Middle Earth scenery

[steve_pickstock]

On the day on which I offically became an Old F@rt (thanks to the Pensions people - Good afternoon all.

Before I continue with the build update ...
This appeared in one of my news updates
https://www.warhammer-community.com/202 ... -the-ring/
It appears that Games Workshop were so impressed with my Amon Hen/Seat of Seeing build, they had to do one of their own.


Yeah, right.

It's not 1/72nd unlike mine, it's to the same scale as their War of the Ring stuff, but some people may find it useful.
My biggest gripe with this visualisation, which is of course from the film, is the Gryphons. I cannot recall any mention of gryphons anywhere in Lord of the Rings. Normally the chaps at Weta Workshop are spot on with their work, but it jarred badly for me.

Speaking of visualisations I got started on the Alliance Steppes Warriors. I'm using figures from both sets (72051 & 72052) and working on two eoreds of horse archers.

First up the horses - spray GW White undercoat, spritz of dirty wash and leave them to dry, wicking away any bubbles of dirty wash with a clean brush.


I think I gushed about these when they came out, I love the work the sculptor has done on these horses, which first appeared - without saddlery - with the mounted 'historical' Amazons. Whoever did these has plaited manes and tails, and there are axes and maces hanging from saddles, and other bits you can add to the riders and their mounts - generally I think these are the mutt's nuts. (I'm thinkinking of using some with Alliance HYW cavalry just to see how they look)
The dirty wash has really brought up a lot of this detail and if I just did the harness and saddlery I could probably use these as is.
However, I want to get some variation in the horses. White horses aren't white horses as such, they more like a number if shades of grey (no, I'm not going say how many shades of grey , work that out for yourself ). There are dappled greys, iron greys, off-white - all sorts in fact.

Why am I just using white horses? Simple, Tolkien says that the Rohirrim rode white horses. In the films they use all colours, but they were using any and every rider in New Zealand - they could not pull that many white or even grey horses together.
Sometimes a grey/white mare will throw a black colt, and it was these that were stolen by Mordor to raise as mounts for the Black Riders.
Anyway after some dry brushing with a 'linen' coloured craft paint, and some grey shades, I ended up with this group.


Harness and horse furniture next.
And we end with these two groups.


I had forgotten how much I hate painting horse harness.
It used to be that I could churn through a dozen figures, easy.
These were hard work, and took the best part of two sessions. Partly it was trying to get variations on a theme for the colour of the harness, partly it was the light which varied from bright sunshine streaming in through the roof light to needing the light on my magnifier to see where I'm painting.
Still, I am quite happy with them.
Next up for these is to select the archer figures, match them to the horses. Once that is done, add the extra bits that come in these sets - shields, quivers, bow cases etc.

Okay a question for the Hive Mind - do you paint riders before you fix them to their horses or not? Not a trick question, I genuinely want to know. I am inclined to fix these riders in place and then paint them, that way I can match any details to the horses, but you may have other ideas.

While I am here, here are two figures that I finished soon after I purchased the figures - the King, Theoden son of Thengel.



Guthlaf, his standard bearer



And the two of them with the figures which will make up the king's household eored


After showing off my Zveda Black Rider - thank you for the complements - I slopped some paint on the Alliance Versions, as much to see what they looked like.

Unusually this particular set of figures were very greasy and really needed some form of preparation to take paint. I didn't and ended up spraying them with Matt wash to stabilise them. It's not something that is usually a problem I have found with Alliance before, just this set.
In the end after that, apart from some washes and some detail work, I'm not sure they need much more work than this.
I have only used six figures because as above with the Rohan eoreds, Dragon Rampant only uses 6 figures in a cavalry unit.

Well that is me for today.
I may not be able to update the Musketeers thread this week as I off to go to my first re-enactment in nearly 18 months this weekend.
If it's a holiday where you are enjoy, stay safe all.
Regards, Pickers.
(29675)

[PaulRPetri]

Great brush work Steve! That Rohan cavalry looks the part. The Black riders look good to! I have these sets but I am working on my Strelets Crimean stuff the urge just hit me yesterday. I will have to get to them soon they are really nice figures.

[Susofrick]

Agree totally with Paul! Haven't bought the Black Riders from Alliance (have some old uns from Mithril (other scale). Have bought some other figures that I hope to use as Nazguls. Also working on some Crimeans from Strelets.

[Peter]

Fantastic work on that cavalry! I like those horses a lot!

[PaulRPetri]

Okay Steve I forgot to ask... What is a dirty wash? I stay away from painting white horses as mine look crummy but your look great. I need a new secret tip!!

[steve_pickstock]

Okay Steve I forgot to ask... What is a dirty wash? I stay away from painting white horses as mine look crummy but your look great. I need a new secret tip!!

There's no secret to it. I was seeing some of the people I follow on Youtube going on about it for months.

