Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XIII Submission #6 - Some Lord of the Rings Bits and Bobs

 For this submission I decided to work on clearing away a lot of loose ends to make room on my desk for some large projects that are coming down the pipe. What we have today is a mix of Uruk-hai Berserkers, Mordor Uruk-hai, some Dwarf Heroes, a trio of Trolls, and a collection of Mines of Moria terrain and dead.

The three Uruk-hai Berserkers are metal figures from Games Workshop that were mixed in with the secondhand Uruk-hai Scout that I was given. The paint job left much to be desired, so they got stripped back down to raw metal and then were primed black with a rattle can. Vallejo acrylics were used for most of the colors - Cavalry Brown for the skin areas, Leather Brown for the loincloth, sandals, and gloves, and Gun Metal for the helmet and sword. They were then given a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Quickshade.

 

  The three Mordor Uruk-hai were from another blister of metal figures from Games Workshop that I picked up years ago, and they have been sitting in the pending box ever since they got mounted on their bases and primed black. Again, I used primarily Vallejo acrylics, but also some craft store acrylics that I still have in my paint box. I used a colour called Hippo Grey for the skin areas, and Charcoal for the cloaks. The leather pieces got painted a mix of Leather Brown, Chocolate Brown, and Flat Earth, while helmets, greaves, gauntlets, and weapons were painted with Gun Metal. Finally I gave them a coat of Citadel Agrax Earthshade.

 

 

 

 Next up are four Dwarven Heroes consisting of a Shieldbearer, a King's Champion, and two Heralds.These are resin figures from Games Workshop that were available at one time as metal miniatures. Like the Dwarves I painted for last week's submission, these were mounted on their bases, some sand glued down to the base with PVA glue, and then primed black with an airbrush. I used mostly Vallejo acrylics, but also some Partha paints for the True Blue and Bronze Metallic.

King's Champion and Heralds

 

Side view to show off the banners

Showing off the shield design

A Shieldbearer is a Minor Hero bodyguard

 

 The three trolls are a mix of two Games Workshop Cave Trolls, one in metal and the other in plastic, and a Reaper Miniatures Mountain Troll that I am going to use as a Mordor Troll. The metal Cave Troll I purchased years ago, and like the Mordor Uruk-hai, it was prepped and then gathered dust. The plastic Cave Troll is the one that comes with the Mines of Moria starter box. Somebody bought it, but was only interested in the Moria Goblins and the Fellowship figures, so I ended up with the Cave Troll and the terrain. The Reaper Mountain Troll is a massive metal figure that has since been replaced with a plastic version of the sculpt. Again, Vallejo acrylics were used, followed by a wash of Citadel Agrax Earthshade. I had used Medium Flesh on the Mountain Troll as a base colour, and with the Earthshade wash, it came out looking a bit more orange than I expected, but it still looks pretty menacing. These all stand 55-60mm tall.

 

Reaper Mountain Troll, plastic Cave Troll, and metal Cave Troll

 

The backside of the trio of trolls

 

 Lastly I have two sets of terrain pieces from the Mines of Moria starter box. I got one set from someone who only wanted the Fellowship figures and the Moria Goblins, and the other from someone who just wanted all the figures, including the Cave Troll. So I ended up being given a total of 8 pillars, 4 trapdoors, 2 chests, 2 wells, 2 sarcophagi, and 6 assorted skeleton/skull pieces. These were all primed black using a rattle can, and then dry brushed with progressively lighter shades of grey. I used Iraqi Sand on the skeletons and skulls, Stone Grey on all the pages, Chocolate Brown on the chests and book covers, with Bronze Metallic and Gun Metal painted on various other bits. I then used a fine tipped Sharpie to put lines of dots and dashes on the pages to look like writing. Finally everything got a wash with Citadel Agrax Earthshade.

Two sets of Mines of Moria terrain

 

An elevated view

 

A closeup showing the dead and skeletons and the detail on the pages

 Thanks for stopping by.

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XIII Submission #2 - Uruk-hai Scouts and Leaders

 As my second submission for the Challenge, I present 48 Uruk-hai scouts and 2 commanders. This is the first project on my Lord of the Rings "To Do" list, and it adds to the large Uruk-hai force that I completed in March 2021. It consists of two boxes of 24 plastic Uruk-hai Scouts and two different metal versions of Lurtz, all from Games Workshop. One of the boxes I had purchased new, while the other was a secondhand set that I was given. The gifted set needed a fair bit of cleaning, like removing the old paint that was "heavy on silver", trimming some of the rough areas where the figures had been attached to the sprues, and a bit of repair on some of the swords. One sword was missing completely, so I replaced it with some hammered florist wire. The Lurtz figure firing his bow came with the gifted box, and the other was an eBay purchase which came with the upper part of the bow missing. This was repaired with a bit of hammered copper wire.

 Once everything was cleaned up and repaired, some small pebbles were glued to a few of the bases to get some variety, followed by some sand. All the miniatures were then primed black using a rattle can, and painted with acrylics, primarily Vallejo. I used three different browns, two different shades of grey, as well as gunmetal. As a final step I applied a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Quickshade. While it leaves the miniatures rather glossy, it made all the browns seems richer, and made the swords and armour look appropriately grotty.

