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Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Topic started by: Ingarsby73 on 21 August 2020, 09:52:17 PM
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Hello All,
I've been painting miniatures for years but have only started posting pictures of some recently on the super Wargaming in Middle Earth group on Facebook.
I thought I'd put a few on here too, as my first outting on LAF.
I'd been looking for figures that caught some of my mental images of Tolkien's world for a long time. There were the odd metal figures that were perfect, like Mark Copplestone's wonderful Wizard. Then along came the Oathmark and Warlord plastic goblins, and the fantastic Victrix Dark Age plastics. And 5 months of lockdown. So I got busy chopping, glueing and painting.
Here's a representative sample: that Copplestone wizard; a Reaper ogre doubling as a troll with some Oathmark/Warlord goblins with a variety of additions; Victrix Dark Age plastics turned into Rohirrim; and Victrix Gallic Warriors turned into Dunlendings.
The main influences are fairly clear I suspect - Angus McBride and Victor Ambrus.
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Those are all very well done, I really like your take on LotR and choice of models! I haven’t been a fan of the Warlord orcs, but I like how you (and some other recent posts by others) have mixed the pieces with Oathmark and historical plastics. I might have to give it a try myself! Thanks for posting your work, I’m looking forward to seeing more!
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They look great 8)
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Lovely work. To my mind Tolkien would recognise his creations in 28mm...keep them coming. Along with the other LAF threads much to admire and be inpired by.
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Great stuff!
I really like that orc with the halberd in particular - and those Dunlendings look fantastic!
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Love the Rohan. All are good.
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Great vision, great execution. I particularly like your take on the Dunlendings.
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Great to see these guys on LAF too! I particularly like your repurposed Victrix minis.
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Welcome to the forum! Great work on all these guys.
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Great job on the figures
Welcome to LAF
:)
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A lovely introduction. I look forward to seeing more.
Mark.
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They really capture the feel of LOTR.
As others have said please keep coming and post more pics.
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Excellent work!! The orcs look just how I think of them.
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Thanks for the kind words folks.
Next then, some elves. Noldor and Nandor, made principally from Victrix Dark Age plastics, with a few additions from Perry and GW. All very much inspired by Victor Ambrus's illustrations in the "Tolkien Bestiary".
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Great work on these. Your painting style works very well for the LotR setting, I like it very much.
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Yeah, I love these. Brilliant work.
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Wow absolutely fantastic...bookmarked...I shall pour a wee dram and sit back to enjoy the development of this wonderful thread!
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I really like the early Medieval character of these figures. Really inspiring stuff!
n
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Excellent work. I've always struggled with my colour palettes for middle earth but you have hit them bang on!
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Thanks very much for all the kind words, people.
Here as a stark contrast to the last post's elves, here's some of the servants of evil.
The trolls are Reaper ogres - both obviously inspired by Angus McBride's pictures for MERP, especially the cover of the "Cardolan" campaign module.
Continuing the McBride theme, the orcs are principally Oathmark plastics with Warlord heads and Victrix shields. For a bit of variety, some have Warlord heads with Perry or Victrix helmets. There are a few Perry or GB arms in the mix as well. The smaller ones are Mantic goblins with Oathmark heads and arms.
The Uruks were a bit of an afterthought really, using spare Warlord bodies and a selection of random Gripping Beast heads. I made the Isengarders more uniform and armed as per the books with short swords. Although they're not quite as I imagine them, they're close enough for now. The Mordor lot are a bit more individual - as if they got the best kit out of a general pile. Maddeningly, the Warlord figures are bootless. Sculpting greenstuff boots is a frustrating experience - it can lead to a lot of orcs looking like they are wearing the sort of thermal slippers popular with British grandparents in the 1980s.
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Very nice. Can't wait to see more.
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Those look amazing - really quite a chilling sight!
I've done the same thing with the Mantic goblin bodies - it rehabilitates those awful models quite a bit!
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Those look amazing - really quite a chilling sight!
I've done the same thing with the Mantic goblin bodies - it rehabilitates those awful models quite a bit!
Thanks! Yes, the Mantic figures aren't the best are they. But they do make respectable smaller orcs. Like the Warlord orcs really, ropey sculpts that you can use to make other stuff out of.
