Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Topic started by: Lord Maedhros on September 21, 2022, 12:48:21 AM
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Greetings.
Longtime lurker of various forums who felt it was finally time to share some of my meagre efforts. I have for years (about 11 probably) envisioned bringing The Silmarillion to life using 28mm miniatures and the GW Middle Earth SBG Ruleset. My biggest challenge was the offering of elves on 28mm as none of the available models are what I had in mind. Finally with the advent of the Oathmark elves I proceeded to create my first physical miniatures for this long envisioned project. They are a kit bash of Fireforge Games Teutonic Knights and Oathmark elves. They are painted up in the colours of the House of Feanor who are my favourite of the houses. I shall attempt to update this thread when I can with my slow expansion of Silmarillion miniatures. I consider my paint jobs very low on the scale of acceptability, probably due to my habit of comparing what I have done to the amazing work done by others.
Comments and criticism welcome. I have since updated the flag in the photos (my first attempt at a paper banner) I'll attach an update photo when I get around to taking more.
Thank you all.
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I like what you are doing! These figures look good and have nice bases. Good choice of kits for kitbashing, too. I expect that with the spare parts from each Oathmark box you will be able to convert quite a few Teutons.
Welcome to the forum, too! There are many enthusiastic gamers here to cheer you on!
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Excellent looking warband. Well done!
Dan
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I'm unsure if it's the picture or the minis, but the faces seem very flat in tone. I've had that happen with cameras before in a lot of different ways, but if not you might want to try a flesh wash of some kind for the facial features.
Other than that, they look really good.
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Looking good so far! Thanks for that idea of Teutonic Knights, will have to borrow it.
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I consider my paint jobs very low on the scale of acceptability, probably due to my habit of comparing what I have done to the amazing work done by others.
Don't do yourself down, friend. My gaming buddy has developed a very similar painting style - neat and consistent and reminiscent of old school toy soldiers. His armies look great when turned out on the table, as will yours. Your choice of kit-bash parts is also spot on.
There are so many incredible artists sharing their work online that it can be a little intimidating (I share your pain). But once the dice start rolling nobody notices the jewel effect on a sword hilt, but they will certainly take note of 'those bloody elves' punching through their centre. I look forward to following your project.
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Thank you all for the positive feedback and comments!
I'm unsure if it's the picture or the minis, but the faces seem very flat in tone. I've had that happen with cameras before in a lot of different ways, but if not you might want to try a flesh wash of some kind for the facial features.
It is probably a combination of both :) I have given them all a very matt varnish (I like the way a matte varnish looks in person) which comes up very flat on the camera. The flesh wash is a great tip though as they are not very heavily contrasted in their current state. Thank you!
These are some more currently WIP. They don't have the varnish applied yet and also need a few detail touch ups like eyes, highlights and face touches :)
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Those are great conversions; you've managed to get the Oathmark and Fireforge kits to work extremely well together, it's inspiring. I love your Silmarilion vision as well, the figs and the color scheme fit the time frame very well!
Thanks
n.
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I think the suggestion of adding a flesh wash on the faces is a good one, it will add “instant shadows” with minimal effort. I use GW’s Reikland Flesh wash, but there are a number of good ones available.
One of my friends told me ages ago that for most figures people pay attention to “ faces, bases and shields” and if those are done well the figure will look good. I think there’s something to that. If you try a flesh wash and decide you like the effect, another step to consider is to use a very fine brush and apply some highlights. Just use the original flesh paint to put a short line down the nose, over each brow (if the brow is visible), on each cheekbone, and a dot on the chin (or two for a cleft chin). The wash will provide shadows and the highlights will provide, well, highlights, and the face will appear a lot more vivid. With a little practice the highlights won’t take much extra time.
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Those elves are looking good. I have also used Fireforge knights for elves and have recently started chopping heads off Footsore Barons Wars figures adding Oathmark heads.
The Oathmark elves are sculpted with flat features. No problem if you are patient and/or a skilled painter. It is annoying if you lack the patience or skill. I have had good results with washes but you will need to experiment to get the right one. The soft features give the wash little to work with. I went a few shades darker than I normally would.
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Thank you all for the kind words and advice. I added a flesh wash and the highlights as suggested. I think it is a marked improvement although I'm not sure it comes through in photos.
First 18 completed with banner 2.0.
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They are looking quite good, I think! I’m looking forward to seeing more as you complete them.
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Nice looking unit there and far more practically attired and equipped than many of the elvish fantasy armies on the go.
Looking forward to seeing your project develop.
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Greetings all,
Assembled some more miniatures for my First Age conflicts. Most of them still need gap filling and other final assembly tweaks. partially painted my Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs, but not done yet (might adjust his weapon position as well).
