Weekly Un-Earthing (29/01/2016): Duinhir and his Blackroot Vale Archers

Well this week has been my most productive for a long time in terms of painting miniatures......just as well really as my first tournament is next weekend and I still have about 11 models to finish.

This week I have only been working on my Blackroot Vale Archers for my Fiefdoms army which I will use as part of my 450 point tournament list. I have painted some Rangers of Gondor before and didn't wholly enjoy it but the different colour scheme and doing Duinhir alongside them has actually been quite fun. It does also help that I need them done for my list as with my Knights of Dol Amroth and Imrahil I need to do this week coming!!

The way I like to paint is to apply all the necessary base layers and then gradually highlight them all up, so that I can see as I am painting which colours work with each other and get an overall look to the model before I commit to finishing the details. As well as this I paint the largest area colour first so that the details can just be picked out, allowing me to be quite liberal with the initial colour meaning quicker painting.

Firstly, I applied Russ Grey to the cloaks which may sound strange and look bizarre at first but it all comes together. After applying XV-88 to the jackets and trousers, and the main Fiefdom colour of blue, Regal Blue in this case, to the leather skirts this gives me a more general effect of what I want to achieve. The last base layers I chose, were Rhinox Hide for the bow, strapping, braces and boots. Mournfang Brown for the last bits of cloth on the arms and the quiver, with Ushabti Bone for the arrow feathers. And finally Kislev Flesh for, you guessed it, the skin. For Duinhir, I used Runefang Steel for the chain mail he wears but didn't need it for the rest, as regular Rangers don't have any on their person. Only on the swords were left to base coat with Runefang Steel with the hilt of the sword was based with Balthasar Gold.

The washes are then what gave me the desired colour for the cloaks, and I found this out after painting the Blackroot Vale Command a couple of months ago. Firstly, I washed Waywatcher Green over it with quiet a thick layer to get some deep greens in the recesses and once that had completely dried it was washed with Agrax Earthshade, a staple in all of the next steps. Then each other section was also washed with Agrax Earthshade, except the chain mail which used Nuln Oil and the skin, using Reikland Fleshshade.

Finally, the Blackroot Vale Archers were ready to be highlighted. The jackets and trousers had the edges picked up with Zandri Dust, some extra Mournfang Brown was used to pick out the quivers and an extra bit of Kislev Flesh was used to just pronounce the face. Using Shining Gold, the edges of the hilts were picked out to match them with all swords from Gondor and the Fiefdoms.

Lastly, I added the white to go with the blue of the Fiefdoms by giving each section of the skirt a white outline with Ceramite White and White Scar. Plus adding a simple motif where possible to give them uniformity and more distinguishing attributes to make them stand out from the other Rangers from across Middle-Earth. Also eyes were added using, White Scar and Abaddon Black as I want to get as much detail into all my models from now on.

I hope you like the effect I have achieved, and personally I know that I am getting better with my painting even from 18 months ago.

I came. I bought, I painted.

Other Weekly Un-Earthings.

Weekly Un-Earthing (22/01/16): Basing and Starting Fiefdoms

Fingers crossed this is the start of a weekly bit on content (or at least fortnightly), it is my Weekly Un-Earthing!!

I started this week by cutting up a simple foam sheet I acquired from Poundland into 3mm strips and then cutting them again into "bricks" for bases as I am planning to put ALL my Fiefdoms and Gondor onto brickwork to give them a nice synergy and aesthetic (but this is like 280 models in total!!). From the amount of models I have to do this too, I thought I would get the heroes all based up straight away and then when I paint/model up the relevant troops I can paint them as a unit.

Later in the week, I cut and moved the rare foot Knights of Dol Amroth into varying poses so that it would look so much better on the battlefield and not have the same two poses. This was a lot easier than I thought and using some of the foam sheet to protect the models from the pliers it was simply a case of rotating the arms. After mounting some of these to the bases, it gives a much more realistic aesthetic to the unit as a whole. I have always wanted a large Fiefdoms army to accompany my large Gondor force so that eventually I could recreate the Battle of Pelennor and complete many scenarios.

Basing up takes a lot longer than you may think after sticking each individual brick to the bases, cutting of the base slot, pinning the feet and making sure the model stays upright and secure. In total this week I have based 16 heroes of Fiefdoms and Gondor, 7 Knights of Dol Amroth and 8 Blackroot Vale Archers. As you might see this is quite a specific number of troops and that is because I am finally going to my FIRST EVER GBHL tournament in early February!!