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Excellent. I like your orcs a lot.
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This is exactly why I come to the LAF, for the Orcs.
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Magic. These are wonderful - very sinister and Tolkienesque. Can I ask what the skin colour is on the orcs?
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Magic. These are wonderful - very sinister and Tolkienesque. Can I ask what the skin colour is on the orcs?
Thanks James.
I use GW's Stormvermin Fur for the skin, with varying amounts of black or white/bone to darken/lighten. I've worked on the principle the smaller the orc, the lighter the skin. I know the world is divided into those who think orcs are brown or black-skinned. I think Stormvermin Fur allows you to say your orcs are a sallow sort of black-skinned, which is how I imagine them.
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The evolution of Turin and Beleg.
After converting a lot of Oathmark and Warlord plastic goblins into how I imagined orcs, I wanted a change. What better than a couple of legendary heroes?
About the only things I was clear about were the helmet I wanted Turin to wear, that he needed a big sword, and that Beleg had to be holding a bow. Turin goes through lots of phases in the tale, and so the image I had of him in my mind's eye is probably a composite. Either that or it's entirely based on the cover of "The Children of Hurin". I experimented a bit with how I wanted Beleg to look. He started out with Oathmark arms and head. But in the end decided he should be like one of Victor Ambrus's elves to keep in tune with the Noldor and Nandor I'd made. So the arms and head changed over time, and Oathmark was replaced by Perry arms and a Victrix head.
As usual, they are a mix of Victrix Dark Age plastics, Oathmark, Perry and Gripping Beast.
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Legendary in every sense! Keep them coming👏
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wonderful looking figures
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Those are excellent! I think you made the right choice of arms for Beleg, the initial ones looked good too, but were a little bit static. I’m looking forward to seeing what you create next!
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Great thread! Some fantastic figures
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Brill, saw these on Facebook and happy to see you on here too.
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I'm glad Turin and Beleg met with general approval.
Next, Woses.
These four were made primarily from Frostgrave Tribals with greenstuff additions. Some of the heads are Victrix Libyan skirmishers, with braids from some Victrix Vikings.
They are shorter and squatter than the Victrix Dark Age figures I have used for Rohirrim and Dunlendings, and about the same size as Oathmark goblins.
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Wow, great work, those look very close to how I imagine the Woses when I read the books! That’s excellent kit bashing and painting.
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Brilliant work!
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I am enjoying this thread! Great work and I particularly like the green stuff bellies!
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Unusual troop choice, again excellent. This thread continues to deliver and inspire.
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Very nice job on those Woses.
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Superb :-*
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Thanks everyone for the comments! Much appreciated.
The Woses project left me with some Frostgrave Tribals spares. Among them were some heads. I decided to combine them with some Victrix Saxon helmets to see how they'd work for half-orcs. I used some random armoured bodies I had lying around - Fireforge Russians I think. They're not a patch on Victrix but they have a look that is in keeping with my image of Saruman's armoured shock-troops. I may end up grafting the heads onto other bodies if Victrix give me something more apposite. The long-awaited Normans, maybe.
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Great work on the woses. They came out looking really nice.
I like your half-orcs too. They look like real ruffians.
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Those new half orcs are great,remind me of the old Minifigs White Hand orcs :)
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Excellent work! Love the Woses but they all are great. They're Angus McBride paintings in miniatures.
Thanks for posting the pictures here. I saw some of these on FB briefly before they banned me.
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I'm a big fan of Father Ted. In tribute to his 3 Ages of Elvis, here's my 3 Ages of Gandalf. Or something along those lines.
The brilliant Copplestone Castings wizard on the left, my favourite GW version of him in the middle, and another Copplestone sculpt on the right. Only the middle one is an official Gandalf, but the other two are so plainly him.
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The Gandalf’s are superb. To differentiate them , maybe a white one ?
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Your Uruks are spot on! :-*
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Loving this thread, keep the photos coming!
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Loving those Druedain. I was always interested in those guys after their brief appearance in the book, and wished we had more of their stories.
May I suggest that you obtain 'Never Mind the Billhooks' as a rule set to use with them. It's all the rage right now, and it is designed for gaming the Wars of the Woses, after all.
