Back in Mordor (X)

I'm still working on the Morannon orcs but I thought I'd show some pics of the orcs that I've painted recently in action. All photos courtesy of Mr R. from the Land Down Under ;)





That's it for the time being. Now, after a few very busy days I can only say one thing - long live the weekend!

Pick of the Week

Haven't posted anything as my pick of the week in a while so here's a little trailer.



At first glance it may look like "just-another-300-movie" created in the heroic over the top style but one thing drew my attention - the director. Tarsem Singh delivers movies that are a true feast to the eyes. Maybe "Cell" wasn't that good but the visuals, the scenography and the twisted ideas he showed there were quite interesting. Another of his movies, "The Fall" was even better.
I'm looking forward to watching the "Immortals". Preferably on a large screen, preferably not in 3D.

Viruk

Back in Mordor (IX)

I've been pretty busy with work recently so I haven't made much progress on the Morannon orcs. I basecoated the whole box of warriors together with captains and command so that now I can work on all of them simultaneously.
I used some simple conversions and small changes to the poses. I've found that simply by placing two identical miniatures on slightly different base (and painting them in a different way, e.g. two various skin colors). This can work well with captains/hereos as well. Here are some examples.



Not much to see at this point but it should give a general idea of what I mean. Once they're painted it'll be easier to see the differences.

Another way to introduce some variety in a unit that I often use is doing simple conversions such as head or weapon swaps. Once again, here are some examples:



I also painted one of them as a test model to try a color scheme. I kept the colors dark and the armor slightly darker than the kind I painted on the Mordor orcs.



I've already started working on the reds but the progress isn't very fast as I'm working on all of the remaining Morannon orcs at the same time. I'll post an update once I've finished working on them.
Viruk

Back in Mordor (VIII)

Finished up the first character for the Mordor army - Gothmog. To be honest, I liked the older version better. The amount and level of details was pretty much the same, only the pose was much more dynamic. The base of this one kind of makes up for it (I do like the the new mounted version though) but overall I liked the older sculpt better.
Anyway, the pics are here and I';; be moving to work on some Morannon orcs.

Back in Mordor (VII)

I had a bit more time during the weekend so I was able to finish all the minis I've been working on recently. Troll Chieftain is the first of them.
I've already painted quite a few trolls in the past. In my opinion they're one of the best sculpts in the range. I particularly like the way their skin is sculpted. It has two distinct areas, each one full of folds/scales that make shading and highlighting so much easier. In case of this one, there's also a nice looking armor and a weapon that looks big and a bit cumbersome - perfect for a troll.
I added more rubble than normally to the base. I figured that since trolls are much bigger, they'd feel comfortable enough walking on larger stones/rocks. I finished it off with the same types of static grass I'd used on the orcs previously.

More uglies from Mordor coming soon! From Morannon to be precise. Stay tuned for more :)
Viruk

Trouble in the Land of GW

I'm just reposting an "open letter"from the owner of MiniWarGaming that neatly summarizes all the problems with GW these days. Even though I feel like he's being overtly polite when he should get right down to the point, the guy has many good paints.



I'm not sure if it's enough to make GW reconsider their marketing strategy (they probably need to start noticing serious financial losses first) but it's pretty solid portion of food for thought nonetheless.

Back in Mordor (VI)

The skin is pretty much ready. I tried to keep it slightly brighter than I normally do while painting this kind of sickly looking skin on orcs. This was done to create more contrast between large skin surface and the dark armor.
His skin has two distinct areas; the front, which is smoother and the back area (some kind of scales), so I made sure that the painting shows where one area ends and another starts.
By writing "sickly looking" I mean much darker colors in the recesses and the overall look of the skin. That's why the transitions from darker colors to brighter shades are not so smooth and the darker/brighter spots are not placed cohesively throughout the whole area.
Hopefully I'll get this one painted by the end of the week, so stay tuned for an update soon :)

Also, speaking of big guys,my all-time favourite NBA player has just announced his retirement. Kudos to Shaq O'Neal for 19 years of great career, both on the court and away from it. He's got such a magnetic personality that it's hard for me to imaging the league without him. The only thing that would make up for it is if he created yet another power duo with Charles Barkley on the commentary ;) So, once again, big cheers to the man and to finish off this post in style, here's one of my favourite Shaq moments.