Frodo's Quest: Mines of Moria Merry

My weekend was crazy, so the final brush stokes on this stout fellow had to be postponed until today.

I still do not dare try painting the eyes on these tiny faces, but I may go back and do them at a later point, when I feel more confident.

Nevertheless, I now have all four Fellowship Hobbits painted up, two from the Fellowship of the Ring set, and two from the Mines of Moria set (and I shall, of course, do both versions of the entire Fellowship in due time, but for now I have to focus on the minis needed for the first installment of Frodo's Quest).

As mentioned earlier, these minis are REALLY tiny, and I find it hard to paint their faces (and it shows in the not-so-accented facial features). Maybe I shall try redoing the faces some day, but for now they will have to do as is.

I am not quite sure about Merry's hair; I think it turned out a bit too orange, but it was the closest I could get to the colour shown on the Fellowship box (which is not quite the 'live' colour from the movies, either, though).

The waistcoat buttons also are a bit different than I think they should be; I used a painted mini as reference, and it had silver buttons, whereas the movie stills show cloth-covered buttons the same colour as the waistcoat itself. So, I dotted in the pale yellow (Warzone Vega Sand) I used for the waistcoat before covering it with Iyanden Yellow, leaving the Chainmail edges visible.

There will be no family portrait this time, not until I have to put painted models in the storage box, as it is stoved away in a larger crate at the moment (I need to keep the storage boxes from spreading all over the ground floor of our home).

I am quite pleased with his cloak and jacket - the trousers are not quite as dark when seen with the naked eye, but I have a little trouble getting the light settings of my camera just right (which is also why the pics are a tiny bit blurred; I have to turn up the Gamma output in GIMP to keep the photos from having too bright unnatural colours).

I am happy to report that I have found all my Middle-Earth Ranger figures (bar one Ranger of Ithillien from the set with Faramir and the Hobbits), including the Grey Company and the Guardians of the Shire, so that is one task to check off!

Frodo's Quest: Aragorn and Pippin Bases Altered

 I lightened up the Moria-themed bases of these two protagonists a bit, I think they look a bit better now.

Frodo's Quest: Mines of Moria Pippin

Another one of those diminutive plastic minis; I had to take a lot of breaks from painting this (working on other bits and bobs), as it was really putting a straikn onm my ageing eyes.

I did not take a pic of him with Aragorn, as I want to redo the ranger's base, first, there'll propably be a group shot when I finish Merry (somewhen next week, he is just as fiddly as this one).

Frodo's Quest: Dark Realms Shirelands Kickstarter

I just got on board, and thought I'd blow the war horn for this one!

This Kickstarter is a tremendously good deal, and it lands just in time for being included in my preparations for bringing the first scenario of Frodo's Quest to this year's Horisont Con (which is being revived after a pause of a couple of years).

Picture courtesy of Pinyo Gulashart (Dark Realms proprietor)

If you are into 3D printing, take a look at it - and maybe also visit the Dark Realms store on MyMiniFactory. Lots of interesting stuff, there!

Frodo's Quest: Hobbiton 101, WIP

As mentioned yesterday, I am painting some 3D printed smials for my 'Frodo's Quest' project. I am making progress, albeit a slow one, and I thought an update would be in place.

Yes, there are visible layer lines. No, I am not going to do anything about them; it is a terrain piece, and once the war horn is sounded, nobody will notice, anyway. Besides, I printed this quite a while ago, and I am achieving better quality these days, but that is no reason to let this go to waste, methinks.

I am going to acquire a static grass applicator just after this year's summer holidays (I wouldn't risk it being returned to the seller because it arrived while I was away and unable to pick it up), and put a nice lawn on the roof.

More for the Plastic and Lead Alps

Earlier today, I received my June order from North Star Military Figures. The Gnolls are (primarily) for my 'remixed' version of Rangers of the Shadow Deep, the Goblins for mixing in with my LotR Orcs (and providing extra archer arms for the Gnolls), and the Halflings are for my 'Frodo's Quest' Shire spin-off (more about it in a later post).

The Hell Crows are for RotSD (some kind of Crows, the name eludes me right now), and the Frostgrave Barbarian with the two-hander is for Emil's Sellswords & Spellslingers warband.

The Magmites and the Thief are just bonuses, but I shall probably find some use for them.

Frodo's Quest: Frodo Baggins

Yesterday, I finished painting Frodo, and I used him as my first entry for the Modern Fantasy Painting Party at the LAF.

I am already painting my next entry, and as this particular Painting Club runs for 200 entries, I think I should be able to get another couple of minis done before it closes.

He is part of my 'Contrast Paints Trial', and only the skin and metal (and base) were painted using traditional paints.

I now just have to finish one Black Rider, and paint some 3D-printed Smials, and I shall be ready to test run my planned first scenario of Frodo's Quest (I kinda forgot what rules I was going to use, but I remember the general outlines and shall cook something up).

Frodo's Quest: Samwise Gamgee

I have not given up on my 'little' side project, it was just on pause like everything else from last summer until recently.

Sam is now ready to embark on a once-in-a-lifetime journey to Rivendell - and beyond!

This mini was painted primarily with Citadel Contrast Paints, although some details were done with normal layering (metal, skin, and the backpack, mainly).

He was varnished, first with Citadel 'Ardcoat, then Humbrol Matt Acrylic Varnish, both brush-on.

As mentioned in my first post about this project, I think that Contast Paints are best suited for plastic minis, but as I started Frodo and Sam this way, I am also going to finish them. Later metal additions to the project will be painted the conventional way, leaving the Contrast Paints for the plastics.

 And here a shot of both the finished minis so far:

Next week I shall probably start finishing in-the-flesh Frodo (I start my five nights work period tomorrow, so I shall not be able to spend much time at the pain(t) station before then).

