Mertaal's Wip: Barrow Wights and Tom Bombadil p17

mertaal · **Posted:** Wed Feb 12, 2014 10:44 am

Annnd a picture:

They need sand, and when the sand is in place i'll add a few more fallen slates on the tumbledown piece. I didn't want to do too many, because inevitably the sand will butt up to them and give the impression that grass is growing over them.
It probably doesn't matter, because it's all going to get snowed on anyway, but no reason not to do it properly in any case.

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Wed Feb 12, 2014 12:33 pm

Yep, I'm impressed.
My thoughts are turning to the painting, what have you in mind ?

mertaal · **Posted:** Wed Feb 12, 2014 2:26 pm

Good question. I hadn't considered it carefully, but I was thinking of something akin to a light brown/grey with lots of lichen and variable tones.

However, as I'm going to snow flock them, like the weathertop model, much of the paint work will be covered over anyway.

Any suggestions?

Zirak-Zigil · **Posted:** Wed Feb 12, 2014 11:21 pm

Quote:

In Ireland, some of the stone walls are curved and some are straight and some are in between. The type of rock can dictate configuration and sometimes the walls are built in certain ways for traditional reasons

The traditional reasons usually the result of too much poitìn or whiskey!! "Paddy, that wall was supposed to be straight!" "Sure 'tis straight!" Says Paddy as he staggers and falls over said wall!! Actually that pic you put up looks very like the west of ireland maybe even the one Paddy built!

Seriously though your wall looks really good. The extra effort is certainly paying off. I was only looking at a warhammer one today, which is a similar style but I much prefer yours.

DomyHill · **Posted:** Wed Feb 12, 2014 11:46 pm

I really like these walls. Reminds me of living up in Derby when I was little. I did a little googling and found this, I think it's very Rohan-y if you're thinking about putting some styles in:

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Wed Feb 12, 2014 11:55 pm

mertaal wrote:

Good question. I hadn't considered it carefully, but I was thinking of something akin to a light brown/grey with lots of lichen and variable tones.

However, as I'm going to snow flock them, like the weathertop model, much of the paint work will be covered over anyway.

Any suggestions?

I use this system that I've posted a few times and does give the variation in greys and browns. I love it because you can alter your painting to bring out the grey or the brown.
Basecoat black - now it's drybrushing but increasingly lighter as you go through the colours working toward the edges.
Shadow grey - snakebite leather - codex grey - graveyard earth - fortress grey - bleached bone.
Wash with a watered down Catachan green
Final drybrush of fortress grey then white.

mertaal · **Posted:** Thu Feb 13, 2014 1:33 pm

Hey Dom- yes, that's a great stile image, and I will definitely use that. Thanks! I've been struggling with how to make a gate that doesn't look too conventionally "English Farmyard". You know, this kind of thing basically:

So that's great inspiration.

Gandlaf, not sure what some of those colours are as I use a haphazard mix of old and new GW and Vallejo paints (all three ranges of the latter. Doh!). But i'm sure I'll have approximations. There's a handy conversion chart somewhere I think, but I'm sure the exact tones don't matter too much.

So, if i understand you correctly, you use all of those colours on all areas of the stonework, but bring out different tones and shades by using one colour more heavily in one area, and another in a different area?

Anyway, thanks for the tips! I've got nothing done last night and won't this night ether, but hopefully over the weekend I should get the molds made, and the first batch of casting done.

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Thu Feb 13, 2014 2:40 pm

That's the idea mate. I'm also starting to incorporate Vallego and haven't worked out the colour match yet as I'm using up the last of my old paints.
Roughly looking at Medium Sea Grey for Codex Grey
Light grey for fortress grey
Buff for bleached bone.
I like US Olive drab for Catachan green but do a seperate covering of thinned olive green for some lighter coloured moss. This latter one really looks effective against the stone.
I will have to sort out the Vallejo matches though.

mertaal · **Posted:** Thu Feb 13, 2014 3:42 pm

It's a nightmare! Stupidly for GW though, the day I turned fully over to Vallejo was when they changed all their paint names. Apparently they did this because they were annoyed that Vallejo named all their paints something very close to, but not quite the same as the GW names. E.g. Blood red for bloody red, that sort of thing.

And the irony of course, is that I rejected the new GW names in favour of what I already understood. Another chapter in the great GW "nose to spite" blunder. Geniuses!

Sithious · **Posted:** Thu Feb 13, 2014 3:56 pm

These walls look really great, modular too which is awesome. Here in the States there are still a lot of rock walls on properties, at least in the original colony states. Hope it all works out well.

Oldman Willow · **Posted:** Thu Feb 13, 2014 4:39 pm

Sithious wrote:

These walls look really great, modular too which is awesome. Here in the States there are still a lot of rock walls on properties, at least in the original colony states. Hope it all works out well.

At least in the States the Yankees did not burn everything. :-X

Welcome to the wold of mold making Sithious

The walls look really good.

mertaal · **Posted:** Tue Feb 25, 2014 3:18 pm

I have not fallen off the rim! I have not moved any further. This week I will be painting some models, as i have a tournament on Sunday- first ever!

So obviously I'll be playing with an army I've never used before. Clever eh?

.

LordoftheBrownRing · **Posted:** Tue Feb 25, 2014 10:18 pm

mertaal wrote:

Thanks guys!

