Night Goblin test

Following the massive new update for Total War: Warhammer 3, I’ve been playing this brilliant game again for about two hours. For a change from the High Elves, who I usually play, I chose Skarsnik this time and tried to capture Karak Eight Peaks as quickly as possible.
It worked out, though unfortunately my Warhammer-Thoughts have been revolving mainly around Night Goblins of late…
So I thought a little colour test wouldn’t do any harm (of course not!). 

In the process, I realised just how incredibly good these old models still are. Truly brilliant, timeless sculpts, sculpted with a great deal of charm and finesse. Simply brilliant, and I thoroughly enjoyed painting this test figure.

 

I tried to stick very closely to the Games Workshop box art colours whilst still achieving a good result relatively quickly… As always that was quite a challenge for me (see also the last post on this blog for more on this), but we’ll see. If I ever get round to painting my Battle for Skull Pass box, then I’ll find out if it takes too long.
I’ve already put together a ‘small’ 1,000-point army in my army builder and I’d have to paint a whopping 100 goblins… But hey, that’s still a long way off. 

For now this lonely goblin will stand proudly in my display cabinet, next to the ever Goblin-friendly Gotrek and Felix. 

The Steel Legion returns

Well, here I am again with even more 40K!
My lone Steel Legionnaire was feeling a bit lonely next to my Space Marine, who’s quite intimidating by comparison, so I’ve given him three more comrades to keep him company.
I wanted to speed up the process a bit, but that didn’t quite work out that well. 

I always find it difficult to strike a good balance between so-called ‘speed painting’ and my usual painting style. Often I simply take too long, but if I skip a step or two, the result looks a bit too messy.
In this case, it’s mainly about the final highlights on the yellow-brown fabric. I just wanted to use something straight from the pot instead of adding more and more beige to the base mix, but I suppose that was a bit too drastic.

Oh well, next time I’ll invest a bit more time after all!
But it’s fine – at least three new figures are now finished. I guess on the gaming table they will look okay!

And here’s something else I’ve tried:

I wasn’t entirely happy with the finish on my Space Marine – it all looked a bit too matte, somehow.

I’ve now given him a 1:1 mix of matte varnish and satin varnish, and now I think it looks much better. At least to the naked eye! You can’t really see the difference that clearly in the photos, but I’m absolutely delighted with it now.

And here are all the figures from the project that I’ve managed to complete so far! Things are moving forward, albeit in baby steps. But it’s still fun to hop between the different projects depending on my mood, even if that means the overall progress isn’t quite as fast as one might wish. 

 

Oh, and one last thing: I just love the bases! I think they now look very similar to the ones on the official box art figures, and that just makes me happy. 

My very first Space Marine

I suppose I can admit it now… I bought the Armageddon starter set for Warhammer 40K on release day. Outrageous, I know! You can get it much cheaper these days, and 40K just distracts me from The Lord of the Rings and Warhammer Fantasy.

But, I really must say, I was – and still am – absolutely thrilled with this starter set. The miniatures are so incredibly well sculpted and presented, the poses are just brilliant… I really couldn’t resist. And on top of that, you learn a lot about modern design for plastic miniatures, which isn’t a bad thing either.

A few months ago (actually almost a year ago, now that I think about it), I did a first little test, painting a Space Marine yellow and then weathering him with oil paints. It was quite fun, but I never finished painting him and only worked on him for testing purposes.

So this is my very first, fully painted and based Space Marine, a Blood Angel. I’ll, of course, be trying to copy the box art from the Armageddon box, which is why I’ve tried to replicate the colour scheme on the one hand, and also adopted the base as closely as possible on the other. This website was very helpful for that, with some wonderful recipes:
https://eavy-archive.com/40k/orks/?modal=wazdakka&block=ash-wastes-base

Of all the Space Marine Chapters, I’ve actually always liked the Blood Angels best – probably ever since White Dwarf 357 from 2009, when the new edition of Space Hulk was released.
Anja Wettergren from the `Eavy Metal Team had written a brilliant tutorial for one of the Terminators in that issue, which I found really impressive back then as a child. And it's still very impressive I think.

 

In the end, though, I went for this armour recipe from Matt’s Hobby Hour:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ag0QOpu6No&t=74s

It actually worked quite well and I’m mostly happy with it, but my photos didn’t turn out too well. I’ve noticed that, particularly with the Space Marines, a satin finish works a bit better than my usual ‘ultra-matt’ approach; I think I’ll get hold of some satin varnish for my next figures. Also, the figure looks a lot better on my painting desk than in the light box, that's probably killing a lot of contrast. 

I also had a bit of trouble with the decals, but I’ll get hold of a decal softener for future use.

The figure itself wasn’t from the starter box, but from a magazine I bought for the bargain price of a few euros back in about 2019 at the train station in Würzburg! So it’s been sitting in my cupboard for a solid seven years now. It’s great that it’s finally been given a coat of paint! 

 

And here he is again with the first Steel Legion figure I painted a few months ago. I redid the base of this figure to the new "original" Armageddon recipe, and I think it works a lot better than before.

