca

Here's something I've never done before, despite this being my third visit.

They have opened up The Green Dragon for a little something before a long journey.

Henry and Lewis get stuck in.

Here's the whole gang, Henry, Anne, Rebecca, Lewis and myself.

OK It's nothing to do with Games Workshop.

It's just me showing off.

Now where's that paint brush!

Games Workshop near Hobbiton

Nearly forgot.

Here's the inside of a Games Workshop outlet that few of you will have seen.

Only a few hours drive from Hobbiton itself is Auckland's Queen Street store.



I have, of course, forgotten the name of the guy in charge but here are Henry and Lewis, checking out the games table.

They had a commander each from the store and I came away with 4 of the Iron Guard.

As if they aren't dear enough, I have to buy them from one of the most expensive outlets in the world!

I

Riders of Rohan

  These Riders were also enjoyable to paint though I was not very confident painting the horses.

These were all from Ebay and there is one more due to join the troop but the horse is lame.

I'll need to support the weak ankle with some wire.

It would be a shame to put it out to graze as it has a fine shiny black coat.

I tried for the look of the wide river bed near Edoras and for the grasses there but it's not quite worked.

The colour here and in the Ent pictures are, unfortunately, not true.

However, focus has improved and we've a bit more depth of field.

The rider far left in the first pics is missing his spear.

I'm on the lookout for some wire of the right type for a penant for him.

You might also notice that one of the archers has a bow borrowed from his good friend, Legolas. Actually he's borrowed the whole arm!

Ent - Not like that, like this.

 I enjoyed painting this Ent but not putting it together.

Those arm sockets are clumsy and the knees are very limiting and darn ugly.

I used green-stuff at the joints and liquid green-stuff at a few bad joins.

I've added a few extra branches, there are plenty of spare ones in this kit.

That hanging lichen I've seen for myself when visiting Fangorn.

The foreground 'rock' is also from Middle-Earth, it's a shell from a NZ beach.

Don't let on, they'll want it back.

Swell Club

A few weeks ago, five youngsters at Swell Primary School stayed behind for an hour after school to start their 'Modelling Club'.

We now have eight members, both boys and girls, and some have already bought additional models and paints to continue their hobby at home.

The photo shows some of them, head down, painting their 'donated' Space Marines.

Of course, it's not all painting and modelling.

Every other week we have a game or games of some kind as we slowly learn the rules.

Mostly it's Space Marines v Space Marines but we have pitted the Chaos Cultists against them too.

Parents that look in are fast realising that I get even more fun out of it than the kids do!