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Very enjoyable watching this project progress. It's one of the threads that keeps me trying for more painting time(I'm not winning )
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Very enjoyable watching this project progress. It's one of the threads that keeps me trying for more painting time(I'm not winning )
+1
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I love the half-orcs. Great contrast of the pale skin with the dark gear. And while I don't think the GB plastics have particularly good posing, it seems to fit the 'not quite normal' image of the half-breeds.
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[quote author=Plynkes link=topic=126488.ms
"May I suggest that you obtain 'Never Mind the Billhooks' as a rule set to use with them. It's all the rage right now, and it is designed for gaming the Wars of the Woses, after all."
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[/quote]
A pun that is so awful, I might just have to buy it!
Thanks again for the comments everyone. I think it's going to be hobbits next, or possibly some very old GW figures, or Turin's outlaw companions. Or all of the above.
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Oops. Duplicate post...
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Turin's outlaw companions. All Victrix plastics with some GW and Perry bow hands and arms added into the mix. I wanted to have them able to double up as Nottingham's (or some would suggest South Yorkshire's) finest!
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Lovely choice of palette for those outlaws :)
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They look great! Perry bow arms work an anything, don't they? :D
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They look great! Perry bow arms work an anything, don't they? :D
That they do. Some of their WOTR helmets and more unpleasant-looking HYW weapons were invaluable for orcs too.
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Fabulous! Just like the Woses, I always had a soft spot for Turin's story.
A few years ago a friend of mine bought me 'The Children of Hurin.' I didn't expect to enjoy it, as I gave up on those 'fragments JRR wrote on a restaurant bill' books years and years ago. They just aren't for me. But that one is different, it's like a proper story and everyting. My god, is it bleak and depressing, but it was so nice to have a new trip into Middle Earth after so many years, I gobbled it up.
I'm full of admiration for these, so atmospheric. I love your style and skill.
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Lovin’ those outlaws... very inspirational!
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Middle earth done right. Would love to see some battle pics.
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What a great thread, some lovely inspiration here - really like your takes.
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Excellent painting. The concept and palettes used are spot on. The half orcs are brilliant.
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Thanks again for the comments!
My chopping up of plastics is temporarily on hold pending the arrival of some Victrix Dacians. I want to use them to make some Easterlings, and by mixing them with some German and Viking bits to see if I can get to some Angmarim.
In the meantime though, some more metals: hobbits from Mark Copplestone, both Grenadier and North Star.
I think they're the best generic ones there are. There's a bit of scale variation, but hobbits are meant to vary in height. I'd really like it if there were a few more that could pass as shirriffs, and some village or traveling adventurer types, but they are both great ranges and combine together perfectly.
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They look mighty fine to me. Their heights were not noticeable until you mentioned it and even then hardly noticeable anyway. The paint jobs are very good too - very "earthy" as a good hobbit should look - and it ties the two ranges together. I must admit, that on first glance, I thought they were official GW LotR conversions. Great job!
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Great work on these. Great idea for the Noldor.
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Great job once again, I love them.
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I got myself a sprue of the Victrix armoured Dacians because I thought they'd potentially provide a base for a variety of ME figures.
Here's one as a Deadman of Dunharrow. Dacian body, Gallic head and arms, metal GB shield.
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Looks great!
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Looks great!
Thanks Ogrob.
Following on from the Deadman of Dunharrow, here's a few more examples of Victrix conversions.
First, a selection - Rohan, Dunharrow, Harad and Angmar. Second, some Angmarim/generic bad guys - one of whom is perhaps more Hyperborea than Middle-Earth. Third, Rohan.
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Very much enjoying these. Great kitbashing, and feeling much truer to Tolkien than most of what you see billed as Middle Earth.
When the Victrix Normans arrive, I shall be doing a few for Gondor and Rohan, to fight my orcs (which I really must get back to!)
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These are brilliant :-* :-* :-*
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Splendid!
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I love your work, both the kitbashing and painting. Very inspirational.
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I love your work, both the kitbashing and painting. Very inspirational.
Splendid!
These are brilliant :-* :-* :-*
Very much enjoying these. Great kitbashing, and feeling much truer to Tolkien than most of what you see billed as Middle Earth.
When the Victrix Normans arrive, I shall be doing a few for Gondor and Rohan, to fight my orcs (which I really must get back to!)