Simply what I call dirty wash is a 50/50 mix of water and acrylic matt medium, with a couple of drops each of brown and black acrylic ink, and a couple of drops of washing up liquid/dish soap.
Mix it up in a sealed bottle and that's it.
It's a d@mned sight cheaper than a comparable poduct from GW, and in this case more what I want.
The wash I wanted wasn't black but I needed something that was darker than washes like GW's Agrax Earthshade and I also wanted one that dries matt. (some of the ones they make dry gloss and you need to make sure this dries gloss too, if you don't give it a good shake first.).
I pour some into a spritzer bottle, give it a good shake and just blast it onto the models.
If it pools too much in one place or forms a bubble, wick it up with a clean brush, or move it around , then leave it to dry.

I also make a straight matt glaze (I use half a bottle of medium for each type). Which I can add to paints to ensure they dry matt, or I can spritz it over scenery to fix flock or foliage in place.

I have used both of these extensively in these Middle Earth builds - it would have cost me a fortune in GW products - not only in buying them but in travelling to get them, but to my mind these work out as much better value.

This is the medium I use :https://www.amazon.co.uk/Winsor-Newton-Galeria-Matt-Medium/dp/B0027ISZH8/ref=asc_df_B0027ISZH8/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309821197110&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3537311561654918355&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046501&hvtargid=pla-310347753977&psc=1&th=1&psc=1
And these are the type of 'spritz' bottles I use: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Refillable-Durable-Transparent-Atomiser/dp/B07GBN8D2F/ref=asc_df_B07GBN8D2F/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=372084279794&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=229096756196978044&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046501&hvtargid=pla-605491907705&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=80491998910&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=372084279794&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=229096756196978044&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046501&hvtargid=pla-605491907705

[PaulRPetri]

Thanks for that info Steve. I am actually not that far off from your wash but I use this stuff which dries high gloss. I use brown and black ink to make it nearly the same as your mix but I have not tried it over white horse. I guess I will try!

[steve_pickstock]

I have a bottle of that somewhere.
Many modellers swear by it.

[PaulRPetri]

The spritz technique is something I have not tried before. I just brush my stuff on. I will have to give it a go. Thanks for the links.

[steve_pickstock]

Sorry!
No update for the ME build today.

The fall-out from the weekend continues.
That sounds a bit more dramatic than it really is. My car had a close encounter with a rock-garden and nearly all of the clips bar about three, got popped off the pan under the engine. Replacements arrived this morning and I have been on my back underneath the car replacing the clips and securing the pan.
The good news is that there doesn't appear to be much damage other than the missing clips, the bad news is that I now ache like a ... like ... like a really achey thing.

So, what have I done this week?
1. Undercoated and washed the horses for Theoden's eored, bases for the same, bits and bobs. All the horse archer figures have been selected.
2. Have done a bit more to the Queen-Empress, the round tower is in place, added the back wall, working on the rear windows, filling, filing and trim.
3. After the teaser the other day - kudos to Peter, that group of items is nearly done, just some finishing up to do, on the bases. I also intend to paint some of the female figures, after seeing raph86's thread http://bennosfiguresforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=24984&p=275736#p275736, I thought I better get some of mine done too.

Right, I am off for a lie-down. Stay safe all.
Pickers
(30797)

[MABO]

I am always looking and waiting for new stuff from your fantastic workshop. The Riders of Rohan are another top notch unit. The only thing I would do is to bend the flag a little more, so it will not look so stiff. Only my personal taste of course.

[steve_pickstock]

Good afternoon all.

I hope you will not be too disappointed - but not a lot to report today. I was waiting for the Pilgrims from Hannant's and some Green Stuff from Goblin Gaming (which is very good value at 6GBP for a lot) but they did not arrive until late morning, so by the time I went up into attic my get up and go had got up and gone.

Did manage to get some of the civilians based up, and worked on the aft wall of the Queen-Empress, and all I have really done Middle Earth-wise is picked away at the King's eored - undercoated the armour area with Vallejo Air Black, then some vallejo Oily Steel over that. I will highlight that with some Steel. Touched up some of the details with a Gold Sharpie pen. I highlighted the horses (which had been dirty washed as per a previous update) with some clean White and they will probably get a second - thinned - layer.


Mabo - with regard to the great standard of Rohan - I may curl it more but I do quite like it as is.

Hopefully I will have a bit more for you from the Musketeers on Sunday.

Stay safe all.
Pickers.
(31673)

[PaulRPetri]

Those riders look really great. I had forgotten they rode white horses. I have to remember that when I finally get to mine. Keep it up.

[steve_pickstock]

Good sfternoon all, sadly another small update today. I'm finding life really busy at the moment, plus having bouts of no energy to do things.
I suppose the important thing is to keep picking away at things and like a cricket score, it all builds up.

Those riders look really great. I had forgotten they rode white horses. I have to remember that when I finally get to mine. Keep it up.

It is one of the things that struck me when I first read the books all those years ago.

So, here I am trying to get stuff done. I was a little hampered by the lack of white undercoat, I haven't been able to get my favourite one - Halford's White Acrylic Primer. HUGE can at a decent price and good stuff too. But the two eoreds of horse archers have been undercoated flat black, and left for that to go off.