Frodo's Quest: First Mini 'Finished'

Not much painting to do on this one, but I thought I would show it, anyway.

I expect to have one or two additional finished models (Frodo and Sam in corporeal form) ready within the next week or so (I have a lot to do on the job front the rest of this week, and we are going to Horsens Medieval Festival Friday to Sunday).

I have not yet decided on a rule set to use for the Frodo's Quest campaign, but I think I shall try to design the scenarios in a way that they can be played with whatever ruleset I like - even solo and/or with a GM managing the bad guys.

The first scenario will feature Frodo and Sam trying to sneak away from Hobbiton, while a Black Rider tries to intercept them, and a couple of members of the Silent Watch may interfere. I have it all in my head, I just need to get the minis ready for the table, and some terrain painted up, before I write down the details.

Frodo's Quest: 3D Printed Smials - and then Some!

I have been printing some copies of one of the 'Small Entrances' for Modular Gaming Hills, as well as some hill pieces to go with them, by Terrain4Print on Thingiverse, and I have now prepped and primed the first pieces for painting. I shall need some flower tufts for this, methinks.

I have also slabbed some more Contrast Paint on Frodo and Sam. My experience so far is that this kind of painting is probably best reserved for plastics, as they have fewer small surface imperfections to disrupt the paint - but I shall see this little project through, as the minis are spares I thought I could just as well experiment on.

The rangers are also getting a little attention, now and then, and I have removed the excess sand after taking this photo. I may find time to treat them to a coat of Wraithbone Contrast Undercoat, so that I can try out the effects on that, too.

LotR: Frodo's Quest - Heroes and Villains

I have been doing some work on my 'little' side project each day this week, and of course I have some progress to show for it.

Today, I rebased a couple of them rangers that I need for the first scenario I am planning (I actually considered getting some of the ranger minis done by North Star for Rangers of Shadow Deep, but common sense prevailed, and I went for some of the minis I already own).

I also for the first time rebased a cavalry model onto one of the pill-shaped MDF/washer cavalry bases I have constructed - one of The Nine, searching the Shire for Baggins.

I also cleaned up, based, and primed some spare copies of Frodo and Sam (from the first Fellowship boxed set) that I have from one of the second hand lots I bought years ago.

I primed them white because I am going to paint them with Contrast Paints, to try those out, but I have already realized that some colours will have to be done with traditional paints - especially the skin, as the Contrast Paint skin colours end up way too dark (the photo shows the colours somewhat less dark than they appear in the flesh, so to speak.

I used Darkoath Flesh on Sam, and Guilliman Flesh on Frodo; neither with a satisfactory result. I never the less expect to be able to paint most of both minis with the Contrast Paints, apart from the skin and the metal parts.

I am going to paint Frodo's dagger as normal steel, not glowing blue, as in the movies he did not receive Sting, and the Mithril shirt from Bilbo until meeting him in Rivendell (I cannot recall if Bilbo left him those items in Bag End in the book, I shall have to read the books once more  to brush up on the trivia).

LotR: Frodo's Quest - Invisible Frodo

I dug this out for a little project I have going on.

It is kind of a side project, only requiring a fistful of minis, but I may become the start of a linked series of LotR-mania, only time will tell...

I have no idea what the NIB value would have been on the collectors' market, and I really do not care the slightest - I bought this to game with it, and now I am finally putting it to its intended use!

So, out of the blister it came, and in the meantime, I have begun basing it - at the same time as a set of second hand Fellowship Frodo and Samwise that I also have to get ready for this, for now, little side quest.

I an going to paint them with Citadel Contrast Paints (metal Frodo and Sam, that is), to learn how they behave (the Contrast Paints, that is) - I can always strip and repaint them when I have some 'properly' painted versions ready for the table.

I expect to have an update on this project one of the next days; I have a gaming session tomorrow afternoon, so I am not sure whether I shall have time for reporting any progress, but I plan to apply the kaizen principles to it, so that it does not get bogged down.

I have not yet decided which ruleset to use - I may even go back and apply the actual LotR/Hobbit/Middle-Earth SBG rules with some house rules added, but that is yet to be seen.

Operation Cleansweep: Moria Hobbits on the Run

Did the finishing touches on the bases earlier today. They are going to be primed as part of the next batch getting a black undercoat - I am just not sure when that is happening...

Operation Cleansweep: More Moria Hobbits WIP

When this handsome bunch is done and primed, I have the entire Moria plastic Fellowship ready to paint - and I think I should get on with it somewhen soonish, as I can also use them for Sellswords & Spellslingers, my current go-to game for some Fantasy Adventuring. The Hobbits should be ready for primer somewhen tomorrow, but as Monday is my brewing day, and we are going to Odense to buy birthday presents for Anna (turning 15 on Tuesday) that is probably all I am going to manage on the gaming front (but we shall have to see about that).

Operation Cleansweep: Hobbits WIP

The Hobbits from the LotR Moria boxed set have been sitting on my prepping station for ages, and as part of my efforts to clear the workspace of minis, the turn has now come to them.

Cleaned up and glued on 18mm washers for now, when I get the other two this far, I shall finish the basing.

Funny, they are depicted throwing rocks - as far as I remember, the only time we see them do that in the movies is at the breaking of the Fellowship, just before they are captured by the Orcs of the White Hand...

The Hobbit Strategy Battle Game

When shopping today for some paints to use with our LEGO Elves terrain project, I noticed that the store had 25% off some GW stuff.

I decided to buy the Hobbit limited ed. boxed set, and was then given an offer I could not refuse, for the remaining boxes in the store.

So, I brought home this bunch of stuff, and hope that I shall have the time and motivation to get some of it assembled and painted over the next year or so...