Captains of Gondor

O Captain my Captain

I finally got around to painting some Gondorian troops.  Up until now, I have been just putting the finishing touches on troops my buddy painted for me.(Knights, Basing) I'd thought I'd take a break from the masses of troops and painted up a few myself. Besides my troops needed Captains to lead them in battle.

So here are 3 Captains and 3 Standard bearers.

It's about time for a battle. Time to get the lead on the table. Gondor vs Harad coming soon, but up next will be some Rangers. They are drying now.

Cheers, Xin

Knights of Minas Tirith

As I posted before, my friend Thor painted up crap load of figures for me, cause I'm too slow. However I had him hold off on finishing the bases so I could get them to match what I painted.

Here are six Knights of Minas Tirith that I just finished basing.

Now to finish 24 Bowmen and 24 Spearmen.

Ciao for now, Xin

My photo set

After being inspired by other painting blogs, I've finally gotten around to making my own "set" or backdrop for my figures to be photographed on. It wasn't too hard. I didn't take pictures as I made it, but here's what I used.

Materials:
Foam Insulation
Scrap wood (to reinforce the L joint of the foam,)
Paint
Resin sand for texture
Green flock
Blue Sky backdrop from a Christmas store.
Liquid Nails glue

Very easy to make, just takes time waiting for all the different steps to dry or set.

Lighting is from cheap Home Depot construction lights that I had anyway. I think I need a third light overhead to get rid of shadows that the other 2 lights create. Also I might add some cut out mountains to the back piece, or some bushes/grass. The horizon needs something beind the trees, but later. Now too finish all those Gondorian troops. Knights are almost done basing.

Cheers, Xin

Basing my Gondor troops

Ok I cheated. I got very lucky when it comes to painting up my figures for LOTR. My good friend, who I like to call Thor, paints about 1000 times faster than I do, and he doesn't mind painting up my figures as long as he gets to play with them.  Maybe he's impatient cause if he waited for me, the 5th Age of man would start.

So anyway he painted up 72 Warriors of Minas Tirith and 6 Knights of Minas Tirith. I think that is 3 box sets and all the figures in the Return of the King box set. Here are a few of the figures.

I had him not paint the bases as I wanted to do it. His basing style is different from mine, so if I did the bases that would help give what he did and what I did a more uniform look. Now I am in the process of painting and grassing the bases.

The steps I take to finish the bases is not that hard, but I think looks pretty good on the table top. The first obsessive compulsive thing I do is weight the base. The plastic figures are so light and can bounce all over the place. It bugs me enough to take an extra step basing my figures. I buy lead fishing weights at Walmart, smash them flat with a hammer and Zap Gap them to the bottom of the bases.

Then I texture the bases, with a Liquitex Texture Gel, Resin Sand. That's the white stuff drying.

  Next I paint the whole thing brown with a craft paint, Americana Dark Chocolate. After the first coat dries, I dry brush a mixture of the same paint with white mixed in.

The next step is a few random highlights. If there is a big chunk of the texture gel, I will painted it gray as a stone. Not to many, just a few here and there.

 
Then add static grass and paint the base ring green. I might also add in some grass tufts, again not to many. I use Army Painter Highland Tufts. I like the contrast of the darker grass on the greener static grass. Army Painter Tufts

And Done. 24 Minas Tirith Swordsmen ready to battle Evil in Middle-Earth.

Only 48 more to go.

Ciao for now, Xin

Amon Hen, The Death of Boromir

Ambush at Amon Hen box set,

I picked up GW's Ambush at Amon Hen about 3 years ago. In a rare but brief painting burst I decided to paint it up right away. As opposed to the usual "throw it into the abyss that is my basement", to be painted at some future but unspecified date.

The whole scene

Merry and Pippen are taken!

 The Death of Boromir

Cheers, Xin

Lord of the Rings, so it begins.

I have been collecting Games Workshop's LOTR figures on and off since they came out about 10 years ago. I didn't paint any, didn't play the Strategy Battle Game, just picking up the odd box here and there. Mostly at Flea Markets. It was always a project I wanted to get into, but never got around too.

Well since The Hobbit came out, that has all changed. I purchased the Hobbit Limited Edition Box Set as well as the Hard Bound Rules(expensive!) I dug out all my figures and have started to paint. Pictured below are all the box sets and blisters

I did paint up one set about 3 years ago, but more as I set piece than a prelude to gaming. I also purchased about 100 painted figures from the Historicon Flea Market about 2 years ago. Those will all get touched up and made table worthy in coming months. I will also be posting regular updates here on my progress.