Speaking of Middle Earth

After playing in a mammoth (400+ minis) 1st Age ME Chainmail game at Garycon last month, my Moria project is all the more on my mind. Beyond that though, I'm looking at getting things together for a broader LOTR scope beyond Khazad Dum.

I picked 30 or so WFB High Elves on eBay recently to represent some 1st Age Gondolin-style fun. And I also unearthed several sprues of WFB dwarfs I'd bought years ago on a charity auction. Between those, the Rohan cavalry, all my orcs and goblins, and the Minas Tirith soldiers, I think I could field some gnarly battles!

So my goal now is get the elves and dwarfs and horsemen prepped for painting. Warm weather is here so spray primer opportunities should be easier to come by (at least until the humidity sets in). I think I will try some TAP color primers to speed the paint process along for these minis.

Apart from that, the Moria terrain still addressing and I'll probably want some ME scenery for "normal" surface battles.

Futzing about

I painted up one of the RAFM "Tribe of the Midnight Sun" cavalry figs I'd bought who knows when. They'll make a nice little rohirrim unit along with the plastic celtic horsemen I have from Wargames Factory. I also painted one the GW Dark Elves with the TAP warpaints. It came out fine, so I won't need to sweat a lot of color issues from the dried out older pots.

(Pics to follow soon) Here are the pics (lousy though they are):

TAP Goblin Pics

TAP Mega Set: More thoughts

Back from Garycon, I sat down and painted a GW Moria goblin archer captain (pics to follow) last night using the Army Painter set. The paints are smooth and cover well. The metallics are fine and the inks give a nice wash (Strong Tone is roughly equivalent to Badab Black from GW).

The color limitations aren't really much of an issue (so far). I was able to make a fairly convincing reddish skin tone with one drop each of the barbarian flesh, lava orange, and leather brown. I'd like a Tin Bitz, but I still have my GW pot for that, and it could probably mix that from the bronze, brown, and gun metal.

I am thinking about using them to speed paint some night goblins (Skull Pass), but I should probably stay focussed on the Moria project for now.