 

All in all, painting the Space Marine was a very satisfying process, but I’m not quite happy yet. Firstly, it takes ages to paint them this way, and secondly, my edge highlights aren’t quite neat enough yet… And the pictures are not really what the figure looks like on my desk. 

I also get the feeling that the Mephiston Red from the spray can looks much better than the one from the pot. I don’t know why, but the difference is huge. 
Well, we’ll see! For now, I think I’ll carry on with the Wood Elves, but who knows where my motivation will take me. I already have a few more Steel Legion guys basecoated, so maybe they will join the fight soon! 

Elf command finished

Last Sunday, and for a bit on the mornings before work, I carried on painting more elves, and finished a standard-bearer, an old Haldir conversion and another spearman.
The spearman’s face is a bit creepy, but I quite like the other two figures!

I’d already done the Haldir conversion a few years ago and have now stripped the paint off it again. He was meant to represent Gildor for one of the ‘Quest of the Ringbearer’ scenarios.
Now I’ll probably just use him as a simple captain. 

The banner gave me a bit of a headache, I hate painting freehands! But with a bit of time and practice, it turned out okay I think. For the emblem, I based it on the one Games Workshop has on their website.

Here’s another comparison between my set and the one from GW – it wasn’t easy to make the captain look any less strange than he does in the official product photo. But it's quite interesting to see the difference between my elf captain from a few months earlier compared to the recent figures, my "new" method of painting faces is a bit more effective and cleaner I think. 

 

 

 

Next up will probably be three more plastic wood elves, which I’ve modified a bit more extensively. More on that in the next post!

More Wood-Elves

Well, guys, it’s been a few weeks since the last post!


The main reason for this was our long trip to Japan. I hope I’ll be able to write a short travelogue here – there really was so much to see. My enthusiasm for samurai was understandably very high when we got back, though that only lasted about two weeks… What a shame, really! I did manage to finish a few 18mm samurai, but more on that in a later post.

In the meantime, I’ve dug out the old Games Workshop Wood-Elves box again. Yes, the figures are a bit dated and have a bloody bad reputation in the community, but for some reason I’ve always really liked them.

For me, these are the ultimate designs when it comes to Wood-Elves. Whether used for Lothlórien or for Mirkwood, these figures simply embody exactly what I had in mind when I first read:

“The elves were the first to charge. Their hatred for the goblins is cold and bitter. Their spears and swords shone in the gloom with a gleam of chill flame, so deadly was the wrath of the hand that held them. As soon as the host of their enemies was densely packed in the valley, they sent a shower of arrows against it, and each flickered as it flew as if with stinging fire. Behind the arrows, a thousand of their spearmen leapt down and charged. The yells were deafening.”

The Hobbit – The Clouds Burst

Brilliant, isn’t it?

In any case, I’ve set about tackling the old box set and have painted some of the figures. The casting really isn’t particularly good, and the level of detail in the sculpts leaves a lot to be desired… But I’ve put a lot of time into them and am now quite happy with the results.

I’d love to paint the whole set; let’s see how much time I can spare for it.  

And here are a few more where I’m particularly proud of the faces. 
In some cases, I had to paint in details that weren’t there before. I’d say I’ve learnt a great deal in the process, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement. 

Last but not least:

I’ve found the very first miniature I ever posted online anywhere. It must have been sometime in 2009, on the old German Tabletop LOTR forum, if anyone still remembers it... I have so many fond memories and, above all, close friendships associated with that forum; to be honest, I miss it almost every day. It’s such a shame it’s no longer there.

Here, in any case, is a comparison between the old miniature from 2009 and one I painted this week, 15 years later.

 

 

That’s it for today, thank you very much for reading! 
Let’s see what’s next, I’m almost afraid it’ll be even more elves… But I really must finish painting my Amon-Hen box! 

All the best

Lucas  

Three more Uruk-hai with swords

It’s been a bit quieter around here lately; the heat and holiday preparations haven’t left much time or motivation for my hobby!

So it’s all the better that I’ve now finished painting the three Uruk-hai with swords from the Amon-Hen box before our three-week trip.

Samurai would probably have been more appropriate for a trip to Japan, but I’m sure there’ll be plenty of motivation for that when we get back. 

 

The miniatures themselves are truly awesome, but I found the painting a bit of a struggle,  I’m not quite sure why. They blend in well with the larger squad though, and it’s starting to look the part now!

I’d like to wish all the blog’s readers a lovely summer, and I’ll be back in a few weeks – perhaps with some photos from our trip! I’m also really looking forward to Warhammer Tokyo... 

All the best and see you soon,

Lucas

Merry and Pippin captured!

As I have promised, I managed to paint the first two figures of the Amon-Hen box set this weekend: Two Uruk-hai scouts with the captured Merry and Pippin. Lovely, lovely sculpts, and so dynamic! Really enjoyed painting them. 

I am pretty happy with the overall look of the small force so far, I think a few more and they will look very dangerous already!

 

Unboxing: Ambush at Amon-Hen

For about two years now, I’ve been building up a small collection of original boxes for "The Lord of the Rings", which, in my opinion, remains Games Workshop’s best game.

