Hey all, we begin another year of SBG, in a new edition! While we wait for the much desired 'Armies of Middle Earth' and Legacy PDF, I'm not too concerned, as I have plenty to get on with for my painting.
I expect this year to take a bit of a hit for my painting numbers. Firstly, we shall be moving house in the next few months (at last!), and also my partner has got herself a place on an intensive course that'll mean I need to pick up the slack at home to help her out. This is obviously fine and worthwhile, but just some things to consider so that I set myself reasonable goals for the year.
Beginning this year on 316 models in the paint pile, and bearing in mind the limitations that I shall have, I'm going to set myself the target of painting 90 models and getting my painting queue down to less than 240 models (as I will almost certainly...probably already have bought new models for the pile).
So with that target in mind, my first two months of 2025:
Jan
I decided to start the year with an easy model, something heroic that would hold my attention. So it made sense to kick off with Aragorn, who I had received from Mr CJ, a good while ago. I had long admired the Weathertop Aragorn in his nice action pose.
I found that his naturally dark tones played nicely into my painting style, as I tend to avoid bright and vivid colours, unless the model cries out for them.
My next project was a community donation that I took last year, promising to paint up for our local league...and then promptly forgot until a few days before our opener.
Luckily, this was just a matter of drybrushing up layers of stone, using the Osgiliath recipe James and I used at last years Seven Stones. For the statue itself, I started with Warplock Bronze covered with Leadbelcher. I then glazed it with Gulliman blue (to help with the bronzed look) and washed it twice with Agrax Earthshade to darken the tone right down again. In my opinion, I nailed the shade.
With that sorted, I was able to start topping up an existing army, for an event in April, where I shall be taking Defenders of Edoras. So I decided to start off with Helm's sons, first up being Haleth. I decided to make a few changes to his colour scheme from the films, not out of any dislike for the appearance, but to make him match my existing Helm better. My Helm's most prominent feature is the green enamelled armour (pictured below), so I opted to use that for Haleth also.
I also changed the leather colour of his horse and went for a shade that I felt suited the colours better.
This then led onto Hama, I did originally intend to paint in the film's design. But as I began, it seemed to make sense to keep the green theme as a Royal family theme. So I changed his armour to match Haleth and Helm.
Feb
I began February with a quik repair job, replacing a broken Rider's sword with one of Eomer's spares from his sprue.
Next, I did the 6 Riders of Rohan that had been sat awaiting their moment in the Battle of the Pelennor box from 2018, finally seeing their time!
I thought that I would include a side by side of two Riders here. On the left, a newly painted one, and on the right, one that I painted back in 2013. I thought this would be a nice comparison of improvement over the years.
Finally for February, I cracked open the first of my new plastic warriors, getting the first 6 Warriors of Rohan painted. They are absolutely gorgeous models while still looking similar enough to the old ones to not ruin it for old fans.
And that was me done for the beginning of the year. Next up for me will be the other 6 Warriors of Rohan (the last 12 of the set will be used for Lord Thorne's naughty boy brigade). I'll also get a handful of models done for Seven Stones, where James and I have come up with a completely original theme.
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