Mithril Miniatures Balrog.

Carrying on with the Mithril Miniatures May theme, I have painted their Balrog miniature.

As per the rest of my Mithril collection I have based the Balrog up according to the Midgard rules set, on a larger base as per a 'Monstrosity (Flying Beast). Assembly was quite straightforward, and surprisingly I didn't need to drill and pin anything. It's quite a large miniature. The sculpting is lovely, with a nice musculature to the body. The face is almost bat-like, and its horns almost look like antlers, which I think gives a different aesthetic to it.  The mane is lovely and flowing, almost like the fiery mane mentioned in the Lord of the Rings.

My only criticisms are the weapons. In the book it describes the Balrog as having "In its right hand was a blade like a stabbing tongue of fire; in its left it held a whip of many thongs" (The Fellowship of the Ring, page 348). Now for a start the weapons are in the wrong hands, a basic detail I would have thought Mithril Miniatures would have paid attention to! Secondly, lovely as the sword is, it's more of a scimitar than "stabbing tongue of fire". Finally, the whip has only one thong rather than the "many" which was mentioned. I could have converted it, but I wanted to leave the miniature as it was.

Painting was easy. It's a Balrog, so paint it black, highlight a little, add some flame bits, and it's done, although admittedly, the highlighting was done a little different. In the same manner as my Nazgul, I undercoated the body black, then dry-brush highlighted with white. Then instead of the green for the Nazgul, I washed the Balrog with red, Citadel's Blood Angels Red contrast. I did this to suggest fiery heat in its body and spirit. Also, with the basing I didn't add any grass tufts as to suggest the floor of Moria. If I use the Balrog 'outside' it will not really matter there are no tufts. Overall I'm pleased with it how the Balrog turned out, despite any inaccuracies.   

Enjoy ;) 

The box. 

'Ai! ai!', wailed Legolas,'. 'A Balrog! A Balrog is come!'
(The Fellowship of the Ring, page 348). 

The right side of the Balrog showing the mono-thong whip! 

The left side with the sword. 

Rear view. 

A closer view of the mane. 

A scale comparison.
 The Mithril Orc is their usual 32mm size, and being a character model, he is mounted on 40mm round base. The Balrog itself is on a 125mm by 50mm base. It's also made of metal (pewter) and so is quite a weight, especially with the milliput and stones on the base as well.

The next update might be anything as I have been painting and basing all sorts of things. 

Mithril Miniatures: The Nazgul.

 Finally, after a few years of collecting and waiting, I have nine Nazgul from Mithril Miniatures. I was stuck on five for a while, then bagged three all at once in an e-bay auction earlier this year. That left one, which e-bay gratefully presented a fortnight ago. So now the Nine can ride out spreading terror, and failing to catch Hobbits. 

Anyway, they are based, like the rest of my Mithril Miniatures Evil Army, according to the Midgard rules. I did cheat a little bit. Both bases are meant to represent Heavy Riders (Knight), but I only used four models per base rather than the more usually recommended. I did this so I could have two bases of Nazgul, not have to squeeze eight or nine on one base, and because it looked better. It also fits with the Lord of the Rings in that some Nazgul went off failing to catch the Hobbits, whilst the others went off doing Nazgul things. I kept the Witch King separate as a Hero to be able to command them, and my orc army as well. 

Painting was easy. Undercoat black, dry-brush white, wash with Citadel Tesseract Glow, and then paint the horses and the Witch Kings eyes red. I chose this to emulate Ralph Bakshi's Nazgul in his version of Lord of the Rings. I'm happy with how they look, and glad to achieved getting the Nine. 

Enjoy :) 

The Nine ride. 

The Witch King. 
This is the M3 Witch-King of Angmar miniature. I purchased him without his mace, but I prefer him without it as it looks like he is beckoning the other eight to follow him. I slight bent to palm of his hand flatter to extenuate this.  I also painted his red eyes large that they really should so that at a  distance they stand out more. It looks wrong close up, but better on the table. 

