Bombur

I'm still officially on a break from my Thorin & Co. project.  But when I sat down at the desk the other night to finish my previous miniature, I realized that Bombur was nearly complete.  All I needed to do was add a few highlights to move him out of the painting queue.  So I made an exception to my forced hiatus from those pesky Tolkien dwarves and polished off the big guy.

Bombur had zero lines in the theatrical release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (perhaps that will change with the upcoming extended edition).  It seems like all he did was eat.  Just like the lines on that jolly dwarve's script, my screen is pretty much blank when it comes to talking about the miniature.  It's a fine sculpt, for sure, and GW did a good job rendering the likeness of Bombur onto the mini, but that's all I got.  There's simply nothing special about Bombur or my paint job.  So instead of my usual running commentary, I'll just end here and leave visitors with a few more photos. 

I need some inspiration to finish off the last four dwarves.  Any ideas to get my dwarven groove going?

As always though, thanks for reading!!!

Balin Fundinul Uzbad Khazad-Dûmu

Although work and life are keeping me busy in general, I have still been able to put in a few hours here and there at the hobby desk to work on several projects.  Even though I mentioned in the last two posts that I have lost a bit of steam with Thorin and Company, I continue to chip away at the dwarves little by little while working on other miniatures.  The latest of Thorin's companions to be completed is Balin, son of Fundin.

While Balin is not the best sculpt in the Escape from Goblin Town set, he is by no means the worst (that distinction still belongs to the hideous Fili sculpt).  The facial features of the mini are very well done and for the most part captures the look of the movie.  The garb is another high point of the sculpt.  Even thought the mini is plastic, GW managed to create a sense of multiple layers of fabric, which in turn gives a sense of richness of dress. 

The low points for me are the stance and the hands.  Something about Balin's pose just doesn't do it for me.  It almost seems unnatural the way he is holding his weapon as if ready to strike, yet appears to be in a relaxed mode.  I can't put a finger on it exactly what dampens my enthusiasm for the mini... unless perhaps the stance is lacking in kinetic energy.  I can however point out what bothers me about the hands.  They look huge compared to the rest of the mini.  I'm sure the disproportionate size has something to do with the limitation of plastic minis in general, so I'm not knocking the sculpt just on those grounds.  But it does bother me nonetheless.

Just like with Dori, I had a difficult time painting the many different shades of red in Balin's garb.  Looking at the movie stills, it's readily apparent that Balin is richly dressed with several layers of clothing.  Unfortunately, each layer seems to be only a slightly different shade of red, or the same shade but made of a different material.  Either way, the multiple layers of clothing on the screen is easy to discern.  Balin's garb presents as overall red but we all see the different layers with little effort.  On the miniature however, the eye would have trouble differentiating the subtle changes of shade. To account for this, I chose to change the colors around a bit and add in some freehand work to create distinct edges between the different garments.  While I'm not completely happy with the result, I can live with it for tabletop gaming.

I'm also not very pleased with the freehand on the collar and sleeve hems.  I use the term "freehand" very loosely by the way, since I have never been very good at it.  My attempt was to paint a vague dwarven geometric pattern in the form of reversed triangles.  In most cases the outcome was more like blobs of black paint instead of dwarvish design.  Not only did the pattern not come out as planned, I'm also disappointed in the starkness/contrast.  I should have used a burnt brown or similar color so that the overall effect would have been more subdued.  Instead, my dwarvish blobs scream "look at me!" More than likely, once I finally get all the dwarves completed, I will return to this miniature and repaint the collar and sleeves.

Anyhow, at least the miniature is now complete.  Soon he will join his companions on the table and win great renown.   In time, with many battles behind him, he will become Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria:  Balin Fundinul Uzbad Khazad-Dûmu

Dori the Dwarf - Late But Not Forgotten

When I posted Nori two weeks ago, I mentioned he was the last of the Dori, Nori, Ori trio to be completed.  Technically that was true.  However, I failed to photograph the older sibling and post him online.  Somehow he was lost in the shuffle and I did not realize the omission until it was pointed out to me by another reader. So here he is.... Dori the dwarf.