Converted a Feanor Model and a Maedhros (Foot and Mounted) model. Still need to do some final assembly touch ups, but happy with the look.
Also acquired a epic dragon which will be painted up as Glaurung. Still need to gap fill the model, but it looks outstanding and I am looking forward to painting it.
Overall not much progress but some exciting models acquired and happy to have grown my First Age collection over the last few months despite not getting much painting done.
Photos below. Thanks for any and all feedback.
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A great project! Looking good, with some excellent kitbash conversions. 👍
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Gothmog is looking good. Are the Balrogs Mierce Miniatures?
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Look forward to seeing these completed.
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The face wash does come across in photos, looks great! I think you are really nailing the First Age look with these, nice work. :)
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This project looks excellent, keep on posting.
I think the advice about shading and highlights was spot on, it's made good f8gures look great.
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Some really nice stuff there and a great project. Don’t put yourself down on the painting, it’s neat and consistent. That dragon is a great mini - who makes it?
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Thanks for all the comments.
Gothmog is looking good. Are the Balrogs Mierce Miniatures?
Yes the Balrogs are all Mierce Miniatures. I had considered having Balrogs modelled after this image https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/File:Thomas_Rouillard_-_Valaraukar.jpg but I couldn't find any miniatures on the market that fit that bill. I've eyed Mierce Miniatures for a long time and their miniatures are easily identifiable as Balrogs (with the right paint scheme). Also no wings and a penchant for axes made them an easy choice. I do intend to give some of them swords/whips at some point, but axes work for now.
That dragon is a great mini - who makes it?
The dragon is from Warploque miniatures and has been on my list for Glaurung for a long time (5+ years). Finally got it over the Christmas period last year.
A few scale pictures with oathmark goblin infantry (my first choice for orcs in the First Age). I think the dragon is sufficiently large for Glaurung as described in the Legendarium.
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Great looking Gothmog. Excellent painting so far. Looking forward to seeing the other miniatures painted up :)
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Thanks for posting the photos indicating size. For some reason I thought the Warploque dragon would be smaller, so I am very tempted now.
The Mierce Miniatures are a little big for me, but they als have some smaller miniatures with much the same look. I will look forward to see how you paint these up. The one you have painted is very good.
I do like your original inspiration for Balrogs, I would buy a few of these if they were ever made.
Keep up the good work.
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A bit more firey??
(https://i.ibb.co/BnZWYLN/Fire.jpg) (https://ibb.co/dm2CHBg)
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Great project! I admire folks who manage to stick to one thing and produce a coherent collection. Myself I tend to jump all over the place....
Regarding the stars on the elf shields... are they transfers (if so, where'd you get them?) or freehand (if so, amazing!)?
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A bit more firey??
(https://i.ibb.co/BnZWYLN/Fire.jpg) (https://ibb.co/dm2CHBg)
I'd looked at a few of the elemental options on the market, none of them satisfied the physical element I wanted. It seems a tricky thing to achieve the flame effect on a static miniature. Being wreathed in shadow and flame is not an easy description to present on the tabletop. Other images I find inspirational
https://external-preview.redd.it/FvaNmZsa4MSWR_aqXIghxO6uZ4f6UOQQ-E4X59ttMjs.png?auto=webp&v=enabled&s=3f592a22f240954079383691493d31d75e719fec
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-4c39e4f63c4403f1e1c7cdce7594caaf
The lava skin effect achieves a similar enough effect at least for my limited skillset at the time.
Regarding the stars on the elf shields... are they transfers (if so, where'd you get them?) or freehand (if so, amazing!)?
They are transfers. I had them custom made I forget from where but I can dig it up if you want. I certainly don't have the skillset to freehand those :D
On a separate note. Any suggestions for models for Easterlings of the House of Uldor (the evil Easterlings of the first age)?
I intend to use the eventually to be released Franks from Atlantic Wargames for the Good Easterlings (House of Bor). https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0078/4764/1186/files/Frank_Parts.jpg?v=1625683641
Something in a historical vein would be ideal, but also has to be distinct enough from the other models used for the men of the First Age.
I intend to use Victrix Late Romans for House of Hador, Saxons for House of Beor and Lighter armoured Dark age miniatures for House of Hador. Previously Mentioned Franks for House of Bor.
I had hoped for something mongol esque but there is not much on the market that I fancy. Not a fan of the Fireforge plastics and no other company offers large quantities of foot models. They can be stylistically different from the Franks and others as the Easterlings of the First Age was a blanket term and they actually consisted of many different groups of men so the ones I need models for don't need to look similar to the Franks. I have a box of Frostgrave Barbarians but I find them too limited in options to build a decent force out of. Something in that barbarian vein would work though.
Hope that makes sense. Thanks for any feedback.