So, here we go with another small update. I managed to paint up a few models, finally!

First of all, an normal Orc Captain.

Not much special here, but pretty glad with how he worked out in the end: dark, but enough variation in the tones, to my taste.

Furthermore, I bought a Roman Medicus from Warlord Games (link: http://store.warlordgames.com/products/ ... ns-medicus ). These will be converted to make them into Gondorians, in the same style as my previous Warriors of Minas Tirith with sword and shield. For that, the lorica segmenta was removed. Chain mail will be sculpted in various places, and the surcoat will be repaired on the helping soldier. The physician himself will be getting some extra pouches.

You can see some chain mail added so far, I hope to finish this conversion soon-ish.

I also painted a Dwarf Hero. The model is from Red-Box-Games (link: http://red-box-games.com/index.php?main ... x&cPath=16 ) but seems to be out of production nowadays. The RBG sculpts (and casts) are amazing though. I would say they are more detailed than GW, and the casts are easily as good as GW's.
Anyway, this dwarf will represent a Dwarf Hero, but I don't have anything particular in mind now. He could represent Nain, Frerin, or any of Durin's house. Depending on the need, I will make house rules or use a Dwarf Captain or King profile.

The cloak is more blue in real life, but for some reason this doesn't show very well on the photo.

And lastly, I bought 8 Roman Auxiliaries, also from Warlord Games (link: http://store.warlordgames.com/collectio ... -boxed-set). I will be using shields and swords from Gripping Beast (link: http://www.grippingbeast.com/shop.php?p ... 6&CatID=65), however, and heads from Warriors of Minas Tirith. I was thinking about Numenorean heads, but I think I prefer these.
They will represent some kind of kind of specialised small unit, perhaps a Pelargir or Dol Amroth sea guard or some fighting mariners, or perhaps some Gondorians of Umbar during the occupation around the year 1000 in the Third Age.
Now, I'm just debating with myself whether to use round shields or kite shields. Here's how it looks, quickly assembled one with (white) blue tack.




As Coenus from this site pointed out, the round shields might fit better with their very dynamic poses.

What do you think, what shield should I use? Round or kite?

Comments and criticism welcome.

Loving the conversions! Genius work, and I can't get over how well the womt are turning out.

Love the conversions! I'm always inspired when people use minis from other companies- I've had my eye on Red Box Games' dwarves for a while .

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The Orc Captain is suitably dark for a real live orc, but as a miniature for painting, I would say it could use some differentiation. Sometimes less is more doesn't count. :p

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Some fantastic work here, love the colour for the Orc skin, great conversion and a wonderfully painted dwarf. The back of his left hand looks truly lifelike

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Always tricky to get a dark appearance without it becoming too boring, but I think you did a great job on that orc captain, maybe a tad lighter on the fur, also to make him stand out from the orc rabble a bit more. Metal looks very nice too.

Looking forward to seeing the medic(us) assimiliate into the Gondorian culture - haven't seen the model very up close yet, is it (going to be) a very bloody scene?

Won't comment on the Dwarf or the shield preference, as you know my thoughts there already. Although.. the round shield has the added advantage that it doesn't have any metal parts, so less possibility to rust et cetera if they are coastal guys. Only leaves the helmet to keep clean, as the chainmail pretty much keeps itself proper by being worn (or so I'm told). Wooden shields may even keep you afloat!

@ RangerofTheNorth: thanks a lot! I'm also quite happy with the Warriors. The idea was not mine by the way. A TLA user called Spod used to have an article explaining the conversion years ago.

@ mertaal: cheers! Other companies often offer great miniatures, in quality often as good as GW, but cheaper. Also, as I like my model to be as close to the books as possible, I often want to convert models to be so. And often I can find minis from other manufacturers that require less (or sometimes no!) conversions than GW's models. Those RBG dwarves are a good example of this.

@ Amarthadan: thanks for the feedback! I agree that less is more does not always count, but personally I'm quite glad with the orc in real life. The picture seems to have less contrast (maybe because the background is white). Anyway, thanks for the feedback.

@ Gandlaf the Grey: thanks! The orc skin colour was actually made with a whole range of colours. Mostly black, brown, but also a little Blazing Orange and Fortress Grey if I remember correctly. Always fun when painting Orcs: anything dark goes!

@ Coenus: thanks mate. The captain is about as dark as my other most recent orcs, and that is what I wanted for them. The contrast is a bit bigger in real life though.
The medicus model is great, very nicely detailed and characterful. The expressions on their faces are really life-like. Yes, there will be blood on the model, as the soldier that is being treated has a nasty open wound on his belly. I won't exaggerate things, though.
Good points on the round shield. I think I'm convinced.