I'll forgo my normal painting commentary. To be honest, there's just not that much to talk about with Dori.  He's certainly not my best work and I'm finding it hard to get excited about Thorin and Company these days.  It seems like I've been working on them forever.  I think it's time for a change of plans...

As always, thanks for reading.  Or in this case, some reading and mostly looking....

Nori the Dwarf

The Great Priming Project of 2013 is nearing a conclusion as the tropical humidity builds day by day.  And while my attention has mostly been focused on priming as many miniatures as I can before my weather window closes, I couldn't stay away from painting.  Between projects I have managed to polish off a few miniatures, including another one of those pesky little dwarves.

Nori is the middle brother of the Dori, Nori, Ori trio but I painted him last of the three.  I was reluctant to paint this particular miniature because, to be honest, I really hated his hair in the movie.  I do realize that Peter Jackson had to make each of the thirteen dwarves very different so the audience could easily differentiate between them on the big screen, but I felt he went overboard on Master Nori.  The strange triangular hairdo just doesn't do it for me.  He wasn't going to paint himself however, so I eventually gave in.  Here is the completed mini.

There's not much to say about the painting style.  I mostly followed the GW guide as far as his garb and armor are concerned.  I did make a minor change here and there but those changes are not readily apparent.  I'm not a huge fan of washes but I did use quite a bit of Delvan Mud on Nori to soften the appearance of both the light and dark brown leather.  I also used the same wash to tone done his hair and bring it more in line with his little brother Ori.  Other than that, I painted by the book....or the magazine article in this case.

 

According to some of the background literature I found on the movie version of the dwarves, Nori is characterized as a bit of a rogue.  Apparently he left home at an early age and lived a nomadic life, "living off the land and off his wits."  It is also said that his expertise at foraging sometimes "crosses the line, and becomes theft." 

Now I am definitely a lore nerd when it comes to Tolkien and Middle-earth.  And though I love the movies, if given a choice, I will always side with the Professor's written word.  However, since little is said of the individual dwarves of Thorin's company in the lore, I'm mostly OK with Mr. Jackson developing the background of each dwarf to give them a bit of personality.  I'm actually excited to see how Nori's questionable past will play out in the next two movies.

Not only have I finished Nori, but Balin and Dwalin are complete as well.  I'll try to get those photos posted in the very near future.

Thanks for reading....

Ori the dwarf

Due to the lack of posts lately, it may look like my Thorin & Company project has come to a standstill, but that is not the case.  I've just been too lazy to post anything.  I'm actually almost done (finally) and simply need to catch up with my photography and posts to polish off Thorin and the boys.  To further that goal, here is Ori the dwarf.

Once I finally decided on an appropriate color, Ori was fairly easy to paint.  His garb is simple and he does not carry all that much equipment.  But deciding on a color was not fun.  Trying to match the tunic as it appears in the movie photography took several tries.  The color seemed to be halfway between red and purple.  Simple right?  Just mix the two and there ya go.  Not so fast there cowboy. 

No matter how I changed the ratios, I kept coming up with a very brownish burgundy.  I now think I should have tried to add a bit of blue to "cool" off the color a bit but I didn't think of it at the time.  Instead I gave up and searched the internet for a premixed color that matched what I was looking for. 

As most of you know, ordering paint online by looking at a color swatch can be an exercise in frustration.  It seems that the paint bottle in question rarely matches the color shown online.  I know that I have certainly been disappointed in the past when an order arrived only to be the wrong color.  Fortunately, that was not the case this time.  I ordered Burgundy Wine (09025) from Reaper and the match was nearly perfect for what I wanted.  I used the color as is for the basecoat then added reds and purples to create highlights and shades.  I could have lightened up the overall pallet just a bit to brighten the miniature but for the most part, I'm quite happy with the final colors.

 

Ori did not get much attention in the movie.  One of the only lines that comes to mind is during the meeting at Bag End when bravado (or perhaps the ale from Bilbo's stock) gets the best of him and causes him to blurt out "I'm not afraid!  I'm up for it.  I'll give him a taste of the Dwarvish iron right up his jacksy." I got quite a chuckle from that line!

