Warg Riders progress

My son has been working diligently on his Warg Riders...here's a quick update on his progress.

At this point they've been painted and dipped with a medium brown stain. No matte finish on the ones pictured, so they're still pretty shiny...

There are six in all...2 with sword, 2 with spear, 2 with bow...

I wish he'd gone with a little more variety for color, but I let him paint them the way he wanted...they are, after all, his Warg Riders.

I think he's done a pretty good job for a 7 yr old...I do hope to get another set for me and try my hand at them. But lots of other projects at the moment!

Last Alliance Elves Finished!!

I finally got the time to finish my 16 Last Alliance Elves...Hopefully, they'll be pressed into service tomorrow night against a horde of Uruk Hai and Orcs. But not to worry...they'll have about 48 Wood Elves and 48 Dwarf Warriors to aid them, as well as another 16 Last Alliance Elves!

They aren't quite as dark in person as they appear in the pictures...I just haven't gotten my lighting quite right!

I dipped them in a medium brown Minwax stain...It seemed to work better than the darker one I used on my Wood Elves.

Like I said, they're not as dark as they appear here...

The battle line...

All things considered, I had a lot of fun with these. I enjoyed working with the brighter colors and learning to use the gold a little bit. The swords were done with FolkArt aluminum, the hilts and bows with FolkArt coffee bean...

Helping my son finish up his Warg Riders...Pics of those coming soon!

Think I'm going to start some Mordor Orcs next...we need more bad guys!

Last Alliance Elves started

I had the day off today, so I made use of the "free" time to block in most of the colors for my Last Alliance Elves...16 of them in all, 8 archers, 8 with blade...

Thankfully, these guys are only in 4 different poses and are uniform in color...so I can move fairly quickly without having to reevaluate each figure as I go...

The blue is pretty brilliant, but I think it will darken up when I get to the stain/wash stage...The gold is one I haven't used before, but I think I'm going to like it. The silver is Folk Art "aluminum"...best silver I've found by them so far...

As you can see from the paint splattered around here and there, I'm not real careful at this stage...I try and paint from the inside out to make it easier not to put paint where it isn't supposed to be, but it still gets around. No problem...I'll do a "touch up" stage right before I start highlighting. I hope to get these guys done this weekend...or at least in time for our next game of LOTR!

UP NEXT: My son's Warg Riders got primered black today...

Painted Uruk Hai and Wood Elves

Here's a sampling of what I've been working on...These two sets are the first miniatures I've ever really painted. There are a total of 20 Uruk Hai (my son's) and 24 Wood Elves (mine). I painted them fairly detailed, then attempted the "dip" method. They turned out a little darker than I anticipated, but overall I'm satisfied. I'll probably try and do lighter shades  on my Last Alliance Elves (also pictured)...

I was rather proud of my "white hand" on his captain's shield...

Also my first attempts at basing with flock and static grass...I like this stuff!

...and my Last Alliance Elves I just started today...

First LOTR game

Well, after many weeks of accumulating, painting, and preparing for a game, my son and I finally hooked up with another father/son combo for some LOTR Strategy Battle Game action!

We set up two armies...My son teamed up with the other dad with their Uruk Hai and Orc army...His son and I joined our forces of good-dwarves and wood elves. We fought in and around a ruined city complete with graveyard and a few trees...lots of difficult obstructions for my Elven archers.

Some of the Uruk Hai went straight through the city...

Others went up the left side to clash with the Dwarven forces...

Though really blurry, the top of the picture shows my wood elves taking on their troll. Meanwhile, the dwarves move to fend off the Uruk Hai in the midst of the city...

Ultimately, we called a draw...But it was a blast! Lots more troops and terrain in the making, and I hope to take more pictures next time out.

LOTR progress

Yesterday my son and I clipped and sanded the Wood Elves. They're just about ready to be primed. I can't decide whether to base them, then paint them...or paint them and then base them. Maybe we'll try some of each.

I also clipped and started sanding the Rangers of Middle Earth today...all of these figures so far are really cool!!

My first miniatures!!

My first miniatures (well, excluding the army guys I did about 10 years ago) arrived this week. I got four sets of Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings 28mm guys...some Wood Elves, Orcs, Rangers of Middle Earth, and The Last Alliance! All are very cool and I'm looking forward to putting them together and painting them!

However, I just discovered the online store Miniature Giant, which sells Reaper brand figures, and I already want some of those!

Hope to post pics of my LOTR guys soon!

Also, I think I'm going to have to start selling off some of my 1/6 scale military collection to fund my new hobby...  :(  But think of all the space I'll save scaling down from 1/6 to 28mm!!!