The alcohol is just a month- every January in fact. The coffee might be more permanent. I was quite shocked by how much it effected me, and so I think that's probably a sign it's time to cut back. I think I'll switch to de-caf, but the real killer is energy drinks and bottles of Dr Pepper, which I will give up permanently. They've just become a really bad habit over the last couple of years, so time to knock it on the head.
Honestly, I feel tired and lethargic far too often, and so am looking for reasons why. Having such a big reaction to caffeine cold turkey leads me to wonder if I've not been living on a caffeine and sugar boom and bust cycle every day for the last few years!

Ive drunk too much alcohol and caffeine before! When you stop caffeine for a while if you drink a lot, I understand how much it destroys your motivation and will to work at all on stuff like this! Keep up the good work and wonderful trolls. Im still working on mine.

CraigHallums · **Joined:** Tue Feb 04, 2014 3:48 pm **Posts:** 32

Wow mertaal, this is one hell of a thread!

I came here to have a look at your Ziterdes not-so-Weathertop but have left feeling infinitely more inspired than I did this morning. First of all your watchtower looks great and I'll definitely work on mounting mine on a base as you have when it arrives. Did you find it easy enough to work with?

Secondly, going way back, your Fellowship Hobbits are some of the best painted I've seen. They completely capture the feel of the characters from the movie and look like they've jumped straight from the screen. The flesh tones look full of life and the clothing looks lived in. Very nice work on those.

As for your Troll, :yay:

Thanks for sharing these mate, I am truly impressed.

mertaal · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2014 11:39 am

Thanks Craig. Really nice of you to say so.

So I haven't been painting much recently, but have been playing! Went to a couple of tournaments. I spruced up my Goblintown force for the last event, and will take an army shot some time over the next week- just have to remember to bring it all in to work where the photos happen. Anyway, the effort paid off it seems:

! Really very pleased with that, and had a great day to boot. Played 5 games, and all but one were a lot of fun. I won 1, drew 1 and lost three, but in the main I was pleased both with my performance and with the games themselves. It's the mark of a great player to beat you AND ensure you enjoy the experience also. It speaks well of the UK tournament scene that so many of the participants are great guys.

My experience of Goblintown so far: they are pretty much there to die, and thus quite fun to play against. The Goblin King is a characterful model, and pretty powerful, but there are a couple of major problems with the list.
First and foremost, the lack of any kind of ranged weapons means that mounted forces with bows can deny you the chance to do anything at all. By being outpaced and killed, it's very hard to deal with. Particularly in scenarios which focus mainly on killing/breaking the enemy.
Second, even the heroes have low courage, and so when you're broken you're pretty much guaranteed to run.
At some stage in the future I may convert more goblin town with bows, shamans etc. I personally don't much like allying in disparate forces, and would rather have everything nicely themed, but i have no problem with using the moria goblin rules for converted Goblintown Archers or a shaman, for example. For now though, I don't really feel like looking at (or buying!) any more goblin town!

So, next to the GBHL Youtube channel tournament at Stockport. For that I am determined to get another full force painted and ready for the battlefield, and have begun work on some Uruk Berserkers. So the mission over the next three weeks is:

12 Berserkers,
12, Feral Uruk Hai
12 Uruk Crossbows
A shaman, Captain and Vrasku the mini-legolas!

Plus I want to do things properly this time around, and make 5 Objective Markers, which I think will just be low counters with crossed swords on them, and numbered underneath, but painted to match my general "evil" basing scheme.

Anyway, I hope to get this thread up and running again after an absence. The drywall project is on hold because of the Isengard tournament deadline, but I hope to get back to it once the force is finished.

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2014 7:27 pm

Congratulations on the award, it must be great to know you had the best army. It goes to show what a little effort can result in.

Gene Parmesan · **Posted:** Fri Mar 28, 2014 2:27 am

On my phone it looks like "James Brown" is your name. Congratulations

mertaal · **Posted:** Fri Mar 28, 2014 1:08 pm

Thanks fellas. Yeah, it was a good event all round. A lot of nicely painted armies, so taking the painting prize was great. I won't be doing the same with the Uruks, because I only have a couple of weeks left to get them all done, so it'll be a rushed job!

Anyway, here's some progress on the Berserkers. One or two of the sculpts are great, and a pleasure to paint. However, most of them were sculpted by someone who's not quite aware of the concept of the kneecap. Where i can, I've had to paint them on! lol.

Honestly, my painting stamina is still a bit low. These look (I think) good from a distance, but very close they're a little rough. However, I'm trying to concentrate on creating high contrast rather than smoothness of blending. This represents two evenings work, so perhaps about 4 hours in all. For the time spent I'm pretty happy with the effect, and trying to stick to schedule rather than becoming a perfectionist who never finishes the job!

I will go in and smooth out the blends in a few places, and of course the metal, loincloths and boots/gloves need to be done also.

garmenhord · **Posted:** Fri Mar 28, 2014 1:13 pm

cool berserkers!:)

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Fri Mar 28, 2014 4:13 pm

I like the look, great definition between shade and highlight. Maybe it could be a touch smoother on close up,but hey, they look great and will look the part on the battle field.

Mertaal's Wip: Barrow Wights and Tom Bombadil p17

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