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Author Topic: Tolkien-esque Noldor...A Query  (Read 2842 times)

Offline guitarheroandy

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Tolkien-esque Noldor...A Query
« on: 02 October 2019, 10:35:36 PM »
I'm really into the idea of doing some 28mm Tolkien-esque 'First Age Silmarillion' Elves. I started doing some conversions of Dark Age metals a while ago. Some were good, but some were a little bit clumsy and took ages to do. This one worked well with the head of a GW Galadhrim Court chap on a Gripping Beast Pict body, plus a Greenstuff cloak (Sorry about the HUGE size of the pic!! :?) So you can see the sort of effect I'm trying to achieve.



Anyway, then I saw the Oathmark Elves and thought 'Brilliant! Elves wearing mail and carrying proper straight swords etc, not those weird things from the Jackson movies - and no weird plate armour is sight either.' Trouble is, I like the overall figure design except for the helmets. They just seem too 'plain'. I'd kinda like something a little more 'Elvishly fancy' for the heads. Has anyone tried adding alternative heads to the Oathmark bodies? I'm thinking perhaps either Ebob's Fantasy heads or the LOTR-style  Elf heads from Unreleased Miniatures - or even heads from the GW plastic Elves of the Last Alliance as they aren't very expensive on EBAY so chopping them up would be acceptable.
The key question is: Would any of these fit? The Oathmark plastics aren't huge 28mm so maybe they just might?

I thought I'd just ask before jumping in and ordering stuff just in case anyone else had done it already...

Offline MeridarchGekkota

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Re: Tolkien-esque Noldor...A Query
« Reply #1 on: 02 October 2019, 10:43:54 PM »
Oathmark are probably too small for Noldor, even for Noldor fitting to Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game.

Offline guitarheroandy

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Re: Tolkien-esque Noldor...A Query
« Reply #2 on: 02 October 2019, 10:58:06 PM »
Oathmark are probably too small for Noldor, even for Noldor fitting to Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game.

That's an interesting point but irrelevant to me to be honest. It's the relative sizes of the heads vs the Oathmark bodies I'm interested in.

Offline Ethelred the Almost Ready

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Re: Tolkien-esque Noldor...A Query
« Reply #3 on: 03 October 2019, 10:39:01 AM »
Take a look at the Middle Earth Wargaming Facebook page.  A chap by the name of Graham Green has done a lot of conversions for Noldor of the First Age.  I can't comment too much on head sizes for the Oathmark elves and other ranges except to say that the Fireforge knight heads are a pretty good match.   I suspect GW  LotR heads are too small and Warhammer  heads are too big.

Offline MikeRC97

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Re: Tolkien-esque Noldor...A Query
« Reply #4 on: 03 October 2019, 01:00:01 PM »
The one thing you’ll never find in the published Silmarillion, or any of the earlier writings on the First Age published in Unfinished Tales or The History of Middle Earth, is a reference to the Elves having pointy ears.

There’s much discussion of their size relative to that of humans and the hair color of the Noldor and the Vanyar, but no-where does Tolkien mention ears.  I’m not assuming, I’ve read all of the works mentioned above.

So, feel free to use human heads on your Noldor (maybe you already were), hopefully that gives you more options.

Offline guitarheroandy

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Re: Tolkien-esque Noldor...A Query
« Reply #5 on: 03 October 2019, 03:50:06 PM »
Take a look at the Middle Earth Wargaming Facebook page.  A chap by the name of Graham Green has done a lot of conversions for Noldor of the First Age.  I can't comment too much on head sizes for the Oathmark elves and other ranges except to say that the Fireforge knight heads are a pretty good match.   I suspect GW  LotR heads are too small and Warhammer  heads are too big.

I know Graham - he lives about 15 mind drive from me. He tends to choose Dark Age Norman and Saxon models and add things such as cloaks etc - he's a brilliant sculptor of those, but doesn't worry about fancy Elf helmets. Human ones are a definite possibility, but it's finding the right ones. I know that Warhammer heads are too big...

Offline Ethelred the Almost Ready

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Re: Tolkien-esque Noldor...A Query
« Reply #6 on: 03 October 2019, 10:17:31 PM »
I am currently on holiday in Australia.  When I get home I can post some pictures of a few Oathmark elf helmets I modified with green stuff.  I am Not an accomplished sculptor but a few simple things can be done.  I would like to add cheek guards but this is beyond my capabilities.

Offline guitarheroandy

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Re: Tolkien-esque Noldor...A Query
« Reply #7 on: 03 October 2019, 10:50:05 PM »
I am currently on holiday in Australia.  When I get home I can post some pictures of a few Oathmark elf helmets I modified with green stuff.  I am Not an accomplished sculptor but a few simple things can be done.  I would like to add cheek guards but this is beyond my capabilities.

That'd be great thanks. I also want cheek guards, but like you am not capable of such things with greenstuff...
Enjoy your holiday!

Offline fastolfrus

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Re: Tolkien-esque Noldor...A Query
« Reply #8 on: 03 October 2019, 11:08:47 PM »
Do any of the Perry medieval sets include something like a burgonet or possibly a barbute?
That would get you a helmet with cheek guards and you could green stuff a plume/crest to disguise the origin.
Gary, Glynis, and Alasdair (there are three of us, but we are too mean to have more than one login)

Offline Historiker

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Re: Tolkien-esque Noldor...A Query
« Reply #9 on: 03 October 2019, 11:16:19 PM »
Unfortunately I can't help with your question, but I still wanted to comment that your example looks just great! I would be happy to see more troops in that classic style.

Might I ask whether you plan to use those with the Oathmark ruleset or are they a pure hobby-building-project?

If I remember correctly, you once helped me with my "how to base miniatures for Oathmark?" query.

I too intend to stay very close to the Tolkieneque-style as well with my Goblin force as I always wanted to play something with Middle Earth / Lord of the Rings aesthetics. Pretty excited about the upcoming wolfriders. So far there is very little official info on the ruleset but I hope that we will see more this autumn.

If I read the Facebook page correctly there will be some elf heavy infantry in the future. Maybe they will have different helmets... but yes, you would need another solution till ten. There is a guy on youtube who has already added some heavy armor to the Oathmark elves, but that would go beyond my skills / patience.

Long story short: Would be happy to see more of your project!
« Last Edit: 03 October 2019, 11:43:20 PM by Historiker »
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Offline Thew1

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Re: Tolkien-esque Noldor...A Query
« Reply #10 on: 05 October 2019, 08:29:16 AM »
Looked out some oathmark and GW LOTR stuff and I'm afraid the heads are very small in comparison to oathmark.

Offline guitarheroandy

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Re: Tolkien-esque Noldor...A Query
« Reply #11 on: 05 October 2019, 09:44:25 AM »
Looked out some oathmark and GW LOTR stuff and I'm afraid the heads are very small in comparison to oathmark.

Thanks - I thought that might be the case...