The first of the nine.
 The first three are the M146 Mounted Nazgul miniature. The fourth, in the top right hand corner, is the MM349 Ringwraith in the Shire miniature.

Side view.

The second base. 
This base again has three of the M146 Mounted Nazgul miniature. In addition there is another MM349 Ringwraith in the Shire miniature in the centre. However I had the wrong horse (one of the M146 ones), which didn't matter as it gives all the bases that great sense of movement, something which these miniatures do very well. To add a little variety, and differentiate from the other MM349, I cut off his head and re-positioned it to face in the same direction as his pointing hand. 

Rear view. 

The next update might be more Mithril Miniatures, or some more 1980's Citadel Lord of the Rings Ent's, as I have painted both of these. I promise I'll will photograph the Regiments of Renown at some point. I've been re-basing the 1980s slotta-based Slann as well, but that is a whole other thing entirely! 

1980s Citadel Lord of the Rings: Deadmen of Dunharrow ME72.

 As a part of  my continuing 1980s Citadel Lord of the Rings project (again, I'll have to do a proper update on this later!) I have painted some of the Citadel ME72 Deadmen of Dunharrow. A per the Ringwraiths and Ents of previous blog updates, these are based for the Midgard Ruleset. 

Now I have cheated a little bit. I have always envisioned the Deadmen of Dunharrow as a wave of spectral warriors seeking to atone of their oath breaking, rather than a set piece, conventional army. With that in mind I wanted to have the whole army as a fast moving cavalry one. This meant that I wouldn't be able to use any infantry miniatures. However, when I looked at much of the old (pre Peter Jackson films) artwork, they often had the cavalry and infantry intermingled together as a spectral horde. 

All of this gave me the idea using a mix of infantry and cavalry on the same base. It meant that I could use both infantry and cavalry miniatures, and have that horde look. Being undead and also focused on close combat only, the Heavy Riders (Knights) with Aura of Dread, Drilled, Relentless, and Spears as Tribute, to give them that all of the terrifying advantages that I think they require. It does makes them points expensive though. 

In addition I added a contemporaneous 1980's Citadel C21 Undead Cavalry miniature to represent the King of the Dead. Citadel didn't make a King of the Dead miniature, so I chose one I have had since the 1980s to serve the purpose.

Painting was easy. White undercoat, a wash of Citadel Nighthaunt Gloom, white dry-brush when that had dried, and then basing. The whole lot took less than two hours (probably close to just an hour) to paint and base, excluding drying time of course. 

The army is only half done. I require enough miniatures to build another four bases. That will be a slow burn background collecting of occasional miniatures here and there (and maybe a sudden allocation of money to finish the job!). They were really fun to paint, mainly as they were quick and look effective. I really wanted to capture that juxtaposition between the dead spectral nature of the Deadmen, and the verdant and alive nature to the bases. 

Enjoy :) 

The Deadmen of Dunharrow. 

The King of the Dead.
(Citadel C21 Undead Cavalry 'Witch Lord' miniature).  

A mix of the ME72 Cavalry miniature, and the alternative style ME72 infantry. 

The same as above, but including one of the original ME72 infantry. 

As above. 

The same format as the first photograph. 

The Dead march!

I had a little play around with lighting, and so photographed them as if at dusk...

...and then as if at night. 

The next update might be on some of the large amounts of basing which I have done, or something else. 

Citadel pre-slotta C13 Goblins and Ral Partha Giants.

Another quick blog update. 
I have mainly been re-basing again (well, mainly refurbishing the house, but that's another story!). I'll update on the basing progress a little later. What I have also done is re-based some of my old C13 Goblins, and a couple of old Ral Partha Giants, for Midgard. I also brightened up the paintwork on the goblins, giving them a bit more of a greener skin. 

Enjoy :) 

Goblins and Giants. 
What could go wrong!