 

Uruk-hai Scout 'out scouting for Hobbits'.

 

Closeup of the left hand group

Closeup of the right hand group

"Find the Halflings!"

Next stop, Amon Hen!

"Build Me An Army Worthy Of Mordor." - Fighting Uruk-hai

"Build me an army worthy of Mordor"

My last blog post has been almost three weeks ago. Since then I have been working on a Lord of the Rings mega-project consisting of over 100 Isengard Uruk-hai. Some of the figures I purchased new. Half of these I had already based and primed years ago, while the other half were still in their blister packs. The majority were used figures I bought off of eBay from multiple sellers. A few of these were individual figures such as an Uruk-hai Captain, but a lot were a mixed bag of the Games Workshop boxes of plastic Uruk-hai Warriors and Siege Troops with many missing figures. I like to think of them as the survivors of some hard campaigning. All of these required some cleaning up of mold lines, while a lot needed the removal of some of the ground work where it partially covered the feet of the miniatures. A smaller number were going to require some repair to replace missing pikes, swords or shields. Here was my starting point.

In total I had 3 Captains, 1 Standard Bearer, 11 Berserkers, 18 Siege Troops, 40 Warriors with Sword and Shield, 30 Warriors with Pike, 7 Ladders, and 2 Demolition Charges. I originally had 2 Lurtz figures on the workbench, but put them aside until I start working on my box of plastic Uruk-hai Scouts.

Twelve of the swords had cracks near the hilt where they had been bent but not broken off. These were repaired by the application of some super glue into the crack which made it as strong as new. Three of the sword were missing completely. I replaced these with some hammered floral wire. I also used floral wire to replace the missing part of three pikes that had broken off near the warrior's hand. One warrior was not only missing his pike, but also his right hand and left forearm. These are cast as a single piece and designed to be glued in place. I made a 'right hand' and 'left forearm' from fine wire wrapped around the heavier floral wire of the pike. I drilled out holes in the miniature, glued the fine wires into place, and covered them with epoxy putty. The last repair involved fabricated two missing shields from an old plastic gift card, bending them to shape, and gluing them on. 

 

Once everything was cleaned up, and all the repairs were done, all the figures that were not already primed were sprayed matt black using a rattle can. I originally thought I would then paint them all the way through with each colour, but after doing all the skin areas (Vallejo Cavalry Brown) and all the loincloths (Vallejo Leather Brown), I found while doing the gunmetal on the armour that it was getting to be a bit mind numbing. From that point on, I worked on them by subunit, such as a company of 10 pike, 10 sword and shield, and 1 captain. I also arranged the miniatures within each subunit by pose, so that I would not miss painting a strap, or a piece of armour. 

When all the painting was complete, all the miniatures were given a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Quickshade. This darkened all the colours, and gave some definition to the muscles on all the arms, legs, and torsos. It also gave the armour a bit of a grotty look. While I like what it did in these areas, I didn't like the shiny finish that it left on the figures. After doing all the ground work, all the figures were sprayed with a light coat of Rust-Oleum Clear Matt. This took off the worst of the shine, and it also helped to seal the ground work. Here is the final product outside the walls of Helm's Deep.

 

 

Here are close-ups of the individual sub units starting with Uruk-hai Siege Troops with Ladders.

Uruk-hai Siege Troops with Demolition Charges and Berserkers with Torches.

Uruk-hai Berserkers. Five of these are metal miniatures, while the four running berserkers with the two-handed sword resting on their shoulder were converted from the plastic figure running with a torch that comes with the Uruk-hai Siege Troops box. Just to mix things up a bit, I gave the one in the center a severed head to hold. This was done by converting a head taken from a Bandai 1/48 scale tank crewman.

A group of ten Uruk-hai with sword and shield. Some of these had already undergone some repair before I bought them where their sword arm had been replace by one taken from an unidentified metal figure. These got a little treatment from the metal file to take off any detail on the vambrace so that it would look closer to the armour worn by the rest of the Uruk-hai.

 A group of six Uruk-hai armed with crossbows.

And finally three units of 10 pike, 10 sword and shield, 1 captain, and for one of the companies, a standard. All of these were marked with the 'White Hand of Saruman', some on their shield, some on their helmets or armour.

I am really happy with the final results. The first five days were spent sorting, cleaning, repairing, assembling, and priming. Then 10 days of painting, followed by a day each for the Quickshade, the ground work, and the matt coat. The total came to 109 figures, plus the ladders and demolition charges. Now to march to Helm's Deep.

Thanks for reading. Stay safe and healthy until we can meet again across the wargames table.

The gate and walls in the background is a three-piece resin set of Helm's Deep Fortress from Games Workshop. Its footprint measures approximately 60cm x 23 cm. Alas, it is now OOP, but occasionally available in the aftermarket. I have no idea what the current asking price is, but I would be curious to know if anyone has that information.