Dunedain, Elves, Orcs and.. Mr Wolf and Mason Go There and Back Again. 23/03

[Mason]

I have been thinking about a 'proper' Middle Earth project for a long time.
A very long time, actually.
About twenty five years or more.
The only problem was the stuff that was out there did not fit my feel for what the inhabitants of Middle Earth should look like.

The Citadel range was too 'cartoony' for my liking (well, there were a couple of exceptions, and I will utilise the ones that I like, in fact I have one waiting for paint) and the Mithril range just did not sit right with me.
The other thing with Mithril were the proportions of the figures, which I always found difficult to paint.
Both of these ranges would cost a fortune to use now, anyway, so there is another solid reason to look elsewhere.



I have always seen Middle Earth as more 'realistic' than a lot of current fantasy trends, especially the more 'popular' ranges. The non-human elements are certainly not what I am looking for.
A 'modern' Orc is way off of my impression of how Tolkien described them.
Most modern offerings are huge in comparison to a human and that would not be right.
Where the non-humans are concerned there were a few oldskool figures from the eighties that would work nicely for my take on things though.
In fact, these seemed just about perfect at the time so I will be using them
 

Of course, the recent film trilogy brought yet another take on the genre but to me there were a lot of things in the recent Peter Jackson offerings that did not fit with my view on things either.

Dont take this the wrong way, I enjoyed watching the films (in fact I was pretty blown away by the first film) and own them on DVD and I still watch them occasionally.
They are another vision of Middle Earth, just not mine.

This meant that the new range of figures based on the films would be out (well, mostly, although, again, there are a couple of things that I may use...).




When it came to miniatures for this project I always felt that Dark Ages figures would be most in keeping with the books as the level of armour and weapons always seemed about right.

A recent thread by Finarfin earlier in the year pointed me in just the right direction.
He did some sterling conversion work on some Ebob Normans.
His thread is here, and well worth a read: http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=51894.0

Having read it, it made my mind up: This was the way to go!


So bearing that in mind, here is the start of the first faction;

Gondor

I saw the majority of these figures for sale on the Bazaar some time ago and the thought hit me then that they would work well for Gondorians with a little tweaking.
I thought about it and thought about it....and then thought some more.
I looked again and again over the next few days and they were still sitting there unclaimed, so I thought 'Sod it! Get 'em!'
I ended up with forty of them in various poses.
They look just 'uniform' enough to give the right feel that I was looking for for Gondor.






I have no idea who made them or even if they are still available, neither did the fella who sold them to me.
Anyway here they are with a little green stuff slapped on them:




I have not converted all of them, only a few to see how they turn out.



They have had cloaks added and one has some simple experimental wings on his helmet.




As I intend to try out the SAGA rules for these chaps later on they are organised in groups of eight.
I have four units of standard Warriors and four units of other types of troops (Hearthguard, Levy, Bow-Armed Warriors etc)
so I shall be swapping between them for a little variety.

Time to think about painting the little fellas now...

[Blackwolf]

Looking good mate,cracking conversions and choice of figures

Despite life at the moment this thread may just be the inspiration I need...

PS Are you going to do any elves? Mine are all Redbox Games,about the only figures suitable; except for a lonely Asgard elf who is almost as old as me

Cheers
Wolfie

[Dr. Moebius]

Hi Mason,

great project. Will follow this!

The miniatures you use are Harlequin Saxons from the 90's and no longer available I believe.

I found a great blog some days ago with a similar project that might inspire you.
The guy uses Ebob Normans for the men of Gondor. Also a great idea.

http://jomada-adventures.blogspot.de/2013_03_01_archive.html

Cheers
Dr. Moebius

[Arthadan]

Then you'd probably want to check out Tanatus Miniatures from the same sculptor: http://www.northstarfigures.com/list.php?man=82

[Too Bo Coo]

Great idea Mate!

I'm toying around with a 'Highlander' Saga game.  I wanted to do a second force, of scots, and I thought to then just paint up a Kurgan for my Vikings...  Make up new or modified Battleboards...  It could be fun!

[LeadAsbestos]

Don't forget the old Vendel line, now Sgt. Major:
http://www.sgmm.biz/Bloody-Day-28mm-Fantasy_c_23.html

Some nice clean minis w/o such a cartoony feel.

[Mason]

Looking good mate,cracking conversions and choice of figures

Despite life at the moment this thread may just be the inspiration I need...

PS Are you going to do any elves? Mine are all Redbox Games,about the only figures suitable; except for a lonely Asgard elf who is almost as old as me

Cheers
Wolfie

Hello Mr Wolf!
I did not want to say anything yet in case you felt pressurised.
I look forward to your input with much rubbing of hands and general salivating!
Welcome aboard, mate!
 

As for Elves: I have not found anything that suits my view yet, so you Red Box away.
I have Dwarves, Mordor Orcs and Army of the Dead to do after this lot.
Gondor is going to take a while, though, as there is a lot of them.
Eight units and counting....

Hi Mason,

great project. Will follow this!

The miniatures you use are Harlequin Saxons from the 90's and no longer available I believe.

I found a great blog some days ago with a similar project that might inspire you.
The guy uses Ebob Normans for the men of Gondor. Also a great idea.

http://jomada-adventures.blogspot.de/2013_03_01_archive.html

Cheers
Dr. Moebius

Thanks for the info, Doc!
Harlequin, ya say?
Well spotted.

