Back in Mordor (VI)

Another step into the land of Sauron. This time I'll be working on a bigger fella - troll chieftain. Initially I planned to magnetize it but doing it in metal would require more specialist tools so I gave up after a while and ended up using two pins for each arm and one for the head.I also used some GS to fill in all the gaps lest after putting the troll together (shame on GW as its arms and torso didn't really fit very well and it took some time and GS to ameliorate it.



I didn't glue it to the base as it will be much easier to pack and ship the whole thing separately. So, not much to show at this point but more will follow soon.

White Council or Pinball Wizard

Other than Minas Trith's force I had some wizards on my desk lately. To be exact Saruman the White, Gandalf the White and Galadriel (white council version). I chose to experiment a bit and give them some mystical , enchanted even looks.

Bearing that in mind I thought that best option would be to paint Saruman as not "as quite white as he would wan to be perceived". I used some beige colours to create illusion that his white is tainted with betrayal, also I used some Black Speech markings on the bottom of his robes. To top things of I put him on black glossy base resambling Orthanc.

With Galadriel I used variety of blues and purples, highlighted up to pure white to give her more transcendent feeling. I finished her with glossy green base to keep with her wood elves climax ;)

Hope you like them.

And since we're in the wizard theme I think that this yet another classic rock anthem will blend in just swell ;)

White City

After troubles with move and stuff I can finally update my part of blog :) As a result I present to you my efforts on WoMT force which is my next project. 24 Warriors of Minas Tirith (just to counter part Viruk's Mordor ;) ), painted as seen in Games-Workshop catalogue. That traditional scheme is quite challanging due to large amount of black that is needed and it's tricky to use different hues in order not to create dull and homogeneous feeling ;)

As well as mentioned WoMT I'd finished , well maybe not quite yet, Boromir and Faramir (both foot version). They still need a bit altering like making some changes to rocks on bases (they're to blue in hue) or changing their hair colour.

Back in Mordor (V)

Finished up these guys that will go with the rest of the Mordor orcs. I like to work on character models separately - it gives me a chance to give them a little more details, be it the color scheme, special base or any other details that make them stand out in the crowd. While doing that, I also try no to move away from the color scheme I set for the ordinary units. I want them to both stand out and blend in nicely with the rest.
I guess the way I put it makes it seem more complicated than it really is. Anyway, here they are and I'm off to deal with some more, bigger guy from Mordor - check back soon as I'll be posting some WIP shots.

Back in Mordor (IV)

Took me a while but the orcs are finally finished. I've already mentioned in my earlier posts that I'm not a big fan of these sculpts but I tried to put some life into them nevertheless.

I did some minor conversions, a few headswaps and I also used different types of bases for minis that have identical pose. Another thing I did to aviod the 'army of clones' look was using different colors on twins while maintaining a coherent color scheme throughout the whole unit. While painting, I'm all about smooth highlights and avoid big contrasts. You can see it on the skins in particuar, though they might look a bit flatter than in real life in the pictures.
Initially I wanted to use only scorched grass for the bases but in the end I decided to use another one. I think it worked out well in the end and made everything look a bit brighter. Scorched grass on its own seemed barely visible with the dark colors of the orcs and rocks on the bases.


To finish things off I used Vallejo's dry pigments for rust effect and fixed them with MIG pigment fixer before giving everything two solid layers of purity seal matt varnish.
I took one pic of the whole group and a few more of some random orcs to give a better idea of how the details look like. I will take more pictures once I've finished the captains and other special characters and put them in themed movement trays.

Erebus

PP has finally released pics of Scaverous's helljack - Erebus. Looks pretty cool, especially for an upgrade kit. The only potential problem I see with it would be incorporating new elements into my jack.



The way it's put together makes adding new elements (removable of course) pretty tricky. Also, it would be nice to make Erebus stand out a little bit more (just like in the PP's version - those runes or whatever it is on its armor look pretty cool). I guess I'll simply end up buying the upgrade kit and getting hold of another plastic set or a metal Slayer/Reaper and work on this one separately.

Back in Mordor (III)

A bit more progress on the nasty orcsss from Mordor. I've painted their clothes. I used various shades of black, brown/white and red. I had a chance to try my latest purchase - Andrea Red set. I'm extremely happy with it. The consistency of paints is perfect, the coverage is very good (two thin layers and you get a solid color). I've often struggled with red but this pain set makes life so much easier and I'm definitely going to stick to it in the future.



So, yes - another recommendation of Andrea products from me and no - they're not paying me for it and I'm not employed by the company. I'm simply sharing my impressions of a great product. I can't wait until the new green set is available from a Polish store where I always order these paints - JAMA, I cannot recommend it enough.
Now, back to the orcs. They're slowly beginning to look like an army. I still need to do a lot to finish them. Boots and all the leather straps (plenty of them on these guys) are next in line. I'll follow with painting the wooden elements and the skin (I plan to use 3-4 different skin tones). I'll be happy if I manage to deal with that by the end of the week. If I manage to do it, the rest is a a piece of cake.



I know the pic isn't good but I want to show the overall progress rather than focus on the details. I'll take better pictures once they're finished. The Mordor-like look that I'm striving for will be achieved in the final stage when I start working with dry pigments and until then what I'm presenting is simply an early work in progress.

Wheels

And second Rhino is now finished. I choose a little more damaged version than the first one. Still I like how pigments and scratches worked out, really gives some spirit into the model.