What IS that??

A pretzel gone horribly wrong?

No, it the water outside the doors of Durin. You know, the water part of "The Watcher in the Water"?


Remember when I started making the lake/pond for the terrain? Well, this is (finally) the next step. The border was covered in a mix of sand, PVA glue, and water and left to dry. I purposefully wanted it a bit sloppy to give it a natural look. The brown rectangle outside the edge is just a scrap of cardboard I laid down to catch the drips. The few edges and corners of foamcore peeking out will be further obscured by flocking and paint. The center of the MDF board will get a water effect similar to my modular river pieces. Though the pond will be more a murky greenish shade. Once the water and the border are painted, I'll add a few bits of scrub brush on the edges and some grass flocking. The piece should be usable as water terrain for any scene, but should serve admirably for the tentacle fight at Moria's entrance.

My Preciousss

So I was thinking about all this Lord of the Rings stuff and I realized that as long as I was including non-Moria figures like the Nazgul, then I should probably have a mini for a character that was actually at Moria in the books and movies. Namely, Smeagol aka Gollum.

Since I didn't really feel like spending $20-30+ for the GW ones, I picked up an unpainted Mithril Miniatures figure set from Noble Knight Games on eBay. It's 32mm scale, includes Bilbo and Gollum, and was about $10 (with S&H).

I don't know that I'd use Bilbo in a skirmish, but it's sort of cool to have a mini for him too.

Do not Disturb the Water.

I had mentioned before about my concerns about the Watcher in the Water, and spent the last couple weeks trying to find a non-scratchbuilt solution. Oddly, tentacle minis aren't as plentiful as you'd think. Oh, there are things like "Chaos Bits" to add to the figure, but just monster tentacles are somewhat limited.

After getting sniped on an eBay auction for the old GW watcher bits, I finally found something worth giving a try at Auggie's Games. They arrived yesterday and –I have to say– I am pleased. Check these bad boys out!

Look out, Strider!

All six plus S&H was about $25. They are pre-painted, but look pretty darned good, IMO. I think I may try to make the bases more "watery" (and I may add a color coded dot to each base to keep the pseudopods straight during combat) but otherwise they are exactly what I was after. 

...Now I just need to finish the pool and the doors. 

The Nine have left Minas Morgul!

Or at least the painting table. 

I finally finished the last of these Reaper wraiths that I bought to use as my Nazgul. As mentioned previously, the Witch King is Murkillor. The wraiths came in 4-packs from the Dark Heaven line.

These are very simple paint jobs (the flame on WK's sword is the fussiest part of all of them). Just black primer and some grey highlights. The armor and weapons are 50-50 black & gunmetal. A bit of stone basing and voila! These once great kings of men are ready to do Sauron's will!

Not exactly from Moria, but good for spooky undeads and for general LOTR goodness.

Pics as Promised

Skull Pass Baddies

LOTR/Moria figs

The "Nazgul" is a Reaper wraith that I bought two 4-packs of years ago, along with Murkillor as the Witch King. The idea was to acquire the Nine cheaper than the GW sets. I only have a couple left to do. 

GW Dark Elves

Furlough figure painting

For those few of you reading this blog who were not aware, I am a federal employee and have been furloughed these last two weeks (yay. :-/ ). On the up side, I have had time for painting. I'll try to get some pics up later, but I am heading out of town tomorrow for a few days (trip was planned and paid for weeks before the shutdown), so if I don't manage it today, it may be this weekend.

On the Moria front, I finished the cave troll from the "Mines of Moria" box set. I also painted a few figs from the WFB "Skull Pass" set: a night goblin, a spider rider, and a troll. I even finished three Dark Elf crossbowmen!

I have also actually been working on a commission from my brother. His new RPG "Call of Catthulhu" has been getting some nice reviews and he wanted some kitty minis to go with his demos, etc. I have one more to do, then I'll be finished with his order. I can't post pics of them yet until he gives the say-so. For the record, though, these minis are TINY! They are Reaper figs, I believe from their familiars packs. Thank goodness they don't need complex paint jobs. Although I have tried to do different breeds. So far there is a "Tuxedo" (black & white), a Siamese, a Russian Blue, a Calico, and a pure white shorthair. The last one will be an orange tabby. I've also tried to have fun with some of the bases (GW 1/2" squares).

Shadow & Flame (finally!)

Well, I have declared the balrog table-ready! He's been spray varnished and photographed, so now he's ready to drag some wizards off some bridges.

I beefed up the base with some green stuff for stability and added  a few Hirst bricks and gravel for rubble. The broken axe was part of the sculpt, but the cracked shield and the skull (in back) were added.

Going for the whole "fire on the inside" look.

Distance shot.

Not 100% happy with the molten sword, but it gives you the idea. The "stripes" on the wings are more molten-y goodness.