Despite his lack of attention from Peter Jackson, he certainly garnered quite a bit from me during his time in the painting queue.  I'm glad he is done!

 

I'm feeling rather lazy again so that's all for now.  Thanks for reading......

Oin

Here's yet another member of Thorin & Company.....Oin, son of Groin.  Thorin's companions continue to grow and I can actually see light at the end of this long painting tunnel.  The signs and portents speak of a completed project in the not too distant future.

In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Oin doesn't get much on-screen time.  While he does have more lines than Bombur (it's not a difficult task considering that Bombur does not even speak the entire movie), he does not have much to say beyond telling the company about the portents that suggest Smaug might be dead or ready to be killed.  "Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as it was foretold: When the birds of yore return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end." Since I painted Oin completely in browns ( and a little grey), I really don't have much to say either.  He was a fun mini to paint but the color palette was not all that exciting, leaving me with little to comment on.

I am excited about the sculpt however. The details were crisp and prominent and the stance was pleasing to the eye.  In addition, I like that he, along with Kili, has his hood on.  It's not a big deal, but the hoods were an important part for me growing up reading the book.  I remembered the color of the hoods before I got the names of the dwarves right back in those days.  I think it's a proper acknowledgement to the Professor that Peter Jackson, and GW in return, kept that part of the book somewhat accurate.

Oin can now stand beside his brother Gloin in the display case.  Then one day, after the dwarves are finished and I power through all those goblins in the Escape from Goblin Town box set, I can finally sit down to a proper wargame with the miniatures.

Thanks for reading.....

Gloin - Baby Daddy of Gimli

I'm still working on those darn dwarves.  Will the insanity never end?  As I continue to paint, I'm also in the process of photographing and posting the completed furry-faced fellas.  Today I offer Gloin, son of Groin, and the father of John Rhys-Davies (also known as Gimli).

I have mentioned before that, with the exception of Fili (which is an absolutely horrible model), GW did a wonderful job on the miniatures in the Escape from Goblin Town set.  Gloin is a well-detailed mini with an exceptionally pleasing dynamic pose.  With legs spread and arms poised for battle, one can almost sense the kinetic energy built up in the sculpt.  Gloin is definitely one of my favorites in the set.

 

Painting was fairly straightforward and mostly agreeable to the GW scheme.  His armor was basecoated with Dark Flesh.  Scorched brown was then mixed in to provide shadows while several flavors of red were added for highlighting.  The armor looked pretty good but it needed something else.  So I looked at photographs and searched the web for inspiration.  My efforts brought me back to the source however.  I was very much impressed with the freehand work on the Gloin miniature by the GW painters in the December 2012 issue of White Dwarf.  So I attempted to add a bit myself by adding a dwarven themed cross pattern on the armor after the highlight phase.  I used a watered-down darkened brown (Walnut Brown from Reaper if I remember correctly) to allow the paint to flow freely from the brush during the freehand.  For the most part the technique worked.  Though it's tough to see in the photographs due to my washed-out pics, it's much easier to discern in person.  I was thinking of going darker but then I would be worried that the effect would be too harsh and not appear to be part of the leather.  What do you think?

The under-tunic was painted with Reaper reds.  Deep Red (09002), Blood Red (09003), and Fire Red (09004) resulted in a deep rich red hue that suggests a fairly nice item of clothing.  Though the movie makes much of the fact that the dwarves were without a home, it must be remembered that according to the books, the dwarves abiding with Thorin before the Quest of Erebor did rather well for themselves and would have had access to above average garb.  Just as the under-tunic needed to look warm and vibrant, I tried to do the same for the trousers.  I basically started with Highland Moss (09083) and fudged the color up and down for the shadows and highlights to suggest a material of higher quality.

 

The rest of the miniature was pretty standard stuff....leather trim, boots, and metallics were all completed using basic colors.

So Gimli's father is now complete and can join Thorin and Bilbo on their trek over the edge of the wild.  Hopefully the rest of the company will join them ere the break of day 2014.

Thanks for reading......