Thanks all! Much appreciated.
I really need to sort out my photo quality. Using one of my kids' phones is a bit hit and miss.
I'm adding a few more orcs to the hordette, and am working on expanding the Angmarim, so I expect they'll be the next ones that appear here.
I've been a fan of Angmar since I first saw the name on the fold-out map in my first copy of the LOTR - "Here was of old the witch realm of Angmar". I've carried on the mix of Victrix Viking bodies and Ancient German and Gallic heads, with monteforino-type helmets. I think that makes them look like a vaguely uniform group of mixed origins - Northman, Hillman and Dunnish. Good for a group of local tribesmen and mercenaries drawn to the service of the Witch King.
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Great work, thats like ME stuff should look like!
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Your kitbashing is truly inspiring. I love what you've done with the Victrix-sprues.
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Amazing stuff! I love that harad soldier absolutely fantastic
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Great thread! I really like seeing people using more realistic scaled historical minis to create fantasy miniatures.
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Great work, thats like ME stuff should look like!
Your kitbashing is truly inspiring. I love what you've done with the Victrix-sprues.
Great thread! I really like seeing people using more realistic scaled historical minis to create fantasy miniatures.
Amazing stuff! I love that harad soldier absolutely fantastic
Thanks all. I've been expanding the forces of darkness, with my Celty/Vikings/Daciany/Germanic take on the Angmarim. I was after a mixed origin, vaguely uniform look. To that end I've used helmet types and shield shapes as well as general colours to tie these Victrix mix and match figures together.
There are two leader types - one is a Dacian straight off the sprue, the other is a more menacing-looking Viking. His helmet doesn't match the rest, but he does look like the sort of warlord who might be comfortable working for Witch King Inc.
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I think you have created a brilliant look.
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I think you have created a brilliant look.
Thanks Rick!
Here's a better picture of the Angmarim, and some of the Deadmen of Dunharrow.
They are largely made from Victrix Dacians, with a few Gallic and Viking spare parts. I wanted to try and capture the descriptions given by Legolas and Gimli "The shapes of men ... and pale banners like the shreds of cloud and spears like winter thickets on a misty night", with "dim horns blowing".
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I luv’em!
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Very nicely done.
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My band of Noldor grows slowly.
They're all essentially Victrix Saxons, with a couple of spares from their Viking and Gallic warriors sets and a fairly billowy Wargames Atlantic cloak.
As I've said earlier on, I was very taken with Victor Ambrus' pictures of elves in the Tolkien Bestiary. His idea of them has stayed with me and is the basis for these four.
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I think they are great.
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Lovely stuff! Keep them coming
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Missed this thread until now. Seriously impressive work. Really awesome.
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OMG, those look unbelievably good!
Curse you, Sir. Now I won’t be able to get that idea out of my head. :)
Dan
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Oooooh I like those :-*
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Somehow I've missed this thread before. Marvellous fettling to produce some unique figures that really seem to catch the spirit of Tolkien's work.
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Loving the latest additions to the Noldor, in particular. You’ve really captured the vibe of the Victor Ambrus illustrations. I’ve now got a hankering to go back to my elves soon!
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Great kitbash!
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I think they are great.
Lovely stuff! Keep them coming
Missed this thread until now. Seriously impressive work. Really awesome.
OMG, those look unbelievably good!
Curse you, Sir. Now I won’t be able to get that idea out of my head. :)
Oooooh I like those :-*
Somehow I've missed this thread before. Marvellous fettling to produce some unique figures that really seem to catch the spirit of Tolkien's work.
Loving the latest additions to the Noldor, in particular. You’ve really captured the vibe of the Victor Ambrus illustrations.
Great kitbash!
Thanks All - very much appreciated. Lots of inspiration about the joys of kitbashing was gleaned from you and other LAF users.
Next for me it's back to Rohan, I think.
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Here, then, are the sons of Eorl singing in the sunlight, swords unsheathing and wondering when Victrix will release the mounted Normans so they can get some horses at long last.
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A fine unit. They look great
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Well it's been a while. But after a spell concentrating on selling some of the lead mountain and having a crack at some Barons' War figures, I've gone back to Middle Earth.
