Scales of Justice

Here's the first of the models used in in the "FORBIDDEN" piece, the Scales of Justice.

 In game, it's Lady Justice's personal Totem, extending her will and improving her capabilities. I really like the concept of the model, reminds me of the way people were punished for sins in the Dark Ages.
I used metallics from the Army Painted for the first time here and I have to admit that I'm very happy with them. They're a bit thinner than Citadel paints (at least the old ones, I haven't tried the new range yet) and they're easier to apply onto palette as they're in dropper bottles.

I'm pretty happy with how his skin turned out. I used a slightly darker, more brownish color for the wood as I wanted it to stand in contrast with yellow pants.
When I look at the mini more critically, I see some ares that could have been better. First off, the blood looks too "warm", I think a darker look would make it look more realistic. I've recently come across a great hobby website and an interesting article on painting blood using inks. I'll definitely have to give it a go.  Other than that, the ropes look a bit too uniform. I could have worked them over with dry pigments.
Next time I'll write more about Lady Justice (alternate sculpt) and Dead Doxy.

Panzer division Gondor

I've been quite busy with painting some Gondor minis recently. I thought that instead of devoting a separate entry to each unit, I'll write a longer summary with more pictures.
First off, the Citadel Guard. I really like these minis. They have a veteran look to them. Each of those that hold spears has a slightly different pose or even different face (beard and mustache/shaven). I kept the color scheme dark as I usually do while working with LotR minis.
These guys have several brighter elements that I think go well with black. The yellow and pseudo NMM trim on their tunics and cloaks add a much needed element of contrast there. I had a chance to use the new Citadel glazes on them too. I glazed their armor plates with Gulliman Blue. It's pretty much watered down Asurmen Blue. Actually, I had to add some water to it as the tint of blue would be too strong otherwise. So for those of you considering buying new Citadel glazes, my suggestion would be to stay away from them and stick to washes as they're good enough for glazing once you thin them down with water.

Here you can see a group photo with their leader - Beregond. I used slightly different highlights on him to make him look unique but still close enough to the rest to fit in well with the whole unit. I gave his skin a more weather-beaten look as I thoughts that since he's a leader he is the one who's been around more.

Faramir and the Knight of Minas Tirith with banner come next. I'm not a big fan of the painted version from GW's online store as he the way he bares his teeth make him look as if he was suffering from constipation. I wanted to avoid this wild look so rather than marking his teeth, I highlighted the lower lip only. I typically avoid painting upper lip as it makes the characters look like harlots. Following the official color scheme, the edges of his helmet are painted with golden color. I like this idea as it makes him look more special than a regular Knight.  I tried to take pictures that would show the bases. I added random fragments of pavement to go along the "ruins of Osgiliath"/"battle for Pellennor" theme.


I used some of the new paints I bought from Army Painter for Metallics for this lot. I have to admit that they're excellent. They're a tad thicker than Citadels but they come in dropper bottles so using them is much more convenent. The same can be said about their inks - so far I've used only Streonh Tone (close to Badab Black) and Soft Tone (close to Gryphonne Sepia). You can read more about AP's inks here. I can totally recommend them.

Last but definitely not least - Osgiliath veterans, my personal favorites. I really like the sculpts, great minis full of character. Various little bits (headband, patches on cloak, pieces of rope wrapped around greaves, etc.) make them look like battle-hardened warriors.
I added a few washes and glazes of various brown inks/washes to make sure their armors looked like they'd seen better days.

And that's it for now. I'm going to paint Warriors and Knights of Minas Tirith along with Boromir and command group soon but before that happens I want to paint a few Malifaux minis :)

Osgiliath Veterans

I haven'r been very meticulous in updating the blog this year and I still have several pictures of minis painted since January but never published. I will try to catch up with that in the nearest weeks. Anyway, I just wanted to write about my most recently painted miniatures - three Osgiliath Veterans and Beregond.
I started by undercoating using Platemail Metal spray from Army Painter.



I've been using sprays and varnishes from Army Painter for a while now and I'm a big fan. When I learnt that there's a silver one as well I immediately ordered one as I thought it would be a perfect solution while working on Gondor miniatures that are heavily armored.
After spraying the models and waiting for them to dry, I applied a wash of Badab Black to help me define the details. As you can see, I used bases that had been prepared earlier for these ones.



Painting on this undercoat worked pretty well although I'm not sure I saved as much time as I had thought I would. I needed to repaint the tunics, skin, gloves, boots, bows, etc. with a different undercoat before working on them and it took a while. Anyway, I'm satisfied with the painting experience and plan to continue working on the rest of Gondor troops in the same way.



I used dark color scheme on the veterans and added some rust and dirt to their armors. I went for a slightly brighter look while working on Beregond to make sure the veterans will stand out as a unit among other similarly painted WoMT.
I will try to update the blog at least more than once next week so stay tuned for more.