As many people don't use Fiefdoms I thought I would take the beloved Swan Knights and some men from the Vale. I just love the aesthetic and colours of Dol Amroth, plus I just want to have fun at my first tournament and not wanting to take it too seriously.

I came. I bought. I painted.

Other Weekly Un-Earthings.

Product Review: Faramir - Prince of Ithilien, Duinhir & Kardûsh - The Firecaller RECASTS

Within any Gondor force, Faramir is one model who you can nearly always take due to his cost-effectiveness and his hitting power. Nevertheless, the one version of Faramir I have always wanted to own was the Prince of Ithilien version as he is kitted out in full Gondorian glory wearing his royal robes. But there has always been one issue........the fact he is out of production and eBay/trade prices are about £40 for him, ALAS there was hope after someone within the Facebook Trade group posted a link to a website that sold an obvious recast of him. This immediately caught my eye and I started browsing aliexpress.com for whatever I could find.

Firstly, I found the Prince of Ithilien for a much less price and I know, I know it's a recast but to be honest I don't care because it means I have the model. Once I found Faramir, I went on a search of the web-store on aliexpress.com and found that they have a few various out of production recasts, including one that I particularly wanted, Duinhir, so that I would complete my Fiefdom hero collection as they are relatively hard to get hold of. Finally, after starting a Mordor army back in the summer I saw Kardûsh on the store and after browsing eBay to see prices I thought it was a good idea to get him as some of the eBay prices were astronomical!!

In these blogs I will try to be as truthful as possible, so I paid approximately £28 for the three models and all had free postage, so again I didn't really care that they are recasts especially when the originals are all worth over £30 each. Once I had decided these were the only models I needed at the time, I just had to wait about 3 weeks for them to arrive from China and I wasn't disappointed when they arrived either!!

From the photos of Faramir who can see that there was only the one issue with the casting that couldn't be fixed with a little bit of green stuff. The front left foot of the horse was missing but as a long time hobbyist I had some broken horses around and simply cut the foot off at the correct point and glued it on. Other than that there was no real issues with the sculpt and I am extremely happy that I have the Prince of Ithilien finally.

The next model I was most weary about was Duinhir as over the summer I bought the Blackroot Vale Command and obviously I needed their leader. I only noticed one thing when I inspected the model and that was his fingers on the left had were jammed together and not crisp. However after looking at the original Games Workshop model, Duinhir's hand is already like that so in all it's a very good recast.

Lastly was Kardûsh, I was less fussed about this model if it wasn't very good as I don't know if I would actually use him but it would just be nice to have me in my collection. This model is more delicate than the other two due to the fireball from the hand and his staff, plus the material doesn't seem as strong as the Games Workshop metal.

In all though, all the models are a pretty decent quality for the price I paid so I am really pleased with what I have got. It does mean that I will be going back to this site because they have some of out of production recasts such as Corsair Arbalesters, Dunlending Command and Corsair Commands.

I came. I bought, I painted.

'The Plan' for 2016

After watching The Palantir #52 on the GBHL Podcast, I thought it would be appropriate to let you know what my wider aims are for 2016.

Firstly, I would like to finish my Fiefdoms army of which I have painted a part of. I am making all the bases by hand so that I will have a continuing theme between them and the army of Minas Tirith but I love the look of the Fiefdoms so want to get them completed first and have my first fully painted army. Currently I have Forlong the Fat on foot and the mounted Fat Bismark from Unreleased Miniatures (as a suitable proxy), 6 Axemen of Lossarnach, 6 Clansmen of Lamedon, 8 Men-at-arms of Dol Amroth and the Blackroot Vale Command all painted up and based. Now I just have to finish the rest of the force and I like having full warbands being lead by the 'correct' leader, for an example Forlong leading 12 Axemen of Lossarnach. So for the rest of the army I have a large large contingent of Dol Amroth to paint with Prince Imrahil foot and mounted to paint, along with a warband of Blackroot Vale Archers and Duinhir plus some more Axemen and Clansmen.

After I finish that particular army, I really want to start my Mahûd army as I love the sculpts and just the thought of camels charging across the battlefield is just amazing!! This army will need a lot more work though as I have to convert up some banners (2 on foot and 1 mounted) plus a mounted Mahûd King because, for the moment, I do not want to pay the collectors price. I think this will mean I can have a 500/600 point Far Harad army, including Half Trolls, Raiders and Warriors.