As for the Jomada link: I think that is Finarfin, who gave me the nudge to get going with this with his thread on the Ebob Normans.
Thanks for reminding me about the blog, though.
 

Then you'd probably want to check out Tanatus Miniatures from the same sculptor: http://www.northstarfigures.com/list.php?man=82

Thanks for the tip, Arthadan.
I shall check them out.
 

Great idea Mate!

I'm toying around with a 'Highlander' Saga game.  I wanted to do a second force, of scots, and I thought to then just paint up a Kurgan for my Vikings...  Make up new or modified Battleboards...  It could be fun!

Cheers, TBC!
This should be fun and a Highlander version sounds cool, too.
Dont forget that Spanish-Egyptian peacock with the Scottish accent!
 

Don't forget the old Vendel line, now Sgt. Major:
http://www.sgmm.biz/Bloody-Day-28mm-Fantasy_c_23.html

Some nice clean minis w/o such a cartoony feel.

Thanks, Chris!
Someone did mention them to me before, but I had forgotten.
Thanks for the reminder.
 

[Vermis]

Looking great. Fantastic to see more on this theme.

I have Dwarves, Mordor Orcs and Army of the Dead to do after this lot.

I'm not over-fond of the movies, but I think they have good visuals for most things in Middle-Earth, translating into decent minis for those three factions. (Apart from, as ever, Gee Dubya's ratcheting prices) No good for you?

For another source of dwarves, there's Hasslefree's 'norman' dwarf multi-packs. A bit too medieval-western-europe than dark-ages-nordic for my particular ME tastes too (and Tre Manor's ex-RBG dwarves, on the same page, a bit too Hagar-the-Horrible!), but not bad at all. Ditto with, but also pity about, the randomly-kitted characters.

For alternative army of the dead, if you don't mind them looking vikingish and zombiesque, there's these.

[Mason]

Looking great. Fantastic to see more on this theme.

Thanks, Vermis.
I hope I dont disappoint you too much.

I'm not over-fond of the movies, but I think they have good visuals for most things in Middle-Earth, translating into decent minis for those three factions. (Apart from, as ever, Gee Dubya's ratcheting prices) No good for you?

For another source of dwarves, there's Hasslefree's 'norman' dwarf multi-packs. A bit too medieval-western-europe than dark-ages-nordic for my particular ME tastes too (and Tre Manor's ex-RBG dwarves, on the same page, a bit too Hagar-the-Horrible!), but not bad at all. Ditto with, but also pity about, the randomly-kitted characters.

For alternative army of the dead, if you don't mind them looking vikingish and zombiesque, there's these.

As for the film versions of those factions: I do not mind the Orcs so much, it is the weaponry and armour that they are portrayed with that does not sit right with me, especially the Uruk Hai.

The Dwarven people are not far off of what I think is 'right' but the recent Hobbit film made them into a complete farce, far more so than the way Gimli was portrayed for comic effect in the LotR trilogy, and that grated. Any visual reference that reminds me of that would annoy me.
I also have always had a particular figure range in mind when it came to them from my initial wanderings into the hobby: the Asgard Dwarf range, although the Hasslefree option is a good one and may well see some use in the future.
 

As for your suggestion for possible Army of the Dead: My solution for those is not far off of that and consists of a fair old kit bash of various plastic options out there. It was originally going to be a basis for a WFB 3rd Edition Undead army but has morphed into this instead.

[OSHIROmodels]

Right then Mr Butterfly, I'm watching 

cheers

James

[moonshado]

Looks an interesting start to another great project, which I'll follow with delight. I'm happily surprised I found this one near enough at the start rather than 20 pages in. Those Tanatus figures scream out to be part of a Middle Earth force. Look forward to seeing your dwarves and orcs.

[Doomhippie]

Since my own project is kind of hibernating at the moment I'm really excited that you started a new Middle-Earth thread. Can you tell us something about the background? Do you plan to play along the War of the Rings storyline or some other time?

Anyway, no matter where you're going I'll be watching and enjoying it. Best of luck and keep at it...

[Funghy-Fipps]

I have a load of the Tanatus miniatures and I have to say they're probably some of the best 28mm miniatures I've ever seen. I concur more-or-less completely with your vision of Middle Earth and I too wish more companies produced 'serious' looking fantasy miniatures rather than the cartoony GW-inspired stuff that predominates. I guess I know what your going to use for your Orcs , but the ones from Thunderbolt Mountain are very nice as well.

[Vermis]

The Dwarven people are not far off of what I think is 'right' but the recent Hobbit film made them into a complete farce, far more so than the way Gimli was portrayed for comic effect in the LotR trilogy, and that grated. Any visual reference that reminds me of that would annoy me.

Say no more! I completely understand.

I had some unarmoured Tanatus saxons; planned to slowly replace a WAB saxon army with them, but that didn't go too far for a couple of reasons. Besides relative priciness and the fact Warhammer infuriates me in any genre, I personally found something odd about the high, hunchy shoulders. Despite my obvious hypercritical bent, I think I'd prefer less realistic saxons!

[aggro84]

Very cool Mason!
I am really looking forward to seeing more as I am a big fan of your work!