Here's an Easterling captain and some Hillmen of Rhudaur. All Victrix conversions.
More Easterlings and some Haradrim are on the work bench.
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Fantastic! You have inspired me to paint more Middle-earth stuff.
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Superb thread, absolutely fantastic work!
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Brilliant work yet again!
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Those are super. Love the Easterling captain. Where’s his head from?
Must crack on with the rest of my Haradrim.
Like you, I’m waiting on the Victrix Normans (infantry and cavalry) before starting in on my Men of The West.
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Brilliant work yet again!
Thanks Rick!
Superb thread, absolutely fantastic work!
Thanks very much. Glad you like it!
Those are super. Love the Easterling captain. Where’s his head from?
Must crack on with the rest of my Haradrim.
Like you, I’m waiting on the Victrix Normans (infantry and cavalry) before starting in on my Men of The West.
Thanks Captain! The head is from the Victrix Dacian command sprue with a Gallic plume stuck on top. That sprue is an excellent source of heads for Easterlings and Haradrim - as they come, or with a greenstuff puggaree.
Fantastic! You have inspired me to paint more Middle-earth stuff.
Excellent! Get cracking.
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All terrific! I am back on Noldor this week :D
Deffo excited about Victrix Normans too.
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All terrific! I am back on Noldor this week :D
Deffo excited about Victrix Normans too.
They're going to be great - I've got a head waiting to be used for Theoden already. The armoured Persian cavalry should be good too - particularly with some conversions using the archers. Easterlings v Rohirrim somewhere east of the Anduin.
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Great work, interesting use of historical miniatures and very nice paintjobs they look very good!
Might nick an alternative miniature idea here and there for my own project :D
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Great work, interesting use of historical miniatures and very nice paintjobs they look very good!
Might nick an alternative miniature idea here and there for my own project :D
:) ;) Good plan!
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The Deadmen of Dunharrow have now grown to a terrifying group of ... 4!
Enough to strike fear in an isolated dwelling or perhaps a modest hamlet.
All Victrix. Dacian and Persian bodies mixed with Gallic heads and various arms.
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Superb! And the fear that goes before them should clear that hamlet pretty damn quick!
Great kitbashing and painting!
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Excellent Dead Men!
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Great look, they could work for Oathmark as Revenants as well!
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some of the best ME figures I've seen for a while
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The Deadmen of Dunharrow have now grown to a terrifying group of ... 4!
Enough to strike fear in an isolated dwelling or perhaps a modest hamlet.
All Victrix. Dacian and Persian bodies mixed with Gallic heads and various arms.
Very convincing and great execution, thanks for sharing these alternative Dunharrow models!
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The dead men look really good - a simple palette but it works very well.
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Superb! And the fear that goes before them should clear that hamlet pretty damn quick!
Great kitbashing and painting!
The dead men look really good - a simple palette but it works very well.
some of the best ME figures I've seen for a while
Excellent Dead Men!
Very convincing and great execution, thanks for sharing these alternative Dunharrow models!
Thanks everyone for the comments. Next I think it's some of my very favourite Mithril undead - the Corpse Candle and the Mewlip!
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It's been a while, and my Middle Earth wanderings have been on hold for most of that time.
But the arrival of the long-awaited Victrix Norman cavalry changed all that. Here's a couple of them converted into Eomer and Theoden using bits from the Viking and Gallic warriors sets.
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Lovely job! I have plans to do the same thing once some other projects are cleared of the queue.
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Great work!
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That is just perfect.
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Indeed. They’re brilliant!
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Wonderful,best I’ve seen :-*
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Wow. It’s so hard to decide on which are my favorites. The Orcs? The Woses? I think ALL of them! :)
Dan
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Thanks for the kind words, people. All much appreciated.
Here's a group shot of my Victrix Rohirrim.
I need to work out how to get this pic the right way up. And then I need to work out a pattern for Theoden's golden shield, and then work out how to paint it so it looks like it's embossed. That may all take some time.
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If you've taken that picture on a phone or digital camera, try opening it on your desktop and turning it there manually by using the rotate feature. Should be an arrow describing a circular motion, pictogram wise. I'Ve had the same problem a couple of times and that usually solved it.
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I get this a lot. I just screenshot the picture which seems to work. Btw they look amazing!