The king's eored is coming along slowly,still a lot to do on them, personal equipment, some horse harness and shields. At the moment these shield just don't 'pop' enough for me , though white on green is pretty bland. Have to see what I can there.




Sorry there's not more, thanks for looking in, stay safe.
Pickers.
(32746)

[PaulRPetri]

Looking good Steve. Any progress is well,.... progress!

[steve_pickstock]

So another busy week, and not a lot done on this project.

However, I have just had a message to say that our little wargames club is re-opening after The Pestilence. The community centre where we meet has been a vaccination centre for most of this year, but they're letting us back in. HUZZAH!

What this means is that myself and one of my regular opponents will be playing 32pts of Dragon Rampant and because I really need to show this scenery off, we will be fighting over the Amon Hen scenery.

I'm intending to use my Amazons, simply because neither the Rohirrim nor the Orcs will be ready, in time, but the larger table will allow me to set everything up as I intended it, and take pictures. I will take some LotR figures as well for photography purposes.

More on this next week.

[Santi Pérez]

...I have just had a message to say that our little wargames club is re-opening after The Pestilence. The community centre where we meet has been a vaccination centre for most of this year, but they're letting us back in. HUZZAH!...

My very best congratulations, Steve. Now you have to make up for all the time lost in the last year and a half.

Santi.

[steve_pickstock]

Good afternoon all.

Last night our little wargames club got together, for the first time in a year.

As I posted previously this was a good opportunity to put the Amon Hen scenery down all together in one place, on a large table in decent light to photograph.








The first thing I realised is that it's very fragile, easily dented, but I am still very pleased with it. It looks exactly how I wanted it to.
I also realised that I need to rebase all of our club trees - we can only actually use a half dozen of the ones we have, so those have come home with me for re-basing.
When I do those, I will also build some areas of rough ground/overgrown patches of brambles etc to scatter around, otherwise the table is too open and bare. I see some of these as being low and no impediment to having a figure placed upon them, but others will be more wild and tangled.

As for the battle itself?
My Amazons (30pts) faced off against Dave's Men of the West (32pts) in a game of Dragon Rampant.
I would have used a more fitting Middle Earth army but none of them were ready to play with yet.
The aim of the game was to have an unbroken unit on the Seat of Seeing at the end of the game, who ever did that wins.

Monmouth the Amazon war-mammoth posing in the gateway before the battle began.


At the start of the battle Monmouth sets off to mix it with Dave's archers and impose his will on them - "Monmouth! Smash!"
On his right the Amazon general and her body guard - known as "The Pony Club" take their time to work out their moves, before they head off to the right hand flank.

Out on the far right flank, Feral Cheryl and her dog pack set off to harry the enemy flank - it does not go well.


On the other flank another unit of scouts heads off to help guard the advancing troops, while The Girls - a unit of Beligerent Foot, wearing "Incredibly shiny armour" as added protection, are waiting for the word to go. The Girls actually don't wear a lot of armour, they don't wear very much of anything, at all, but the effect of that on enemy troops works in their favour, it's very distracting.
The Girls are just looking for a fight so as soon as one of Dave's units hurled a spell in their direction, they were off to the races.

Just out of shot on the right were the Amazon Maiden Guard, Elite Foot whose job it was to take and hold the objective and splatter anyone who got in the way or just looked at them wrong.

In the centre of the battlefield Monmouth was doing bunny-hops all over two of Dave's units of archers - I think it was because they shot at him, whatever it was Monmouth didn't like them very much - causing them both to route, while the Maiden Guard have seized the objective.



Out on the right flank, Feral Cheryl and her dogs were virtually vapourised by some sneaky wizardy gits, before being run over by Dave's Elite Riders, who just happen to look like Polish Winged Hussars. (these things happen when you play Dave, it doesn't matter).

This drew the attention of the Amazon General who took The Pony Club over to Dave's guys to have a word with them, soon however, they were beating seven coloured lights out of each other, and it was still going on as the game came to an end.



The Girls chased off some of Dave's scouts and ended up glaring at them becuse they wouldn't stand and fight. However, they were now in a good position to guard the flank of the Maiden Guard who had seized the objective.


By this time we needed to finish the game, and the Maiden Guard ended up on top of the Seat making sure everyone and his brother was aware that is was them that had captured the objective.


It was a fun game, if frustrating at times - Dragon Rampant relies on an activation roll, if you fail to activate a unit the turn passes to the opponent, so sometimes you're left grinding your teeth in frustration when the dice let you down.
On the other hand it was good to be at club, playing a game - over some nice terrain. All in all a good time was had by all.

Oh and some more Rohan horses were undercoated as well

Thanks for reading and stay safe,
Regards Pickers.

(34835)

[PaulRPetri]

Maybe it's me Steve but I cannot see any of your pictures. Damn the bad luck....

[steve_pickstock]

No one else has said anything Paul, they were linked exactly as before nothing has changed. If you still can't see anything these are the albums that the images link to.
https://ibb.co/album/1YX0P1
https://ibb.co/album/WsFgBJ
Let me know if it helps or the originals become visible.