Bilbo Baggins - A Baggins of Bag End

I should have titled this post:  A Long Expected Update.  I've been pretty quiet online lately.  For whatever reason, this is only my second post of the month (and just barely at that).  While many of my favorite bloggers try to post several times a week, that's way too much for me personally.  I don't have the time, and even if I did, I don't think I'd have enough to say to fill the blank screen.  I do try to post at least once a week however, but even that has been difficult this month.

Anyhow, here's a quick one to bring up my average for January.  Since picking up the Escape from Goblin Town set in December, I've been mostly working on Bilbo and the dwarves.  If you've been following my Thorin & Company updates, you can see that the miniatures are coming along at a glacial pace.  I have finished almost half but I have yet to publish any close-up photos of the completed minis.  I'll remedy that with this post by presenting the miniature I first completed.

For the most part, I followed the general GW color scheme on Bilbo Baggins but chose to use Reaper paints instead.  For the jacket, I first started with an undercoat of Clotted Red (09134).  This is always my first step when painting reds over black primer.  I've found that Clotted Red brings out the vibrancy of the regular reds used in the main palette while reducing the number of coats needed overall.  Next I applied Carnage Red (09135) as the basecoat then blended up and down to add the highlights and shadows.  In the movie, the coat is rather dark and I wanted to avoid bringing the reds too high in the spectrum and appearing orange-ish (is that even a word?).  By adding very small amounts of brown I was able to keep the coat somewhat subdued.

For the trousers, I did use GW's Scorched Brown as the basecoat.  I then added a bit of Reaper Intense Brown (09138) to the mix for the highlights and used Blackened Brown (09137) for the shadows.  Doing so resulted in a nice soft brown color that suggests a finer weave of cloth for the well-to-do Mr. Baggins.

The vest was basecoated with Reaper's Highland Moss (09083) and simply mixed with other components from their triad system for the next stages.  The colors don't always work well together with their triads, but when they do, mixing paints is greatly simplified.

 

After undercoating with a mid-level brown, I finished up with a coat of Chestnut Gold (09073) on the scarf.  Several coats of brown wash followed by additional applications of Chestnut Gold resulted in a deep, richly colored scarf.  I was going to apply a bit of freehand on the scarf to add some detail to an otherwise plain sculpt, but if I remember correctly, at the time, Christmas was rapidly approaching and I had tons of other real life projects to do.

So that's it for now.  I'll try to post the close-ups of Thorin, Gloin, Oin,Ori, and Dori in the next week or so as well as another Thorin & Company update.  Hopefully I'll have this project wrapped up soon so that I can move on to other things.

Thanks for reading.....

Thorin & Company Update #3

First of all, Happy New Year!  I can't believe January is almost half over and I have not even had a moment to post an update, much less ring in the New Year with fellow bloggers.  It's been a busy one so far for me and I fear it's only going to get worse (which is better I think??) as the year progresses.  Big changes are on the horizon....

Anyhow, despite my hectic life for the past few weeks, I have been able to put in a bit of time at the hobby desk.  Though it hasn't amounted to much free time, what I have had has been focused entirely on those pesky little dwarves from the Escape from Goblin Town set.  Every morning when I wake up, I check on Thorin & Co. hoping that maybe some little painting fairies have finished them for me.  Can you imagine my disappointment when that's not the case?

Despite the obvious work strike from the painting faeries, progress continues on the adventuring company.  As you can see from the photo, Bilbo and Thorin are basically finished.  All I need to do is a bit of base work and then they'll move out of the work queue.  Balin, Dwalin, and Gloin will probably be the next three to be completed.  I'm getting ready to do some freehand scroll work on Balin's sleeve and coat trim then I'll shade and highlight the beard.  Dwalin needs work mostly on his tunic and armor then a bit of minor highlighting.  Gloin is nearly complete.  His bracers and axe handles need highlighting and that's about it.  The last three have had little attention thus far and will be in the queue for some time I think.  Fili is taking the longest because truth be told, I really dislike the sculpt.  It looks terrible!

The rest of the fellas are moving along very slowly.  I'm still playing around with color selection to do justice to Dori's rich velvet tunic and robes and I haven't even started on Nori (except for the face).  Really only Bofur and Bombur have received any significant attention in this group, with the big fat boy being the closest to completion. 

