Some really neat conversions there! I like the red skin tones, they contrast nicely with the wargs

_________________
"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock." -Will Rogers

Great thread! Lots of inspiration here. I like the use of the Perry minis, as I've been thinking about using them in a Dol Amroth force.

Hey, all.

Been quite a long time since I posted anything. The whole Photobucket affair took the wind out of my sails for a while, and I didn't do too much painting for a while. Anyway, trying to get back into things.

Here's another slow-burning project centered around Bree.

These are some Bree-town guards. I imagine this to be a mainly ceremonial duty, largely involving standing round the Mayor at festivals and getting drunk afterwards. But as things get rougher in the North, they have had to become a bit more active lately.



The town watchers, on the other hand, are a bit more serious, standing guard at Bree's two gates during the day when they are open and ejecting any troublesome visitors from South-away.



The miniatures are Perrys, mainly from the HYW pikemen set. For Bree I'm trying to get a mix of late-medieval and Victorian aesthetics. I've kept the skin-tones rather darker than normal, since Breelanders are supposed to be swarthier than other Northern men. The three trees and the boar are inspired from LotRO, and some of them are based on actual NPCs in the game, like Second Watcher Heathstraw. Next up are some civilians.

Pictures aren't the best - I am still trying to figure out how to get the colors to show up properly. Any suggestions are welcome.

Nice to be part of the community again. Comments and criticisms are gratefully accepted.

Could also try scouring if the shire conversions, create your own poses and such. Add heads and stuff. Also, 3-D printing has wirked well for buildings for me. I do not do many conversions, but a decent printer could print body parts, too. I recomend Tinkercad, as they also offer printing services. Designing is free of charge, too! I like it so far, but would like to see them standing in some bree terrain facing some orcs and whatnot. Maybe Saruman, to show the beggining of the Scouring of the Shire. Great paint job, can't wait to see more!

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By all that you hold dear on this good Earth,
I bid you stand, men of the West!

Thanks, Cave Dragon. I am scouring the market for affordable Scouring of the Shire stuff to convert. Some of them are quite pricey. As for buildings, I've never been much of a terrain person, but I hope to knock together a building or two in the next little while.

Here are some more Breelanders, the ordinary working stiffs who have to fend off brigands and other riff-raff. From left to right, a woodcutter, a farmer, and a laborer.



Once more, these are Perry HYW minis, with some of the medieval details altered or removed (e.g. loose hose turned into boots) and some more modern details added (such as mutton chops). I finished these a while ago but have some more in the works.

Next up, villains.

Very nice, Bree is filling up with characterful models

I really like your Bree army, it is coming together nicely.
I also like how you give the impression of a non-professional army by mixing different "classes" of soldiers together.
The models are Perry Miniatures you said, are they plastic or metal?
And do you plan to play with them? If yes, which rules are you going to use?

Really cool idea. I am glad you are coming back to it. Your heraldry is very well done. This reminds me of third age total war's take on breeland. Have you taken any inspiration from there?

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"Draw your sword with a heavy heart, but swing it with a heavy hand"

Thank you!



Thanks very much. They are mainly metal, which I somehow find easier to convert than plastics; it's also hard to find good civilians to use in conversions, but the HYW has some very nice metal sets. I haven't actually played a game in at least seven years, so I think the chances are slim that they will take the field. But I have tried to standardize the different "classes" and their arms/armor so that they could be used in a game. Thus, peasants all have great weapons (farm tools), militia all have spears and shields, watchers have halberds, etc. Same goes for the ruffians.


No, I haven't. Never got that game. Is it worth playing?

Here are some of the brigands and villains who have causing trouble for Breeland.

Some half-orcs/goblin-men, the same breed as the leering, sallow-faced men the hobbits enounter in Bree in the Fellowship.


These fellows are camped in the countryside somewhere, preying on travelers, merchants, unwary farmers, and the like. I tried to get the complexion somewhat sickly and unpleasant. You may notice the one on the left has been "updated" from an earlier incarnation on the first page of this plog.

Here are two cutpurses (or cut-throats!) who haunt the darker alleys of Breetown, relieving passersby of their silver.

"Your money or your life!"