Four bases of Citadel's pre-slotta C13 Goblins, with an old style banner. 
In Midgard I will count these as Hordes, possibly with the Brittle and Impetuous Traits. 

Goblins lurking around the banner. 

Goblins.

Well, more Goblins!

Even more Goblins, because Goblins often arrive in great numbers! 

Ral Partha 31-208Armoured Cloud Giant. 

Ral Partha 01-109 Cloud Giant.
 My original idea was to use him as a treeman, hence the paint scheme. However I changed my mind after painting him but liked the look so much I didn't want to paint strip him. 

My next blog update should be a lot more organised. I am planning to post photographs of all of the 1980's Regiments of Renown sets. 

An audacity C48 Gargolyes.

 I have always liked the Gargoyles. Growing up in Southern England Gargoyles were always around on the churches and cathedrals, and so seemed a very relatable fantasy creature to me. Citadel's C48 Gargoyles fitted that idea well, but strangely I never got around to collecting them all until the end of last year when I was building up my independent daemon army (that's another blog update!) and required more lesser daemons. 

The miniatures are lovely. They come in two parts, a body and a random set of wings, which allows for a certain variation. Separate plastic shields were also required. For painting I chose a stone colour to suggest, well stone really! I did consider a more sandstone colour to suggest some of the local churches, but I opted for a more Caen stone seen on a lot of local Anglo-Norman churches. The bases are the base design style I am going to be using for my Chaos Daemons and much of my 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle Chaos miniatures. 

They were fun to paint. I like them and would like to pick up a few more, although my available money for miniatures is being directed to my 1980's Middle Earth project which I am currently basing. 

Enjoy :)

The C48 Gargoyles range. 
These are slotta based, and I think they date from 1985 as they are post pre-slotta, and appear in Citadels Compendium 3. 

The full set.
The collective noun for Gargoyles is an 'audacity'. 

Ahkensdab.

Rear view showing the feathered winged set. 

Zhted.

Rear view with the more stone looking wings. 

Bld'Ngor.

Rear view with the bat wings. 

Gotalot.

Rear view.

Sld'Eth.

Rear/side view.

Znt'Raht.

Rear view.

The next update could be on anything. I have been rebasing a lot of 3rd Edition Fantasy Battle miniatures, and I have also started painting some 1980s LOTR ME range Orcs. 

The March of the Ents: Citadel's 1980's LOTR ME-85 Treebeard- Mighy Ent.

 Continuing with my organising and painting of my Citadel Miniatures LOTR ME (Middle Earth) range, I have painted a few Ents. Now these are the basis of a Midgard 400 point Ent army, so I'll probably have to add a couple more, but here's the first three (so not much a of 'March' really!).  

As stated,these miniatures were part of Citadel's LOTR range from the 1980's. They only released one model which represented Treebeard himself. The model itself comes in three parts, the head, torso, and legs. There was only one sculpt of each of these parts, however this model seems the basis for the later Treeman sculpt for Warhammer Fantasy Battle, and for Blood Bowl. 

Painting was very straightforward, with browns and greens, except for Treebeard himself, which according to the Lord of Rings had "The lower part of the long face was covered with a sweeping grey beard" (Page 484, The Two Towers). So I painted Treebeard's beard grey. The other two I painted with slightly different shades of green beards to differentiate them. Any others I'll paint in the future will have different coloured barks and beards. Anyway, these were fun to paint and base, I'm pleased with the verdant look of the bases. 

Enjoy :) 

Three Treemen. 

March of the Ents! 

Treebeard. 
I positioned his arms as per the photograph in the Citadel Catalogue (see below). Personally I think it now looks like he's on a red carpet waving to his fans, but there we are! 

Another Ent. 

The third Ent. 

Ent with aa Orc on 25mm base (which needs finishing!) to give and idea of scale. 

The next update might be on some of my current WIP's, as well as some other things. I have just finished re-basing my 1980's Regiments of Renown as well.