One thing I've not really talked about much on this blog post is scenery. Mostly because it's something I very rarely paint, or at least, it is in terms of my own collection. I don’t collect much scenery, simply because it takes up a lot more space than models do. However, recently I've been on something of a scenery kick for the East Anglia Hobbit Community.
This scenery project consisted of four sets of Gondor Ruins we'd managed to pick up for a decent price, so I took on the task of putting together a table's worth of terrain for the club.
For two of the Ruins, I assembled them according to the instructions that come with the kit, allowing me to create four different style ruin pieces. One thing that really impressed me when putting the kits together was how well the kit utilised each part from the sprue – there was almost nothing left over in terms of spare parts.
For the other two sets, I decided to abandon the instructions and do some freestyling. One thing I was sure I wanted was a tower-style ruin, so I built up the structure, incorporating more damaged pieces as I went higher – I was really pleased with how it looked, and fortunately I had enough pieces left over in the set to make a smaller ruin, built just out of a dozen leftover parts – another plus on how good these kits are.
For these ruins, I wanted them to look different from the Osgiliath scenery I'd painted previously, so I themed the colour scheme around the ruined north kingdom of Arnor. I started by spraying them with Zandri Dust spray, before applying a zenithal spray of Wraithbone. I then washed the ruins with thinned-down Sepia wash, before applying a drybrush of Palid Wych Flesh. I then picked out the woodwork with a dark brown Contrast paint, before applying a light drybrush of a khaki colour to make it look old.
Lastly, the ruins needed basing. I mounted them on some plasticard sheets, cutting them to size and sanding the edges so they were smooth – I found the foamboard bases on the Osgiliath pieces were warping slightly, so I was hoping the plasticard would be a bit more rigid. I then glued sand to the base, painted it brown, drybrushed it with khaki and added static grass – the ruins of Arnor were complete!
We decided our army would be comprised of the various people in Middle Earth who have committed deeds of treachery and betrayal – my half of the army consisted of the following models: Lord Thorne of the Wold, Freca, Lord of the Westmarch, The Master of Laketown, Alfrid the Counsellor, Gollum and The King of the Dead. We also had a few spare points leftover, so I added two Rohirrim Traitors to act as Thorne's bodyguards.
I started with The King of the Dead, because I'd wanted to try painting him as he appears in the film. I painted the model as normal, and then covered it with several glazes of green, giving him his ghostly appearance – I was very satisfied with the end result, something I'm looking to now apply to the plastic version of the model!
Next up was Gollum, one of the easier models to paint – I'd painted him a number of times before, so I used the same colour schemes I had previously – a couple of evening's painting later, and Gollum was ready!
With two models down, I turned to Alfrid and the Master – both have similar schemes, such as the fur on their clothes, boots etc. Alfrid was painted using a fairly dark palette, although I messed up by painting his fur an off-white when it's black in the films. However, having seen the finished model, I think it still works. The Master was fun as he wasn't a model I'd ever planned on painting, but it was a lot of fun using some rich colours to try and highlight his wealthy status. It helps that they painted up fairly quickly too!
Next, I moved onto the Rohan contingent, starting with Thorne and the Traitors. Thorne I painted up as per the official colour scheme, apart from his cloak – I removed the cowl and painted it green to match the green cloaks the Traitors wear on the TV show. I also used the official colour scheme for the Traitors, but used some older Rohirrim models rather than the newer poses – however, the colour scheme worked just as well on them.
Last but not least was Freca – again, I stuck to the GW colour scheme – he was a bit fiddly because of the intricate details such as the gold trim on his armour and straps on his boots, but he was still a really nice model to paint – the Forgeworld characters really are great sculpts.
Last but not least, the Traitors needed a Round Table to have their "friendly" debates – the main structure was a diorama base if found on eBay – I then added the wall panels using MDF archways I found on Etsy – these were considerably larger than first expected, so I trimmed them down to size before gluing them together. The flooring was made using an air-drying clay that I then ran a texture roller over to create a floorboard look. I then painted the floor in the same way I'd painted the bases, applying a dark brown Contrast paint and then drybrushing it with Steel Legion Drab. The walls also got covered in the same Contrast paint, and were drybrushed with a reddish brown. I then hot-glued some led lighting to the top panel of the display, and the Round Table was ready!
Last but not least, you really can't do the Traitors without having Claudia Winkleman there. This model was designed using Hero Forge's custom model designer programme. It was a lot of fun trying various poses and styles, and we of course had to add a Palantir for extra themeyness. I then painted Claudia to go on the board, making sure she had her famous fringe and fingerless gloves – it's always the little details that matter!
With that, our army was ready for battle! We also had some custom dice, and our special "Palantir of Misfortune", designed to give our enemies an edge over us in the games (after all, Traitors very rarely have a positive impact), and the opportunity to give away frog-themed chocolate treats, something we've always done at Seven Stones. Sadly, we lost all six games and finished plum last – who knew that an army of betrayers, backstabbers and oath-breakers wouldn't work well together?
So, to progress – thanks to these models, I've now passed the 100 models painted mark for this year. Pretty good progress, although after some intensive painting in January, February and early March, it was nice to take things a bit more sedately through April and May! Looking forwards, I have a couple of projects I'm hoping to finish before the end of the year – stay tuned to see what those might be!
