Alternative of the Rings, starting pg.18

MOTN · **Joined:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 6:05 pm **Posts:** 147

Nearly time to put away my paints and get back onto the sculpting for another month or so – I like to do one or the other to keep a focus on the task at hand.

Finished the Goblin King to a tabletop quality. There's so much more I could develop on the paint job but I don't have the appetite for it at the moment, some day I might go back to it.

As I round off the Troll and Shaman conversion I need to turn my attention to all that terrain I got in Escape from Goblin Town...

.:Gunslinger:. · **Posted:** Mon Oct 28, 2013 11:26 am

I like him a lot! The skin tone looks very realistic and natural due to all the different hues of the skin! Very well excecuted! How do you paint your bases?

Crucium Giger · **Posted:** Mon Oct 28, 2013 12:39 pm

I'd say lovely job but I'm not sure lovely is the right word for him

MOTN · **Joined:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 6:05 pm **Posts:** 147

Miniature bases are simply Scorched Brown with a Bestial Brown drybrush, followed by a light bubonic brown drybrush (no idea what that translates to into the new insane games workshop paint names). Rocks are then drybrushed with grey.

I've finished off all my sculpting and basing on the miniatures, just need to get the light tent out and photograph them.

In the meantime I've started on some Goblin Town terrain!

Approaching this I'm aiming to be able to use the terrain for my own commercial purposes with Miniatures of the North (I'm planning a Greek Mythology fantasy game and this will represent the Underworld, photography scenery, battle reports, etc) so I'll be scratch building all the rocky platforms and only using the Goblin Town plastic terrain for a central throne set up.

The 'rocks' are drift wood from the pet shop, the base is simply foamcore with a bevelled edge and the wood bracers are simply modelling matchsticks. The planks and platforms will go on after painting. I did plan and level out the matchsticks based on how I intend the platforms to be placed, it wasn't random.

For the rock bases I always follow the rule of no straight lines on natural terrain, so everything is curved and kidney shape. I used a hot glue gun to stick the wood to the base, then filled it all in with filler, which I then stuck pebbles and the matchstick into. Once dry I painted it with pva and dipped it in sand.

Painting it I've simply used Burnt Umber Windsor and Newton paint, mixed in a tub with lots of PVA and sand – not quite a paste consistency but not far off it. Two coats are a must! Colour and texture and the same time. It's a little shiny at the moment but the drybrushing to come will sort that out.

The rocks I simply gave two washes of watered down Burnt Umber.

The rock the throne is sitting on is simply white polystyrene, shaped with filler and with the same paint texture recipe as the rock bases.

Next up- mass drybrushing...

Oldman Willow · **Posted:** Sun Nov 17, 2013 12:26 am

The driftwood is very effective

mertaal · **Posted:** Sun Nov 17, 2013 8:35 am

Great stuff- I look forward to seeing more. Especially like the multiple models on large bases. No issue in gameplay with them? They look really cool

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Dorthonion · **Posted:** Sun Nov 17, 2013 8:41 am

Driftwood - now that is an interesting and very effective approach - it has a great texture to it. With a little manipulation it could also serve as the planet setting for Alien, Aliens and Prometheus!

Sticky Fingersss · **Joined:** Sat Oct 09, 2010 11:20 am **Posts:** 1776

Looks wonderful! Are you going to make a little pool for Gollum's cave?

Fëanor, the mighty elf · **Posted:** Mon Nov 18, 2013 10:30 am

Awesome work there! The terrain looks fabulous, and so does the painting. Looking forward to see more. :yay:

Crucium Giger · **Posted:** Mon Nov 18, 2013 3:14 pm

Very effective looking scenery, would have never thought to use drift wood.

MOTN · **Joined:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 6:05 pm **Posts:** 147

Some shots of the completed miniatures ready for a white spray basecoat:

A little more work on Radagast:

Very early stages of Haldir:

Work on my Fallen Dwarves. More on these at a later date, I have my own fantasy setting in the works but I'll have a dual use for them as the Blacklock house of the Dwarves from middle earth.

Son of Fundin · **Joined:** Thu Sep 26, 2013 7:04 pm **Posts:** 258

These are really cool conversions, very well executed! Your green stuff work is so clear and clean when you get what I mean. I like the troll the most! But your goblin conversions are also very nice. Would you mind telling me, how you do your weapons?

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Sat Nov 23, 2013 9:29 pm

Wonderful conversion work - exquisite fine detail and neatly executed.

Sticky Fingersss · **Joined:** Sat Oct 09, 2010 11:20 am **Posts:** 1776

Wow those dwarves actually look like they could fit into middle earth!

MOTN · **Joined:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 6:05 pm **Posts:** 147

Sticky Fingersss wrote:

Wow those dwarves actually look like they could fit into middle earth!

Here's the original thread where I sculpted them: http://trollsforge.proboards.com/thread ... en-dwarves

July 2011.

Check out the Dwarf statues at the gates of Erebor in An unexpected journey. First I saw those was Dec 2012 in the cinema....

Obviously Weta came up with the design on their own but it's funny how my evil dwarf mash up is kind of similar. Hopefully my stylized helmets set them apart. I kind of see the Fallen Dwarf torsos/shoulders as almost Roman Centurion style.

When making weapons I simply chop up plasticard sheets. I use a chisel scalpel blade to chop the wedges/blade edges.

Crucium Giger · **Posted:** Sat Nov 23, 2013 11:37 pm

Lovely work as always, the conversions on the Goblins look great (as does the troll) and I don't think I need to comment of the Dwarves

Rohagen · **Posted:** Tue Nov 26, 2013 7:10 pm

This is the stuff I love to see. You made the horrible little goblins and king fun to look at and to game with. Really good work with the green stuff and the painting is top table. Way to go and Good show!

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Wed Nov 27, 2013 6:17 am

Helps bells there's some great work here. To start with, majestic conversions. The perfect round buckle on the goblin, the bulbous growths on the troll etc etc
Then the painting, the dwarves are my favourite withRadagast and Haldir coming along nicely.
You have some talent mate.

MOTN · **Joined:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 6:05 pm **Posts:** 147

Thanks for all the encouraging comments. I don't rate myself as that great a painter but for me it's more about style and atmosphere... and just having fun.

I don't take GW plastics too seriously so I can operate pretty loosely with minimal precision, and sometimes that works out well and shines through on the miniatures.

The goblins are very nearly finished, pics in a week or two of the complete force.

I'll need to decide which army to tackle after that.... once upon a time I owned literally everything for LOTR but flogged it all on ebay in 2005/2006. Late last year though I started picking up the odd sprue on ebay and now I have about 200 minis for various armies. It might need to be I do a LOTR army after these Goblins, then switch back to a Hobbit era army after that.

In the meantime, work in progress on my Fallen Dwarves with crossbows. For the first part of my own fantasy setting for them: http://miniaturesofthenorth.blogspot.co ... earth.html

Ugly mold line totally missed on the front of the leg here:

Rognarr · **Posted:** Sat Nov 30, 2013 9:49 pm

I am speechless again! The dwarves are amazing and I love the different colour scheme of the troll (the mold line is a pity though..)

Alternative of the Rings, starting pg.18

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