Hopefully I'll get another update on Thorin & Co. posted within the next week or so.  Since most of my basecoating is basically finished, I think the next update will show some significant progress....especially if the painting faeries get off their butts and get to work!

Thanks for reading....

The Hobbit Strategy Battle Game - Unboxing and Review

I had a very expected journey this afternoon as I made the 84 mile round trip from my little island up to the closest FLGS.  Waiting for me at the store was my precious....hmmm, I mean my copy of the The Hobbit Strategy Battle Game.  Yes, I know I could have ordered it but here in the Florida Keys, getting your mail is not necessarily a guaranteed thing.  Plus Joel, the owner of my "local" gaming store offered a good discount that made the drive worthwhile.

Though I feel like I'm coming down with the plague again, I couldn't resist tearing into the box and sharing a few photos of my Hobbity goodness.  Fair warning:  I did not feel like getting the good camera out so I snapped all of the shots with my iPhone.  I apologize in advance for the terrible photography for this post.

As you can see from the view of the inside of the box, this set contains lots and lots of goodies.  There is a rule book, a starter/scenario booklet, several pamphlets with assembly instructions, a game reference card, another card with the stats for Radagast the Brown, dice, rulers, terrain, and most importantly, quite a few plastic miniatures.  Although the box is jammed full of stuff, I will not know if it was worth the money until I examine the miniatures more closely.  Everything else in the box is just bonus material for me.  The minis are what I really want and if they are not high quality (for plastic), I will be more than disappointed.

The photo below shows the starter booklet.  It covers the basic rules via a fully illustrated introductory game.  The booklet then goes on to a scenario section.  The scenarios included are:

Scenario 1: The Breakthrough
Scenario 2: Rescue the Baggage
Scenario 3: Brothers in Arms
Scenario 4: Guard the Crossing
Scenario 5: The Wizard and the Burglar

The booklet ends with profiles for all the models included in the game.  Though I'm sure posting the stats would not make the GW folks happy, I did include a photo to dispel online rumors that suggest that the stat lines were not available in the box set.  As you can see, that is completely incorrect.  I suspect that what happened is someone confused the fact that point values for the miniatures are not included (TRUE) and either misread or assumed the same to be true for the stats.

The rule book, photographed below, goes into more detail about how the game is played.  It's only 112 pages, but quite a bit of information is covered including the new monster rules, new heroic moves, and special rules such as sieges etc...  I very much enjoyed the fact that though the book is a smaller size, GW still included plenty of illustrations, both for rules clarification and general aesthetics. 

Now on to the miniatures.  Below is the Radagast sprue.  Apparently he will only be included in the special edition box set.  I would imagine that what GW really means is that this pose is only included in this set.  I have no doubt that he will appear in some other form later during the release cycle.  As for this version, he looks great.  Though the face is pointed in the wrong direction in this pic, I can assure you he is detailed very well and looks almost exactly like the movie photography suggests.

As you can see below, Thorin and company are all included on the same sprue.  It's tough to discern the quality without assembling the miniatures, but from what I can see, I'm generally impressed with the sculpts and the amount of detail for plastic.  I can't wait to get them cut out tomorrow and assembled.  December is shaping up to be all about painting The Hobbit miniatures.

Now on to the goblins.  Without having seen the movie yet, I really can't comment on the accuracy of the goblin warriors.  I do know one thing....I'm not at all moved by the lumps, sores, and misshapen limbs of this breed of goblins.  I would have been perfectly OK with Peter Jackson basing the goblins of the Misty Mountains on those of Moria.  No problem though.  If I don't like them once I paint a few, I'll just use my hordes of Moria goblins instead.

Finally, here is the Goblin King.  He is quite the brute.  I measured him at around 2-1/2 inches tall (6cm) without a base.  I could be off by just a bit since I measured the parts while still on the sprue but my numbers should be pretty close.  Either way, he is a big boy.  I can't wait to see what kind of damage he can produce on the field of battle.

