Mithril Miniatures Evil Army: Part 3.

 I have painted six Mithril Miniatures M103 Giant Spiders. These were initially released in 1989 and were meant to represent the giant spiders of Mirkwood.

They are mounted on the larger bases (125mm x 100mm) partly to represent monstrosities in the Midgard rules, and partly because they are quite large models. I enjoyed assembling them more than I thought as the legs are all separate to the one piece body section. My experience with gluing GW Tomb Scorpions lead me to dread assembling these, but they fitted together nicely, and allowed a lot of customisation of poses to give that extra creepy feel.

I painted them in the vague style of false widow spiders, but avoided a direct copy as I thought it would spoil their own style. I don't like False Widow spiders after being bitten twice by them over the last few years, the first time requiring antibiotics! So the colour choice was an purposeful extra creepy choice for me. Anyway, I am very happy with the way they have turned out, and I was happy that my positioning of the legs on or around the rocks seemed to have turned out nicely.

Enjoy :)

All six spiders.

All six spiders again. 

Skittering spider.

Scuttering spider.

Sneaking spider.

Crawling spider.

Creeping spider.

...and finally a lurking spider. 
(I though name them rather just type spider six times!).

Next update will be some more Orc warriors.

Mithril Miniatures Evil Army: Part 2,

Here are the first batch of painted Mithril Miniatures Orcs.

I have gone for dark look to give them that evil horde feel, and I thought that a rocky looking base would also help with that, suggesting the mountains around perhaps Mordor, the Misty Mountains, or the Lonely Mountain.

Painting over a black undercoat I painted the flesh tone Citadels Storm Vermin fur, whilst the clothing and equipment were kept to browns, black, grey, and occasional reds and greens. For the metals I chose to go for a rusty look using Citadels Typhus Corrosion, highlighted with a little silver to give the impression of chipping to the rust. Overall I wanted to maintain some of the dark depth from the black undercoat. I achieved this though mainly dry brushing and adding coloured paint more to suggest the upper colour over a dark overall feel, without getting bogged down in too much detailing.

I am very pleased with how they turned out. I like the dark look of them, and I think that the mixed earth brown  and grey bases give a more realistic feel to the rocky terrain.

Enjoy :)

The first three groups of four bases of Orcs in column, plus an Orc hero.

Battle lines. 

One of the groups of four.

Orc Command.

M333 Lugburz Great Uruk,

Next update will be more Orcs. I shall be continuing updating the blog on the Mithril Miniatures until they are completed, which may be by the end of April as I am speeding through the painting, and only occasionally being distracted by other things!

Mithril Miniatures Evil Army: Part 1.

This is a collection I have kept returning to, tinkering with, and adding to over the years, but now finally I have reached the stage where I am ready to finish it. I first starting collecting Mithril Miniatures in about 1995. I liked the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings books and was intrigued by the grey primed miniatures which looked quite different from the Citadel and Grenadier miniatures ones I had collected before. In fairness, I mainly liked the Orcs and Trolls, but wasn't taken with some of the other miniatures. So I largely collected the Orcs and Trolls on and off over the years, but could never settle on forming an army of them until this year when the Midgard rules were released. 

With the Midgard rules I feel I have a better way of basing them than having to have individually based blocks of 20 or 30 miniatures as per Warhammer or the Lord of the Rings Strategy Game. As many of the Orc miniatures are sculpted running it means that I can position them on the bigger bases in a way which reflects their more dynamic posing. It also means that fewer miniatures can go a lot further, although there are still several hundred Mithril Miniatures in this army.

A problem with Mithril Miniatures is that most of their ranges from over the years are now out of production, and they are not going to re-release any of them (I don't know why). This meant e-bay or private companies with some stock. Luckily though I already had most of what I required. One thing which I did find though when organising and basing them was that I had to alter the recommended number of miniatures on a base. To give the miniatures some room, and to make them look good, I had to reduce the number of Orcs to six per base, the Trolls to three per base, and skirmishers to three per base also. I have also only placed three wolf riders per base, but I might re-base these to four.

The following blog update is most of the Evil Army. I still have some Nazgul, and a few other odds and ends. Also, it has been a couple of weeks since I photographed the army and I have started painting them with some momentum. So there will be several painted miniatures on blog updates soon!

Enjoy :)

Orc Warriors.
There are nine groups of four bases (36 bases) each with six Orcs on. I have grouped the bases into fours, with one of the four a 'command' base with standards, etc. This doesn't matter for Midgard, but looks good, and also means I can still use them for other systems if needed. There is a good mix of various Mithril Miniatures Orcs here, with a few conversions/repairs and alternative weapon/shield additions.