Next I am not entirely sure what I want to complete for my collection but I think I will continue with my Rohan and Gondor as one of my favourite scenes for the Lord of the Rings movies is the Charge of the Rohirrim. The thought of a large Rohirrim cavalry lead by the leaders of the realm charging against a horde of Mordor accompanied by Harad would just be incredible to see on my board. Probably a good note to say I have a large Harad army and assembling a Mordor army, a combined number of approximately 350 models.

Also, I have ongoing terrain projects that I probably should finish and I would like to keep one of them secret because I feel like when it is completed it will be amazing to see and battle on. But I need to create more scenery for a battlefield anyway, as I need more hills, buildings and need to base trees. I already have 2 ruins and would like to create a larger ruined city.

Nevertheless, all these plans might change depending on tournaments and army building for them or just maybe I might change my mind about what to do next. But as with most of us hobbyists, I will probably just get distracted by some other army or terrain piece and drastically move on to another section of my collection, it's not like I have nothing to paint!!

I came. I bought. I painted.

Collecting and Counting

As I am going to show you my individual armies and lists I will just give a general overview of what I have and what is painted..... Which isn't as much as it used to be as I have spent a fair bit of time stripping models that I painted up to 12 years ago when I started the hobby at the age of 10. Hopefully you can imagine I am better painter than I was back then, plus personally I think I have improved within the last 18 months dramatically too!! After talking to GW staff, watching the GBHL Podcast, GenrationShift and other YouTube videos, I finally understand how to layer paints and use washes properly.

The whole point of showing you my collection is to inspire me so that I can paint up as much as possible in this year and I will keep track of what has been done, whilst working towards targets each month.

Right, let's get on with it and start with my display case.

This is where I keep the majority of my models and placed in their respective armies. I LOVE theme with armies and even when playing friendly games I try to stick to theme (providing I have the models in my case at the time). I try to keep as many models in this cabinet as it means I can look at my work and makes me paint the stuff that isn't done.

Next is one of the drawers in my desk where I do all my hobbying.

Here is just a collection of metal models that I have stripped and are waiting to be base coated and re based. A lot of these heroes and elites are from the Gondor and Fiefdoms list as I am applying them to home made bases which will be shown to you later down the line. Plus the tissue paper allows the models to dry and soaks up the remaining Dettol before painting.

Finally (I think), are my cases that hold "extra" troops that are just doubles of models that are in my cabinets such as another 48 Morannon Orcs and 48 Mordor Orcs.

The cases are all different not entirely by choice as I bought a old standard GW case (right) years ago to move models around and just generally carry. The KR case (middle) was bought after my love of cavalry massively increased and the original GW case just doesn't compensate for them. Finally, during a job lot buy on the LOTR Trade group on Facebook I acquired a Hobbit Strategy Battle Game case (left) that has a specific tray for Thorin's Company, Radagast, The Three Trolls, The Goblin King, The Goblin Scribe, Grinnah and a Goblin Captain.

So this week has lead me to do something that I have never done.....count my collection and how much I have for each army and each specific troop. It may sound ridiculously boring but actually really intrigued me to find out just what I have!! I used the 'Numbers' on from Apple to create a simple spreadsheet that includes every army (even if I didn't own any models from it, you know, just in case for the future). I will include a downloadable copy in a future blog to show off the spreadsheet as a whole.

Nevertheless, at the end of my counting and inputting data I found out I have about 1200 MODELS!!! I knew I had a lot but this does astound me but also makes my little nerdy brain awfully happy....then I think about all the painting and it sinks a little. However, none of this puts me off because from the start I have always wanted big armies just for the thematic look it can give. To give you an insight to my thinking, I started a Rohan army at the end of the summer and my plan was to get 48 Riders of Rohan with Rohan Royal Guard and Outriders on top of that!!! Safe to say I am ambitious.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing the size and numbers of my force, plus my thinking into the scale of my hobby.

I came. I bought. I painted.

All photos have been taken on my iPad until I get a new charge cable for my camera.

Intoduction

Welcome all,

As it is a start of a new year I thought I would try something new and start a blog to keep track of my hobby-ing within The Hobbit Strategy Battle Game, to let people see my progress and projects. I will endeavour to post content every week and maybe more frequently if there is a battle report or tournament review, as this is will be my first year experiencing the Great British Hobbit League in all its glory.

I want to use this blog as a discussion point and a amateur showcase of what I like to do in my spare time. Hopefully there will be lots posts in many areas of the hobby, including:

-Painting

-Terrain Building

-Battle Reports

-Tournament Reviews

-Sample Armies Lists

-Army Showcases

-Unboxings

-Book Reviews

So thank you for reading and I hope you come back to read some more in the future.