My hobby calendar across the year tends to get bookmarked by two main events – the Warhammer World Grand Tournament at the start of the year, and Throne of Skulls at the end of the year – this year was no exception, and it was whilst at the GT that I picked up the army I wanted to take to Throne of Skulls – Thorin's Company!
So, why Thorin's Company? Well, I've been to every Throne of Skulls since 2017, but only on one occasion have I taken an all-hero force, when I took an army themed around the heroes who fought in front of the Black Gate (Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Eomer, Merry, Pippin and Gwaihir (oh, and Beregond, because I had a spare 30 points!)). I had some really fun games with this army, and after running a few different lists in recent years, I decided to have another go.
Thorin's Company has some nice little dynamics that makes it a really fun force to both use and play against on the tabletop and, thanks to certain upgrades each dwarf can take, comes out at exactly 1,000 points – it seemed the perfect army for the event!
The first model I painted out of the Company was Gandalf the Grey, partly because there is a very strong argument that Thorin's Company wouldn't have existed without Gandalf, but mostly because he's probably my favourite model to paint – I've painted nearly every Gandalf the Grey sculpt in the range. I used various different shades of grey (unsurprisingly) on the robes, using darker tones for his outer cloak and lighter shades for the robes underneath. For his scarf, I stippled on some metallic paint to make it look silvery – I was really happy with how he came out.
Next, I made a start on the dwarves, and decided to pick them out based on how easy I thought they would be to paint. One of the models I initially thought would be easiest was Bombur – he has a very simple colour scheme compared to some of the other dwarves, but I took time to make him stand out – a short (no pun intended) while later, and he was done!
With two models done, I turned to the fourteenth (and most reluctant) member of the Company – Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit. I'd chosen a different model to the one in the Thorin's Company boxed set, choosing the Bilbo from the Riddles in the Dark set (one of my favourite chapters in the Hobbit). I did have a specific reason though, which will be revealed later! A few evening's work, and he was ready to join the Company!
My next dwarf was probably my favourite dwarf in the Company – Balin. It could be because of his King of Moria character in the game, or his friendship with Bilbo, but Balin is definitely my favourite dwarf. He also had a very simple colour scheme, so like Gandalf, I tried to use different shades of red for the inner and outer layers of his robes. I also tried some freehand around the trim, like he has in the film. It took a bit of patience, but I was really pleased with the result.
Having done Balin, I moved onto his brother, Dwalin. One of the heavy hitters of the Company, Dwalin has several different textures which makes him a fun model to paint – fur, leather, metal and skin – he took a bit of effort, but I was very pleased with how he turned out.
Three dwarves down, eleven to go – next up was Gloin. I'd painted various different versions of his son, Gimil, so I used a similar colour palette of reds and browns to tie the two models together – another few evening's work, and he was done. Progress on the Company coming along nicely!
With Gloin done, I moved onto his brother, Oin. Oin was a pretty easy model to paint, using a predominantly brown pallete, so I used various different shades in order to differentiate particular areas of the model (cloth, leather etc.). Despite there being limited colours, I was very pleased with how Oin came out.
Next, I turned to another one of my favourite dwarves from the Company – Bofur. I'm quite fond of Bofur because of his relationship with Bilbo in the films – he very much cares for the Hobbit, plus he's very well played by James Nesbitt. Bofur stands out quite a bit from the other dwarves due to the yellowish (I think it would technically be called tan or ochre) colour palette he has. There's also quite a bit of detailing on his tunic, so I made sure to carefully highlight each raised section to make them stand out – much like Dwalin, Bofur took a little extra effort, but I was really pleased with how he came out.
By now, you might have noticed from the photos that the models are not mounted on their usual bases – instead, I got hold of some bases made by Generation Shift, themed around the walkways of Goblin Town. I used various shades of brown to basecoat the boards, before applying a brown wash and a drybrush of Baneblade Brown over the whole base – I was very pleased with the end result, and the company looks great on them!
So, with 8 models done, I was now more than halfway through the Company, and had also managed to up my painted model count to 175 models! Stay tuned for Part Two, where I'll share how I got on with the remainder of the Company, and the most important part of my Throne of Skulls project – the display board!
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