Although I didn't photograph them, there are several sprues of scenery included in the game.  From what I can tell, the planks obviously will make for a great addition to Goblin Town gaming but I think they would also come in useful for something like Mordor or the pits of Isengard.

Well, there you have it.  That's what comes in the box set.  My pockets are a bit lighter after coming home with my treasure but you do get quite a lot for the money.  I feel zero buyers remorse at this point.  I just hope the feeling remains the same after assembling and painting the included miniatures.

Thanks for reading...

Bilbo Baggins

After several non-hobby related posts and a lot of down time, it's time to get the ball rolling again....or perhaps the paint flowing would have been a better phrase.  This update deals with a certain gentlehobbit that will be getting an awful lot of attention over the next two and a half years - Mr. Bilbo Baggins.

I painted Bilbo, or most of him, back in September before I caught the flu.  My plan was to make a diorama in honor of Hobbit Day (September 22nd).  I was working on the scene out of the books (Chapter V  A Conspiracy Unmasked) when the Hobbits, temporarily safe in Crickhollow, tell Frodo they know all about his plans to escape The Shire with the ring.  Frodo wonders how they could have known many of his inner secrets so Merry explains a portion of his "detective" work:

"It was the Sackville-Bagginses that were his downfall, as you might expect.  One day, a year before the Party, I happened to be walking along the road, when I saw Bilbo ahead.  Suddenly in the distance the S.-B.s appeared, coming toward us.  Bilbo slowed down, and then hey presto! he vanished.  I was so startled that I hardly had the wits to hide myself in a more ordinary fashion; but I got through the hedge and walked along the field inside.  I was peeping through into the road, after the S.-B.s had passed, and was looking straight at Bilbo when he suddenly reappeared.  I caught a glint of gold as he put something back in his trouser-pocket."

My plan included the Lobelia miniature, umbrella and all, striding down a hill with Bilbo standing by the edge of the road looking at the ring that had just saved him from dealing with his unpleasant relative.  Merry, in the form of the Merry and Pippin vs. Grishnakh version, would be just across the road near a hedgerow, watching what had just transpired. 

Although all three miniatures were mostly painted, I was quickly running out of time so I adjusted my plans and concentrated on Bilbo.  I finished him late on the evening of the twenty-first but I felt he needed some additional highlighting so I refrained from posting him on his birthday.  Then came the flu and other delays causing me to hold on to Mr. Baggins for over a month.  Better late than never however. 

I have not given up on the project though.  For next year during the Hobbit Day celebration, I think I'll finish up the diorama so that my previous work will not be wasted.

As far as the painting goes, I deviated a bit from the movie version.  His dinner jacked, while certainly eccentric and expensive looking, gave me fits during the painting process.  I felt that the burgandy/purple of the color of the jacket was too close in hue to the waistcoat.  The entire top half of the mini, at least from my eyes, seemed awash in nearly the same color.  My solution was to go with a complimentary color and create a stark contrast between the two garments.  While maybe not 100% true to the movie, and thus the GW version, I like Bilbo much better in this form.  Plus, the color choice was more appropriate for the diorama anyhow.  I have two extra unpainted Bilbo miniatures.  Perhaps I'll paint another at some point in the future to represent the version from the movie.

As a final note, this is my first attempt at a Hobbit....ever.  Well, maybe not truly ever.  I may have painted one way back in the 1980s when I first started in the hobby, though I do not remember doing so.  But since picking the miniature hobby back up about ten years ago, this is my first time.  To those that know me, and my love of all things Tolkien, that admission may come as quite a surprise.  But to be honest, Hobbits have never been my favorite part of Middle-earth.  Yes, as an avid reader I can appreciate the achievement of simple ordinary men/Hobbits rising above the commons and performing heroic deeds.  It's the stuff fantasy is made of.  However, my eyes have always turned to the Professor's other creations -- the majestic elves, the grim Dunedain, the mysterious Istari, and especially the tragic figures of Feanor, Turin, and even Boromir.  Oh well, now that I've painted my first Hobbit, it wasn't so bad.  I guess I'll have to finish up the others now.  That will be no small task though.  Counting all the different versions of Hobbits, I have twenty-seven more to complete.  I better get to work...