Scenes from Middle earth

Here's some plastic terrain that I got from Ebay buyings, I thought of doing it like the Battle games in Middle-Earth magazine 54(?) suggested. Anyways, here they be:

The smaller two pieces are own bases because it allows for extra mobility of terrain pieces, and I couldn't think of what else to do with them.


Now the elusive objective markers:

The Shield is 'supposed' to represent the shield of the free peoples.
If you're wondering what the shiny purply-bluey-greeny rock things are. It's silicon carbide that I got from Bridport on holiday, it costs about £2 and you get 100g of unbreakable rocks (unless you get out a hammer, or there's a thin piece). It's not very themed for middle earth but even Sauron would be intrigued, or I hope so at least. 

"This pretty mineral is a compound of Silicon and Carbon and although usually man made, occurs naturally as the extremely rare mineral Moissanite. This can be found in minute quantities in certain types of meteorites." 












To the battleboard! Since I finally managed to make a hot-wire cutter, which I had a need for many jobs, that I couldn't find any more once I'd made the thing.

Of those I set to carve up the polystyrene pieces that made the future hills of middle-earth. Firstly the lone hill, to be placed in the centre of one of the boards.
After cutting:

After sanding down:

This was the starter pieces, so I could get used to my new cutter :), Overall turned out well, a few glitches but not bad.
Then first corner pieces after cutting:

After Sanding down:

The corner pieces are much more difficult than I imagined, they have to match with the other piece, on both sides. Also you would have noticed there are three levels gather than four, again I changed my mind. The gradient of the slope would have been too great to be like a hill.
And the final Corner pieces:

After sanding down:

I suppose this corner is a lot easier to cut because it was designed to be rockier so the slope didn't have to be a gentle slope.


After this the other things to complete this board are: Glueing hills, etc.; Modelling rocks and bumps; adding sand to everything; Spray black; Painting, Flocking. And then done!! 6 more things to do, and I've only done three things :( .


Well that leaves nothing to say, I'm off to compose and play out the 5th and 6th the final rounds of the tournament. A lot can still happen in the final stages of the tourney. 


Until then

Fish

Down but not out

It's been a while.
The AS Homework keeping me from the hobby, but now I have finally finished my AS levels, at least for now the final exams are over. Only till august to wait for the results.


Although all is quiet, the elves (or rather elf) has been working away slowly and steadily.


Much painting, cutting and modelling has been done, but unfortunately little for the time given.


Firstly the rangers:

The base colours were:

• Catachan Green/Castellan Green for the cloaks
• Scab red/Khorne red for the tunic
• Scorched brown/Rhinox hide for all the wood and the leather
• Boltgun metal/leadbelcher for the blades, spear tips and bow ends
• Shining gold/Gehennas gold for the sword guards and pommels
• Bleached bone/Ushabti bone for the edge of the apron type thing

And the following layers:

• Camo green/Elysian green for the cloak
• Blood red/evil sunz scarlet for the tunic
• Bestial brown/Mournfang brown for the spear/bow shafts and upper leathers
• Mithril silver/Runefang steel for the  blades, spear tips and bow ends
• Dark flesh/Doombull brown for the quiver (the quiver pattern was then highlighted with shining gold/Gehennas gold)
• Skull white/white scar for the edge of the apron type thing

The faces were painted with dwarf flesh/ratskin flesh


Now secondly the Praetorian guard...+centurion:

The base layers:

• Boltgun metal/leadbelcher for the metal(drybrush)
• Scab red/Khorne red for the tunics, shields, and plumes
• Scorched brown/Rhinox hide for the leather, wood and centre fold on the shields
• Bronzed flesh for the...flesh

The other layers:

• Blood red/Evil sunz scarlet for the tunics, shields, and plumes
• Bestial brown/Mournfang brown for the leather, wood and centre fold on the shields
• Elf flesh/Kislev flesh for the flesh
• Graveyard earth/Steel legion drab for the centre fold on the shields

And other alterations for the centurion as follows:

• Shining gold/Gehennas gold for the circular decorations

For the guards I chose bronzed flesh then elf flesh, since It added a tanned appearance but lightened by the elf flesh, and I didn't follow the boltgun metal/leadbelcher with Mithril silver/Runefang steel, since their armour may appear to shiny and fantasy-like. Also you probably would have noticed that I used Bronzed flesh for my Praetorians, this colour of paint is unavailable from Games Workshop, however they may be an appropriate alternative from Vallejo or from Wargames Foundry, but if you already have GW paints, I might suggest mixing Dwarf flesh/ratskin flesh with Elf flesh/Kislev flesh and a light brown like Kommando Khaki/Karak stone or Desert yellow/Tallarn sand.


Overall I'm satisfied with the results, but I could easily improve by taking more time on the faces, adding an extra layer to the clothing, etc.




Since October Games workshop have decided to redo their paint range, this includes may more colours,


"In fact, it's doubled in size, with over 70 additional colours to expand your palette and further enhance your models" White Dwarf 388 April 2012 page 120.


Personally I don't like the idea of additional paint names to remember on top of a renamed range already, I preferred the older system, mainly because the names made it easier to find  a specific colour, rather than the newer system eg. shadow grey compared to the fang. But then again I've never been a full blown painter.


In other news I recently made a hot-wire cutter, which has helped to shape the hill in the realm of battle board in progress, more pics will be up soon.


Until then

Fish

Competition

Competition
For the Painting competition on the last alliance


Glorfindel

Until then


Fish

Update

Sooner than expected.
I Managed to acquire some batteries for some photos. 


So Here are the pictures of the hills so far. 

I decided to only have four layers of Polystyrene rather that the original six. This makes for easier storage and more gradual slopes on the hills. 

Hill with four layers.

Hill with six Layers.

Also The plans for the board. Each square represents 4" meaning 48"x48" or 4'x4' in total gaming area.

And by 'Fort' I mean with ruined walls and a gate on top of the hill. This does make the board too themed in a way, so the plan is to make the wall sections and gate removable so it looks like an ordinary hill =) when the they're not there.

I've started on the low(ish) hill.

With these two layers, one will be 12" in diameter and the second 6". The idea is to have a gradual assent to the 'summit' 

The next stages for the board are sculpting the hills into a 'hill'-like shape, gluing it down, and sanding the surface.

And finally

The Painted Warriors of Minas Tirith.

Archers

Swordsmen

Spearmen

Still many more models in the backlog to paint, Rangers of Gondor, Theodred, Morannon orcs, and some Guard of the fountain Court.

Until then

Fish