I was just five years old when the system was released, but I still feel a strong sense of nostalgia whenever I see the old green, red and blue boxes and blister packs.

Inspired by the recent games from our "Quest of the Ringbearer" campaign, I’ve decided to open one of the boxes for the first time and paint the contents. Of course, they could just stay on the shelf forever, but I think the miniatures look much better in a display cabinet!

 

Just look at this wonderful box design. A great still from the movie, wonderful earthy colours and just an overall great presentation. 

 

On the back, we see another magnificent image, featuring some truly beautiful scenery that used to appear on almost all White Dwarf articles and the boxes back then. This combination of a relatively simple grass mat, rocks and bushes is still very lovely to look at today and has aged very well. 

Wonderful! 

 

The box wasn’t sealed anymore, so I couldn’t breathe in the air from 2001, but everything’s still in brilliant condition.

We’ve got the plastic box containing the figures and a small promotional booklet.

Let’s start with the little booklet:

I think it’s simply brilliant! It’s really beautifully presented again, with the map of Middle Earth in the background, the wonderfully painted figures and the lovely green boxes… It really makes you want to buy more immediately.

What’s quite interesting, though probably already known to most people:

The "plastic" figures pictured here are actually the metal prototypes that were presumably used to get the models approved by New Line Cinema or simply to develop a concept for the box sets.

I find it really fascinating that these prototypes existed and that they were used on the back of all the boxes and in Games Workshop’s promotional material, in fact almost exclusively. The proportions, differ quite significantly in some cases from the actual plastic figures, and some details look nicer and sharper.

I’d give a lot for a few of these figures! As well as these two sets for the Fellowship, they also appeared on many other boxes: the Warriors of Minas Tirith, Uruk-hai Warriors or Warriors of Rohan, for example, to name but a few. But perhaps we’ll come across a few more as this series progresses.

Be that as it may, it’s a brilliant little booklet that I wouldn’t want to be without in my collection, even if it is just a nice commercial. 

But let’s move on to the miniatures themselves:

Inside the box we find the three companions Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, as well as Boromir, who has been mortally wounded by arrows.

On the evil side, there is a very attractive model of Lurtz, leader of the Uruk-hai scouts, armed with bow, three Uruk-hai scouts with swords and shields, and two more Uruk-hai, each carrying one of the hobbits, Merry and Pippin.

The latter two models are probably my favourites from the whole set, simply fantastic sculpts.

The figures in this box were sculpted by Alan Perry, Michael Perry and Brian Nelson, by the way.

What struck me straight away: Aragorn isn’t wearing an elven cloak!

I’m not entirely sure why not, and that’s probably my only criticism of this set. I find the model itself only okay, and then there’s the missing cloak… If my analogue sculpting skills were a bit better, I could probably sculpt the cloak myself, but I am not sure I can do it to be honest. 

But the rest is fantastic: Gimli swinging his axe in a very dynamic pose, Legolas in his classic pose as he fires an arrow, and our heroic Boromir, struck down by arrows, kneeling on the forest ground. The arrows are separate, as is his broken horn! What a lovely detail.

On the heartless, Hobbit-hunting site, which, according to film lore, is only a few months old at this point, we have a fantastic selection of figures with absolutely no flaws. 

Three Uruk-hai scouts with swords in very dynamic poses that go perfectly with the box’s cover image, the two Uruk-hai figures with Merry and Pippin mentioned earlier (also incredibly dynamic figures with superb folds, and the Hobbits are sooo well sculpted), and Lurtz with a bow, just as he’s about to draw a final arrow from his quiver to deliver the fatal shot to Boromir.

Brilliant figures, and I can’t wait to paint them.

There’s really nothing more I can say! It’s a great feeling to open up these old boxes and marvel at the beautiful miniatures.

I still believe that the miniature design back then with The Lord of the Rings was far ahead of its time, and for me it remains the benchmark for a good tabletop miniature to this day.

I hope you enjoyed this little unboxing, there are more to come! 

 

All the best

Lucas  

90 minutes Lurtz and two Amon Hen games

Yesterday, the next two games of our Quest of the Ringbearer campaign took place. 

My opponent's Uruk-hai were painted by him, I just added my captain with the two-handed axe and my 90 minute Lurtz to the force. 

It turned out that my opponent’s Lurtz figure was nowhere to be found, so just after work I painted one of my many Lurtz poses in a record-breaking 90 minutes!

Unfortunately, the figure had already been primed and poorly stripped, so there were still lots of thick layers of paint on it... I thought it was going to be a disaster, but you can salvage a lot with the final edge highlights.

And then things really got serious!

Unfortunately, the fellowship were unable to secure victory in the first two scenarios (Amon Hen is split into four games in the campaign).

In the first, Frodo has to escape whilst Aragorn holds off the frenzied horde. But just before the end, Frodo was overpowered… Gimli and Legolas arrived too late to help.

And in the second game, Boromir had to protect Merry and Pippin from being kidnapped by the Uruk-hai, which also failed. I think I used the wrong tactics here!

The games were still a great deal of fun, though, and I’m looking forward to the last two games at Amon Hen.