Side view.

Orc archers.
These are largely made up of the M46 Orc Archer. I replaced the bows as those that weren't missing were either broken or I deemed too fragile.

More Orc Archers.
On the subject of fragile, these are the Orcs from the Orcs of Mordor boxset. Over the years many of the bows were bent or broken, a box of them being squashed about 15 years ago didn't help! So I replaced all the broken bows with brass rod and green stuff.

Skirmishing Orc archers.

Trolls.
Over time I might add a sixth base of trolls to the army.

Warg Riders.
As i mentioned, I might re-base as I am not sure about the three to a base for these. 

Two Orc Shamans, and an Orc Commander (centre).
The Orc Commander is the M93 Zalg miniature, but I could easily use him as Bolg or an Orc version of Gothmog at the Battle of Pelennor Fields, or any other Orc warlord.
The Shaman on the left is M452 Orc Animist, whilst the one on the right is M99 Karagat the High Priest. I am not sure if Karagat is an Orc, but he does look Orc-ish. the miniature comes with a naked and bound female sacrificial victim, which I didn't think would look right on the base.  

M333 Lugburz Great Uruk, M149 Half Troll, M164 Azog, MS504 Grishnakh.

Orc leaders from the MW336 Orcs of Mordor Warband box set.

MS552 Bolg's Standard Bearer, and an Orc from the M281 Strider fighting Orc Chief, Orc from the MM303 Great eagle attacking Orc (with an added shield), and a spare MM310 Mordor Orc Standard Bearer. 

M309 Orc Warband Leader, M334 Lugburz Captain with Whip, one of the M311 Mordor Orc Archers, M150 Uruk.

MZ675 Warg Captain with Wargs.
To the side are two M25 Large Wargs with I might use as Warg heroes, or re-base and mix in with the Warg Riders.

MS561 White Hand Orc Wolf Rider, and two of the Salute 2008 Orc Chieftain on Enormous Wolf. I have several other of these to add to the army

M103 Giant Spiders.
I love these, really creepy and crawly. I have actually already painted these up. The legs had to be stuck on individually, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (gluing together GW's metal Tomb Scorpions was a lot worse!).

Shelob from the MB396 Shelob's Lair.
The Orc next to her is on a 40mm round base, to give an idea of her size.

M78 Razarac.

The next update will be some of the above miniatures painted. I have already started working my way through them over the last three weeks.

Die Hard Miniatures Eru-Kin based to Midgard rules: part 3.

 This is the last Eru-Kin update for now, a final fling for froggy February! I had finished painting these a couple of weeks ago, and have moved on to painting Mithril Miniatures Orcs and other evil things, but as I have a blog backlog, here are the last of the Eru-Kin for now.

I have painted the some of the core troops, another couple of heroes, and an artillery piece with a difference. They have been great fun to paint and I have learnt a few things for when I come to paint my 1980s Slann later in the year. I also enjoyed basing them on the larger bases as I think it allows me to position them in a more naturalistic way.

Enjoy :)

Core infantry.
These bases of infantry represent the professional soldiers of the Eru-Kin, similar to the Bull Slann of the old 3rd Edition Slann army list. I chose to give each regimental base the same weapon and helmet to suggest a more uniform and organised military unit than the tribal warriors. I have also painted all of the non-tribal Eru-Kin in the classic Slann green flesh colour, saving the more exotic skin colouration for the tribal warriors.

The green plumed regiment.

The blue plumed regiment.

The red plumed regiment.

The pink plumed regiment.

Tribal warriors.
As I mentioned above, I have kept more colourful skin tones for the tribal warriors, as with these red coloured Eru-Kin. I also used some old Aztec shields I had to give them a more tribal look.

A tribal warrior hero.
I wanted to have at least one tribal hero to command the tribal elements in the army. I painted him red to match the above regiment.

Both regiments of tribal infantry.

Tech Mage Hero.
This miniature is listed as a Tech Mage, but I might use him as a warrior hero. I like the mix of high-tech armour and low-tech weapons.

Left hand view.

Elite Eru-Kin in Guardian armour.
I am going to use this as a long range artillery piece because he is armed with an  under-slung hi-tech energy weapon. Again, that mix of the last remnants of high-tech equipment in an increasingly lower tech army.

Side view of the shield.
I swapped the sci-fi shield for a fantasy one to just lower the sci-fi look.

