Beorn, the Skin Changer in the form of a Great man.
The is my second submission to the challenge which follows on logically from Beorn as a Bear, which I submitted first.
His pose here is as he is confronted by Gandalf and Bilbo as they leave his house, having over stayed there for the night, seeking shelter from a large black bear-like beast, Beorn himself!
If you haven't managed to see the Ext Ed of The Hobbit - Desolation of Smaug, try and do so , as this is a charming scene that pays credit rather nicely to the novel.
He is quite literally a great bear of a man, and must stand about seven or eight feet tall...
As we find later in the story, Beorn and his skin changer brethren have been hunted down, captured and tortured by Azog and his orcs, in the past, and Beorn bears the scars to show this. The model itself has vivid scars on his rear upper torso, and bears a manacle upon his wrist...
Just to get an idea of scale, Beorn is scaled at 28mm like the rest of GW LOTR/Hobbit range and is mounted on a standard 25mm round base. But when put adjacent a regular orc, you can see how tall he really is!
The model, is again, a multi-piece resin model, but went together rather well, with minimal trim required. I think I am getting used to these resin models!
Painting was fairly easy, but I really wanted to try and get the hair tone to match the dark brown, but with high light streaks of grey and blond... I hope I have done him justice.
Beorn, a wonderful character from the novel and the film.
From Curt:Ah, the perfect counterpoint to your debut entry of Beorn in Bear form. Beautifully done Scott! I think you've recreated his greying hair and beard wonderfully and I like the additions of the scarring on his back to reflect his time in captivity (though how the orcs kept him for any time at all is a complete wonder to me). Well done!
The first week is over and I get my first submission up. Technically its my 2nd submission, but as my first was to Curt direct for the cold theme it hasn't appeared here yet. No matter!
So I break my duck offering you Beorn in bear form, from the Hobbit.
Beorn is a skin changer , a man of great stature, capable of transforming himself at will into a bear form (rather than being forced to by full moons like a werewolf).
He is a somewhat aloof character, looking after himself, and not necessarily being on anyone's 'side', much as the Ents started off in LOTR... but he hates orcs so that at least has him leaning towards the good side!
In the movie he is played by Mikael Persbrandt, a Scandanavian actor, who is a big man which matches the height requirements for the part, and his accent is an excellent touch I think, giving him that 'other worldly feel' in the Middle Earth setting. The additional scenes in the Ext Ed of Hobbit DOS I greatly enjoyed, and found the "Making of" info on the additional disks, very interesting.
Back to the Bear, and this was clearly CGI, but various sources were used as inspiration, including looking at prehistoric bears for the shape and bulk...
The model itself was an easy job. It was in several pieces that required gluing together and joint filling with greenstuff. Then a simple black paint job, drybrushed with dark grey then washed black again. Its produced very subtle contrast which sadly doesn't photograph too well... The claws and facial features were then added, and after varnish, base decoration effected.
Oh, that base is a 60mm round, so its quite a big model, towering over a regular man-sized 28mm figure.
I am unsure of his points value so Curt may have to rule on this one. He's 28mm scale but about 60mm tall. For all that, the painting was easy.
In the game, he is brute strength nastiness, but at a substantial points costs. I look forward to trying him out and tearing orcs limb from limb...
Finally, I don't think it was my turn to post today? But I believe we were all allowed to in the first week so I may have just sneaked this in there in time... right, back to the paints!
From Curt:
Lovely work Scott! That is a very impressive model to be sure. This is one of those models where it pays to do the eyes. Brilliant bit of detail there. Scott, if you get a chance, come back and upload a shot of Beorn next to a standard LotR model.
I'm going to score Beorn like a 28mm piece of ordinance, which seems appropriate. So 10 points. Well done and welcome back Scott!
And, at Curt's request:
It's not a good day to be an orc! ;-)