Frodo's Quest: Another Ranger of Ithilien, Rebased and Touched Up

As mentioned, I have been doing some work on this here Ranger, too.

He has been given almost the exact same treatment as his colleague from yeaterday, and now he is ready for the table once more.

Tomorrow is December, and I shall turn my attention to some Winter/Christmas-themed stuff for the next couple of weeks, at least.

Frodo's Quest: Ranger of Ithilien, Rebased and Touched Up

I painted this guy quite a few years ago, and he had suffered some battle damage and also needed a new base.

I did some paint repairs, mainly on the cloak and leather doublet, repainted the bracers and his skin, and also gave him his first set of eyes, ever.

I think he will now do for the table.

As previously mentioned, I have dug out all my Ranger minis, and I am prepping some of them 'on the side' as I want to get more ready for some gaming, also Warlords of Erehwon for which I need at least five (which I actually already have, including the two old Ithilien Rangers and Aragorn).

I have his standing and nearly identical twin on the pain(t) station right now, for the same treatment - if everything goes to plan, I shall have him finished by tomorrow evening.

Frodo's Quest: Mines of Moria Merry

My weekend was crazy, so the final brush stokes on this stout fellow had to be postponed until today.

I still do not dare try painting the eyes on these tiny faces, but I may go back and do them at a later point, when I feel more confident.

Nevertheless, I now have all four Fellowship Hobbits painted up, two from the Fellowship of the Ring set, and two from the Mines of Moria set (and I shall, of course, do both versions of the entire Fellowship in due time, but for now I have to focus on the minis needed for the first installment of Frodo's Quest).

As mentioned earlier, these minis are REALLY tiny, and I find it hard to paint their faces (and it shows in the not-so-accented facial features). Maybe I shall try redoing the faces some day, but for now they will have to do as is.

I am not quite sure about Merry's hair; I think it turned out a bit too orange, but it was the closest I could get to the colour shown on the Fellowship box (which is not quite the 'live' colour from the movies, either, though).

The waistcoat buttons also are a bit different than I think they should be; I used a painted mini as reference, and it had silver buttons, whereas the movie stills show cloth-covered buttons the same colour as the waistcoat itself. So, I dotted in the pale yellow (Warzone Vega Sand) I used for the waistcoat before covering it with Iyanden Yellow, leaving the Chainmail edges visible.

There will be no family portrait this time, not until I have to put painted models in the storage box, as it is stoved away in a larger crate at the moment (I need to keep the storage boxes from spreading all over the ground floor of our home).

I am quite pleased with his cloak and jacket - the trousers are not quite as dark when seen with the naked eye, but I have a little trouble getting the light settings of my camera just right (which is also why the pics are a tiny bit blurred; I have to turn up the Gamma output in GIMP to keep the photos from having too bright unnatural colours).

I am happy to report that I have found all my Middle-Earth Ranger figures (bar one Ranger of Ithillien from the set with Faramir and the Hobbits), including the Grey Company and the Guardians of the Shire, so that is one task to check off!

Frodo's Quest: Aragorn and Pippin Bases Altered

 I lightened up the Moria-themed bases of these two protagonists a bit, I think they look a bit better now.

Frodo's Quest: The Silent Watch, Dúnadan #2

Finished another one of these, Soon, I shall have to get started on another mounted Nazgûl (Black Rider), and some Smials, and then I can stage the first game of Frodo's Quest. I expect to run it as a co-op game between a mate and myself (one controlling Frodo, the other Sam), and doing it as a beer-and-pretzel game 😉

And, of course, the mandatory group shot.

Frodo's Quest: The Silent Watch, Dúnadan #1

The fist scenario of my 'Frodo's Quest' campaign will feature at least two members of the Silent Watch, and I have finally gotten the first one painted and ready for action!

Largely painted with Citadel Contrast Paints (not the weapons, the skin, and the base), it has not been very time consuming. I had to touch some of the 'highlights' up with corresponding 'normal' paints, but all in all I am very happy with the result.

I deliberately avoided making him 'too Ranger of the North' so that I can use him in Ithilien, too; multi-purpose is still very much part of my gaming philosophy (technically, the design is mostly Rangers of Ithilien, but even GW have been calling them 'Rangers of Middle-Earth for quite some years).

I may go back and decorate the quiver at some point, but for now, the plain Space Wolves Grey will have to do.

I expect to have his companion ready tomorrow, and then I shall have to turn my attention to a Black Rider and some Smials!

Frodo's Quest: Mines of Moria Pippin

Another one of those diminutive plastic minis; I had to take a lot of breaks from painting this (working on other bits and bobs), as it was really putting a straikn onm my ageing eyes.

I did not take a pic of him with Aragorn, as I want to redo the ranger's base, first, there'll propably be a group shot when I finish Merry (somewhen next week, he is just as fiddly as this one).

Frodo's Quest: Some Moria Scenery

These are the plastic columns from the Mines of Moria boxed set, finally painted up and ready to provide some cover from Goblin arrows.

Frodo's Quest: Mines of Moria - Aragorn

This mini gave me several headaches because of its tininess, but I think I have got it down, now.

I wanted an almost black coat, like it is in the movie, and I think I almost got it right. All in all this version of Aragorn is much more muted than the painted examples shown on boxes and in rulebooks by GW's painter, but I like that look, and it fits with the way I have painted other LotR minis.

I think the dark grey basecoat on the base is a bit too dark, I shall have to try a slightly lighter shade on the next MoM character I do (which will be Merry or Pippin, just primed them both today).