Rear view showing the energy weapon.

The whole army so far.

Next update will be Mithril Miniatures.

Die Hard Miniatures Eru-Kin based to Midgard rules: part 2.

More Eru-Kin, this time blowpipes.

These are based four to a base as per the Midgard basing for Skirmishers (Shooters). I have given each set of Eru-Kin a different skin pattern to suggest different tribes, and based the schemes loosely on poison dart frog colours. I have also added a few little resin frogs and toads to the bases to give them a slightly more scouting in the wild feel.

I am pleased with how these turned out. They are quite simple to paint, Midgard doesn't have rules for blowpipes so I shall use the rules for javelins or maybe short bows. Like the rest of the Eru-Kin I am using them as a test for when I return to painting my Warhammer 2nd Edition and 3rd Edition Slann armies, testing and trying out ideas. However, as a range the Eru-Kin are lovely and fully worthy of care and attention in their own right.

In addition,  I am busy basing lots of evil things from Mithril Miniatures, mainly Orcs, as well as some other nasties as well. Also, I am re/basing some old pre-slotta and Fantasy Tribes range Goblins, Giants, and Dwarves. One of the things which I am doing is basing up some of the old Book of Battalions armies according to the Midgard multi basing. I have already based up the Glune's Trek army, but more of that later. 

Enjoy :)

Four bases of skirmishers.

Red skirmishing blowpipes.

Orange skirmishing blowpipes.

Blue skirmishing blowpipes.

Yellow skirmishing blowpipes.

Despite my basing of other things, the next update will be on some core troops for the Eru-Kin.

Die Hard Miniatures Eru-Kin based to Midgard rules: part 1.

 Now I quite like the new Midgard rules, and had been fairly busy basing my Mithril Orc army in accordance to their basing. I like the multiple basing, and the idea of having hero miniatures on individual, but more heroic, almost scenic, bases. As a personal rule of thumb I have decided to base Army Commanders (and mounted heroes) on 50mm round bases (when I base some goblins and dwarves I shall add standard bearers, musicians, etc to the bases as well), and dismounted heroes on 40mm bases. I like the room it gives the miniatures. If anyone is unfamiliar with Midgard (which I am still yet to play) a useful link can be found here.

https://mogsymakes.net/midgard/

Anyway, back to the Orcs. Lots of orcs, all being based. Then I take a break, think 'I wonder what else I could base for Midgard?' Then I recall my Eru-Kin army from Diehard Miniatures which had been sitting in a box for years. The Eru-Kin are fantasy/sci-fi amphibians with a passing nod to Citadels pre slotta C32 Slann range, with some interesting additions. So, I got distracted. In fairness I have finished basing the orcs! I have however found myself happily painting a Midgard Eru-Kin army. 

Painting wise I have gone for the 1980s Slann look, with lots of gold and a dash of Aztec. As there are more sci-fi elements than the old Slann range, I have tried to create an army which is a blend of sci-fi and fantasy. I like to think of them as perhaps an Old Slann army, a few generations after the collapse of the Warp Gates and the decline of their civilisation, that is still technological to some extent, but things are starting to fall apart. I have not gone for a very precise paint scheme, but for one more suited to the tabletop, although I am still taking care in painting. The miniatures are great fun to paint, and I am also regarding them as a prelude to when I tackle my 1980s Slann army later.

Here is a link to the Eru-kin range, sculpted by Tim Prow:

https://diehardminiatures.com/product-category/eru-kin/

Enjoy :)

Army commander.

As mentioned above he is on a 50mm base. I like the old tech weapon. He would be a Level 3 hero, with the traits: Army Commander, Amphibious, Legendary Missile, and armed with a crossbow (equivalent).

Side view of the shield. 

Mage.
Although sold as a sci-fi Tech Mage, he does fit the fantasy aspect of the army nicely. He also has a bit of an Ancient Egyptian or Stargate Goa'uld feel about the sculpt.

Eru-Kin warriors.
These would be classed as Warriors (Heavy Infantry) and are eight to a base. I love how on the multiple basing you can have a lots more differing poses and a more dynamic look. The shields are great too.

Eru-Kin Mag staff unit.
These very much have a Stargate feel to them with the staff weapons. As a Midgard unit, these would count as a Skirmishers (Shooters) unit, armed with (equivalent) crossbows.

I converted (head-swapped) one of the Eru-Kin, the on second in (second from the right in the previous photograph).

Next update will be more Eru-Kin as I have already painted more.