Hello One Ring! I'm back with a small update again.

First of all, I continued working on my Orc Taskmaster and Drummer. I started work on them a few years ago (when they first came out in metal). I got them about half finished and stopped working on them since. But, last weekend I re-based them and I hope to finish them this weekend!



Furthermore, for the One Ring Painting Competition, I started painting the Great Goblin sculpt I made about a year ago. Here are some work in progress shots. I hope to finished him this weekend.





And, though maybe not very fitting for my painting blog, I started works on some grain fields. Mostly intended for scenarios of the Scouring of the Shire, they can obviously be used for any battles in civilised realms.

I like the task master and drummer, they look grubby, exactly what you would expect after time on the plains of gorgoroth.

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I like your goblin figure! Good job

The fields are coming along nicely. Are you going to use rails or wattle on the fences?

A partly harvested field would look nice with the Farmer Maggot figure.
The Scouring of the Shire was my favorite source book. I am looking forward to seeing what you make.

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That is all.

Thanks. That's indeed the look I was after, so it's good to hear it's showing already, even though they are not even finished yet! Most Orcs I see are often also painting with too bright colours, in my opinion. From the books I always envisioned them as wearing very dark colours, with dark skin colours, the only bright colour perhaps being the Red Eye on their shields, or a white moon.


Thanks a lot! I'm not overly fond with him, but hey, it was my first full sculpt from scratch, so I've learned a lot from sculpting him.
I'm going to make rails for the fences. Actually, the rails are pretty much done, I just have to think about something for the entrance.
I do plan to make some partially harvested/trampled fields actually! It would indeed go well with the Farmer Maggot model. I should probably get my hands on it..
Yeah, the book was fantastic! Actually, I got inspired by a battle versus Coenus lately (hence his reaction), and I was looking at which Shire-features I could make easily. The fields were very straightforward, and nicely versatile as they can be used in Rohan, Gondor and many other places.


Haha, I thought you might like it. Actually, last weekend I found some really inspiring Hobbit holes, and I nearly started working on some myself. I figured it would take much more time though, so this is for a later time. First up the fields now!

So, I'm back again, after a quite long break. I just keep getting less and less time for the hobby, as my studies are getting more and more time-consuming..

Anyway, here we go! Some conversion work was done. All sculpting was done with ProCreate (love the stuff!).

First off, some converted Goblins! In my attempt to get my armies plate mail-free, the Goblins were also on the list. So, now I got myself some chain mail armoured Goblins!





Also, some of the metal Dwarf Warriors had scale mail armour. This had to go! Can you spot which ones I have sculpted the chain mail on?


Furthermore, Boromir is finally completed! It took a while, but here he is! Note the Elven brooch.



And also Aragorn at Helm's Deep is done!


Furthermore, there is more exciting news! I've become a writer for Der Skirmisher! This is a German web magazine, releasing an issue every month. They have currently released 4 issues and the next one is due in 2 weeks.
The website can be found here:
http://hdrskirmisher.wordpress.com/

The third issue had one of my articles in it, on making Rock Faces. It has been translated to German, however. A longer version of this article can also be found on this site, in the Tomes of Wisdome (kb.php?a=248).


Also, more (and bigger!) pictures can be found at my blog over at Der Skirmisher: http://hdrskirmisher.wordpress.com/cate ... steltisch/
Take a look. I've also posted a teaser there about the article I'm currently working on for the next issue.. What shall it be..?


Feedback is always appreciated!

Welcome back and great news about you writing for Der Skirmisher.
Great conversion work but I've a couple of points, is the elven brooch a bit big ? And the mail looks great on Aragorn. I was initially concerned it was too wavy but I think it will be ok once painted.
That mail is very fitting for the sculpt, good idea.

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The conversions look great. Boromir is awesome in that pose. Poor Plate mail smith, Losing jobs to the link weavers.

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Oh my, an update!

Chainmail looks great on those figures, good to see the goblins painted too: I like the way you've gone with the skintone and overall appearance. Are you planning to make more?

Looking forward to the contributions for Der Skirmisher.

Amazing conversions! Well done, they look great, LOVE the Boromir pose!

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I see both Feanor's are getting active again

As commented on the Skirmisher Website I love the cloak of Boromir! The other stuff as well, but the cloak is top notch! Unfortunately I connot enlarge the picture of him on the website, do you have a bigger one?

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Fantastic painting! And those conversions of Aragorn and Boromir are stunningly beautiful! Well done

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