Mammoth middle earth. Men of sauron.

[Mammoth miniatures]

You paint your students? 

The ones that annoy me...

[Mammoth miniatures]

I’m assuming you’re already well aware of the plastic orcs/ goblins (Oathmark, Wargames Atlantic, etc) that folks are using for Tolkien inspired orcs - just curious what you’re looking for to fit your vision?

I completely agree that an orc “head and bits” sprue by Victrix would probably be an amazing addition!

Yes but I find them a bit chunky - not that I don't love the late 90s GW look they have, but I'd prefer a slighter, less heroic scale. I may end up using some of the oathmark metal goblins and mixing them with GW metal orcs, but my current plan is to use victrix germanics for the wildmen and human forces of sauron, then use their upcoming footknights to represent the heavily armoured orcs of Mordor via a headswap.

[Daeothar]

Looking really nice. I especially like the colour combinations, the poses work really well and the gear/equipment is suitably early medieval; lots to like here

[white knight]

Loving the white gambeson on this and great kitbashing.

Regarding clear bases, I've used them on a couple projects now and I like them. People are quick to point out they are not invisible, but their goal is not to be invisible, but not to clash with any surface you put them on (roads, grass, desert, cobblestone,...). So if you think you will use them on varying types of terrain and scenery, then the clear bases are a good way to go.

[jon_1066]

Look great.  One quick tip for the freehand.  Paint it in thinned grey first.  The white will go on much easier on top.  It is also easier to fix any mistakes in the grey and it gives you a shape to follow for the white.

[Pattus Magnus]

my current plan is to use victrix germanics for the wildmen and human forces of sauron, then use their upcoming footknights to represent the heavily armoured orcs of Mordor via a headswap.

That makes a lot of sense to me. I haven’t tried it myself yet, but it looks like several of the Victrix dark ages period kits would make good bodies for orc kitbashes, so the foot knights will probably be quite suitable too. Just need the right heads!

[Mikai]

Lovely work!. I was immediately thinking about a Dol Amroth usage when seeing the set by Victrix. It's a bit a pity that there is so much unneeded stuff at that sprue if I go only for those winged helmets and shields. Still not sure if I should get it or not.

The Norman's in gambesons didn't seem very "knightly" to me and I was unsure whether to use them, but adding wings to their helms and treating them as squires seems too.work.

Did you cut away the wings from the helmet or are those wings from another set or 3D-printed? If from the helmets from the Victrix sprue, how easy was it to cut them away? I thought about cutting them away (I don't really like the look of the helmet) but was not sure if I rather break them while doing so.

[Mammoth miniatures]

Guard captain of the cair Andros garrison.

I'm extending my scope to the various outpost of Gondor and I really like the idea of a more defensive force from cair Andros. This chap is made from a mix of victrix Anglo Danes, Gaul and fantasy parts. He's going to be the template for my generic gondor soldiers, although as a captain he has a feather helm rather than the winged helms the troops will have.

The green is my chosen colour of cair Andros. I've currently got a handful more dol Amroth, cair Andros, and Gondor levy primed and ready to paint, and I'm working on kitbashing some wildmen and orcs together. Although originally I was going to go for a watchful peace/early war of the ring era, I think I might play some games set during the kin strife with orcish incursions thrown in.

Tolkien doesn't actually write much about cair Andros despite saying it's a vital stronghold, and that some intense fighting took place their during the war of the ring. I'm filling in some of the gaps by imagining them as a defensive force - a fortress bound army of gondorian levy soldiers and professional siege masters.

[Mammoth miniatures]

And another one- this is the first of the general gondorian levy - a pikeman attached to the cair Andros garrison.

He's made from victrix Anglo Dane, norman and fantasy parts. Keeping the paintjob quick and simple here. Also having a few colour schemes on the go seems to be helping me stay on track and not get bored.





Here's the men so far -

[Little Odo]

These are coming along very nicely. Looking forward to seeing many more.

[Mammoth miniatures]

These are coming along very nicely. Looking forward to seeing many more.

Thankyou - there are indeed many more to come!

Lovely work!. I was immediately thinking about a Dol Amroth usage when seeing the set by Victrix. It's a bit a pity that there is so much unneeded stuff at that sprue if I go only for those winged helmets and shields. Still not sure if I should get it or not.
Did you cut away the wings from the helmet or are those wings from another set or 3D-printed? If from the helmets from the Victrix sprue, how easy was it to cut them away? I thought about cutting them away (I don't really like the look of the helmet) but was not sure if I rather break them while doing so.

yes there are alot of unusable heads - I may bag them up and sell them on at some point in the future because I really don't need all these templar style heads.
For the dol amroth knights I'm using the heads as is, but for the other warriors I've been slicing the wings off and adding them to the norman/saxon helms. they slice off very easily. I may make a little mould of the wings in future to avoid wasting so many heads this way, but for now I have enough.

[Tom Dulski]

 Great work, I'm really loving that building-ruin in the background. Can we get a shot of just that?

[Neldoreth]

Love the early medieval take on Tolkein stuff, always. Looking forward to seeing this project come together!

[Mammoth miniatures]

Great work, I'm really loving that building-ruin in the background. Can we get a shot of just that?

Sure thing. I made it from.scrap foam and an offcut of acrylic during a quiet day at work. It sits by my desk in my office and occasionally gets brought out as an example to students of how to weather architectural models. It was meant to be a super tiny skirmish demo board for salute 2025.

[Mikai]

yes there are alot of unusable heads - I may bag them up and sell them on at some point in the future because I really don't need all these templar style heads.
For the dol amroth knights I'm using the heads as is, but for the other warriors I've been slicing the wings off and adding them to the norman/saxon helms. they slice off very easily. I may make a little mould of the wings in future to avoid wasting so many heads this way, but for now I have enough.

Thanks for the response. It was a bit strange choice of helmet designs used there but they might wanted to fit it to the medieval sets. I would have loved to have all that helmet decoration separate so that I can decide myself to which helmet I add them.