Hi guys, I’m new to the hobby, focusing on the collecting rather than the playing, for the time being. I am a lover of lord of the rings and have been since a young age, so the idea of making my own armies is a pretty decent , yet expensive , one in my mind.
My original plan was to just collect the characters in the order they appear in the films.. after getting a few versions of the fellowship and then realising the price of the paints , I decided just to buy a few more miniatures instead.. which lead to an abundance of Moria goblins.. hence why I decided to make them my first army..
Although slightly cross eyed after painting so many of the turds , I’ve become quite fond of them, and wish they got a bit more air time in the movie, even though they get rinsed, I like to think mine are a bit tougher and whilst bored at work came up with a little background to them ;

The dwarves and goblins have had many scraps and skirmishes as the goblins try to take any parts of khazad dum that they can, making the survivors ( my guys, of course) hardy veterans somewhat, obviously the dwarves greed is what released the balrog , but the green Freaks see this as a godsend (Sauronsend?) and start to become , essentially, worshipers of it. The rustier their armour the better as it resembles the flames of the balrog, it goes on but I’m tired right now and can’t be bothered to type much more..

Also the miniatures available in my opinion are incredibly dull in terms of variety so Ive tried to do a few conversions

** don’t expect artwork, this is the first time I have made, converted or painted a miniature and the first time I’ve worked with green stuff **

Welcome aboard and we look forward to seeing some pictures. There are some exceptional painters, sculptors and converters on this site that can offer a slew of helpful hints for you...

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T'was in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair..
But Gollum, and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her..

I'm very excited to hear how much you are enjoying the hobby. Painting miniatures can be expensive, there's no doubt about that! Some ways to cut the cost are to mix paints, keeping a formula, of course, and to trade with friends and fellows. Gradually increase your collection a paint at a time. There's nothing wrong with using base colours and adding a wash or highlight as you can afford to and as your skills improve. Learn to take good care of your brushes, you will save money and your brushes will come to a point and do better detail work for you if they are treated well. A standard brush is really all you need to start, add a drybrush and a highlight brush to your list when you can, they are fun to expand your skills. You can certainly check the secondary market, like garage sales, flea markets, kijiji, varage sale and ebay to keep prices down. You can also trade here, though not for cash.

I refuse to buy GW's textured paints, as I can replicate the effect with beach sand, white glue and dollar store paint for a fraction of the price and they look pretty good to me.

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"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock." -Will Rogers

Thank you for the advice, any comments and tips will all be greatly appreciated and took onboard, ive had a busy weekend so haven’t had much chance to get many good photos but I’ll get round to it ASAP!

Also about GW Texture paints, I have tried to use one and then put on the dry brush rust colour , but I found with the goblins being fairly small in size the texture paint sort of took over , but I like that idea of making my own texture, will definitely be giving that a go!

My captains and my shaman that I’ve accumulated so far, I do plan on converting up another shaman and maybe tweak the captains around a little, I like the idea of the armoured captains carrying a souvenir of their hardest fight won against the dwarves, but I’m not too sure how I would go about that or if it would be a little too much..

Back of above mentioned

Thank you for the kind words and your advice , any comments and advice will be greatfully received

I have been replying and trying to upload pictures but for some reason none of them are being approved or something like that...? Slightly confused and bemused

The lack of approval for posts was my fault entirely. I do apologize. As for the pictures I have not seen any come through. Are you following the instructions for using the sites url picture hosting system...thing? I don't know what one would call it exactly but it is a bit more roundabout then simply uploading a picture to the post from your hard-drive. If it is giving you a hard time try messaging Dead Marsh Specter and asking how to get it straight. I do look forward to seeing your progress. Sorry again for the delay.

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"Draw your sword with a heavy heart, but swing it with a heavy hand"

I use testors paints. Cheap and good eneugh. Get a dull-coat laquer to adjust collours and mix colors to get those fine blends. Painting 200+ guys and only bought a gloss and flat set, $40 total I think. $5 for brushes.

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By all that you hold dear on this good Earth,
I bid you stand, men of the West!