The Eagles & Elves are coming...

I went home to visit my parents this weekend to celebrate my birthday so I didn't get any painting done - I did however pick up a lovely haul of miniatures to play with over the coming months.

Mum & Dad kindly agreed to buy me a selection of Elves and Men of the Last Alliance - I've had the heroes and bowmen / swordsmen for a while now but haven't managed to pick up the (rather more expensive) spearmen to round out the army. I now have enough spearmen to complete my warbands and the command pack will make two banner bearers for my forces.

12 High Elf Spearmen

9 Numenorean Spearmen + High Elf command

Sticking with the elven theme I also asked for two packs of Galadrhim - these guys will be ranked up with Haldir to command them for a Helms-Deep themed force.

And finally, my sister bought me a box of Giant Eagles - I've wanted these Hobbit miniatures for a while now because the detailling on them is exquisite. I couldn't resist building them as soon as I got home so here are two mostly-assembled eagles.

They are appropriately huge compared to the standard miniatures - check out that wingspan

Workspace Upgrade

I've been thinking about getting some proper storage for my workspace for a while now and I finally decided on these paint hangers from HobbyZone. They're designed to be hung on the wall, but with the hanger removed they fit perfectly under my windowsill, and thanks to their tiny footprint (just 5cm deep) I still have room for my worktop protector (an upside down Ikea chopping board!).

The hangers set me back just over £30 (including shipping) and whilst I was initially a little hesitant about the cost I was pleased to find that they are worth every penny. The pieces fitted together easily thanks to a neat interlocking slot design and the frames are made of a good solid mdf. The white finish to the interior gives them a really good finish and I would definitely buy these again. It's not particularly obvious from the photo but each shelf is tilted backwards slightly so that the paint pots stay securely in place - with the GW paints I can fit 32 pots on each rack.

Moria Goblin Spearmen (3 of 3)

We had a busy weekend and I only managed to get these fellows to their initial washed stage by the end of Sunday, however I had a bonus day off today and I managed to finish their highlights this afternoon.

That's all the rank & file troops painted now, with only their leaders and the cave troll left to go - they look quite nice all ranked up on the table together.

The bases are for display purposes, and not for gaming, and I will be painting these up and theming them to match the army. They are a non-standard 6x2 so that each SBG warband can be displayed on it's own base - I elected to cap my warbands at 11 troops, rather than 12, so that every swordsman can have spear support (and so that they look pretty in my display cabinet!)

Last Alliance Elf - Test Model

I've started working on a test model for my Last Alliance elves - it's still very rough and ready at the moment but the colour scheme is starting to take shape.

I've chosen a different colour scheme from the traditional GW blue cloaks/tunics for these guys - I was re-watching the films recently and noticed that whilst Elrond & Gil Galad wore blue cloaks the rank & file troops definitely didn't.

My go-to reference book(1) notes that Gil-Galad and Elrond wore midnight-blue cloaks, "the colour of [the] king's banner", with the other elves wearing cloaks of Elven Silk "coloured a silver grey-green". When looking for a nice grey-green paint I discovered that GW don't actually make that colour so I have mixed my own up from what I had on hand. I may try and find a 'proper' shade from another range (I think some of the WW2 ranges should have something appropriate) but for now the mixing wasn't too awkward and gave reasonable colours.

Elrond & Gil-Galad will have deep blue cloaks and Glorfindel will probably have one too to keep all the commanders the same. My banners will also be coloured with deep blues & golds to carry the theme.

I decided to go with non-metallic gold simply because I've always wanted to try the technique and these guys seemed like a good opportunity to use it. I used the colours and methods from this tutorial and added a couple of green washes at the end to get the tone I wanted. My blending is still pretty rough but I'm hoping that will improve with practice!

At present the colours I have used are;

NMM Gold

• XV 88 Basecoat
• Washed with Agrax Earthshade
• Highlighted with Balor Brown then Zamesi Desert
• Outlined with White Scar
• Washed twice with Athosian Camoshade

Cloak

• 2:1 mix of Skavenblight Dinge : Elysian Green
• Highlights done by adding Dawnstone and eventually White Scar

Under-skirt:

• 2:1 mix of Stormvermin Fur: Ogryn Camo
• Highlights done by adding Administratum Grey and eventually White Scar

(1)Reference Book: "The Lord of the Rings" Weapons and Warfare by Chris Smith

Moria Goblin Archers (3 of 3)

This weekend I finished up my last batch of Moria Goblin archers - just one more set of spearmen left to paint and I'll have finished all of the foot soldiers.

Life continues to conspire to keep me from my painting thanks to a recurring cold, but hopefully it will let up soon and I can get my first army finished up.