The bases for these conversions are Perry HYW and WOTR plastics. The half-orc heads are from the orc hunter set, trimmed down and altered to look more human. The colors don't come across so well, but I am trying to use black and murrey as common colors among the villains.

C&C welcome.

Loving these half-orcs! Very close to how I would imagine them from reading the books. They look properly evil, but still human enough.
Very inspiring!

Thank you very much!

Following advice from a view comments ago, I decided to make some terrain. Impressed by Mapper's outdoor photos I decided to do the same.



The grain field is made from a coir doormat. I cut it into strips so that units can stand "in" the field.



And a shot of the field with some other little terrain pieces, a signpost and a wattle fence.


Two farmers discuss the state of their harvest.

The fence is made from dried pine needles and toothpicks as the post, brushed in watered glue to stiffen them. They are a bit fiddly to work with but look quite good when done. I got this idea from some online forum or other.

I also tried to make the basing compatible with my other collections.

5th New York Infantry rushing into action.

And finally, some Breelanders and brigands in the WIP stage:



Enjoy!

I think so but only if you are a fan of older total war games and can put up with the bothers of modding. It is a full conversion mod made for Medieval II total war. Some of the pictures and art are still around if you do a search for them.

I really like the brigand with the longsword on the right. He looks like a proper gentleman robber.

_________________
"Draw your sword with a heavy heart, but swing it with a heavy hand"

That's a pretty nice farm !

Thanks for the call out I like doing outside pictures when the light is right - I usually get better picures in shade than full sun but I just like taking my hobby outside of my painting desk. Nice wattle fence - you might have gotten that idea from me - see my wip page 2. Yours look better painted.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

Very interesting. I might get it then. I actually prefer the older versions to the new ones.



I'm delighted you like him! He is shaping up to be one of my favorite conversions ever. Actually he is a Breelander - I will have more on him when he is painted.



Thanks!



Yes, you're quite right, that's exactly where I must have seen it. Glad you like it.

Another absence from posting here, it seems, but I have not been idle in the meantime. Finally I had a chance to take pictures of some of my recent work.


Some Bree-men. L-R a baker, an "adventurer," two farmers, and a hunter. The adventurer is one of those beer-hall boasters who impress the ladies with luxuriant moustaches and tales of derring-do. He claims to have unearthed his greatsword in a tomb on the Barrow-downs, but there are rumors he merely found it in an attic somewhere.


Some more ruffians. The one in the middle is inspired by Shakespeare's Bardolph.


A dwarven adventurer, a dwarf-lord, and a test model for some Easterlings, based on a Gripping Beast jomsviking with some minor additions.


Some warriors of Angmar. They are old metal Army of the Dead guys with some GS work on their decomposed faces.


Some more bucolic Bree-land terrain.


A close-up on the beehives.

They came out rather shiny, and I would like to spray them with something to reduce the glossiness that seems hard to avoid with acrylics. But I have had some bad results with Testors in the past. Any recommendations for other brands are welcome.

More to follow when I have the chance to take pictures again.

The beehives are my favorite. The homemade trees turned out well, too.

_________________
"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock." -Will Rogers

Terrain tutorials please. Those fences and bee hives are amazing.

_________________
By all that you hold dear on this good Earth,
I bid you stand, men of the West!

Thank you!


I assume you mean the wattle fences? Those are quite simple but a little fiddly to make.

1. Collect some pine needles. These are just eastern white pine needles from my front yard. I let mine dry out a good long while, which makes them stiffer but more brittle.

2. Cut some posts to size and glue to plasticard. These are cut from toothpicks.

3. Here's the tricky part. Slot the needles in between the posts from above. It's simplest to take several at once. They should be stiff enough to "lock" into place against the uprights. With each successive bunch, start at a slightly different spot or cut to a different length. And with each new bunch, try to arrange them on the opposite side of each post as the previous bunch.

4. When the fence is half as high as you want, apply watered down glue and let dry before resuming.

5. When you paint, make the basecoat quite thick.

Beehives are more straightforward. Just lumps of GS, with the grooves pressed in with a sculpting tool. Table is plasticard. When you paint, paint across rather than along each ridge to imitate the texture of rope, which was commonly used for medieval beehives.

Brilliant and characterful work again! Especially the beehives are a nice touch.