FATE OF THE WITCH KING

Finally! I've managed to create a Witch King model with a little gravitas. I never liked the models they released for him as none of them looked as cool as he did in the movie. Personally, I think this new model is simply, badass. To start with, I decided early on that he'd need to be set on a larger cavalry base. I know this isn't strictly within the rules, but it isn't technically outside of them either, as far as I know. It just seems to fit better. I wouldn't do this for another run of the mill captain. To give him a little lift, I used another piece of slate from the garden to act as a podium. Green stuffed onto the base, I placed a few scattered skulls around it to add a feeling of dread. I started with the special edition Fate of the Witch King model, which you can still buy from GW. A quick sawing off of the limbs and hands, and he's ready.

To get the pose just right was the main aim for this model. I wanted him to be posed just as he falls off his fell beast, and openly chalenges Eowyn to a duel. He holds his flail in one hand, and his sword in the other. After repositioning his left arm, I could then give him his weapons. The flail was made using his left hand and flail, replacing the chain with a real chain I managed to get from a jewellers.

After I moulded his sword back into his right hand, and a black undercoat, he was ready for painting!

This model was very simple to paint, as there's only three colours really. Drybrush codex grrey over the black on his robes, leadbelcher for the metal areas and bestial brown for the skulls. A black wash was needed for the robes after this, and a wash mix of black and scorched brown for the metal areas for a slightly rusted, dirty look. The skulls were layered with snakebite leather then bleached bone. For the final parts, the metal areas were highlighted with chainmail and the skulls were picked out with skull white. The base was finished to a typical standard of my army, with the rock podium being drubrushed with codex grey, fortress grey and white... And here he is. Now for the fell beast...

And to go with him, I thought it'd be best to finish Merry and Eowyn too...

THE FELLOWSHIP

One of the first things I wanted to paint after getting back into the hobby was the Fellowship I got in the Mines of Moria box. After 3 years of collecting orcs, I wanted to try my hands on something good. I was surprised I hadn’t lost my painting ability, and it didn’t take too long to familiarize myself with the tricks of the trade. Here’s the results.

This is my favourite model of Boromir. I love the dynamic pose GW have managed to get with him. Comparatively these are my least favourite Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli models. I’m always fond of the Gandalf models.

The hobbit models are great, and are great additions to any collection or scenario. My favourite hobbit from this set has to be Sam, with the string of sausages on his back, whilst wielding a frying pan! I painted Frodo with Sting, as I always wondered why GW never showed that very well when they painted him. He is after all going to be fighting orcs more often than not in a scenario. I even made a separate model for him when he's wearing the ring. I quite like this one.